The creases around her eyes seemed deeper, her cheeks paler. Daisy made her and Pippen some soup andsandwiches then left to go visit with Lily.
Her sister was asleep when she walked into her hospital room. The cut on her forehead had been closed andbandaged. One side of her face was still swollen, her eyes were turning varying shades of black and blue, butthe blood had been cleaned away.
Daisy wanted to ask her sister what had happened that morning, but Lily was heavily drugged and drifted in andout of consciousness. And each time she woke up, she started to cry and asked where she was. Daisy didn't evenattempt to ask her about the accident.
She did the next day, though.
"Have the police talked to you yet?" she asked as she flipped through a People magazine she'd brought with her.
Lily licked her swollen lip. Her voice was a scratchy whisper when she said, "About what?"
Daisy stood and filled a plastic glass with cool water. She held the straw to Lily's mouth and answered, "Aboutthe car accident?"
Lily swallowed. "No. Mom said I wrecked my Taurus."
"You don't remember?"
She shook her head and winced. "I hated that car anyway."
"Did mom tell you how you wrecked it?"
"No. Did I run a stop sign?"
"Lily, you ran your Taurus through Ronnie's front room."
She stared at Daisy and blinked her black-and-blue eyes. But she didn't look as surprised as Daisy expected.
"Seriously?"
"The police asked Mom and me if you're suicidal."
"I would never kill myself over Ronnie Darlington," she said without hesitation.
"Did you try to kill Ronnie?"
"No."
"Then what were you thinking? Did something happen?"
This time she did hesitate and she looked away when she answered, "I don't know."
Daisy had a feeling that she did know and that her memory loss was convenient. Something had happened, butLily didn't want to talk about it today. Fine. There was always tomorrow.
When Daisy left the hospital, she drove into town and bought a car seat for Pippen. His other seat was still inthe Taurus at the wrecking yard.
As she stopped for a traffic light at the intersection of Third and Main, she heard a deep throaty rumble justbefore Jack's Mustang blew through the intersection. She was two cars back, and the doubted he saw her. Butjust the split-second sight of him caused a disturbing tumble in her stomach as if they were in high school allover again and she was waiting for him at his locker. Her feelings for him were definitely a confused jumble ofold emotions and new desires and all of it was better left alone.
At three-thirty that afternoon, Daisy strapped Pippen into her mother's Cadillac and they headed for Amarilloand Nathan.
Pippen wore little jean shorts, cowboy boots, and his DON'T MESS WITH TYRANNOSAURUS TEX T-shirt.
Daisy held him in her aims while they waited in the baggage claim area. The half hour they stood there seemedto take forever, but when she saw Nathan's familiar face, it was like the sun had suddenly decided to shine aftera week of gloomy weather.
His green Mohawk was gone and the lips of his short dark hair had been bleached white. He looked like a tallskinny porcupine carrying a big backpack with his skateboard attached to the back. She didn't care. She was sohappy to see him she forgot about the No Public Displays of Affection rule. She stood on her tip toes andwrapped her free arm around his neck. She kissed his cheek and held on light. He must have forgotten the ruletoo, because he dropped his backpack and hugged her - her and Pippen, right there in the Amarillo airport.
"Man, Mom. Don't ever leave me like that again."
She laughed and pulled back to look into his blue eyes. "I won't leave you. I promise," she said and turned herattention to Pippen. "This is your cousin. Isn't he cute?"
Nathan studied him for a moment. "Mom, the kid has a mullet."
She pretty much figured that a guy with porcupine hair shouldn't cast stones at a guy with a mullet. "It's not hisfault," she said and looked into Pippen's face. "His mother won't cut off his baby curls."
Pippen stared up at her through his big blue eyes so much like Lily's, then returned his gaze to his older cousin.
Daisy didn't know if Pippen's attention was drawn to him because he was another male or if he was attracted tothe lip ring and dog chains.
"Hey there, little dude. Nice hair."
"Don't make fun," Daisy warned.
"I'm not." Nathan slicked his palms over the side of his hair. "He's got business in the front, party in the back.
Heh-heh-heh," he laughed as he tipped his head back.
