Dolly

Two

N I A L L

It was the last day in the motel room. I had all of mine and Tony’s things packed, except for one thing. Tony wasn’t even back yet. I paced the room, my hands firmly on my hips. As soon as I heard the door open, and Tony’s backpack hit the floor, my head popped up.

“Tony!”

I glared at me questioningly, his eye brows furrowed in confusion at my sudden outburst. “What?” he mumbled, looking me up and down, “Why are you dressed today?”

“We are movin’!”

He frowned, “What?”

“Don’t look so sad, buddy. We are movin’ back home.” I smiled, and patted his back. “I worked it all out with Mary. We are going back to the house. It won’t be the same right away though, Mary and I have a lot to work on after what I did, and after what she did but we are gonna work on it.”

“Really?” He smiled, his eyes brightened, and suddenly they weren’t that dull blue that they had been the past two months.

“Yes,” I nodded, “I promise this won’t happen again. I always keep my promises, don’t I?”

“Like you promised Mary that you’d always come back for her.” He smiled. “You went back for her.” He sighed happily, “I like Mary. She’s nice, and she’s funny and she’s like a mom. I’ve never had a mom before.” I grinned awkwardly, and bit my lip.

“I’m sorry.” I sighed, resting my hand on his shoulder. “That I left her, and didn’t work things out.”

“Can we forget about all that? I don’t like to talk about it.”

My eye brows pinched together while my head shook, “Why not? You didn’t do it. I did.”

“Because.” He shrugged, “It hurt me to leave her. I don’t like it when Mary cries.”

I never actually realized how leaving would hurt Tony just as much as it hurt Mary. Mary was only mother figure Tony has ever known and I made him leave that comfort. I pushed forward a smile, nodding. “Okay.” I pat his back, nudging him towards his bag on the bed. “Just pack your stuff, and we will go.”

“We will go back to Mary.” I said.

I stole glances over at Tony while he was faced away from me. The whole car was silent, besides his random sighs that managed to pass his lips every now and again.

It wasn’t until I purposely hit a pothole in the road that he looked over at me with a smile on his face. “Stop.” He said, “I’m still mad at you.”

-

I stood in the front door, watching Mary cup Tony’s face and look over him. Almost like she thought I may have hurt him while he wasn’t under her supervision. It’s like she didn’t actually trust me alone with Tony. “He’s fine, Mary.” I spoke up, stepping into the living room so I could latch the door shut.

“Right, well Tony go get settled back into your room.” She grinned, ruffling up his hair before he got out of arms reach. “Are you still working at the garage? Or did you leave that too?”

I was taken aback by her comment, it was the last thing I was expecting to come from her lips. Although I knew I deserved the cold treatment. I was lucky enough that she was letting me come back here. “Yeah, I’m still working there. I have to support Tony somehow.” I sighed, “Don’t think that just because I left, that I forgot how to take care of my own brother. Been doin’ it for eleven, nearly twelve years.”

“I didn’t mean it that way, I just meant that you’re so in tune to leaving things, that I figured maybe you ditched your job too.” She shrugged, grabbing the bags from by my feet. “You can sleep in the extra room until-“