“You are a horrible father!” Noah shouted. He closed in on Lee, chest inflated, neck arched, emphasizing his height– he felt like his brother, but it suited the anger, every year of it. Voice low, he warned “You need to leave, right now.”
His only daughter– and he’s pissed that she was ‘stupid enough’ to get hurt. Lee cleared his throat, staring at Alyson. Backing down for the first time in Noah’s life, Lee grumbled, “We’ll address this later. As a family.”
“What family?” Noah muttered, waving him good riddance, too confused to hold the anger or mull over the small victory. He sat, accepting Sarah’s hands from Aly so she could fish for aloe.
“It wasn’t nobody’s fault,” Mary -Agnes mumbled incessantly. “We all have our accidents. Little baby ones. I didn’t do nothing wrong. I just… step outside. You understand me. It’s okay. It’s okay.”
“Bury the sins elsewhere, okay?” he snapped, pointing for his mother to leave. Ignoring her crumbling face, he turned back to his sister, muttering, “Justice wouldn’t justify.”
The doors smacked together, swinging as she wobbled out weeping, words carelessly slurring from her lips. When the wails were out of ear-range, Sarah turned to Noah, offering her swollen hands.
“You can’t make excuses when you hurt people. It’s not supposed to be that easy,” Sarah whispered, her voice wavering with the onslaught of tears.
She sounds so young. “It’s not fair,” he agreed, clamping down on his anger. Gently turning her hand in his, he promised, “I know it hurts like hell, but you’re going to be okay. I’ll bet it looks worse than it is.”
“If we weren’t the only damn eat -out place in this God-forsaken Podunk town it would have gone under,” she mumbled. “We’d be starving or in social services or something. You know in cities when this happens, that’s where you go? A foster home until your grown, then the government pays for you to go to college because your parents can’t.”
“I don’t think it’s quite so glamorous, Sar,” Noah sighed, slathering another lather of aloe as her burn heated the last. “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”
“I’m so tired.” Her voice ended in a hiss as the skin made contact with Noah’s best makeshift attempt at wet gauze. She swallowed audibly, shifting her gaze to Aly. “How’d you know what to do?”
Noah glanced towards her, his curiosity growing. “That was kind of amazing. You were the only one who didn’t freak out.” “Most burn accidents happen in the kitchen,” Aly replied.
Sarah waited, exchanging a glance with Noah as if it could clarify. Finally, she prompted, “And?”
“My mother was a chef and a klutz.” Aly forced a smile. “It’s just something I had to know.”
~
“Aly, I am so sorry. I can’t believe that just happened,” Noah said earnestly, rubbing his neck. “It’s not a big deal. I mean it is, but not with me. Well, not that I don’t…” she sighed. “I’m very sorry you had to deal with that, but I want you to know you don’t have to worry about it being a problem with me.”
He shook his head. “Seriously, tha nk you. I think you helped everybody calm down, especially Sarah and Kennedy. Getting everyone to focus like that…”
“I’m only good with people when they’re acting weirder than me,” she mused. “Not a big deal, at all, like I said.”
“That’s everyone in Ashland. I think you’re all set.” He laughed. “Scared off yet?”
“Hardly.” Staring at her hands, she added, “I’m sorry you have to deal with that. It’s not right.” He shrugged, jogging ahead of her to grab the door. “Don’t be. It’s not forever. When I graduate, I’ll be able to get my sister and I out of here. I can’t even think about that part yet though.”
“I know what you mean. I don’t have to live with my dad if I’m not a minor. At the end of this school year, I’m eighteen. Then I’ll figure things out.”
So what happens when the year ends?
He nodded, silent for a moment.
“So… if you’re not going to go home and pack your bags for the next flight,” Noah teased. “Are you as ready to crash as I am?” “Yeah, definitely. It’s nice to go home by myself, totally f ree from Greg.” Aly sighed, almost wistful. “When he’s not there, it’s like I can actually call it that. It’s… comforting.”
She followed him out the door as she spoke. He sat down beneath the window, free from the eyes behind the wall. She frowned, looking between her car and the space at his side. Grinning, he grabbed her sleeve, pulling her down beside him. She laughed, crashing into his embrace. Sobered, she swallowed, scrutinizing his expression.
