Juniper Limits (The Juniper Series Book 2)

by Lora Richardson

Malcolm nodded. “That, it will. I can’t wait to talk to Abe. Let’s go by Heidi’s before work and see if Celia’s heard the news.”

  “Celia’s not there. She has the evening shift. She wants to work all the good weekend hours she can.” It was why they hadn’t gone on their date yet. Her parents wouldn’t let her go out on a school night, and he worked early on Saturdays and Sundays, while she worked the late shift.

  They headed across the yard and climbed in Malcolm’s truck. He still had an energy to him that even Paul couldn’t match. He’d probably mow five lawns in the time it usually took to mow one.

  “So, you keep up with Celia’s schedule now?” Malcolm asked.

  Paul grinned and rolled down the window, letting the warm breeze hit him in the teeth. “She is voluntarily spending time with me.” He didn’t want to say more. He and Celia were on the edge of something, just nearly ready to tip over. Words might give it too much weight in one direction or the other. He stuck his head clear out the window, and let the wind roar past his ears.

  The next morning, Paul stepped into Heidi’s, the air thick with grease and the scent of hamburgers. It was early— two entire hours before school started and just a few minutes after Heidi flipped over the sign and unlocked the door, and the place was empty. He sat at his favorite table, and tilted back in the chair, balancing it on two legs. He’d woken up with Celia’s face in his mind, and hadn’t been able to go back to sleep. He also wanted to get up and see his mom off to work—to make sure she woke up in time.

  A minute later, it was Abe who came through the swinging door into the dining room. He pulled out the chair opposite Paul, and sat down at the table. He mimicked Paul, leaning back in his chair, and looked him in the eye.

  “Hey, Abe, how are you this morning? Glad your cousin’s moving back?”

  “I’m fine, and yes I’m glad. Very glad.”

  He didn’t sound all that glad. Paul looked around the empty room, trying to figure out Abe’s serious mood. “You work here now, too?”

  A tiny smile appeared, which he smoothed away immediately. “Celia let me come in with her.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  Paul furrowed his brow, hoping something wasn’t wrong.

  “You’re seeing my sister,” Abe said. He dropped his chair back to four legs and moved his hands to the tabletop, tapping them on the ancient Formica.

  “Well, I’m trying to.”

  Abe lowered his voice. “She gets her feelings hurt pretty easy. Did you know that?”

  So he was doing the protective brother routine. Paul fought against the smile that wanted to emerge. It was sweet, but Paul did take him seriously and he wanted to make sure Abe knew that. He appreciated the care Abe had for Celia, and he also figured there was a lot Abe could teach him. “I did know that. I’m not sure how many people realize that about her.”

  He nodded. “Some people think she’s kind of…hard, I guess.”

  “I don’t think that.”

  “Good, because she’s not.”

  Paul studied this kid sitting in front of him, who fidgeted in his seat but still looked Paul in the eye.

  “Ronan was a big jerk and a creep,” Paul told him, hoping to help him along to where he thought this was going.

  Abe looked out the window. “Well, yeah, but…” Here he paused. “I just wanted to tell you that she doesn’t like it when anyone yells, but I think she expects it. She thinks everybody does it. She might try to pick a fight with you, to see if you fight back. You know, to see if she’s right about fighting.”

  Paul swallowed. Abe was talking about their dad, not about Ronan. Something Fay had said ages ago suddenly made sense—Ronan had been a symptom of the problem, not the root of it. Fay had known that, but he was stunned that Abe knew it too. “I would never yell at her. If she tries to fight with me, I’ll just hug her or something.”

  A smile climbed out of Abe’s concern, and grew up his face like a vine. He chuckled, and shook his head. “She wouldn’t know what to do if you did that.”

  Paul chuckled. Abe didn’t know how right he was.

  Abe sighed. “I hope you’re not mad that we had to have this talk. I like you, Paul. I just needed to be sure.”

  Paul had to fight his smile again. This kid. He reached over and ruffled his hair. “Abe, you’re a good dude.”

