Chapter 10: Allison's askance

At no time in her life did Allison Cummings need this much drama.

She was content to be the second child. In her youth she was happy as hell to be Jane's little sister — mostly because of the benefits it entailed. She would be the first to admit that for many years, Jane was the best sister a little girl could ask for.

Allison rarely was left behind and Jane and her boyfriend didn't play dirty tricks on her or make her feel awkward. In fact, both Jane and Steve seemed inordinately pleased to spend time with Allison. At least until Steve moved away. Then Jane spent time with Allison, mostly because she didn't want to be anywhere else anyway.

Jane was a mama's girl. There was no doubt about that. Jane would do whatever Sharon Reynolds wanted. There was no doubt about that. Her mom knew just which buttons to push, too. And she didn't feel the least compunction about pushing them.

But Allison was more like her father — both in physical characteristics and in personality. Growing up, her dad didn't say very much, but you can damned well bet when Al Reynolds did speak, people took notice. His daughter was much the same, but being a girl, it seemed she had to speak more often, and sometimes louder, before folks heard.

Sure, she had a crush on Jane's boyfriend. Hell, half the town — and not just little girls either — had a crush on Steve Booth. Even though she was six years younger than Steve and Jane, Allison managed to keep up with the older duo no matter what they tried. But the pair was pretty protective of her too, she had to admit. They never put her in any real danger unless you count the time she dove head-first into the swimming hole. Jesus, that was a stupid idea.

She remembered that Steve about came unglued when he jumped in — fully clothed — and carried her up the hill to her house. She was too ashamed to tell him she was fine and that all the blood was from where she bumped her nose on a rock. He was too scared to have listened anyway. She smiled when she thought that he might have carried her the two miles to the hospital if someone hadn't been home.

God, it was too many years ago to think about. Still she thought she had an inkling of what Steve had thought that day. After all, just a few months before she thought he was lying dead on her living room floor. The aftermath of that was still reeling in her mind.

In less than a week she found herself unwilling to be a police officer any longer. Not only did she destroy evidence and conspire with her sister to protect her niece, Allison felt guilty that she didn't react at all when she realized what Robert had done.

Instead, in spite of all her training, she froze, dropped her weapon and started to cry. What the fuck was that about? It took a 14-year-old girl to dole out justice in the matter and that was the one thing Allison couldn't overlook. She resigned her office before the initial investigation was even complete.

The violation of police procedure and obstruction of justice would have weighed on her conscience later, but what she forced her niece to do was up front from the beginning.

Steve Booth moved from interesting to full-fledged obsession in her mind that night, too. But she couldn't fight history to make that work, either.

Allison's life had changed dramatically after Steve Booth left Buckley for the sunny skies of California. Allison, at 10, had less of her identity wrapped up in the boy, so she was able to carve a niche for herself. Her sister wasn't as fortunate.

Allison was popular through high school and into college. Her personality was different from Jane's. Allison was outspoken and had once kick a boy in the nuts when he tried to grab her breast. Of course she was only 12, so there wasn't much breast there, but it was the thought behind the deed.

Her reputation preceded her into high school, so boys knew to tread lightly. Some knew better than others, of course. After six months with her high school sweetheart, Allison lost her virginity in the back seat of the boy's car. Seven years before she had watched Steve and Jane make love for the first time on a blanket beside the creek. Somehow her experience didn't live up to her ideal. The fact that the boy bragged about it to half the school cheapened it further.

By the time she left for college, Allison was ready to leave Buckley behind forever. Her mother died during her junior year of high school, just before Jane delivered a baby girl. But her dad seemed to be doing OK. In fact, he seemed almost relieved some of the time.

Jobs were scarce when Allison graduated from State with a degree in criminal justice. She applied to the State Police Academy but was put on the waiting list when the class size was lowered because of budget cuts. She remembered Steve's dream of becoming a naval aviator, just like his dad was. She knew a few years of military service would increase the likelihood of a police job, so she signed up pretty quickly.

It took her almost two years to get her MOS switched to military police, despite her criminal justice background, but once she did she was never happier. Her marriage was a bit impetuous — especially for her — but she was certain that love would grow. Her husband's death in Afghanistan a year after they wed jolted her. But by that time he'd been gone more than half the time they'd known each other, so she managed to get through it OK.

She planned to re-enlist for another tour and to make a career of the military. Allison was already a captain and her promotion scores were exemplary. It was her father's illness that forced the issue. Jane and her husband had stuffed the man in some shithole rest home and left him to die. She couldn't allow that.

She took a hardship discharge and a dead-end deputy sheriff's job to be closer to the man she adored — the one man in her life who had never left her behind.

Steve's revelation of her mother's treachery was a shock, but in hindsight everything made a little more sense. She wished her father would have trusted her enough to tell her the truth, but then again she cried about losing Steve longer than Jane had. Jane had lost her first boyfriend; but Allison had lost her first crush, her idol, and her big brother in one fell swoop.

Her boss had died in his sleep exactly three months before she found Steve Booth hanging out in front of his house. It scared her half to death to think that the kind boy who had carried her on his shoulders half of her early life was capable of the damage she saw that night. It was only after the bartender told her the whole story that she felt better about the incident — not a lot better, but better.

It still galled her that Steve had that ability inside him. She'd never suspected it. Sure, she'd seen him mad when he was growing up. But never this mad. Holy shit!

It was the softness of his voice when she first saw him that got to her. She was prepared to unload on him with both barrels — proverbially, of course — over the shit he pulled 20 years before. But once she started talking to him, she found she couldn't. On impulse, she invited him to dinner, too. Where did that come from?