"Watch 'toons!" Pippen said, then started to laugh too as if he'd just cracked a joke like Nathan.
"He wants you to watch cartoons with him. His favorite is 'Blues Clues."
"Blue's Clues' suck." He picked up his backpack. "You gotta watch 'Sponge Bob Square Pants."
Nathan hadn't brought a suitcase, and as they headed for the car, it struck her that if everything had goneaccording to her original plan, she would have been back home now. In Seattle. Getting on with her life. Free ofthe past. Making a new start. Her and Nathan.
Since she'd arrived in Lovett, nothing had gone according to her plan, and she'd had to put her life on hold forjust a little while longer. Her mother and sister needed her, and perhaps she could do something to help. Maybejust being here and taking care of Pippen was enough for now.
Her life hadn't completely gone to hell, she reminded herself. She'd been in hell. Lived it for over two years, andthis wasn't even close. Not yet, anyway. Nathan was here and at some point, things had to get better.
Chapter Eleven
The whine of a bench grinder filled the garage and filtered into Jack's office as he glanced over the master-partslist for the fifty-four Corvette; he simultaneously thumbed through Polaroids snapped of each part taken off thecar so far. Everything from the chrome to the screws holding the taillight buckets had been cataloged andcarefully stored away. The Blue Flame Six engine had been plucked from the cavity and would be torn downand steam-cleaned later. All rubber parts would have to be completely replaced as well as the leather interior.
The fifty-four was supposedly a bitch to drive, but that was beside the point. The late and great Harley Earl haddesigned the sports car in his typical flamboyant style. The car had been designed for show rather than go.
Jack tossed the photographs aside and stood. That morning they'd removed the windshield and discovered morerust damage than he'd anticipated.
The damage would have to be cut away and the brace rebuilt. He grabbed the Dodge Viper coffee mug thatLacy Dawn had given him for his birthday and walked from his office into the reception area.
Penny Cribs didn't come in until ten-thirty on Monday mornings, and a stack of mail sat on her empty desk. Herefilled his coffee, and as he moved from the outer office into the garage, the noise from the bench grinderstopped. Jack blew into his mug and looked up at Billy who stood at the workbench. His safety glasses werepushed up his forehead, and he held a brake rotor in one hand. A skinny teenager stood talking to him, and theyboth turned as Billy pointed in Jack's direction.
Jack stopped in his tracks. The boy looked to be in his mid-teens and had a dog chain around his neck and onehanging down the side of his pants. He said something to Billy, then began walking toward Jack. Jack caught aglimpse of Billy's bemused smile before he turned his attention to the boy. He took a drink of his coffee andlowered the mug.
He'd always hired boys over the summer to sweep up or run for parts. But if this kid wanted a job, he was out ofluck. Not so much because of the way he looked, but because he didn't have the sense to dress better and leavethe chains on his dog when he went job hunting.
He had hair like a hedgehog, dark with white spikes on the ends. His bottom lip was pierced near one cornerand his black T-shirt said anarchy in bloody red letters. He held a skateboard beneath one arm, and his jeans fitso loose, if he s
tood up straight, they'd fall down around his ankles.
"Can I help you?" Jack asked as the kid came to stand in front of him.
"Yeah. My mom told me you knew my dad?"
Jack knew a lot of dads. "Who's your mother?" he asked and took another drink of his coffee.
"Daisy Monroe."
The coffee scalded the back of his throat and he lowered it. Daisy hadn't left town.
"I don't know if the ever mentioned me. I'm... his voice cracked and he swallowed hard. "I'm Nathan."
Whatever he'd expected Daisy and Steven's kid to look like, this was not it. First off, he'd thought their childwas much younger. "She mentioned she had a son, but I thought you were about five."
A frown pulled his dark brows, and he stared at Jack through clear blue eyes. He looked a little confused like hedidn't know how someone could mistake him with a five-year-old. "No. I'm fifteen."
The kid must have been conceived shortly after Steven and Daisy. got married. The thought of Steven andDaisy together conjured up a long buried animosity and bothered him more than it should have. More than ithad a few days ago, before he'd made love to her on the trunk of the car just a few feet from where her sonstood. Before he knew how good it was to be with her again. "I take it your mom is still in town?"
