Judging Joey (6 page)

“Well, I should hope so. I thought I raised a caring, thoughtful person, and that’s the person I see sitting here in front of me.”

She smiled again. Her uncle would love her no matter what kind of person she was, but she wanted to clear the air and fast. Even if she couldn’t tell him the whole truth, she could spare some of it. Madeline only hoped she didn’t hurt his feelings too badly. “Uncle Mark, you’re the last person I want to harm.”

He patted her hand. “Go on, child, say what you really mean.”

A wave of apprehension swept over her, but she pressed on, determined to reveal some of her feelings. “I realized I’ll never have what he has. I know I have cousins on Aunt Patty’s side, but she’s gone now and they’re not my blood relatives . . . and, besides, they live all over the country. You’re the only close relative I have. I don’t have siblings, never will. When I saw the O’Neill family there today sticking together, it reminded me of how sometimes I get so worried about being alone. When you’re gone, I’ll be all by myself. Life’s already been so unfair to me.”

“Maddie, life’s not fair. We all have our own paths to take. You suffered a great loss when you were young. You have to trust there’s a reason for everything.”

“So what’s the reason for my principal asking Joey to speak to my class on respecting others after the assembly next week?”

Her uncle’s bushy eyebrows rose in surprise. “You’re kidding? Well, that’s an interesting turn.”

“Is it?” Madeline poured the tea into two china cups. “I find it ludicrous. The man thinks only of himself. How’s he going to help my students respect other people’s feelings when he doesn’t?”

“Give the man a chance. He may surprise you now that he’s grown.”

“Doubtful.” She sipped her tea. “Trust me, no good will come of it.”

He reached for the teacup she offered him. “I have a feeling there’s more to this story than you’re telling me.”

She drew in a deep breath and nodded. Her uncle was too perceptive sometimes. “Something happened in high school that changed everything for me. And it was all because of Joey and his moronic, immature friends.”

“What was it? What did they do? Did they hurt you?”

She took in a deep breath and sighed. “Not physically, but what they did was unforgivable. They played a horrible prank, Uncle Mark. Then his friend Scott spread awful rumors about me. Joey, his family, everyone believed him. It ruined everything for me. High school was never the same.”

Tears welled up and she grabbed a napkin from the table to wipe them away.

“Your aunt and I always suspected something had happened, but you never would say. No matter how many times we asked, you wouldn’t open up.”

“I’ve cried enough tears because of Joey, and I won’t any more. What’s passed is in the past. I will tell you that his prank cost me my best friend. She started to believe the rumor and never talked to me again.”

Her uncle paled and sat back in the chair. Tears welled in his eyes. “What was the rumor, Maddie?”

Ten years ago Madeline had wanted to spare her uncle and aunt any heartache because of all the good they had done for her, and now she was doing exactly the opposite of her intention. She blew out a sigh. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore right now. You understand, don’t you, Uncle Mark?”

Her uncle remained silent. She wished she could erase the stunned look on his face.

“I’m so sorry, my Maddie.”

They sat quietly for a few moments, lost in their own thoughts, sipping their tea.

Her uncle looked up. “Something doesn’t make sense. You don’t have to answer, but promise me you’ll mull it over. If Joey and his family blamed you ten years ago, why would they allow their boy in your class? What’s his name again?”

“Christopher.”

“Yes.” He went back to his tea. “It doesn’t add up.”

Her uncle was right. Something didn’t make sense. True, she’d changed her last name to White when she turned eighteen. It was her uncle’s surname and since she perceived him to be her real father, she decided to take his name. After graduation, she had wanted a new start. Taking a new name was only the beginning.

She had changed her appearance, too. Got contact lenses, grew her hair long, and had it straightened. Eventually the braces came off, and she worked on making her body physically fit. So yes, she looked a lot different. But she didn’t buy that the O’Neills didn’t recognize her.

Nope, her uncle was right. Something was off. She didn’t really know Caitlin in high school and apparently she didn’t make a lasting impression on Joey, but wouldn’t they have put the pieces together by now? He was a cop and she a lawyer—both professions in which people were naturally inquisitive. Curiously, they both treated her pleasantly when they first met this school year.

