The Whore's Child

father said when Jolene was gone.
    â€œKnow what?”
    â€œThat Howard Christie’s in love with your mother.”
    Lin thought about the way the collection basket paused each Sunday after he’d put in the offering envelope.
    â€œYou thought he just enjoyed painting houses on the weekend?”
    Exactly. That was exactly what Lin had thought. Either that or he enjoyed Lin’s own company.
    â€œAsk him, if you don’t believe me.”
    Lin tried to imagine circumstances in which he might ask any such thing, and failed utterly.
    â€œWhat’d you eat at your grandfather’s?” his father asked after Jolene had brought their salads.
    â€œSteak,” Lin said around a mouthful of iceberg lettuce.
    â€œFigures,” he said, nodding thoughtfully. “Your grandmother still drinking?”
    â€œDrinking what?” Though he knew. He’d seen her going back into the kitchen to visit the silver shaker, seen her careful, deliberate gait after dinner, smelled the strange sweetness on her breath when she kissed him good night, the same sweetness he sometimes smelled after his mother listened to Jo Stafford too long.
    â€œToo bad,” his father said. “Of course you’d drink, too, if you were married to Linwood the Third. He still trying to convince your mother to divorce me?”
    His father had stopped eating and was watching him. Lin would have liked not to answer, but he knew that wasn’t an option. “He isn’t going to give her money anymore,” he said, immediately smarting at this betrayal of his mother, especially since his father seemed cheered to hear it.
    â€œI figured that’s how she was staying afloat. How’d she take that news?”
    But across the restaurant, his aunt had gotten to her feet and headed to the ladies’ room, and Uncle Brian, having finished his meal, also rose and came across the room. He was about the same height as Lin’s father, but otherwise seemed much larger and his face was always purple, as if the top button of his shirt was too tight.
    â€œHey there, big guy,” he said, offering his huge hand to Lin.
    â€œStand up when you shake hands,” his father suggested, also rising to his feet. “Your uncle’s big on manners.”
    Uncle Brian chuckled pleasantly, as if at a fine joke. Lin was surprised when the two men shook hands, both of them acting like they couldn’t have been more pleased to run into each other.
    â€œYou didn’t want to eat with us?” Uncle Brian said, sounding genuinely hurt.
    â€œYou were about done, and we were just starting,” Lin’s father explained.
    â€œWould’ve been my treat.”
    â€œWell, big brother”—Lin’s father’s smile got thin—“I may not have as much money as you, but I think I can manage a couple of spaghetti dinners.”
    â€œYou ever see anybody as stubborn as your old man?” Uncle Brian wanted to know. But before Lin could respond, he’d already turned back to his brother. “That Bert’s Buick you pulled up in?”
    â€œWhat of it?”
    Uncle Brian held up both hands in surrender. “Nothing. I just heard you were looking for a car, that’s all. Why don’t you let me help you out?”
    â€œI’ll think about it.”
    Uncle Brian sighed. “Why does it always have to be this way with you, Tommy, will you tell me that? What the hell did I ever do to you? What did
anybody
ever do to you?”
    Jolene arrived with their food then, setting the plates down hard. “If this is going where I think it’s going, then take it outside.”
    â€œYou want to go outside, Tommy?” Uncle Brian was saying now. “Is that it?”
    His father just grinned back at him. “I only want two things, Brian. I want to sit down and eat my rigatoni, and I want you to go fuck yourself.”
    â€œ
Outside,
” Jolene warned, her voice rising now.
    â€œDon’t let your spaghetti get cold,” Lin’s father said. “I’ll be right back.”
    Spaghetti was one of Lin’s favorite foods because it was both delicious and thought-provoking. They’d been coming to Rigazzi’s for as long as he could remember, and his father had taught him how to twirl spaghetti on his fork instead of cutting it up. The trick, he’d learned, was to start with just a few strands; otherwise you ended up with a big ball of