Brynner spun on his heel and walked back to the truck.
BRYNNER
Drunk women. Desperate women. Powerless women. I admit to having low standards, but those three were deal breakers. I wanted partners who wanted me, who could enjoy the experience and return the favor.
I wanted to believe what she said, but my gut said she was dangerously close to begging me for help. I’d seen more than once how begging turned to offering. While I’d turned down Grace once, I didn’t trust myself to do it a second time.
I rode my frustration most of the way to Aunt Emelia’s house. There, I sat in the truck, trying to figure out how exactly I’d go about this.
The day I turned eighteen, I’d walked to the highway and hitchhiked away. Never came back. That choice set a pattern that ruled the next six years of my life. I worked to find some other emergency to chase, some reason for not returning. Saying I was wrong.
I told myself I was looking for Mom.
And ignored Dad’s calls and messages until it was too late. When I looked up, Bran stood on the porch. The man who opened his home to me. Back then, I was just too angry to accept it. Now I wasn’t sure how.
I swung out of the truck and approached the stairs, painfully aware of the dried blood on my skin, the mud caking me. “If I stay here, I’m afraid I’ll put you in danger. If I leave, Grace is going to get herself killed. What do I do?”
Bran looked me up and down, grimaced. “You can’t come in here.”
Of course not.
He pointed to the side. “You get mud on Emmy’s white carpet, she’ll kill you twice. Hose off in the laundry room. She’s heating up dinner for you.”
“But the Re- Animus—I’m scared of what it might do.”
Bran came down the stairs, looking up at me to meet my gaze. “Ain’t nobody gets out of life alive. You’re scared because you finally found something to care about. Night, boy.” He walked back inside, leaving me to find my way up the back stairs.
After thirty minutes I had most of New Mexico washed off me. Aunt Emelia met me in the hallway, a plate of fried chicken in her hand. She put one hand on my arm. “You can leave anytime you want. But don’t run off.”
I slept through the night, waking only when the doorbell rang, which around here, had to be Grace. Her musical voice floated in from the kitchen, followed by my aunt’s laughter.
“Brynner? Boy, get up. Grace is here.” The smell of fried eggs drifting from the kitchen made me ravenous. I stalled as long as possible, then lumbered out into the kitchen, ready for extreme awkwardness.
Aunt Emelia sat alone with enough eggs to hatch a flock of fried chicken. “Grace ate breakfast at the diner, said she had to get to work. I figure you two have a lot to do.”
Not with her. “I’m going out to visit Mr. Parker. Three of those four meat-skins were recent burials. Clothes had no stains, flesh still firm on the bone.” I devoured eggs while I talked. “Hadn’t even started rotting proper. And the bodies weren’t anywhere near done right.”
Emelia’s face turned the same color green as the porcelain on her stove. “It’s like having your father back for breakfast.”
And I let it go.
“Aunt Emelia, would you mind giving Mr. Parker a call first? Might make the visit go a little easier.” I gave her my pleading eyes, which looked just like the “Come on up to my room” eyes minus the “inviting my aunt to my bedroom” angle.
She frowned. “You look a little gassy. Are you feeling okay? I’ll call him in a few minutes.”
“I feel fine.”
She patted me on the head like I was eight. “You bringing Grace along?”
“He’s not.” Grace stood in the kitchen doorway. She looked over to Aunt Emelia. “I’ve got a mountain of journals to lay out and then start translating, but I have some questions. Did Brynner play baseball?”
My aunt nodded. “In fourth grade and fifth grade. He still holds the record for biggest brawl in Bentonville Little League.”
I walked out, eager to be anywhere but there while my aunt recapped every second of my life, and got in the truck. I drove through the center of the town and out the other side, heading east. The freeway miles rolled way, until I took an exit and pulled down a side road.