Now, she had no intention of ever allowing someone to hurt her like that once more. She gazed into her uncle’s sympathetic eyes. “You’re right, something doesn’t add up. I will get to the bottom of it. But regardless of what I find out, I will never forgive Joey for what he and his friends did. Not ever.”

Chapter 5

Joey dragged a bag of dirty laundry from the passenger side of his black Hyundai Sonata and flung it over his shoulder. As he lugged it up the long driveway to his parents’ five-bedroom center hall colonial, and spotted his sister and aunt’s cars already parked there, he continued to question why they had interrupted his basketball game. What was so important that they couldn’t wait until tomorrow afternoon when he did his usual Saturday laundry?

Not only had they summoned him during a game, but his dad had insisted that Joey cancel his evening plans with his friends altogether and have dinner with the family. So Joey had to go back to his condo, take another fast shower, and grab his laundry. Might as well kill two birds and all that, he had thought.

Now at his parents’, Joey reached for the brass handle on the glass storm door and yanked it open. Then he twisted the knob on the solid wood door and pushed. It was unlocked.

They were waiting for him.

He automatically spied left, expecting to see his family sitting at the dining room table. Instead, he found them to his right in the formal living room.

His parents sat upright perched on the edge of his mother’s new cream-colored couch. Caitlin and Kevin sat together on the matching loveseat with Kylie hugging her doll on Caitlin’s lap and Christopher, on the floor, playing a hand-held video game.

And then there was Aunt Nora, who stood in the corner near one of his mother’s fake potted plants, a cell phone plastered to her ear.

Joey dropped his laundry bag on the floor. “What’s this about? What’s going on? Did something happen to Pat Jr. and Paula on their vacation? Their kids?”

Joey’s mother leaped up from the couch and pointed to the laundry. “I’ll take care of that later.” She tapped on a folding chair that sat apart from the rest of them. “Sit here, sweetheart.”

Joey stood at ease, but firm in his stance. “Something’s happened. Don’t sugarcoat it. Give me the news straight out. I can take it. Did a hurricane hit their ship?”

Caitlin cut in. “Nothing’s happened to Pat and his family. They’re having a great time on their cruise in the Caribbean. Not a tropical storm in sight.”

“We need to talk to you about . . .” As his mother searched for her words, his father stood up to join her.

“Son, there’s a problem that needs addressing. We planned on holding a family meeting next weekend when everyone could be here, but circumstances have changed.”

Joey turned the seat around and straddled it. “What’s the problem?” He surveyed his family. “Is it Eddie? Is that why he’s not here? Is it James or Jeff?”

His father shook her head. “No, your brothers and their families are fine. In fact, Eddie’s at the office, but he’s on speakerphone.” He pointed to the cordless phone on a side table.

“Hey, bro, the twins and their families planned on coming down next weekend. James and Jeff are going to be sore they missed out on all the fun.” Ed’s voice streamed through the phone. “Sorry I can’t be there in person. Had to finish these briefs. Abby sends her regrets, too. She’s right here.”

“Hi, Joey.” His sister-in-law’s positive voice piped through as well. “I’m leaving now to go relieve the
au pair
. She’s probably ready to tear her hair out with our rambunctious boys.” Abby laughed. “But you know how eight- and ten-year olds can be. Bye, everyone.”

Joey turned to the others for answers. Then he threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “Someone had better enlighten me.”

“It’s an intervention!” Aunt Nora squeaked, still speaking to someone on the phone.

“A what?” Had they all gone crazy? Or maybe he was actually asleep and was having a weird dream. He slapped himself across the cheek. It stung. No, he was wide-awake.

“Hold on a minute,” Nora said into the phone. Then she turned to Joey. “The meeting’s about you. You and all your girlfriends. They don’t want you bringing them here anymore.”

His mother folded her arms and frowned at her sister. “Let
us
explain!” she scolded.

“Get on with it then.” Nora pointed to the phone. “Everyone’s waiting.”

Joey frowned. “Aunt Nora, who’s on the phone?”

“Just your Uncle Simon.” Nora held out the phone. “Say hello, you’re on speaker.”

Joey rolled his eyes. “Mom, what’s happening here?”

