I glanced at Audrey, then looked back at Francine. “Don’t worry about it. It’s covered.”
‘What? Why would it be covered?”
I shoved another cookie in my mouth so I wouldn’t have to answer.
“Johnny, did you pay for it?”
I shrugged.
She sat back in her seat, shaking her head. “Johnny Bright. You’re getting two scarves this Christmas.”
As we left Francine’s, Audrey said, “I want to help pay for Louise’s surgery.”
“It’s already paid for.”
“Sure, but I want to contribute. I’m the one who found her, after all. Maybe I want a scarf from Francine.”
I smiled at her. “You can pay next time.”
“Next time I find an injured dog, I’m holding you to it.”
“Deal. Besides, I have a feeling you’ve already made it onto Francine’s scarf list.”
My feet dangled off a huge block of limestone. I took a rock from the pile between Clay and I, and tossed it into the quarry. It made a satisfying splash.
“It’s hot. Let’s go swimming,” Graham said. He lay in his back on a block to my other side.
“We can’t. It’s dark,” Clay said.
“What difference does it make if it’s dark?”
“If you hit your head and go under when it’s daylight, we’d be able to pull you out. If you hit your head tonight, you’d sink and we’d never find you,” Clay said, his voice matter-of-fact.
We always had to talk Graham out of this kind of thing. It was too hot tonight to get annoyed.
“I’ve never in my entire life hit my head while swimming,” Graham said.
“You’d be more likely to hit it on a rock you couldn’t see because it’s dark,” I said.
Clay laughed. Graham sighed and tugged his shirt off.
“It’s not even that hot,” Clay said, tossing in a huge piece of limestone. A few of the drops splashed onto us, even from this distance, because the quarry was so deep.
“What’s Adam doing tonight?” I asked.
Clay tossed in a handful of smaller pebbles. “He said he and Rick were going to spend a wholesome night breaking into the hardware store and stealing all the power tools. I thumped him on the arm for being a sarcastic jerk, and he told me to get off his back.”
“Great.”
“Thing is, I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually did break into the hardware store, just to spite me.”
“Yeah.”
“Where were you this afternoon, dude?” Graham asked. “You never showed up at Stacey’s to play cards.”
We played cards at Graham’s cousin Stacey’s house most Friday evenings. After work, I’d gone home for a shower and had been headed there when I saw Audrey and the dog on the sidewalk. “Francine Anglin’s dog got hurt in a hunting trap. Audrey found her, and we took her to the vet.”
Graham let out a low whistle. “Audrey again, man?”
I smiled, peace filling my whole body. I tipped my head back and looked at the stars in the clear sky. “Audrey again.”
“Why do you want a girl like that, Johnny?” Graham asked. “She doesn’t understand people like us.”
I thought about Alaska. Portugal. Waterfalls and Castles, hurt dogs, and warm brown eyes. I thought about how she wasn’t ashamed to be seen with me. It was possible she could understand me. More than I ever hoped she might.
Chapter 15
Audrey
I set the cardboard takeout box on the counter in front of Denise, the receptionist at Dad’s office. “I brought lunch.”
Denise grinned at me and opened the box, finding a taco salad from Chambers, her favorite. She closed her eyes and licked her lips, moaning a little. “You don’t know how much I needed this today, Audrey. Bless your heart.”
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
She waved her hand. “Psh, yes. Just the chaos of life, you know? I stay up too late at night to enjoy the quiet house after the kids go to bed, and I pay for it the next day. Apparently I don’t pay dearly enough to go to bed early the next night. I live for my lunch hour, and you have made it extra special. Thank you, honey.”
I grinned at her and set another box on the counter. “Can you give this one to Angela? I brought one for Dad, too, and thought I’d eat with him.”
“He should be done with his patient any minute now. You can wait in his office.”
