Flying in Shadows (The Black Creek Series, Book 2) (5 page)

He stood up on the concrete stoop next to the door so Candi could spot him more easily
through the crowd. Except, it made it easier for him to see through the crowd.

His eyes zeroed in. His heart sped to double time and he went instantly back to anger.
Rose was talking to the same dude who moved in on her at the game. That's right, buzz
off, he thought as Rose waved her hand dismissively in front of him. The guy glanced
behind him and nodded his friends off.

A handful of the cheerleaders broke through the door at that time, cheering the win.
Candi led the group.

Andy balled his fingers into tight fists as the boy put his hands on Rose's shoulders
and turned her around. She laughed and hit the palm of her hand to her head as he
led her toward the student parking lot.

Candi took hold of one of Andy's arms. Her cold fingers brought his focus to her.

"Hey, hun. Are you driving the Mustang?"

What else he have to drive
,
he thought.

Another one of the girls took his other arm and they pulled him along toward his car.

* * *

Amanda stood in her warm yellow kitchen nervously spooning rich batter into a rectangular
pan. Determined to be a supportive mother, she kept busy and away from her purse.

"What's all this?" A hand ran up her back.

"You wouldn't understand," she answered lightly, turning her head into Dave's arm.
She was all hormones when he did that. She couldn't possibly concentrate on measuring
and hormones at the same time.

"Try me." He leaned forward over the smell of chocolaty batter.

"Rose is growing up."

"She goes to New York University in a few months. Are you just figuring that out now?"
Dave tilted his head back playfully.

"Did you notice how she was before she went to the game tonight?"

"With Andy," he said flatly.

"Okay. Point taken. It's just that she hasn't been to a school function since he graduated.
She feels out of place, which is the reason for making the worry-about-our-daughter
brownies." She set down her bowl and spatula and turned to wrap her arms around him,
sinking her face into his chest.

He pulled her away gently, enough to look at her. Running his thumbs along the dark
circles she knew were under her eyes, Dave sighed. "You need some rest. Why don't
you let me wait up for her?"

"Don't start, please. I love you." Working up a smile, she lifted to her toes and
gave him a soft, lingering kiss before smacking his butt and turning back to her baking.

She hadn't as much as lifted the bowl to scrape the remaining mix into the pan before
she heard car doors. She and Dave looked to each other with puzzled expressions.

"No rumble from the Mustang," Dave said.

They stepped out onto the small, concrete porch even though she knew they ought not
to.

In the dark, Rose dug her keys out of her front pocket. She barely noticed Tyler lose
his footing, then catch himself as he looked toward the house.

He stepped close to her. "Is that your stepdad? Did you forget to tell me that you
had a giant for a stepdad?"

Dave showed no teeth as he squinted and smiled at them. "You're home. Who's your friend?"

On the porch? Rose cringed. Are you kidding? "Dad, Mom, this is Tyler. Andy had drama.
I was going to catch a ride with his folks, but Tyler offered." Uncomfortable silence.
More uncomfortable silence. "We have math together. You know how I hate calculus.
He's going to help me out sometime."

Even though Tyler remained speechless, she judged that Dave was satisfied. Without,
fortunately, demanding a strip search, he and her mom went back inside. They left
the porch light on.

As soon as the door clicked shut, she let out a relieved breath, blowing loose strands
of her hair from her face.

Tyler took her hand, without linking fingers, and walked her up the steps.

"See you at school, then?" She smiled awkwardly at him. She'd never had a boy on her
doorstep before. Pathetic. Andy didn't count.

She shut the door as he left and smelled chocolate. "Oh, great," she mumbled. Knowing
her mom only baked brownies when something was up, Rose asked, "Problem?" Then, she
dropped her unused house key on the kitchen counter.

"No, no. How was the game?" Her mom looked through the fridge for nothing.

"We won the game. Andy and Candi are fighting. I have a date for prom." Rose looked
forward to their reaction. She wasn't disappointed.

Her mom turned her head quickly with eyes opened wide before leaning back against
the kitchen counter and folding her arms. "Smart guy."

Rose shrugged and smiled.

Dave made vows to do a background check and that strip search before the dance, kissed
them one at a time on their foreheads and slinked upstairs.

Biting her nails, Rose rolled out a summary of the evening. "It's the weirdest thing.
I'm just sitting there, and we were talking about studying together sometime. Then,
he was telling his buddies to get lost. Then, he was asking me to prom. I said, 'Yes.'
Go figure. And you know what? I'm excited. I hate those kinds of things. I'm even
looking forward to the dress."

Chapter 4

Andy walked painfully slow through the Seneca Zoo with Candi on his arm. Groups of
crocuses willed the cold away as they bloomed among the leftover winter brown.

"I tried to tell you to wear comfortable shoes." He nodded toward her ice-pick boots.

Candi tilted her head and batted her eyelashes. "Why? They're not at all uncomfortable."

Spotting Rose in the petting zoo, the corners of his mouth lifted. She stood on sandy
gravel with a broom in one hand and a long-handled dust pan in the other. He could
see her scan the area with a motherly eye. The female goat must be pregnant. Very
pregnant. The males looked for something to eat. A pot belly pig had found a patch
of sunlight as a couple of young girls scratched his belly into oblivion.

