A LOT OF TROUBLE
Chapter Four
"Here? Where?" mumbled Judith as she rubbed her eyes.
"At the hospital."
She was awake instantly. No, this wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.
"Lennie, are you sure?"
He was already getting out of the car and turned to stare at her. "Sure about what?"
"Me. I mean, do you want me here?"
"I asked you to come, didn't I?" And he got out and started toward the building.
Judith had to scramble out of the car and run to catch up with him. When she did, he said, "Don't go all phobic on me now, Judith."
"No, it's not that. It's just. . . Is this the best time?"
"We don't seem to have any choice about that."
He wasn't getting it and apparently was not going to. She had no choice except to try and keep up with him.
They found out that Intensive Care was on the fourth floor. Judith almost couldn't get on the elevator – an elevator in a hospital. Two phobias in one. She made a major effort not to let the panic show. As they got off the elevator, Lennie clutched her arm tightly and it sank in that he really did need her support.
In the waiting area, a young man was stretching on a couch as if he'd just woken up.
"Bill!" called Lennie, as he recognized his son-in-law.
"Lennie – you're here."
The two men embraced, and Lennie asked about Jake.
"The same as when Julia talked to you. Stable. That's all they're saying."
"How's Julia holding up?"
"About like you'd expect. She won't leave him, but I try to get her to come out here and take little breaks now and then."
Judith was trying to look inconspicuous, but she could tell that the son-in-law was wondering who she was.
Fortunately, Lennie remembered she was there and mumbled an introduction.
"Miss Sandler," Bill said, shaking her hand. "Thank you for coming up here with Lennie." And it didn't seem to Judith that the young man thought her presence was strange in the least, and she was grateful for that.
"I'm so very sorry about what's happened to your son."
"Thank you. Lennie, you want to go in? Julia is going to be really glad you're here. They're only letting two people at a time in with him right now."
"Yeah. I gotta see them."
Bill directed Lennie to the room and rejoined her. "You may as well sit down, Miss Sandler. I'm afraid you've let yourself in for a lot of waiting."
"That's okay. And it's 'Judith,' please. I just hope everything will be okay."
"We all do. So, how's he doing?"
"I don't know exactly. He hasn't said much, but I know he's very worried – and very angry."
"Yes, that would be Lennie. I'm glad you've been with him. Terrible time to be alone. You know him long?"
"Um," Judith was trying to figure out how to answer that one. Well, we've been, um, going out for about six months."
"Then you probably know about Julia's sister?"
She nodded.
"That's why this is doubly hard on both of them."
"Yes, I've been thinking about that."
"Will you be okay here? I've got to go make a call. We're having trouble getting in touch with Julia's mother, and I promised her I'd try again."
Julia's mother! That was an aspect of this Judith hadn't considered. Oh, God! Lennie's ex! But of course she would be here. Jake was her grandson, too.
"You can't reach her?" Judith asked dully.
"She and her husband are in London. They've gone to the country, and their hotel doesn't know how to reach them. We're hoping they're back by now."
"Yes, yes – of course. Go make your call. I'll be fine."
London, England, Judith prayed. Or better yet, London, Madagascar – if there was a London there. And then she realized that was very selfish. She knew that Julia probably needed her mother very much right now. She just hoped she'd be somewhere else when the woman arrived. And maybe Jake would be just fine, and maybe she wouldn't have to come at all. But the somber atmosphere of Intensive Care left little room for that hope – at least that it was going to be anytime soon. She leaned back and closed her eyes and wondered how Lennie was doing in the room with Jake and Julia.
In a few minutes Bill returned, looking slightly relieved.
"I. . . I guess you reached them."
"Yes, thank God. She's going to get a flight as soon as she can."
Julia tried to calculate how long that and the travel time might take.
Just then Lennie emerged from the room with Julia. Judith could recognize her from pictures. Lots of dark curly hair.
"Bill? Go sit with him, please. I'll be right back in."
As they passed each other, Bill briefly hugged his wife and told her about reaching her mother.
