Hale Maree (19 page)

“
Sharks!” Landon howls.
“This is tap water! Not an ocean!”

“
And you’re 10 bananas
drunk, buddy,” Oscar says, holding up both hands with his fingers
outstretched.

“
I’m not 10 bananas,” Landon
says. “Not yet.”

“
Oh, you’re at least 10
bananas,” Oscar says.

“
What’s 10 bananas?” I
ask.

“
When you hold up your hands
to try and count your fingers, but all you see are bananas and all
you can think of is how hungry you are.”

“
Really? Ten?” Landon asks
and then he breaks out in such a fit of laughter that he falls
over, rolling on the sand at Amy’s feet. She kicks sand on
him.

“
Is there sharks or isn’t
there?” she snaps.

“
Sharks, yes,” Oscar tells
her, but she narrows her eyes at him.

“
You’re lying,” she
says.

“
No swimming tonight,” Oscar
repeats. A sly smile spreads across Amy’s face, as she plays with
one of the bikini strings dangling at her hip.

“
What are you going to do
about it?” she says.

“
I don’t know,” Oscar tells
her. “Hope you don’t drown?”

Amy starts off for the beach, calling over
her shoulder, “Are you gonna save me? Gimme a shark bite of your
own?”

Oscar stays seated, even as Amy nears the
water’s edge. She peeks over her shoulder to see if he’s coming.
She slows down, and the excitement drains out of her. She walks in,
only ankle deep, and kicks up the water.

Landon jumps up and heads for her, his
thumbs in his waistband.

“
We can dip at the edge!” he
calls to her.

“
Please don’t!” Oscar shouts
after him. Landon reaches the edge, but he doesn’t make a move to
strip. Oscar and I just laugh. With his eye still on his drunk
friends, he says to me, “I was thinking we’d get married when we
get back. We can have a chapel wedding. You could tell Sher to buy
her dress and we’ll get yours when we go home.”

Home. When we go home. He’s obviously not
talking about my, and my dad’s, apartment. I run my thumb over the
back of my ring band and get overwhelmed again, thinking of how
everything is going to change. Even though living with my father
has never been perfect, he’s still the only one I’ve ever lived
with. I don’t know if we’ll live near my dad and Sher; if I’ll ever
be able to go to college; what a life with Oscar really means.
We’ve never talked about that, beyond cooking, cleaning, being good
in bed, and now it doesn’t feel like a good trade at all.

“
Why do we have to rush?
Don’t you know I’m trustworthy by now? I’m not going to tell
anybody anything, Oscar.”

“
I know you won’t,” he says.
I watch him struggle to say the next part. “But we don’t know if
your father would, Hale. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but
with your dad’s drinking problem...”

“
You think a marriage
certificate is going to shut him up when he’s on a bender?” I ask.
I’m less offended than I am embarrassed. My father’s drinking has
corroded so much of our lives that it’s gotten to be a dark spot I
just try to keep hidden. When it is brought out into the light, it
is so much worse, and less easily explained than: ‘he just drinks a
little too much sometimes’. It’s a whole storm that rips through
our lives, dumping our money, and chipping away at our family name
every single time he goes to the bar.

“
I don’t think it will
prevent everything that could happen,” Oscar says. “But I think it
might help him think twice about it, if we’re all on the same page.
He’s talked to my father about entering rehab. My father’s offered
him full treatment, and your dad accepted the help. He’s trying,
Hale. He’s trying hard. He doesn’t want to mess this up for himself
or for us. It’s obvious what you mean to him, and I still think
that will outride his love of alcohol.”

“
Fat chance of that,” I
snort. “He threw me out to
marry a
stranger
. If you’re putting all your hopes
on my dad’s love for me, I think you’re asking for a
lot.”

There’s a whoop from the water’s edge that
draws our eyes up. Landon’s staggered a ways down the dock, past
the red post. He clunks into the railing, and the whole dock
quivers. Grabbing hold of the post he shouts, “Whoa!”

“
I better go get him,” Oscar
says. “One wrong step and he’s either going over, or dropping
through, the bottom of that hand rail.”

Oscar hops up and jogs down the dock toward
Landon. Amy, still at the water’s edge, calls to me.

