Somewhere in the Middle

by Linda Palmer

  “Leaders as in mayors and, say, councilwomen?” What other kinds could there be in a city?

  “Those and CEOs of businesses, as well as directors of law enforcement, public health, and environmental safety. Women have long since proved they’re more conservative than men, more thoughtful, and much less aggressive, which means the job gets done more efficiently.”

  Was he lying to me? Though I hated to think he might be, I really had trouble believing men anywhere on Earth had that much sense.

  “So if I seemed shy about sitting on the bed with you, it wasn’t because I thought you wanted to have casual sex.”

  Had he really just said casual sex? I could easily think of several other words a teenage boy might use.

  “It was because I didn’t want to disrespect you.”

  Wow. I honestly didn’t know how to respond. “I’d never think that. You’ve been nothing but polite and protective toward me since day one.”

  “Then we’re cool again?”

  “I…guess.” He’d given me a lot to consider, and while it all sounded very nice, I had to wonder if something else was behind his reluctance to sit on my bed. We’d kissed a time or two, but that really meant nothing. What if I actually repelled him physically, as in I just wasn’t his type? Or maybe I had bad breath or something.

  “What’s running through that head of yours?” He’d turned and bent down slightly to look into my eyes.

  “I was just—”

  “—thinking that I don’t want you?”

  “Oh God no. Well, maybe. I mean it did cross my mind. Not that I want to have sex with you or anything. I don’t. I was just wondering if there was something wrong with me.”

  He huffed his exasperation. “We’ve talked about this before and what you’re worrying about is stupid. Stupid, crazy, and freakin’ ridiculous. You’re absolutely amazing, and I’m a guy. So of course I want you. But some things are worth waiting for, and—”

  “We’re just friends anyway.”

  Roone caught his breath and then exhaled it slowly. “Riiiight.”

  The way he said it made me wonder if he’d forgotten that little detail. I knew I was struggling to remember it. No less confused about Roone, but feeling better all the same, I hugged myself and looked over the valley. The clouds that hovered pretty much hid it now, but I could still make out dim lights from distant scattered houses. I felt Roone get up, but didn’t immediately glance over my shoulder at him.

  When I did, I saw that he’d scooped up some snow that somehow hadn’t melted yet and begun forming it into a small ball. Only he did it without his cupped hands touching the snowball that hung in midair. I laughed as it got bigger and bigger. He stopped when it was about the size of a softball.

  “Catch!” Roone unexpectedly pushed it at me, all without actually making contact, of course. The orb sailed in my direction, stopping a millimeter from my nose.

  I reached for it, but the ball dodged my fingers. “I don’t believe this.” Before my eyes the ball became a flower—a daisy with petals and even a stem. I held out my hand. It gently floated into my palm. What could I do but laugh my delight as it melted to nothing. “Show off.”

  That made him grin. He started toward me, but then stopped midstride, his body now tense.

  “What?” I asked, suddenly weirded out.

  “Did you hear something?”

  “What kind of something?” As in four legged? I thought of Alabama’s bears, wolves, and coyotes, which had just as much right to wander these hills as we did, if not more.

  He stood in silence for a moment, clearly listening. “It’s about to rain. Maybe we should go.”

  I didn’t question him. If anyone’s instincts could be trusted, Roone’s could. Besides, I was freezing. We hiked the short distance to our cars where we parted with oddly awkward goodbyes considering we’d kind of just made up. Did I want to kiss him? Of course. But we were back to square one, as in friends without benefits, so that wasn’t even an option.

  When I got home, everyone pounced on me, wanting to know why the heck he hadn’t hung around for a while after dinner. I told them we’d had a misunderstanding but worked it out.

  My dad’s response? “Roone’s a keeper, Everly. Don’t mess this up.”

  On Monday, it was crazy at school for two reasons—semester tests and the impending holiday. Roone, actually wearing clothing that fit, seemed oddly distracted and not, I decided, because of all the admiring female glances he kept getting. I assumed it was because of the physics test he’d be taking on Thursday. If he didn’t flunk that baby, it would be nothing short of a miracle.

