Absolutely Unforgivable(68)
She agreed that was mostly likely for the best to not worry him while he was away and said she wouldn’t tell him. But in return I had to promise to come to her house for lunch tomorrow. I agreed but reminded her I had to take along Vin.
She smiled and patted his stomach. “Good. I was wondering how much food it took to fill that boy up. Guess tomorrow we’ll find out.” Billy walked her to her car and I made my way to the bedroom to get ready.
The next afternoon when Vin and I arrived at Debbie’s house, we were both surprised by the feast she had laid out for us. Food was everywhere. There were little plates of perfectly cut squares of cheese, tiny little sandwiches with the crust cut off, bite sized burgers and an assortment of fruits. My favorite was the pastel colored deviled eggs. They were absolutely scrumptious. I’m not sure but I think there was just a hint of dill in there. Debbie had really outdone herself. It was all just so good. Vin filled his plate with food and then walked into the living room to give Debbie and I some privacy.
Debbie had set out some photo albums of when Jeromy was in high school. The more I browsed through the pages, the more I began to realize how often Billy was pictured with him. Not just at school functions either. He was even in family photos, like at Christmas and Thanksgiving. There really wasn’t a picture of Jeromy and his family where Billy wasn’t present.
I was starting to wonder about that when Debbie spoke. “I think it was their sophomore year when Billy’s parents died and he came to live with us. We took him in and raised him like he was our own and have loved him just as dearly ever since. I guess the boys were both about fifteen at the time.”
I knew that Jeromy and Billy had been close, but this was different. They weren’t just great friends, they were like real brothers.
“How did his parents die? Billy seems still really torn up about it, like it was somehow his fault.”
She paused for a moment as if she was remembering that fateful event and then she shook her head. “It really wasn’t his fault. It was just a horrible accident. Billy had gotten into a fight at school and broke his arm. The hospital called his parents who were out of town at the time. They took the next flight so they could be with their son. They loved him dearly. He was their whole world.”
She let out a soft sigh and continued. “They said it was mechanical failure caused by a bolt of lightning that hit one of the engines. It took a few weeks but they were finally able to recover most of the bodies, including Mr. and Mrs. Snow. Billy always blamed himself for that accident, thinking that if he hadn’t been in that fight and landed himself in the hospital they wouldn’t have been on that plane. Despite my best efforts to persuade him otherwise, sharing with him the word of the Lord and that it was just their time, there was just no convincing him otherwise.”
I was consumed by grief for Billy’s tragedy. My stomach twisted into knots just thinking about it. I had known that his parents had died, but I had no idea how bad it really was and how it has torn at him his entire life, while he blamed himself for what had taken place.
“Billy stayed with us until after graduation. Then he was eighteen and able to access his inheritance which included some money in a trust and quite a few houses around town that his parents owned and rented out. Everyone thought he would move back into his childhood home but he didn’t. He said it was too painful, too many ghosts. So my husband and I helped him go through all of the different houses he now owned until he found one he liked and that’s the place in the Woodlands. He’s been there ever since.”
I took a deep breath and tried my best to hold back the tears that I felt now forming in my eyes. Debbie rubbed my shoulder lovingly. “Now, now. I didn’t mean to make you cry. You dry those pretty eyes of yours and start eating some of this food before Vin devours it all.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I looked up and seen Vin had returned for his third plate.
“I can’t help it. It’s all just so good,” he said as he popped a bite-sized pizza puff in his mouth and made his way back to the living room. He was right. Jeromy’s mom was an amazing cook.
After we finished with lunch I looked through more of her photo albums of Jeromy and Billy growing up. Jeromy looked much different than he did now. He was a lot skinnier and had a boyish look about him, vastly different from the manly man that he had grown up to be. He’s now far more muscular with a firmer jaw and broader shoulders. Billy, however, wasn’t hard to recognize. He looked exactly the same at seventeen as he did now at twenty-six, only his hairstyle was different and he didn’t have any facial hair back then.