His aunt continued and pointed again to the phone, “Your Uncle Simon wouldn’t miss this for the world, sugar, but a big customer’s site crashed, and he’s at the office trying to fix it. You know how it is when you own your own business. You would think he was performing brain surgery, like it was life or death or something, but you know people and their computers.”

A quick glance at her twin was all Nora needed to put the phone back to her ear. She faced away from them, but everyone could hear what she said to her husband. “I’ll text you what goes on. I won’t skip any of the details, don’t worry.”

His mother put her hands on her hips. “Nora, dinner’s ready. Why don’t you take Christopher inside to get started?”

Nora huffed, then pouted. Realizing her identical twin meant business, she backed down. “Okay, but talk loud enough so I can hear you.” Ignoring her twin’s disapproving look, Nora plastered a smile on her face as she strolled toward the kitchen. “Come on, Christopher, let the grownups talk. We’ll eat. You can show me that game of yours.”

Christopher jumped up and ran to grasp Nora’s outstretched hand. His giggles echoed behind as they left.

“What was she talking about? What’s this about my girlfriends?” Joey demanded.

“We’ve wanted to talk to you about your, um, carefree lifestyle for some time now,” his father said. “In fact, we had a family meeting planned for next weekend like I said before. But your sister became alarmed today when you talked about how much harder the Safety position is than you thought. Is this true, son? You’re not thinking of changing career paths, are you?”

His father paused briefly, then continued, “And why were your old girlfriends there? I say, son, that was quite awkward for your mother and me. But especially for your sister. Christopher goes to that school. How is she supposed to explain to her son why all Uncle Joey’s ex-girlfriends are at a school function?”

Joey stole a glance at his sister. It hadn’t occurred to him that his three blond friends would have approached his parents or his sister and her family. Of course he could count on his parents and sister to be civil. They were probably downright pleasant to his old girlfriends. “I had no idea they would be there,” he protested.

His father frowned and his mother pursed her lips together and tapped her foot waiting for him to explain himself.

Joey raked a hand through his hair and scowled.
Can’t the past ever be the past around here?
He had no control over what his ex-girlfriends did in their spare time. And he had only changed career paths three times since high school, and once was through no fault of his own.

He had had great plans to play college football, but a shoulder injury late in his senior year during a practice game killed his dreams to ever play football professionally. Then he decided he might as well be a lawyer like everyone else in his family. He went to college, but during his first year at law school he decided being a lawyer was not for him. He took a few months off and then decided to be a cop. And he was good at it. No, he was great at it. So what if it took him a while to find his true calling?

And what was with his sister? Didn’t Caitlin have enough on her plate than to stir up trouble for him?

“Geez, Dad, I was joking about the job being a pain. Everyone jokes about their jobs.” Glaring now at his sister, he said, “Can’t you recognize a joke any more, Caitlin? Ever since you got married and had kids, you’ve lost your sense of humor. What happened?” He fixed his gaze on Kevin. “No offense to you.”

Caitlin handed Kylie and her doll over to Kevin and stood up pointing a finger at Joey. “It’s called growing up, Joey. And responsibility and humor are two different things. Maybe you need to check a dictionary.”

Joey stood up, and Kevin rolled his eyes. “Oh, boy. I’m going to duck and cover with Aunt Nora in the kitchen.”

His father waved at them to sit back down, so no one budged. His mother began explaining, wringing her hands together as she did. “Joey, about your many girlfriends. We’ve been discussing—”

“Your endless string of girlfriends,” Caitlin interjected, frowning. “It’s unacceptable.”

Joey narrowed his eyes. Aunt Nora was right. This was some sort of intervention. Except right now it was beginning to appear like an inquisition. “Unacceptable? And since when did my love life become a topic of discussion around here?” Joey barked, unfazed by Caitlin’s intimidation tactics.

“Since our children started to ask questions,” said Caitlin in her older sister, ‘I’m the boss of you,’ tone. Kevin put his hand on his wife’s arm as a warning to keep the peace.

“What kind of questions?” Joey leaned forward and narrowed his eyes.

