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“All right. How about this. We’ll go down tomorrow, or today rather, and I’ll go with you. And I’ll just nose around a little bit. And see what they think about things.”
“No. I’m quitting, and that’s final.”
Rodney didn’t say anything else. Becky could be as stubborn as anyone he’d ever met. She was like a brick wall when she made up her mind. But that was a good thing, too. Because when she gave her loyalty, she gave it with her whole heart. And for some reason, she was loyal to him.
He wasn’t sure why, other than maybe he didn’t tell on her and he fed her the first time he met her. She gave him access into her... Maybe not heart. But at least into her mind. Still, he knew there was no changing it this time. But he didn’t need her permission. He could walk down with her whenever she went to work in the morning, and he could still talk. Whether she liked it or not.
It turned out that he fell asleep, and when he woke up, she was gone.
He grabbed his phone from his dresser and looked at the time. Eleven o’clock.
He hadn’t gone to bed until after she had come in. Lately he’d been listening for her, watching and waiting.
He worried a little about what they were going to do when school started again. Becky needed a home. She couldn’t just come into his house, sleep in his bed, and continue with what they were doing. Not only could he get in trouble, but it couldn’t be good for her. As much as he...kind of wanted to keep it the way it was.
He went to the kitchen to grab one of the pastries that were usually sitting on the counter. His mom hated it, because it wasn’t healthy, but his dad always kept some goodies around and just laughed at his mom’s irritation.
He was pretty sure his parents weren’t sharing the same room anymore, but he tried to stay out of their business, because he didn’t like to know those kinds of things.
He could hear his mom talking on a conference call through the door to her room, and he could also hear his dad’s music blasting from his dad’s office door.
Neither one of them were going to notice if he was gone. He didn’t bother to tell them.
There was nothing on the schedule for him to do today, nothing until next week when he had tennis lessons at the country club in Blueberry Beach.
He could leave until then, and he was pretty sure his parents wouldn’t notice. Giving Karen, who worked in the kitchen, a wink, he waved the pastry he snatched from the carton on the counter and walked by her.
She clucked her tongue at him, shaking her head, but didn’t say anything.
Chapter 15
Rodney walked backto his room, grabbed his wallet, shoved it in his back pocket, and walked down over the fields toward Strawberry Sands. After a few miles, he hit the upper end, intending to walk through town to the stable on the far side. He was late enough that Becky might even be done with her work. If so, she might be at the diner. He’d peek in on his way by.
Turned out he didn’t have to, since she came up the sidewalk as he walked down.
He nodded at one of the Landry brothers, Luke he thought it was, who was hauling a load of hay through town. He pretended not to see Kristin and her gram, Miss Heather, as they came out of the diner and headed across the street.
