doors that didn’t open, so he had to leap out of it. With his slicked-back, jet-black hair, warm-colored button-down shirts, and impeccably polished black dancing shoes, he was the star of the school swing club. He had dated three girls but broke up with each of them because he felt they were keeping him from his studies. As a first-generation son of immigrants, he was determined to get into Harvard and couldn’t let romance get in the way of that. Each of the girls still adored him.
But not my mom.
“I don’t want you going out with that man,” she had warned me one night over spaghetti in our tiny, cluttered kitchen. “I don’t like the way he looks at you. He’s too hungry. He’d do anything.”
“Well, what’s wrong with that?” I asked, dousing my salad in raspberry vinaigrette.
“Someone like that,” she said, “he’ll be whatever he has to be, to get you to go out with him. Then, once he’s won you over, he’ll change. Mark my words, you don’t want to see the kind of man he’ll become.”
“Ellie, all men are like that,” said my dad. “I think she should give him a chance.”
“Yeah, Mom,” I said, “I’m a grown woman.”
She threw me a withering look. “Grown and almost grown are two completely different things. Why don’t you give this Lenny guy a chance? He seems to like you.”
I didn’t really have a good answer to that question, except that I didn’t want to. I sent a message through my friend, who told another friend, who told Lenny that I wouldn’t be able to go to the dance because I already had plans that night. But the more I thought about this, the guiltier I felt. It was unlikely he would be able to find another date, and I thought I could make it work if I spent part of the night with Louis and part of it with Lenny.
Unfortunately I didn’t schedule my night as well as I had planned. Lenny and I never made it to the dance, but we did go to Sonic, where we sat in my car drinking milkshakes and generally not speaking. I kept checking my watch, watching the hour tick by until the date was over and I could meet up with Louis, who had agreed to meet me there.
But he showed up 10 minutes earlier than I had expected.
“Lenny, could you please leave?” I asked, feeling my heart sink.
As Lenny walked away, Louis turned to me coldly and said, “What were y’all doing?”
“Nothing,” I lied. “He just came up to the car and started talking to me.”
Lenny turned at that moment and looked at me, an expression on his face that I will never forget.
I continued to argue with Louis the whole way to the dance. He wasn’t paying attention to the road and careened into another car. We were both lucky we weren’t killed. But that wasn’t the worst part. When the driver of the other car got out to inspect the damage, he and Louis exchanged words. Then before I knew what was happening, before I could stop him, Louis had him pinned against the car. He was beating every square inch of his body. He was pummeling his face. He was smashing his ribs. If I hadn’t intervened, screaming, if I hadn’t thrown myself in front of him (getting a nasty blow across my face in the process), Louis might have killed him.
I listened to my mom after that.
And as Henry stood over me, glowering and half-mad, as he shook my bones till they rattled, it occurred to me: I should have listened to Carrie.
* * *
So while we were holed up together in a cave trying to escape the rain, I put on my best smile. He didn’t have to know how scared I was. He didn’t have to know I had measured the number of feet from the fire to the opening in case I had to
But not my mom.
“I don’t want you going out with that man,” she had warned me one night over spaghetti in our tiny, cluttered kitchen. “I don’t like the way he looks at you. He’s too hungry. He’d do anything.”
“Well, what’s wrong with that?” I asked, dousing my salad in raspberry vinaigrette.
“Someone like that,” she said, “he’ll be whatever he has to be, to get you to go out with him. Then, once he’s won you over, he’ll change. Mark my words, you don’t want to see the kind of man he’ll become.”
“Ellie, all men are like that,” said my dad. “I think she should give him a chance.”
“Yeah, Mom,” I said, “I’m a grown woman.”
She threw me a withering look. “Grown and almost grown are two completely different things. Why don’t you give this Lenny guy a chance? He seems to like you.”
I didn’t really have a good answer to that question, except that I didn’t want to. I sent a message through my friend, who told another friend, who told Lenny that I wouldn’t be able to go to the dance because I already had plans that night. But the more I thought about this, the guiltier I felt. It was unlikely he would be able to find another date, and I thought I could make it work if I spent part of the night with Louis and part of it with Lenny.
Unfortunately I didn’t schedule my night as well as I had planned. Lenny and I never made it to the dance, but we did go to Sonic, where we sat in my car drinking milkshakes and generally not speaking. I kept checking my watch, watching the hour tick by until the date was over and I could meet up with Louis, who had agreed to meet me there.
But he showed up 10 minutes earlier than I had expected.
“Lenny, could you please leave?” I asked, feeling my heart sink.
As Lenny walked away, Louis turned to me coldly and said, “What were y’all doing?”
“Nothing,” I lied. “He just came up to the car and started talking to me.”
Lenny turned at that moment and looked at me, an expression on his face that I will never forget.
I continued to argue with Louis the whole way to the dance. He wasn’t paying attention to the road and careened into another car. We were both lucky we weren’t killed. But that wasn’t the worst part. When the driver of the other car got out to inspect the damage, he and Louis exchanged words. Then before I knew what was happening, before I could stop him, Louis had him pinned against the car. He was beating every square inch of his body. He was pummeling his face. He was smashing his ribs. If I hadn’t intervened, screaming, if I hadn’t thrown myself in front of him (getting a nasty blow across my face in the process), Louis might have killed him.
I listened to my mom after that.
And as Henry stood over me, glowering and half-mad, as he shook my bones till they rattled, it occurred to me: I should have listened to Carrie.
* * *
So while we were holed up together in a cave trying to escape the rain, I put on my best smile. He didn’t have to know how scared I was. He didn’t have to know I had measured the number of feet from the fire to the opening in case I had to
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