Jane
Now
“Can I have the keys to the truck?” I ask Pa. Sweat’s pouring off me; I wipe my face with the hem of my shirt.
I’ve been working up at the ridge all morning, picking blackberries off the vines. I could’ve taken the day off, but I’ve been trying my best to avoid everyone.
Especially Luke.
“Why? Where you goin?” Pa asks. His shirt is wrinkled, his hair’s a mess, and he looks even more hungover than I do.
“Swimming hole. I’d take Cookie, but Julia must’ve—”
“Yep. She left a while ago. Said she was going on a ride, stopping at the general store.”
I sigh. I hate it when Julia takes Cookie. Cookie’s mine, and Julia doesn’t even like horses that much. She’s just doing it to get back at me for getting to go out last night. Oh, well, at least it means she won’t be at the river, spying on me.
“Couldn’t you just ride with Luke?”
Another sigh huffs out of me. “Icould, but…we had a fight.”
Pa raises an eyebrow. “Anything serious? Anything I need to know about?”
“No, it’s fine. But I just don’t wanna hang out with him today, ya know?”
“Oh, I know. Believe me,” he grumbles, and I wonder whatthe hell he’s talking about.
He digs the keys out of his pocket, slaps them in my hand, then squeezes my shoulder while pecking me on my head. “Have fun, Sunshine.”
“Will do! Later!”
I scurry out the front door before Mom rears her ugly, miserable head.
As I’m walking down the steps, I see him leaning against his Camaro. His hands are burrowed in his pockets; his face looks sheepish.
Luke still feels bad.
Good.
He’s got his swimming trunks on, towel dangling from his neck, and he points to the car, his way of asking if I’d like a ride.
I want to forgive him. I want to go over and hug him, climb in the car, forget our spat, but I have to make him suffer a littlelonger. I don’t totally trust him. Not just yet.
I shake my head, holding up Pa’s car key as if it’s a trophy.
Last night, soon after he and Blair stumbled out of the woods,together, we left. It’s like the whole mood shifted right then and there. Pa rounded us up, his face serious all of a sudden, and angrily told us it was time to leave.
Had he happened to notice that Mom and Nellie’s dad had been missing from the party for a little while, at the same time?
“Let’s go! We need to get on home. Molly’s gonna wake us all up at dawn.”
I didn’t argue. I was seething, ready to go, teeth gritting every time I glanced over and saw Luke.
I wouldn’t even speak to him until we were nearly home, when he raced off the highway onto our blacktop.
“You can’t just shut me out, Jane. I said I was sorry. I know it looked bad, but nothing happened between me and Blair—”
“Fuck you,” I growled. I’d never spoken like that to him, but I was humiliated and seriously upset. And very drunk.