  He shrugged, and for a moment, Paul saw a lot of Celia in him. A little bit of swagger came out as he draped an arm over the back of his chair.

  Celia came out of the kitchen then, apprehension on her face. “What are you doing, Abe? I said you could come with me as long as you promised to stay in the kitchen. Heidi doesn’t want you wandering around the dining room.”

  “He’s not wandering,” Paul said. “He’s my guest. What do you want for breakfast, Abe? My treat.”

  He glanced at Celia. “I don’t need to eat. I had two muffins in the back.”

  “What about bacon? You can’t say no to bacon.”

  Celia rested her empty tray on her hip. “Abe, go get the two of you some orange juice.”

  Abe slid out of the chair and dashed back through the swinging door into the kitchen.

  Celia stared at Paul, her gaze heavy.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You don’t have to entertain my brother.” Her shoulders were tense, sitting up high near her ears.

  “I’m not. He’s keeping me company. I like having him around.”

  “He’s not bothering you?”

  “Of course not. But even if he was, it’s not your job to keep me from being bothered.”

  Her eyes widened. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Just what I said.”

  She tore off a sheet of paper from her pad. “What do you want to eat?”

  He waited for her to meet his eyes.

  She watched her notepad, pen poised to write. “Eggs? Pancakes?” Finally she looked up at him.

  He smiled, but she didn’t smile back. “Biscuits and gravy. And the bacon for your brother.” She turned to leave, but he grabbed her by the elbow. “Hey. Are you okay?”

  She focused her gaze on a spot above his head. He still held onto her forearm. It felt soft and thin in his hand. He moved his thumb against her skin, marveling at the softness. He heard her inhale quickly. “I’m alright. Just, be extra nice to Abe, okay?”

  “Of course. How could anyone be anything other than kind to that boy?”

  She flattened her lips as she looked at him, her eyes turning watery. “You’d be surprised.” She swallowed and turned to go back to the kitchen. Then she brightened suddenly and turned back, a big smile on her face. “Oh, guess what?”

  “Fay’s coming back?”

  She sighed. “Malcolm told you, didn’t he?”

  “If he hadn’t used words, I’d have been able to guess by the way he floated off the ground all day long.”

  “I wanted to tell you.” She pouted.

  Paul reached out and lightly flicked her protruding bottom lip. “I don’t have many details. Tell me what she said.”

  She proceeded to tell him all about the conversation they’d had, and how her Aunt Olive was looking at a house just a few blocks away, and how Heidi gave Fay her job back, and how hoped they’d both join the cross country team. She talked until Heidi poked her head out the swinging door and held her hand over her head and snapped her fingers. Some customers had walked in while she was talking. Celia snickered and went back to work.

  Abe bounded back to the table carrying two glasses, and set Paul’s down in front of him. Some juice spilled over the side of the glass and made a large puddle on the table. Paul grabbed his napkin to mop it up. When Abe noticed, his eyes widened. “Oh no, I’m sorry! I’m so stupid and clumsy.” He stood up as if to take Paul’s glass.

  “Hey, chill out. No big deal, it’s just a little spilled juice.” Paul smiled at him and took a swig.

  Abe sat back down, breathless. “Yeah. Okay.” He took a nervous sip of his own juice, his eye
s darting around the restaurant, as if checking to see if anyone else saw him spill the juice.

  Paul wanted to hug him, and tell him the things he knew to be true—that he was good and strong and smart. Abe wouldn’t welcome it, so instead Paul ruffled his hair again and punched him on the shoulder, and asked him if he’d been fishing lately.

  14

  Fay dropped to her knees and joined me under the hemlock. “You’ve been under here recently.” It was a Monday night, and she and Aunt Olive had come over for dinner. It would take a while before that felt like everyday life instead of a vacation.

  I lay back on the dry ground and put my hands behind my head for a pillow. “Paul and I came here one day.”

  “Oh, really?” Her eyes glittered in the dim evening light. “I think there are many, many things you haven’t told me.” She sat down beside me and laid her legs across mine. “And I will pin you down until you spill the details.”

