murders, Mary. I’m already running a pretty serious risk just being this close.”
“Tucker, you’re thinking like a human.”
He considered that a moment. “Thank you.”
“In this case, it’s holding us back. We can easily get ourselves out of a situation with the police, if necessary.” She was so excited her radiance was spinning fast enough to make a whirring noise. “I know the idea of seeing your father again might be scary. I’m scared to face mine again, too. But…won’t you always wonder what if? A hundred years from now, when he’s gone, do you want to sit around wishing you’d said goodbye? What if he’s sorry about the way things were left between you two? Don’t you want to give him the chance to…to purge the regrets?”
“Jesus, you make a compelling case.” She could sense him shaking his head. “But, nah. I’d just be opening up old wounds.”
“Sometimes wounds don’t heal right and need a little surgery.”
Tucker made a sound.
Mary managed to stay quiet for a full minute of driving, before saying, “Why don’t I go trick or treating at your father’s house? I can just knock on the door. You can stay hidden and decide whether or not you want to make your presence known.”
“The plan was to compel people into giving you candy, kid.” He was starting to budge! She could feel the thinning of his barriers. “I don’t want to compel my father.”
“I’m a blind girl. I got confused about the date of Halloween.” She pursed her lips. “See? I think I can manage to get candy from a kind old man without employing your vampire magic.”
Tucker hedged. “Mary…”
She felt her way over to his forearm and held. “Do you ever have a feeling about something? Like your bones are telling you…this is important? It’s the feeling I got when we met in Enders. There isn’t always an explanation. You just have to trust your gut.”
A beat passed. “And your gut is telling me to visit my pops?”
“Yes,” Mary said firmly, squeezing his arm. Meaning it. Yes.
They drove for another few moments, before Tucker signaled and Mary felt them traveling downward, as if on a highway off-ramp.
She slumped, but tension remained inside of her.
Please let me be doing the right thing.
“I’m probably going to scare the living shit out of him,” Tucker muttered.
“At least you don’t have to explain the bitch earring.”
“There is that.”
Chapter 13
Lying low while in his hometown was imperative, but Tucker couldn’t help pulling the Impala to a stop outside the edge of a street light’s glow and taking a glance down Main Street. Couldn’t help but recall the last time he’d driven through the main drag of Buckhannon, waving at some neighbors, being laughed at by those kids. A lot had changed since that day.
Instead of advertising prepaid phone cards, the drug store promoted Juul pods in their window. There was a banner hanging high above the street announcing a fall festival, attracting people with the promise of pony rides and a pie eating contest. That was familiar. Except for the social media handles included along the bottom of the banner. Little things that signaled an entirely different world—and yet, the changes meant nothing to him.
Tucker was a part of no human world. Not new or old.
He looked at Main Street now the way people stare up at galaxies through a telescope. It was always there, hovering on the edge of his consciousness, but it would only ever be something to watch and marvel over. Never a place he could set foot.
The heel of his hand lifted to rub at the nostalgic pull in his sternum.
“What are you thinking about?” Mary asked.
He cleared his throat and forced a smile onto his face. “That I’d give anything to walk into the diner and order a stack of pancakes. Bacon on the side.” He tapped a finger against inside of the driver’s side window. “Sign is the same, so I’m guessing the place hasn’t changed hands. Bet their daughters are helping out now, though. Junie and Melissa. They were just kids last time I was here.”
“Did you get into a lot of trouble on this street when you were young?”
“Only the usual kind. Sneaking cigarettes and begging twentysomethings to buy us beer. Burning rubber to beat a red light. Listening to music too loud and getting dirty looks from senior citizens.” The smile on his face felt easy as a breeze, like it had been brought to him as a gift from the past. “When