On Tenterhooks (41 page)

“Fine,” said
Veronica
. “I’ll accept that. But are you willing to accept that uncertainty going forward?  Who know
s
what he’s got in store for us?”

“What do you mean?” Abby asked.

“Well
,
think about it,”
Veronica
said
.
“Preacher exists
.
Biker exists
.
They are polar opposites
.
Yet
it sounds like
neither is strong enough to defeat the other, otherwise they’d have
obliterated
each other by now. Biker is supposed to keep us safe, and he didn’t do a great job of it on his own
.
So
,
I am betting t
hat next he’s going to tell us t
hat we have to do
it
for ourselves.”

“You mean like how to defend ourselves against Preacher?” Steve asked.

Veronica
shrugged.
“Maybe,” she said. “Or maybe telling us how we’re going to help him defeat Preacher.”

“We can’t,” Abby said
.
Her eyes grew large
.
“I can’t do that
.
I can’t be there
.
I just can’t.
I can’t.
”
Her breathing was rapid and she began to fidget
.
She thumped
her fork on the tablecloth in front of her.

“Calm down, everybody,” said Steve, watching Abby. “We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen next. First things first
—
do we all agree that we believe Biker’s story?”

“I do,” said Martin.

“Me too,” said Abby.

“Yes,” said
Veronica
.

“Okay, it
’s
unanimous then,” Steve summarized.

“Wait,” said Abby. “You didn’t
tell us how you felt about him.
”

Steve nodded.
“I believe him
.
From the outside, maybe it
sounds crazy, but just like you
said, it all fits
.
I think he is sincere about the whole thing
. He
wants to protect us, but this
conflict keeps him on the edge, always trying to outwit a very powerful and cunning enemy. The
idea
that we’re in the middle of it terrifies me, but that doesn’t change the facts of it.”

“So what next then?”
Veronica
asked.

Steve shrugged.
“I guess the next thing is we catch up with Biker in the morning, and hear him out. There’s no point in jumping to conclusions
now
.
Let’s just find him, tell him that we believe him and hear what he has to say about what’s next
.
Agreed?”

Abby stared down at the table in front of her, but Steve saw her nod.

“Yes,” said
Veronica
.
“
We’ll
hear him out.”

Martin had his chair leaning back on two legs,
and he was
rolling a toothpick around on his tongue
.
He plucked the toothpick out his mouth and gestured with it to emphasize his words.
“
Seems to me, that if we believe in him, we’ve got to hear what he has to say.”

Steve nodded. Abby looked pale across the table.
“We’re just going to listen to him, okay Abby?”

“
O
kay.
I know
.
Martin’s right
.
Let’s hear him out.”

Steve
knew
her intuition was telling her something she didn’t want to hear. Or maybe she was just scared after her recent scuffle with Preacher
.

“Okay, so it’s settled then!”
Steve
clapped his hands together once. “I don’t know about you guys, but I am beat
.
I am gonna go next door and grab a shower.”

“By yourself?”
Veronica
asked.

“U
m, yeah. T
hat’s usually how it’s done.”

Veronica
cheeks turned a rare shade of red.

“No, you idiot.
I mean do you think it’s safe to separate like that?”

“I’ll go over there with him,” said Martin
.

“Let’s get
these carts outta the way first,” said Steve.

He and Martin rolled the carts out
into the hallway and pushed them
up against the wall.

“Just keep the door locked and the gun handy,” said Steve
, standing in the doorway
.
“We’ll
be
back in about fifteen minutes.”

Veronica
nodded, locking the door behind them
.

Abby slid off the chair and onto the bed, while Veronica rummaged through her bag and pulled out clean clothes.

“He doesn’t smile much, does he?” Abby asked.

“Who? Steve?” Veronica replied. “No, he doesn’t. I am not sure I’ve seen him smile yet. Can’t really blame him though, can you? Couldn’t really blame any of us.”

Abby nodded silently.

“You mind if I jump in the shower?” Veronica asked.

“Nope, help yourself,” said Abby.

“You want to go first?”

“Naw, that’s okay. I need to call my parents anyway—you know, check in and all that hoopla.”

“Okay, I’ll bring this with me,” Veronica said, patting the gun in her side pocket. “Just yell if you need me.”

Abby gave her a tired salute and leaned back on the bed.

Chapter
3
7

Abby breathed deep and enjoyed the quiet warmth of her surroundings. She heard Veronica start the water in the shower. She could hear muffled voices from Martin’s television next door as she laid back on the pillows, cradling her head in her hands.

In this small space, in this room, surrounded by her traveling companions, she felt safe and comfortable
.
She felt a peace she hadn’t felt in a long time
—
since before Zack died
.
Her typical calm demeanor felt restored
.
She felt whole
.

Why?

Because of Steve, Martin and
Veronica
?
Having
some sort of shared bond with them?  Because of Biker?  Because she finally knew what had happened to Zack on that sideline?

Biker’s voice echoed in her head
.
Preacher had killed Zack, murdered him.
Preacher
’s
sole purpose on this earth was to make her life hell. She rubbed at the bandage under her shirt
.
He had burned her, inside and out
.
She could still imagine his long bony fingers clutching her chest
.
She could smell his
fetid
breath in her nostrils. She felt the chill sweep over her as gooseflesh
rose
on her forearms
.
It was no wonder
he haunted their dreams
—
he was
very
good at
what he did
.