  I volunteered several times to help him study that afternoon. Every time I did, he declined, saying I had tests of my own to prepare for. Doubting that last-minute cramming would help in his case, I finally quit offering. At this point it was probably wiser to use my time praying for that miracle he would need to scrape by with a D.

  More than once that day, I felt someone’s stare and turned to find Teo watching me. That creeped me out a little. Though tempted to tattle to Roone, I didn’t. Teo never actually said anything, which probably meant I was attaching way too much importance to his stare or maybe even imagining it.

  The next three days dragged on forever, a jumble of cramming for upcoming tests by night and then actually taking them by day. For that reason I felt a little numb by the time the final bell rang on Thursday. Roone and I walked to my car without talking. I handed him my keys and started around to the passenger side, stopping at the last second so he could open the door, one of his habits I still wasn’t used to. Roone shut my door and soon slid behind the wheel on the driver’s side.

  I tipped my head back and exhaled a sigh of relief that our holiday had finally started. “Before you get out of this car at your house, please remind me to pick up Eli on my way home. I don’t usually do it, and I’m so brain dead I might forget.”

  “May I go with you instead?”

  I smiled in pleased surprise. “Sure. He’d love it.” As in a lot. Ever since Roone had dinner with us, he was all my little brother could talk about. Roone this. Roone that. Clearly the short while they’d spent together had made quite an impression. Since I’d fallen under Roone’s spell ages ago, I couldn’t fault Eli for that.

  It took almost half an hour to get to Play and Learn Daycare, thanks to some crazy traffic and winter-mix precipitation that made intersections a little slick. I figured everyone must be getting off early since Friday was Christmas Eve. We barely found a place to park, and when we went inside to get Eli, we had trouble getting through all the moms and dads packing up their children’s belongings.

  Eli’s teacher sent us outside, where he and a bunch of other kids his age were playing under one of those portable metal covers that some people used as carports. Bundled up and with pink noses and cheeks, they appeared to be oblivious to the cold. Their teachers, however, were not. All three women on playground duty huddled together talking.

  Catching movement from the corner of my eye, I glanced in that direction and saw a little girl near the jungle gym, which looked wet and maybe even icy. Unnoticed by the teachers in charge, she began to climb—an accident waiting to happen. I heard Roone catch his breath and then felt him leave my side. He jogged toward the child, but she slipped before he got there. As I watched in horror, she fell but never hit the ground, instead hovering above it just long enough for Roone to get to her. One quick scoop had her safe in his arms.

  With a gasp that was one part relief and one part dread, I shifted my gaze to the teachers, who’d surely seen what I’d just seen. But they stood as before, and from there would’ve had their view blocked by Roone’s massive body anyway. Two of them glanced up when Roone headed back to them with that precious little girl. Just as he got to the shelter, his passenger threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

  Click!

  “You lost one, ma’am,” he said, handing her over to the nearest teacher.

&n
bsp; “Shannon Marie Alexander, you know the rules.” That teacher set her on her feet and lightly swatted her behind. “If you want to play outside, you’ve got to stay out of the rain.”

  Shannon, who wore pink jeans, green rubber boots, and a fuzzy white jacket, didn’t seem a bit bothered by the scolding that really wasn’t one. She simply giggled and joined some of her friends. That’s when Eli saw us. With a yelp of joy, he came running, but not to me. He went straight to Roone, who picked him up as if they belonged to one another. “Hey, sport. How are you doing?”

  “Fine. Are you gonna eat at our house again?”

  “Nah. I just came with Everly to pick you up.” Roone bounced Eli a couple of times, which made my brother’s little legs fly all over the place. “I’ve missed you.”

  Eli grinned so big it had to hurt.

  Roone drove us to his house, but I noticed he took the scenic route, which gave him a little more time with Eli, who hadn’t shut up since we left the daycare in my Trans Am. Once at Roone’s place, we both got out of my car. I skirted the front of it and caught Roone’s arm before he got away, managing to sneak in a quick hug.

