Judging Joey (5 page)

She ran her fingers through her hair. That’s weird, she thought. Where could it be? And then she remembered what Mr. Denby had said about missing items in other classes. Was it happening in her classroom, too?

Chapter 4

Arriving at the house she shared with her Uncle Mark, Madeline balanced the bags on one arm while fumbling with her keys in the other. Distraught over her missing picture frame, she unlocked the front door and swung it open, still unable to block the idea that one of the students at the carnival must have taken it. It had to be the same kid or kids that Principal Denby was concerned about. They must have snuck into her class during the carnival. Maybe they did it as a prank.

She didn’t think it was funny.

Rusty, her mixed-breed companion, a cross between Border collie and poodle, charged up and greeted her, his tail swishing against her legs. “Hello, baby, did you have a good day? Did Uncle Mark walk you and spoil you rotten?”

A few months prior, Madeline had found the rangy dog roaming the neighborhood. She had brought him to the shelter where she volunteered, but didn’t have the heart to leave him because the other volunteers had convinced her that she and Rusty had formed an unusual bond. If Madeline hadn’t known better, she’d swear the shelter volunteers and the dog had managed a conspiracy, and if she were of a suspicious nature, she would have been certain that her uncle had somehow played a key role in Rusty’s situation, too. But in the end, it all worked out for everyone. Her uncle especially enjoyed the dog’s company. A retired factory worker, he took Rusty for a long walk once in the morning and again in the early afternoon each day while Madeline was at work.

Madeline picked up the front paws of the mid-sized dog and kissed his nose before putting him back down. “I think you need to go on a diet, my friend. No excuses. We’re going to the park tomorrow for a run.”

She threw her keys down into a bowl on the entry table where her uncle had left a note informing her that he had gone to the senior center. Then she noticed her message machine on the home phone was blinking, reading two new messages. The first was from her dentist’s receptionist reminding her that she had an appointment tomorrow at nine a.m. She blew out a deep breath on hearing the confirmation. As if she would have forgotten.

She checked her red datebook three times a day to make sure she didn’t forget anything. A parent/teacher conference, a staff meeting after school, a doctor appointment
—everything was jotted down. Sabrina constantly teased her about her old-fashioned ways insisting she should use her smartphone or tablet instead. But Madeline couldn’t afford the latest gadget and she enjoyed the process of writing down her agenda. It gave her a sense of peace and even security, probably because it was a habit she picked up from living with her uncle and aunt. It was also a convenient place to stash important papers like her paycheck. She hadn’t had a chance yet to run to the bank to deposit the money. After her dentist appointment, she planned on cashing the check and paying bills.

She listened to the last message and smiled when she heard her Uncle Mark’s voice. “Honey, if you don’t have plans for the night, Mrs. Hayward made her delicious chili and brought some over before. It’s in the fridge.” His tone held a degree of warmth when speaking of their next-door neighbor as he added, “I think she feels guilty for asking me to take care of her cat again this weekend since she’s off to visit her sister in Pennsylvania.”

Madeline’s smile grew. Her uncle always referred to Mrs. Laura Hayward as the one who lived next door, as if trying to keep Madeline clueless about the budding relationship between her uncle and their neighbor. She shook her head, and couldn’t help laughing aloud to herself. Really, sometimes he acted as young as her students.

“So, you stayed home on a Friday night to have dinner with a lonely old man. You’re a good-hearted girl, my Maddie.” Her Uncle Mark kissed her on the cheek.

“You’re not
that
old,” Madeline teased, following him into the kitchen with Rusty on her tail. “And you have lots of friends you could have had dinner with, but you’re too proud to call any of them.” She tousled his full head of white hair, the only thing about him that gave away his age. Behind his glasses, his face was smooth of wrinkles. His mind was as sharp as a first day of school pencil, and when he power-walked, which he did daily with his senior citizen friends, including Laura Hayward, he led the pack. No one would have guessed he was seventy-two.

“Nonsense, they’re members of my senior group, not family.” He took a ladle and spooned out two servings of Laura’s delicious five-alarm chili. “Come, sit.” He placed the steaming bowls on the kitchen table. Then he reached into a cabinet for two glasses and poured iced tea from a pitcher that rested on the table.

