“Yes,” Christine cried as she danced around in a circle. “I win! Jared has to take me to Europe. Thank you!”
“Uh…you’re welcome,” Stevie said dryly, still seething over what she’d heard had been done to the diner.
“I knew it, and Jared called me crazy even after I told him about your obsession with the pink Power Ranger and how all your heroes were women when you were growing up.” Christine wagged a finger. “You threw me when you seemed to get serious with Randy, but when y’all would come for Christmas, your body language made me think I wasn’t wrong after all. The last time you were here and you told me things weren’t going so well with y’all, I bet Jared a trip to Europe that you’d end up coming out of the closet if y’all split. Mom and Dad aren’t gonna like it, but I think it’s cool. I’ve got gay friends, they own one of the coffee shops here. Do you want me to see if they know any single ladies?”
“I’m seeing someone, but thanks,” Stevie said numbly, taken aback by Christine’s reaction.
“Oh, that’s what you’ve been up to and why you stayed in Belle Chasse last night,” Christine said as she resumed looking through the coffees. “Mom fussed about that this morning.”
“I’m not ready for the whole family to know yet, so keep this to yourself.” Stevie’s hand shook as she swept her hair out of her eyes. “I can’t sit for what Jordan has done, and I don’t know how you can condone it, either.”
“I didn’t say I condoned it, I said we don’t talk about it.” Christine put a little cup in the coffeemaker and set a mug in front of it. “If it was anybody else besides the McLins, I’d say something to Linden. You act like this is such a big deal, but it’s like the sun coming up every day. Walt makes a sign, Kellen refuses to work with…” Silence hung between the sisters as they stared at each other. “Oh, my God, is it her?” she whispered.
“Oh, I don’t talk about that,” Stevie replied smugly.
Christine’s chest rose and fell quickly, and her nostrils flared on every exhalation. “Are you screwing with me?”
Stevie knew she’d gone past the point of no return. The muscles in her jaw flexed as she ground her teeth as the weight of her mistake sank in on her. “Chris, if you even think about telling anyone, just remember I know who you did the night of your bachelorette party, and he was already married. Here’s the really funny thing, Kenzie bears an odd resemblance to Pete Williams.”
“I swear on a stack of Bibles we only did it that one time.” A slow grin spread across Christine’s face, and she held up a thumb.
“What are you trying to tell me?” Stevie asked testily. “Is that your way of saying you’ll keep your trap shut?”
“Girl, you’ve got balls.” Christine pressed her hands as though she was praying. “Give me one, please.”
Stevie’s jaw sagged. “I don’t know what’s happening here.”
“Mom wanted you to wear dresses, you said no. She and Dad wanted you to take a dance class, again no. Meanwhile, I’m looking like a miniature hooker being dragged to one beauty pageant after another. I tried to say no once, and Mom alternated between screaming and singing while she sprayed my whole head with hairspray and glued my fake eyelashes to my cheeks. And you…” Christine waved a hand, “you with your giant set of beans just shook it off when she went crazy on you. Even now, when I hear her start to sing the first line of Landslide, I think I should sit like a well-trained dog.” Christine’s hair flew around as she stomped and screamed, “Give me one of your balls, Stevie!”
“Wow” was all Stevie could say as she gawked at Christine, who stared back at her wild-eyed and breathing heavily.
“Do you have pot, can we smoke it?”
Stevie shook her head and took a step back. “I-I don’t smoke, but hey, we can go get whatever you need.”
“I love my kids, and sometimes I love my husband, but I feel like I’m living someone else’s life—Mom’s. She picked me to mold into a version of herself, she admitted it. Get her drunk, you will be shocked at the shit she confesses. She told me she’d made up her mind she was going to marry a Sealy when she was like ten years old. She dated Uncle Mark first, but when he told her he wasn’t gonna stay in Sealy, she moved on to Dad. Linden wasn’t planned, he was bait in a trap, and it worked because Granddad made Dad marry Mom.”
“Now I wish I had pot,” Stevie said, completely blown away.