"Yeah." He stared at Jack as if he expected him to say something more. When he didn't, the boy added, "We'restaying with my grandma until my aunt Lily gets better. My mom thinks that might take a week or so."
He'd wondered what had taken place to make Daisy run from his kitchen Saturday. "What happened to youraunt?"
"She drove her car into Ronnie's living room."
Damn, he guessed fighting in front of the Minute Mart hadn't been enough revenge for Lily. "Is she going to beokay?"
"I guess."
The grinder started once more and Jack showed Nathan into his office and shut the door against the noise. Evenif Nathan had come dressed properly for a job interview, having Daisy's kid work in his shop would be anightmare. Seeing him would remind Jack of Daisy. And no matter how sweet that particular memory, it wasover and best forgotten.
"Your dad and I were good friends at one time. I was sorry to hear about his death."
Nathan set the tip of his skateboard by his black sneaker and leaned it against his leg. On closer inspection theunderside of the board had a scantily dressed nurse painted on it. "Yeah. He was a good dad. I miss him a lot"
Jack had lost his father when he hadn't been much older than Nathan. He knew what it was like. Giving the kidan application to take with him wouldn't hurt. "Did he ever tell you about all the trouble he and I used to getinto?"
Nathan nodded and the fluorescent lighting shined on his lip ring. "He told me about you guys stealing rottentomatoes and throwing them at cars."
Steven had been blond, like a California surfer. Maybe it was the hair but this kid didn't look like Steven hadgrowing up. Not even a little bit. Didn't look a whole lot like his mother either Maybe around the mouth. Well,except for the lip ring. "We made a tree fort in his backyard. Did he tell you about that?"
Nathan shook his head.
"It took us one whole summer. We made it out of wood we scrounged and old cardboard boxes." He smiled atthe memory of them dragging home junk from miles away. "Your mom helped us, too. Then just when wefinished, an F2 twister blew it all to hell."
Nathan laughed and motioned toward the door with his head. "Is that a 'Cuda 440-6 out there?"
"Yeah, it's got the original 426 Hemi."
"Sweet. When I get a job, I'm gonna buy a Dodge Charger Daytona with a 426 Hemi."
Now it was Jack's turn to laugh. He sat on the edge of his desk next to his Buick Riviera clock. He didn't wantto rain on the kid's parade, but only about seventy Daytonas with a 426 Hemi had ever been produced. If he didmanage to find one, it was going to run him about sixty grand. "Four-speed, right?"
"Yeah."
He took a drink. Naturally. The kid had just narrowed his odds even further considering Dodge had only put outabout twenty four-speeds.
"I saw one once at a car show in Seattle." Nathan swallowed and his voice cracked with excitement. "TheDaytona held the closed-course-track speed record for thirteen years. Ford and Chevy couldn't touch it."
Lord, he was just like Billy - and like Jack's father, Ray, had been. Blinded by speed. Jack loved fast cars too,but not like those two. How had Steven and daisy managed to produce a gear head?
"Do you watch 'Monster Garage'?"
"Occasionally." Billy was the "Monster Garage" fanatic.
"Did you see the episode where they turned a NASCAR into a street sweeper?"
"No, I missed that one." But he'd heard all about it from Billy.
"It was tight."
Tight? Jack supposed that meant good.
Billy stuck his head in the door as Jack crossed his feet. "We've got a problem with the right-front rotor on thatPlymouth."
There was always a problem with something, and Jack had learned not to sweat it long ago. "Billy come on inhere and meet Steven and Daisy Monroe's boy, Nathan."
Billy came farther into the office wearing his dark blue shirt that buttoned up the front and had a ParrishAmerican Classic's patch on the left breast pocket. Jack introduced them and they shook hands. Billy spokefirst, "I was real sorry to hear about your dad. He was a good guy."
Nathan looked down at his shoes. "Yeah"
"Billy here loves 'Monster Garage," Jack said and the two of them jumped into a discussion about whichepisodes were the best and which ones weren't.