"Judith," said Julia, extending her hand. "Dad told me about your coming up here with him. It's great that you were willing to do that. Thank you."
These people kept thanking her, Judith thought in a bit of a daze. Why?
"Julia," she finally managed, "I'm so sorry about your little boy."
"We're hoping he's going to be okay." And Judith could see that the young woman was making a great effort to convince herself of that.
Lennie hadn't said anything, and he was positively white. Judith ached for him.
"Dad? Dad, you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, we'll be back a little later. I promise."
"Okay." And they hugged.
As soon as Lennie's back was turned, Julia grabbed Judith's arm and waited until her father was a few steps away from them. She looked at Judith intently, as if measuring her, and said in a low voice, "Watch out for him. Please."
Judith nodded and caught up with Lennie at the elevator.
"What'd she say to you?"
"She's just worried about you."
"She shouldn't be."
"You're all worried about each other. That's only natural."
On the way out of the hospital, Lennie stopped at a phone. He didn't make a call but looked at the phonebook. Judith supposed he was looking up a motel.
Outside, he sat on a low wall for a minute and was taking deep breaths of the cool air. Judith sat beside him.
"So, how is he?"
"He's in and out of it. I think he recognized me, but I don't know if he'll remember."
"He's conscious then. I'm sure that's a good thing."
"They say it is."
"Hang on to that."
"Yeah. Well, let's get going. I have a few calls to make."
"Calls to make? What are you talking about?"
"I'm going to find out why this son-of-a-bitch is not behind bars."
Judith didn't think that was a very good idea but didn't think it would be prudent to say so. She was sure that nothing was going to deter him.
They drove, as Judith had suspected they would, straight to the Glens Falls Police Department.
"You want me to wait here for you here, Lennie?"
"No. Why would I?"
Oh, great. A police station – another one of her favorite places. Inside, Lennie showed his badge to a startled desk sergeant and demanded to see a Detective Mills. The policeman pointed to an office, and Lennie strode to it. Judith could hear just snatches of the conversation which started off civilly enough but rapidly deteriorated into a shouting match. Judith could just imagine. She could understand why this local detective probably was not taking kindly to Lennie's having barged in. She also knew, however, that there was going to be no other way Lennie could act. He felt helpless in the situation, she was sure, and this was his way of doing something about it. Well, who knows? she thought. Maybe he can help. She prayed that at least maybe he wouldn't hurt the case.
After a few minutes, Lennie and the detective emerged, and the latter slammed his office door. They headed for the entrance, and Judith, bewildered, followed them.
The detective got in one of the Glens Falls cars, and she and Lennie got in her car and followed him.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"To the scene. To the place where. . . To the place where Jake was hit."
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"It's the only thing I can do."
They drove to a little lane in a residential area where the men stopped the cars. There was a lot of yellow tape and a chalk outline. Judith didn't know how Lennie could stand to do this. The men got out of their cars, but Judith waited. She watched as they did a lot of pointing and squinting in different directions from various angles. She supposed they knew what they were doing. At least they weren't shouting any longer.
After about twenty minutes of this, they returned to the cars and drove in different directions.
"And, um, where are we headed now, Lennie?"
"First to get some lunch and then find us a place to stay. And then I'm going to leave you there for a bit while I go talk to some people. When I'm ready to go back to the hospital, I'll come get you. Okay?"
He sounded more normal than he had since last night, so she was glad to agree. Probably he felt better now that he was doing something.
"Julia said we could stay at the house, but I didn't think that was a good idea."
"You're right. She doesn't need a stranger in her home right now."
And that's pretty much how it went for the afternoon, evening, and the next morning. Lennie would leave her and go she didn't know where, but he would always come back and get her before he checked at the hospital. It seemed he didn't want to go there alone. Jake was pretty much the same, but the doctors said that in itself was a good thing, but that otherwise they would just have to wait until swelling went down before they could offer any sort of prognosis. As to the hit-and-run driver, Lennie said that all that they were sure about was that it had been a woman, that she knew she had hit Jake, and that she most likely was a local resident. Beyond that, Lennie didn't explain much, and Judith didn't probe him for details. She was just glad that he seemed so much more like himself than he did on the trip up.
