on. “I know where they were going,” I told Mom. “I’ll go look for her.” I jammed my bare feet into my dress shoes and didn’t bother tying them.
Gina sat up and rubbed sleep from her eyes. Her tan lines drew my eyes to her breasts, and I reminded myself that I had more important things to do than enjoy the scenery.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Erin isn’t home yet.”
“She was with Leah,” she said in alarm.
“They’re probably fine.” I shrugged into my shirt and snatched the car keys from the desk.
Gina climbed out of bed and put on my suit coat. It still had the boutonnière pinned to the lapel. I almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
We were halfway across the living room when the front door opened.
Erin came in. She thanked someone we couldn’t see and closed the door.
Then she locked it and leaned forward. Her forehead made a soft thump when it touched the wood.
Mom cleared her throat.
Erin jumped and dropped her keys. She picked them up and came into the living room.
We looked at her.
She looked back.
“Well…?” Mom said at last.
“Well what?”
The silence drew out.
“Do we have to do this now?” Erin limped toward the bathroom, and I realized she was walking on one shoe. She was carrying the other one. Its heel was missing.
Mom tailed her into the bathroom.
Gina and I looked at each other and followed.
Erin lifted the toilet lid, unceremoniously hiked up her dress, and sat. She breathed a deep sigh and let loose a stream of pee.
I glanced at Mom to see if she’d noticed that Erin wasn’t wearing panties.
Either way, she didn’t say anything.
“Sorry I’m late,” Erin said. She laughed and wiped her smeared mascara.
“What happened?” Mom said with more composure than I’d have given her credit for.
“What’s it look like?” Erin said testily. She knew it was the wrong tone.
“Sorry. It’s been a long night.” She took a deep breath and wearily crossed her arms over her bare legs. “After the reception we went to a club. The Limelight.”
“I know it,” Mom said neutrally.
“We had fun and didn’t do anything stupid. When it was time to leave, we couldn’t get a taxi. There was this… guy,” she added, clearly a polite alternative to what she was thinking.
“The guy from the reception?” I said in alarm.
“No. Another one. We met him there. He followed us when we left, wouldn’t take no for an answer. He was groping me. Mark told him to knock it off. They got in a fight, and—”
“Wait,” I said. “Mark got in a fight?”
“Yeah. We needed you, though. You’d’ve taken this guy apart. Mark…”
Her shoulders shook with a humorless laugh. “Well, he can’t fight for shit.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“I know,” she continued, “you were with Gina. I get it. Nice to see you, by the way,” she said to her. “Sorry we didn’t have much chance to talk at the reception.”
“It’s okay,” Gina said. “Is Leah all right?”
“I’m getting to that,” Erin snapped. “Just hold your horses.”
Gina looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
I’d never seen Erin like that either.
“Anyway,” she went on, “the bouncers broke up the fight. Someone inside must’ve called the cops, though. They showed up and threatened to arrest us all. Underage drinking, drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace.
Fucking morons,” she muttered darkly.
All three of us blinked in shock. Erin wasn’t a choirgirl, but she usually didn’t swear like a sailor.
“How’d you get out of it?” I said.
“The bouncers backed up our story. The… guy… was some kind of drug dealer. So they said. I’m pretty sure the cops planted the drugs, though.
Assholes. They arrested him. Not for what he did to me, but for some trumped-up bullshit charge. ‘Just Say No,’” she mocked. “Fucking police care more about drugs than sexual assault. We should file a complaint with the mayor or something.”
“We’ll look into it,” Mom said dryly.
“I mean it, Mom! Don’t fucking patronize me!”
“Whoa,” I said. “Take a chill pill, Erin. We were worried about you.”
“Then where were you when we needed you!” She sobbed, and I realized she was scared more than angry.
“I’m really sorry, Er.”
“We should’ve gone with you,” Gina said.
Erin savagely tore off some toilet paper and used it to wipe her eyes.
“How’d you get home?” Mom asked.
“The cops brought us. Well, the other cops did. The assholes who arrested the guy were just going to leave us. But more cops showed up, and they knew Mark’s stepfather. They dropped Leah and him off first. At your parents’ house,” she said to Gina. “Then they brought me home. They were actually pretty cool. They walked me to the door and everything. Made sure I was safe.”
“That was very nice of them,” Mom said. She turned to us. “Why don’t you two go back to bed.” She knelt in front of Erin and brushed her hair out of her face. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“Oh, Mom,” she sobbed, and flung her arms around her, “I didn’t know what to do! I was so scared!”
“I know, sweetheart. It’s all right. I’ve got you.”
Gina put a hand on my arm. I nodded, and we retreated to the hall. I pulled the bathroom door closed behind us.
“Is everything all right?” Susan asked. “I heard voices.”
“Erin had a bit of a scare. She’s okay now.”
“Does she need any help?”
I looked over my shoulder and thought about it. “Probably not. It’s…
hard to explain.”
“I think they need some mother-daughter time,” Gina said.
“Oh.”
“We should probably go back to bed,” I added.
We said goodnight, and Gina and I returned to my bedroom. I closed the door and let out a long sigh.
“I dunno ’bout you,” I said, “but I’m wide awake.”
“No kidding.” She looked at me for a moment. “You handled that very well. They’d’ve started arguing if you hadn’t been there.”
“Mom and Erin have a… rocky… relationship. It isn’t really either of their faults.”
“It’s the same with my mom and Leah.”
I nodded. Then I thought of something. “How come you never had problems like that?”
“Oh, I did. But never like Leah. She’s always been difficult. Kara and I used to think she was switched at birth or dropped on her head.”
I chuckled.
“Seriously. I don’t understand what her problem is. Mom just wants the best for us.”
“Yeah, but Leah wants something different.”
“Don’t tell me you agree with her.”
“Not saying I do,” I lied. “I just know Leah doesn’t want to be a doctor.”
I knew a lot more than that, but I didn’t want to start an argument. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? I mean, she isn’t standing in my bedroom half-naked.”
I reached inside the coat and tweaked her nipple.
“How can you think about sex? At a time like this?”
“What else am I s’posed to think about? Besides, look at you. You’d make the Pope stand up and take notice. A certain part of him, at least.”
She laughed. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Yeah, but you love it.”
“You’re right,” she said at last. “I do.”
I woke up at the usual time and cursed my internal alarm clock. I’d been asleep less than two hours. Gina was warm beside me in bed, so I caressed her bare bottom. I thought about nudging her awake with my hard-on, but she was sleeping so soundly that I decided to let her continue.
I had to go to the bathroom—part of the reason I had an erection in the first place—so I slid out of bed. I didn’t bother to cover up since I didn’t think anyone else would be awake.