Secrets Everybody Knows (5 page)

“That’s why you might not want to get mixed up with me.” He leaned on a post. “Elaine, you’re a good girl. You’re smart and nice and perfect. Are you a Girl Scout?”

“I was. I quit two years ago.” Girl Scout? What did being a Girl Scout have to do with anything?

“Close enough. You have a really good reputation, and if people find out you’ve been with me you’re going to lose that.”

“Been with?” Elaine’s throat closed. Her mind went blank at the idea of “being with” Johnny.

“People will assume the worst.”

“I’m not ready for that.”

Johnny shrugged, his jaw flexed. “I understand. I’m not happy about it, but I didn’t think a nice girl like you would want the whole town whispering because somebody started a rumor. My mom doesn’t like the way people talk about my family and she causes a lot of those rumors herself.”

“I’m not worried about rumors.” Elaine closed the car door, bracing herself to say it out loud. “I’m not ready to have sex.”

Johnny stared at her. “Did you think that’s all I wanted?”

Elaine shrugged. “It’s not like there’s much else we can do. If nobody can know about us, we can’t exactly go to the movies and I can’t help you with the car.”

“But you’re okay with hanging out with me?” He frowned like he expected bad news.

“I’d like to hang out with you.”

Johnny crossed the floor in three strides, picked her up and swung her around. “I can teach you about the car if you want.”

“All right.” Elaine laughed.

Johnny set her on her feet. “I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to make sure you don’t get hurt. You’re safe with me.”

Elaine looked into his eyes and trusted him. He meant what he said. The cute reprobate wanted to protect her and really did like her. Johnny had kissed her, and now she understood why all the girls were so desperate to get a boyfriend. Even a secret boyfriend was better than nothing.

* * * *

Johnny caught sight of George before the other man saw him. Fourteen years later and he looked exactly the same. Johnny waved and George started toward him. “Hey man, great to see you again. Sorry about the circumstances.” George gave him a two-handed shake.

“Good to see you too.” Johnny adjusted his bag over his shoulder.

“You have anything to pick up?”

“No, just my carry-on. I travel light. My mom wasn’t too clear. What’s going on?”

“Your dad got into an argument with Elaine Hammersmith in the circle and had a heart attack. Last I heard he was in CCU.”

“Elaine Hammersmith?” Johnny clutched his bag. He thought he’d made peace with the idea of seeing her again. Apparently not. “What was she arguing with my dad about?”

“Something about the festival. I heard he was mad because he didn’t get paid for last year.”

“What does Elaine have to do with that?” Johnny hoped George wouldn’t notice how he referred to Elaine. Getting linked with him would hurt her more now than it would have before. She was a teacher now. A respected member of the community.

“She helps put it together. The Summer Festival has gotten huge. Elaine Hammersmith, Lily Walker and Beth Wilson coordinate the whole thing. It’s next week. I bet they’re freaking out about your dad.”

“Why?” Other than the fact that he’d had a heart attack while arguing with Elaine. Knowing her, this was eating her up, even if his dad had started it, which he probably had.

“Your dad does mechanical support every year. He has guys who sit in the parking lots and change flats and jump dead batteries and help people who lock their keys in their cars. It was Lily’s idea, and it works great.”

“What else is going on?”

George launched into a recitation of births, deaths, marriages and arrests that Johnny tuned out. He knew most of it already. For the past eight years, he’d read the local paper online every day looking for Elaine’s name. Before that he’d had it mailed to him. All that studying allowed him to focus on preparing to see her again. When he left town fourteen years ago, he never intended to come back. He’d preferred to cut his own heart out and drive away than see her hurt. That was supposed to be the most difficult sacrifice he made for her. Coming back already hurt more. He had no idea how she would receive him. Maybe she’d moved on. Accepted what he did as for the best. She might have dated around and learned what a big, selfish jerk he’d been, hiding her in that barn all winter and in the woods all summer. That whole year she missed all the stuff kids did in high school. The dances and the games. All so she could roll around in the hayloft with him, necking while wearing a parka.

The
Flintstones
theme started to play.

“Oh, that’s me.” George fished a phone out of his pocket. “It’s Lily.” He flushed.

Johnny chuckled and shook his head. Some things never changed, and one of them was George Kline’s awkwardness around girls. That this girl was thirty-odd years old and so was George didn’t change the equation.

“Those tables are always a problem. Deposits get into everything, and it’s almost impossible to get them out. I can call Frank and see– What?” George pointed an electronic key fob at a black ’06 Mustang. Johnny frowned at George. Maybe things had changed. “I’ll call him anyway. How is everything else going?”

Johnny tossed his bag in the backseat and ran his hand along the door frame. The car was spotless. Just a little road dirt, but not a speck of rust or a single ding anyplace.

“I thought she was taking this year off to take care of Mrs. Bennetti and Ms. Forrester. He is? Well, that’s good. What else is wrong?” George climbed into the driver’s seat.

Johnny studied the leather seats. They were in showroom condition too.

“I might be able to help you with that. Hey, Johnny.”

Johnny broke off his examination of George’s car. “What?”

“You think you could work on a school bus?”

“An engine’s an engine. I could probably find my way around it,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to be waiting for me at the shop, though.” No matter what was at the shop, it wasn’t going to bring him into close contact with Elaine. Buses for the festival would bring him right into her orbit.