I walked past the exam rooms to his office. I closed the door behind me and sat in his huge leather chair. His office was cluttered and cozy, different from the airy, sleek way Mama decorated our house. Pictures of our family covered the walls and stacks of books sat on every surface. I opened the takeout box that held my cheeseburger, and started eating.
Dad walked in a few minutes later, smiling at me, and took the chair on the other side of his desk, the one meant for patients who had complicated news to receive. “What did you bring me?”
“Don’t tell Mama, but it’s the ribs.”
He smiled and dove into his messy, high-choTobyol lunch.
“I got the impression from Denise that it’s a busy day.”
He nodded and wiped his mouth with a napkin before speaking. “Several slots were double booked.”
“Is something going around?”
“No, no, several were minor injuries. I got to do stitches.” He beamed at me, and I laughed. Dad was so proud of his skill at stitching. He left the thinnest scars possible.
I came here on a mission, and I knew his time was limited, so I got right to it. “Dad, did you ever consider joining the Peace Corps? Or Doctors Without Borders?”
He nodded, not making a big deal of the question, which was something I liked immensely about him. He never acted shocked. I could tell him anything and he’d take it in stride. “I did. But I ultimately decided I wanted to stay here.” He paused thoughtfully. “I think if I’d gone anywhere, I’d have fallen in love with the place and would have been torn about coming home. I didn’t want to be away from Glory that long, and by then my mother was ill. The circumstances never worked out for me. Are you thinking about it?”
“Just musing, I suppose. I feel like I’m right on the edge of my life. There are so many opportunities and choices to make. I could go to college anywhere. I could join the Peace Corps. I could get a job in Wisconsin. I could travel. I could start a business. I know it makes me lucky, but it’s also hard to know what to do, and where to start. It’s hard to know what I want.”
He nodded, smiling at me over his lunch. “Joining the Peace Corps would be a good way to explore. You could try various positions—teaching, medical, social work—in various places all over the world. Some people need to try something to know if it’s for them.”
“I may be one of those people,” I said, thinking of recent events in my life.
We ate in silence for a while, lost in our thoughts. Purposefully waiting until he had about five minutes left of his lunch break, I said, “Dad?”
“Mmhmm?”
“You know Johnny Bright?”
He set his empty lunch container aside and smiled. “I do know him. His mother is a sweet woman. She’s had it rough, but she’s worked hard and hasn’t been afraid to ask for help when she needs it.”
“She works at the assisted living home. I’ve seen her there.”
“Yes, she’s been there about as long as I’ve been practicing medicine.”
“But how well do you know Johnny?”
He frowned.
I held up a hand. “I’m not asking you to tell me his medical history, I’m curious what you know about him. As a person.”
Dad sat back in his chair and folded his hands across his stomach. I held my breath, expecting him to ask me why I wanted to know. He had probably already deduced my motives, but he only said, “I like Johnny. He’s smart. He’s thoughtful, by which I mean he thinks deeply about things and what they mean. He doesn’t let the current carry him along. He cares a little too much what other people
think of him, perhaps, and that hasn’t always worked out well for him, but I think he’s doing well these days. He’s working at Helton’s Auto Repair. I had him change my oil earlier this week.”
I hadn’t known that. Johnny hadn’t said a thing. “I’ve heard…” I squirmed in my seat. “I’ve heard his dad robbed a bank.”
“Yes, that’s true. I knew Johnny’s father. Robert Bright was a couple of years behind me in school.”
Dad paused here to take a drink of water. I leaned forward in my seat. He was getting ready to tell me a story. It was why I’d come to his office to ask about this. At home, Mama would have told me I was too young to learn about such things. It sometimes felt like she still thought of Valerie and me as the fragile little newborns in incubators we’d once been.
“It was well-known that Robert’s father was an alcoholic. He hit their mother—everyone knew that, too. There were four Bright boys, and Robert was the oldest. I think he took the brunt of his father’s anger. I say that mostly out of speculation, but I did see a confrontation once outside of Chambers. His dad was drunk on the sidewalk, fighting with another man. Robert told his brothers to go home, and he managed to calm the other man down and walk his father away, his dad screaming obscenities and insults at his son the whole time. So he had it rough.
