Salvaged (30 page)

"Well, do you think we should head back to the clinic to check
on Gramps?"

"Sure," he agreed and then reached for his wallet. "Thanks for
coming with me to lunch today. I enjoyed it."

"No, Coop, thank you. I learned a lot, and you gave me some
stuff to look into."

He grabbed the check and laid down some cash.

"What's my part?" I asked.

"I've got it, Attie. I'm the one that invited you to lunch, remember?"

"No way, you're not going to pay for my lunch. You gave me a
freakin' college counseling session. I should buy your lunch."

"No, ma'am, I enjoyed myself." He grabbed the bill before I
could reach it with my hand. "Honestly, I had a great time."

"Let's just split the bill and call it even then," I insisted.

"All right, if we must."

I tried to lighten the mood again. "You can go spend your parents' money on someone else."

He wasn't pleased about the fact that I was paying for my own
meal, but there was no way that I was going to let him think this was
a date-not after everything that Riley said.

We made our way out of the restaurant and toward his car.

"When do you leave for school?"

"Mid-August."

"Are you looking forward to it?

"Not as much as I'm looking forward to the rest of this summer."
He winked at me as he opened my car door, but I again pretended
not to notice.

"Can I be honest with you?" I asked as he buckled himself in.

"Sure."

"I'm very surprised that this is your car."

He laughed out loud and then turned to face me. "I've got to
hear this. Why are you surprised?"

I could feel my cheeks blush. "I'm sorry, sometimes I speak
before I think. It tends to get me in trouble."

"Nothing to be sorry about, Attie. I think it's charming." His
bright white teeth were glaring at me. "So tell me, why are you so
surprised?"

"It's an older car. It's falling apart actually. I figured you'd drive
some expensive sports car or something."

He smirked. "Like I said, it's my parents' money, not mine. I had
to work in the stables to earn the money to buy this car."

"Really?" It surprised me that Cooper had to work for anything.

"Oh yes! A little ironic, don't you think?"

"What?"

"The fact that I had to shovel a bunch of crap to get enough
money to buy a piece of crap car." He laughed again and then turned
to start the engine.

"Why yes, it is a bit ironic now that you mention it."

"They did get me a nicer car when I went off to school. I leave
it up there and drive this one when I'm home."

"What's the other one?"

He shook his head, and I could see his face turning red.

"What is it, Coop? You've got to tell me."

"A Hummer," he mumbled.

"A Hummer? Good griefl"

"It's all for show. The car wasn't so much for me as it was for
everyone else to see me in it. It was all their idea. I would have been
more than happy to take this clunker up there with me."

"Well, I guess you've got to play the game, right? But if I had
to play along, I'd take a Hummer; they seem kind of cool. Even I
couldn't get hurt in one of those things."

"I'll remember that during Christmas break," he said, looking
over at me. "I'll bring it home and make sure you get to take it out
for a spin."

I worried that he would think that I wanted to spend more time
with him. "Oh, don't worry about it. I was saying it would be fun;
that's all."

"No, Attie, it's a date. I would love to let someone take a ride
that would appreciate and enjoy it. For everyone up at school, it's
just another car. There isn't anything special about it."

"I'll look forward to it then."

Part of me did look forward to it, but the other part of me felt
guilty for the fact that Cooper wanted to spend more time with me.

Cooper Truman was a nice boy. I enjoyed his company and was
thankful to be his friend. I just wasn't sure what Riley would think
about it.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"When I grow up?" Riley asked, laughing. "What are we, five?"

My head rested on one of the arm rails of the porch swing as my
legs were draped across Riley's. "You know what I mean. What are
your plans?"

He let out a deep sigh. "I don't know for sure. I've tossed around
some ideas, but I haven't made my mind up yet."

"So there isn't something that you've always wanted to be?"

"No," he said as he reached for a blackberry sitting in a bowl on
my stomach. "Not realistically anyway."

"What do you mean `realistically'?"

"The only two things I enjoy are drawing and football, but I'm
not good enough at either one to make a living doing it, so... "

"So?"

"I'm waiting until something clicks in me, something that says,
`That's what I wanna do for the next fifty years of my life."'

I watched as his foot pushed off the ground causing the swing
to sway. "Are you a good student; I mean, do you want to go to
college?"

"Yeah, I'm a good student, not straight As or anything, but I do
pretty well."

"And college?"

"I wanna go, but I don't wanna go far away. I think I'd be content
living right here and going to UCO."

"That would probably make your mom happy."

"No doubt."

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"You know, I wish I were more like you, Charlie. I wish that I
always knew what I wanted to be, but I never have."

"I think you should be a police officer or an attorney or a doctor
or something," I offered.

"Why do you think that?"

"You like to protect people, take care of them."

"No, I don't," he replied.

My eyes flew open. "Riley! Yes, you do. Look at how patient
you are with me; not everyone could do that. Even my dad, who I
believe is a great guy, couldn't deal with my issues. You have a heart
of gold."

"Nah, I just have a heart of gold for you," he teased. "When I got
in all that trouble a few years ago, I thought of doing something in
criminal justice, something to help kids that are in trouble."

"You got in trouble?"

He acted surprised. "You didn't know that?"

"I heard you punched Cooper."

"That isn't the half of it. I was a mess, an absolute nightmare to
my parents." He looked down at me with a guilty face. "Oh, sorry I
said I was a nightmare."

"I didn't even notice. You're being paranoid."