“Hey, I might have somebody who can help you out with the buses too.”

From the passenger seat, Johnny could hear a girlish squeal of “I love you!”

George turned a sudden and brilliant red that made Johnny worry about his heart. “It’s nothing, Lily. I’m glad to help. I’ll talk to you when I find out about that steam table.” He snapped the phone closed and dropped it into the cup holder.

“Why don’t you just ask her out?”

“How do you know I haven’t?”

Johnny arched an eyebrow at George. “Do I have to repeat my question?”

“She’d just say no and then it would be weird. We have to work together.”

“So what? It’s better to sit back and let her get away because you’re nervous?”

“She isn’t going to go out with a guy like me.” George started the car. “She’s got a college degree and she teaches English at the high school. I’m the janitor. She’s out of my league.”

“So you
would
rather sit back and watch her get away?”

George shrugged. “Let’s get back to town so I can get on that steam table for her. Unless you want to stop and see your dad on the way.”

“Me showing up at the hospital would probably give him another heart attack. I’d better see what the lay of the land is from Sue first.”

* * * *

Johnny paced his room. It was only two and a half steps from one side to the other. Nowhere near enough space. He needed to run the track around the football field or something.

The anxiety crashed down right about the time he walked through the kitchen door. With school out and warmer weather, meeting with Elaine was much easier. Much easier and much more dangerous. All winter long, not getting too hot and heavy had been easy because they’d been working around parkas. With summer came t-shirts and tank tops. Shorts, summer dresses. Tonight they had gone too far. He still smelled her on his body. If anyone found out, she’d be ruined and he’d go to jail. Jail he could take, but she’d never be able to show her face in town again. Everybody would be speculating. The way things were going, by the end of summer, they would be right.

But he couldn’t keep away from her. Every time he tried to break it off, she begged him to stay and he didn’t have the willpower to resist. When she came over for dinner, he could barely eat and spent the whole meal aching to touch her. If he tried to stand her up, he found himself running through the woods to meet her, apologizing for being late. Every day he daydreamed about seeing her again. The friends he still spoke to were annoyed because he didn’t hang out with them, but he never told them what he was doing. When they volunteered to help with the Packard, he turned them down. He and Elaine had restored the whole thing together.

The house was quiet. His mom and dad had been watching TV when he came in, but they had gone to bed. Sue should be in her room. The door had been shut when he came upstairs. She might have climbed out the window, but that wasn’t her style. He needed to get out of here before he did more damage.

Stuffing some clothes into a duffel bag, he slipped out of the house. He tossed the bag into the Packard. Elaine couldn’t go with him, but he could take the car. Every time he slid into the driver’s seat he thought of her. The sound of the engine was thunderous, but no lights came on in the house. He drove without thinking until he got to the interstate. Just before the on ramp, he pulled into a parking lot and shut off the engine.

Elaine would be destroyed when she found out he’d gone. His gut knotted at the thought of seeing her now, but he’d never be able to live with himself if he just disappeared on her. She’d walk into the barn and see the car gone and her beautiful heart would shatter.

He parked the Packard on a gas well access road down the street from her house. Sneaking through the backyard, he felt like a thief, which seemed almost appropriate. He had stolen her innocence in every way but one, and if he didn’t leave he’d steal her future too. No matter what she accomplished, once they found out, she would always be the girl who was spoiled by Johnny McMannus.

“Elaine,” he whispered through her open window.

She twisted away from the window. Even asleep she was adorable.

“Elaine!” he whispered.

She sat up, eyes wide. “Johnny! What are you doing here?” She jumped out of bed and trotted across the room to the window.

“Elaine, I have to leave.”

“What? Wait a minute. I’ll come outside.”

“No.” Johnny clenched his fists. If she came outside, he never go. She’d be able to use that luscious body of hers in combination with her brilliant brain and then he’d slink back home to keep tempting fate until this blew up in their faces. “No, don’t. I have to leave tonight. I’m not coming back.”

“What do you mean? Why tonight? Was it what we did? I’m sorry. I’ll never let it happen again. Can we talk about this? I’ll meet you at the garage. I’ll tell my dad the car started making a funny noise. The fan belt is squeaking anyway. Please, just give me some time.”

“No, baby.” He splayed his palm on the window screen and she pressed her hand against his. It reminded him of movies where people in prison tried to touch through the glass in visitation scenes. “I have to leave. There’s no other way.”

“But why?” She sobbed. “What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything. You are perfect.” Johnny’s throat started to close. He almost wished he had kept driving. Her pain would have been the same, but he wouldn’t have had to witness it.

“Then let me come with you.”

“You can’t drop out of school. And what would happen if we got caught? They would make you wear a scarlet A and they’d throw me in jail.”

“Johnny, this is not Puritan New England.”

“No, but it’s just about as bad. Elaine, I love you. I don’t want to drag you down. I want you to have everything you want. I–” His throat convulsed.

Fat tears streamed down her face. “If you love me, then why are you leaving?”

“You’ll understand later.”

“Don’t you dare tell me I’m too immature to understand,” she snapped.

“I’m not. You’re more mature than I am. You’re more mature than anyone I know. It hurts now, but once you think about it you’ll know how much I could cost you.”