Carson grabbed some bowls from the cabinet and ice cream from the freezer. “You want some of this to go with your soup?”
“Good god. Are you kids that hungry?” She dropped the soup spoon in the empty bowl. “I’m not going to have any food left.”
“We’ll share.”
“You certainly will. Ice cream might settle my stomach.” She slid the bowl toward him. “Put this in the sink and get me a clean one.”
Like an obedient child, Carson complied. He filled three clean bowls with marble fudge ice cream and carried them into the living room. Sherry and Monica followed.
“We’ll be right there when the popcorn is done, Mom.” Hot air blew the popped kernels into a large, blue bowl. Lisa picked up the stray pieces from the countertop and plopped them her mouth.
I slipped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me. My mouth pressed next to her ear. “I had fun being with you tonight,” I whispered.
She glanced in the direction of the living room before dragging me deeper into the kitchen. “I had fun too.”
The voices of Monica and Carson arguing over the remote carried into the kitchen. They were occupied for a few minutes, so I took a chance. I slid my hand around her neck and threaded my fingers through her hair. “I liked being on the Ferris wheel with you.”
“I liked it too. But...” She caught her lower lip between her teeth.
I leaned closer. “I liked the kissing the best.”
“Brendon.” She turned her face. “We can’t do that again.”
“Are you afraid your mom will see?” I nuzzled my face into the crook of her neck and inhaled her scent.
“No, but I’m afraid we went too far.”
“What?” I pressed my thumb under her chin and made her look at me. “We just kissed.”
“That was more than kissing. It was…”
“Was what?” I prodded when she hesitated.
“Intense. We agreed to move slow. Tonight, we jumped ahead real fast.”
“We only jumped to the kissing part.”
“No, Brendon. We went beyond that.”
Memories of the Ferris wheel flashed in my skull. I’d kept my arms around her shoulders. My hands never strayed and my fingers didn’t wander. “There was nothing wrong with what we did.”
“Then it must not have affected you the same way.”
“What do you mean?” She had no idea how greatly her kisses affected me, but I figured it wasn’t a good idea to describe it. “How did it affect you?”
“You only kissed me on the lips, but I felt it all the way to my toes.”
My mouth stretched into a wide grin. “So, you thought it was hot.”
“Brendon.” Her voice was sharp whisper. “That’s exactly what I’m trying to explain. You’re looking forward to our relationship getting more intense, so if we get into a situation where it does, I don’t expect you to be the one to say Whoa.”
“You’re right.” I tried to hold down my laughter. “I don’t think I’d ever say that word.”
“Don’t make fun. You know I don’t always say things the right way.”
“I’m not. I like the cute way you blurt out the wrong words. That makes you unique. And I also like when you tell me I’m hot and sexy, and my kisses make you tingle all over.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, but you’re thinking it, right?”
“Brendon, be serious.”
“I am. I’m very serious.” My gaze brushed over her face, memorizing her every detail. I didn’t want this moment to end, but she was only sixteen and had another year of high school, then college. Right now, I had her in my arms, but somewhere along the way, she might slip away and I’d lose her. “Lisa, no other girl has ever affected me the way you do. I like being with you. Just holding your hand makes me happy. I’m not going to push you into anything you don’t want to do.”
“But that’s what I’m trying to explain. You’re leaving it all up to me. With the way you kiss, I’m afraid I might forget to tell you to stop.”
“I get what you’re trying to say. You want me to stay in control too so we don’t jump into anything too quick.”
“Right.” Her head nodded for emphasis. “I want for us to take our time getting there.”
“There?” My head cocked to one side. “I know I’m your first boyfriend, but have you thought about where you want this to go?”
She nibbled at her lower lip. “I have a pretty good idea where I want this to eventually end up. But if you ever kiss me like that again, we’re liable to get there a whole lot sooner than I planned.”
Chapter Twenty–Nine
Our football team played well tonight. I only wished Lisa could have been here to see it, but the game was scheduled at the opponent’s school, and we had to travel out of town. That meant no dance either. As I left the locker room and headed to the bus for the ride back to Esparto, I spotted Paul leaning against the outside of the building.
“Alexander.” His tone was hushed, as if he didn’t want to draw attention. He motioned with a nod of his head for me to join him. “We haven’t had a chance to talk lately.”
I walked closer. “We talk all the time.”
“I know, but I wanted to speak with you in private.”
He probably wanted to know the status on Carson and Sherry, but since I really didn’t know, I wouldn’t be giving anything away. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Your girlfriend.”
“Lisa?” That threw me back a step. “What about her?”
“Do you know who her dad is?”
I didn’t know where he was going with this, so I tried to keep it light with a joke. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say her dad is Mr. Stratton.”
