Brenda Novak

by Home to Whiskey Creek

  She tucked her hair behind her ears. “Will Noah be there?”

  A smile curved his lips. “Would you like him to be?”

  Absolutely. But she didn’t want Ted to catch on. “I know better than to get involved with him.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “From what I’ve heard, he’s left a string of broken hearts in his wake,” she said because she couldn’t say anything more.

  “Don’t worry about the gossip. Noah’s a good guy. He just hasn’t met the right girl, never really fallen in love.”

  She held Ted’s cup and coffee spoon in her hands. “Maybe he’s incapable of it.”

  “Maybe, but...” He winked. “Maybe not.”

  20

  Addy wasn’t really expecting it, but Darlene showed up for work the next morning. Even more surprising, they got through breakfast without a conflict—but only because they pretended they’d never had that conversation on the phone. Like the other employees at Just Like Mom’s, they were both dressed up for Halloween and smiling. Darlene was an angel—ironic from Addy’s perspective. Addy was a flapper, since that was the only costume Gran had that she could alter quickly enough.

  At ten, after politely dancing around each other, serving breakfast and passing out free orange-frosted donuts and balloons for the kids, Addy decided to leave. Darlene had managed the restaurant for this long. She could get through another day, even a busy one, on her own. Addy needed a nap. She’d been up for several hours after Ted left, looking up Kevin’s, Derek’s, Tom’s and Stephen’s addresses in the Whiskey Creek phone book and trying to talk herself into going by each house to see who owned a white truck with damage on the front. She held off until two before deciding to wait one more night. Halloween would provide a much better opportunity. People would already be out. And she’d have the perfect excuse to wear a costume.

  When she got home, she didn’t get to nap, however. Gran needed her help preparing for Halloween. She wanted to be ready when the trick-or-treaters came by.

  Addy made the caramel apples everyone expected her to give out. She also applied Gran’s green face paint and fake warts for her witch’s costume.

  “Are you leaving?” Gran asked when, finally finished, Addy got her purse.

  “I have a few errands to run.” She adjusted the black hat she’d fastened, purposely askew, on Gran’s long black wig.

  “Like what?” Gran reached up to help but couldn’t do much wearing her fake purple fingernails.

  Addy searched her mind for a plausible excuse but could think of only one thing Gran would accept without hesitation—a social outing. “Ted Dixon invited me to a party tonight.”

  “He has? And it starts this early?”

  “No, it doesn’t start until later, but I’d like to get a costume that fits properly.”

  Gran’s scowl turned into something far more pleasant. “How nice! You run along and do that, dear. I’ll be fine here. You’ve got my rocking chair out on the porch and that green flashlight I use?”

  “Of course. And the apples are in the plastic container right next to the rocker.”

  “It wouldn’t be Halloween if I wasn’t out on the porch. The kids count on it.”

  “Yes, they do. Don’t forget to turn on the organ music when you go out. And cover up with the blanket. You’ve had a cold. I don’t want you outside very long.”

  “The little ones are done by eight or eight-thirty. I won’t go in late. And it’s not raining on Halloween for a change.”

  Addy gave her a hug and hurried out.

  The costume section at the mercantile was picked over. If she planned on snooping around Addy needed a costume that would mask her identity. But the biggest one they had left was a purple goblin sized for a ten-year-old.

  “So much for that idea,” she grumbled, and waved to Harvey Hooper, the owner, as she dodged a little princess and Batman who, together with their parents, were coming down the aisle.

  “Excuse me.” She’d just decided to put a sheet over her head and be a ghost—that would cover her completely—when her gaze strayed to Crank It Up down the street. The open sign was still lit.

  Was Noah there?

  She got in her 4-Runner and drove past at a slow creep, craning her head to catch a glimpse of the people inside. But all she could see was a young woman with long hair, straightening bike helmets near the front window. After checking her rearview mirror to make sure no one was behind her, she slowed to a stop in the middle of the street so she could look at the portion of his house visible behind the shop.