“Girl, our family is fucked up.” Christine nodded. “Big-time. I didn’t know if I wanted to marry Jared. I thought I loved him, but I wasn’t sure, and I told Mom and Dad that after he proposed. Mom said he’s a Bolton, you will never find a better option. If you don’t marry him, you’ll end up with some guy living in a trailer in his parents’ muddy backyard wearing underwear you’ll have to buy at a secondhand store. Dad was nodding like a bobblehead doll, so I did it. I just did it. Do you know why Mom told me that? You know how she said she was born in the house on Fourth Street? That was a lie. She lived in a trailer in our granddad’s parents’ muddy backyard until she was nine and Granddad was able to buy the house on Fourth Street. She asked Grandma to never tell us the truth, and she took that secret to her grave to protect Mom’s pride.” Christine sucked her teeth. “It’s really sad that she was embarrassed to tell us about her humble beginnings, but that’s how her mind works. Like I said, get her drunk and you’ll learn all kinds of stuff.”
“Do you want to sit down?” Stevie asked. “I feel like I need to before you tell me anything else.”
“Yes.” Christine walked stiffly over to the kitchen table and sank into a chair.
Stevie brought Christine’s cup of coffee over to the table and set it in front of her before she took a seat. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”
“We really don’t know each other all that well. We grew up in the same house, but we were always taught not to show any type of weakness or imperfection, not even to each other. Other than what you just told me and admitting last Christmas things weren’t going well with Randy is the extent of our personal conversations. Linden and I don’t even talk, and we live down the street from each other. We just live in our perfect little bubbles hiding behind the Sealy decorum.” Christine shook her head slowly. “Wow, Kellen McLin. Is it just for fun or are y’all serious? How did you even…get with her?”
“I went to McLin to find Trent, and it turns out he’s gay, and his boyfriend is Kyle McLin. Long story short, I went to a party at Kellen’s house last Sunday, and I’ve seen her every day since.” Stevie chewed her bottom lip. “I’m gonna fall in love with her. I feel like I’ve done it already.”
Christine looked amazed. “Balls, you’ve got a pair. She does too. I remember when we used to go to the town line to talk shit, she wasn’t afraid of anybody. I saw her more than once go toe to toe on the line with one of Linden’s friends. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, shit, she’s gonna fight a guy, and she’ll probably win.’ Kyle and their friends would always pull her back, and they had a hard time doing it. I’d call her names, but I’d stay close to the car in case I had to jump in, but she could spit from the line and still hit my shoes.”
“She is a woman of many talents,” Stevie said with a smile.
“Apparently,” Christine said with a laugh. “Are you planning to tell Mom and Dad about her?”
“I’ll have to eventually. I think you can relate when I say I love them and kind of despise them at the same time. I still don’t look forward to hurting them, though.” Stevie sighed. “I just want to be with Kellen.”
“You are about to blow our perfect world to pieces, and I for one am very excited about that.” Christine waved a hand at herself. “Look at me. I’m wearing a dress and heels with my face on and my hair done, just to drive my girls to school. I’m ridiculous. Jared has been after me for years to just put on a pair of yoga pants and do my thing, but it’s simply easier to go with the flow when it comes to Mom and Dad. They can be so demanding,” she said with a sigh.
“Are you and Jared oka
y?”
Christine nodded with a smile. “I do love him. He gets on my nerves like all spouses do, but all in all, he’s a good husband. I’d like to meet Kellen sometime. I know the girl who could spit on my shoes from an impressive distance, but I’d like to get to know the woman you know.”
Stevie nodded. “Thanks for that.”
“For what?”
“Willing to be open-minded, it’s not a family trait,” Stevie replied and smiled wryly.
“Oh, no, it’s not. I have two little girls, though, and I don’t want to teach them that it’s okay to be fake. I can’t do that hiding in the fake closet, so I may as well come out with you.”
Chapter 15
Stevie sent Kellen a text as soon as Christine left and asked her to call whenever it was convenient. Five minutes later, Kellen called. “I’m so sorry,” Stevie said when she answered.
“You’ve heard.”
