Sliding On The Edge (20 page)

“
I’ll fit you into Tuan’s
dump. How does that sound?” I can’t imagine him or me anywhere near
that place. Seems funny that Las Vegas isn’t a fit anymore.
Fit or no fit, I’m going. Don’t have anyplace
else to go.

Magic tosses his head.

“
Yeah, I gotta call the old
lady tomorrow. Gotta make plans for my return to the nest.” I climb
onto the fence. “Wanna go out on the trail?’

Magic sidles up and I climb onto his
bare back. “Now don’t go crazy on me, okay? I’m still new at this
horse riding business.”

Magic starts at a slow walk across the
field. I unlatch the gate and he pushes it open, then he waits for
me to kick it closed before heading down the road that borders
Floyd’s shack. He cuts across the pasture in front and winds down
the path that leads to the trail beyond Kay’s barn. At the bottom
of the rise, he stops. The large mound of fresh earth marks the
grave for Kay’s horse, the boulder is her headstone.

I lean forward over Magic and lay my
head against his sleek, black neck.

She was a good
horse.

“
Are you talking to me
again?”

Seems you need to hear
something
.

And what do I need to hear from a
horse?

Same as you need to hear
from inside your heart.

“
Let’s ride, okay? I got a
lot of thinking to do.”

He climbs the rise and follows the
trail to the creek.

“
Tonight I gotta go to
something called a sleepover with a bunch of loonies and a troll.
What was I thinking when I said yes?”

That you were
lonely.

“
Say what?”

Come on, Shawna, face it.
You come to me to talk, but you need some of your own kind to hang
with. I know.

“
Why don’t you just walk and
leave the talking to me, okay?”

I’ve known a lot of your
kind, but you are one untrusting human, I can tell you
that.

We circle back to the property and
then to Floyd’s. I give the horses a double ration of grass hay and
fresh water.

“
Bye, Magic.” I rub his
forehead.

Go to your sleepover. And
for a change, stop being such a grump and pushing everybody
away.

He lowers his head so I can reach
behind his ears.

While you’re there, you
might see if you can smile a few times too, okay?

“
Mind your own
business!”

I am.

This is way too nuts, this talking to
Magic, but as I’m walking back to Kay’s, I think about all he’s
said, or would have said if he really could. Maybe I am a little
lonely. I’m not as busy as I used to be in Las Vegas. I’ll drop
that lonely crap once I’m back there, taking care of Mom again.
I’ll be too tired to be lonely.

When we drive up to Marta’s, the house
looks like it’s open for a sale or something. All the lights are on
inside, and the driveway has two cars and a truck lined up to the
street. That truck! It’s Casey’s. Is he coming to the sleepover,
too? I glance at Kay.

“
I see Casey’s here,” she
says. “Guess the rumors are true.”

“
Rumors?” I say before I
catch myself.

“
He’s seeing one of the
Dumont girls.”

The Dumont girl?
Who the hell is the Dumont girl? And why don’t I
know this rumor? Why didn’t Marta say something while we were
talking the other day? Why does it matter, anyway? Right. It
doesn’t.

“
Are you getting out?” Kay
asks.

I shrug.

“
Shawna?”

“
If I don’t want to stay . .
.” I can’t believe I’m saying this.

“
Call me. I’ll pick you up,”
Kay says before I can take it back. “But I think you’ll have a
great time. Marta’s mom, Jenny Kilpatrick, and I are old friends.
She’s a very nice person.”

Kay stares at the house and
disconnects from me, like she’s suddenly gone somewhere
else.

“
Well?” she asks focusing on
me again.

“
Okay.”
Do a thing that scares you right away and look like you know
what you’re doing. It works when you lift stuff off a shelf. It
works when you get on Magic. It’ll work now.
I push open the truck door and step down with my sleeping bag
under my arm. I look at Kay for a moment.

“
Call me if you need to, but
go in thinking that you won’t.”

She sounds like Magic. I
know she’s part horse. I close the door and walk toward the house
fast, like I actually want to get there. Behind me I hear Kay’s
truck pull out, and I think about turning and running after
her.
No. You will not turn and run. You
never turn and run—unless the cops are after you.

I’m about to knock at the door when it
opens and there’s Casey. Who’s more surprised, him or
me?

“
Hi, Shawna. Heard you were
coming.” Casey steps aside and holds the door open until I walk
past. “Don’t bite any of the girls, okay?”

I have something to say to him, but
he’s already down the driveway by the time I turn
around.

“
Shawna!” Marta pokes her
head out of the kitchen. “Come on. The pizza is here and we’re
diving in.”

I tighten my grip on the sleeping bag
and bite my lower lip. I’m not good at the girly-girl thing. I know
I’m going to hate this.

As I walk across Marta’s
fun-house floor, I hear Magic in my head. . . .
Stop being such a grump and pushing everybody away

For you, Magic, I’ll give
it a try.

Chapter 38

Kay

Kay watched the exchange between Casey
and Shawna at the front door. From the truck, even in the dim
evening lighting, she could see the tension in Shawna’s stance and
the expression on Casey’s face. Not his usual nice-kid expression.
Kay’d known him since he was born, but tonight the
seventeen-year-old had a whole different look than her usual Sunday
Boy.

She sighed and made a U-turn. At the
stop sign, she crossed her fingers and held them high. “Make this
party a breakthrough for Shawna, okay?” Kay knew how girls that age
could shut out the “newbie,” but Marta had made the invitation and,
knowing Marta’s mother like she did, Kay believed Marta was
sincere.