  She’d only been there for a second when she realized that someone was watching her. Even before her eyes darted back to the store, she knew instinctively that it was Noah.

  Sure enough, he stood in the doorway, wearing a pair of jeans that fit him perfectly, a Crank It Up T-shirt and a bemused expression. He started to walk out as if he intended to talk to her. But she had no idea how she’d explain what she was doing so she drove off, leaving him staring after her.

  “You’re an idiot,” she muttered to herself. He had to be so confused by her actions. She was confused.

  She needed to stay away from him.

  So why couldn’t she?

  * * *

  “Who was that?”

  Noah watched as Addy’s taillights disappeared around the corner.

  “Noah?”

  He blinked and turned his attention to Amy, who’d come out to stand next to him. “What?”

  She gazed in the same direction. “In that 4-Runner.”

  “No one.”

  “No one? You just about knocked down all the helmets I stacked trying to get outside before she could drive off, and it’s no one?”

  He pivoted and went back inside. “It wasn’t who I thought it was.”

  She rolled her eyes. He didn’t see her do it, but he could hear it in her voice. “You’ve been acting a little nuts lately. Have I told you that?”

  How else was he supposed to act? He usually didn’t have any trouble getting people to love him, but in the past week his best friend had written him off and the first girl he’d gotten excited about in ages had slept with him and then tossed him aside.

  So why had she come by the store?

  His cell phone went off. Motioning for Amy to finish closing the register, he headed into the back to clean up his tools. “’Lo?”

  “You coming tonight?”

  Ted. Noah smothered a sigh. His friends had been bugging him to join them for their annual party, but he didn’t want to make Baxter feel uncomfortable. “Not sure. Things here at the shop are busy.”

  “On Halloween? You’re selling a lot of bikes, huh?”

  There wasn’t a soul in the store. He couldn’t go quite that far. “I’m fixing a lot of bikes.”

  “Which can wait.”

  He glanced around. He was actually more caught up on his work than usual. “Do I have to wear a costume?”

  “Yes, but you can throw on those spandex shorts you wear to impress the girls and be a biker.”

  He would’ve laughed. They teased him about his shorts all the time. But he wasn’t in a very good mood. “I am a biker.”

  “So it’ll be even more convincing.”

  “Will Baxter be there?”

  Silence. Then he said, “Would you mind?”

  “Of course not.” God, he hated the rift that had changed everything.

  “There’s something going on between you two. What is it?”

  With a grimace, Noah remembered, once again, that wet kiss. He wanted to tell Ted how terrible it had been, how sick he’d felt afterward and how lonely he felt now, despite his repugnance. But Baxter wasn’t talking, wasn’t giving the others a reason for the fact that they were no longer speaking, so neither could he. “We had an argument at the cabin last weekend.”

  “You’ve never had a fight that’s lasted this long. What kind of argument was it?”

  “Just an argument.”

  “Over
...”

  “Women.”

  “You mean the fact that he’s not attracted to them?”

  Noah’s free hand automatically curled into a fist. But he wasn’t sure whom he wanted to hit. Baxter, for being gay? Ted, for figuring it out without such a rude awakening? Or himself for struggling with the fallout?

  “You still there?” Ted asked.

  “Yeah,” he breathed.

  “Did he finally tell you?”

  “When did he tell you?”

  “He didn’t. But he’s had a thing for you since I can remember. It’s been obvious.”

  “You could see it?”

  “I think most of us could.”

  “So...have you all been sitting around, talking about what an idiot I am for missing it?”

  “No. We haven’t discussed it. But even if we did, we’d be more concerned with how it would affect your relationship than making fun of the situation.”

  “I don’t believe you. You guys have talked about it. It’s too scandalous not to talk about.”

  “Believe me. We care too much about both of you. We’ve been afraid to address it, at least openly.”

