by Fawkes, Sara
We shook hands, and I tried to ignore the electric zing that his touch sent coursing through my body. A small smile worked its way across my lips. “What should I bring?”
“I’ll take care of it. You hired me; I’ll bring the supplies.”
I felt a sudden weight lift off my shoulders. If he hadn’t been a boy, I probably would have hugged him. “I need to get back to my bike.”
“You’ll be okay riding home in the dark?”
I nodded. “Do it all the time.” He gave me a dubious look, and I wondered what sort of neighborhood he lived in. “Seriously, we’re not in New York. I’ll be fine.”
The sun had already past the horizon and twilight was settling in when he dropped me off back at the grocery store. I hadn’t realized just how late it actually was, but still paused and turned back to the open window. “Thanks for the ice cream.”
“No problem. Sorry I don’t have any air-conditioning.”
“Well, I’m used to it on the bike.” I didn’t know what else to say, but really didn’t want to leave just yet. “When do you want to meet up for the GED stuff?”
“How about tomorrow? We’ve got the day off since Trent’s dad is heading into Biloxi, are you working?”
I shook my head. “It’s one of my days off.”
“Cool, then maybe I can pick you up?”
The idea of him seeing the ratty trailer where I lived didn’t sit well. “Can I meet you somewhere instead?”
“Sure, maybe another ice cream?”
Nodding, I gave him another smile. “Thanks again.”
“Heh, wait until I start drilling you. I tend to go overboard with studying.”
Somehow, I couldn’t see the laid-back boy before me as a nerd. “As long as I can pass.” I winked at him, then pushed away from the car, waving as he drove off.
The lock on my bike was stuck, and it took me a minute to get it to let go. When it finally broke free, I wrapped it around the frame and turned the bike around, only to come face-to-face with Mrs. Holloway. The large woman glared at me, and my breath caught in my throat. “Didn’t you leave sick, Ms. St. James?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I murmured, uneasy being questioned. “A friend picked me up, but I need my bike.”
Her expression told me quite clearly that she didn’t believe me. Swallowing, I gave her a small wave that she didn’t reciprocate, then pushed off the curb and headed straight home.
My mother was slumped on the couch watching news when I came through the door. A half-empty bottle of whiskey sat on the table before her, along with two cans of Coke. I could tell from the way she sat that she was already toasted; she didn’t even say hello to me when I came inside.
Beside the television, my little brother was playing quietly with his toys. When he saw me a big smile crossed his face and he ran over to hug me.
“Hey, Goober,” I said fondly, picking him up in my arms. He was getting far too big for this, but I’d carry him in my arms until I broke my back. “Ready for bed?”
He shook his head, and then yawned. I smiled. “Mom, I’m putting him down for the night.”
All I got in reply was a grunt and a wave. I stared at the slug that used to be my mother, and then wordlessly took my brother to his room.
“Where’s Gamma?” he murmured as I rummaged around for clean pajamas.
“She’s working late tonight, sugar. She’ll be in later to kiss you good night.” My throat closed up after that. It helped that he really was as angelic as she proclaimed to everyone in town. Heaven help us if he’d been a natural brat, given how much she spoiled him, but the little boy was perfect. He came from good stock, she always told people. His father, rest his soul, had been the salt of the earth.
It all came down to parentage. His biological father was a good man. Mine wasn’t. And to her, that made me just as evil.
I slipped his shirt off, and then frowned. “Baby, where’d you get these?” I asked, holding out his arm. He had twin bruises on his right bicep that I didn’t remember seeing before.
“I dunno.” His eyes kept closing as he swayed in place. Taking pity, I pulled the pajama shirt over his head and lifted him into bed, pulling the sheets up around his body.
Once I was sure he was tucked in, I started his nightlight and watched the shapes circle the walls. The revolving light had been mine as a kid, a gift from my father. My stepfather. Music notes danced around the small room, and I swallowed as I remembered how much bigger my room had been when I was younger. My brother deserved so much more than this.
I closed the door quietly behind me, and looked over at my mother. Her head was lying back on the couch, and I could tell from the snores that she was passed out. For a long moment, I stared at the woman from across the trailer, then went and locked myself inside my bedroom.
CHAPTER FIVE
“What’s all this?”
“Study aids.”
The bag of books in front of me was more than a little daunting. They also took up almost all the space on the table. “Where’d you get these?”
“Bookstore. There were more, but I figured these would be a good start.”
More? These were bad enough in my opinion. I hadn’t done homework in years, and the small mountain of material was a tad overwhelming.
“I also think we should head someplace a little more private.”
He was right on that score. The ice cream shop was already packed with the summer crowd, and not likely to get any better. Still, I eyed him suspiciously. “Like where?”
“Is there a public library around here?”
There was, in fact, although I’d never been inside. I relaxed again, realizing I’d tensed up the minute he suggested we go someplace alone. So far he’d proven reliable; maybe I could give him some benefit of the doubt. “Sure, I’ll show you where it is.”
Oyster Cove’s library was not far from the ice cream shop, near the water. Honestly, the town was small enough that nothing was too far away from the Gulf shores. We parked his small car outside, and Everett looked up at the old building. “Nice.”