As she slid her arms around his neck, Noah shuddered. Aly hesitated. Holding still, he waited for her to relax in his arms. She smelled like lavender, with vanilla.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he confessed.
“Me neither,” she whispered.
Noah bit his lip, staring at hers. Her fingertips brushed his jaw, warm palms loosely resting against his cheeks. He could taste her breath, like sweet mint. Her eyes, wide and blue, met his, letting him decide. He moved his hands to her waist, pulling her close. Taking a breath, he pressed his lips to hers. In his arms, Aly shivered.
The doors at her back flew open. She slammed her hands into his chest, pushing herself away. Lee stood beside them, paisley shirt unbuttoned over his beer belly, his hair greased into a low pony tail. Half-hunched, his fists curled into is hips as he stumbled back and forth, swiveling as he looked to and fro.
Having broken apart, they weren’t seen by his father. When he spotted them, Lee peered down from behind his glasses. They had slid to the tip of his nose, his sleeves rolled halfway up is forearm. An upper lip curled in a sneer, revealing yellowed teeth and gums blackened with tobacco.
He looks like a half-cocked librarian cowboy.
Jerking his head at Aly, chin wiggling, Lee snapped, “Get.” Noah gripped her hand as Aly stood up. Squeezing it, she pulled away, forcing a polite smile. Offering a tiny wave, she nodded towards Lee. Noah’s jaw set, eyes narrowing to a glare at his father. Before he could say a word, she gave him a warning look, slightly shaking her head.
Does she smell the booze too? Hating himself for not having words, he realized he had been too stunned to speak. As Noah blinked to clear the haze, Lee cleared his throat, launching a series of coughs. Noah ignored him. He jumped to his feet, watching as she pulled out her keys.
Swaying to Greg’s car, Aly paused, spinning around to face them. Cocking her head to one side, she cracked a smile. Chin up, she called, “And Noah?”
“Yeah?” “I’m really glad your sister’s okay.”
~
“Get out of here.” Noah glanced out the window to see the man running; ducking as though it would cover him from the pouring rain. “My sister’s fine. Ole Jakers here has her covered.”
Noah forced a smile, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Kennedy looked across the table to Sarah, as if seeking permission. A dimple sprouted with her half-smile, followed by a quick nod. As he dragged himself out of the booth, he hung his head, as sullen as ever.
“Tomorrow?” he clarified. Sarah winked, jerking her chin towards the door. He put his hands up, his hair falling over his face with a nod. “Alright, I’m going, I’m going.”
Kennedy traded positions with Jacob, a shorter guy slightly packing on weight with age. With curly brown hair and a goatee, his windbreaker and mud-soaked jeans made him look more like a lost hiker than one of the only people in town with medical knowledge. He always talked a little off, an unidentifiable accent from somewhere on the east coast masked with a soft-spoken clarity. He had a puppydog kind of presence, like he’d lay down to take a bullet for a group of misunderstood kittens, but a resilience that made it seem like he already had.
“I’ll be gentle,” Jacob promised, already pulling apart the bandages. “It’s not too bad. It will hurt the least if I do it really fast, like a BandAid. I don’t want to
make you suffer through it gradually. Think you can handle it? I thought so. You’re being really brave.”
Sarah gasped through her teeth, visibly holding back tears. Stringy beads lapsed between the burn and the bandage. It looked like saliva. Noah hoped it was the aloe.
“I know it hurts. We can make that go away. This stuff smells funny, but it only stings for a second. It’ll clean it out and keep it that way, and numb the pain a bit. It should help the healing process along, too. You, Miss Sarah, are a trooper.” As he spoke, he distracted her as he cleaned the gauze from where it started to fuse in, asking about school starting in the fall and summer plans, how the day was and what happened. “There you go – all set. I’m going to talk to your dad about getting some of this for the next few weeks. There’s a salve you use every three hours, and a wet bandage that you should change every morning, just like I did it. When it drives you crazy, you can take two Tylenol.”
