The Opposite Of Tidy by Carrie Mac Read Free Book Online

knew that this would make Tabitha mad. She took after her mother that way, always rooting for the underdog. Never making fun of anyone. Always being the advocate. The champion. Junie turned,ready to silently implore her just to play along, but Tabitha would not be stopped.
    “I don’t think it’s particularly funny at all,” she said, glaring pointedly at Junie. “I know them. They’re going through a rough time. And there’s a kid involved. A friend of mine. So I don’t think it’s funny at all. And definitely not something I’d want to see preserved forever on film by you, to do with whatever you want. No thank you.”
    Awkward silence descended upon the van like an invisible villain. Tabitha was waiting for Junie to agree with her, and for Wade to apologize. He went first.
    “Sorry.” He raised his eyes to the rear-view mirror again, this time smiling. “I am sorry. Mea culpa .”
    “ Mea culpa is right,” Tabitha continued, while Junie stayed mute. “It’s not cool to make fun of people who are going through a hard time.”
    “You are absolutely right.” Wade placed a hand on his chest and bowed his head. “I am sorry. I didn’t know.”
    “You shouldn’t have to know. You should just not make assumptions in the first place. You have no idea who they are or what they’re going through. What do you know about any of it? Nothing. That’s what you know.”
    “I’m sorry,” Wade repeated. “You’re absolutely right. I, Wade Jaffre, am a complete and utter asshole.” Junie could hear the easy tone in his words, as though he was making fun of himself.
    Was he being sincere? Or just saying that to appease Tabitha? And if he was just apologizing for her sake, was that because he was trying to impress her in the first place, and now that it had backfired he was backpedalling to getback into her good books? Or was he apologizing because he really meant it? Tabitha interrupted Junie’s bout of overthinking, which was a good thing, because Junie knew she should care more about the insult to her parents than whether Wade liked her or Tabitha better.
    “Junie?” Tabitha glared at her. Waiting for her to come clean and admit that Jack Sprat and his big fat wife were her parents. End the lie. But no way. Not a chance. Junie wasn’t going to give up that easily. “We know them, Junie. You’re better than that.”
    Ouch. A punch right into the solar plexus of Junie’s guilt. She had to catch her breath before she could respond. Tabitha was worse than a parent when it came to guilt trips.
    Junie thought hard about what she would say next. She could hear her father’s voice advising her: Think before you speak. And she was. Thinking hard. Thinking hard about how she could come clean. How she should come clean. How this was the moment, the perfect time to do it. How she could try to work it to be funny. How once she’d told the truth, everything would get easier.
    “It was kind of funny,” Junie finally said, forcing the words out. She’d thought hard, and still she’d come up with something she immediately regretted.
    And so the moment passed. She looked over her shoulder, as if she were actually watching the opportunity to tell the truth slip behind her, a shimmering wake, dissolving.

FOUR

    Tabitha said nothing for the rest of the ride. Junie could feel her glare of disappointment drilling into her from the back seat. She didn’t even have to look back to know that Tabitha was sitting ramrod straight with her arms crossed and her chin jutted out like a pissed off six-year-old. Or a pissed off sixteen-year-old.
    Wade and Junie talked about the bottle drive, or he did mostly. Junie responded with appropriate one- or two-word answers while all the while she was wishing he hadn’t driven by her parents’ house in the first place. She’d have given up her ride home with him if it meant she could erase what had happened along the way. She wished he’d never pulled up beside her. Or she tried to