I shook my head. “Not this time.”
“You didn’t take one last time, and she didn’t show, either. It’s not the gun.”
“I couldn’t use it. If I pulled that thing, they’d see right through me. Stella would probably laugh it off.”
“Laugh off a .38 in the face? I really need to meet this chick.”
Auntie Jo groaned again in her sleep.
“Are you sure you’re okay watching her for a few more hours?”
Dunk glanced back at her. “Where else I gotta be? She’s not much trouble. We got ourselves a date to watchHangin’ with Mr. Cooperin about an hour, ain’t that right, Auntie Jo?”
“No heroin.”
“No heroin, check. Not that kind of party. Pot’s cool, though, right? Mr. Cooper is funny and all, but he’s the shit with some Mary Jane.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can’t believe I trust you with her.”
Dunk slid the gun back into his waistband. Somehow, that worked for him. “I’m just playing, you know I’ve got this. Go, before you miss missing your girl when she blows you off yet again.”
“Open a window,” I said, heading back out the door.
“I’ll run that past the committee, see how the idea flies.”
I was already down the first flight of stairs and halfway down the next before I heard the door close above me.
It was twelve after six by the time I jumped the fence at the side of the cemetery and started up the hill. I glanced in the direction of my parents’ graves. I felt guilty for not stopping, but there wasn’t any time, not now, anyway.
By the time I reached the top of the hill, my legs ached and my lungs burned. I stopped at the mausoleums to catch my breath. I bent over, massaged my calves, and sucked in air. At my wrist, the hands of my watch ticked forward—6:14 p.m.
I stood and followed the path through the mausoleums. When the empty bench came into view, my heart sank. I really didn’t expect her to be there. Iwantedher to be there, Ihopedshe’d be there, but deep down, I knew she wouldn’t be. Most likely, I’d never see her again.
Dunk said he understood why I had to come here, year after year. He said he understood why I had to see her again. He said he got it. I wanted to believe him, but I wasn’t sure I really did, because I didn’t really get it.
I should hate her. She had been nothing but mean to me nearly every time I encountered her in the past. Herpeople, and I could think of no other way to describe them, had tried to kill me, or, at the very least, tried to scare me real good.
I should hate her.
But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t.
Help me
Her words.
Her words to me, all those years ago. A plea unanswered.
I plopped down onto the empty bench and rested my head in my hands, my eyes closed.
Five minutes later, I heard the rumble of an engine, the crunch of tires on pavement.
I looked up.
A single white SUV approached, the windows tinted nearly opaque, headlights on, even though it was still light out.
