The Challenge(57)

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—

They were out the door in five minutes. Tom insisted on driving, and they took his truck because it was heavier. He had four-wheel drive and snow tires. Marlene cried most of the way there.

“He had an accident because he saw us,” she said to Tom.

“No, he had an accident because he was drunk, even before he saw us. Although he may have drunk more after he did. But he was drunk when he left the house. I smelled it.” He was determined to tell her the truth so she would face it.



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—

It took them an hour and a half to get to Saint Vincent’s, and Justin was awake when they arrived. He had a gash on his head and had had five stitches, a moderate concussion, and a broken arm. The injuries were adding up. The ER doctor recommended a few days of bed rest, and Tylenol for the pain. He was lucky he hadn’t been killed. He’d hit a tree when his car slid on black ice. His license had been suspended for ninety days for driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana. As a first offense, which was a misdemeanor, he would have a five hundred dollar fine, and would have to go to a chemical dependency education course.

They rolled him out of the hospital in a wheelchair, and he got in the back seat of Tom’s truck.

“Nice of you both to put your clothes on before you picked me up,” he said angrily. He was hostile and still drunk. It struck Tom how different he was now, since the summer and his father’s death. He was bitter, angry, and frightened, despite the bravado and aggressive words and behavior.

“Nice of you to total your car, risk your life, get a DUI, and worry your mother to death. You’re better than that, Justin.” Tom didn’t pull any punches.

“How would you know?” Justin shouted at him. Marlene sat in the front seat, crying with her eyes closed. It was two in the morning by then. “You’re a couple of cheaters.”

“I never cheated on your father,” she said from the front seat.

“You are now,” Justin said irrationally.

“Your mother is a widow. She’s a respectable woman, she’s no longer married, and I love her,” Tom said in a stone-cold voice, and Justin didn’t answer.

When they got to Marlene’s house, Justin stumbled up the steps to his room, and lay down on his bed with his clothes on. He was still drunk and belligerent. Marlene offered to help him undress and he told her to get out of his room, which she did, and she quietly closed the door. There was no alcohol left in his room, so he couldn’t get any more drunk than he already was.

“Do you want me to stay?” Tom asked her, and she shook her head.

“You’d better not. It’ll only make him worse if you’re here.” Tom nodded, kissed her on the cheek, and left a minute later. Marlene went to her room, lay down, and waited to see what Justin would do. He didn’t come out of his room again. She checked him in the morning and he was sound asleep, still dressed. She made breakfast for Noel, who looked calm.

“Did he come home last night?” he asked her. He had seen the note but hadn’t heard his brother come in.

“Yes, he did.” She didn’t tell him in what condition or that he’d had a DUI.

“I thought he would,” he said as he kissed her, grabbed his backpack, and left to catch the school bus.

Justin didn’t emerge until noon, and said he had a terrible headache.

“I suspect that’s the alcohol you drank, and not the concussion,” she said quietly, and handed him a Tylenol. He took it and went back to bed. She walked into his room a few hours later, and sat down on his bed. He was lying there, awake. He looked at her but didn’t say anything. She could see that he was sober. Noel wasn’t home yet.

“Tom thinks you have a problem with alcohol. We found seven bottles and some marijuana in your room yesterday.” He shot up to a sitting position and then winced and held his head.

“You had no right to go through my things!” he shouted at her.

“I had every right. I’m your mother. This is my house, and you were drunk, and driving. Tom thinks you should go to rehab. What do you think?” she asked in a gentle tone.

“I think you’re a bitch, and Tom is an asshole!” he shouted at her. “And I won’t go to rehab. You can’t make me!” She didn’t know if she could or not, but if he didn’t want it, it wouldn’t do him any good, and he wouldn’t benefit from it. She stood up and didn’t answer him. She walked out of his room and closed the door behind her. She didn’t want to push it. The poor child had been through so much.





Chapter 17


Justin went back to school four days later. He had to take the school bus now, which was humiliating. The small car his parents had given him the year before was unsalvageable, and Marlene didn’t intend to replace it until he stopped drinking.

He was slightly more civil to Marlene when he went back to school, but barely. She told Tom not to come by because she didn’t want to provoke Justin, and she wanted things to calm down. She went to see Tom at his house on the nights that Juliet was at her mother’s house, which was unpredictable, since they were no longer on a schedule, and Juliet could come and go. It was on demand, according to what Juliet wanted.

He and Marlene hadn’t had sex since the scene Justin had witnessed. It just seemed safer not to until things settled down. And the whole episode had dampened their ardor a little.