The Last Days of Summer (25 page)

‘We ain't friends no more.'

Jasper nods. Real slow. ‘We ain't friends?'

‘You heard me.' Roy's voice is firm, hard. Cold.

Jasper smiles. No joy on his lips. ‘Right.' He nods. ‘You know,' he says, ‘your mama, she must be real proud hearing you talk in your man voice like that, layin' down the law for me right there. Asserting yourself like that. Being a man in front of your woman here.' His smile slips into a smirk. ‘Looks like you're all grown-up, huh, Roy? Fuckin' the girl next door, spreadin' your seed. Well, I say, bullshit.' His voice grows louder. ‘Bull. Shit. I see right through you. You're still the same skinny brat that pisses his bed. The same coward you always been.'

‘Wanna test me?' A coldness in Roy's eyes Jasper does not recognize.

It stops him short, then Jasper laughs. ‘I'd test you anytime anywhere, no problem. But I ain't here for that.'

‘Why are you here?' The woman's voice surprises him. He turns. It's Sarah, baby still bouncing on her hip as she rocks him side to side.

‘Sarah, you stay out of this.' Roy's voice is low.

She looks at Jasper defiantly, no fear in her eyes. It's been a great long while since a woman did not fear him. Since one looked at him with such fire. Her eyes make him uncomfortable. Make his heart beat twice as fast. Somewhere out on the prairie, chickadees call and fall silent, their voices overpowered as a mockingbird speaks crow. ‘Why are you here?' she says again, voice unwavering.

Jasper's face twists, more animal than human, then shifts back. ‘This is my home,' he answers.

She shrugs Roy's hand from her shoulder. ‘Well, this is our home, too, you bastard, 'n' we don' want you in it.'

Anger flushes her cheeks bright red in the heat of the room. It makes his blood quicken. He can just barely smell the soap off her skin. The milky scent of baby sick stuck to her. Lust burns at his groin, growing, and he wants to take her and taste her and suck on her swollen tits. He wants to feel if her flushed skin is hot. Not that she's pretty. Not that he's attracted to her. Just that it's been so long since he touched a woman, and the cloth of her cotton dress against her moist skin stirs longings in him.

He'd forgotten Sarah and Rose had been friends.
No wonder
, he thinks,
Roy hates me.

‘I think you'd best go.' Roy's voice is low and even. No messing in his tone. No room for messing either.

Jasper looks from Sarah back to Roy. He can tell the other man has seen his lust. The chatter of the church has died down some, a pool of quiet all around them as those close enough to hear have fallen silent. Most of the congregation have filed out of the church by now, some folks piling into their cars and pulling away, but most walk round the back of the church to where a handful of trailers propped up on cinder blocks house the Sunday school. The laughter of children drifts indoors as they chase each other across the lawn. Jasper used to run like that, not so long, so very long ago. Seems another life to him standing there now, facing the hostility in his once best friend's eyes.

‘You're not welcome here.' Roy's voice is firm.

‘Last I heard, this is God's house. Not yours.'

‘I'm just sayin' what everyone here's thinkin'.'

‘Well, bravo.' Jasper claps his hands together twice. ‘Looks like you grew a spine in the last ten years.'

‘Yeah, well.' Roy looks down to his feet, then up again. Face like stone.

‘I'll be outside.' Sarah touches Roy's arm, then passes behind him to walk across the church. There is a grace to her movements Jasper had not noticed before. He wonders if it's new or if in their youth he had merely failed to recognize it. She and Esther stop by the doorway, looking back. But not at him, at Roy.

Jasper envies him that.

He tears his eyes from Sarah, and looks back to Roy. The other man is watching him. He shakes his head with a sort of disgust, and Jasper can't help but wonder what it is Roy sees in him that he so dislikes.

‘We're done here,' Roy says. ‘You hear? And you stay away from my family.'

‘I ain't here to hurt nobody.'

‘Damned if I care why you're here, Jasper, so long as you stay clear of me and mine.' Roy does not wait for an answer. He crosses the church quickly without looking back. Jasper watches as Roy puts his arm around Sarah. As she and he and Esther shake hands with the reverend and disappear into the brightness of the day beyond. There's a pain in Jasper's chest he has not felt for some time. He shakes his head to clear it, but the hurt's still there the same.

A hand slides onto his forearm and squeezes lightly. He had not heard her approach. He is not sure how much, if any, of his conversation with Roy she overheard. ‘Let's
go on home now,' Lizzie whispers, and he closes his eyes, seeking comfort in her voice.

