Summer Swing (42 page)

“Okay, okay, I get it. You said this has nothing
to do with Gage. What’s ‘this,’
and what does it have to do with?”

She sighed as she stopped at a
stop sign
. “
Come on, Ellie… Tyse?”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “Excuse me?”

“Well…I mean are you just, like, acting out or something? Are you trying to make Gage mad? Or freak Mom and Dad out?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t give a crap about what Gage thinks. And Mom and Dad liked Tyse.”

She snickered.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means that they’re worried about him
too, and they’re politely declining to say how they really feel about him.”

“What? What are they worried about?”

As we stopped in the driveway of my parents’ house, she gave me a
look
. “Do you really think Dad wouldn’t look into him a little more, Ellie? All he does is make one little phone call
to Mitch
and he’s got anybody’s police record.”

I let the information settle
and then sighed
. “So you guys know he’s served time. So what. It doesn’t automatically make him a criminal. Come on, Dawn
, d
on’t be like that, too.”

“Like what? I’m only trying to protect my little sister.”

“No, you’re being judgmental—”

“Ambrielle Christine Abbott
, h
ad I known he had served time in
prison
there would have been no way he
’d be staying in my house! I could sue those stupid baseball people for putting an ex-con in someone’s house without informing them firsthand—”

“It was Wyatt’s choice, Dawn. It was
his
house, and
his
decision, and yes he knew about it. He agreed to
it
. Apparently he was willi
ng to give a guy a break, and
I’m very grateful for that.”

“Ooh, don’t even go there, Ellie,” she
snarled
. “Like I really want to hear adoring praise about my idiotic cheating pig of a husband.”

“Well, then don’t be idiotic yourself.”

“
What
!?
”

“Pop the trunk,” I growled.

I got out of the car and slammed
the door shut. She did the same
but only stood there glaring at me.

“Pop the trunk or you’ll be unloading it all by yourself,” I threatened.

With a smirk she shook her head at my audacity. “Wow, is that the kind of attitude you get when you talk to him, Ellie? Your little boy scout rubbing off on you?”

“Oh, shut up, Dawn. I can’t even believe you’re being so unfair. He lived with Wyatt for how many weeks? Ten? And did he ever do anything to offend you? Or did he ever say an unkind word to you?”

She didn’t respond.

“
No
,” I answered for her. “And I know he helped you guys out a lot, too. He even had a job—at three in the morning—just so he could live up here to play baseball. And Wyatt even said he paid for more than he really had to. He left him
an extra
fifty
bucks just as a ‘thank you
.’
And Tyse didn’t even tell me that.
Wyatt
did.”

She rolled her eyes. “Who cares what the guy can afford.”

“He can’t afford
anything
! That’s the freaking point, Dawn! He doesn’t have any money! He works hard just to make hi
s own way! He even pays for
college because he doesn’t have parents that support him—”

“Duh! He’s an ex-con! He killed someone, for
crap’s
sake!”

“What in the world are you two yelling about?” my mom
exclaimed
from the porch
. “Get in the house before the neighbors call the police!”

Dawn angrily popped the trunk, so I grabbed as many bags as I cou
ld and stormed into the house while m
y mom was right on my heels.

“What in heaven’s name is the matter with you?” she asked.

I dropped the groceries on the counter just as Dawn came storming in with her own
armful, and s
he slammed the front door shut with her foot.

“Ellie wants us to share our home with an ex-con for Christmas,” Dawn offered
snootily
.

My mom looked at me with confusion, and then she slowly shook her head. “Oh, Ellie…” she said softly.

“Don’t ‘oh, Ellie’ me, Mom. Unless you’re saying it because you realize what a warm and loving home we have, and you’re glad to share it with someone that really needs it.”

Dawn snorted, but my mom didn’t say anything. I proceeded to put some of the groceries away
,
and when
my sister
plopped down
on the couch, my mom decided to help me.

“Yes, Tyse does worry me,” she finally said.

“You don’t have anything to be worried about. Yes he went to prison for involuntary manslaughter, but what happened wasn’t his fault. He was defending himself.”

Dawn chuckled sarcastically. “That’s his version.”

“Oh, shut up! You don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

“I don’t? I think I read almost everything th
at I could find about it, Ellie—which wasn’t much, so it was probably an open and shut case.
He went looking for some guy that was sleeping with his girlfriend. It’s pretty cut and dry from there.”

“What? That’s not what happened. His friend’s sister
cried
rape
. His buddy went there to confront the guy, and the guy ended up go
ing
after Tyse with a
knife
! Get your facts straight!”

“Have you done your research, Ms. Research Queen? Because I read
the article
and
I know
exactly what it said.”

I stared at her for a few seconds. Finally I said, “His family wouldn’t even pay for legal representation. He had a crappy lawyer that barely—”

“Because they knew he was guilty,” she smirked.

“If you weren’t pregnant right now, I would b
eat that smile off of your face!
”

“Ellie!”
my mom exclaimed while Dawn began laughing.