I’d driven past so many times that I’d forgotten how pretty the library actually was. While not as majestic as some of the older buildings still standing around the county, long columns lined the front façade in typical Southern style. Time and a life next to a hurricane-infested ocean had given it a weathered façade, but it still bore the stamp of history. It wasn’t all that large, but it definitely had a regal air. “I don’t even notice it anymore,” I said as we walked inside.
“That’s too bad.” He peered around the inside, too, and I tried to see it through his eyes. The interior, while updated, still had an old-world aesthetic. The second floor had a big hole in the center where sun shone down from a domed window in the roof. The stairways were lined with ornate wrought iron handrails, although I saw they were loose now with age as we climbed the steps.
The upstairs was well lit but crowded. After Hurricane Katrina had brought in super high tides that washed away large swaths of town, the library had moved most of its wares to the top floor. Bookshelves hemmed us in from all sides, but we soon found an empty nook with two medium tables.
“So what do you want to start on first?” he asked, pulling up a chair and setting the books on the table.
I shrugged. For some reason, it was strange to see him so eager to help me. Boys this handsome usually had something else to do than help some girl they barely knew study for a test. Yet he’d bought me books and supplies and gave me his Sunday afternoon expecting … what? I didn’t know what to make of the boy before me, and that was both an intriguing and scary prospect.
I sat down next to him and started sorting out the various books by subject. Sitting this close, I caught the scent of him. Like soap and aftershave and something distinctly Everett. It filled my senses like a drug, and I felt a rush of heat shoot straight through me.
Whoa, simmer down, Lacey. Time to put on the breaks.
I turned to Everett, w
ho was watching me curiously. “Everything okay?”
“Yup, never better,” I said too quickly, my voice too high.
I pushed my chair away from his, pretending to reach for a book. I shuffled through the stack, happy for a distraction.
“How were you at Science?” Everett asked.
“Decent,” I said, feeling my pulse start to go back to normal.
“Social studies?”
“Slightly better.”
“Math?”
My mouth tipped up. “Lousy.”
“Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner!” He pulled a book out from the stack and handed me a packet of pencils. I took them from him, careful not to let our skin meet. “It’s pretty straightforward: you take a few practice tests and they explain the answers. Then you take more tests.”
I glanced at my phone. Ten o’clock in the morning. Sighing, I resigned myself to a long day.
Surprisingly, I didn’t start out too badly. By noon, I’d already done two tests and seemed to remember more from school than I thought. Everett thought he could make my mediocre scores better, but still switched me over to some of the English tests, which were a breeze.
My stomach was rumbling by one o’clock. At one thirty, I leaned back in my chair. “God, I’d give my right eye for an oyster po’boy.”
“A what?”
I snapped my head around to look at Everett. “You’ve never heard of a po’boy sandwich?”
He blinked. “Is it like a hoagie?”
What the hell is a “hoagie”? “Come on, lunch is on me.”
We stuffed the books back inside the paper sack and headed out to the car. “You’re either gonna love or hate this place, but it has the best po’boys in the area.”
The deli wasn’t actually in Oyster Cove but a few miles north closer to the freeway. We were almost to the interstate when I pointed out a lone gas station. “Here?” he asked, giving me an odd look but still pulling inside.
“Yup.” I understood his confusion. The gas station, as far as I knew, had no real name except Gas Station. It was in the middle of nowhere, out of view of both the main roads and the highway. It had been built about half a century ago and, from the outside, didn’t look like it’d been updated anytime in between.
“Trust me,” I said as we walked inside, “you’ll love it. Hey, Meg.”
Meg was at the counter, and when she saw me come inside she gave me a gap-toothed grin. “Hey, gorgeous, haven’t seen you in a while.”
I’d always liked Meg, ever since I found this place. She was a little older than my grandmother but not nearly as uptight. Her hair was a bright maroon, as if she’d gotten her hair dye at Hot Topic, but it fit her personality. She always had a smile for me, which I appreciated.
That, and she made the best fried food I’d ever eaten.
Pointing to Everett beside me, I said, “This Yank’s never had a po’boy. Think you can fix him up?”
“I got just the thing. Gimme a few minutes, doll.”
Everett was looking around, a bemused smile on his face. While the booths lining the windows were fairly new, the rest of the store looked like it’d just survived a hurricane. Barely. The walls had a dingy tint from decades of grease fryers and cigarette smoke, but the countertops were clean.
“Don’t mean to be alarmist,” Everett murmured, “but I’m not going to get food poisoning, am I?”
His question made me grin. “You probably don’t want to see the condition of the kitchen, but I’ve eaten here probably too many times and never got sick. You’ll be fine.” I made my way to one of the colorful booths, and Everett sat down across from me. “So, tell me about you,” I said.
“Like I said before, I’m boring.”
“Well, you’re a boring person with a New York area code. So spill: what’s it like on the East Coast?”
Everett sat back, staring out the window at the old gas pumps. I wasn’t even sure they worked anymore; I’d never seen anyone actually buying gas here. The place usually had a few more people, especially this close to lunch, but today was bare except for Meg in the back and her son sweeping.