Jacob stood up, disappearing through the kitchen doors where Lee’s head bobbed. It was barely a moment before he returned, flattening a crumpled script. He approached Noah with a concerned frown. “It appears your father isn’t interested in investing in medication.”
Noah blinked. “You’re serious? He refused the prescription because he doesn’t want to pay for it?”
I can’t even imagine how much they spend on alcohol and chewing tobacco in a week.
Jacob sighed, scratching his head. “So it seems. I don’t know if you can convince him, but it’s really in her best interest.”
Noah set his jaw, glaring at the kitchen doors. “I have no power over that man, at all, whatsoever.” Jacob furrowed his brow. "I'm taking the wife to Anchorage this weekend. In the big stores, there's a generic brand that's over the counter."
Noah chewed his cheek, mulling over the silent offer.
“How much?” he asked finally.
Jacob hesitated, face twisting in sympathy. “Thirty-five on the low end.”
Noah stifled a groan, all business. “I can cover twenty now. I get paid again on the twentyfifth.”
Jacob reached into his bag, shoving a handful of samples into Noah’s arms.
“That’s on me. For the big can, I can cover the rest.” Jacob insisted, “You’re a good kid, Noah. Your sister's lucky to have you.” Noah dumped them on a table, sliding a duct-tape wallet from his back pocket. Pulling out the last of his paycheck, he forked over the bills.
“It's family,” he shrugged. “You know how it is.”
“Something tells me 'family' is limited to you and Baby Bear.”
“Most days,” Noah laughed. “Does that make me Goldilocks?”
“You might need to borrow Lee’s mullet.” Noah tried to maintain a straight face, but the image of the outrageous mane acting as a backwoods understudy for the golden tresses of the childhood tale was too much. An eruption of laughter exploded from his chest, resounding in his throat.
Ridiculous suits him. What else do you call a father who can’t even take care of his kids without four-letter-words?
Jacob patted Noah’s back and wiped tears from his own eyes, still shaking with chuckles as he left the diner.
“I’ll pay you back,” Sarah swore.
He shook his head, unable to rouse the unspoken ‘hell no’. She nodded, refusing his refusal.
“Put it away for school,” he said, attempting an encouraging smile. Reminded of her dream means of ditching Ashland, Sarah burst into tears. Drawing her knees to her chest, she slid back in the booth, bandaged arms uselessly at her side. He climbed in the low seat back-to-back with hers, pushing to the very end.
“Hey – it’ll be okay. I swear,” he promised. Sarah whimpered, shaking her head, rubbing her face with her sleeve. “Alright, Sar, let it out.”
“I’m so angry,” she blurted, voice agonized, face twisted. “I’m angry at the situation, angry at our parents. I hate this place so much I feel like I’m going to die if it doesn’t kill me first.”
“This is not forever, though. You’ve got to know that. We’re going to get out of here.”
“No,” Sarah muttered bitterly, “You are.”
“What? What are you talking about?” “You’re going to leave the moment you’re out of school and you’re going to have beautiful babies and move across the world and I’ll be stuck in this hell of a town forever.”
“Sarah, I’m not going anywhere without you. We are family. We’re in this together,” he insisted, fist clenched. “I would never do that to you.”
“What about Alyson? She’s freaking perfect. What if she wants you to go away to college? To run away like Aunt Maria?” She reasoned, looking aggrieved, as if it had already been decided.
“Then I’d send her packing,” he joked. “Seriously, Sarah, Aly doesn’t change anything.”
Not yet.
“You’re going to get all wrapped up in her,” she mumbled, burying her face. “What if I want to?” Noah sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Sarah, it doesn’t matter who I know or what I’m doing. We will get out of here– just not today.”
Sarah raised her face, pieces of hair sticking to her damp cheeks. His stomach dropped. Noah couldn’t tell if she was glaring or just broken, but her expression struck him, pain flooding his chest. Her lower lip trembled, another wave of tears filling her big eyes. Voice cracking, she pleaded, “I don’t want to be here.”