“I tell you this not to excuse his behavior, but these things do have an impact. I think Robert was sensitive. Maybe he internalized the things his father said to him. In our culture, we tend to tell boys they aren’t allowed to be sensitive. Our culture also celebrates those who rise above their circumstances. It’s wonderful when that happens, indeed, but I often think if we could help the ones who aren’t able to do it on their own, our whole society would be better off.”
He sighed. “Anyway, it’s true Robert Bright did end up robbing a bank. He drove to a small town north of here, with a gun, and made off with about a thousand dollars. I doubt he thinks it was worth it now.” Dad leveled a serious look on me. “People respond differently to the same things. My assessment of Johnny is that he is also sensitive. And he does not like to be compared to his father.”
I nodded, taking it all in. “But you like him?”
He looked right in my eyes. “I like him.”
I wanted to know if Robert had been abusive to Johnny and his mother, like his father had been to him. But I didn’t know if it would be fair for me to know that information without Johnny offering it to me, so I didn’t ask. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Thank you, for both the lunch and the visit.” He checked his watch. “I wish we had longer, but I’ll see you at dinner?”
“Actually, no. I work six to ten tonight.”
He smiled. “You still like it okay at the creamery?”
“I love it. I get all the free ice cream I can eat.”
“Is that a new size? An extra extra extra large?” Mary Meadowlark said over my shoulder.
Realizing what I was doing, I pulled the lever down and made the swirl on top of the ice cream cone. I held it up and laughed. It was at least eight inches tall. I handed it to Eli, a little kid who lived on my street. His mother scowled at me. “Sorry,” I said, sheepishly. “My mind wandered for a minute.” She sighed and guided Eli outside, where I hoped the top-heavy cone wouldn’t fall to the sidewalk.
“Distracted today?” Mary asked.
I carried a stack of stainless steel milkshake mixing cups to the sink in the back. “I suppose I am. Would you mind if I took a fifteen minute break?”
“Of course not. You’re past due for one.”
I stepped out back and sat on a curb beside the storage building where Mary kept extra supplies. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander. I told myself I could daydream as much as I wanted for the next fifteen minutes, and then I had to be present at work. Just as I was sinking into a fantasy in which Johnny and I were walking around town again and he was reaching for my hand, my phone rang. It was Valerie.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“I’m behind Meadowlark, on my break.”
“I’ll be right over,” she said.
She appeared about thirty seconds later, her cheeks flushed from the heat. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
She waved her hand. “Oh, nothing. Danny asked me out on another date, and I had to tell him no.”
“I thought you liked Danny.”
“I do. But we’ve already been out about five times, and I think he’s getting ideas.”
I laughed. “You mean he wants to be exclusive?”
“He’s hinting. He saw me on Destiny’s front porch and invited himself up to talk. He said we should go out again, and I said maybe. He suggested Saturday night, and I said I was going out with Christopher on Saturday. He looked so hurt, but I’ve always been honest with him that I’m seeing other people. Well, he jumped up and left. Didn’t even say goodbye. I feel terrible. I shouldn’t have been so blunt, but I panicked. Now I’m questioning myself, thinking back to figure out if I’ve led him on. I’m sure I didn’t. Regardless, I shouldn’t have said what I did right in front of Destiny.”
“It sounds like he really likes you, and was hoping for more.”
“Well, I don’t give anybody more. I’m just not made that way. Take my mind off it, Audrey. Tell me what’s going on in your life.”
I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning like a lunatic. “Nothing.”
She grabbed my face with her hands and turned it this way and that, studying me. “Why do you look like that?”
I laughed. “What do I look like?”
“Like you have a secret.”
I pushed her hands off me, but shrugged.