“Yes, Christine came by and told me what was painted on the diner. Was there any other damage?” Stevie asked.
“No, and I have to give them a bonus point because they didn’t get paint on anything but the glass,” Kellen said with a sigh.
“I’m ninety-nine percent sure that Jordan did that, and I’ve got some cleaning supplies together. I’m going over there to clean up.”
“Already done. It didn’t take me, Kyle, and Trent any time to clean it off. Trulee’s happy because she’s been after Walt to power wash the outside of the building, so something good came from this. Are we still on for tonight?”
“Yes, I can’t wait, but what’s about to happen? Are you gonna press charges?”
“I have video, but their faces are covered, and so is the plate on the truck they rode over in,” Kellen said. “I made Walt furious with me, but I told him I wasn’t going to raise hell over this. I’m trying to handle this differently, and I believe if we stop reacting, the war will just die off. I just have to convince Walt to finally do the same, but I think it would be easier to teach a tree to jump through a hoop.”
“I don’t want you to do that for me. If my family does something wrong, like what Jordan more than likely did, they should suffer the consequences. Same thing if Walt comes over here and tears something up.”
“Well, he might,” Kellen said with a laugh. “As mad as he is, he could very well talk one of his friends into driving his half blind ass over there, so he can throw a brick through a window. If y’all can prove he did it, then I’m all for the consequences he has to face. I feel like a hypocrite for saying that because I did those kinds of things.”
“When you were a kid. I’ll follow your lead, though, and please tell Trulee that I’m very sorry.”
“She doesn’t blame you. I have to go now, but I’m looking forward to seeing you,” Kellen said warmly.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you, too, Foxglove.”
*******
“I feel like you should let me drive,” Stevie said when Kellen picked her up at their meeting spot that evening.
Kellen didn’t hesitate and scooted back on the seat. “Have you ever driven one before?”
“Not one this nice,” Stevie said as she climbed on and looked at all the gauges and buttons. “Where’s the foot/gear thing?”
“It doesn’t have one. You push the white button, and that’ll put us in reverse, the green button is forward. It’s an automatic transmission, so all you have to do is pull down on the—” Kellen slammed into Stevie when she pulled down on the throttle while in reverse.
“This thing is powerful,” Stevie said in awe. “I’ll be careful, I promise.” She eased the throttle down and made a nice easy takeoff.
Kellen gave her a little squeeze. “Good job. Just get it on the trail now.”
“I thought I was on the trail.”
“It’s a little to your right, see the tracks I left?” Kellen asked against Stevie’s ear.
Stevie narrowed her eyes. “Not really—oh, wait, I see a tire track.”
“You’re doing great,” Kellen said and gave Stevie’s ear a little kiss. The ATV lurched forward. “I’m so glad I didn’t nibble just then.”
“Okay, you can’t kiss on me until I get used to driving this thing.”
“No kissing, got it.” Kellen grinned as she ran her hands up Stevie’s midsection and cupped her breasts.
“Oh, you just wanna die,” Stevie said with a laugh.
*******
Stevie sighed as she rested her head against the tub, and the hot water surrounding her and Kellen soothed her as Kellen told her about the events of the morning. “Where did Walt go when he stormed off?”
“Ben convinced him to get into his car, and Walt wanted to go to the marina where he told his buddies all about what happened. They ranted with Walt, and that kinda calmed him down because he had somebody in his corner. He’s still mad at me and wouldn’t take my or Kyle’s calls, and Trulee suggested we let him completely calm down before we try to reason with him.”
“How long does that usually take?” Stevie asked as she began rubbing one of Kellen’s feet.
“When he’s really mad, it can take as long as a month.” Kellen closed her eyes when Stevie massaged the arch of her foot. “When Kyle was mayor, Ben gave Walt a speeding ticket he rightly deserved, and Walt wanted Kyle to talk Ben into making it go away. Kyle refused, and Walt didn’t speak to him for a month. Trulee finds it amusing because she says the roles have reversed, and Kyle and I have to raise Walt now. Her favorite saying is ‘once a man, twice a child.’”