Madeline dove into the chili, not realizing how hungry she was. Whew! It burned. How it was possible to be hungry after all the junk food she had eaten at the carnival only a while ago, she hadn’t a clue.

“Careful there, missy. It’s hot. And I don’t mean just spicy hot.”

Fanning her tongue, she replied, “Found that out.” She gulped her iced tea. “Seriously, Uncle Mark, you should go out more. It’s not good to stay home alone every night.”

He peered over his glasses. “I could say the same to you. You should be with young people. Get your own place with some roommates.”

She pretended to ignore his comment and hesitated before she took another bite. This time she blew on her spoon and waited. “Why would I want to live with a bunch of strangers? Just to hang out with people my own age? They’re not all that appealing sometimes.” She braved the chili instead of looking into her uncle’s face.

“Now, Maddie, we’ve been through this a hundred times. You’re all grown up and need to have your own life, not take care of an elderly uncle.” He patted her hand before diving into his dinner. “Ever since your Aunt Patty died, you felt the need to take her place.”

She turned her gaze the other way not wanting him to see the moisture forming in her eyes. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.” She’d be all alone in the world if she didn’t have him.

“Now, now, what’s this all about? Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’m fit as a fiddle.” He pounded his abdomen. “I have the abs of a thirty-year-old. Well, maybe a forty-year-old.”

When Madeline turned back to him with an arched brow, he admitted, “Oh, all right, a fifty-year-old, but a young fifty-year-old.”

“Sixty-year-old’s more like it,” she coughed out, which sounded like something between a sob and a laugh.

He reached for her hand and squeezed. “Now, what’s got you all upset? This is not about my health. Something’s troubling you.”

“It’s nothing.” She tried to shrug off his concern, but he knew her too well. He sat and watched her with worried eyes. “It’s nothing,” she repeated.

When he remained silent, but watchful, she decided if she couldn’t talk to the man who raised her like his own daughter since she was fifteen, then who could she share her problems with? He was after all, the only true father-figure she had ever known and he was her closest relative.

“It’s silly. But something happened at the carnival today that brought back memories and all sorts of feelings that I thought I had buried. Or at least come to terms with.”

“Go on,” he coaxed, making her feel safe, just like he had when her father died and her mother had all but abandoned her.

“I saw someone today that I haven’t seen in a long time. It must be at least eight years. Not since high school graduation. His nephew’s in my class.”

“An old friend?”

“Hardly. Joey O’Neill. Football jock. Dated only cheerleaders and athletic girls. Most of them blond. Never paid much attention to the girls on student council or the debating team. You know the type.”

He nodded. “Or the school newspaper staff?”

She turned away, unnerved by her uncle’s keen perception.

“O’Neill. Why does that name sound familiar? Do they go to our church?”

She shook her head to say no. “They go to the parish on the other side of town. But you remember the O’Neills. I used to talk about them all the time. I had a bit of a crush on Joey. They still live over on Oak Tree Court. In one of the old McMansions.”

When her uncle shrugged and shook his head, Madeline continued, “You know, five boys and one girl. All the boys were sports jocks. Come to think of it, so was Caitlin. They’re all lawyers now. Except Joey. He’s a cop. Mr. O’Neill is the patriarch of the family law firm.”

“Hmm, yes. I vaguely remember you mentioning them. So what about this Joey O’Neill has you upset? Did he dredge up some bad memories of high school?”

“He was at my school’s Fall Carnival today. Volunteering at the Pie-In-The-Face table.” She smiled when an image of a teenager pelting Joey with cream pies came rushing to her mind.

“Seems like you enjoyed something about seeing him today.”

Madeline waved her hand in the air. “You should have seen how many people lined up to throw pies at him.”

Uncle Mark narrowed his eyes. “Sounds like he’s made a few enemies.”

“No. You see, that’s what I thought at first too. But after watching all those people lining up and laughing, I realized it wasn’t
at
him, but
with
him. Well, with the exception of a bunch of rowdy teenagers.” She stood up and leaned against the counter, having the urge to move about. Damn that Joey O’Neill. Something about him had the power to make her feel a little uncomfortable. Even now.