The second afternoon, Judith and Julia were talking in the waiting area while Bill and Lennie were in with Jake. Julia was somewhat concerned about her father's taking part in the investigation but agreed with Judith that there probably was not a thing they could do about it.
"There's absolutely no use, Judith. Once he gets something in his head like that, there's nothing that can stop him. Just go along for the ride, and please try to keep him from doing anything really overboard."
Judith promised to try but wondered how effective she possibly could be if it came to that.
A woman entered the waiting area and rushed towards them. "Julia!" she said.
Julia jumped up and hugged the woman. "Oh, Mom, I am so glad you are here!" "Shhhh, shhh, sweetie. I know. I know it's been awful. Any change since I called you from the airport?"
Oh, God, thought Judith. Make me disappear right now. She had an impression of fur, perfume, and a lot of gold. She never really had any particular picture of what Lennie's ex-wife might look like, but this she never would have imagined.
The women were no longer embracing, and Julia's mother looked at her curiously. "A friend of yours, darling?"
"Um, Mom," she began, and Judith could tell that Julia was wishing she were not there as well. "Mom, this is Judith Sandler. She's um. . . She came up here with Daddy. Judith, this is my mother Gloria Baines."
The woman looked at her incredulously and then turned to her daughter. "Do you mean to tell me that he actually brought one of his. . . "
"Mom!" Julia protested. "Not now. Okay? Please! Let's just go see Jake, okay?"
She led her mother toward Jake's room, but not before Gloria gave Judith one more very unpleasant look."
Julia mouthed to her, "I'm sorry."
When the two women went into the room, Bill came out. Judith, she was sure, probably had her mouth still open. She knew she was burning red.
Bill sat down next to her. "I take it you've had the pleasure," he observed.
"I knew this might be kind of awkward, but what in. . . "
"I know, I know. She can be kind of hard to take sometimes. She comes across as very brittle at first, but she's really not a bad person. But, I gotta tell you, I've never seen any two people who could push each others' buttons the way she and Lennie do. Makes for some very interesting family get-togethers."
"My God – I should think so."
Lennie came out of Jake's room and told Bill that they'd be back a little bit later.
On the way out, she said, "Lennie, you just got here a little while ago. Are you sure you don't want to stay longer?"
"Not right now. Jake saw Gloria and me together. He knows we're both here, and that's enough. Look, I don't know what she said to you, but I'm sure she said something, and I'm sorry."
"You're not responsible for her."
"No, but I am for putting you in this situation."
"I can handle myself," she said with more confidence than she felt. "Don't worry about me. You have enough going on."
"It really does help having you here, you know."
Judith couldn't imagine how. She hadn't done anything at all to help the situation, but it was the first personal thing Lennie had said to her since the night before last. She was grateful for it, but ironically she didn't know how to respond.
"Well," she said awkwardly, "please let me know if there's anything more I can be doing for you."
He put an arm around her and squeezed. "Thanks."
"Lennie, I know this probably isn't the time, but can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"You and. . . You and Gloria. I can't see it, you know?"
He smiled briefly in a sort of rueful way. "I know, I know. I don't quite get it myself. All I can tell you is that she wasn't always what you see now, but it is how she wanted to be."
"Sorry. I just got curious."
"I don't blame you. Look, Judith, I know I haven't been paying much attention to you, but. . . "
"Lennie, for heaven's sake. I know we're not up here on a vacation. I'm fine. As I said before, you have enough to worry about."
"I'll make it up to you."
"There's nothing to make up."
And so it went on for the next several days. She'd go to the hospital with Lennie, he'd drop her off at the motel, or he might occasionally take her back to the police station with him if he needed to stop there, and then he'd go off and come back and get her later. She asked him what he was doing when he went off, but all he replied was, "Talking to people." What kind of progress he and/or the local police might be making, she had no idea.