“I told my sister about us.”
Kellen’s eyes flew open wide. “What?”
Stevie told Kellen most of the conversation she’d had with Christine seemingly without taking a breath. It poured out of her mouth rapid fire. “Can you believe my mother created an alternate history about her childhood and had my grandmother back it up?” she said, waving Kellen’s foot around. “Poof, my mind is blown. Poof!”
Kellen stared off into space, trying to process all she’d heard, as well. “That’s a shitload of insight right there.”
“I know, right? Poof.”
Kellen grabbed one of Stevie’s feet. “Let me rub you.”
“Christine wants to meet the Kellen I know. The one she knew would spit on her shoes from what she said was an impressive distance.”
“I was like a llama,” Kellen said proudly. “Which is not important right now, sorry. How do you feel about all this?”
“I think spitting is gross.” Stevie laughed when Kellen narrowed her eyes. “I was really shocked not only about the things she told me about my family, but that she was supportive of us.”
“That’s really a big deal, her being supportive, especially with our history.” Kellen smiled. “I would like to meet her too.”
“Kellen!” Trent said and banged on the bathroom door. “Walt’s on his way over here. Kyle’s driving him, and he’s going as slow as he can, but they’re gonna be here any minute.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” Kellen asked as she and Stevie scrambled to get out of the tub.
“I tried your phone and Stevie’s, but neither one of you answered, so I had to drive like a bat out of hell to get here before they did.”
“Okay, I’m gonna get dressed. Please go get Stevie’s phone and her coat off the hook by the door and bring it back here,” Kellen said as she dried quickly. “Stevie, just stay in my room, baby, and try not to listen to whatever Walt says.” She rushed out of the bathroom with a towel barely wrapped around her waist and ran into Trent, who had returned with Stevie’s coat.
“Her phone is in the pocket,” Trent said as he covered the front of Kellen’s body with the coat. “I hope you remember that you told me to bring this back here.”
“Yep,” Kellen said as Trent fled the room, and she closed the door behind him.
“You called me baby for the first time,” Stevie said, sounding nervous as she rushed out of the bathroom and started pulling on her clothes, too. “That wou
ld’ve been a really touching moment if it would’ve happened at another time. Can we have a do-over?”
Kellen grabbed Stevie and kissed her quickly. “Anything you want, baby.”
“That was good,” Stevie said as Kellen rushed out of the room and closed the door behind her.
“Are they here yet?” Kellen looked around the living room and kitchen to make sure there was nothing else that belonged to Stevie lying around.
“No, and I figured the boots by the back door that didn’t look familiar weren’t yours, so I put them in the laundry room.” Trent blew out a breath and brushed at the sweat beading on his forehead. “This has been one hell of a day. Now I know exactly what Kyle’s boobs would look like if he was a woman. That’s kinda mind-blowing, man. Have you ever really thought about that? If you wanted to know what your body would look like if you were a man, all you have to do is look at Kyle.”
“No, I’ve never thought about that, and I kinda wanna see Kyle naked now. Given the context of this conversation, I hope that doesn’t sound perverted.” Kellen’s brow rose when she heard ack, ack ack followed by a wheeze coming from her bedroom. “Two things, baby. I asked you not to listen to what’s going on out here, and you can’t do that when Walt gets here.”
“Sorry.”
Trent snorted. “I forgot about her crazy-ass laugh,” he said and turned serious when he and Kellen heard a knock on the door right before it opened.
“Hey, what’re you doing here?” Kyle asked as he stepped in, pretending to be surprised by Trent’s presence.
“I was passing by, and I remembered I had that…thing of Kellen’s in the back of my truck,” Trent said as he watched Walt walk in behind Kyle with a deep frown.
“Kellen, I think you’re wrong,” Walt said without preamble. “I don’t know what’s gotten into your and Kyle’s heads about the Sealys, but I’ll play it your way. We won’t answer what they did at the diner and see what happens. I can tell you they’ll think they struck a blow that intimidated us, then Dave will try to walk all over you.”
Kellen's Moment Page 17