He didn’t even crack a smile. “Her dad is that professor who got lost in the Capay Hills this last summer and had half the county searching for him.”
“You mean the guy they found wandering around near Big Rock?”
“That’s him. They’ve got him locked up in 3B North at the Woodland hospital.”
“The psych ward? I heard the rumors about some guy going berserk when the rescuers found him, but I thought that was just a rumor.”
“No, it’s true. Her father is crazy. Sherry’s mom works at UCD and knows all about it. I heard her talking about it before—before Sherry and I broke up.”
I tried to recall Lisa’s explanation of her father’s illness. “She told me her dad had a nervous breakdown.”
“I guess crazy covers that.” Paul grabbed the sleeve of my sweatshirt and yanked me closer. “But that’s not the worst of it. Lisa’s mother claimed the husband was possessed by an evil spirit. She brought in an exorcist.”
I wasn’t going to mention it, but Lisa had already told me as much. I tried to act like it was no big deal. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, maybe, but not the way she did it. She tried to take him out of the hospital to do the exorcism, but the doctors said he was too dangerous and wouldn’t release him to her, only to another doctor’s care. So she brought a priest into the hospital to do the ritual there, but it backfired. The whole thing got out of control. Her husband flipped out. He attacked her and the priest, and beat up a couple of the staff workers.”
“Then the exorcist couldn’t cure him?”
“No, but it gets worse.” He stepped closer and lowered his voice even more. “The cops were called in. The whole thing ended up in court. The judge took away custody of her husband and appointed a public guardian for him. There’s supposed to be some sort of a hearing later. That’s why Lisa and her mom moved up here, so they could visit him. Right now, Mrs. Stratton has no say in her husband’s health treatment. She can’t even get him transferred to another hospital.”
Paul had to be telling the truth. The facts would be too easy to verify. I took a minute to absorb all the information. “Whatever’s wrong with Lisa’s dad has nothing to do with her.”
“But,
dude, they’re all crazy. Well, maybe not Lisa, but both her parents are.”
Monica might be uptight and overly controlling, and she could definitely be a pain in the butt, but crazy seemed a stretch. I rubbed my hand over my forehead to clear my thoughts. “You could be right, but I’m not going to stop seeing Lisa just because of her parents.”
“That’s your choice, dude. Just watch your back.”
Chapter Thirty
“Another Saturday night,” Carson said. “And we’re going to be with our ladies.”
“I can’t wait to see Lisa.” I let out a hard breath. “Too bad Monica insisted in going along on our date.”
“It’s not a date, man.” Carson turned down the volume in the King Cab. “It’s just friends grabbing something to eat and catching a movie.”
“Yeah, right. Maybe Monica believes that, but I don’t. And what about Sherry? Doesn’t she think this a date?”
“We haven’t talked about it yet. I think I’m going to wait until our last game on Friday. Football season ends, and Paul will go out for basketball. Me and you will start wrestling practice, and I won’t have to be around him as much. Maybe it won’t feel so weird.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” I thrust my fingers through my hair. “Wish I had a plan to get around Monica.”
“You better quit calling her that.” Carson parked the pickup in front of Sherry’s house. “One of these days, you’re going to slip and call her by her first name.”
“Since she avoids talking to me, I don’t see that it’ll be a problem.”
Carson climbed from the pickup. “I’ll be back in a second with Sherry.”
“Yeah, right. You don’t have any idea how long a second is.”
He chuckled as he walked away. I slouched back in the seat to get comfortable. Within a minute, bare knuckles tapped on the glass. Lisa smiled at me through the window. She wore a blue sweater pulled over the top of black jeans.
I hopped out of the pickup and gave her a big hug. “You look nice.” Her scent drifted across my senses. I nuzzled my face into her neck and inhaled deeply. “And you smell good too.”
Her arms slipped around me. “Sherry gave me some vanilla body butter. Do you like it?”
“I love it.” I took a step away before the fragrance overloaded my brain. “What are you doing at Sherry’s?”
“My mom is at the hospital visiting my dad, so I came here to wait for you.”
“Glad you did.” Now I could kiss her without her mom peeking over my shoulder. I pulled Lisa close and smoothed my freshly shaven jaw along her cheek until my lips brushed at the corner of her mouth. She jerked away before I could kiss her. “What’s wrong? Don’t I get a kiss hello?”
“Not now.” Her long hair fell across her face when she turned her head. “Carson and Sherry will see.”
I glance over my shoulder just in time to see them walking down the driveway. My arms slipped from around Lisa. “Hey, Sherry.”
“Hi, Brendon.” She waited for Carson to open the door. “Are you ready for a movie?”
“I sure am.” I opened the back door for Lisa. She slid all the way over, so I hopped in after her. “Are we going to eat first?”
