Coda 01 - Promises

getting anywhere.
    It all came to a head one night at Lizzy’s house. She had invited us over for dinner. We argued for an hour before we got there about whether or not I should tell Lizzy and Brian about the job. Of course, he thought I should. But I didn’t want to cause trouble until I had made a decision.
    We were snapping at each other from the minute we walked in the door. Everybody tried to pretend like they didn’t notice, but I knew they did. Dinner was quiet and awkward. We were just finishing up when Brian said, “Jared, we need to talk about the shop.” He looked nervous when he said it, and Lizzy was staring at her plate. Matt perked up but didn’t say anything.
    “Sure. What’s up?”

    “Now that Lizzy’s been home with the baby for a few weeks, she’s having second thoughts about coming back to work.” “Oh.”

    “I know it’s been tough for you without her. You’re working long hours. And Ringo can’t help much, except on the weekends.”
    “It’s okay—”
“Tell them,” Matt said, quietly enough that only I heard him. I ignored him. “I can handle it.”
    “No, you can’t, Jared,” Mom said gently. “You can’t do it by yourself.”
    “You’ll want days off and vacations,” Lizzy interjected. “Ringo will graduate next spring—” I started to say.
    “Tell them,” Matt said a little more forcefully. Lizzy’s eyes darted to him curiously, but nobody else seemed to notice.
    “Jared,” Brian interrupted, “he’s not going to stay. You know that. He’ll be going off to college. We could hire another high school student to help out, but it still won’t solve the problem.”
    “Then what do you suggest?” I asked him.

    “Well, we can look at the possibility of letting Ringo go and hiring a full time employee.”

    “We can’t afford that. Especially since a full-time employee would expect benefits.”
    “Maybe it’s time to think about selling it.”
“No—”
    “Tell them!” This time it was loud enough that they couldn’t ignore him.

    “No!” I hissed at him.

    “Tell us what, Jared?” Lizzy asked with a challenge in her blue eyes.
    “It’s nothing!” I told her and then turned to him. “Not now!” I couldn’t believe how angry I suddenly was at him. We had been arguing about it for days, and the fact that he would try to force my hand pissed me off to no end.
    But he was staring right back at me, and he looked just as mad. “It’s not ‘nothing’!” He kept his gaze level on mine and said, “Jared has been offered a full-time job teaching at the high school next semester.”
    “What?” Brian said.
“That’s great!” Mom said.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Lizzy asked.
    I barely heard any of them. “You incredible fucking bastard! I can’t believe you just did that!”

    “Why not? I’ve been trying to get you to tell them for the last week—”

    “ What ?” Lizzy sounded pissed now too.

    “You knew I didn’t want to say anything.” My voice was getting louder.
    His, on the other hand, was getting lower, his words clipped short as he got angrier. “And you don’t think that your job offer is relevant to this discussion?”
    “You had no right!”
“I had no right ? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
    And now I really was yelling. “You had no right because it’s none of your goddamn business!”
    Everybody froze. I saw in his steel-gray eyes all of the doors slamming shut in a way I hadn’t seen in months. His gaze turned icy, his face guarded and expressionless. “So that’s how it is. I can’t believe I didn’t realize sooner.”
    He stood up and started to walk away.
    “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I made an effort not to yell, tried to keep my voice level. Almost succeeded. Brian was looking terribly uncomfortable. Lizzy looked pissed as hell, and I had a feeling it was at me. I couldn’t tell what Mom was thinking.
    “It means I should have realized what was going on. You’ve drawn a line, haven’t you? And I’m not supposed to cross it. And apparently that line is just outside the bedroom door!” Brian jumped up and grabbed whatever dishes were closest to him and took them into the kitchen. Mom and Lizzy didn’t move. Matt wasn’t done. “You talk a pretty good game, but the fact is, you’re still ashamed of who you are, and you’re ashamed to be with me!”
    “I’m not!”
    “You are! Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You think I