Abby
knew they were going to have to face
Preacher. I
t was inevitable
.
She was part of something much bigger than
herself
.
Being childish about it, or running away from it, was not going to make it go away
.
She was going to have to pull her own weight
.
In his message, Zack had told her to be strong
.
She imagined that this was what he had meant by it.

She
sighed, fished her cell phone out of the front pocket of her jeans,
and dialed her home phone number.

“Mom?”

“Abby!” Susan
’s
voice beamed through the phone
. “Hey
,
Sweetie!”

“Hey
,
Mom
.”

“What’s wrong,
H
oney?”

Abby could
imagine
her mother’s nervous face
at the other end of the phone
.
She was just two steps from frantic, all the time.

“Nothing
,
M
om, I’m fine.
Just tired
,
I guess.”

“Well honey,
why don’t you come home tonight?  We can get your
d
ad to go to the store and get us
some
mint chocolate chip
,
and we can curl up
and watch an old movie together
.”

Abby smiled
,
“I’d like tha
t Mom. I
would
.
But I can’t. I’ve got to stay here.”

“
Honey, I am sure Amber would understand if you came home. You don’t have to spend the
whole
weekend there.
”

“No
, I know,
”
Abby hesitated, “but
I need to be here right now. You know how it is, you gotta help friends in need
.”

“Ah, Amber having boy troubles again?”

“Yes,” Abby winced at the lie. “Something like that. I am sorry that I can’t explain it all now, but I promise that I will explain it to you when I get back.”

‘Okay, I understand Sweetie. I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay.”

“
I’m
fine
, Mom
.
I am safe. I am with friends. But it’s important that I stay here for now. I love you and Dad, very, very much, but this is something I must do
.
Please
try
not
to worry
.
I have never given you a reason to doubt me, so please trust me on this.”

“Of course I trust you Abby. It’s fine, really. I am fine with you staying at Amber’s. It’s not like you’re trotting the globe or something.”

Abby felt
the guilt rising in her gut and
a painful lump burning in her throat.
“
Mom, I need to hang up now.”
Her
vision blurred as tear
s
well
ed
in her eyes.

“Okay,
Honey,
please be safe.
”

“I will
.
I promise. I love you. Goodnight
,
”
she whispered, tossing the phone
down on the bed.
She squeezed her eyes shut and felt the
warm
tears
trail down her temples and onto her ears
.
Then she
heard the latch of the bathroom door as
Veronica
opened it
.

When
Abby opened her eyes,
she saw
Veronica
standing
near the foot of the bed. She was wearing a plush white hotel bathrobe that had the hotel’s black and gold “HC” crest
embroidered
on it. Water fell from her short spiky hair onto the robe
.

“Wow,” said Abby, rubbing her eyes, “that looks like a comfy robe.”

Veronica
looked down at her
robe. “Yes
, it’s lovely,” she replied
.
“There’s another one in there for
you.”

“Thanks.”

“You okay?”
Veronica
asked.

“Yeah, fine.
It’s j
ust tough trying to talk to my
m
om
with
, y’know, all of this
happening
.”

“I can imagine.”
Veronica
sat
down on the edge of Abby’s bed
and dried her hair with a bath towel.
“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Naw
.
Not much to talk about
.
She’s just worried about me, as usual
.
Especially since Zack died, she’s always
nervous
. . .
about everything
.
She tries hard to be strong, for my sake I guess, so
I’ve kinda learned to tiptoe around it, trying to make sure she doesn’t have a
breakdown or something.
But that was tough
.
”
She
gestur
ed
to the cell
phone
on the bed beside her
.
“
I didn’t want to tell her where I was, who I was with or why I wasn’t home.”

“
Could I give you
some unsolicited advice?”
Veronica
asked.

“Sure
.”

“
Your
m
om will
always
be your
m
om,
Sweetie,
no matter where you go or how old you are. She’s always going to worry about you and want what’s best for you.
You probably won’t always agree on what
that
is
,
of course
,
but
all she’ll want is for you to be truly happy.
That
’s
all she’ll ever want.”

She
reached out and
clasped
Abby’s leg near the end of the bed.
“Cherish that love
,
Abby
. It’
s something I neglected.
I didn’t appreciate it until it was too late
,
and now I can’t get it back
.
I don’t want that to happen to you
,
too.
”

Abby could see that
Veronica
’s eyes were bri
mming with tears
.
She
sat up
, and without
a word, she scooted down the
bed, wrapped
her arms around
Veronica
and held
on
tightly.
Veronica
was shocked
,
but then surprised at how good it felt
.
It had been a long time since she’d had a hug like this.
She hugged Abby back.

“Thank you,” Abby whispered.

“Don’t mention it
.
”

Abby leaned back onto the pillows,
s
wiping
at
her eyes
with her knuckles
.
Veronica
patted
her eyes with her towel and handed it to
her young friend
.

“Thanks,”
Abby
said. “Boy, we’re a mess aren’t we?”

Veronica
laughed.
“By the way, how old is your mom?”

“She
just turned
47
last month.”

“Oh my god
!
I’m
45
.
I could
be
your mom!”

“Um, no, don’t think so.
Somehow I don’t see my mom carrying a
gun
around in the pocket of her bathrobe!”