Chapter 25
“Hey,” I said to Will as he rolled the rototiller back to his work trailer and up the ramp.
“Hey,” he replied as he strapped it into place. Not looking at me. Thoughtful. Pensive. Piccadilly Park was nearly empty on a school day, at least in this corner of the sprawling green space, and the overcast day made everything turn gray, muting the sounds of town around us.
“Lunch?” I asked. I’d jogged over from Amber’s where I’d stayed last night, after slinking back in wolf form.
“Sure. Taco truck?” Will took off his battered straw cowboy hat, wiped his head and neck with his bandana, then put the hat back on.
“Sounds good.” I climbed into his Chevy, and then buckled in. Didn’t look at Will. He didn’t look at me. A wall seemed to stand between us, some kind of barrier that could only be torn down by talking about things neither of us seemed to want to talk about.
A few blocks away Will pulled the truck and trailer into a parking lot and looped it around in an open space at the back, away from the people crowding up close to the taco truck at one end. Several of these plied the lunch crowd in town, providing cheap Mexican food to Hispanics and gringos alike. For five bucks you could get a kickass lunch better than most of the restaurants around. The smell of grilled beef, peppers and onions drifting downwind got my mouth watering.
I expected us to sit down at one of the picnic tables there under the awnings after we got our order, but Will took the bag of food and walked back to the truck. Taking down the tailgate, he hopped up on it and patted the spot next to him.
I sat. Woof.
After we’d demolished half a monster burrito each, he turned to me with that look a guy gets when he has to put his hand into the fire, like he’s getting ready for pain. “So…”
“So last night,” I interrupted. “What can I say? Jeanetta still blamed me for Shane’s death, and wanted to take revenge.”
“But what was all that Indian stuff?”
“She was just crazy, that’s all.”
“Ash, she tried to burn you guys alive!”
I shook my head and almost explained to him that the fire was just to provide extra power for the magic, as well as to try to force me into wolf form, but I just couldn’t. Not yet. “She’s nuts. Look at all the stuff Sean was babbling about – whips and S&M and the occult. Who knows what she believes?”
Will stared at me over the remaining half of his burrito, then wrapped the foil around it and put it down. “You’re not telling me everything, Ashlee.”
“Nope,” I said, surprised at myself for being so blunt. Maybe it was just that kind of day.
“Why not?”
“I tried to tell you that you didn’t know me, Will, but you didn’t listen. You just pushed what I said aside, as if I was telling you that out of fear or something, like I didn’t know what I was talking about and you know best. Guys do that, you know.”
“Do what?” I could see him getting annoyed with me lumping him in with other “guys,” but I couldn’t help it.
“They want what they want so they don’t listen. They discount girls’ – women’s – insights, especially about themselves. Think they know best.”
“Maybe it’s because the women won’t just talk plain to them. Won’t tell them what the hell is going on, in words us dumb guys can understand.”
My eyes narrowed as I took another bite of burrito, feeling the burn of fresh grilled jalapenos that was nothing like those pickled ones most people are used to. I bought some time to think by pulling out a little clear plastic container of chopped cilantro to add to the juicy goodness in my hands, making a ritual of it.
“How bad do you have to know?” I asked.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m serious. How much would you sacrifice to find out everything, all at once, right now?” See, I was getting sick of the dance, too, and I was tired and still hurting from everything that happened yesterday. I guess what I mean is, I was about ready to say to hell with it and just dump it all on him and damn the consequences. Double or nothing, roll the dice.
“I…I’d do anything for you, Ash.”
“But what if the price was me? What if by learning everything you lost me?”
“That’s impossible.”
“Here we go again.” I chucked the rest of the burrito in the bag, suddenly not hungry anymore. “You love me but you dismiss me and what I say. That’s not love.” I hopped off the tailgate and started walking away.
“Ash! Ash, I’m sorry. I’ll stop asking. Really. I love you, and I don’t care about your secrets.”
I stopped. Turned. “Yes, you do.”
“Okay, I do, but not as much as I care about you. I’ll wait for you to explain, okay? You’re the most important thing in my life, and if that’s the price…okay.”
“Okay?”
“Whatever it takes.”
He looked so forlorn there, twisting his straw field hat in his hands like some kid in a Dickens novel, that my resolve crumbled. “Okay,” I said, and came back to him. Once I had returned and we were standing there, I just had to kiss him, right? Kiss him stupid, as Amber used to say, though this time I got kinda stupid too.
We only broke up the clinch when a bunch of boys on BMX bikes started on the wolf-whistles. I smiled in embarrassment while Will winged a dirt clot at the road by their tires, and they took off, hooting.
“Want to take the afternoon off?” I asked with a sidelong grin.
“I think I can arrange that, seeing as I am the boss…just gimme a minute to call Rodrigo.”
On the way back to Will’s house, my house, I took my shoes off and stuck my feet out the window, rolling off my newly skewered butt cheek and laying across the bench seat to put my head in his lap. He stroked my hair and all was right with the world again, at least for today.
MoonRise Page 26