“Out with it.”
“Johnny and I saved a dog yesterday.”
She blinked. “What?”
I told her a short version of the story. She listened with her hand on her heart. Valerie had a soft spot for animals, dogs in particular. When I was finished, she said, “Let’s take Francine some dog treats to give to Louise when she gets home.”
“Definitely.”
“So, you and Johnny, huh?”
I pulled in a deep breath. Johnny and me. Me and Johnny. It was still such a crazy idea. I had no idea what he was thinking, or what he wanted. I was used to feeling safe and secure. I was not used to wondering what someone thought about me. Everything was different when it came to Johnny. Everything. “Yes,” I said to Valerie. “Johnny and me.”
To my surprise, she smiled warmly at me. “Okay.”
“Thanks, Val.”
She waved her hand. “I know you, and if you trust him, then I can try to. I’m not super happy about it, but I’m keeping an open mind. Cat told me I need to work on that, so I am. I want to be open-minded. It was kind of a shock when she told me I wasn’t. I’m glad she said something. Gives me a summer project.”
I laughed at my darling, earnest sister, and then looked at my watch. “I love you, Val. I better get back to work.”
“I’ll be back at ten to pick you up.”
Somehow I made it through the next two hours at work without making any more giant cones. I went through the motions, smiling at customers and making treats, trying to keep my mind off Johnny.
A few minutes before ten, the bell on the door rang, and I looked up from the napkin holder I was refilling. It was Johnny. He wore his leather jacket and a confident smile, and he held a fistful of orange tiger lilies, the kind that grow in ditches by the side of the road. I loved tiger lilies. He came right up to the counter and leaned against it. “Hi,” he said, his voice low.
I swung my head around to Mary, who watched us with a knowing smile. I didn’t even ask the question, but she nodded. “Good night, Audrey. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I slipped my apron off my neck and turned back to him. “Take me somewhere on your motorcycle, Johnny.”
Chapter 16
Johnny
I blinked at Audrey, stunned by the words that came out of her mouth. Take me somewhere on your motorcycle
. I’d come here tonight prepared for two possible outcomes. She’d either shoot me down completely, or she’d accept the flowers and let me walk her home. I hadn’t let myself think there’d be anything else.
“Are you sure?”
She brought the flowers to her nose and the orange petals hid part of her smile. “Don’t talk me out of it.”
She filled a paper cup with water from the soda fountain and put the flowers in it. She set them by the napkins and walked around the counter. Then she pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped a message. When she was finished, she looked at me with bright eyes. “Let’s go.”
My chest swelled as I led her out of the ice cream shop. Hoping the sight of my bike wouldn’t scare her off, I handed her my helmet. “It might be a little big for you, but we can tighten the chin strap.”
“What about you? Don’t you need one?”
“Yeah, I have an extra.” I got my second, older helmet out of the saddle bag.
Audrey took a hair tie off her wrist and pulled her hair back into a low ponytail, and then she put my helmet on. “May I?” I asked, indicating the chin strap.
She took a step forward. “Sure.”
I moved closer and she lifted her chin so I could have better access. My fingers shook a little as I worked on the straps, and my knuckles brushed against the soft skin of her neck. I could hear her breathing quicken, and I did it again, on purpose this time. “There,” I said, roughly, and stepped back to turn away and put my own helmet on. I worked to slow my heart rate. Audrey affected me in a way no one else ever had.
“Do I just climb on?”
“Hold on,” I said. Audrey was wearing jeans, but she had on a white tank top. She couldn’t get on my bike with her arms unprotected. I shrugged out of my jacket and held it out for her to slip her arms into.
“Oh,” she said, slipping an arm into the sleeve. “Will it be cold?”
Every word she spoke charmed me, and worked her further under my skin. “This is to protect your skin in case we crash.”
Her eyes widened in alarm.
Broken Rebel (Sparrow Sisters Book 2) Page 10
