eyebrows, slender, a look of sharpness in her eyes that shows both strength and a sense of keenness. A dishtowel hangs from her hands, likely because she was drawn at once from the kitchen by Toby’s stepbrother’s little outburst. When she peers at me, I am further surprised by a softening in her sharp gaze, which slowly drags down my body, taking me all in. Then, as if spilling a private thought, she murmurs in a suggestive, I-wouldn’t-dare-to-call-it-flirtatious voice, “Why hello and who are you, mister …?”
“I’m Vann.”
Her eyes are hovering on my chest for some reason. “Oh. I’m Marlene. Are you a friend of Lee’s?”
“Hell no, he ain’t,” blurts the stepbrother, whose urgent need to pee apparently isn’t so urgent after all, hovering in the hallway as he is, as if he’ll need to protect his mother from dangerous me.
“Oh. So you’re a friend of … of Toby’s, then? From …?” She has trouble lifting her eyes from my chest to my face, but finally does.
“We’re classmates,” I answer. Is that heavy breathing at my back from Lee? Is he a mouth breather? “I crashed in his shed last night. We hung out after he got off work.”
“Ooh, I see.” Her eyes wander again.
Is she bad at eye contact? Or am I being checked out? “I’m going.”
“Going? Oh, you’re leaving? Why so quickly?” She gives a light glance at the back door, as if curious about Toby for half a second, then shrugs at me. “Why not stay for breakfast? I’m whipping up a plate of Saturday-morning eggs and some—”
“Mom, don’t invite him to stay,” blurts Lee from behind.
I shoot him a look. “Why? You afraid I’m gonna force-feed you your eggs, like your football buddies apparently like to do?”
Lee, who has a body twice my size and weight, shrinks at my words, but his eyes darken indignantly.
Marlene’s forehead crinkles up. “Force-feed …? What?”
“Just a Spruce High inside joke,” I answer coolly with my eyes very deliberately on Lee. Then I turn back to Marlene. “Thanks Ms. Michaels for the invite, but I really gotta get home.”
“You can call me Marlene,” she insists, her face warming.
The back door slides open the next instant, and Toby’s bright and worried face appears. He’s now wearing a blue t-shirt that matches his shorts. At the sight of the three of us, Toby freezes. I can literally hear the alarm bells ringing in his brain as he looks at each of us with mounting concern. “I … H-Hey, uh …” He’s playing catch-up very quickly. “You guys all met? Sorry. I was—I needed to get—Anyway, this is my friend Vann from school, and I—”
“Oh, we did that part already,” Marlene cuts him off sweetly, then laughs. “I invited your friend to stay for breakfast, but he’s—”
“—gotta go,” I finish for her, looking at Toby.
Toby stares at me, a flicker of disappointment in his eyes. “Oh. Okay. I thought we’d …” He runs out of words, then gnaws on his lip in the absence of them, his face contorted with worry.
“Well, Vann here’s got parents, too,” Marlene chirpily carries on, clearly oblivious to any tension in the room, “and they might have a lovely breakfast waiting for him. Do I know your parents?” she asks suddenly, turning back to me. “What’re their names?”
“He’s new here,” Toby throws in quickly. “You wouldn’t—”
“Joseph and Amelia Pane,” I answer anyway. “I doubt you’d know them. We’ve only been here a week or so, but my mom grew up here, however many years back.”
Marlene squints in thought, then lights up. “Oh! I heard about them! Yeah, that’s right, down at Lucille’s, just a few nights ago.” She playfully swats her towel at Toby, causing him to jump. “You didn’t tell me you’re friends with the new guy in town! His papa, Joseph, was at my bar last night havin’ a tall glass of—I forget—with the mayor!” She eyes me. “Apparently your mama is helping out with his reelection campaign, is that so?”
I stare at her. That’s news to me. “She’s doing what?”
Lee has come further into the room, his eyes on Toby. “Wait, are those my shorts?”
Toby distractedly looks at him. “Well, yeah, they are. Because you clearly took my underwear I keep in the bathroom, and after my shower last night, I needed—”
“Wait. You’re wearing my shorts without underwear??”
“We both have to share that bathroom, y’know!” gripes Toby.
I don’t pay attention to the two of them as they go at each other. My gaze has dropped to