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Suddenly the door swung open again and everyone’s head swiveled as a woman I recognized as Tenleigh’s sister burst through, wet and shivering like her mother, without the proper snow attire on. I started making my way over to Tenleigh as quickly as I could, as Tenleigh’s sister called out, “Mama! Come here.” I looked back at her as she let out an embarrassed laugh, looking around, obviously trying to act as casual as she could in this awful, embarrassing, very public situation.

I felt someone grab my hand and tug, and when I looked backward, it was Shelly. I shook her free and turned back to Tenleigh.

Tenleigh’s mama looked behind her, a confused smile on her face, and when she saw her daughter, she stopped and said, “My goodness, Marlo, what are you doing?”

“Mama, we’re not supposed to be here,” she said, reaching her, and grabbing her hand. I moved closer to Tenleigh and I heard Shelly call after me once, but ignored her.

“Of course we’re supposed to be here,” she said. “This is where Eddie is. Eddie!” she called again, trying to move toward him. “Eddie, baby, I knew you’d be here, I walked all this way…”

“Mama,” Marlo hissed, pulling on her harder. Tenleigh was moving toward them now too, away from me. I wanted to call out to her, but I didn’t want to call attention to her.

“Jesus Christ, she’s a nut,” I heard Edward Kearney say to my right. “Let’s get out of here, Diane. There’s a side door.”

Tenleigh reached her mother, took her other arm, and tried to help Marlo guide her to the front door, but when her mother saw Eddie and his family leaving, she tried to race forward. Marlo lurched to grab her, and Tenleigh tripped over Marlo’s feet and went sprawling onto the floor, letting out a pained cry. Shit! Shit! Shit! I ran toward her.

Marlo grabbed her mama as her mama started screeching, “Eddie! Eddie!” turning around to flail out at Marlo, connecting with her face as Marlo cried out too.

I reached Tenleigh and grabbed her under the arms, lifting her up and pulling her into me and to the side, as her mother continued to screech and wail and punch out at Marlo. I started to step forward to help Marlo when a couple men I recognized as local police officers who must have had kids in the play rushed forward and grabbed hold of Tenleigh’s mama. She clawed at them and screamed Eddie’s name.

As she fought, her dress fell off her shoulder and exposed one of her breasts. I looked away.

“Get her in your car, Bill,” one of the men said. “She practically has hypothermia.” The man named Bill took off his sports coat and wrapped it around Tenleigh’s mama’s shoulders, although she continued to struggle weakly.

“Will you drive us to the hospital?” I heard Marlo say to the officers as I looked back to Tenleigh.

“Of course we will,” one of the men answered.

Marlo looked behind her as the men held her mother up and began walking her out of the building. The look on Marlo’s face was panicked as she looked between their mama and Tenleigh, clearly unsure about leaving her sister. I clasped Tenleigh’s hand in mine. “I’ll walk her home. I’ll make sure she’s safe,” I said.

Marlo’s eyes darted to Tenleigh’s and Tenleigh nodded her consent. Marlo’s face relaxed very slightly and she mouthed, Okay. My turn. Meet you at home.

As her mother was practically dragged from the building, I looked at Tenleigh. She seemed to be in shock, her cheeks bright pink, her neck covered in red splotches as she stared straight ahead. “Tenleigh,” I said gently as she took her hand away.

Her eyes moved to mine and the heartbreak I saw there made my chest squeeze so tightly, I almost brought my hand up to massage the pain away. She looked shell-shocked as her eyes moved slowly around the room, people still gawking at her and talking in whispers that weren’t soft enough not to float above the crowd.

…crazy…affair years back…never right…gotten worse…shameful…disgusting.

I wished they’d all shut the fuck up. Tenleigh doesn’t deserve this.

“Tenleigh, I need to go tell someone I’m leaving and then I’m going to take you home, all right?” As she looked at me, some sort of understanding seemed to come into her eyes. But she remained quiet, the same look of devastation on her face. “Okay,” I confirmed. “I’ll be right back. Stay right here. I’ll be right back,” I repeated.

I started making my way back to Shelly—it wasn’t like I was her ride, but I figured it was the decent thing to do, and I heard the door slam behind me. I glanced back and Tenleigh was gone. Shit. I looked over to where Shelly was standing watching me expectantly, pausing only briefly before I turned and ran after Tenleigh.