Truth Is Like the Sun

Chapter 22

"This!" AJ threw the catalog down in front of his mother, finger stabbing at a wallpaper in a sickening shade of green.

"This?" Carol Ann made a face.

"We told him that he can pick whatever he wants," Elvis pointed out. "It's his room."

"I didn't pick anything in my room at home," AJ said. "She did-"

"I did not," Carol Ann protested.

Elvis looked down at the catalog, trying not to frown when he caught sight of the wallpaper Carol Ann had rejected. "You think that over and we'll do all that when we get back from Hawaii."

AJ closed the catalog with a sigh. "I wanna go to Hawaii too. School ruins everything."

A small smile played Elvis' lips. "We told you that we're gonna take you to Hawaii sometime too. It's not really for fun, it's for work."

"And you're gonna bring me somethin' back," AJ parroted what Elvis and Carol Ann had been telling him for weeks.

Carol Ann had decided that they would stay at Graceland for the days leading up to their departure to Hawaii. Her mother still refused to look after AJ and while Vernon would have been glad to, he was going to Hawaii with Elvis. Carol Ann had been more than reluctant to make the elderly Minnie Mae watch her rambunctious boy. Louann had almost gotten her way but Elvis came up with a solution.

AJ was going to spend the week with Elvis' uncle Vester and aunt Clettes. Carol Ann and AJ had only met them a few times but they were family of Elvis' and therefore, family of AJ's as well.

AJ took it all in stride, at least on the surface. He hadn't been separated from his mother for a whole week so far and she had assumed that it wouldn't come until he reached his teens.

"Carol?" The familiar voice of Mary Jenkins called. "Your mother is on the phone."

Carol Ann suppressed a groan, trying to do the same with her grimace but failing in that department. "Thank you for lettin' me know Mary, but you tell Mrs. Riley that I'm not available."

Mary gave a curt nod before scurrying out of the room.

"Mrs. Riley?" Elvis expelled a laugh. "Not available?" He wanted to say more, tease her a little, but her eyes warned him against it.

"I'm not gonna talk to her today," Carol Ann said. "It wouldn't do any good if I did."

"I'd talk to her," AJ's spoke up.

"You go ahead then," Carol Ann told him.

AJ moved to stand, then changed his mind "She'll just yell at me."

Carol Ann did her best to suppress a sigh. "You just don't worry about it, okay?"

"But she's real mad. If she's callin' here."

"We'll get the number changed again," Elvis spoke up, his voice firm. Carol Ann shook her head at him.

"Where you goin'?" Carol Ann asked when her son dragged himself to his feet.

"Upstairs," AJ mumbled.

Elvis laughed. "You let him go to his room, Carrie. Who says that he's gotta stay down here with us all the time."

"He don't." Carol Ann stared straight ahead, soon finding herself lost in thought.

Marriage wouldn't come until at least the end of the year that had just begun. Elvis and Priscilla wouldn't be divorced until October. Still, Carol Ann wondered if they would ever go back home, to her mother's house. AJ was beginning to settle in and as much as Carol Ann hated to admit it, the same could be said about her.