My Cousin Wendy (7 page)

Beth and Kathi were running around the store like a couple of 12 year olds, giggling and grabbing various items. Every once in a while I'd hear "I want that" from Wendy.

We all ended up in line at the cash register. "Are you guys ready to eat?"

Beth said "What? Fruits and nuts?"

"If you want. I was thinking of going over to the casino and having prime rib."

"Oh. That's why you asked me if I liked steak." This from Kathi.

June and Beth immediately said "You, too?"

All three looked at me. Wendy got curious and was looking at me, too.

"No, I asked if you like steak because we're going to one of the best steak houses on the planet tomorrow. I took my mother out to dinner for her birthday once and it cost me over $150 for the two of us. We loved it and I didn't mind paying the money. But I can't handle putting out that kind of money to see half the steak left on someone's plate."

Wendy said "Where are we going tomorrow?"

"You just said you didn't want to know where we were going."

She stuck her tongue out at me.

Wendy and I had eaten at Casino Morongo the last time through. We were walking through the casino when a big guy in a suit who looked like he should be wearing war paint put a hand on Beth's shoulder. "Excuse me ma'am. This area is restricted to adults. I need to see some ID."

Beth turned beet red. "My purse is in the car."

"I'll be glad to wait for you to get it."

Wendy and Kathi put a couple of quarters into a slot machine while we waited for Beth to come back with her ID.

Beth came back in, holding her drivers license straight out from her. He held her hand while he read the date, then looked at the picture, looked at Beth, the picture, Beth.

"Thank you." He turned and walked off slowly, looking all around as he walked.

Beth was stiff, almost like a statue.

June squeezed my hand and let go. She stepped over to Beth and pulled her close. Beth leaned into June and put her head on her shoulder. I could see Beth shaking and June held on and told her it was alright, she was there, don't worry, we'll take care of you.

Beth stood up, sniffled and wiped a couple of tears off her face. She grabbed a woman walking around giving out change and swapped a twenty for 20 $1 tokens. "I'll show them. I'll bankrupt this fuckin' place."

Two minutes later she said "Dammit!" Her cup was empty.

I walked over and put my arm around her shoulders, hugging her into my side. "Come on. Let's go get some dinner."

June and I ordered the prime rib, rare. The same potatoes and dressing, the same vegetables. Our plates looked identical except I got the bigger cut of meat. Wendy wanted chicken and hash browns. She used half a bottle of ketchup on her hash browns. Kathi had pork chops and Beth had a chef's salad.

Wendy would take her fork and spear something on someone's plate. When she got to my plate I hit the back of her hand with my spoon.

"What was that for?"

"Eat your own food. Leave mine alone."

"But I'm carrying your baby."

"So? Is that what you want to teach my baby? To be a thief?"

"No."

"If you want something, ask for it. Don't steal it."

"I'm sorry. Can I have some of your peas?"

"No."

"Why not. I apologized. I asked nice."

"If you'd asked to begin with I might have, but probably not. You have peas on your plate. Eat those."

"But I want your peas."

"Tough. Eat your own."

She stopped trying to take food off my plate but she was definitely not happy.

"Quit pouting or I'll make you sit in the car."

She looked like she wanted to hit me then got up and walked out of the room.

I started to get up from my chair and June pushed down on my leg.

"I'll take care of her. You guys finish your dinner."

I'd had a couple of different girlfriends who thought it was cute to take food off my plate. I'd made it very clear that I didn't appreciate it. Taking food from my plate is a privilege I may or may not let you have, not a right. I'd stopped Wendy a couple of times before and it hadn't been a problem. Hell, once she tried the old "I'm not hungry" game expecting me to let her eat most of the food off my plate. I told her she wasn't going to get anything from my plate and if she was hungry we'd order her something to eat. She ordered more than I had and finished it all.

Beth and Kathi were quietly eating their food as I thought and ate. June was back about five minutes after she left. She sat down and motioned for the waiter.

"We need our check and I need something to take the rest of food home in, please. This chicken, too. Does anybody else need a doggy bag?"

The waiter got the idea and we out of there in less than a minute.

"Beth and Kathi. You two go ahead. Wendy's in the car. We'll be out there in a minute."

She took my arm and stopped. "How long till we get where we're staying tonight."

"Maybe a half hour."

"OK. I want you to drive straight there. No jokes, no talking, no holding hands."

"Can you tell me what's happening?"

"Sure. The first thing is you embarrassed her when she got to your house and had to go to the bathroom. Especially when we were waiting and she came out of the bathroom pulling up her pants. Wendy's always felt bad about her body because she's so thin. She feels real awkward now that she's got some extra weight up front. When we got to Hadley's and you pulled the same thing she wasn't happy about that, either. I think your joke has gotten old and you should lose it."

"You're right. I will."

"Next, she says she feels like you lied to her. She asked if anyone else was coming and you avoided her. She really thought it was going to be the two of you and she was disappointed. She's happy we're here and says it wouldn't have been a problem if she knew. She just built up this idea of the two of you alone and was shocked. And before you say anything, we're all going to stay and she's fine with that - she wants it."

"OK."

"Oh, that's not it. Now the bigee. You're making her jealous by paying attention to me. She knows she pushed you and me into it and we wouldn't be together if she hadn't but she feels alone in the back seat seeing you and I holding hands, laughing and talking. She's really afraid she's going to lose you. That I'm taking you away."

"But I..."

"But nothing. She's pregnant. She's vulnerable. She doesn't really know who she is. She feels awkward. She loves you more than you can imagine. She sees me. We've got more in common. I'm younger than she is. I'm not skinny. And I'm not starting to bulge out."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. She felt like you were treating her like a baby in front of everyone when she was taking food off your plate."