“Maddie, sit down and finish your dinner. It’s getting cold.”

She looked at her uncle, the man who took her in as a troubled teen when her father died after a long struggle with cancer and left her an orphan. Prior to getting sick, her father had worked two jobs to pay the bills her mother had racked up and spent the rest of his time trying to keep her mother out of trouble. So Madeline was always an afterthought.

When her dad passed away, she was as close to being parentless as one could get. She could hardly count on her neglectful mother.

Uncle Mark, her mother’s only and much-older brother and his wife, Patty, were childless and had welcomed her as their own when her mother gave up her parental rights.

Madeline saw the worry on her Uncle Mark’s face today as clearly as she remembered it on several occasions during her teenage years with them. Like the time she broke her arm climbing out her bedroom window and falling out of the oak tree in the yard or the day she got her driver’s license.

Madeline slid back into the chair. She was acting irrationally. The last thing she wanted was to cause her uncle any grief. She might as well open up.

“Joey O’Neill always had everything in high school, Uncle Mark. He was popular, maybe the most popular guy in our grade. He was a football star, not merely a regular player. I should know. I wrote about it in the school newspaper every week. He always had a girlfriend. He went to the prom with the most popular girl and of course they were the Prom King and Queen.”

Uncle Mark leaned back in his chair, then stroked at a few white whiskers on his chin. “Maddie, I’m surprised to hear you talk this way. Those things never meant anything to you. Besides, you had said the prom was silly and, if I recall correctly, wouldn’t be caught dead there. And I bet if you had gone, you would have been the prettiest girl there.”

She smiled softly. “Of course you would say that, you’re my uncle.” How could she really admit to him what was bothering her? The truth was that no one had asked her. She had dreamed that Joey would ask her, but of course he didn’t. It was a fantasy on her part. Besides, Joey being popular and a jock, meant little to her. It was so much more than that.

As if sensing that, her uncle stood up. “This calls for a cup of tea.” He put the kettle on and set up the tea service tray.

While he did, she patted Rusty, then gave him some fresh water, mustering up the courage to reveal what truly bothered her. She searched for the right words. Words that expressed her pain without seeming ungrateful.

“When I saw Joey today, I realized he seemed to still have it all, Uncle Mark. Those people who threw pies at him were family and friends. Even old girlfriends! They weren’t angry with him, they wanted him back. How could a person like him have so much in his life? He doesn’t deserve it!”

She placed her hands on her face, ashamed to face her uncle. He was always so understanding of people.

“Maddie, what do you mean, a person like him?”

She mumbled into her hands, knowing how terrible her words would sound when they reached the air. “He’s a selfish person. Always was. I thought he was someone special, but the reality was he barely noticed me in high school. He didn’t remember me at all today.”

“Maddie, honey, this is so unlike you. Besides, that was years ago. He’s a man now. Probably very grown up.”

“Joey?” She forced a laugh. “He’s the type that never grows up. His nickname should be Peter Pan.”

“Madeline White, I never thought I’d see the day you of all people would judge another person so harshly.”

“I’m sorry. I must sound horrible, but it’s how I feel.” She added with a whisper, “You wanted to know what was bothering me.” She removed her hands from her face, but turned away so that she didn’t have to look her uncle in the eye. She had told him a snippet of the truth. She couldn’t possibly tell her trusted uncle the real reason she disliked Joey. She hadn’t told him before, when Joey and his friend Scott caused her world to turn upside down. Why talk about it now? What possible good would come from dredging up all the pain that Joey O’Neill and his friends had caused her in high school on one fateful night?

Uncle Mark turned off the whistling kettle and brought the tea service to the table. He let the tea steep as he said, “Let me get this straight. You’re mad at this Joey because you once had a crush on him, he didn’t reciprocate, and today he has a loving family and lots of friends and you feel he doesn’t deserve it.”

She opened her eyes wide. “Well, when you put it that way, I really do sound like an awful person. It’s more than that.”