“No! I don’t want any other buddy, Ma, I only want Lucas for my buddy.”
“Okay, okay,” she said carefully, wondering where all this emotion was coming from. “I was just wondering, honey. I wasn’t certain how well you and Lucas had been getting along. I know it seems like you get along great…” Her voice trailed off and she shrugged. “But sometimes looks can be deceiving.”
“We do get along great, Ma. Honest,” Rusty insisted. “And I don’t want no one else for my buddy. Ever,” Rusty said, crossing his arms across his chest defiantly.
“So you like Lucas, then?” Katie asked carefully.
“Yeah, a lot.” He hesitated, scuffing the toe of his tennis shoe on the floor for a moment before looking up at her, his eyes swimming with some emotion she wasn’t sure she recognized. “Do you…uh…like him, Ma?” His gaze met hers and she realized for some reason this seemed important to him as well.
“Well, Rusty, I don’t think it really matters if I like Lucas or not. He’s your buddy, remember?”
“Yeah, but…I mean you don’t…like…dislike him or anything do you?” he asked with a confused frown.
She laughed, unwilling to admit to her son her feelings for Lucas were at the opposite spectrum of dislike. She was still trying to figure them out for herself. “Yes, honey, I like Lucas,” she admitted. “I think he’s been a very good buddy to you, and he’s also become a friend to me.”
“A friend,” Rusty repeated, trying to keep the disgust out of his voice. Even he knew that if a girl wanted to be your friend it wasn’t good. Sean had said that was like the kiss of death or something. Cow cakes!
“Are you sure nothing is wrong, honey?”
“Nah, it’s just…could I ask you another question?”
“Sure, honey.” Apparently he was taking lessons from her mother and aunt, and was going to get to this in his own good time.
“Well…uh…” His face flushed pink and he went back to staring at his shoes. “The other night…I…uh…kinda…saw…you…uh…kiss Lucas. I wasn’t spying or nuthin’,” he added quickly. “But I…uh…was just…wondering…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged, clearly embarrassed and uncomfortable and not wanting to look at her.
“Oh honey, I’m sorry.” Her heart was knocking again, like a piston this time as the sticky fingers of guilt squeezed at her heart. So that’s what all this was about. She should have known, and been more sensitive.
It had been just her and him for so long that the idea of seeing her with another man—kissing a man—had probably brought up a whole host of emotions Rusty had no idea how to cope with. Maybe he’d been jealous, or confused, or worse, scared. The guilt squeezed harder and Katie cursed herself for not being more sensitive and aware of her son’s feelings.
“Did it upset you to see me kissing Lucas?” she asked softly.
“Nah…it didn’t like…upset me…or nothing,” he admitted, then shrugged again. “Sean’s mom and dad are always kissing,” he revealed with another snort. “It’s like really disgusting and gross.” He made an appropriate face to indicate his displeasure. “But I was just wondering…like, how come you…uh…kissed Lucas?” He lifted his chin and looked at her.
“Well, honey, remember I told you Lucas was my friend,” she began slowly, and he nodded. “Well, honey, sometimes friends kiss.”
“Yuck,” he said, swiping a hand across his mouth in horror.
She laughed. “Yeah, I know honey, but I promise you when you get a little bit older you’re going to meet a girl and you and her are going to become friends, and maybe one day you’re going to want to kiss her.”
“Kiss a girl?” he repeated, his eyes going wide in utter horror. “I’d rather kiss a rabid rat,” he said, clutching his stomach and making gagging sounds. Katie laughed.
“I promise one day you’ll change your mind,” she assured him and he shook his head furiously.
“Uh-uh, I’m never kissing a girl and I don’t want any girls for friends, either.” He paused for a moment and she knew he was thinking. “So, Ma, kissing Lucas was kind of just like when you used to kiss Mr. Riley?”
“Mr. Riley?” Katie repeated, confused, then it dawned on her. “Oh, you mean the maintenance man who always came to fix stuff when we lived in Madison?”
“Yeah, that Mr. Riley.”
