“I don’t think so. She said thanks she’d talk to you later or something like that. Went off on her way and I cooked my own breakfast because Valerie wouldn’t get up and do it.”
“I’m going to go see Angelle,” Boon said, taking a step toward the stairs.
“And I’m going to see Brandt. Let me know what’s going on and when we’re leaving.”
“Leaving?” Maverik asked. “Who’s leaving? Why? For how long?”
“Angelle agreed to go home with me to meet my people and spend some time in my community to see if she might like it there,” Boon said.
“Then why’d you go home without her?” Maverik asked.
“I couldn’t ask her to stay in the place I was living,” Boon said.
“Think hovel. Barely a structure,” Tempest said.
“Hey, it was a hut.”
“Almost,” Tempest said. “We made it a much nicer place.”
“I couldn’t take her to stay in a place that wasn’t worthy of her.”
“That’s how you do it,” Maverik said, tapping his temple, “gotta think of things like that. Yep, you just might win her over yet.”
“I’m going to see Angelle,” Boon said, jogging toward the steps.
“Y’all tell a body before you go off again!” Maverik yelled after him. “And go away! I’m busy cutting the grass!”
“And the dirt,” Tempest said.
Maverik winked at her and grinned as he put his headphones back on, started his riding mower and rode away as he stirred up another dust cloud, singing again just as loudly as he could.
~~~
Boon knocked on Angelle’s front door and waited for someone to answer.
No one came right away, so he knocked again.
Still no one answered despite the fact he could hear noise from inside the house.
Taking a moment to consider his options, he knocked again.
Inside the house…
Angelle lay across her bed, fidgeting with the remote to her television. The TV wasn’t on, she was just absently picking at the edges of the remote as her mind wandered. The sound ofsomeone knocking just barely registered in her subconscious, but the last thing she wanted to do right now was pretend to be nice. She was in no mood to be nice, so she stayed in her room, confident that her parents would answer the door.
A minute or two later, whoever was at their door knocked again. Other than glancing irritatedly in the direction of the front of the house, Angelle ignored it again. She tossed her remote up toward the pillows at the head of her bed and flopped onto her back. “Just go away,” she murmured.
Less than a minute later, whoever it was knocked again.
Really irritated now, Angelle quickly jumped to her feet and strode up the hallway to the living room. “I know you both are just sitting here watching television! Why don’t you answer the door?” she asked as she came around the corner and into the living room. She awkwardly came to a stop when she found her mother sitting on the sofa glaring at her father. Her father was seated in his recliner, but both his feet were planted firmly on the ground. His scowl told her more than anything else.
“Why are you so angry?” Angelle asked.
“Your mother said if I open the door I have to be civil. I don’t think this situation calls for civil. I think it calls for me whipping some ass, but I’ve been forbidden from doing so until I ask about the issue at hand,” Daniel explained through clenched teeth.
“And the problem with that?” Avaleigh asked.
“I don’t care what the answer is. I want to kick his ass,” Daniel said.