When he opens them, she's looking up at him, waiting. He nods once, stiffly. ‘All right,' he says. ‘Let's go.'

She releases his arm, says nothing. Starts towards the door. Mutely, he follows.

The sun outside is scorching hot. Mirages down the road glisten invitingly, like cool pools of water. Katie tilts her head back to feel the sun more fully on her face. The heat of it relaxes her closed eyelids. Feels good to be outside where what little wind there is can cool. Her lips are dry and she can feel the heat from the sun start to crack them. She lowers her face. Opens her eyes. Most folks have left the church by now, but she still doesn't see Mom or Uncle Jasper. Katie hears her name from somewhere and shades her eyes to look around. A bunch of her friends stand round the back of Josh's pickup. It's Josh who called her. She smiles, waves and crosses the field, hurrying to join him.

Josh leans against the back of his truck, one foot crossed in front of the other. ‘Hey, Princess,' he calls, and she can't help but smile. He puts his arm round her shoulders and keeps it there. She likes the warmth of his arm around her even though the day is hot. Something about just knowing it's there reassures her. She reaches up to her shoulder to hold his hand in hers.

‘I can't believe your mom brought him here.' Ray Credinski leans against his own truck, parked next to Josh's.

‘I can't believe
you
came to church!' Emma Golepi laughs. ‘We
never
see you in church!'

Katie half smiles. ‘Yeah, I know.' She leans into Josh to feel the comfort of him.

‘He ain't gonna last long,' Josh whispers, ‘if he carries on like this. You know that, don't you?'

‘Don't say that, Josh.'

‘Just seeing him gives me the creeps.' Kristen brushes her hair out of her face. ‘Do you feel weird changing with him in the house? I'd never have a shower!' She shudders.

Katie looks down at her sandals. Her red toes peep out at her. She thinks of the tender way he speaks to her sister. ‘He ain't all bad,' she says quietly.

Josh snorts, his arm heavy round her shoulders. She follows his gaze across the field. Then forgets to breathe.

Eddie Saunders is crossing the lawn towards them. Three men walk beside him. Two, Katie does not know or recognize. The third is Josh's father. Her saliva catches, newly sticky in her throat, and she finds it hard to swallow. Instinctively, she clutches Josh's hand more tightly. He shakes her grip free and steps forward, all smiles. Extends his hand to his father first, then solemnly shakes Eddie's. ‘Sir.' He nods to the older man and to the men behind him.

‘All right, son, all right.' Mr Ryan chuckles and smacks his son on the back. He's dressed nicer than most folks. His snakeskin cowboy boots look like they've never seen stirrups. His collar stands stiff with starch, an antique bola tightening his top button with a turquoise stone set in pure silver. He has the polished look of a big city doctor or lawyer. Only the dark stains round his short-kept
nails hint that he's an oil man. Katie's never quite liked Mr Ryan. Or, rather, it's not so much that she's ever disliked him, she simply knows when she's been judged and found not up to standard.

‘Dad, you remember Katie?'

Mr Ryan turns to her. His smile is delayed. ‘Of course I do.'

She can feel Eddie's eyes boring into her. She extends her hand to Mr Ryan. ‘It's nice to see you again, sir.'

He takes her hand. Nods to her. Something in his eyes she has not seen before. ‘Josh's been tellin' me so much about you lately.' He flashes a smile that does not soften the dark contours of his face. ‘Seems your family is the talk of the town once again!'

She can still feel Eddie's eyes locked on her. She's never met him before. She's never met any of the Saunders. Till Uncle Jasper came back home, the Saunders had never seemed important to her. Had never seemed real. They were just a family she'd been told young to keep far away from.

‘You're his niece, aren't you?' The words more spat at her than said.

She turns very slowly to face him. Her reply clumps in her throat and stays there. Mutely, she nods.

Eddie Saunders steps forward towards her. He reaches out one calloused hand and gently lifts her chin so that her eyes meet his. His voice is rough. ‘You're a pretty thing to keep so close to him.' He turns her face slowly from side to side. His gentleness surprises her. She doesn't know what to say. Just looks at him, uncertain. He smiles then, slowly, releasing her chin. She can still
feel the roughness of his calluses even after he's moved his hand. ‘Tell me,' he says softly, ‘are you close with your uncle?'

She hesitates. ‘Well, no, sir, not particularly.'

‘I'd thought as much from what young Josh here's told me.' He leans his back against the tail of Josh's pickup. ‘He's mighty soft on you, that boy.' She feels herself blush. Glances shyly at Josh in time to see his cheeks, too, go red. ‘He's worried 'bout you, you know,' Eddie continues, ‘ 'n' frankly I can see why. Ten years ago you'd just 'bout been your uncle's favourite type.'

