Throwing Stones

Chapter 4






“Hi,” Mel cheerfully greeted Lorna who was once again sitting in the garden.

“Hi. I take it your visit went well?”

“Better than I hoped. Gus and Ray will be joining us at the end of the summer, before they start their next semester,” Mel happily announced.

“Both of them? In my house?”

“Is that a problem, and I thought it was our house.”

“Melanie, it’s one thing to have your daughter visit but two teenage boys?”

“Gus is almost twenty and Ray is twenty. They’re both good kids.”

“I’m sure they are but I’d prefer not to have them fucking in my, our house.”

“I’m sure they’ll show some restraint during their visit.”

“Melanie...” Lorna was interrupted by Bree as she came running into the garden.

“Auntie Mel, are you going to have dinner with us?” Big violet-blue eyes looked expectantly up at Mel.

“I’m not sure, honey,” Mel answered. “I’m still full from lunch, I can’t think about dinner now.”

“Oh, okay,” Bree said then ran back to the Wendy house.

“What a strange little girl,” Lorna mumbled to herself. “Melanie, we really must talk about this but this is not the time or the place. When are we going back to the hotel?”

“I would like to have dinner with my kids but I am so tired of eating here,” Mel scowled.

“We did pass that inn on the way here. Maybe they do dinner?” Lorna suggested.

“But we have several hours before dinner. What should we do until then?” Mel asked as she sat on one of the chairs in the garden.

“Ladies,” Emmett swished his way toward them. “Would you like to join Drewsie and me for some iced tea and nibbles at our cottage?”

“If it gets me out of this perfect fucking garden, I will,” Melanie grumbled as she abruptly stood up to follow Emmett, inadvertently leaving Lorna behind.

“So I guess I’m going too,” Lorna mumbled as she stood to follow her ‘partner’ down the lane.



*****



“Gus, where are you going?” Bree asked as Gus finished changing his clothes and walked out of his bedroom.

“Mama wants to have dinner with JR and me at the inn past the general store.”

“Oh, but you guys could have dinner here with me,” Bree said batting her baby blues at her brother.

“I need to do this, Bree,” Gus replied. “I’ll be here for dinner tomorrow night.”

“With Ashley?”

“Yes, with Ashley,” Gus chuckled. “I haven’t seen her in ages.”

“She loves you, you know,” Bree said. “Just like me. She don’t have no brothers, so you get to be her brother too.”

Gus smiled. “I like that.”

“Gus,” Bree said with a frown, “I don’t think Auntie Mel likes me anymore, does she?”

“I’m sure she likes you just fine.”

“That lady with her is weird.”

“Lorna? Why is she weird?”

“I don’t know. She just is.”

“Look, short stuff,” Gus said squatting down in front of his sister, “my mother is far away now, and I need to spend time with her while she’s here. Can you understand that?”

“Sure,” Bree agreed.

“Her relationship with the people here in Pittsburgh has changed since she went away. She likes you, but she’s … an outsider now. That changes everything.”

“Oh,” Bree said thoughtfully. “Being an outsider isn’t fun. Ashley was an outsider a long time ago.”

“Right,” Gus agreed, “and then you helped her to fit in.”

“Yep,” Bree said bobbing her head and making her ponytail swing from side to side. “Do you think Auntie Mel needs help fitting in now?”

“It couldn’t hurt.”

“’Kay,” Bree said readily. “You’re the bestest, my Gus.”

“You’re pretty great yourself.”

Bree threw her arms around her brother’s neck and hugged him hard. “Love you,” she whispered.

“And I love you too.”



*****



“This looks like an all right place,” Melanie said as she, Lorna, Gus and JR were seated at the inn.

“I hope it’s better than that place we went to in Pittsburgh,” JR reminded her mother.

“Your father could have told me that it was shitty.”

“I think this place is fine,” Gus stated. He thought he remembered someone saying the food was okay.

“Well, I don’t want much,” Lorna interjected. “The amounts of food that are served at your father’s…” she said looking at Gus. “Astronomical!”

“Don’t you mean gastronomical?” Gus quipped.

“No, I meant astronomical,” Lorna continued, not getting the joke at all. “I don’t see how the people there can possibly keep their figures when they are force fed all that food.”

“We don’t eat like that every day, and nobody makes you eat anything you don’t want to.” Gus tried to defend the people at Edna’s Treasures.

“I would hope so,” Lorna said skeptically. “Heart disease and digestive problems would abound if you did.”

Gus made a face as he debated trying to convince Lorna that the food was so plentiful because of the holiday and all the guests. He decided it was useless trying to convince Lorna of anything.

“Let’s order,” Melanie suggested before Gus and Lorna got into a fight.



*****



“This looks great, Emmett,” Justin said as they sat down for a quiet dinner in the sun porch. Debbie, Carl, Lindsay and Candy were still at Edna’s Treasures, along with the Anderson-Morrisons and Emmett’s family.