  That was pretty nice, but Noah wasn’t sure he could appreciate such generosity, not fully. “Shit...”

  “Is something wrong?” Amy had come back to ask him a question. He told Ted to hang on while he dealt with it.

  “No.”

  She scowled at his curt tone. “Fine. I’m done. Can I take off early? I have plans tonight.”

  He nodded. “Have fun,” he said absently.

  “Who was that?” Ted asked when she was gone.

  “Amy.”

  “See? Even she’s going out tonight.”

  “Why didn’t someone tell me?” he growled. He didn’t have to explain that he’d already gone back to the “other” subject.

  “Wasn’t our place. But I’m glad the news is out. That volcano’s been about to erupt for ages.”

  “The news isn’t out. He’s not telling his parents, doesn’t feel he can. That means we can’t tell anyone, either.”

  “I’m not going to say anything, Noah. I love Bax, too.”

  “I don’t love him in that way. I never could.”

  He laughed softly. “You don’t have to explain to me.”

  But if the others knew, he felt he had to explain it to them. He didn’t want them secretly wondering if Baxter could turn him. Or thinking that maybe they’d been fooling around, just to see. “Not everyone will take that on faith.”

  “Everyone we know will. That’s all that matters.”

  “So...is he coming tonight?” he asked again. “Because if he is, I’m not.”

  “You can’t be around him?”

  “It’s not me. It’s him. He doesn’t want anything to do with me. Says he needs some space. But he needs friends, too, and...and if he won’t let me fill that role any longer, I’m hoping he can still hang on to you guys.”

  “That’s generous of you, Noah, but he told me he’s going to San Francisco tonight.”

  Where he probably had gay friends—friends Noah was now seeing in a whole new light. What kind of life did Baxter lead when he went there? It had to be a hundred and eighty degrees different from the one he led here.

  As much as Noah had been hoping that what had happened would simply blow over, it wasn’t going to. He’d known that in his heart, but there’d been moments, were moments, when he still wished. “Is he really selling his house?”

  “From the looks of that sign out front, yes.”

  “I don’t want him to go.”

  “No one does. But I do have a bit of good news.”

  Noah climbed onto his work stool. “What could that possibly be?”

  “I invited Adelaide to the party tonight.”

  He jumped to his feet again. “Did she say she’d be there?”

  “She didn’t make any promises but...she might come. Just leave your car at home. I’ll pick you up.”

  “You’re going to trick her into thinking I’m not there? Why doesn’t she want to see me?”

  “Because she wants to see you too much.”

  Could that be it? When she looked at him, she seemed to feel what he felt—an attraction. But her actions were so inconsistent with that. She had him confused as hell. “How can you tell?”

  “You can’t?”

  * * *

  Adelaide felt ridiculous walking around wearing a sheet, but being able to hide her identity without drawing attention to herself was simply too good an opportunity to pass up.

  She’d left the house as a flapper and created her alternate costume in her 4-Runner, purposely doing a sloppy job to make her look like a teenage boy. She’d cut the eyes out unevenly and surrounded them with black marker. She’d cut a jagged hole for her mouth, nothing for her nose and added an old straw hat that had belonged to Grandpa Davies. She’d even gone back to the mercantile once it got dark and bought a red pair of canvas high-tops so her shoes would be juvenile and unrecognizable.

  So far she’d passed numerous children wearing costumes ranging from cowboys to firemen to Catwoman to the Little Mermaid. The older ones ran in packs, while the younger ones walked with their parents. She turned a few heads; it was impossible not to stand out when she was six feet tall and out alone. She’d tried to think of a way around that, but she couldn’t exactly ask someone to lend her a kid. She joined up with various groups but floated away before they could ask any questions.

