A Yonkers Kinda Girl by Rose O'Callaghan

Author:Rose O'Callaghan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2013-12-17T16:00:00+00:00

19. May 1974

Isabel and Lilly planned a Sunday dinner to celebrate Tito’s birthday. Lilly arrived early to help with the salad and the table. Isabel could see Lilly was upset.

Tito and Isabel had speculated and discussed what was happening with Tony. Every time the door opened – for Frank, then Joe, Nunzio and Tanta, and finally Nick and Karen – Isabel could feel Lilly cringe.

They were supposed to eat at one-thirty. Everyone pussyfooted around as the clock ticked to two, then two-thirty.

Frank came into the kitchen and said, “Let’s call. Maybe he fell asleep.”

Lilly said, “He’s not there.”

Frank turned to her and asked, “He never came home last night, did he?”

Lilly didn’t answer him, but turned to Isabel. “Let’s serve it. He can eat cold.”

They ate in an awkward silence, trying to keep Tony’s absence out.

Lilly and Frank gathered the dishes.

“I’ll do the dishes. You go in with your parents.”

“Lilly? You still love him don’t you? I mean really love him?”

Lilly kept scraping plates, not answering.

“Lilly?” Frank tried again.

“What? Do you want to see me cry? What do you della Robbias have for making me cry?”

Frank backed down. “I have my last exam Tuesday. How about you?”

“I finished Friday. All three exams.”

“Are you going full time next year?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Tony wants to go to graduate school, and if he does, I’ll have to wait.”

Lilly got ready to leave after the dishes and met Tony at the door.

“Excuse me,” she said, trying to walk by him.

“Lil,” Tony said putting his hand on her.

“Don’t,” she hissed. “It’s your father’s birthday. Go party.”

She walked to the elevators.

“Lilly, I was with Linus.”

He watched her go into the elevator, then turned into his parents’ apartment.

He noticed Isabel did not jump up to get him a plate of food. Tito stopped talking to his brothers and looked hard at Tony. He spoke without moving his eyes.

“Nunzio, Joe, go down to Nicky’s. I want to talk to my son.” Frank left with them.

Tony tried to cut him off. “Pops, I don’t know what Lil said, but I was with Linus. Remember Linus? My old roommate? Can you believe that of all six of us, Linus and I are the only ones who will graduate? Well, I met up with Linus last night …”

Tito said sharply, “I don’t care about your old roommate. It’s what you’re doing to your wife that’s bothering me. Don’t you see?”

“Pops, I’m not going to talk about Lilly.”

“Like hell you’re not! It’s not Lilly, it’s you.”

Tony stood and walked out.

Tito called after him, “Don’t you walk away.”

Tony went home. He walked in expecting to see Lilly on the sofa waiting for a fight. Instead, she wasn’t there. He panicked and went to the bedroom to check her dresser. He had just opened a drawer when she came in carrying two suitcases.

“Are you going to help me pack?” She said sarcastically.

“Lilly, I was with Linus. I met him at the Rathskeller, and we went back to his place to talk. I fell asleep watching Duck Soup.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.