Finally, he spoke. “Everyone is on the go in New York City. There’s always something that has to be done now or, better yet, two days ago. When people do stop, it’s usually to refuel for the next activity, not to appreciate what they already have.
“There’s also a lot of masks, although I never noticed that until I came here.” He frowned, as if struggling how to explain it. “You never really know who a person is, even if you live or work around them every day. There’s a need to portray a certain image, to be a certain way. Fashion plays a big part, but it’s more than that. Even in conversations, if you’re not talking about the right things, then you’re insignificant in certain situations. If you don’t want the right things, then you’re nobody.”
That didn’t sound all that fun to me. I peered at him, realizing there was something deeper in his words than just my answer. “So what do you want?” I finally asked when the silence stretched on too long.
My question woke him out of his thoughts, and he gave me a sheepish smile. “To try new things, not be forced down roads I’d rather not take.” He cocked his head to one side. “What about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?”
He said it with a smile, but the question resonated in me for some reason. I thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” I said finally, staring at my nails. “Once I wanted to be a veterinarian, then when my piano lessons took off I wanted to be a concert pianist.”
“Well, why don’t you go for one of those?”
I shook my head. “It’s been years since I’ve so much as looked at a piano, and I know I wouldn’t make it through all the schooling to become a vet.” I sighed and blew out a breath. “I don’t even know what I want anymore.”
“Well, if you could do anything, go anyplace, what would it be?”
“Get out of here.” I didn’t even have to think about that one. “Be any place but this little town.”
He looked like he wanted to say more, when Meg appeared with two baskets in her hand. “Here’s yours, darlin’,” she said to me, handing me the smaller sandwich, “and here’s yours, babycakes. Enjoy.”
Everett stared at the sandwich before him. My mouth was watering from the smells alone. “You ever eaten fried oysters before?” I asked, gathering together the thick sandwich. “Well, whatever you do, don’t look at them. Just enjoy the taste.”
“You know that’s not very comforting,” he said drolly as I bit into my sandwich, but I was too hungry to answer him. He picked up half his sandwich gamely and took a bite. His eyebrows shot up as he chewed, and for a few minutes we ate in companionable silence.
“Good, huh?” I said as I finished my half sandwich.
“Amazing,” he said through a full mouth, then grinned. “Just like the view.”
He was looking at me when he said it, and the comment caught me off guard. I couldn’t think of a response just then so I took another bite of my sandwich.
“So what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” he asked between bites.
“I need to go pick up my little brother from school at three o’clock, so I should probably head home to pick up my mom’s car.”
“Why don’t you have a car? Wouldn’t it be easier?”
“Well,” I hedged, and then looked at his ratty mode of transportation. He’d probably understand better than most. “Right now my vehicle isn’t working all that well.”
“Vehicle? Way to be cryptic.”
I just grinned. “She’s my pride and joy, but right now she’s up on blocks.”
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“Dunno, you ever rebuild a transmission?”
“No, but Trent can.”
I mulled that information over. Riding the bike was getting old; I could only go so far, and being stuck in such a small area as Oyster Cove was beginning to chafe. “Yeah, see how much he’ll charge,” I sa
id finally, sliding out of the booth. “It’s an old automatic Ford, shouldn’t be too hard.”
“I’ll ask. So, tomorrow then?”
“Four o’clock tomorrow sound okay?”
“Cool. I’ll pick you up.”
“No, I’d rather—”
Everett held up a hand. “You can at least meet me at the end of the lane where I dropped you off before, can’t you?”
He had a point. “All right, then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
We waved good-bye to Meg and walked out of the Gas Station. Everett held open the door for me like a gentleman. Being treated nicely felt good, and I fought to keep a silly grin off my face.
“So, what’s a boy from New York City doing in Mississippi working construction?” I asked as we pulled out and headed back south toward town.
“I needed a change is all. Trent’s a friend and promised me a job with his dad’s company, made it sound fun.”
“And you came all the way down here?” I teased. “Are you running away from something?”
He smirked but kept his eyes on the road. “You’re not going to go looking me up online, are you?”
I shook my head, my smile fading. “I’m not a big fan of the Internet,” I said, looking out the window.
“Neither am I, to be honest.”
It felt strange to meet somebody else who wasn’t online twenty-four seven. I wanted to ask for the story behind his choice, but feared he would ask the same from me. “How long are you staying down here?”
“The original plan was just for the summer, but I like it here. Don’t know if I’ll stay in construction, but it’s peaceful here.” He looked over at me, winking. “And there are other perks to staying.”
I clamped my lips together, fighting to keep the stupid grin off my face. Warmth spread through me and I stared out the window as we pulled up to my bike. Being appreciated again felt good, especially after feeling like a burden to everyone for so long. A quick glance at my watch told me I had to hurry, but I paused and covered his hand with mine. “Thank you for helping me with all this.”
He brought my hand up to kiss the knuckles, his eyes not leaving mine. A tingle spread through my body, and between my thighs an ache of longing started. “I’ll help you however I can,” he murmured.