“
Come ‘ere, Haley! Come ‘ere
and put your feet in with me! The water’s sooo warm!” She slips and
falls on her butt. When she stands back up, her boob plops right
out of her bikini top.

“
Amy, your top!” I shout,
motioning to her wardrobe malfunction. All she does is cup her ear
with one hand.

“
What?” she
shouts.

“
Your top! Your boob!” I
shout again, but it’s no use. The wind is coming off the water so
even though it sounds like she’s standing next to me when she
talks, she still can’t hear a thing I’m screaming at her. She
shrugs, oblivious, boob flapping as she kicks along the water. I
get up to dust the sand off my butt, and catch sight of Amy as she
whirls around at the sharp sound of a splash.

I search the dock, trying to put together
what I hear with what I see. The handrail is intact, but Landon is
bobbing in the water. A frightened howl comes out of him, as Oscar
pulls off his shoes and vaults the rail into the water.

“
Holy shit!” Amy shrieks.
“Landon’s drowning! Hale! Landon’s drowning!”

I get to the water’s edge and Amy grabs my
hand as we watch Oscar surface by himself, catch a breath, and dive
under again. Amy drags me with her to the edge of the dock, but I
dig in my heels.

“
I can’t!” I shout as she
tugs my hand.

“
Come on!” she screams. “We
got to help them!”

“
I can’t swim!”

But Amy’s got a vice grip on my wrist, and
she yanks me out onto the planks of the dock. She drags me along
with her, as I shriek for her to stop and let go. She doesn’t.

“
Help me,” she
roars.

“
I can’t swim!” I scream at
her. I sit and Amy gives me such a hard tug that I fall forward on
my face. She drags me along, the water sloshing just under the
planks, and my blood freezing in my veins. I try to get to my feet,
to hang on as we pass one of the yellow-marked posts.

Oscar drags Landon up to the surface. Landon
sputters and chokes. Oscar shouts, “I got him!” He side-strokes
toward the shore, hanging onto Landon.

But Amy doesn’t let go. And she’s
laughing.

I’m white-hot screaming, trying to cling to
the passing beams, but Amy yanks and pulls and drags me along. We
pass the red post as Oscar swims in the other direction.

“
What are you doing? Let
go!” I shout. “I can’t swim! I CAN’T SWIM!”

“
Amy! Let go of her!” Oscar
shouts, but he’s doing everything he can to keep both his and
Landon’s heads, above water. I see him struggling to pull Landon
through the water even faster.

“
Stop! STOP!” I holler. Amy
lets go, but she turns on me like a rabid dog.

“
You’re going in!” Amy
laughs. “Least you can do is take a dunk. God knows I got
soaked...”

She swoops down, her nose centimeters from
mine. I grab hold of a post as I scream back at her, “What are you
talking about?”

“
He was mine!” Amy shrieks.
She grabs hold of my fingers, prying them backward off the
post.

“
He’s still yours! Oscar’s
trying to help him, don’t you get it?”

“
Mine?” she grunts. Every
time she gets one hand loose, I wrap the other arm around the post.
Oscar pauses to look over his shoulder, and then resumes at a clip
toward the shore, towing Landon with him.

Not getting anywhere, Amy jumps up and grabs
my hair. She pulls backward so hard; I can’t help but let go. It
feels like she’s ripping my head in half. She drags me away from
the post as I try to stop her from scalping me.

“
He was supposed to be
mine!” she barks. “But he picked Sophia. They should’ve been over!
Rick was gonna make sure...”

“
Rick?” I shriek. “You sent
Rick after Oscar?”

I see the rage roll over her as she realizes
her mistake. The answer she gives me is pulling her leg back and
firing it at me, hitting me in the side. I grunt with the impact
and fall backward. Amy leans down and punches me in the face.

“
Time to go swimming,
bitch,” she growls, digging her fingernails into my arm. I’m rigid
with fear of the water, and my temple throbs. Groping for a post to
hang onto, my eye begins to pulse with the pain as she jerks me
toward the edge of the dock. I’m going to die. I glimpse Oscar
dragging Landon onto the shore as I get hold of another post. I
cling to it, and the whole dock begins to shake, as Amy tries to
tear my grip loose and push me in. She’s going to throw me in, and
I’m going to die. I shut my eyes and hold tight,
screaming.