“Of course, but we may have to change things around.” Sherry turned around in the seat. “Lisa, do you want to tell him what’s going on?”
She had the seat belt in her hand, about to fasten it when she glanced up. A big smile lit up her face. “My dad is better. That’s why my mom is still at the hospital.”
Last night’s conversation with Paul flashed through my brain. Was he just trying to spook me about her dad being crazy? “That’s good news. When is he getting out?”
Her gaze dropped. “I don’t know.”
Carson revved the engine. “Is everybody ready?” Without waiting for a response, he shifted into drive and headed down the street.
Lisa released the seat belt and scooted to the middle seat. After clicking the center belt in place, she glanced at me. “We may have to change our plans a little bit tonight—if that’s all right with you.”
My forehead wrinkled. Was this Monica’s way of sabotaging our evening together? “What kind of changes?”
“Oh, Brendon.” She grabbed my hand. “It’s like a miracle. They adjusted my dad’s medicine, and now he’s sitting up and he’s alert. He’s not talking yet, but my mom thinks he recognizes her. She said he smiled at her.” Her grip on my hand tightened. “It’s been almost three months since I’ve seen him. My mom is waiting for the doctor to come in so she can talk to him. She’s there now with my dad and said it would be all right if I visited him. Would you mind if we go there first before we go to the movie theater?”
“I don’t mind at all.” I glanced in the direction of the front seat. “But what about them?”
“I’ve got a plan, X–man.” Carson must have been listening to the conversation. “Sherry and I’ll wait at the pizza place. You drive Lisa to the hospital with the pickup. When you’re done visiting, swing by with Mrs. Stratton. Then we’ll all go on to the movies.”
I let out a sigh of relief. I’d been worried the evening would be cut short, but that wasn’t the case. And even with Monica along, I’d still get to hold Lisa’s hand in the dark theater. “Sounds like a good plan. Just save us some pizza.”
* * *
At the hospital, Lisa and I took the elevator to the third floor. She announced our names over the phone hanging on the wall next to a locked door. A woman dressed in floral scrubs let us in and took us down a corridor to the main room.
Through the Plexiglas security windows, I spotted Monica sitting on the far side of the room. When we walked into the room, she jumped up and hurried to us.
“Your dad is doing so much better.” She grabbed Lisa’s wrist and pulled her across the room. “It’s remarkable how much progress he’s made in just one day.”
This was a family moment and I didn’t want to intrude, so I strolled along behind them. I glanced around at the other patients in the room. I’d never been in a psychiatric ward and half expected people running around in straitjackets or trying to catch imaginary butterflies with nets, but they looked like normal people—except for a few. A couple of patients glared at me as if they hated me. Another wandered around, carrying on a conversation with no one. The thing I hadn’t anticipated was the odor of urine permeating the air matched only by a heavy antiseptic smell.
Monica stopped next to a man in a wheelchair. His back was to me and I couldn’t see his face.
“Kyle.” She leaned over him. “Look who’s here.”
“Daddy, I’m so happy to see you.” Lisa’s eyes filled with tears as she knelt in front of him. “How are you feeling?”
From the back, he appeared to be asleep. His head drooped forward and his arms dangled next to the wheels. When I walked closer, his back straightened and his head snapped up. His hands gripped the arms of the chair.
“Mom, look! He recognizes me.”
I made a wide path around Lisa and her mom so I stood behind them. I glanced at the man sitting in the wheelchair—at his blond hair hanging into his blue eyes. The flesh on my neck prickled. I recognized this man. He’d appeared in my visions!
He must have recognized me too, and he didn’t look thrilled about it. His lips curled back into a sneer as he glared at me. A low, guttural snarl rumbled from his mouth. His fingers dug into the chair pad as he tried to stand.
“Daddy, what’s wrong?”
“Kyle.” Monica tried to push him back into the wheelchair. “What is it? Are you in pain?”
He swung his arm and hit her in the ribs with his elbow. She landed on her hands and knees on the floor. I rushed toward him as he staggered to his feet. Lisa clung to his leg. His fingers jammed into her hair, and his hand clenched into a fist. Her screams filled the air as he shook her.
I grabbed his wrist. A zap, like static electricity, shot up my arm, but I shrugged it off. I pried open his fingers to free Lisa’s hair.
He swung at me with his fist, but I ducked. Monica jumped to her feet and grabbed Lisa, but they were right in the middle of the fight. He snarled and growled while shoving them to the floor. I stepped over them so I could grab him from the side. He drew back his fist, preparing to throw another punch, but I caught his arm.
Monica clamored to her knees, pulling Lisa up with her. Stratton thrashed about with his legs. His foot kicked against Monica’s side. She fell sprawled out on the floor. With his free arm, he backhanded Lisa across the face.
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