  “There aren’t any details.”

  She poked me in the side.

  “I’m serious!”

  Fay dug her fingertips into my ribs, squeezing until I wriggled out from under her, laughing. “Okay, fine. But there’s nothing juicy. He hasn’t even kissed me yet.”

  She arched her eyebrow. “Look at you, taking it slow.”

  Slow. It sure didn’t feel that way. I’d never been so whiplashed by the speed of my feelings. We’d spent the last couple weeks hanging out. We got slushies from the gas station and drank them as we walked around town, we sat on his porch steps and talked, he waited around at Heidi’s so he could spend my breaks with me. Any time we weren’t together, he was the only thing I could think about.

  I wasn’t ready to share all of that, not even with Fay, so I kept it vague. “We’ve been hanging out. I like his smile. He seems to get me, even though half the time I don’t understand him at all because he’s freakishly optimistic. He likes Abe.”

  “Of course he does.”

  “And he’s taking me on a real date soon.”

  Fay squeaked and leaned over to give me a hug. “When? When is this date?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve had to work every Friday and Saturday night since he asked, and he’s been working all day on weekends. I work the early shift this Saturday, though, so maybe then. And talking about it will just jinx it, so let’s change the subject.”

  “I’m not sure I like this new you, not willing to tell me all your secrets.”

  “I’m willing, I promise. There just isn’t much to tell.”

  “Not once have you ever had zero secrets to tell me.”

  I chuckled. “To be honest, half the time I was making things up just to impress you.”

  Fay smiled softly. “I already knew that.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah. I did. And somehow you impressed me anyway.” She picked up my hand and squeezed it.

  I sighed happily. “I really am glad you’re back. When are you coming to school? It’s not fair I had to go today and you didn’t.”

  “Mom’s letting me get settled. She said I could take the whole week off if I wanted, but I think I might go on Wednesday. Get it over with.”

  “Will you join the cross country team with me?”

  “You really joined cross country? I thought you were joking.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve been running. I like how it makes me feel.” Practices were before school, which was perfect because I worked most afternoons. I’d never joined a team or anything before. It still felt a little weird, but mostly I liked it. I still went running on my own when I could, because I liked that best.

  “I’ll join cross country if you join swimming this winter.”

  “No way. No deal.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me. Her phone rang, and she reached into her back pocket to get it. She looked at it and then back to me. “It’s Malcolm.” She tapped her screen and set the phone on the ground.

  “You could have answered it. You don’t have to ignore him on my account.”

  “Sure I do. You’re worth it. He knew I’d be here.”

  Her phone rang again, and I saw that it was Paul this time. I snatched up the phone. “Hi Paul, it’s Celia.”

  Fay tilted her head and gave me a look. “So maybe you’ve changed, but not that much.”

  I stuck my tongue out at her.

  “Is dinner over?” Paul asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You in the mood for a little excitement?”

  I tucked the phone into my neck and looked to Fay. “Are we in the mood for a little excitement?”

  “Is your name Celia Jane Young?”

  I grinned and put the phone back to my ear. “Tell us where.”

  I gathered the details from Paul as we crawled out from beneath the tree. I handed Fay her phone and headed toward the house.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “The pasture at the back of Derek’s farm.”

  “A pasture?”

  “You wanted small town life.”

  I poked my head in the back door, where Mom and Aunt Olive sat at the kitchen table with mugs of coffee in front of them. Fay stuck her face in behind me. “Fay and I are going on a walk. What time do you want us back?”

  Mom looked up at the clock on the wall. “It’s a school night, Celia. Why don’t you just stay here?”

  Olive looked at her sister. “Oh Donna, let them go.”

  Mom sighed. “You’re too easy.”

  Olive grinned. “Maybe, but you love that about me.”

  “Oh, fine. But be back by ten. It’s a school night.”

  Perfect. I’d been afraid she was going to say nine. “Great, ten it is.” I shut the door before anyone’s mind changed.

