chance to spend a little time with you…I know it was wrong to lie…But also, I figured by the time we’d get done searching around, maybe Duane would be finished with this other gal. So then you might never have to find out what a horrible cheating creep he really is. That’s also one of the reasons why I wanted us to stop and have a snack—so he’d have more time to get done screwing around in his van. So maybe you wouldn’t catch him at it. But then when it came time to turn around, I got to thinking what if they’re still doing it? I couldn’t just take you back to the Speed-D-Mart and have you find them in the van like that. So…now you know. I guess I can take you back, now, if you want.”
She nodded. “Might as well.”
“To the van?”
“Yeah. Please. If it’s still there.”
“What’ll you do?”
“Find him, for starters. Then I’ll listen to what he has to say for himself. Maybe it wasn’t what it looked like.”
And maybe it didn’t happen at all, she reminded herself. Grace might be no more real than the guy Duane supposedly walked away with.
“What do you think it was?” Toby asked.
“I don’t know. But I want to reserve my judgment till I’ve talked to him. It’s just…hard to believe he could do anything that rotten.”
“I’m pretty sure he did, though. I mean, you should’ve seen how he kissed her. Their mouths were open. And she was sort of squirming against him, and he had a hand on her rear end. He was, you know, rubbing her butt while he kissed her.”
Thanks for telling me that, Sherry thought. It gave her a heavy, sick feeling.
“She was wearing this really short skirt,” Toby went on. “And nothing under it.”
“What?”
“No panties.”
“How do you know that?” Sherry asked.
Why is he telling me these things?
“The wind kept blowing her skirt up,” he said.
“Wonderful,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up, that’s all. I know it wasn’t just some innocent thing. They went in the van to…finish what they’d started.”
“If that’s really what happened.”
He raised his right hand. “I swear to God.”
“Well, I’ll have to make up my own mind about it—see what Duane says.”
“He’ll probably just lie to you.”
“Let him try. He’ll have a tough time getting away with it. Anyway, I’m about ready to go. How about you?”
“I guess so.”
Instead of starting his car, however, he continued to stare at her.
“What is it?” she asked.
“You sure you wanta go back to the van?”
“Pretty sure.”
“What if he’s still in there with Grace?”
The thought of it made her feel sick inside. “Meet the competition,” she muttered. “Not that there’ll be any competition. If Duane’s got a woman with him…” She shook her head. “That’ll be the last he ever sees of me.”
“Won’t it hurt an awful lot?”
“It already hurts an awful lot.”
“Why don’t you not go back to the van? You know? Just forget about it. I’ll take you home, instead.”
“Home? You mean back to Duane’s place?”
“You don’t want to go there, do you?”
If Duane’s not back yet, she thought, I can pretend I never went out looking for him. Say I fell asleep, find out what he has to say about his disappearance.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
“It’d be an awful idea. You don’t wanta go to his place, not after what he’s done.”
“So you think I should just go back to my place and…what, wait for him to get in touch with me?”
“My place,” Toby said.
“Your place?”
“Sure. That way, Duane won’t know where you went. Neat, huh? He disappeared on you, so now you disappear on him. Make him do the worrying.”
With a grim laugh, Sherry shook her head. “Not sure he’d worry too much, not if he’s spent the past hour or two screwing someone in the back of his van. Probably be glad I’m gone.”
“How about it, though? We’ve got a really nice guest room. It’ll be fun. Anyway, you shouldn’t really be by yourself on a night like this. Things are kind of crazy. The wind…” He shook his head. “The power’s already out in some places. You wouldn’t want to be all alone in your apartment and have the lights go out, would you?”
“Oh, I think I could survive that.”
“And the fires…”
“They’re all pretty far away.”
“But you never know. What if all of a sudden you needed to evacuate?”