News about Jake seemed to be encouraging. Apparently he was remaining conscious for longer periods of time and was having feeling where he should be having feeling. Lennie's worst times, Judith could tell, came right after seeing Jake. She herself hadn't yet seen the boy, but she could imagine how awful it would be to look at a small child with such terrible injuries. Lennie would be white-faced and grim until he got back out in the air.
It seemed to Judith that he was trying to time their visits to the hospital to avoid Gloria, but he never said so directly. Several times they were there when she was. She would glare at Judith but never spoke – which was fine with Judith. One morning as Lennie and Judith were about to leave the hospital, Gloria came out of Jake's room and put her hand on his arm.
"I need to speak with you, Lennie – alone." And it was not a request. My God, the woman is like ice, Judith thought.
Judith mumbled that she would wait for him in the car, but he said, "No. Please, just sit down. I'll only be a minute."
Gloria seemed displeased by that, and she and Lennie moved to a corner of the waiting area. They didn't raise their voices, but Judith could tell from watching Lennie's face that it was not a pleasant conversation. A couple times he did try to move away from her, but she kept talking. He finally managed to disengage himself, and he grabbed Judith and headed for the elevator. She raised her eyebrows at him.
"Just the usual Gloria crap. Believe me, you don't want to know."
And Judith was sure she didn't.
One afternoon Judith was thumbing through a magazine in the waiting area while Lennie was with Jake and Julia. They had had some very good news about Jake. He'd soon be out of Intensive Care, and the doctors said that they were guardedly optimistic that with a lot of therapy there was a good chance he would recover completely from his injuries. Although the kid had a long road ahead of him, the whole atmosphere had visibly lightened, and Judith was very thankful.
Suddenly, Lennie came out of Jake's room like a bolt and called to Judith, "Let's go! Now!"
Judith wondered if something terrible had happened with Jake and grabbed her things and caught up to Lennie at the elevator.
"Jake – is he. . . "
"He's fine."
"Then what's going on?"
He didn't answer, and Judith could sense that the fury in which he'd driven from the city had returned.
In the car, she just couldn't stand it and thought she had to make him talk to her. "Lennie, what's happened? Where are we going?"
"They've got the bitch," he said grimly.
"Did Detective Mills call you?"
"No."
"Then how did you find out?"
He didn't answer, and she was getting scared.
"Lennie, tell me what's going on," she said insistently.
"Like I said, they caught her."
"Where's Mills?"
"He's out on another call right now."
"So, who told you this?"
He looked at her sideways, as if deciding how much to tell her. "Well, Mills wasn't being real cooperative, so I developed my own sources."
"Like who?"
"A young uniform. Same thing happened to his kid brother a few years ago."
"So, let me get this straight. . . Mills himself might not even know yet that this woman has been arrested?"
Lennie shrugged. "Could be."
"And don't you think you better wait for him?"
"No."
Judith didn't at all like what she was hearing. In fact, she was pretty sure that Lennie was deliberately trying to beat Mills to the woman. And there had to be a whole lot of reasons why that probably wasn't a very good idea.
She started to ask Lennie about that, but they were at the police station, and Lennie already was out of the car. He didn't seem to care if she came with him or not, but Judith decided she better keep him in sight. She remembered what Julia said about not letting him go "really overboard," and she was very much afraid that that was what was happening right now.
She ran after him into the station where he barged once more right past the desk sergeant who didn't even any longer try to stop him. She followed and saw that he apparently had found the young policeman he was looking for.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
The policeman indicated a glassed room with partially closed Venetian blinds. Judith couldn't see the occupant plainly, but she had an impression of a woman maybe a little older than Julia miserably slumped in a chair at a table.
Lennie started for the room, and Judith grabbed his arm. "Lennie, no! Wait!"
"Let go, Judith!" he snapped and tried to shake her off, but she hung on.
"No! I've got to talk to you right now! It's important!"
"Not now! I'm busy. Go wait outside."
"No!" she insisted, still holding tightly to his arm and trying to stand her ground.
A number of people were staring at them, but Judith didn't pay any attention.
"Judith," Lennie pleaded, "don't make a scene."
