she?s obviously a really nice woman but I don?t want you to say
anything to her and can we please, please, drop it??
?What the hell is it with you and this Lucas kid?? Jerry said after
a moment, completely flabbergasted. Then a thought occurred to
him. ?Are you two dating?? he asked in a terrified voice. Helen
burst out laughing.
?No, we?re not dating. What we?re doing is trying to not kill each
other. And that isn?t working out too well,? she responded, trusting
that the absolute truth would be so inconceivable he would think it
was a joke. She was right.
He got a pained look. ?You?ve never had a boyfriend. Is it time for
us to have that talk about what men and woman do when they love
each other??
?Absolutely not,? Helen replied firmly.
?Good,? he said, relieved. They stood in awkward silence for a
moment. ?So . . . we can eat the groceries, right??
?Heck, yeah,? she said as she turned on her heel and made for the
kitchen while Jerry practically ran to the living room and the dependable
comfort of SportsCenter.
As she put together some bruschetta with the amazing bufala
mozzarella, fresh tomato, basil, and crazy-good Spanish olive oil
Mrs. Delos had sent, she thought about her father and how oblivious
he was to the forces pulling her life apart in hunks. With all
that was happening to her, she knew she might not have many
more nights of dinner and baseball to look forward to, but the
thought didn?t bother her as much as it would have a week ago. If
the Delos family wanted her, they could try and take her. She was
sick of being angry all the time. Fight and kill or fight and die, she
really didn?t care. As long as she could keep her father out of all of
this Greek tragedy nonsense, she would deal with whatever came