“I hope this meal will be a little less tense than that fucking lunch now that Melanie and her friend are not here,” Debbie stated.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Carl said.

“These salads look good, Emm,” John said. “I ate way too much at lunch.”

“Me too,” Bobby agreed.

“I never eat too much,” Brian informed them with a smug look. That caused many snorts of derision. “What?” he asked trying to look like he had just spoken the gospel truth.

“Be that as it may,” Emmett said, “salads are in order after all that gastronomical extravaganza at lunch.”

“We had to show Melanie and her current squeeze that we could entertain with the best of them,” Drew said. “And everyone was very civil.”

“I think Lorna might have liked a good fight,” Brian observed, “and I know Melanie would.”

“Gus says we should be nice to Auntie Melanie,” Bree told them all. “’Kay?”

“Good idea, Miss Bree,” Emmett said giving Brian a look.

They started passing around the salads.



*****



“You’re awfully quiet,” Melanie said to JR.

“I don’t have anything to say,” JR responded.

“I haven’t seen you for weeks. What have you been doing?”

“Working at the store and going to school.”

“But what are you doing for your summer holidays?”

“Working in the store.”

“Doesn’t your father give you a break?”

“Daddy hasn’t been feeling well lately. I do a lot at the store.”

“Is Michael sick?” Melanie asked with a frown.

“He hasn’t really said, but he isn’t … himself lately.”

“I think he was going to the doctor to get checked out last week,” Gus volunteered, knowing the whole story, but hoping to put an end to Melanie’s inquiries.

“Aren’t you rather young to be taking on so much responsibility at the store?” Lorna asked JR.

“I’m old enough,” JR said defiantly. “I like working in the store.”

“She’s really good at it too,” Gus informed them.

“There are better things to be good at than working as a salesclerk,” Lorna replied.

“My daughter will be good at whatever she chooses to do,” Melanie affirmed.

JR beamed at her mother while Lorna sneered.

“This burger is good,” Gus said taking a big bite of his dinner. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep a fight from breaking out.



*****



“I wonder how dinner at the inn is going?” Lindsay asked.

“Probably tense,” Brian replied tersely.

“I don’t understand why Melanie is so confrontational,” Lindsay sighed. “I’ve let it all go. She should too. She’s started a new life in Portland … with Lorna.”

“Maybe not as new as she thinks,” Brian threw in.

“What do you mean?” Lindsay asked.

“Didn’t you notice how much Lorna resembles you?” Brian asked her.

“Well, she is blonde and … tall.”

“That’s where it ends,” Debbie jumped in. “She seems like someone who has very definite ideas and wants things the way she wants them. Mel won’t like that in the long run.”

“You don’t think I have definite ideas?” Lindsay asked. She wasn’t sure she liked what Debbie had just implied about her.

“Honey, I think you have great ideas. You just don’t try to make everyone else have the same ideas you do.”

“No, I guess I never did stand up for myself,” Lindsay said with a sigh.

“You are now, and that’s what’s important,” Debbie said patting Lindsay’s hand.

“I love you Auntie Lindsay,” Bree piped up. “That Lorna lady is weird.”

“You don’t know Lorna yet,” Justin said to his daughter. “Don’t be too quick to judge.”

“I know, Daddy. She’s not very nice.”

“She seemed nice enough,” Justin replied.

“Nice enough is not the same as nice,” Bree stated with all the wisdom of her many years.

“Out of the mouths of babes,” Brian muttered.



*****



“I enjoyed spending some time alone with you two,” Melanie said as they drove back to Edna’s Treasures.

“We weren’t alone, Mama,” JR reminded her mother.

“Lorna is my partner. She’s part of the family now.”

“Your family,” JR countered.

“Young lady,” Melanie started. “Lorna is to be treated with respect.”

JR opened her mouth to argue, but she felt Gus squeeze her hand as they sat together in the backseat of the rental car. “I’m sorry if that was disrespectful,” JR said, looking at Gus for approval of her words. He merely nodded.

“Thank you for that, JR,” Lorna said. “I know I’m not really part of this family, even if Mel would like to think I am. But maybe someday … if you’ll let me.”

“Yeah, maybe someday,” JR agreed. That was all she was prepared to concede.

“Well, I’m glad I came here,” Melanie said positively. “And I’m really glad you’re coming for a visit at the end of the summer, Gus.”

“Yeah, Ray said it would work okay for him.”

Lorna made a face that Gus noted.

“And would you be coming for a visit this summer, JR?” Melanie asked hopefully.

“I don’t know, Mama. If Daddy’s okay, I might be able to.”

“I’m sure your father is fine,” Mel responded. Michael was always fine.

“I don’t know,” JR said with that little frisson of fear that she had felt ever since she realized her father wasn’t himself.

“We’ll work out the details later.”

“Here we are,” Lorna said as she pulled the car up to the gate of Edna’s Treasures Lane.

