The Newcomer (Thunder Point) (26 page)

She started at the diner on Memorial Day weekend, the end of May, and she’d only been there a week, the third generation of James women to work there, and she loved it. Gina trained her herself and just based on that and what she already knew from her mother, she was excellent at the job. In fact, although her previous plans had included going to State, living there in a dorm or apartment, she was reconsidering. It might be a better idea to stay in Thunder Point for her first year of college, borrowing the car to drive to Coquille to the community college and keeping at least one of her jobs. It would not only give her a chance to get used to the whole college experience, but it was also far cheaper and she could sock away more money.

She enjoyed the job of serving and cleaning up at the diner, and she saw lots of familiar faces every day. Friends and neighbors dropped by often and she realized that by being there, she never missed a thing that was happening in town or on the beach.

The new doctor in town, Scott Grant, would finally open his clinic across the street soon and he was holding a grand opening that Carrie would cater. Until he had a full roster of patients he’d only be open three days a week, supplementing his income by being on call at the Bandon emergency room. Deputy Pritkus, a much more efficient gossip than Mac, kept Ashley up-to-date on local trouble, mostly small stuff, but interesting nonetheless. And Frank, who was taking a couple of college level classes even before his senior year, came by when the diner wasn’t busy in the afternoon. He didn’t pester her; he brought his books, had a cola and studied in a booth in the back of the diner.

He always left the diner in time to get home for dinner. He never told her anything about Downy and she never asked.

Ashley assumed that the whole Downy family would be going to Corvallis for any playoff games happening there and that at least one or two of them would travel to out of state games if they could. She could ask Frank, but she wouldn’t. She did ask him why he’d started coming to the diner to study and he said, “I’ve been doing this for a couple of years. It’s always noisy at my house—TV, music, people making noise, sometimes arguing. It’s easier to concentrate here. And it’s even better since you started working here.” And he grinned.

So when she wasn’t busy, she’d grab herself a cola and slide into the booth across from him. “Just tell me if I’m bothering you.”

He looked up from his books and smiled. “You’re not bothering me, Ash.”

“Anything new?”

“As a matter of fact, I got an invitation to meet with an early admissions counselor at MIT.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Was that your plan?”

He shook his head. “Wasn’t even on my wish list. I think they want to look at me, talk to me, just to be sure I’m not some hick from a little fishing village before they process my application. I’m trying to decide if I can afford it. I should try since my focus is on math and computer science. You know, I think they actually looked at the computerized study guide I developed for high school students. I recorded it and loaded it on YouTube.”

She stared at him in wonder. “You did that? I didn’t know about that.”

“I just did it for the people who ask me for help all the time. It’s almost always the same questions. It was efficient. I put a link in my letter to admissions. I didn’t expect anyone to actually look at it.”

“How do you come up with these ideas?”

He just shrugged. “There are several online tutoring programs—some of them have millions of hits. There are a few things I’m good at....”

She laughed at him. “A few, huh? Do you know your IQ?”

“No,” he said with a laugh. “Do I need to? I promise you, it wouldn’t change anything.”

“I think you’re a genius or something. It must be so much fun.”

“To be a geek?” he asked. “To be different from everyone?” He shook his head. “I get bored real easy. My mother calls me high-maintenance. It’s hard to make friends that last after they pass the test they needed help for. I think it would be easier to be good at football or baseball.”

“You think that? Well, don’t. What you have has a longer shelf life.” Then she rolled her eyes and laughed at herself. “Spoken like a waitress, huh? One of my jobs is to check dates on the packaged food! And, as for friends, you better not ditch me for a smarter girl because you made very big promises about my visits to the east coast. Very big. If you get a girlfriend, first thing you tell her is that you have a commitment to me for visiting and you’re the tour guide. She’ll just have to live with it.”

“I’m pretty sure we won’t run into that problem. Have you decided where you’re going to apply? Still looking at State?”

“Funny you should ask—I’m thinking of taking my first year at community college so I can keep my two part-time jobs. They’re good jobs—good tips. And if I ever want to go farther away than State, I’ll need money.”

He grinned at that. “Oregon State is an excellent school.”

“I know. And believe me, I’m not thinking of avoiding it because of you-know-who. I like my jobs. Doing it this way might give me a leg up. You know?”

“I know. Probably a good idea to keep your options open. Listen, do you have any days off? Ever?”

“I can easily get time off, as long as I give Stu and Gram a little notice.”

“I can borrow my friend’s boat. He might insist on coming along, but maybe not. Doesn’t matter, really. We could spend a day sailing.”

“I could bring lunch,” she said. “I get a great deal at the deli. Like free. What’s a good day?”

“I have classes Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Any other day.”

“Next Monday?”

“Make it early. Seven in the morning?”

“It’s usually kind of foggy....”

“I know—it’s very cool to sit in the bay and watch the fog burn off.”

* * *

By nine on week nights, Ashley was closing out the cash drawer and mopping the floor and she was usually on her way home by nine-thirty.

Ashley always walked home. It was only a couple of blocks in a safe town. Unlike what she read about big cities, if she screamed for any reason, all the porch lights would pop on and people would stick their heads out to see if anyone needed help. Sometimes she got home to find her mom and Mac on the porch, talking and holding hands.

Tonight Stu locked the diner door behind her and said goodbye. She’d barely taken two steps when she heard, “Ashley?”

She just about jumped out of her skin! She whirled to see that right behind her, Downy was leaning against one of the lampposts on the street, not far from the diner’s front door. “Oh, my God, you scared me!”

“Sorry, Ash,” he said, stepping toward her. He had his arm in a sling. “I just wanted to see you.”

“What happened?” she asked, nodding toward the sling.

