“He’s not really dumb, but he acts dumb.” Branna heard the disgust in the boy’s voice.
While she talked with Mikey, she let her eyes drift around the streets of Howling. She and Belle had spent many of their days wandering along them. They’d sat for hours at the edge of the lake and hiked through the trails with the redwoods standing over them. Annabelle Smith had been the best friend a girl could ever have.
From the day Branna had walked into the high school, kids had started in on her:
“You talk funny.”
“My dad said the only thing Irish people did well was grow potatoes.”
“Hey, O’Donnell, top of the morning to ya.”
The words didn’t hurt her now, and almost seemed funny, but back then Branna had already been raw with grief and anger and too young to deal with the pain.
She’d been locked in the cubicle in the girl’s bathroom crying one day, when Belle had found her. “If you’re going to let them do this to you every day, O’Donnell, it’s going to be a long school year for you.” Branna had heard those words through the door and simple curiosity had made her open it, and there had stood Annabelle Smith, her savior.
“Branna O’Donnell, just the woman I wanted to see!”
If she hadn’t been daydreaming, Branna would have seen the woman coming toward the car and recognized her as Macy Reynolds-Delray, because not much about her had changed in the years since Branna had left Howling. She quickly got out before Macy saw Mikey hiding in the backseat and walked to greet the homecoming queen.
“Hello, Macy.”
“Welcome back to Howling,” the woman said with a fake smile that went nowhere near her eyes. “I was hoping to get your help with the reunion. We need some flyers done up and maybe something for the press. I wondered if I could leave that with you.”
Macy waved a perfectly manicured hand about, as if they’d seen each other yesterday and Branna would simply fall in with her plans, like most people had always done. Her blonde curls were styled beautifully. Although on closer inspection, Branna thought that maybe there was a bottle of dye involved now. Dressed in a tight, emerald, satin sheath that clung to her ample breasts, she wore matching heels so high that they would have given Branna vertigo. She looked ready to go out for an evening, not walk down the main street of Howling at midday, but even in school, she’d managed to make her uniform look like a prom dress.
“Sorry, Macy, I won’t be attending the reunion,” Branna said calmly.
Just like in school, Macy didn’t hear what she didn’t want to and simply carried on talking.
“We can get the high school logo to you as soon as you like.”
“Macy!” Branna raised her voice to get the woman’s attention. “I don’t think you understand. I will not be attending your reunion, nor will I be helping with posters and press releases.”
In school, Macy would have cried crocodile tears and sniffed a lot while making a scene that drew all her friends to her side; not now, however. She just looked at Branna with cold eyes.
“I’m sorry that you feel that way about the school that educated you, Branna.”
“Three years, Macy, it was not the only place I received an education, and certainly not the most memorable,” Branna said with a bit more feeling than was warranted.
“Well then, if that’s the way you feel, I’m sure it’s not my place to change your mind.”
Branna felt like she’d just kicked a puppy, hard, with large boots on. The woman didn’t flinch, nor did she censure her, but Branna felt as if she’d just let Macy down badly and had no idea why that bothered her so much. The old Macy Reynolds would have made a scene, but not this one; she kept her face expressionless.
“Hey, Macy,” Jake said as he stopped at Branna’s side.
“Jake.” Macy flicked her hand in the air and then walked away.
“You want to take this, Rosebud, before it melts?”
Dragging her eyes from Macy’s retreating back, Branna took the cone and licked a drip before it fell.
“You have to admire a woman who can walk like that in stilts.”
“Amen,” Branna said, watching Macy walk with the ease of someone who’d worn heels for years and hadn’t fallen off them once.
Chapter6
“How did you know I like peanut butter?”