“I hate this fucking gate,” Mel said while Lorna was pushing the buzzer for admittance. “I feel like such an outsider. I wouldn’t have even been able to get in the night we came, except that someone else was leaving.”

Gus tried not to snicker. He knew his Pop would have told them to go away and come back the next day, which was essentially what Brian had done anyway.

“I guess our visit is almost over,” Melanie said sadly as the car drew up to the conjoined cottages.



*****



“Did you all have a cheery time at dinner?” Emmett asked as everyone came out of Edna’s Treasures to greet the returning carload.

“It was okay,” JR said.

“The food’s not bad there,” Gus supplied.

“If you like burgers,” Lorna added.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye for a while,” Melanie said as she hugged Gus and JR.

“I do love you, Mama,” JR said, “but I don’t know about coming to visit.”

Melanie nodded but didn’t look happy with that statement. Gus wondered if she’d pull the same thing with his sister that she had with him, cornering JR into agreeing to come to Portland.

“Mel, could I have a word?” Lindsay asked.

Melanie raised an eyebrow. “Okay,” she said. The two women walked a little way down the lane to have some privacy.

“I wonder what that’s all about,” Justin said.

“I guess Lindsay has something to say to her ex,” John replied.

“I hope it’s friendly,” Debbie said.



*****



“Mel, I just wanted to say that I’m glad Gus is going to visit you and Lorna in Portland. I had nothing to do with his decision not to go,” Lindsay explained.

“I understand that now.”

“I’d like us to be friends,” Lindsay continued, “for the sake of the kids. They don’t like it when we fight or are on the outs.”

Melanie studied her former wife’s face, seeing that Lindsay really meant what she said. “You really have changed,” Melanie said.

“Yes, I have. I’m glad you can see that. I’m making a new life for myself.”

“I didn’t see a girlfriend,” Mel said slyly.

“That’s because there isn’t one. I’m not ready for that just yet.”

“Unlike me who jumped into this relationship with Lorna?”

“I’m not criticizing,” Lindsay replied. “I hope it works out, and I mean that sincerely. I would like everyone to be happy.”

“Little Miss Pollyanna,” Mel said sarcastically.

“One of the things you never really liked about me,” Lindsay said bitterly.

“Lindz…”

“Don’t bother saying anything. I know how things stand … and I’m okay with it.”

“Then I guess this is goodbye.”

“Yes, goodbye,” Lindsay said turning to return to the rest of the group.

“It was fucking … interesting meeting you,” Debbie was saying to Lorna.

“Thank you I think,” Lorna replied.

“I’m ready to go,” Melanie said holding herself straight and tall.

“Good,” Lorna said. She thought she had had more than enough of this Edna’s Treasures group. Christ, what a fucking stupid name for a house.

“Melanie, take care of yourself,” Debbie said, pulling the mother of her granddaughter into a hug.

“I will, Deb. You do the same.” Melanie turned to hug Carl as well.

“John, Bobby, Justin … Brian, thank you for having us for lunch,” Melanie said formally, although she almost choked on Brian’s name. It stuck in her craw having to thank him for anything.

“Our pleasure,” John replied knowing that Brian was unlikely to be so gracious.

“Auntie Melanie,” Bree said, “I miss you.” She held her arms up for a hug.

“Why thank you, Bree,” Mel said giving the little girl a hug. “I appreciate you saying that.”

“Yeah, Aunt Mel,” Patrick agreed, taking his cue from Bree. “I miss you too.” He stepped up to hug the petite woman.

“Thanks, Kids,” Mel said. Anyone looking carefully would have seen a little tear in her eye.

“Bye, Miss Lorna,” Bree said holding out her hand to shake.

“Oh,” Lorna said surprised at that action. “Goodbye, Briana.” She shook the little hand.

“Bye, Miss Lorna,” Patrick parroted extending his hand too. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Goodbye, Patrick.”

Mel gave her children another quick hug and the two women got into their car. Melanie waved as they drove away.

“You did good,” Gus said to his sister. Bree beamed back at him.

“Thank the gods that’s over,” Brian muttered as they headed for the house.

There were several nods of agreement.



*****



“Thank God that’s over!” Lorna said as they passed through the gate at the end of the lane.

“Yeah, but I’m going to miss my kids.”

Lorna shook her head. She wasn’t sure why anyone would miss that bunch. They were all too full of themselves as far as she was concerned, especially that Bree girl. Did everyone follow her example? Lorna shook her head again. That was just wrong.



*****



“Do you feel better about Miss Lorna?” Emmett asked as they all sat down to coffee and cookies in the sun porch. Emmett had made them in case Lorna and Melanie had decided to stay a little longer after dinner.

“No, Auntie Emm,” Bree said solemnly as she bit off a bite of cookie.

“No? Why not?”

“She called me Briana. People only say Briana when I’m in trouble.”

“Oh!” Emm said as everyone chuckled.