Not in the Heart Read Online Free Page B

seat and opened the passenger door. The car sounded like it had arthritis and lumbago and maybe ulcerative colitis. But I had to remind myself that Oleta still had a car and I didn’t.
    â€œAre you going to stand there or are you going to get in?”
    She moved the paper bag to the backseat and I swallowed my pride.
    The interior of the car didn’t look much better than the outside. There was the requisite number of Burger King and McDonald’s bags smashed into the floorboards. Two empty Diet Coke cans in cup holders. Yard signs wedged between the seats made things cozy.
    â€œDid you have car problems?” she said with a certain knowing, smarmy tone. “Is that why they towed it?”
    â€œIt’s a repossession. Been dodging that bullet.”
    She fell silent and I noticed Christian music crackling through the speaker that still worked. It just happened to be on my side. Something about blessing God in the desert and wilderness and blah, blah, blah. Had Oleta preprogrammed her songs to reach me? No, a deep-voiced announcer gave the time and temperature.
    She told me the location of the closest impound lot. “That’s the direction I saw him go, but if he went someplace else, I might have to drop you off and let you find it on your own. I can’t be late for work.”
    â€œWhere do you work?”
    She told me the street.
    â€œNo, I mean, what type of work do you do?”
    â€œReal estate company. But back in the day I worked at the impound lot, so I know the drill. I’ve had just about every job you can think of the past few years, trying to hold the family together.” She laughed and it sounded like exercise for her lungs.
    â€œYou and Terrelle have kids?”
    â€œWe had two little ones when he was arrested. It was because of them that I told him to get out. His drinking took over. I wanted a big family, you know. Lots of kids coming over for Christmas dinner and . . .” Her voice trailed as we pulled to a stop sign. “Two kids grown and flown now. Didn’t raise them the way I wanted, but they seem to be doing pretty well, all things considered.”
    â€œThat’s an accomplishment.”
    She sped up to make it through a light and looked at her watch. I spotted a tow truck ahead, but it wasn’t pulling my car.
    I stared out the window and felt her eyes on me, hate and pity. I’m not accustomed to that. I’m more into the adulation of people who say, “Aren’t you the guy on TV?”
    Her voice sounded soft enough to be a prayer, and it cut through the music and air conditioner rattle. “I want to apologize for coming down on you so hard. I had no right. Part of it is probably how angry I still feel about Terrelle. All the crazy choices he made that put him where he is. I put that on you.”
    â€œWhat choices?”
    â€œYou know, the people he ran with. The dependence on alcohol and drugs and the womanizing. People around me told me to just let him go, divorce him, but I couldn’t do it. And in a lot of ways my life is better because of all we went through. I don’t know that I would have ever found the Lord if we hadn’t gone through that. And I know he wouldn’t have.”
    Asphalt and palm trees and the climbing sun. These were the visuals as I endured her onslaught of faith.
    â€œI don’t know your side of the story and I shouldn’t have jumped on you. It wasn’t the best way to hire somebody.”
    â€œI appreciate you saying that.”
    But like every Christian I have ever known, she didn’t know when to stop. “I identify a lot with that wife of yours. I see her pain. I see her on the edge of collapse with Aiden. To be honest, when you opened the door, I half expected to meet a monster. I’ve seen you on TV, but I figured I’d see the Mr. Hyde side, if you know what I mean.”
    â€œI can be a monster.”
    Her laugh was a gurgling, clucking