make out the vague shape of him. His face was a dark oval surrounded by shaggy hair. He seemed to have no eyes, no nose or mouth.
“Is it okay if we just sit here for a minute?” he asked. He sounded hesitant, a little sad.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.”
“Toby?”
“Please?”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come on. What is it?”
“It’s just…if I take you back, it’ll all be over. Maybe I’ll never see you again. I don’t want to never see you again.”
“Hey,” she said gently. Shaking her head, she reached out and patted his knee. “We’re friends now. We’ll see each other.”
“Nah. I don’t think so. I think…after tonight, you won’t wanta have anything to do with me.”
“Sure, I will.” She gave his knee a squeeze.
“Nah. You won’t. You wanta know what’ll happen? You’re gonna find out I lied about Duane, then you’ll be mad at me and—”
“What do you mean, you lied about Duane?”
“Well…I never saw him go off with that guy.”
“What?”
“That queer guy in the net shirt I told you about? I made him up.”
“You made him up?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry.” He sighed. “I figured I’d…you know, if I told you a story about Duane walking off with some guy, maybe you’d let me drive you around to look for him.”
“You’re kidding,” Sherry muttered.
“I’m sorry. I know it was a dumb thing to do.”
She realized her hand was still on his knee. She took it away. “You lied about the whole thing?”
“Pretty much.”
“Did you see Duane at all?”
“Yeah. I saw him.”
“Saw him do what? If he didn’t walk off with the guy you told me about, where did he go?”
“I’m not so sure you want to know,” Toby said.
“Believe me, I want to know.”
“It’s pretty bad. It’s another reason why I lied and wanted to take you for a drive—to get you away from it. I guess…I sort of wanted to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?”
Toby shook his head.
“Tell me.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Come on, I want to know what happened.”
“When he came out of the Speed-D-Mart, he ran into this woman. He called her Grace.”
“Grace?”
“Do you know her?”
Sherry shook her head.
“Duane knew her real well. First they kissed, right there in front of the store. Then they went over to his van and got in. But the van didn’t leave. And they didn’t come out. Grace was still in there with him when you came along. That’s why I made up the story about the queer guy. I mean, I wanted to save you from finding him that way.”
She gazed at Toby, stunned.
“I’m sorry I lied,” he said. “The thing is, I thought the truth would hurt you.”
“My God,” she muttered.
Duane goes to the Speed-D-Mart for condoms, then has to try them out on this Grace woman? So he’s in the back of his van, having a merry old time with her while I’m worried sick about him, searching high and low, half-figuring he’s dead or something.
What sort of bastard…?
Hang on, she told herself. Maybe it didn’t happen. All I’ve got is Toby’s say-so, and he lies.
Would Duane do something like that? she wondered.
Might. Who knows what a guy’ll do, you wave a hot babe in front of him?
“Are you all right?” Toby asked, sounding very timid.
She shook her head.
“I didn’t want to tell you,” he said.
“I…It’s all right. It’s something I…I’m glad you told me.”
Gotta find out if it’s true, that’s the thing.
“I don’t want to say anything bad about your boyfriend,” Toby said, “but he must be a real jerk. You know what I mean?”
“Oh, yeah.”
If he did it…
“To do that to you. I mean, he was so lucky to have you, and then to treat you that way…” Toby shook his head. “Not just a jerk, but nuts.”
“I’m just glad I found out now. Before things went any further with him.”
“Yeah. I’m really sorry.”
“Not your fault. But I wish you’d told me the truth in the first place.”
I could’ve taken a look in the van right then and there, she thought.
“I couldn’t,” Toby said. “Huh-uh. ‘Oh, yeah, I saw him, all right. He’s over there in his van doing it with some other gal.’” Toby shook his head. “No way. I couldn’t tell you that. I like you too much. I couldn’t stand the idea of hurting you like that. And, like I said, I got this idea about the two of us driving around to look for him. I thought you were so terrific when you were subbing for Mr. Chambers, and this’d be my big