“
Get away from her!” Oscar’s
voice cuts through the noise. Amy shrieks as he wrenches her hands
from me. Oscar grabs her and throws her over the side of the
handrail. She screams, and lands with a splash.

Oscar tips my face up to him and growls,
“What did she do to you?” He sucks in a breath as he scans over my
face.

I hear Amy cursing and splashing around in
the water, and I think I’m going to throw up. My head is throbbing
in the back and in the front, and I want to stay where I am, curled
on the dock, even though the sound of Amy’s splashing petrifies me.
Oscar lifts me into his arms and I whimper.

“
She knew,” I whisper to
him. “She knew Rick Tatum.”

Amy flails toward the shore, howling from
the water, “I’m gonna drown! Landon! Help me, I’m gonna drown!”

Landon stands unsteadily, at the end of the
dock as Oscar steps off, and Amy washes up on the shore. She crawls
out, coughing.

Oscar’s voice vibrates through his chest as
he shouts at her, “You better stay the hell away from me, Amy! All
your shit will be on the front lawn in about ten seconds, and you
can walk home for all I care!”

“
Nooo,” she howls after him.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! I was just drunk...”

But Oscar carries me up to the house, and
Landon follows us inside.

“
Are you okay, Hale?” Landon
asks, even though he doesn’t sound okay himself. Oscar lays me down
on the couch, and when he flips on a light, Landon gets a look at
my face and breathes, “Holy shit.”

Since my left temple seems to have it’s own
heartbeat, I figure it’s got to be pretty bad, even though I can
still see fine out of it. Oscar brings a bag of frozen peas, which
makes me yelp when he applies them.

Amy lifts the latch on the back door, and
Landon storms her. “Out! I saw Hale’s face! What the hell is the
matter with you?” he yells. Startled, she lets go of the door
handle, and Landon yanks the door shut, throwing the lock. “Stay
the fuck out!”

Landon’s veins rise up on his forehead as he
crosses the room to the inflato-bed. He grabs armloads of Amy’s
things and shoots across the living room to the front door. He
swings it open so hard that the knob hits the wall. Once outside,
he whips Amy’s things off to the side of the driveway. Something
shatters, and pair of her panties catches on a shrub branch.

Amy appears as Landon’s hauling out a second
load of her things. He dumps her bag, and tosses her shopping bags
at her feet while she shrieks at him. I don’t think Landon says a
word. He comes back inside and slams the door.

“
Sorry about the door,
buddy,” he grumbles, and Oscar says, “No problem.”

Landon stomps into the bathroom and slams
that door shut too. I watch as Amy gathers her stuff. She sighs,
she kicks things, and finally, she piles it all up beside Landon’s
car and sits on his trunk.

“
She can’t walk home in the
dark,” I say. I’m not being sympathetic. I’m trying to figure out
the fastest way to get her gone.

“
I know,” Oscar says, as the
bathroom door swings open. Landon comes out and grabs his
keys.

“
I’m driving her back to
wherever there’s a bus,” Landon says. “Where’s a bus?”

“
Town,” Oscar says. “You
sure you should be driving?”

“
I’m fine,” Landon grumbles.
Oscar gives Landon the directions, and Landon grabs his keys and
heads out the door. He tells Amy to get the fuck off his trunk, but
otherwise, the two don’t talk. Land gets into the driver’s seat and
just pops the trunk as he starts the car. In the glow of the
taillights, Amy loads her stuff into the trunk alone. When she’s
done, she slides into the passenger’s seat, and Landon’s back tires
spout gravel and sand as they take off down the
driveway.

Oscar sits down beside me on the couch. He
runs his fingers over the back of my head. I wince. “She got you
back there too?”

I nod. He gets up, and comes back with a bag
of frozen green beans this time. The peas are still on my face. He
puts the beans on the back of my head. It feels like I’m caught
inside an ice cube tray.

“
We use more of our
groceries for injuries than eating,” I try to joke. Oscar tries to
laugh, but it only comes out as a puff of air.