Chapter 26
CARLY
"Mom, Johner, this is Carlita Menendez. Carly, this is my mom and dad, Sarah and Johner."
"Hi, Carly," Sarah smiled as she shook Carly’s hand. "It’s nice to meet you at last. We’ve been hearing good things about you for quite a while now."
"John said you were beautiful, and for once he wasn’t exaggerating!" Johner smiled down at her from his great height.
Carly was beautiful. Huge black
eyes looked out from a small face topped by luxuriant black curly hair.
She was very little,
smaller than Sarah. But her smile was sweet, and her handshake was
firm. Sarah liked her immediately.
Johner led the way to the kitchen, where he had dinner nearly ready. "You’ll have to sit in here if you want to eat my dinner. If I cook, people talk to me while I do it!" Johner grinned at Carly. "OK?"
"Sure." she smiled back. "You’re cooking dinner?"
"Didn’t I tell you?" John looked slyly at his mother. "My Mom is the greatest cook in the world---as long as you give her a pile of TV dinners and a microwave. I nearly starved to death before she found Johner. He does the cooking in this household, and believe me, it’s better that he does."
Sarah was indignant. "You ungrateful wretch! I raised you on TV dinners, and you grew up perfectly healthy." She turned to Johner with a sly look of her own. "I will admit that it’s handy to have Johner around, just to cook. And sometimes it’s pretty good."
Johner waved a wooden spoon threateningly. "That’s it! No dessert! People who make snide remarks about the cook get no dessert! I have spoken!"
Carly looked back and forth between them, unsure whether this was fun or not. John reached across the table to take her hand. "Don’t pay any attention to those two. They’re madly in love, even if you’d never know it to listen to’em right now. Wait’ll you come around a corner and catch’em smooching. My ears were red the whole first year Johner lived here."
"It was good for you. Taught you how it should be done." Johner grinned, still waving the spoon.
"Johner, you’re spreading spaghetti sauce all over the kitchen! Put that damn spoon down! I have to clean up in here, you know." Sarah smiled up at him, her face belying her severe tone.
Johner leaned over and kissed her, holding it for just a moment, then looking into Sarah’s eyes for a second more. "There, that’s how it’s done. Pay attention, you two."
*******
By the end of the meal, Carly was
relaxed and laughing; and when she and John went for a walk after dinner
for a chance to be alone, she told him what she thought of his family.
"John, they’re wonderful! I’ve never had fun with older people before. In my family---well, no one kissed anyone in front of us kids. I’m not sure they ever kissed at all, to tell you the truth. My mother put up with my father, I guess because she had to, but he was drunk a lot of the time; and he was always, drunk or sober, the macho man of the family. ---I didn’t like him much. I’m not sorry he’s dead, and I think my mother isn’t sorry either."
"It’s sad that you didn’t have a father you liked, Carly. I guess that can be worse than no father at all, like I had for most of my life. I’ve told you already that Johner isn’t really my father; but I feel like he is. I love them both. They’re the best!" John stopped walking and turned Carly to face him. "Carly---honey, I told them about you, about what happened to you."
She looked up at him, shocked. "You told them? Oh, John, I never thought you’d tell anyone! Why did you do that?" Her eyes filled as she looked at him.
"Don’t, cry, honey, please. I did what I thought was best, and I think it turned out to be best---what we’re doing now, this new arrangement we have, is straight from Johner. It was all his idea. He’s a really smart man, Carly, and the kindest man I ever met. I needed help, honey, I was totally lost. I had no idea what to do, but Johner knew right off. Please don’t be mad at me; I’ve been scared to tell you, I knew you wouldn’t like it, but I think it was really the right thing."
"What did you tell them? How much?"
"Just the bare fact, nothing else."
"Oh. I guess that’s not so bad." She looked at him thoughtfully. "And he gave some good advice. I guess I should be glad you told him."
"Thanks, honey, for making the effort to understand." John put his arms around her, and she responded immediately, snuggling closer in his arms, her body tight against his. His head went back, his eyes closed; but he stood still, not tightening his arms, making no move to advance the embrace.
*******
"How’s it going, John? If
you think I shouldn’t be asking, shut me up. I won’t be hurt."
Johner smiled.
"No, no, Johner; you’ve got a right to ask. It’s going very well, I guess. Carly is very happy with our new arrangement. I told her tonight that you both knew about what happened to her; when I told her how much I needed help, and that this whole thing was your idea, she was OK with it.
"I think it’s working so far, Johner. If I live through it! It’s damn hard sometimes, but Carly is much more understanding of that than I thought she would be. We’ve talked about how hard it is for me, even. You know, there’s nothing we can’t say to each other any more. Boy, have we talked! We’ve been through all of the things that people usually try to hide; there’s nothing left that we don’t know about each other. So when one of us feels uncomfortable or unhappy about something, we just say so. It’s great!"
Johner smiled, amused. "It’s called intimacy, John."
"Is that what that means! Well, I’m all for it, then." John grinned. "I’ve got a lot to thank you for, Johner."
"No. You’ve done it; I just pointed out the path. It’s a great feeling, I agree. Intimacy with another human being makes us not alone any more." Johner looked away from John, up at the ceiling. "I guess I know about as much as anyone about being alone. Your mom has made a new world for me, and I thank the gods for her every single day of my life." He looked back at John and smiled, a little shyly. "Sorry. Didn’t mean to get sentimental."
John touched his arm. "Don’t apologize. I guess I’m finally growing up, Johner; that didn’t embarrass me at all. I was glad you told me."
"I guess you are growing up. That’s good, ‘cause you’ve got a ways to go yet with Carlita. By the way, John, your mom and I both like her very much. Good choice, son."
"Johner, that’s the first time you’ve
ever called me that. As long as we’re being sentimental, I feel like
I’m your son, and it feels damn good!" John moved to hug Johner,
and Johner held him for a minute, then spoke softly. "I love you,
John." John looked up at him with affection and replied, "I
love you, too. I guess that’s the way it’s supposed to work in families,
right?"