Chapter 16

Alex’s goal for the night was to wow Evelyn Surrey’s granddaughter, Kate, because Evelyn had said Kate would eat his lunch. Even though he knew it was childish, Kate would be eating out of his hand like his pet pony after the night’s events.

To accomplish that, Alex knew he had to come out of his shell and not sit back and watch everyone to see how he should fit in. The trick would be to have her notice him and be attracted. Otherwise, he’d be at a disadvantage with a girl like Kate, the kind of girl who could sense blood in the water and would have—dare he think it—his lunch.

He’d seen it hundreds of times back in Philly. Some poor guy would fall for a girl only to have her break his heart into shards of glass and use them to cut his throat. Of course, guys were willing to say or do anything to get into a girl’s pants. So it only made sense that girls had learned to put a guy in his place. He imagined that for them, it was hard to figure out who was sincere and who was just a player.

Back in Philly, Alex hadn’t had many crushes. It was Tones who encouraged him to chat up girls. Alex had watched enough guys to know what worked and what didn’t. So, when he was sent in to extract a couple of girls from the herd for him and Tones, Alex was confident. More times than not, he’d been successful.

The problem he’d encountered in Conclave was that without Tones forcing him to do that, Alex had reverted to his true self. The first girl he’d wanted to date hadn’t been ready. Then the whole Moondust episode happened, and it turned out the girl’s father and brother were involved.

Afterward, Natasha moved here. Alex had always had a humongous crush on her, but her dad had been in the Russian Mafia. In the back of his mind, Alex knew that with one misstep, he could find himself bound to a chair, getting the crap beat out of him again.

He still couldn’t believe he’d agreed to take her to the prom. When Alex was taken to the garage, he knew he’d made a mistake and bailed.

So, long story short, he had a plan for the night. Alex would go to the church potluck early so he could practice his charms on Tanya and her friends. Winning over a group of preteens would give him the confidence to face his real challenge later that evening. Besides, Tanya had called all her little friends and said Alex would be there.

If nothing else, he wanted to make his ‘girlfriend’ look like a star to her classmates. Ever since Alex arrived at Conclave, he’d made an effort to include the Aldrich clan. Their family had been dirt poor until they began growing pot, which made them all feel like outcasts. Kids were cruel; they didn’t want to hang out with the family that got their clothes from church donations.

Alex had befriended the two middle children, Decker and Maddie, and used his popularity to help them make friends. Tanya was the youngest and tagged along when she could. She’d made it clear that Alex was the guy for her and told her classmates that he was her boyfriend. Alex was the new kid who’d stood up to the wolf pack, making Tanya popular, a social level no Aldrich had ever achieved.

On top of all that, a church outing was something Alex would never have volunteered to attend. But he instinctively knew that doing so would put him in Evelyn’s good graces. To navigate the church event, he needed time to figure out how to act in that setting.

Finally, there was the issue of his new foster sister. Lyric’s big mouth had let it slip that Alex planned to show up for the potluck. As a result, all his friends were going to attend to confirm that Alex had found Jesus or, more likely, would burst into flames when he stepped inside the church.

As if this circus couldn’t have gotten any worse, Janice had announced at dinner the previous night that she was going and bringing her fried chicken. Lyric put two and two together and figured out she had to go as well, which made Alex’s evening.

To prepare for his big ‘date,’ Alex decided to wear black jeans and a simple white t-shirt that fit his body as if it were painted on. He was going for what ordinary people in Oklahoma wore but with a touch of style. He didn’t want to class it up too much, though, because he wanted to fit in.

When he came downstairs, he nearly choked on his tongue. Lyric was wearing a dress.

“You’re dead to me,” she seethed.

This was probably for the best in Alex’s book because he didn’t need his foster sister messing with his game. He hoped she would grab a plate of chicken and go sulk in a corner all night.

The doorbell rang, and Boomer didn’t move to see who was there. That was a dead giveaway that it was Sheriff Conly. Alex opened the door and found the sheriff in dark indigo jeans, a white long-sleeve dress shirt, cowboy boots, and a hat. All that was missing was a big bull-riding belt buckle.

“You’re riding with me.”

“Should I get the chicken?” Alex asked.

Janice came down the stairs and gave her dad a kiss on the cheek.

“I wouldn’t trust you boys with the chicken. There wouldn’t be any left for the church folk.”

Alex and the sheriff shrugged because Janice had a point. There was no way they could’ve driven to the church without eating a few pieces each.

Alex put Boomer into his crate, then went out and got into the sheriff’s pickup truck. There was a grocery bag between them.

“What’s that?” Alex asked.

“It’s a potluck, and you have to bring food if you expect to eat.”

“Don’t tell me you cooked,” Alex worried.

“I wouldn’t risk that. I went to Lard Have Mercy and had them make a big batch of fried green tomatoes.”

That was something Alex hadn’t ever eaten until he moved to Conclave, and he found that he liked them better than fried pickles or okra.

They pulled up to the church. Somehow, Alex had thought it was bigger. He took a deep breath and got out of the truck.

Kate hated hospitals. She hated the sound of them, the smell of them, the way you had to wait for hours before anybody saw you. But most of all, Kate hated the anxiety she felt when she was in them.

“Kate, you’re up,” Nurse Winslow said with a sad smile.

“Is Dr. Arnold in a good mood today?” Kate asked.

“Here’s hoping that when he sees his favorite patient, he will be,” Nurse Winslow said diplomatically.

Kate had been diagnosed with childhood leukemia, the most common children’s cancer; hers was acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). She’d received her diagnosis when she just turned ten and received high-dose chemotherapy along with a stem-cell transplant. She’d been told she was a cancer survivor when she turned eleven.

What followed was five years of regular checkups. The fear was that the cancer would return, and they also wanted to ensure the chemo hadn’t caused any long-term issues. Today, Kate turned sixteen and would undergo the last of the regularly scheduled exams.

Since it was the last, Dr. Arnold insisted she get both imaging and lab tests done. She was meeting him to see if she was out of the woods, as the five-year mark was considered the magic milestone for telling whether a patient would relapse.

“Your mom not with you today?” Nurse Winslow asked.

Kate let her irritation momentarily touch her face before answering.

“She’s in New York, making money to pay your salary,” Kate said.

Luckily, Nurse Winslow was used to comments like that from patients. A cancer diagnosis was life-changing, and not in a good way. Nurse Winslow knew that Kate’s dad had bailed early on, leaving the girl’s mother to raise her. He claimed he couldn’t stand to see his little girl sick. It didn’t matter that she’d been cancer-free for five years. He’d simply ghosted them.

“Tell her that I appreciate the effort and to keep in touch. I have a feeling that we won’t see you nearly as much, but you’re always welcome back,” Nurse Winslow said.

She got Kate settled into the exam room and put the chart outside the door for Dr. Arnold.

Tanya was waiting at the church door with five friends when she spotted Alex getting out of Sheriff Conly’s truck.

“Did your boyfriend get arrested?” Janet teased.

Before she could answer, Alex came into the entrance area and gave her a hug.

“You look absolutely stunning. Did you get all dressed up for me?” Alex asked.

Tanya had never had anyone say she looked stunning. At the most, it was something like ‘you look nice,’ usually from a family member. To have her crush say that had her tongue-tied.