Free Big Fat Disaster by Beth Fehlbaum Page B

closed her eyes, and her voice was barely above a whisper when she spoke. “Believe me: I would
not
be asking this if I weren’t desperate. Ryan’s hospital bills are swallowing me, and I can’t catch up. You—you have no idea how hard it is for me to come to you, but I need help. Please…I’ll pay you back; I don’t know how long it’ll take, but—”
    Aunt Judy tiptoed over and uprighted Leah’s chair, put her hands on Leah’s shoulders, and gently pushed her down into the seat, then gave her three soft
pat-pat-pats
. Leah looked up at her and nodded gratefully.
    Grandpa crossed his arms. “Same rule about rescuing applies here as anywhere else, Leah Jane.
Why
did those boys attack Ryan?” He narrowed his eyes and tucked his chin, giving Ryan a beady-eyed stare. “What did
you
do to them?”
    “I’ll bet you gave them as good as you got, right, Ryan? You
are
from Denton stock, you know!” Uncle Dale winked at him and mimed giving a one-two punch.
    Ryan clenched his jaw and glared at the ground. His eyes filled with angry tears, and he impatiently brushed at his cheek with the back of his hand.
    Leah calmly explained, “Last May, Ryan attended a party at one of his football teammate’s homes. The parents were out of town, and there was underage drinking going on. Some girls from Cedar Points were there, too, and one of them, a girl named Kimmie, drank too much and passed out. While she was unconscious, the team’s quarterback, Jared, raped her.”
    I gasped. “Oh, my God, is the girl all right?” It was as if my words were carried away by the light breeze blowing through our campsite.
    At the mention of the word “rape,” my mother ordered, “Go into the motor coach,
now
, Drew Ann.”
    Of course, my little sister immediately obeyed, because that’s what
she does
. Mom watched her go, then snapped, “Leah, I will thank you to not use words like that around my seven-year-old daughter!”
    Leah gave Mom a dull look and continued the story without acknowledging her.
    “Afterward, Jared not only bragged about what he’d done; he texted a video and nude pictures of Kimmie to his teammates. He even posed in some of the photos, showing himself in the act of…violating her in a variety of ways.”
    My dad bolted out of his chair and stood threateningly over Ryan. “What do you have to do with this? If the press finds out that
my nephew
—”
    Aunt Leah jumped up and put herself between Dad and Ryan. “Jesus Christ, Reese! Is that all you ever think about? Your fucking campaign?”
    She’s a lot shorter than Dad, but she kept walking forward until he nearly bumped into the flaming grill. She poked him in the chest with every word she said. “My! Son! Is! The! Only! Person! Who! Had! The! Courage! To! Report! Jared! For! Rape!” She stepped back and put her hands on her hips. “When the local police department refused to investigate, he called the county sheriff! Ryan did the right thing!”
    The air became heavy, and the only sound was the birds in the forest.
    Dad said nothing; just met Leah’s ice-cold stare right on.
    Finally, Grandma murmured, “So, why…?” She reached over and laid a hand gently on Ryan’s bright orange cast. He looked to the right and down, but didn’t pull away from her.
    Leah dragged her feet through the powdery forest floor as she walked back to her chair. She sat heavily and put her head in her hands. After a minute or so, she spoke. “The boy—Jared—is very well-liked; very well-connected. He was bound for Baylor on a full-ride football scholarship. When the news first broke, his teammates—and much of the community—took Jared’s side. They blamed
the girl
for getting drunk! All they talked about was what a shame it was that such a nice boy with a promising future would lose it all because of”—she shook her head disgustedly—“one bad decision.”
    Leah straightened and reached for Ryan’s shoulder, resting her hand on it. “The last day of