He hated feeling this way – seeing his baby sister shattered, wordlessly begging for an escape. But he was a cellmate in her prison, his chains twice as tight because of her. Orange suits and plastic spoons were just as bad as aprons and silverware, concrete walls and shackles no different the poverty behind Yazzie’s open door. They weren’t patrons – the diner was a one way ticket until graduation papers said otherwise. There was a year until there were options, best scenario including Sarah’s immediate recruitment in the great escape, the three-hundred and sixty-five day waiting room hopefully filled with the incredible curveball of Alyson Glass.
For now, they’d have to duck their heads and scrub the damned tables.
CHAPTER 9 | ALYSON Recovering from a late night fit of insomnia suffered under the flashing of a muted television, Aly had slept in for the first time since her mother died.
It was ten o’clock before she had cleaned up and gotten dressed; skipping breakfast to ration what remained from the semi-traumatic grocery trip.
Her arrival fell into what Noah called the Weekend PostHangover Breakfast Rush. He had joked that the townies crawled from the bar to the diner, ready to waste the rest of their pennies on strong coffee and solids for a queasy stomach.
Despite the crowd, he had insisted she be outfitted with brunch, on the house, while she waited for the shift to end. She watched him work, strangely efficient. He was fast, always too nice, always pathetically tipped. She made a point of paying at the register when he slipped in the back, once again relieved to drop it on her father’s tab.
His mother had attended her, both shaking and drowsy, her voice flowery and curt at once. She was a short and pudgy woman, dressed in a belly-hugging russet-colored maxi dress and loafers, her hair in a cropped pixie.
Mary-Agnes sang to herself as she worked, twisting the rosary looped around her neck in rows, still long enough to hang at her bosom. At first, the woman seemed too dazed to notice Aly, not aware enough to remember last night. It wasn’t until Aly claimed the bill never came when Mary-Agnes examined her, a mix of shifting expressions – partially toothless grins and heavily lined frowns. Adding a chunky tip to the tax, the signature neon paper slip was gone long before she had returned to her seat.
Now, Noah sat at her side. He smelled like green apples, having freshly showered and changed after having worked the morning. Sarah had locked herself in her room the night before and disappeared before sunrise, muttering that she was spending the day at Kennedy’s. Noah claimed his parents were embarrassed, quick to pull up facades and flash shining faces for the Sunday evening patronage. When he d
emanded his sister get the day off, MaryAgnes decided Noah should have the afternoon as well, eager to prove herself to the community without his justified commentaries.
“So a group of people came to my house last night,” Aly announced.
"What?” “I guess I fell asleep on the couch,” she began, biting her lip. “I woke up because I kept hearing people yell, ‘Glass! If you don’t cooperate, we’re going to get a warrant!’ and there were flashlights through the window, all over the wall. It was so weird.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t a dream?” “I’m sure. They were out there for like ten minutes. I was so freaked I didn’t fall back asleep for hours,” she sighed. “I hid behind the chimney when they came to the back deck and looked through the sliding windows. I walked out there and stood in the dark for a while.”
It had seemed mob-like, several officers showing up as the sun fell below the horizon with threats of destroying her life. At first she went through the options – Greg would get arrested, she would live with Lauren until she turned eighteen, then she’d go off to school and figure things out. Her toes cold on the damp wood of the deck, she thought of those six months without a mother or a father, the limbo of grief and distance. She was better now, it would be better. It didn’t seem so complicated until she felt her fingertips running over her lips, smiling in spite of her fear.
He was mine for a few seconds. It was perfect. The idea of leaving, maybe to never see Noah again, physically hurt. She had felt longing swell in her chest. A sudden tightness twisted in her lungs. Something knotted at the back of her throat. It felt overwhelming to decide he was the best thing that had ever happened to her – somewhere between silly and nonsensical – but at that moment, she felt it.
She didn’t want to leave whatever it was she had found in Ashland – Noah, the new beginning she’d wanted so badly. If she left, he’d have disappeared without a trace before she could return. Aly knew he had plans– something along the lines of finishing school and skipping town. If his parents couldn’t track him, she couldn’t imagine she would be able to. Even if they made arrangements… he had only known her for a little while, barely a summer fling. Yet she had been ready to organize her entire life around him.
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