I dropped the two cans of cranberry sauce on the counter and faced my mom. “I invited him for Christmas. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Yes,” Dawn answered.

“I’m not talking to you!”

“Dawn, just stop,” my mom told her. She faced me again and sighed. “Your father and I are concerned about your friendship with this boy, yes.”

“Concerned how?”

“Well, I don’t really know what his story is, sweetie. Like Dawn said, there are conflicting accounts of the incident, and I’m not sure what to believe.”

“Mom, he was here in your house. You had dinner with him. You mean to tell me that you can’t see a person for who they are and not what they’ve been told they are?”

She sighed again. “
No, sometimes it’s not so easy. Yes we enjoyed having Tyse here for dinner. Your father liked him,
and
David liked him…
B
ut you know your dad. He always does
background checks on your
friends. Especially boyfriends.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

She disregarded that and said,
“Your father and I were just a little caught off-guard. If it was something that you knew, then you should have told us.”

“I wanted him to have a fair chance,” I replied quietly. “I wanted him to just enjoy being here without any preconceived notions because of his past.”

“We don’t even know anything about his past, sweetheart. He barely shared anything about himself.”

“He does keep to himself. But I really don’t think it’s for any
bad
reasons. He just tries to protect himself from…something. I don’t know. I’m still working on it Mom, but I just think he wants to forget a lot of things.”

Dawn tried to retort something but my mom shushed her with a hand.

My mom looked at me again.
“Maybe right now isn’t the time to be inviting him to our house, Ellie. Why don’t we just hold off on that for now?”

“Why? Hold off until when?”

“Until you get a clue,” Dawn snapped.

“Dawn Marie Abbott!” my mom yelled. “You stop being so nasty!”

“Nasty
?!
” she exploded as she jumped up from the couch. “Why can’t I have a say in this? I don’t want an ex-con in the family! Next thing ya know we’ll have little convict babies running around!”

“And how’s that any worse than your lying, cheating husband?
” I retorted.
“
Huh? So what’s that make your baby—”

“Ambrielle,” my mom warned quietly.

Dawn was about to pounce on me, literally, and she was just waiting for me to finish my sentence. But my mom was right, and I knew I was already fighting an uphill battle against Dawn and her army of hormones.

“I gotta go,” I said quietly. My mom protested
,
but I just shook my head and left for home.

Chapter Twenty-Four

My dad called me later that night, trying to be the peacemaker. The conversation started out pretty friendly—my dad stated that he understood, and he only wanted me to understand how much my family loved me and looked out for me—but I kept getting the feeling that I was just being fed lines. Lines that were meant to seem supportive, but I didn’t feel they were sincere. I almost felt like my dad was trying to say just the right things to keep me
reeled in
close enough, because if I were to get upset with him, he assumed I would rebel even more. Wasn’t that parenting rule number nine
teen
or something?

“Your psychology isn’t going to work on me, Dad,” I finally said. “I’m not twelve and you’re not going to manipulate me into seeing the ‘errors of my way
.’
I thought you of all people would
understand. You’ve had friends with
shady pasts. You’re kind of rough yourself. But why would you be friends with these people?”

“They’re not in my daughter’s life. Yes they are friends of mine, and yes I trusted them with my very life
when we served together
, but I wouldn’t let them around my
daughter
. I’m not saying they’re bad people, but I wouldn’t let them
build a friendship with
any one of my kids
.”

“Tyse isn’t anything like those men, Dad. Tyse just had crappy thing happen to him, and he’ll have to live with that for the rest of his life. Why can’t he have a second chance? He’s a good person.”

“I don’t doubt that, honey, but I’m just a little concerned about…”

“About what? What is the real issue here?”

“Are you romantically involved with this boy, Ellie?”

I didn’t respond for a long time because I was trying to understand the intent of his question. Was that going to make a difference in how they treated him? Were they only concerned, like Dawn said, about ‘little convict babies’?

“Why would that matter?”

It was his turn to be silent, and I was sure he was just plotting his reply.

“Dad, I don’t want to talk about this anymore, okay? I’m tired, so I’m just
gonna
take a bath and go to bed. Maybe if I get a chance I’ll call Tyse and we can plan our wedding. I’ll mak
e sure we play ‘Jailhouse Rock,’
and only ex-cons will be invited.”

“Ellie…” He was annoyed at first, I was sure, but then he softened his tone. “You’re still coming over tomorrow, right?” When I didn’t answer right away, he added, “It’s Thanksgiving, sweetie. I want all my kids there. We won’t talk about Tyse, I promise.”

“Well you might as well because he’ll be here for Christmas. Just get it out of your systems. Actually, I think I’d rather go see
him
for Christmas. If my family can’t stop being cold-hearted, judgmental fools, then maybe I
don’t
want him here.”

“Ellie, Tyse is welcome to come for Christmas. There isn’t a problem with that, honey.”

I knew that would be his response.
Anything to keep m
e close enough.

“I’ll think about tomorrow,” I sighed. “Goodnight.”