“Nothing too much. Dislocated shoulder. I’m resting it for a couple of days, then it’ll be fine.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Nah, it’s okay. Ash, listen, I’m sorry. About everything.”

She felt color rising up her neck. Then she realized it was anger and not self-pity and that felt so good. “Is that right? Well, it’s over.” And she turned to head for home.

“Wait a sec,” he said. “Can we talk? For just a minute?”

She turned back to him. “What on earth can we talk about, Downy? You’re sorry, it’s over, we’re done.”

“No, look,” he said. “I made mistakes, all right?”

“No kidding! Crap, why didn’t Frank tell me you were going to be home?”

“I just got here a couple of hours ago. I’m not sure Frank even knew I was coming.”

“And you’re going right back, right? Because you’re staying at school all summer....”

He gave a pathetic shrug. “Plans change. I’m home for the summer.”

“Well, the girlfriend must hate that.”

“We broke up,” he said. “Ash, I made some bad decisions. Really bad. I need you to listen to me.”

She shook her head. “I really don’t care what bad decisions you made. You didn’t care about me, about my feelings, about anything. Do you really think I’m going to worry about you now? Just go home. Your mommy will snuggle you, not me!”

“I got cut from the team. My scholarship’s in trouble. I might not have one anymore. I couldn’t play and then we lost. Maybe not because of me, but I wasn’t there to help. And they’re all pissed.”

“Cut?” she said, curious in spite of herself. “Pissed? How could they be angry if you got hurt?”

“I didn’t get hurt playing. I was mad and went to a batting cage and swung a bat for hours and hours and got unhinged.”

It didn’t make any sense to her. “Why’d they cut you, then?”

He looked down and shook his head. He tilted his head to the bench. “Will you sit down with me?”

“No,” she said. “You can sit there and I’ll sit over here. But only for a minute. And only because I’m curious.”

He sat down on one side of the diner door while she was on the other. And they just looked at each other. Finally she said, “Well, what? What do you want to tell me?”

“That girl, Selena. She seriously messed me up.”

“Oh, brother,” Ashley said, standing up.

“No, really.” He stood, as well, wisely keeping his distance. “She gave me pills she said were vitamins, supplement drinks for strength, but there were steroids in them. Low dose, oral steroids. I kept them in my locker because why wouldn’t I? Then someone accused me of using performance enhancers. They looked at the pills, tested me for doping and...everything came crashing down. It’s all a big misunderstanding. I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong. It’s not like I injected it.”

“Bullshit,” she said. Ashley looked at him in astonishment for a second. Then she laughed. She put a hand over her mouth.

“You think that’s funny?”

“No,” she said. “I think it’s a lie. Or maybe an excuse. I know you, Downy. You know steroids—you’ve used them in the past. They’re not illegal—my grandmother takes steroids for her knees. I think you told me the doctor gave one of your little brothers growth hormone because they were behind in growth. Or sometimes you can find small, supposedly safe amounts or protein drinks that are supposed to have nonsteroid enhancers, but they sure act like steroids—they bulk you up and make you cranky and short-tempered. We’ve argued about it. You like that stuff—you like being really strong. You’re addicted to being strong. She didn’t slip anything by you.”

He shook his head. “She said it was undetectable. She gave it to me in a vitamin pill bottle.”

“Right. But you knew.”

He looked at her pleadingly. “I knew I shouldn’t, but there were rumors about being an early draft pick and I wanted to hit everything, catch everything, run faster.... I felt like it was a chance, a safe chance, that wouldn’t hurt anyone and would make me just a little better. I wanted that break so bad, Ash!”

“You’re an athlete! You know what the problems with steroids are! Not only does it hurt your body, your personality, but it changes the playing field so it’s not athlete against athlete but athlete against superdrugs! And you can’t blame this on some girl.”

“It was her,” he said. “I think she used me and tricked me. I think she wanted me to do whatever it took to go pro. She wanted to hook up with a ballplayer.”

“Well, we’d all give you the prize for being stupid, except you and me—we’re in a dead heat for that prize.”

His brow wrinkled in confusion; he didn’t get it. “Ash, give me another chance. I’ll make it up to you. I swear to God.”

“No.”

He took a step toward her; she took a step back. “I need you, Ash. I need help to get through this. I need to feel like someone’s on my side. Please.”

“No.”

“Ashley, I’ve been wrecked by this. I know I made mistakes, but Jesus, nothing I did is so bad I should have to go through this! I lost everything! Everyone is pissed at me and no one understands the pressure I was under. Everyone was counting on me—my team, my friends, my family....”

She just shook her head. She actually did feel sorry for him. But not that sorry. “What happened to you, Downy? You went to State as this town’s shining star. You had a nice girlfriend who would never cheat on you, a full ride scholarship so you could get an education—something a lot of us little people are working our tails off to try to pay for. You even had agents sniffing around, telling you you’d go pro before you’re even dry behind the ears. And how did you respect all that? You decided to break all the rules. You cheated. You hurt everyone and now you want them all to be a little more understanding, to let it go. You know what, Downy? You have your work cut out for you, because you’re going to have to earn back the respect you lost.”

He was quiet for a moment, then he said, “Tell me what to do, Ash. I’ll do whatever you want.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Hey, there’s nothing for you to do for me—I’m over you. I think when an altered naked picture of me went out to about four hundred cell phones and Facebook friends and you shrugged it off and said, it was just a joke, that put the last nail in the coffin.”

“Hey, come on, I was mad about that! We had a fight about that! That was wrong, that she did that!”

“And you couldn’t even call me, explain and say you were sorry? I went through all that alone, and did you care? Nothing is ever your fault. Yeah, you have a long way to go. Good luck, Downy.”