Lacy's End (30 page)

She saw Allen watching her and wondered if her mother had told him about their conversation. He smiled when their eyes met, and she felt sorry for having been rude to her mother earlier—especially since she’d been through just as much as she had.

Allen turned from Lacy, grabbed Ethan around the waist, and swung him over his shoulder. She smiled as the child giggled gleefully, and then her smile froze. Standing on a hill, high above the pond stood a tall, stocky, familiar figure. She whipped her head around trying to catch her mother’s gaze—but her mother wasn’t there. On a rock at the edge of the pond, Brenda was engaged in a conversation with Bradley.

Lacy turned back, but the figure was gone. Had she imagined it? Had her father really been there—or was he at home watching his usual holiday football and getting drunk? “Jake,” she whispered. “Jake, where are you?” Then he was there. “Did you see him, Jake?”

Jake shook his head. “I didn’t,” he said.

A tear slipped down her cheek, and her voice choked as she said, “I know he was there.”

Her mother called to her. She turned and waved, wiping the tear from her cheek. “I have to go now, Jake.” She walked away, leaving Jake standing there watching out over the pond.

The first thing she did when they got back to the house was to call her home number. Even after letting it ring twenty times, nobody answered. “Pick up. Pick up,” she said. A thought came to her. Maybe, since she and her mother weren’t there, he offered to take patrol—letting some poor young officer spend the holiday with his or her family. That wasn’t likely, but one never knew. Perhaps their absence from the household had made her dad think about how badly he had treated them.

She dialed her father’s direct line. After the fifth ring, the call switched to the operator. “This is Lacy Waldrip. Is my dad there?”

“Sorry, hon, but he’s on vacation until after the holiday. Do you want me to get someone else for you?”

“No, thank you,” she said and hung up. She debated whether she should tell her mother or Allen. She doubted herself. Did she really think her father had followed them all the way to Iowa?

She was still arguing with herself when Chase knocked on the door and entered without waiting for a reply.

“Have you ever heard of waiting for an invitation?” She asked.

“It’s my room.”

“Oh, really… I thought you lived in New York with your father.”

“Well, okay it’s not my room, but it’s my room when I come to visit.”

She cocked her head sideways in a mocking gesture, and then she laughed.

He laughed, too, and for a moment, the tension between them eased. “So what’s the deal with you and your mom and my Uncle Allen?”

She picked up a sketchbook and curled up on the bed. “He’s just a friend. He’s helping us through some stuff.” She began to sketch, not wanting to look at him.

“They look like they’re in love.”

“I suppose they might be.”

“Does that bother you? My Uncle Allen’s a great guy.”

She turned the previous question around on him, changing the subject. “So, what’s with you and the Doctor Doom getup?”

He shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know what you’s talking ‘bout.”

She laughed. “There you go again with the grammar thing.”

“I talk how I’s talk.”

She shook her head. “Sometimes. Other times you speak clear English, and your…” she made air quotes, “gangsta slang is pathetic.” She eyed him quizzically. “Whose attention are you trying to get?”

He plopped down on the bed, next to her. “My dad doesn’t pay me a lick of attention since Mom died. I’ve changed my hair, my clothes, my speech—even my friends, but he just ignores me.”

She reached out and touched his arm. “I’m sorry. I know that has to hurt.”

“He blames me for her death.”

“How so?”

“I was at football practice, and Mom came to pick me up. I was lagging behind because the guys were razzing me, and we were having a lot of fun. I had just started dating this new chick, and they were all jealous and stuff. I just about had those guys thinking I was something special when my mom came marching into the gym and pulled me by the scruff of my neck.” Lacy laughed. “It’s not funny,” he said, “I was really embarrassed.” Then a dark cloud fell across his face, and his voice grew somber. “I was so mad when I got home that I just dropped all my football gear by the front door. Mom was locking up the house that night, and I guess it was too dark. She tripped over my gear and hit her head on a marble table. She died from a head trauma.”

Lacy’s mouth dropped open, as her eyes went wide. “That’s horrible. I’m sorry for laughing.”

He nodded. “Yeah, and that’s why Dad blames me.” He raised his voice. Anger flashed in his eyes. “I blame myself, too.”

Lacy didn’t know how to respond. She wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of girl. Who would be with the life she’d had? So she just sat there, looking at him. He stared back at her. Then to her surprise he said, “We’re both a couple of wounded animals, aren’t we, Lacy?”

All she could do was look at him. Then a sharp rap sounded on the door, and Allen opened it. “Dinner’s served.” He looked from one of them to the other. “Is everything okay in here?”

“Just fine, Allen,” Lacy said. “We’ll be right down.”

He hesitated. Then nodding, he backed out the door and closed it softly behind him.

They stared at each other for a moment. Then wordlessly, he got off the bed and walked to the door. He turned. “You coming?”

They walked to the stairs together. He was just about to take his first step when she grabbed his arm. He looked down at her hand. “What?”

She looked around, checking for eavesdroppers. “Can you get me a gun?”

“What are you talking about?”

She gestured impatiently. “I need a gun.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“That’s my business.”

“Not if you’re going to murder my family in their sleep.”

She shook her head impatiently. “I’m not going to murder your family.”

“Do you even know how to shoot a gun?”

“You can teach me.”

“Oh, so, you not only want me to steal a gun from my grandfather, you want me to show you how to murder my family in their sleep.”

He was smiling, but she was not. Suddenly he stopped, raised his eyebrows. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

She shook her head but said nothing.

