Chapter 15

After some dictation and housework, Candy returned to the kitchen table with an English muffin and stared at John’s chair, the one Evan had been sitting in since her husband left for China. There had been a time when Candy waited anxiously for John’s return, praying there wouldn’t be a delay. Now, Evan was the only person she ever wanted to see sitting at the head of the table.

A flash of reflected light caught Candy’s eye. Finally, she thought as Sally’s car drove up. Relax, Sally doesn’t judge you. Candy got up and looked out the bay window. Sally got out, walked toward the house, and stopped between her car and the porch. To check out the surveillance cameras, Candy assumed. Her sister’s hair was blazing red in the sunlight, but Sally’s face was pale except for the freckles on her nose. There was a tattered box in Sally’s hands. Candy recognized the name of the shoe store, but it had gone out of business years ago. She wiped her eyes and watched Sally, knowing her sister didn’t want to come in, and someplace in the far recesses of Candy’s mind, she thought she should understand why, but she didn’t.

In the McDonald’s parking lot, Evan took the top off his first Egg McMuffin, laid the hash brown between the bacon and egg, covered it with ketchup, put it back together, and bit in. Food would hopefully help him stop thinking about Alex’s passionate mouth and Jayda grinding on him. Then, the temptation to return to the ballpark might leave him. It was a stupid fantasy, and nothing he could or would act on, but sneaking one of them behind the dirt pile where Becky had seduced him gave Evan a mental boner that wouldn’t quit.

Two sandwiches and half a coffee were gone, and Evan was on the phone. “Are you gonna tell me what was going on Saturday?” Evan asked. “Hello, you there?” He looked at his phone to see if the call was still connected.

“I’m here.” Cindy sighed. “It was just a bad night, not a big deal. Everybody has them.”

Evan thought about what his cousin once said after a go-cart race, “Was your head up your ass? Those were rookie mistakes.” But, since he had been exiled from the house and was supposed to hang out with Cindy today, he said, “Yup, I understand. So, you gotta work today?”

“No.”

“Then I suppose you’ll be at the race shop?”

“Maybe.”

“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” Evan said. “I figured you’d be up. You’re always up early.”

“I was, am ... up.”