Page 50 of A Future To Remember

“Another one of those psychic feelings?”

I nodded. “He committed suicide, right?”

“Yeah. Threw himself off the highest bluff at the Ashton Reservoir. His parents, Kristy and Mike Bishop, were devastated. That was their only son. They nearly split up after Luca died. It destroyed them, and all because Levi couldn’t keep his…urges to himself. His story was that it was a mutual attraction, but I mean, come on. Luca was the one with the prom-queen girlfriend. Not a gay bone in his body, but there’d long been rumors about Levi. He never confessed the truth that he was the aggressor, even after Luca died. He deserves a reminder now and then that he ain’t really welcome in this town.”

I stared at Cash for a long time, trying not to allow the anger forming in the pit of my stomach to color how I felt about the lawman. It was damn hard. “How’s he supposed to get out of here, Sheriff?”

“Whaddya mean?”

“I’m assuming his parents kicked him to the curb after he was outed?”

“His dad’s a Christian, God-fearing man, Maddy. He felt like he had no choice but to throw that sinner out of his house.”

I took a bite of the cheeseburger, dumbfounded by the lack of empathy on display before me. I chewed angrily for a minute, thinking about my next words.

“Levi can no more help who he is—and has always been—than you can. If you and the other people in this town think being gay is a choice, then you’re a town full of fools and bigots.”

Cash held up his hand and closed his eyes, asking me for patience. “Listen,” he said, after a moment. “I’m not saying that Levi chose his lifestyle, but he has chosen to act on it, and that’s gotten a bright young man with a promising future killed. It’s the consequence of choosing that kind of lifestyle. Everything that’s happened to Levi since that night is simply God’s way of exacting a price for not following His teachings.”

I stared up at the ceiling, as if the white tiles above me could offer a cooler head. Taking a few deep breaths, I finally said, “Being gay isn’t a lifestyle, Sheriff. It’s merely a preference for the gender Levi is attracted to. You’re attracted to women. I’m attracted to men. Wanda’s attracted to men. Poor Hank is attracted to women. Levi’s attracted to men. Nobody’s upset at any of those preferences except for Levi’s, and that’s bullshidirt!”

I was hopping mad. I wanted to grab Cash’s lapels and shake some fucking sense into him, and now that I was worked up, I was finding it damn hard to speak calmly.

Jabbing the air in front of Cash’s face, I spat, “Further, that young man has paid enough of a price. He’s homeless, disrespected, broke, and treated like crap by this town for a supposed minor incident that occurred more than two years ago. It’s time you people got over it, and as long as I work here, I’m going to make sure he’s treated with some respect! He’s a good kid. Any parent should be proud of his kindness and his work ethic. Any citizen in a small town like this should be happy to have him around. Proud, even.”

Cash stared at me with lips that’d formed a flat line. It was clear he was ticked off, but he was also allowing me to have my say.

Eventually, when I sat back in my seat and simply glared at him, he lowered his gaze back to his pie and polished off the last bite before pushing the plate aside. “Can we not fight about this?” he asked softly.

“Sure. Just as long as you promise to look out for him the next time he’s about to get roughed up. After all, aren’t you the protector for all citizens in this town, Sheriff?”

Cash looked up at me again, and I finally saw a hint of concern. “Who’s roughing up Levi?”

“I don’t know. He won’t tell me. But he’s nursing bruises just like I am. Somebody’s been knocking him around, and, Sheriff, if they pull that shidirt in front of me, I’m gonna shidirt all over them, if you get my drift.”

The corners of Cash’s mouth quirked. “I shidirt do.”

I rolled my eyes and took another big bite of the burger, tucking back into my lunch with earnest. I wanted to get over to the church again before the dinner crowd arrived. There was a lamp I had my eye on, and a pair of jeans and a used pair of sneakers that barely looked worn that were in Levi’s size. The tip money I’d earned so far was doing wonders to brighten up the apartment above the diner. It almost felt homey, and in another day or two, I might have enough money for a TV. There was one at the church for sale for fifty bucks. I had half of that set aside already.

After wiping my mouth with a paper napkin, I got my temper fully under control and said, “You said earlier that you needed to talk to me. What’s up?”

Cash held up a finger, silently telling me to hold that thought, then got up with his mug and headed to the coffee pot behind the counter, poured himself a fresh cup, then came back to me.

As he sat down again, he said, “I wanted to ask you a favor, and you can say no if it’d make you uncomfortable.”

“Sounds ominous.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. It’d be unconventional, at least.”

“What is it?”

Despite my irritation with the sheriff and his antiquated Christian-fundamentalist views, since the day I’d met him, he’d been kind and patient with me. Maybe I could slowly and methodically plant some seeds of doubt with his preconceived notions about Levi. In the meantime, I couldn’t help but feel intrigued by what Cash wanted to talk to me about.

“You remember when you looked at that curb down the street?”

I dipped another fry into my shake and nodded while I chewed. “The place where your dad was murdered?”

Cash winced slightly. “Yeah. That one.”