Katie smiled. Mr. Riley was sixty if he was a day, and a sweetheart. He was the maintenance man at the university, but did side jobs to supplement his Social Security income. Except no matter what he fixed for her, he refused to take any money. Katie had adored him and kissed him on the cheek every time he fixed something for her.
“Yeah, honey, I guess you could say it was kind of like when I kissed Mr. Riley. He was my friend, too.” It wasn’t quite the same thing, she realized, but if this answer would ease Rusty’s concerns, it would have to do for the moment.
How could she explain her relationship with Lucas and her feelings when she wasn’t certain she understood it herself?
“Yeah, okay,” Rusty said, suddenly looking dejected. “I’m gonna go finish my room,” he said, turning from the doorway and leaving Katie feeling as if she’d somehow gotten all the answers on a big test wrong.
“Rusty?”
He turned back. “Yeah?”
“Is there anything else that’s bothering you?”
He thought about it for a minute. “Do I got a tie?”
“A tie?” Katie repeated, blinking at him in confusion. “You mean a tie like you wear when you wear a white shirt?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure you do, honey. It’s in the bottom drawer in your dresser, right hand side. Why?”
He shrugged. “Sean’s ma said she’d take us to the pancake breakfast tomorrow morning, but she says we gotta wear stupid, dorky ties to church.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” she said, earning a face from her son. “Okay, you go finish your room while I try to finish these edits.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to be at the seniors’ dance around five thirty, so I’ll drop you off at Sean’s on the way, okay?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”
“And Rusty?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you, honey.”
“Love you, too,” he mumbled as he bolted toward his room, leaving Katie staring after him.
Boys and men should come with a handbook, Katie thought with a weary sigh. It would certainly make a woman’s life simpler.
“Did you ask her?” Sean demanded of Rusty later that afternoon. “Huh? Did you?” Huddled together on the floor of Sean’s bedroom, they’d shut the door to make certain they had privacy so they could discuss their latest project.
“I asked her,” Rusty admitted dejectedly, slumping back against Sean’s unmade bed. There were two twin beds in the room, both unmade, separated by a small nightstand with a lamp. The twin beds came in handy for sleepovers and for piling things on when Sean didn’t feel like cleaning his room—which was often.
“So what did she say?”
“She said Lucas is just…a friend,” Rusty admitted, trying not to scowl.
“A friend? She said that?” he asked in disbelief. “That Lucas was just…a friend?”
Rusty nodded dismally.
“Bummer,” Sean slumped back against the spare bed before turning to his friend. “Did you ask her about kissing him?”
Rusty nodded, then shrugged. “Yeah. My ma said that sometimes friends…kiss friends.”
Sean’s eyes went wide in disbelief. “Get outta here, really?”
Rusty nodded dismally. “Really.”
“Well, I ain’t never kissing any of my friends,” Sean said, making a face as he shook his head feverishly. “That’s just gross.”
Rusty sighed. “I know.”
“So what are we going to do?”
Rusty shook his head, then shrugged. “Dunno.”
Crossing his arms across his chest, Sean stared hard at his friend. “Well, we gotta do
something if you want Lucas to be your dad, because it doesn’t look so good right now. If your ma likes him just as a friend, maybe she just…you know…needs to spend more time with him or something.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Rusty said with a scowl.
“Hey, I got an idea,” Sean said, brightening. “A really good idea, and it’ll probably even work.” He frowned. “Maybe.”
“Really?” Rusty said hopefully.
“Yeah.” Sean grinned, revealing several missing front teeth. “Really.” He motioned Rusty closer so they wouldn’t be overheard, then bent to whisper in Rusty’s ear. “Here’s what we gotta do.”
Cooper’s Cove had an active and vital seniors’ club that participated in a great many of the town’s activities while hosting quite a few of their own.
In spite of their numerous activities, most of which were primarily fund-raisers for a seniors’ center, the seniors held most of their functions in the gymnasium of the grammar school or the basement of the church until enough funds could be raised or secured to build their own center.
After dropping Rusty off at Sean’s, Katie headed over to the dance. By the time she found a parking space, grabbed her notepad and headed into the school, the dance was already underway.