  “What’s that for?” he asked, giving me a half smile.

  “You know very well.”

  Roone’s half smile widened into a whole one.

  “Will you come over tomorrow for superhero day?” Eli called, trying to stick his head out of the window he’d just rolled down. Safely restrained by the seatbelt in my backseat, he couldn’t do it or get out of the car by himself, something he’d definitely have done if he’d had the strength to push that little red release.

  Roone caught my eye. “Superhero day?”

  I explained. “Eli and I are watching movies together tomorrow. With both Dad and Mom working this year and Cory always out, I have to do something to keep him entertained until bedtime. We’ll get a tree and decorate it, of course, but that doesn’t take long. So this year he’s picked every superhero movie we own—The Avengers, The Amazing Spiderman, Captain America: The First Avenger, plus some others. More than we’ll actually have time to watch.”

  “No Batman?”

  “Though Eli’s smart for his age, the Batman movies are a little old for him. Actually they all probably are, but Batman’s the darkest and deep plot-wise, so he hasn’t seen it.” I tilted my head just a little. “Would you want to come? Please don’t feel bad if you don’t.”

  “But I do.”

  I couldn’t hide my smile of pleasure. “Sweet. I’ll wait until you get there to make a tree run. I was dreading doing it by myself since I always pick one that’s too big to manage. You can be my muscles.”

  “I’d be honored,” he said.

  And the funny thing…? I thought he meant it.

  Roone was at my house by eight on Friday. After bundling up Eli—it was very cold out but clear, thank goodness—he and I got into Roone’s truck, which he said he’d borrowed from his dad. I let Eli direct him to the Christmas tree lot since he was so excited about the day we had planned. In fact, he was practically bouncing in the seat. But when we began walking the rows of evergreens in search of the perfect one, I was definitely in control. No way was I going to let Eli pick out a scrawny fir just because he felt sorry for it. Yeah, he’d actually done that.

  Up and down we went with me inspecting every fir, spruce, and pine. Of course I found what I wanted, Douglas-fir, but only after we’d inspected almost every single one on the lot. And of course it was too big. But Roone had a truck and plenty of muscles—patience, too, I might add—and I couldn’t waste such a golden opportunity.

  When we got back to the house, he made short work of trimming a couple of inches off the trunk so it would last longer and setting it in the plastic tree stand. I added water, hoping it could stay up until New Year’s. We didn’t begin decorating right away. I was saving that for our first intermission. Instead, we all plopped down on the couch and began watching The Amazing Spiderman, which was my all-time favorite Spiderman movie, at least so far, if not my top superhero movie. Andrew Garfield, who played the iconic Peter Parker, delivered a performance that was nothing short of perfect as he played a young male dealing with not only his teenage angst, but a bite from a revved-up spider.

  The most fun, however, was watching Roone and Eli. Riveted to the screen, they cheered and high-fived every time Peter rose to the challenge and squashed the big bad lizard guy. When that movie ended, I served hot chocolate and the iced sugar cookies Mom had somehow managed to bake that week. Honestly, someone should’ve made a movie about her and called it Super Mom. After that, we started on the tree.

  “Do you guys have yours up yet?” I tried to picture the Thorsens setting a live tree in their den and then decorating it. Couldn’t do it.

  “We bought a fake one with decorations already on it.”

  I grimaced. “But you’ve had real ones in the past?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “You’ve always had fake ones? Just look what you’ve been missing. The Christmassy smell alone makes them worth the bother, and just wait until you see it with the lights on.”

  At the Sayers home, we stuck with tradition and used the same ornaments Mom and Dad had bought for their very first tree together with the addition of many we kids had crafted through the years, most of them made from construction paper, or Popsicle sticks, or photos of us with bad haircuts and missing teeth. We also had a few ornaments Mom had brought home after helping clean out her mother’s house after she died. Our prize was a fragile glass star that my grandpop had bought in Germany when he was overseas fighting a war. That always went on the top of the tree.

