Read Online The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson - Free Book Online

jacket, found her breasts and tried to work them free. He pinched, hard, and her breath drew in as it always did and this was good, this was the two of them, who they’d always been, not the ugly, clumsy beings of the last few hours. She leaned against him for a moment, then said, “We can’t stay out here.”
    “I know.”
    She patted his shoulder and he followed her to the back door. Tomorrow would be so much better.
    Anita had gone home, and Torrie was still sulking in her room. His parents and Blake were watching television in the den. “Come on in, kids,” his mother called, and there was nothing else to do except go in and watch whatever happy shit they were watching. His mother was in her place at the end of the couch, his father with his feet up in his lounger. His brother lay on his stomach on the floor, his head on a cushion, his shirt buttons twisted around to one side. He almost never wore T-shirts. He thought they made his arms and chest look too skinny.
    Janine sat down on the opposite end of the couch but Ryan kept standing, pretending to be transfixed by The Mary Tyler Moore Show. No way was he going to squeeze in on that couch all cozy between the two of them or settle himself in the other chair. This was all too weird,too much like coming home from high school dates stirred up and mortified and hard, and so he did what he had always done, which was to announce that he was going to take a shower before bed.
    He came back wearing sweatpants, his hair wet and combed. Janine gave him a smirky smile. Maybe she knew. He couldn’t tell. His mother said, “You better have enjoyed your nice hot shower now, mister. They don’t have those out in the woods.”
    “Yeah, I know.” He settled into the free chair and turned his attention to the television. Out of the corner of his eye he studied them. His mother had her reading glasses on. They made her look like somebody else’s grandmother. His father’s mouth drooped. The chair always put him to sleep. You had to love your family. You didn’t have any choice in it.
    “Janine, honey, I put clean towels on your bed, and there are Dixie cups you can use in the bathroom for brushing your teeth. Is there anything else you need?”
    “No, thanks very much. I’ll be fine.” Janine was sitting with her knees up on the couch and her jacket pulled over them. He imagined her sitting like that at a campfire.
    His mother said she’d be turning in, then. Once she’d gone, nobody spoke, except for his father who asked what was on next. Blake said it was Newhart. The show started up with its noise and music. His father sat up in his chair and leaned in to watch. It was pretty clear that his father was going to stay put as long as he had to, rather than leave the two of them here together.
    Janine straightened one of her legs and scratched the ankle with the beaded bracelet, a slow, thorough process.
    After a while, she stood up and said she was going to bed.
    “You get everything you need out of the car?”
    “Yup. Good night.” She stooped and kissed Ryan lightly on the mouth and walked out barefoot, carrying her shoes. They heard her running water in the bathroom, then doors opening and closing, then quiet.
    Halfway through Newhart, his father got up and stretched and saidit had been a long day. Ryan moved to the couch and lay down with his feet on the armrest, something you were not allowed to do in his mother’s presence. Blake said, “I bet Mom and Dad have like, burglar alarms on that door.”
    “Shut up.”
    Ryan must have fallen asleep, because when he opened his eyes again, Blake was gone, and the television had been taken over by some cheap-looking kung fu movie, and the lights were too bright for his heavy eyes. He got up and shut everything off and stood for a moment in the darkness at the door of Anita’s old room, listening, hearing nothing. His parents slept in the next room. There was no way he’d be able to keep quiet enough.
    Blake was