He smiled down at me and then continued. "I lost total control
my sophomore year. I hung out with the wrong kids and got into a
lot of trouble. I even spent a night in jail."

I bolted upright and sat cross-legged facing him.

"You were in the pokey?"

He chuckled. "Yes, Charlie, I was in the `pokey.' I got drunk one
night and stole some Cheetos from a gas station."

"Good grief, Cheetos? Seriously, Riley?"

"I know, ludicrous isn't it?" He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, the kid
behind the counter knew who I was and called the cops. Yada, yada, yada, my dad wouldn't come bail me out, so I spent the night with a
bunch of drunks in the holding tank."

"Ew, what was that like?"

"Everything you can imagine. It sure taught me a lesson. I even
ended up having to do community service. I felt like a total heel."

"What was your community service?"

"Picking up trash. I had to wear one of those stupid orange vests
and everything."

I gave him a small pat on the shoulder. "Wow, that's embarrassing."

"No, what embarrassed me was Mom showing up to take pictures."

"She didn't?" I started laughing at him.

"Oh yes, she said she wanted to document my life of crime. I'll
have to show you the pictures sometime."

"That sounds like something she would do." I lay back down
and put my legs back over Riley's. "I can't wait to see the photos.
Maybe you can sketch one and put it on my wall."

"No, thank you." He shook his head and laughed. "What can I
say? Mom lives to humiliate me."

"So what did your parents do? Did they freak?"

"Mom was a blubbering mess for several days, and my dad sat
me down and gave me a stern talking to."

"What did he say?"

"He said that the way I was acting wasn't me. It wasn't who I was
or how he raised me. The drinking was one issue, but the stealing
was the thing that most disappointed him. They didn't raise me to
be dishonest or untrustworthy."

"Did they punish you?"

"Oh yeah, I was grounded. But you know, it wasn't the punishment that was the worst part."

I found his honesty very attractive. "What was?"

"The fact that they were disappointed in me. They've always
been great parents, but I'd treated them like dirt. They were hurt and
disappointed in me. I hated it."

"Nothing like having a conscience, huh?"

"Tell me about it," he mumbled.

"So what made you change? Just the fact that they were disappointed in you?"

"No, I was grounded for three months, and the only places I
was allowed to go were school and church. That's when I ended up
becoming a Christian, and my life pretty much changed immediately after that. Melody became a Christian about a month after me
and then she died a month after that."

"Then it was all worth it. Who would have thought that getting
drunk, stealing Cheetos, and spending a night in the pokey would
end up helping to save Melody's soul? And just in time."

His eyebrows rose, causing lines to fill his forehead. "I've never
thought about it like that. I guess that God can use our issues to
bring change in other people."

"I hope so. I have a lot of issues, so they better be good for
something."

He doubled up laughing. "You crack me up."

"Well, I'm glad my misery amuses you."

"Me too." He picked up one of my hands and slowly kissed me
on the inside of my wrist.

"I can't believe you were such a bad boy, spending the night in
the pokey and everything."

A sly grin spread across his face. "Do you like bad boys?"

"Not if they're still bad boys. I've got enough problems to
deal with."

"Good thing I'm an angel now."

"Well, I wouldn't say that," I joked.

"You're right. Not quite an angel, but I'm trying hard to be good."

"You're a good boy, Riley. A great boy."

We stayed on the swing for several more minutes until the sun
completely set and it was pitch dark outside.

"All right, it's time," he announced.

"Time for what?"

"You'll see; wait right here." As I got out of the swing, he ran
inside and returned with two empty mayonnaise jars.

"No more fun and games like when we were kids. This time,
it's war."

"Oh?" I rubbed my hands together in preparation for a battle.

"Yep, we have thirty minutes," he explained as he set his watch.
"When this thing goes off, the person who caught the most fireflies wins."

"You're on. What's the prize?"

"The person who wins gets to choose the theme for a week of
movie nights."

"That's not a prize for you; you already choose every time."

"Well then, if you want me to watch any of your dumb chick
flicks, you better get busy."

I grabbed a jar out of his hands and was off the porch and running toward the backyard before he even finished his sentence.

After our battle, we walked inside to announce the victor.

"Well, Marme, I just got us a week of chick flicks, so start making up your wish list so Riley can order them from Netflix."

"Awesome!" she squealed.

"Riley, what did you do?" Pops whimpered.

"Riley lost a bet, so I get to choose the movies for the next week.
It's going to be chick flick mania around here."

"Son, what in the world? How could you risk something like
that without clearing it through me?"

"I didn't think she had a chance. She's a lot faster than I thought.
She's like the freakin' firefly whisperer or something."

I hopped around the kitchen showing off my jar of light.

"Don't rub it in, Charlie; be a good sport."

"Heck no, I never win anything, and this feels good!"

"We have to start with Pride and Prejudice and then maybe do A
Walk to Remember," Marine announced.

"Oh Lord, this is gonna be worse than I thought." Riley flung
himself onto the couch.

"Riley," I said as I sat next to him, "don't you want to better
understand the female mind?"

"Is that even possible?" he asked, looking at his father.

"No," Pops spat. "Heck no, it's not possible."

"Relax, boys, it won't be that bad. We'll go easy on you," I offered.

"Yeah right," Riley moaned as he got up to put in the newest DVD.

"What's showing tonight?" I asked.

"We're watching Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America."

"Oooh, Thomas, do you remember the song that Eddie Murphy
sang?" Marme asked.