"I goddamn will make a scene if you don't sit down and talk to me right fucking now!"
That shocked him, and he stared at her in some surprise.
"All right. What is it? Make it quick."
"Sit down, Lennie." And she steered him to a bench at the edge of the hallway, and still didn't let go of his arm.
"Well, what is it?"
"Lennie, are you sure you should be doing this?"
"With all due respect, you have no idea what this sorry piece of crap has done. She was speeding, likely drinking. She knew damn well that she hit Jake because she got out of her car to look at him. And she never called anyone – never got him any help. And you, for Christ's sake, know as well as I do what that kid is going through right now, and I'm sure as hell going to make sure that she knows it, too. Now, don't interfere!"
"It's you who's interfering, Lennie!" Judith was trying to sound reasonable, but she knew her voice was shaking.
He made an impatient sound and started to get up. Judith did the only thing she could think of. She threw herself on to his lap and pinned him against the back of the bench.
"Judith!" He tried to push her off. "Don't make me hurt you!"
"Go ahead! Hurt me! Right here in a police station! I'll have them arrest you! Either way you are not going into that room until you listen to what I have to say!"
He tried to dislodge her and said, "Judith, I'm really getting. . . "
"Shut up, Lennie! Just listen, will you? Think what you are doing! If you go in there and take off on that woman, just what do you suppose her defense lawyer is going to do with that? Remember what happened in my case? You of all people, for crying out loud, should know what lawyers and judges can do with things like that. You really want her out and walking around – hell, driving around again – instead of being punished for what she did to Jake? You know it could happen – you do! And think about Detective Mills. Maybe you don't like him, but put yourself in his shoes for a moment. How would you like it if a grandfather blinded by grief and anger wrecked a case of yours? Because that's all you are right now, Lennie – a very hurting grandfather. Stay out of the way, and let these people do their jobs."
She couldn't tell if she was getting through to him or not as she could still see the fury in his eyes, and he impatiently was pushing at her again.
"Look, Lennie, I'll tell you what. You see that clock on the wall? You watch that second hand. Take ninety seconds and think about what I've said. Please! After ninety seconds, if you still want to go in that room, I'll let you up and I won't say another word. Ninety seconds, okay? She's not going anywhere. You can wait ninety seconds."
He didn't say anything but did glance at the clock. Judith didn't know if he really did intend to think about what she said or just thought that would be the quickest way to get rid of her. He closed his eyes, and she leaned her head against his. She watched the clock and prayed this would work because she knew he'd never forgive himself if he damaged this case. Now he was alternately watching the clock and glancing at the woman in the room.
The ninety seconds was up. Lennie wasn't making any moves, and she thought that some of the tension had left his body. She looked at him, and he almost imperceptibly nodded, signaling, she hoped, that she had won.
Just as she was wondering whether it would be safe to let him up, there was a commotion in the lobby, and they heard someone shouting. "Where is that son-of-a-bitch Briscoe?!? His car is outside, and I swear to God that if he screws with this. . . " And then Detective Mills burst into the hallway and saw them.
Judith suddenly felt very ridiculous sitting on Lennie's lap, and she as inconspicuously as possible moved off him.
"Briscoe, if you've done anything, anything at all. . . "
Lennie shook his head and stood up. "Just waiting for you, Mills. It's your case. Just put her away. Okay?" He turned to Judith and said, "Let's go."
In the car, Judith and Lennie just sat for few minutes, not saying anything. Finally, he began, "Judith. . . " but she held up her hand to stop him and shook her head. She just didn't want to hear about it right now – maybe not ever. She right now just wanted to get away from this place.
"Let's go back to the hospital, okay? I'm sure Julia must be wondering about you."
He looked at her for a long moment and then started the car.
At the hospital while Lennie was with Jake, Julia came out of his room and joined Judith in the waiting area.
"You know, before you and Daddy got back here, Detective Mills called. He told me what happened at the station."
"Julia, look – I'm sorry, but I really don't want to talk about this. I just don't know how your father's going to. . . "
"You saved Dad's butt, Judith. Don't think he doesn't know that."