  “They are so much like us,” Fay said as we crossed the yard and headed down the sidewalk.

  “That’s fine, just as long as we aren’t like them.”

  She smiled. “Hey, your mom and dad seemed good at dinner.”

  “I’ve told you a hundred times that things are fine.”

  “Yeah, but I liked seeing it with my own eyes.”

  It was still awkward talking about this stuff with her. I wasn’t used to hearing any of these words out loud. But she was family, and I trusted her. “Dad hasn’t been drinking anything stronger than iced tea,” I blurted out. “At home, anyway. Well, once he had one beer, but only one, and he cleared all the liquor from the house.”

  We walked a little ways while Fay gave that some thought. “Is that…typical?”

  “Sort of. He always hits the reset button after things get really bad, but he’s never seemed so serious about it. He’s certainly never gone so far as to throw away his beer.”

  Fay picked up my arm and linked it with hers, clutching it tightly to her side. My family wasn’t very physically affectionate with me. Mom sometimes was with Abe, but not me. We didn’t hug, and it was rare that I got touched at all at home. Fay’s invasion of my space always took me by surprise.

  “Whatever happens, Celia, good or bad, just remember you’re not in it alone.”

  I squeezed her arm with mine. “It’s hard when things that are my problem aren’t within my control.”

  “Too much of life falls into that category,” she said.

  There were a lot of things in Fay’s life that she could have been talking about, but I was pretty sure I knew which one she had on her mind at the moment. “Was it hard to say good-bye to your dad?”

  She bit her lip and squeezed my arm tighter. “It was really hard. Whenever I think about him, I keep picturing him there without us. We always watched reruns of Little House on the Prairie every Thursday night. It was our thing. I don’t know if he likes it enough to watch it without me, but I keep imagining him sitting on the couch alone, that ugly afghan over his legs, watching Pa plow the fields.”

  “I can totally see Uncle Gill just like you described.”

  “Right? Then my mind goes to even worse places. I think about what it would be lik
e if he wasn’t watching it alone.” Her voice turned high and she had to clear her throat to continue talking. “What if he found a new wife, and she had a daughter, and he watched Little House with her?”

  Fay didn’t need me to tell her it wouldn’t mean her dad loved her less just because he found more people to love. She didn’t need me to explain that she’d always come first to her father. She knew all of that, but that didn’t make it easier. “I suggest you take that idea, wad it up, and use it for toilet paper.”

  She laughed, and we walked silently for a bit, still linked together at our arms. “What do you think these boys are up to?”

  “We’re about to find out.” We had arrived at the edge of Derek’s property. He had a big yard, but we kept to the side of it, out of view of any windows, because I didn’t know if his parents knew about this gathering. Behind his back yard was a small tree line, and once we entered, I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “This reminds me of another little trip into the woods with you,” Fay said.

  I chuckled, thinking of the time I took her out to spy on some skinny dippers. “You were just disappointed because you wanted to get naked and join in.”

  She pushed a low branch out of the way. “It would have been more fun than just watching. But please, don’t ever try so hard to keep me from being bored again.”

  “Yeah, yeah. You’re grateful for my impulsivity and lack of responsibility. We wouldn’t be here if not for me. You didn’t even want to answer the phone.”

  “I was trying to have some cousin time.”

  We broke out of the trees and were confronted with a cornfield spread vast before us. Fay’s eyebrows rose up her forehead. “You’re not serious.”

  “Here we go—cousin time in the stalks.” I led the way into a row. The corn stalks were more brown than green, and itchy against my legs. Harvest wasn’t far away. Inside the corn was like a whole new planet. The stalks towered over us, and after we’d walked for a few minutes, there was nothing to see but corn in every direction except up, which contained the first stars of the evening. I found it peaceful.

  “Celia, hang on.” Fay reached out and put her hand on my shoulder. “What’s that sound?”

  I paused to listen, and located some rustling leaves coming from several rows over. I tried not to laugh. Fay liked to think she was a country girl at heart, but she’d have to grow into that title. “It’s probably just a raccoon.”