At the door right outside the gymnasium, Francis Cushing, the longtime treasurer of the seniors’ club, sat taking tickets. A retired concert violinist with six grown children, at eighty-five Francis was still active, and still played in a quartet of musicians every week. For as long as Katie could remember, Francis had been giving free music lessons to any child who wanted them.
Unfortunately, Katie’s own musical aspirations had lasted less than a week before Francis kindly and gently told her mother that Katie couldn’t carry a tune even if she had an empty suitcase.
So much for her budding musical career, Katie mused, but she’d been secretly thrilled because it freed her up after school so she could spend more time at the newspaper office—her real love.
“Evening, Katherine,” Francis said with a smile. “Now you know you don’t have to pay admission, not while you’re working the dance for the newspaper.”
“I know,” Katie admitted with a laugh, handing the bill to Francis anyway. “But I still want to make a contribution.”
“Why, Katherine, thank you. The seniors truly appreciate your donation.” Francis tucked the bill into her metal cash box, then leaned across it and lowered her voice. “And you tell your mama I’m rooting for her.”
“Rooting for her?” Katie repeated with a frown.
“Why, yes, dear. In her run for mayor.”
Katie managed to suppress a groan—but just barely. “Uh…Francis, who told you Mama was running for mayor?”
“Why your mother did. Just a few moments ago.” Francis glanced around to make certain no one could hear her. “Said she’s going to announce her candidacy at the Halloween Festival, but she wanted a few of her close friends to know in advance.”
Close friends? Good Lord, everyone in town was a close friend of her mother’s, Katie thought with a scowl, which meant Louella had probably already told everyone in town.
Except her.
Still smiling, Francis patted her braids. “I don’t know how Mayor Hannity is going to take the news. But new blood is always a good thing, don’t you think, Katherine?”
Katie nodded, not trusting herself to speak, fearing a rash of words that might make Francis blush would start spilling from her mouth.
“Now you go on in and have a good time, Katherine,” Francis instructed. “We’ve got a nice band tonight, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself. Oh, and Katherine, be careful where you step,” Francis warned with a slight frown. “Patience insisted on bringing Leonardo with her tonight.”
“Leonardo?” Katie tried not to laugh. This was a bit of gossip she hadn’t heard. Patience apparently had a new man in her life.
Francis heaved a weary sigh. “Her new dog. Drags that poor little thing with her everywhere,” Francis said with a cluck of her tongue. “Tonight she’s got him trussed up in a bow tie and a tuxedo jacket.”
“Well, it is a Halloween dance,” Katie pointed out, trying not to laugh.
“I suppose so,” Francis conceded, always wanting to be fair. “Now you go on in and have yourself a good time.”
“Thanks,” Katie said, yanking open one of the double doors to slip inside the gymnasium where it was still apparently 1941, judging from the big band sound that was wafting through the air.
The senior decorating committee had done a fine job making the gym look like a haunted house. The band was stationed on the pullout stage, several inches off the ground and at the far end of the gym. Colored spotlights of black and orange floated and crisscrossed over the band members, illuminating them in Halloween hues.
Ghosts, goblins and an assortment of other spooky creatures were grinning from the walls. A white spider web stretched high across the entire ceiling—caught in it were several black plastic spiders the size of Montana.
Along the far side of the gym a table was set up with cold refreshments and hot coffee. Along a side wall, another table was set up as a dessert buffet.
The gymnasium was packed, as usual, since most of the town showed up for the monthly seniors’ dance, not just the seniors. As usual, the females outnumbered the males by probably three to one, but a smattering of couples moved on the dance floor, while a shiny disco mirrored ball spun overhead, giving the appearance of a old-fashioned ballroom.
Katie quickly scanned the crowd, waved to Patience, who was on the dance floor doing a two-step with Leonardo, before waving and blowing a kiss to the mayor, who was engaged in a heated debate with the fire chief over at the dessert table, but it was her mother she was looking for. She finally spotted her mother and her aunt near the refreshment table.