"I honest to God don't know what he thinks."
"But I do," said Julia smiling, and then she returned to Jake's room.
By that evening, everything returned to nearly normal. Julia and Bill were visibly more relaxed, and Lennie was far more like his old self. And Gloria – even Gloria agreed to sit with Jake while Julia, Bill, Lennie, and Judith went out to eat to celebrate Jake's imminent release from Intensive Care. And no one mentioned either the police station or the woman now in custody there.
Late the next afternoon, Judith was in a waiting area of the Children's Wing. It was, she thought, a vast improvement over Intensive Care. Someone actually had gone to the trouble to make this place look as un-hospital like as possible. This was definitely going to be much better for Jake and everyone.
Julia came out of Jake's new room and beckoned to her. "Judith, come in. I think it's time you met Jake."
"Oh, Julia, I don't know if that's a good idea. That poor kid probably has met enough strangers in the past week to last him until he's in college."
"Nah, don't worry about that. Dad has told him all about the nice lady who came up here with him from the city. Jake's been asking when he can see you."
Still reluctant to intrude, Judith said, "I don't want to upset, um, anyone."
"My mother?" Julia smiled. "Don't worry – she just called to say that she's doing some shopping, and, believe me, that could take quite some time."
"Well, then, sure I'd like to meet Jake. He must be a brave little kid."
"One thing, Judith – he doesn't. . . Well, right now, he doesn't look much like my little boy, but they tell us that most of what looks the worst is superficial and will heal naturally."
Judith nodded. "I understand."
When she entered the room, Lennie was leaning over Jake's bed and talking to him with an enormous smile on his face. "The dinosaurs? Yeah, sure, kid, we'll see the dinosaurs." He looked up to see Judith. "Jake, look who's here. This is Judith, the lady I've been telling you about. Judith, come here and meet Jake."
Judith approached the bed. "Hi, Jake," she said gently.
"Hi," the boy responded through swollen lips. "Grandpa likes you."
The child looked small, white, and very banged up. Judith could only imagine how he must have looked when Lennie first saw him last week. She had to make a very determined effort to keep tears from welling up. "I. . . I like your grandpa, too," she told him.
Jake shifted the gaze of his bruised eyes back to Lennie. "Statue of Liberty? There, too?"
"Jake's planning a little trip to New York when he gets better, Judith. Big plans this kid has. Yes, of course, the Statue of Liberty – definitely."
"And to the top? You'll take me all the way to the top?"
Lennie groaned slightly and laughed. "I think maybe that's one bit of fun I'll leave to your dad. But I will ride the ferry to the Statue with you."
"A ferry? All right!"
And that's how it went. Judith and Lennie chatted lightly with Jake about the sights of the city for another ten minutes or so until a nurse stepped in and suggested that it might be time for Jake to get some rest. Lennie kissed him gently on his forehead through bandages and told him they'd be back in the morning.
Outside the room, Lennie's resolute cheerfulness dropped away, but at least now he didn't look as white and grim as he had been looking after visiting Jake. Now he just looked sad.
"He's a good kid, Lennie."
"Yeah – yeah, he is. Still, I wish. . . "
"I know."
"Let's get out of here. It's about dinnertime."
Dinner. Well, that was going to be interesting, thought Judith. They had eaten with Julia and Bill last night and so hadn't spoken much directly to each other. Back at the motel, there wasn't much said either, and they both fell asleep quite early. Judith couldn't tell how upset Lennie might be, but he certainly did seem to have been avoiding her.
And now there would have to be some sort of conversation. Unless maybe they picked a noisy fast food place. That was possible. Lennie had no aversion to fast food.
In the car, Judith was very surprised when they drove past the town limits. After a few miles, she asked curiously, "Where are we going?"
"You'll see. It's a place Julia recommended."
After about ten more miles, she wondered aloud, "Julia goes this far to eat?"
"Occasionally."
Another ten miles or so, and then they crossed the Vermont border.
