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A throat clears behind me, and I turn to lock eyes with Mace. She holds out her hand, and I literally bite my tongue, no confusion at all about what she wants.
I rip open the buttons and remove my jacket. Taking three steps, I hold it out to her. “On one condition,” I say.
She grabs for it, and I pull it back. “If the Pirates win,” I tell her. “You give it back.”
She rises and snatches it out of my hand. “I’ll take that bet.”
The man, who I assume is Mr. Fletcher, takes a brush and dusts the hair off Coral’s neck. She hops up, stuffing cash in his hand before taking her keys out of her pants. “Where are we going?” she asks me.
But I pluck her keys away from her instead. “I’m driving. You’re toasted.”
“No one drives my car.”
But I’m already heading out of the barber shop.
“Let her drive your car,” Mace mumbles.
I hold the door open for them and lock eyes with Tommy who still leans against the wall. “You coming?” I ask her. “I think you’re going to want to be in on this.”
I don’t wait. Walking to the car, I slide into the driver’s seat and hear the doors slam shut before I start the engine. As I shift it intoDrive, one of the back doors opens again, and I see Tommy through the rearview mirror, climbing in.
I press the gas and pull out into the street.
I barely have to think about it before the only place to bury it that makes sense occurs to me. I drive to the bridge.
I suppose they all didn’t need to come with me. I only need one person’s help to lift the locker. But I’m sure Coral wasn’t letting me take her car anywhere without her.
Still, though. I’m glad they’re here.
I pull onto the bridge, cross to the halfway point, and swerve as far to the left as I can, parking. They follow me out of the car as I walk to the rear and unlock the trunk. Opening it up, I see the yellow locker laying amidst a bunch of other stuff. A blanket, a cooler, a kite, and a shovel. I shake my head. I’ll process that later.
I start to lift the locker, Mace grabbing the other side.
“So, what’s the story with this thing?” she asks me.
We carry it around the front of the car. “Just some family history bullshit that needs to die.”
I throw a glance to Tommy as she leans on the fender. Her expression is blank, but she doesn’t argue.
We lift it over the side of the bridge, Coral coming to my other side as I look down into the dark water. The wind blows, creating a ripple on the river, but I almost think I see the dark form of the car below.
But then, it’s gone.
I grip the locker, hesitating as I turn my gaze on Thomasin, waiting for her to protest. It’s her mom’s old locker, after all.
She doesn’t even blink.
“Ready?” I ask Mace, tilting it.
“Are you sure it’s empty?” she questions.
But it’s already gone.
Plummeting into the river, the steel box slowly fills with water and sinks as we all hang our heads over the side to watch it join the other ghosts at the bottom. There’s nothing inside. We would’ve heard it shift while carrying it.
The girls drift off, and I hear chatter and laughter behind me, only me and Tommy remaining at the edge. She stands several feet away, déjà vu hitting me, because the last time we stood on a bridge together—the train bridge down the road two months ago—we were all jumping off from it.
“Kade will be gone at the end of the year,” I say, still staring at the water. “And A.J. and James won’t come in until after you graduate.”