Her heartbeat quickens. ‘I appreciate your concerns, sir,' she says uncertainly, ‘but I don' think my uncle would harm us none. Mom trusts him.'

He laughs then, lightly, not for long, then falls silent. ‘I heard he threatened Esther. That true?'

She doesn't want to answer him, but she knows she has to. ‘Yes …'

‘Good,' Eddie says, ‘I'm glad you told the truth there 'cause I already heard the story off Esther. I had to see, is all, if you could be trusted.' He folds his arms across his chest. She'd never expected him to be so tall. ‘See,' he continues, ‘Josh there he's mighty sweet on you 'n' he said we could trust you. He said you're a decent girl. Ain't your fault, I guess, the family you're born into.' Eddie pauses. ‘You strike me as an honest girl. Is that right, Katie?'

‘Yes, sir.'

‘Then tell me,' he says, voice lowering, ‘honestly now, do you feel safe round your uncle?'

‘Now remember,' Mr Ryan chimes in, ‘be honest.'

Josh beside her squeezes her hand.

‘No,' she whispers.

‘Excellent.' Eddie grins. ‘I'm glad to hear that now, I really am. You've got yourself a smart girl there, Josh, not just a looker.' He slaps Josh hard across the back, and Mr Ryan and the other two men chuckle. ‘Now, Katie,' Eddie says, ‘I need you to be honest with me again, OK?'

She nods.

He smiles. ‘Do you think your uncle would hurt anyone again?'

She thinks about Uncle Jasper that first night punching the wall. About the way he grabbed Esther Reynolds's face. About the tender way he holds her sister's hand. She shakes her head. ‘I don't know, sir,' she whispers. ‘I really don't know my uncle very well at all.'

‘He gives you the creeps, though, don't he, baby?' Josh's hand feels warm against her back, comforting, pressing.

‘Yeah.' She looks past the men to where Kristen and Emma stand beside Ray, all three silently watching. ‘He gives me the creeps all righ'.'

Mr Ryan steps forward. ‘We want to keep you safe, Katie.' He's smiling.

Josh turns to her excitedly. ‘I told you I'd tell my daddy 'n' Eddie how he was talkin'. I told you we'd set him straight. I'm done worryin' 'bout you, baby. You don' got to worry no more.'

‘Wait.' She pulls nearly free of Josh's arms. ‘What do you mean you'd “set him straight”?'

It is Eddie who answers her. ‘Don' you worry none no more. That boy there's vouched you ain't like your blood. We won't let no harm come to you.'

Her voice falters. ‘I don't think he means us no harm.'
Her eyes search the men around her almost desperate, almost pleading. ‘He's family.'

‘Now, Katie,' Mr Ryan smiles, ‘doesn't the Bible itself teach us the devil charms in many disguises?'

‘We need your help, Katie,' Eddie says softly, in a voice like he's confiding in her, like he and she are the only two people on earth. ‘Don' be scared now,' he says. ‘I'm gonna be keepin' a close watch over you. Your fella's daddy here 'n' I go way back, 'n' I'm happy to do his boy a good turn. Especially when I know first hand what your uncle is capable of. You understand me?' He searches her face and, slowly, she nods. ‘Good,' he says. ‘I wouldn't wish what happened to my sister on even my enemy's seed.'

She looks at Josh. His father. The other two men standing tall and silent. She looks across the lawn, past the scattered pickups back towards the church beyond. Joanne is playing tag with some other kids her age. Their laughter carries on the humid breeze. She does not see her mother or uncle. Reckons they must still be inside. She looks back to Eddie. ‘What do you want me to do?'

Clouds rolled in low on the horizon just before supper. Heavy dark rain clouds that layered the sky in overlapping shades of grey and stone and slate. The parched earth has started to crack open in angry gashes between the tufts of tall, dried prairie grass.
It really is a miracle
, Lizzie thinks,
how well this garden's lasted.
Of course, she does water it, but only from time to time when all the other chores are either done or can wait. It's late enough, now the primroses are in full bloom. There's a smell of
moisture in the air even though the rain has yet to fall. The wind has picked up a bit, and there's an unseasonable chill to the breeze, like a storm close by is brewing. Moths beat against the porch bulb, their fluttering wings flickering the light. Far off, thunder rolls, and the dark slate clouds move past more quickly. Nearly dark now, but no stars shine through the heavy layers of cloud.