Sins of Our Fathers (9781571319128) by Shawn Lawrence Otto Page B

relax. “I’m gonna go,” he said. “Thank you. I’m sorry.” He began moving toward the door.
    â€œYou don’t have to,” said Gary.
    Too late, JW realized he’d left his Big Book on the chair. He grabbed another one from the table and hurried out.
    â€œAddiction is cunning, baffling, and powerful,” he heard Gary call after him as he headed for the stairs. “It’s other people that keep us sane. You can come back any time!”
    He took the stairs two at a time and pushed the door open, stepping out into the fresh air and sunshine. He was angry with himself for becoming combative and sarcastic. It was shameful, really, the way he had conducted himself. Maybe there were things he could have picked up by sitting in the back of a meeting like that.
    The gravel was littered with cigarette butts and withered dandelions. There were polished flecks of green glass from an old Mountain Dew bottle mixed in with the rocks near his car. He got in and closed the door. He inhaled the sweltering air. Turned the key and let the air conditioner blast dust at him. Then he pulled back out onto the highway and headed toward town.
    Some ten minutes later, JW pulled up and parked in front of his house, still jangled and full of self-recrimination. It was shortly after noon. He wanted to catch Carol, and he knew that she usually tried to eat lunch at home, where she could listen to the midday program on public radio. He got out, walked up to the house, and rang the glowing round doorbell. He waited a moment. Maybe he should have stayed in that meeting. He felt as if he had made a choice between two paths without realizing it, but he also knew that he was being overly dramatic. He could always go back, as Gary had said. Any time. He rang the doorbell again. He heard the sound of a squeaking floorboard just inside, and then the door was unlocked and swung inward.
    â€œJohn!” Carol smiled nervously at him. Her face was flushed and she seemed pleasantly surprised and a bit out of breath. She stepped out, pulling the door partially shut behindher. Her shoulder-length blonde hair fell in loose shaggy locks around her face. He recognized a cubic zirconium necklace around her neck, just like the one he had seen on the Home Shopping Network. It struck him as odd that she would buy something like that for herself, especially now. Still, seeing her somehow made him feel relieved and normal again.
    â€œHey,” he said.
    â€œYou look awful.” She smiled quizzically and pushed a lock from her face.
    â€œI tried calling, a number of times.”
    She frowned and smiled at the same time, a mixed expression that he had always found endearing in its impenetrability. “John, you stood me up. I waited up ’til after eleven.”
    â€œI know, I’m sorry. You got time for lunch?”
    â€œNo, I don’t, I have a meeting today.”
    â€œA meeting?”
    â€œYeah, I told you. Jim Franklin’s taking me to the new agents luncheon.”
    He nodded. She had said that. Then he heard the squeaky floorboard inside. A flicker of insecurity darted across Carol’s face, and in that instant the mirage of old times evaporated. She moved partway back through the door. Behind her in the foyer stood Jim Franklin, a blow-dried insurance agent in his early forties, whom JW had always disliked. Carol’s thin brows knit together and she looked down, moving the hair back behind her ear.
    â€œJohn!” Franklin said in a glad-handing tone as he shrugged into his suitcoat behind her. “How was the conference?”
    JW wanted to believe that it was all a big mistake. That Jim Franklin wasn’t really there, in his house, in the middle of the day, with Carol, who had been slow to answer the door. Jim Franklin, who knew about his travel schedule.
    â€œI’m fine, Jim,” he managed to get out. He turned back to Carol. “Is Julie home?”
    â€œYou know