He grabbed her by the arm and propelled her backward, toward the bedroom. “What the hell do you mean to do with it?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Well, you can’t take it home on a plane with you, so that means you intend to use it here.”

She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Only if I have to.”

***

When Lacy and Chase arrived downstairs, Alice was seating everyone.
Oh please don’t put me by Chase,
she thought. She didn’t want to spend the meal with him trying to pry out of her the reason she wanted the gun.

“You sit here, Lacy,” she said, indicating a chair next to Chase. Lacy groaned inwardly and tried not to show her disappointment. Chase grinned at her and patted the chair next to him. “We don’t want to bore you young people with our dull, grownup conversation.”

“This is the strangest Thanksgiving holiday I’ve ever had,” Lacy said under her breath.

“Seems pretty normal to me,” Chase said.

Lacy grinned sarcastically. “Could that be because it’s your family?”

“I hope you don’t mind if we say a blessing,” Alice said. “I know some people don’t, and we don’t want to make people uncomfortable, but—”

“It’s fine,” Brenda said. We’re used to saying a blessing at dinner.”

Alice relaxed. “Oh good. Allen, would you lead us?”

Brenda grinned when Allen made a low groan meant only for her ears. She squeezed his hand. The family joined hands and, to Brenda’s surprise, Allen recited a tender prayer about being thankful for blessings he never expected to receive. Alice must have been pleased because she smiled at Allen.

“Allen tells us you’re a caterer,” Pammy said.

“Well,” Brenda said, blushing, “I’m really just starting out.”

“She’s a fabulous cook,” Allen said.

Lacy couldn’t be sure, but she thought she saw Alice narrow her eyes in her mother’s direction.

Chase leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Grandma’s highly competitive.”

The meal was delicious enough and had all her favorites: turkey, cranberry jello, stuffing, hot-buttered rolls, and pumpkin pie for dessert. But it wasn’t her mother’s cooking. Lacy tried to show enthusiasm, but she ended up tuning out the adults’ conversation. She couldn’t stop thinking about Chase and his reaction to the gun.

Throughout the meal, they kept raising their eyes to meet, and then would look quickly away. It was as if by their shared secret, and Chase’s painful confession, they had formed somewhat of a bond, an alliance at the very least. Neither of them spoke of the pain again, and when dinner was over, they took Ethan into town to see a movie. The adults enjoyed a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit and barely noticed the young people leaving.

Several times Lacy would glance from Ethan to Chase. He, sensing her gaze, would turn his head and look at her, their eyes locking on each other until one of them would turn away.

As they were leaving the theater, they were still laughing at the ending, all except little Ethan, who slept soundly on his cousin’s shoulder. Lacy spotted the man again. Unbeknownst to all of them, the man had sat four rows behind them. If she had turned around at any time during the movie, she would have seen him, but she had not. The movie had been engaging, moved quickly through the plot, and demanded the whole of their attention. She opened the rear door so Chase could put Ethan inside. She looked up, locking eyes with the man whom she had known her entire life.

She climbed into the passenger’s seat. Chase took his place behind the wheel. She glanced nervously around. “What’s with you?” Chase asked.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. Ever since we got to the car, you’ve been jumpy. Something happened between the time we left the theater and got to the car. Are you afraid to be alone with me?”

“We’re not alone.” She glanced in the backseat at Ethan.

“Then what is it?”

She bit her lip, deciding whether she should tell him. “My dad’s stalking me.”

Chase looked out the window. “Here?”

She nodded. “I’ve seen him twice, the first time at the ranch, and now here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Shall we call the police?”

She frowned. “He is the police. Besides, there’s a restraining order against him. I’m pretty sure he just wants to scare us into coming home.”

“Would your mother do that?”

She pondered the question. Would her mother, after all the effort she had put into making her escape so far, return home? She didn’t think she would, but then one never knows. Her mother had become a stronger person over the past month. She had to wonder though if her strength had improved enough to withstand her father. She knew her mother wouldn’t want to endanger others. She wondered just how far her father would go to get what he wanted.

They drove in silence with only the intermittent sound of the wipers intruding. After a while, Chase started drumming his fingers in tune to the blades. Lacy laughed, breaking the awkward silence. She bobbed her head, keeping time with the rhythm. Then she began drumming on the console.

Then Chase began to rap, picking up the pace. Lacy drummed faster, wildly…until she was exhausted and leaned back against the seat, laughing. “I hate rap,” she said, between giggles.

“Me, too,” Chase said with a huge grin on his face.

“Then why are you doing it?”

He shrugged. “We needed a laugh.”

“You’re pretty good at it.”

“Thanks, maybe I should take it on the road.”

She smiled good-naturedly. “You’re not that good.”

He laughed. “So now you’re a music critic?”

“I know what I like.”

“Seriously, are you into music?”

She shrugged. “Not so much. Dad doesn’t like music, so I didn’t get to listen to it around the house. He’s tight with his money so no IPOD, CD player, computer, nothing like that. It’s been different since we moved in with Angela. She likes music.” She shrugged one shoulder. “It’s starting to grow on me.”

He whistled. “Wow! Poor you. I don’t know what I would do without my IPOD.”

“I get by.”

“Not even a Facebook, or Twitter?”

“I don’t even know how to work one of those.”

“It’s easy. I’m going to teach you.”

“It wouldn’t matter. I don’t have a computer.”

“You have a library don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Then you have a computer.”

He pulled the car into the driveway. “Come on, let’s tuck the little guy in, and then we’ll have some real fun.”