Jenny Kilpatrick had been
Nic’s first serious girlfriend, and if all had gone according to
plan . . . Kay laughed out loud. “And what plan would that
be?”
Wouldn’t Shawna be surprised to know
that she could have been named Marta Stone?

Shawna’s the loose canon,
so tonight’s success depends a lot on how she acts, on what she
says and does
. Kay shook her head and made
a right turn toward the hospital a mile away.

She’d made up her mind that while she
was in Sweet River, she’d check up on Floyd. The old coot was
killing himself with alcohol, but she remembered how he was before
he fell into the bottle. She’d visit him and maybe talk business if
he was up to it.

The parking lot was almost empty. She
pulled in front of the main entrance, climbed out of the truck, and
pushed the glass doors open.

“
Evening, Kay.” It was Ted
Holt. He volunteered for the night shift at the Information
Desk.

“
Hi, Ted. I came to see
Floyd.”

“
Room 110 to the right. His
son’s with him right now.”

“
Thanks.” Kay walked through
the lobby and down the corridor to the room. The door stood open,
so she walked in.

The first bed was empty and the
curtain was pulled around the second one near the windows. A tall
man she recognized from years ago slumped in a chair against the
wall.

“
Victor?” she
asked.

The man looked up, his face drawn and
tired.

“
It’s Kay Stone. I came to
see your father.”

“
You’re too late. Dad’s
gone. He died about ten minutes ago.”

She couldn’t say, “I’m sorry.” And she
didn’t have any other words to use, so she stood next to the man in
the chair and said nothing.

Victor looked about the same as the
last time she’d talked to him, about a year ago when he’d visited
Floyd. Slightly gray at the temples, a small paunch, and sad blue
eyes. But if she looked past the years, he became the lanky kid
clamoring outside their kitchen door, waiting for Nic to play.
Floyd and Nell’s oldest son almost lived with the Stones. Later,
Floyd complained she was stealing him away, but he never forgot
that she’d saved this boy’s life the night the rest of his family
died.

“
Come outside with me,” she
said at last, taking his arm and leading him into the corridor.
“Let’s find some coffee and a place to talk.”

The cafeteria was closed, but the
coffee urn was still on and half full. She filled two Styrofoam
cups and sat across from Victor. “I can help with the arrangements
if you want.”

He shook his head. “Dad didn’t want
anything. Cremation and burial next to Mom and the
kids.”

Kay sipped her coffee.

“
It was a bad fall. Too much
booze.” Victor swiped his eyes.

“
Will you be here for a
while to take care of your father’s business?”

He nodded. “But most of it’s done. Dad
sold out last month and was planning to move closer to me. I just
have to pack some personal things before the new people come
in.”

“
I wish I’d known he was
selling. I was interested.” Kay felt awkward talking about real
estate now, but she’d always thought she’d buy Floyd’s and expand
her stables. She’d talked to him about an option years ago. And now
that she was in a position to make the deal, he’d sold it without
giving her a chance.

“
And the horses?” she
asked.

“
They’re gone along with the
property. Dad dumped everything at once.”

“
Who bought the place?” she
asked.

“
Out-of-towners. I haven’t
had time to go over the details.” He studied his coffee, and then
looked up at her. “I’m going to the house tomorrow, take out what I
want, and then I’m gone. That place doesn’t hold a lot of good
memories, you know?”

“
I know,” Kay
said.

“
You’ve been in one place
too long.” Victor said. “You know all the stories.”

Kay nodded, but at the same time she
couldn’t imagine where else on this planet she could call
home.

“
I know you looked after Dad
when he took to drinking. He told me.” Victor smiled, but it was a
sad, lonely smile. “When he sobered up, he told me what you and
Kenny did for him.”

“
I always thought of Floyd
as my friend, so what Kenny or I did was what we wanted to
do.”

They walked back to Room 110 together.
Before Victor went inside, he took both of her hands in his. “Thank
you for everything, Kay.”

Kay strode past the Information Desk
before Ted Holt looked up from his newspaper.

Outside, she turned the truck toward
home like she turned a horse toward the barn. Just like the horse,
she hoped her truck would find its way home without her paying
attention.

She needed to talk to
Kenny.

Chapter 39

Shawna

I step into Marta’s kitchen not
knowing what to expect, and a good thing, too, because I’d never
have come in here if I’d suspected what I’d find in this room.
Marta, of course, in an oversized T-shirt down to her knees, but
also the two blonds— the twins I’d seen hanging out with her and
Casey at school.

Then there’s the mom. Smiling like
she’s been waiting for me all her life, she grabs me and pulls me
to her before I can duck. “Shawna! I’m so happy you could come.
Marta’s told me all about you, and I’ve been so looking forward to
meeting you.”

I’m being hugged! And I’m
like, totally freaking.
No touching. No
touching!
That’s my rule. It isn’t
something I’m accustomed to, and I’m not at all sure I can take
it.

I must look out of it when she backs
off. Still holding onto my shoulders, she examines me like she’s
found something, but she’s not sure exactly what.

“
I’m sorry, I must seem a
little crazy, but I grew up with your father. My name’s Jenny.” She
gives my shoulders a squeeze. “Nic was my first boyfriend. I just
think it’s so wonderful that you’re at Kay’s. She must be so proud
of you.”

My gawd, is the woman going
to go on forever?
And what is this about
my father?
I must have a really weird look
on my face, somewhere between shocked and sick, because this Jenny
person is eyeing me like I’m a crazy who needs watching.

I look past her at the giggling twins
as they try pulling pizza slices from the box. Marta is smiling at
me, her T-shirt message jiggling across her boobs: Love Bunny. I
think I’m going to be sick.