Determined to talk to her mother and get to the bottom of this “running for mayor” business, Katie headed over.
“Mama,” Katie said, kissing her cheek.
“Katherine, dear, I’m so glad you made it.” Her mom beamed at her. “It’s a lovely evening, isn’t it, dear?”
“Yes, Mama, it is.” Katie leaned over and kissed her aunt. “Aunt Gracie.”
“Sweetheart, it’s good to see you.” Gracie looked beyond Katie. “Where’s Rusty tonight?”
“I dropped him off at Sean’s. They’re having a sleepover tonight and then Sean’s mother’s taking them to the pancake breakfast at church in the morning.”
“We’re going to the pancake breakfast in the morning, too,” Louella said with a smile, patting her perfectly coiffed hair. “So I’ll get to see my favorite grandson.”
“He’s your only grandson,” Gracie pointed out with a chuckle, waving to the librarian across the gym.
“Uh…Mama, could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Why of course.” Her mother looked puzzled. “Is something wrong, dear? You’re looking a little peaked.” Louella patted Katie’s cheek. “But that’s to be expected, dear, considering,” her mother added mysteriously. “But I don’t want you to worry. Everything is going to be fine. Eventually.”
Katie took a deep breath, counted to ten—twice—before speaking. “Mama, what are you talking about?”
Louella sighed. “Well, dear, remember last night on the phone I told you that I wanted to talk to you?”
“Yes,” Katie said carefully, surprised that her mother remembered their conversation last night.
“Well, dear, I read your astrological chart for the upcoming month, and I’m afraid you’re going to have some very trying times in the next few weeks.”
“Really?” Katie said, not in the least bit surprised, considering at the moment it was her mother who was giving her one of those trying times.
“Yes, dear.” Her mother’s brows drew together. “I’m afraid one of the men in your life is going to be quite upset with you. There’s going to be a terrible row, I’m afraid.”
“One of the men in my
life?” Katie said with a lift of her brow and a chuckle. “Mama, you make it sound like I’ve got legions of men in my life.”
“Well, dear, when you think about it, you do. Your uncle, Rusty, Lucas, the mayor, Mr. Hensen—”
Katie held up her hand before her mother named every male in town. “Okay, so one of the men in my life is going to be upset with me. And there’s going to be a terrible row with him. Do you want to tell me who or why?”
“I’m afraid the ‘who,’ dear, is a bit fuzzy, but the ‘why’ is a bit clearer. It’s going to be some kind of misunderstanding I believe, causing a rift and a breach of trust.” At the alarmed look on Katie’s face, Louella sought to soothe, patting her cheek again. “But don’t worry, dear, honestly. It will all work out. Eventually,” her mother added with another delicate little frown.
Small crystals of ice had begun forming in Katie’s belly and she wondered if what happened with Rusty this afternoon, their discussion about her kissing Lucas, was what her mother had seen in her astrological chart.
The thought brought on a shiver and she realized she was overreacting. Wouldn’t she have known if he was truly upset about something? Not convinced, Katie realized there was nothing she could do about it at the moment, so for now, she’d better concentrate on her other immediate problem—her mother.
“Oh, and Katie dear, I’ll need you to reserve at least two pages of ad space for me in the Halloween issue.”
“Why?” Katie asked suspiciously and her mother smiled serenely.
“Well, dear, if I’m going to run for mayor I think an official announcement is in order, don’t you?”
Katie quickly counted to ten before speaking. “Mama, when did you decide to run for mayor. And more importantly, why?”
“When?” her mother repeated, bewildered. “Well, Katie dear I told you all about this. Last week. Don’t you remember, dear?” Her mother’s eyes clouded. “Didn’t I?” she asked weakly and Katie shook her head.
“No, Mama,” she said gently, touching her mother’s arm in concern. “You didn’t tell me about it. Patience told me. Francis told me, but you never told me. And I think this is too serious for us not to at least discuss. Taking on the town is a lot more difficult and demanding than running the Astrology Parlor. It’s something I think you need to seriously think about before making a firm decision.”
About the Boy Page 15