"Vermont? What are we doing in Vermont, Lennie?"
"You have something against Vermont?"
"Of course not. It just seems like a heck of a long way to go to grab dinner."
"I think we've done enough 'grabbing' of meals for a while, don't you?"
"Well, last night was very nice."
"Yes, it was. But not like tonight."
"Why not?"
"Too many people around last night."
So, he was looking for a quiet place to chew her out? Was that it? He might have found one closer than this.
"This is it." And he pulled into the parking lot of one of those Vermont inns that couldn't be other than preceded by the adjective "charming" or maybe even "romantic."
"Lennie, what's going on?"
He stared at her. "Are you still after all these months having trouble with the concept of going out to eat? I thought we cleared that one up."
Judith was confused. Why was he teasing her?
Lennie sighed. "My God, drive her across the state line and she ditzes out. Dare I ask what would happen if we went to Canada? So, how about doing what we came here for? You know, eating out?"
"Oh. Oh, yes – okay."
The interior of the inn did not belie the view from the outside. "Cozy" could join that list of adjectives easily. Judith was still trying to figure out why they were there. It just wasn't the sort of place a guy would take a woman who recently had royally ticked him off, not to mention embarrassing him in front of professional colleagues probably more than he'd ever been in his whole career.
Without asking her, Lennie ordered wine for her and club soda for himself, and he told the waiter that they would be waiting a little while to order dinner.
They drank to a quick and complete recovery for Jake, and then Lennie said, "We've got to talk."
"Yes, I know," she said in a rush. "Look, Lennie, I'm really, really sorry. I know I was way out of line, and it. . . "
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Has Vermont lapsed into another dimension? Maybe an alternate universe I didn't know about?"
She leaned back in her chair and regarded him quizzically. "What in the hell are you talking about, Lennie?"
"Why are you apologizing to me?"
"Are you serious? For what happened at the station yesterday, of course."
Lennie put his head in his hands, and she couldn't tell if he were laughing or what was going on with him. When he looked at her again, he said, "Oh, Judith, for God's sake! I brought you here so I could apologize to you about that."
She blinked in surprise. "Hunhhh?"
"Oh, Judith. . . Oh, geez. I tried right away to tell you 'thank you' for what you did, but you wouldn't let me talk. I thought you were mad at me. I've been thinking ever since then that you're still mad at me. And all this time, you've been thinking that I was the one who was mad? Have I got that straight?"
"Um, I don't know. Now I really don't know what's going on."
"Okay – just out of curiosity, tell me what you think you have to apologize for."
"I screamed at you. I created a scene. I defied you. I embarrassed you. I behaved in a thoroughly ridiculous way. And I probably can think of a few other things."
"And of all that, what would you have done any differently?"
She thought about that, but couldn't think of an answer. "Well, I should have been able to think of some more gentle way of. . . "
"You think I was in a mood for gentle?"
"No, I didn't."
"So, then you played it just right, didn't you?"
"But, Lennie, I swore at you. I told you I'd have you arrested. I hopped on your lap, for goodness sake. And all in public. In a police station, no less."
"You're just not getting it, are you? Don't you understand that you did exactly the right thing?"
Amazed, she stared at him. "You're really letting me off the hook for all this?"
"You were never on any hook to begin with. That's an honor that belongs to me. We both know I was completely out of control."
"I don't think you could help it," she said honestly.
"No, I couldn't – but you could and did."
"So, you're saying," asked Judith, still trying to sort out the situation, "that all this is really okay?"
"It might be if you'd ever let me get on with my apologizing."
This embarrassed her. "Don't, Lennie, please. You've said it enough."
"I wasn't thinking of saying anything more. There are other ways of apologizing, you know."
"Other ways?" asked Judith vaguely, still confused about just had gone on between them. "What do you mean?"
He sighed and took her hands across the table. "You know? I was right from Day One – you really are a lot of trouble."
The End
If you would like to read more about Judith, this time from Lennie's POV, a semi-sequel to this story is also posted here at FanFiction.net. It is titled "It Depends on What You Pay."