"	Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright 2016

CHAPTER 36

The ringing phone was like having your teeth drilled.

“Hello, this better be good.” I snarled in to the phone.

“Ellen? Ellen? This is Tina, Tina Morales. I really need a big favor.”

“Okay, take a deep breath, and tell me what's wrong. Shit, it's 1AM!”

Tina paused, “My father and I had a big fight when we got home from the stable. I told him he was a pig, always feeling up my girl friends. Making them scared and creeped out. He said it wasn't my business, and real men acted like this all the time.”

“I think he thought I was bluffing when I said I'd move out, and get my own apartment. He grabbed my arm to shake me, and I slapped him. I went to my room , packed a duffle bag and got in my car. I've been driving around for hours, just thinking.”

“What can I do to help?” Ellen asked, Do you need a place to crash for the night?”

“Oh would you let me?” I'm not far away, I'm in Vinnin square at the Starbucks.”

“Okay Tina, my condo is on Humphrey Street just towards Marblehead from the big restaurant. When you pull in, you'll see our SUV's, park behind them. I'll have the porch light on, you can't miss us.”

“Thank you Ellen, I'll be there in twenty minutes.”

I hopped out of bed, grabbed my robe and went into Ginny's room and woke her up. When her eyes opened, I filled her in on our new house guest.

“Quick, get ready to be a woman all the time, do a little make-up and hide anything that might blow your cover. Tina will be here in fifteen minutes. Don't offer to share your bedroom. We'll offer her the couch for the night, and go from there.”

Ginny ran around her room checking for anything that might out her if Tina went into there.

I went into the kitchen and put on water for tea. Then walked into the living room, put on the porch light and waited for Tina to show up.

I didn't have to wait long, no sooner had I sat down, but I heard a car pull up out front. I looked out the window and saw a cute red Mercedes C300 park behind our cars. Tina got out, popped the trunk, grabbed a duffle and climbed our stairs.

I opened the door and gave her a hug as she came in.

“How are you doing ?” I asked,noticing her wet cheeks. “come in and sit down.”

Ginny joined us, looked at me and winked. “Tina, I hope this fight with your father wasn't because of me.”

Tina looked up “No, you were just my latest friend to have him embarrass in front of me.”

I spoke up. “What are your plans now, you said you were getting an apartment?”

“Yes, I would start looking first thing on Monday. I'm a veterinary assistant at the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem. So I thought something close by would be great.”

While we were talking , Ginny brought out three cups of tea with milk and sugar for us. Why tea is so soothing, I don't know, but it is.

We talked about anything but what brought her to my condo. Of course, horses were the first subject that came up. Soon we were talking about the next show season and which shows we planned to attend. Ginny was all ears, totally amazed by what goes into getting a horse ready to go into the show ring. She absolutely couldn't believe we sanded and polished the horse's hooves, just like what we do with our own finger nails.

You should've seen the look on her face when we told her how long it took to braid their mane and tails !

We finished our tea. “Time for bed” I said. “Tina, this couch pulls out. Here's a pillow and blankets. I'll see you in the morning.”

Ginny stayed a little longer, helping Tina with the sofa bed.

I woke with the sun shining in my eyes. Nine o'clock, What was in my mind? Tina!
I hope Ginny remembered too. I dashed for the loo to be there first. I showered, brushed my teeth, and headed back to my room to get dressed. I heard the shower again, assumed that that was Ginny, and peeked into the living room, expecting to see Tina sound asleep on the sofa bed. She wasn't there !

I heard noise in the kitchen. It was Tina making coffee, and looking in the cabinets and refrigerator for breakfast.

“Wow, you're full of surprises, making coffee and everything.”

“I wanted to surprise you with breakfast, I was going to make omelets for us. I just was looking for the fixings.”

“Don't let me stop you, you are doing fine. Keep going, I'll get the newspaper.”

By now Ginny had joined us in the kitchen. “Did I hear omelets? I'm in.”

Soon we had Western omelets, toast and coffee. I got the orange juice and three glasses. We were all set for awhile. The only thing we talked about was the upcoming Patriots football game. Kind of funny, three hot babes talking football. (I included myself in the 'hot babe' category)

After we finished and the plates were in the dishwasher, I looked at Tina and asked if she wanted to talk about her fight with her father.

Tina took a deep breath, “Along with being a criminal, my father is a sleaze. My mother had no friends because of him, actually she did, a fifth of gin, She drank herself to death. She knew if she tried to leave him, he'd find her and beat the shit out of her. He'd done that before, you know, put her in the hospital. He said she fell down the stairs when she was drunk.

“What started at the barn yesterday kept going all day. When I got in his car to go home, he didn't say a word, just smoked his cigar. When we got home it started.

“So, I'm not good enough to meet your friends, you know where the money that buys your clothes, your car, paid for college came from? That's right! Drugs! So don't run around with your nose in the air acting as if you smell something bad. You are the daughter of a criminal, a drug dealer, face facts little girl you're just as bad as I am.”

“That's when I told to stick everything up his butt, except my little car, that was a Christmas gift last year. We called each other bad names and I ran out of the house.
And here I am !”

This left Ginny and I speechless. I asked for a minute or two with Ginny so we could talk in private.

“Of course, I'll go to my car while you two talk.”

“Ginny, every minute she's here increases the chances of you being found out. Every minute she's here increases the likelihood her father will come through that door, locked or unlocked. I'll risk my life, will you?”

That took her aback for a bit. “You're right, we're risking our lives aren't we. Well, that's what we've been doing since that day I ran into your office. So, nothings changed, just the reason.”

Ginny opened the door and called out to Tina, “If we're going shopping, we need to change.”

Need to change to go shopping? Oh wow is she a girl, but what does that make me, I would go in old jeans and a sweatshirt.

They left in Tina's little red car. Ah, peace. I tucked myself into the Sunday Globe and started to devour the paper, The Patriots game wasn't until 4.30 PM, so I had all day to myself.

The girls returned at 4PM, six hours of drudgery, shopping, shopping, shopping. The poor things. I looked outside, the Mercedes was loaded with shopping bags from a half dozen different stores.

Who am I to judge. I do horses, Ginny does Nordstroms.

I turned on the TV for the Pats' game, surprisingly, Ginny started to make dinner, and Tina watched the game with me. Another game down to the last drive, Patriots 31, Denver 27.

The smell of roast beef and apple pie was intoxicating. We sat down to dinner at last.

Tina took one bite and looked at Ginny differently, “Where did you learn to cook like this?” she asked “This is heavenly.”

Ginny laughed, “ I went to the Cordon Bleu school of cooking in Cambridge. I can do wonders with cream of chicken soup and white wine too.”

“Can you teach me?” Tina asked.

Oh oh, this sounds like more than one night on the sofa.

To be continued

Many thanks to Bronwen Welsh for her help in fixing typos and punctuation errors