He noticed Rose's brows press together as she watched two junior volunteers who were
more interested in each other than in scooping goat poop. She rolled her eyes and
walked over to give them what looked like a short lecture before they got back to
work.

He glanced around at the other exhibits as he approached the gated area, remembering
when she was a junior staffer and doing little more than scooping poop. Now she was
the supervisor and, being a good example, scooped some droppings along with the juniors.
The pregnant goat tasted the shirt of one of the little girls. The kid squealed in
delight as Rose shooed the hungry, waddling female over to her feed.

By the time he reached her, Rose was sharing what must have been animal facts with
the mesmerized girls. This would be her last summer here. The slam of the door as
he entered the enclosure caused her to turn her eyes to him. He loved the way she
lit up when she saw him.

"Happy birthday." He gave her an a-frame hug, leaving one arm behind his back.

"Andy! Now my birthday is complete. You shouldn't have come all the way up here."

"It was cool enough that Candi wanted to come." He nodded his head toward the outside
of the fence toward her.

"Sure she did." Rose looked down with an impish grin.

He gave her a playful push on her shoulder. "Don't start."

"I just don't think anyone who wants to be called
Candi
would want to visit a zoo.
I feel sorry for her. That's all."

"No you don't." He raised one side of his mouth. "I brought you a present." He pulled
the arm from around his back that held a small package.

"You shouldn't have." She took it from him without hesitating. "I didn't get you anything
for your birthday."

"Yes, you did," he whispered. "You got me out of going to that damned couples soup
thing."

"Tastefully Simple party," she corrected.

"Open it."

The set of male goats wandered over when they heard the rip of paper. Rose glanced
around Andy's shoulder toward the junior staffers, then turned her glance to Candi,
who was dramatically rolling her eyes and pacing impatiently in her heels.

"Come on in, Candi," Rose practically sang as she tore the papers. "They won't bite."

Candi didn't answer, just made a junior high-type sarcastic look at Rose and went
back to pacing.

Excitement bubbling through her, Rose peeked at the exposed corner of the gift. "Stationary.
You got me stationary. With birds of prey! How did you ever find this? It's perfect."
She looked up at him. Surprised at the proximity, she blinked several times before
noticing he wasn't smiling this time but was looking intently in her eyes.

"Uncle Chase agreed to let me come and stay with him this summer. Sort of an internship.
He's working on a resort and conference center in the city. Write me this time."

An instant sting burned her eyes. She dropped her head and tried to focus on the gift.
She couldn't explain her degree of disappointment to him and wished he'd have told
her over the phone or given her some kind of warning so she had time to gather her
response. "Of course I will." She made herself look up and grin.

"Andrew, dear?" Candi called.

Andy lifted his head in polite recognition.

"I'm getting cold. Can we run along now?" Candi asked as sweet as apple pie.

"Yes, Andrew dear," Rose mocked. "You must be running along now." She adjusted the
bandana that covered her mass of untamable hair and tucked her gift into her apron
pocket. "And thank you. You're the best."

"I might not be the
best
. Wait 'til you get home."

A wrinkle formed between her eyes, then she turned to analyze his expression. "Tell
me."

"No way." He lifted one brow and smirked as he walked away.

"You can't drop that on me and then leave."

He turned with just enough time to wink. "Watch me."

* * *

Eighteen years old with birds of prey stationary, a twenty dollar tip from the insistent
father of the two curious girls and driving home from her favorite job. Okay, well
her favorite
volunteer
job, but in her shiny pickup anyway. Keeping the windows down despite the chill in
the air, she smelled spring. Fresh, wet and floral.

If she looked at the big picture, Andy's decision to spend the summer away was just
as natural as her leaving for NYU in the fall. Wouldn't she have made the same choice
if an opportunity like that had been presented to her? Then why did it cut so deeply?

Curiosity made her foot a little heavier.
Wait 'til you get home
. That was just playing dirty.

The combination of Andy's news and her coming of age must have turned on a philosophical
tune for her. And what was she coming of age to anyway? The right to buy cigarettes?
Vote? Rent porn? Right. Still, she couldn't help but look at her neighborhood in a
different light on her way home.

She drove past Andy's towering home. The mass of trees attempted miserably to conceal
it from view. Her heart softened as next her tires bumped over the short Black Creek
bridge. It held years of memories over and around it. Her house was on the next street
with its elderly weeping willow and lifelong feeling of family and warmth.

Before this place, she and her mother spent the first few years of Rose's life on
the road, traveling from country to country and managing disaster sites, first for
FEMA and then the Red Cross. Rose had no memories of those days. She only had stories
from around the dinner table and a few fleeting words from the Spanish language she
once spoke fluently.

Except, this time when she walked through the worn front door, there was no warmth.
Both Dave and her sister were out. Her mom stood in the kitchen visibly shaken with
a bright red ring around her upper arm and one at the side of her throat.

Rose dropped her pack and hurried to her, trying to stay calm. "Are you okay? What
happened? Are you all right?"