"Turning that PT Cruiser into a wood chipper was lame," Nathan said.
"Jesse James wasn't into that one until they started feedin' stuffed animals through the chipper."
"Yeah, heh-heh-heh," Nathan laughed, tilting his head back a bit. "They blew stuffing all over the place."
"Did you see the Barbie get stuck in there?" Billy's eyes shined with humor and he laughed too, a rapid heh-heh-heh.
Christ, Jack thought, Billy had finally found someone who loved to watch "Monster Garage" as much as he did.
"Did you catch the episode with the Grim Reaper?" his brother asked.
"Yeah, that would have been tight if it'd worked."
Billy shook his head. "They smoked the first belt and the pump got too hot before they even got any of thecylinders to move those hydraulic arms."
"I heard a theory that the hearse was haunted and that's why the mission failed."
The mission failed because the hydraulics failed."
"Did you see Jesse when the ambulance caught on fire?" Nathan asked, so excited his eyes shined with it. "Thatwas cool."
"That's my favorite episode."
"Did you see his wife screaming at him?"
They both started to laugh at the same time.
Billy's voice was lower, but Jack couldn't help but notice that their laughter was real similar. The same heh-heh-heh sound, and they both tipped theft heads back at the same angle. The longer he looked at the two of themstanding side by side swapping "Monster Garage" moments, the clearer he saw beyond Nathan's bizarre hairand the lip ring.
Then within the span of a second, the world around Jack shifted and changed. The hair on the back of his neckrose and his scalp got tight. Time ground to a halt, cracked down the middle, and fell in halves.
A half-second ago, everything had been okay in Jack's life, and in the next it wasn't. One half he'd been noticinghis brother and Nathan laughing and sounding alike, and in the next he was looking at a fifteen-year-old versionof his father, Ray Parrish. For half a second he'd been sitting on the edge of his desk and in the next he wasstanding with coffee down the front of his shirt, scalding his chest. "Christ!.
"What's the matter?" Billy asked.
He didn't take his gaze from Nathan. He looked at the shape of his face and nose, and there was no turning backthe clock to a few seconds ago. He was definitely looking at a young version of his father. It was so obvious, hedidn't know why it h
ad taken him so long to see it. "You didn't come here for a job, did you?"
Nathan's smile fell and he picked up his skateboard. "No."
Suddenly, it all made perfect sense. Daisy's insistence that they talk. That she had something to tell him.
Something she couldn't talk about on the phone or in a letter or at Showtime Pizza. Something important like ason. He felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. "When is your birthday?"
"I've got to go now."
He reached out and grabbed Nathan's arm. "Tell me."
Nathan's eyes got wide and he dropped his skateboard. He tried to backup, but Jack didn't let go. He couldn't.
"December," he finally answered.
Jack pulled him even closer. "And you're fifteen aren't you?"
He could see Nathan's throat work as he tried to swallow. "Yes," he said just above a whisper.
On some level Jack knew he frightened Nathan and that he should let go. He should calm down, but he couldn't.
Thoughts raced through his head until it felt like something was squeezing his brain. "Son of a bitch."
Billy grabbed a hold of Jack's shoulder and stepped between him and Nathan. "What's the matter with you?
Have you lost your mind?"
Yes. He'd lost his mind. He let go and Nathan took off so fast, it was like he'd never been there. Except that hisskateboard was still on the floor. Nurse - side up.
Jack stared after him. "Didn't you see it, Billy?"
"All I see is you acting crazy."
He shook his head and turned to his brother. "He looks like dad."
"Who?"
"Nathan. Daisy's son."
"Daisy and Steven's son."
Jack pointed to the empty doorway. "Did he look like Steven to you?"
"I don't really remember what Steven looked like, to tell you the truth."
"Not like our dad." He set the mug on his desk. He had a son. No. Impossible. He'd always used contraceptives.
But not always with Daisy. They'd been young and stupid and still believed nothing bad would ever affect them.
"She was pregnant when she left and she didn't tell me."
Billy put his hands up. "Wait, I never even knew the two of you were involved back then. And even if youwere, how do you know he's your kid?"
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