"Alright. What can I do about it?"

"Love her. Were you serious about two rooms with 2 beds?"

"Oh, yeah."

"OK. Beth, Kathi and I are going to go in our room when we get there and we're going to stay there. If there's going to any playing around as a group, it's going to have to wait till tomorrow. You and Wendy need to be together. And you need to keep telling her you love her until she gets it. And for God's sake, don't tell her it was her idea for me and you to be together."

"OK. I'll try."

"You'd better try real hard."

"I got in the van, looked at Wendy and smiled. She looked through me.

June sat in the passenger seat and put her hands in her lap. I put on my seat belt and started the engine.

We got to Palm Desert about 25 minutes later. I went into the office at the Motel 6 and filled out the card, giving them my Visa card for the charges.

"You're not going to have any wild parties, are you?"

"Not tonight."



We pulled back to the rear of the parking lot. Our two rooms were on the ground floor, next to each other. I parked in front of one of them.

I helped everyone get their luggage in the room. We left the Beach chairs in the car. Once we were done, I got them all together.

"I have some things to say to all of you. I'm tired and angry and I don't want to attack any of you but I probably will if you say anything. I'm sorry, but do us all a favor and just listen."

There were some murmurs. Wendy was looking at the wall to the side of her, holding her hands together behind her. Pissed of that I wasn't falling all over her. Beth and Kathi wanted to be elsewhere, shuffling their feet, looking at the floor. June was looking at me with a question on her face.

"I talked to all of you last week. I promised each of you that I had a bunch of surprises planned and that it would be fun. They are still going to be surprises. They will still be fun activities. Whether or not any of us has fun remains to be seen.

"Tomorrow I've made a 7 AM appointment. I'll be leaving here at 6:45. If any of you miss the ride or decide not to go, I guaranty you are going to be mad at yourself for a long time. I have never lied to any of you," I said as I looked pointedly at Wendy, still staring at the wall, "and I mean it when I say you want to be there. You'll know what we're doing when we get there. If you want to drop out, I'll let whoever wants to stay take the Aerostar as long as they're back to pick up the rest of us when we get back. That goes for any of the three things I planned for the next two days.

"Now, you need to know a few things. First of all, I'm going to eat breakfast at that Denny's over there at 6AM. Any of you who wish are free to join me. Don't worry about paying for it, this weekend is one me. If you get there late, remember when I'm leaving. I won't sit around waiting for anybody.

"We won't be near any food till 2:30 or 3, so don't expect to be able to miss breakfast and stop off at 7-11. If anyone wants to bring food along, there's a convenience store a half mile that way just on the other side of the freeway. You can take the Aerostar tonight and pick up whatever you want. Nothing perishable, there won't be any refrigerators where we're going.

"Finally, it will probably be cool in the morning and get hot later on. This is the desert, so it may get as hot as a hundred. Dress in layers. Don't just wear a sweatshirt or you won't have anything to take off when it gets hot. Any questions?"

They were still pretty much avoiding me.

"If all of you want, tell me before 7 in the morning and we'll just go back home and write it off as a bad experience. I've paid for the motel and it's too late to drive back tonight. Does anyone want to take the Aerostar to the convenience store?"

June was the only one to answer. "No."

The three of them went into their room. Wendy was still staring at the wall. I put one hand on each side under her arms and guided her into the room. "I'll take the bed on the right."

I opened my suitcase and got out my toilet kit. I went in the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. It was the first time in a long time Wendy didn't block the mirror. I went back in the room, stripped down and got into the bed I'd pointed out. I leaned over, set the alarm for 5:30 and put my glasses on the night table.

"Make sure you turn off the light when you go to bed."

The room had one of those round tables with a couple of chairs next to it near the window. Wendy was sitting in one of the chairs. I rolled over so my face was pointing toward the bathroom.

It took five minutes.

"Pete?"

"What do you want, Wendy?"

"Aren't you going to talk to me?"

"Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow. I don't know."

It was quiet for three or four minutes.

"Don't you love me?"

I didn't answer. Another minute went by.

"Pete? Don't you?"

I rolled over onto my back and sat up in the bed.

"I should be angry that you even think you have to ask me that. But I'm not. I'm just sad. Real sad. Now let me get some sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow."

I lay back down and turned toward the bathroom again.

A few minutes went by. I heard her getting undressed. She came over between the beds and waited a bit. She must have decided. She turned off the lamp and lifted up the blankets on the bed I was in.

She got under the covers and worked her way over to the side I was on. I could feel her expanded belly and tits pressing against my back. She reached over me and pulled herself closer.

I started talking. "I remember when Heather was born. I wasn't invited to the hospital. I'd made such an ass of myself because Kelly wasn't married. I was drunk most of the time I was home, then. I had part of the garage converted to an office and I would take a 12 pack in there and catch up on paperwork or watch the TV I had out there every night. And then Robin would bring this little girl out to me every once in a while. And I'd hold her in my arms and I didn't hate her because her Mom did something I didn't approve of. And after a few minutes Robin would take her back in the house. I have a specific memory of Heather walking into to the garage a few steps ahead of Robin one night, holding out her arms for me to pick her up and put her on my lap. That must have been real close to the time they moved out. Eight years or so later, I convinced Kelly to come work for me. She was pregnant with Marcie. She came back about three months after she was born. I got to see Marcie change every day. And then things went bad and Kelly quit and wouldn't talk to me for a while. When we got back together, Marcie was running around, didn't recognize me and would turn her head away if I held out my arms for her. She's still that way almost five months later. I never saw Anna grow up. She didn't like me for the longest time till I started taking Heather to the movies. About six months later she came around and I took her and her mother with us. After that she wanted to come with us any time we went to the movies."