Eddie chimed in on the speakerphone. “Our kids are getting older. We’ve noticed that they’re starting to get attached to your girlfriends. When you bring these women to family functions, the kids think they’re part of our family, then when you’re with a new girlfriend, they want to know what happened to the last one. They’re getting confused.”

Caitlin referred to her husband.

Kevin nodded and squeezed her hand. “Joey, your love life is your business, but when our children get upset, it becomes our business.”

His dad nodded in agreement with his son-in-law’s statement.

But his mother looked sheepish. “It’s not as if we don’t like your friends, sweetheart, but we’d rather not see so many of them. You should continue to have as many as you wish. If that’s what you want.”

“Son, what your mother’s trying to say is that you’re young, you should meet a lot of nice people before you’re ready to settle down. We just don’t need to meet them all. Or any. Not until you’ve met
the one
.”

“It’s not fair to your nieces and nephews,” Caitlin added. “They don’t understand that your dates are not their aunts, and when you move on to the next girlfriend, they get upset when they never see the other ones. Pat, Eddie, James, and Jeff’s kids have all made comments. Christopher’s especially sensitive.”

Joey scratched at his head. “I guess I never thought of it that way.” He sat back down and pressed into the chair. It hadn’t occurred to him that his life impacted his family. “You make it sound like I have a revolving door and a new girl walks in every moment.”

Caitlin shrugged. “It feels that way to us sometimes. Try explaining that to a child.”

Nora hovered near the entryway of the living room. “Is the intervention over? What did I miss? Christopher made me play his video contraption with the music on.”

Kevin rose. “Come on,” he said to Nora, “I’ll fill you in on what’s happened so far while we get dinner on the dining room table.”

Nora smiled and winked. “Not done yet?” She held her arms out for Kylie. “I’ll take care of her, sugar. It’ll give you more time to straighten this out.”

When Nora was out of earshot, Joey muttered, “There’s nothing to straighten out. No big deal. So I won’t bring all my dates here.”

His family shook their heads almost in unison. His parents’ unusual silence magnified their disapproval.

Joey spoke up louder this time. “Okay, so I’ll only bring girls here that I’m serious with.”

“You’re never serious with anyone,” Caitlin quickly pointed out. “Remember, oh what was her name, Kristen, or Kirsten . . .”

“Kirstie,” Eddie shouted from the phone. “Yes, you two were inseparable for about a month. We never saw you apart.”

“Until, he found out that she didn’t like dogs. That was the end of Kirstie,” Caitlin said, shaking her head.

“How could I be with a woman who doesn’t like dogs?” He turned to his parents for support. “You know if I was allowed a dog in my condo, I’d have one. When I own my place I’m going to get a dog.”

“I don’t know why you don’t just move back home. You’re here all the time anyway. Could save so much money if you weren’t paying for that apartment,” his father grumbled.

“Dad, when are you going to accept the fact that I’m a grown man?”

“Uh, maybe when you stop bringing your laundry here, and eating Mom’s cooking every night.” Caitlin jabbed him in the arm.

“I don’t eat here every night.”

His sister rolled her eyes.

His dad spoke next, taking a moment to find the right words again. “Your friends come and go, and until you’re serious about someone, we ask that you don’t bring them here.” His father nodded and patted his stomach. “Now that that’s settled, Natalie, why don’t we get dinner on the table?”

His mother smiled in agreement. “Yes, Nora’s probably texting away and Christopher’s probably filling up on bread.”

His father put an arm around his mother’s shoulder and led her toward the kitchen.

Joey knew that must have been hard for his parents to say and he didn’t take offense, but he didn’t get why everyone made a big deal about it. “I’m not even dating someone now.”

Caitlin opened her eyes wider. “That’s hard to believe. You didn’t have a date last night?”

“Nope. I helped Alex paint her townhouse and we ate Chinese takeout. She’s having a hard time getting over George. She’s trying to get a fresh start.”

“You actually did the painting?” Caitlin asked, clearly doubting him.

“Why’s that so hard to believe? I’ve painted before.”

Caitlin let that sink in, then shook her head. “True, but you helped out a friend on a Thursday night instead of going out. What’s come over you?” She pressed the inside of her wrist to his forehead. “No fever.”