  After Roone helped me string the lights, I draped the skirt tree around the trunk to hide the stand. I then opened the tub of ornaments I’d retrieved from the attic the night before. The three of us went right to work. Eli was in charge of the bottom. Roone took the top.

  As for me, I decorated somewhere in the middle, occasionally spacing out ornaments Eli had hung too close together, as in three on the same branch. Roone asked a lot of questions while we worked, mostly about the handmade ornaments, so he heard a lot of family history. Finally we got to the very last one—Mimi’s star.

  “Can I put it on the tree?” Eli’s big eyes pleaded with me. “I’m a big boy now.”

  I cringed. Could those little hands manage the task? With the tree sitting on our hardwood floor, a drop would be fatal for the star. “Will you be very, very careful?”

  He nodded eagerly.

  “Okay.” I handed him the ornament and then reached to pick him up.

  “Let me.” Roone hefted my brother onto one shoulder. Eli stretched and pushed the dainty star onto the single top branch, which he’d bent slightly so he could reach it. I sighed a breath of relief when it looked as if he’d managed the task. But that turned into a gasp of horror when the springy fronds immediately rejected the delicate bauble and launched it.

  The star sailed through the air…for a nanosecond. Then it paused midflight, changed its path, and gently landed on a couch cushion. Wide-eyed and weak with relief, I collapsed in the nearest chair and tried to slow down my thudding heart.

  “Oh my God. Mom would’ve died, just died if anything had happened to that.” I got the star and handed it to a teary-eyed Eli again. “Why don’t you let Roone help this time?”

  Eli, his bottom lip trembling, nodded. Roone pulled down the branch for Eli and then made sure the star was well seated before he released it. He set Eli on his feet. “That’s perfect, dude. Great job.”

  Eli’s tears instantly dried up. I wanted to give Roone a huge thank-you hug, but didn’t. After our mutual, unplanned visits to the rock, which had included a reaffirmation of our friendship, I didn’t intend to do anything to rock the boat.

  Slightly sick at my stomach at what might’ve been, I got up and turned on the tree lights. It looked spectacular. I next put away the ornament tub. When I finished, I popped the second DVD into the player and settled on the couch
again, impulsively kissing the top of Eli’s head. With the near miss on my mind, I turned my attention to Roone, who was already wrapped up in the story of Thor, the Nordic god who’d been exiled to Earth when Odin, his father, cast him from Asgard.

  Roone could’ve been a god, I decided, from a planet called NowhereNear. That would explain his physique and psychic powers. As if he felt my gaze, Roone glanced over Eli at me. I mouthed, “Thank you,” and blew him a kiss that might’ve been a little more than friendly.

  He just grinned.

  The movie ended as it always did—not exactly the way I wanted. Clearly a little shocked, Roone watched the credits roll for a couple of seconds before he shifted his attention to me. “It’s really over.”

  “Yeah.”

  “But they’re not together.” He referred to Thor and his love interest, physicist Jane Foster, of course.

  “I think they will be. Maybe in Thor II.”

  “But he left her on Earth.”

  “He had to save his own planet.”

  “But—”

  I held out my hand to hush him. “I totally agree, okay? I think he should’ve taken her with him. Considering her research and theories about outer space, she’d definitely have loved it there.”

  Roone went very still, which wasn’t easy with Eli bouncing on the couch between us in anticipation of the next superhero flick. “She’d have to leave her friends and family.”

  “Love sometimes means sacrifice, and he was definitely worth it.”

  “He coulda stayed here,” said Eli, surprising both of us. I hadn’t realized he was listening that closely.

  “Exactly,” I said. “Thor could’ve stayed right here and fought anything that tried to conquer us. Of course he would’ve had to leave his friends and family, but with the Bifrost intact, he and Jane could’ve visited Asgard any time they wanted.” I got up and stretched to relieve my kinked muscles, belatedly picking up on Roone’s flat mood. He really was bummed. I patted his leg. “Lighten up, Roony Toony. It’s just a movie.”