Todd handed up to her the carton with the Pyrex dishes of soup and lasagna. She crossed the lawn to the front steps and set it down to get a better grip on it.
“I can’t believe this,” Joanie said. She put her fingers to the bridge of her nose, and Todd could see them shaking.
“Are we gonna tell them?” he said. But he couldn’t imagine doing it. He couldn’t imagine anything that was about to happen.
Nina climbed the steps, holding the box with both arms. She tapped the screen door lightly a few times with her foot.
“You didn’t recognize him?” Todd said. “When you went over to him?”
“I didn’t look that close,” his mother said. She was upset.
He slid down in his seat, hiding from the house.
“How often have I seen Tommy Monteleone?” his mother said. “Three times in my life?”
The Monteleones’ screen door was open, and Nina was handing the box through.
“He had a mustache,” his mother added. “The guy we hit didn’t have a mustache.”
“I don’t wanna go in there,” Todd said.
“Didn’t he have a mustache at the wedding?” she asked.
Nina was talking to whoever was on the other side of the door, probably asking if this was a bad time.
“Of course this is a bad time,” Joanie said.
“She’s probably like you, after Dad left,” Todd said. He meant Mrs. Monteleone. “She probably doesn’t want to see anyone.”
His mother didn’t say anything.
The screen door swung closed, and Nina grabbed it. She turned to the car and waved them in.
Todd scrunched down lower. “Ma, we can’t do this,” he said.
His mother brought both hands together over her face and then moved them apart, rubbing her eyes. She opened her door. “C’mon,” she said.
He had his hands between his thighs. She crossed around the car behind him. He thought for a second she’d gone on without him.
She poked her head in his window the way her mother had. “C’mon, sweetie,” she said. She needed to clear her throat. “We’ll make it. C’mon.”
He opened the door and got out and followed her to the front steps. The grass on their lawn was still shaded, so it was wet. The neighbors two houses down had a blue-and-white Virgin Mary, set in a shell in a rock garden. His mother held the screen door for him, but he let her go in first.
The blinds were pulled in the living room. It took a little time for his eyes to adjust.
Nina and Mrs. Monteleone were standing in the hallway off the other side of the room. Mrs. Monteleone had one hand on the sofa back and another on the wall, as if to steady herself. She nodded at them, once.
She had a TV tray set up in front of the sofa. It had a bowl of polenta on it. There was a pat of butter, unmelted, in the polenta. On the lamp table at one end of the sofa there was a big picture of Tommy Monteleone and his brother, Perry. Tommy was in a blue-plaid jacket and tie, and Perry was in his Navy uniform.
“Ma, we’re interrupting her lunch here,” Joanie said.
“No, come in,” Mrs. Monteleone said. She rubbed her temple with the heel of her palm. “You want some coffee? I’m making some coffee.”
Todd stayed where he was, a few feet from the front door. Nina waved her hand to tell him to come closer.
“I was just getting some—” Mrs. Monteleone said. She was heading toward the kitchen. She trailed off.
Nina followed her. “Lucia, don’t fuss,” they heard her say.
“It’s already made,” Mrs. Monteleone said from the kitchen.
Joanie sat on the edge of a recliner. She gestured with her head toward a big-backed maroon chair near the window for Todd.
“C’mon in here,” Nina called.
When they came into the kitchen, she was setting the table with plates next to the coffee cups. She put a glass tray of cookies in the middle and pulled off the Saran wrap. Mrs. Monteleone was scooping coffee into the coffee maker.
“Ma, we don’t need anything to eat,” Joanie said. “She shouldn’t fuss.”
“Just cookies,” Nina said. “Sit.”
They sat. Nina put milk and sugar on the table. She set two cookies on Todd’s plate.
“You want some polenta?” Mrs. Monteleone asked.
“We’re fine,” Joanie said.
Mrs. Monteleone was gesturing at Todd.
“Todd,” Nina told her.
“Todd,” Mrs. Monteleone said. “Some chicken? I got chicken in there.”
“No, thanks,” he said. “I got cookies.”
She sat at the table, her hands in her lap. The coffee was brewing.
They looked at her. It was like they had to.
“You’re sweet, coming over here,” she said. She looked at each of them.
Nobody was doing anything or saying anything. Todd lifted one of the cookies on his plate.
“Tommy,” Mrs. Monteleone wailed. She covered her eyes and started crying.
Todd froze. His mother looked like she was lifting something very heavy.
Nina patted Mrs. Monteleone on the side of the head. She cried herself out after a minute.
She wiped her eyes and got the coffee.
She went around the table pouring it. Todd was still holding his cookie. He put it down.
His mother was rubbing her hands together like she was soaping them up. “We wanted to say how … sorry we were,” she said. He felt like he was going to fly apart.
Mrs. Monteleone sniffed and put the coffeepot back on the counter. Nina was looking at Todd and Joanie.
Mrs. Monteleone sat back down. Todd could hear a radio, on quietly in another part of the house.
“Do they have any more news?” Nina said.
Mrs. Monteleone shook her head.
“How’s Tommy Senior? He okay?” Nina asked.
Mrs. Monteleone shook her head again. Todd recognized the face: when you don’t want to move because you’re afraid you’ll throw up.
“How could they do that?” she cried. “How could they just leave him there on the road?”
Nina patted her arm and then squeezed it. Todd and his mother stared straight ahead in agony. Todd was looking at refrigerator magnets.
Nina stirred Mrs. Monteleone’s coffee for her. They listened to the sound of the spoon in the cup.
They heard a car in the driveway and then a car door slam. They all sat there, everything on hold until this new person arrived.
“Ho,” Bruno called from the front door. “Anybody home?”
Nina got up to let him in.
He came into the kitchen carrying a grocery bag. He looked upset. “I got some cake,” he said to Mrs. Monteleone. “Dominic’s was closed, don’t ask me why. I went to Stop and Shop. All they had was Sara Lee.”
Todd had no idea what Bruno was doing there. He was emptying the bag: more coffee, a plastic half gallon of spring water, a Sara Lee pound cake. While he put everything away Mrs. Monteleone got up and took some money out of a flour tin in the cabinet and held it out to him.
“Get outta here with that,” he said.
“Take the money,” she said. “How much was it?”
“Free,” Bruno said. “Special sale.” She tried to stuff it in his shirt pocket. He took it out of her hand and put it back in the flour tin in the cabinet.
She sat down at that, and sighed.
“How’d you know what she needed?” Nina asked.
“I was over here before,” he said. “She said she needed to go out for a few things, I told her I’d do it.” He crumpled up the grocery bag with a big noise.
Mr. Monteleone appeared in the hallway. He was wearing an old blue robe and his eyes were impossibly red.