  Kevin’s house had been easy to canvass. Tom’s, too. They both lived in well-lit areas that saw a lot of traffic. She managed to time her approach for when trick-or-treaters were at the door. She stood at the periphery and checked the driveway and the street before moving on. Kevin owned a black truck with a lift kit. In her opinion, his truck matched his inflated ego. But it was higher than the truck she’d been forced into the night of the abduction, it wasn’t the right color and there wasn’t a scratch on it. Maybe he had another vehicle in the garage, which she couldn’t see because the door was down, but chances were slim it would be another truck.

  Tom had been telling the truth about his vehicles. He didn’t own a truck or an SUV. He had a compact car and that old Bug he said belonged to his wife. She could tell that he wasn’t as well-off as Kevin. His house was smaller, more modest. The handmade welcome sign on the door, and the homemade curtains suggested that his wife was a stay-at-home mom—which meant they were living exclusively off his postal employee’s wages.

  Stephen’s place was in the country, on Kyle Houseman’s property. From what she could surmise, Kyle had built a couple of simple homes for his workers on some land behind the factory. According to the phone book, Stephen lived in one. Addy wasn’t sure who lived in the other. There were no trick-or-treaters out here. The place looked deserted. She wasn’t even sure Stephen still lived at this address. Unlike the house next door, his had no Halloween decorations, no porch light burning and no car sitting out front.

  She was just leaving when she passed him on the road. She didn’t immediately recognize him or his vehicle— an old white Chevy with a camper shell—but she saw him turn into the driveway when she glanced into her rearview mirror.

  “There you are.” After giving him a few minutes to park and go inside, she flipped her 4-Runner around and went back, but she was too nervous to get out. She hadn’t seen any damage on his truck, but by the time she realized it was him, it was too late to really check.

  Deciding she’d come back later, when he was asleep, she moved on to Derek’s four-plex, where she hoped to have better luck.

  A lot of vehicles crowded the lot. Some even spilled out into the road. She could hear scary music and laughter, which grew louder every time a certain door opened and closed. Pot and cigarette smoke hung in the air, telling her this Halloween party had nothing to do with children.

  Was Derek in there? His unit’s lights were on, but that didn’t mean he was home.

  After parking down the street, o
ut of sight, Addy walked back and slipped through the motorcycles, cars and trucks. She had no idea which of the many vehicles might be Derek’s, but it didn’t matter. A few were damaged, but none of the white ones showed evidence of a recent scrape on the front right panel.

  Through the process of elimination, that left Stephen. He was the only one with a white truck. But her approach had hardly been scientific. She didn’t know what was in Kevin’s garage. She wasn’t sure whatever Derek drove was even in the lot. And there was always the possibility that her abductor had borrowed a vehicle that night.

  Her cell phone rang. After hurrying back to her 4-Runner, where she felt safe, she got in and answered Gran’s call.

  “Everything okay?” Addy asked.

  “Oh, yes. I’m in and locking up now,” Gran replied. “The kids loved my apples.”

  “Of course they did.”

  “When are you going to Ted’s?”

  She wasn’t. Not really. “I don’t know. Why?”

  “He just called, looking for you. It scared me that you left so long ago and hadn’t shown up yet.”

  “Sorry about that. I was out—” she made an effort to fill in the blank “—enjoying the Halloween decorations.”

  “Well, I told them you’re on your way. They have a movie and they want to start it, so you’d better get over there.”

  Great. Gran had committed her?

  She frowned, wondering if she could get out of it. But she didn’t see how she could. She was afraid someone would mention her absence to Gran if she didn’t show up. She could easily see Ted bumping into Milly at the grocery store or Just Like Mom’s. Hey, where was Addy the other night?

  Besides, now that Gran expected her to be gone for several hours, how would she pass the rest of the evening if she didn’t go?

  She figured she could hang out near Stephen’s and wait for him to go to bed so she could check the front of his truck. But those minutes would pass very slowly. Why sit there for so long when she could simply come by later?

  Going to Ted’s had to beat waiting in the dark for an indeterminate length of time. If Noah arrived, she could always leave. “Okay. I’ll head over there now.”