Chapter 17

"SHIT!"

Despite the amused smile that suddenly jumped across his face, Maynard's face managed to remain sympathetic as he looked down at Cheryl, who'd collapsed to sit on the grass and mope. "I'd have told you, honey, but I didn't know."

Cheryl put her elbows on her knees and rested her chin atop her fists. "Pardon my French. I can't believe I missed Tyrone Hayes! Of all the times for me to get sick! That makes this my worst Fourth of July ever."

"I forgot he was from here," I said. "It never occurred to me that he might perform."

"Didn't to none of us, either. As far as we knew, he was in New York. He snuck back into town and was one of the encores for The Wizards of Wynter. They're part of his backup band when he's here, them and Junior and the Twins, which is mostly the same band. The drummer is the one who discovered him."

Cheryl tilted her head back so that she could see Maynard beyond the bill of her cap. "The one with the boobs Uncle Randy likes?"

For the briefest instant, Maynard's eyes flicked to Molly, who was ten feet away and talking to a short, elderly, round Hispanic woman who made Molly look petite by comparison. Molly wasn't listening. Maynard spoke softly. "Randy's not the only guy around here who's noticed her attributes."

Cheryl saw his eyes move, too, and giggled. "If I'd known he was going to sing, I'd have had Uncle Randy, like, bring me last night."

"You said you were too sick to make the trip," I reminded her.

She gave me The Mandy Look. "So?" Translation: your IQ went back to negative numbers, didn't it? "I'd had made the trip with my head hanging out the window so I could puke."

"Maynard, maybe it's a good thing you didn't say anything."

Maynard chuckled and gave Cheryl a look of sympathy. "Tell you what. If he shows up today, I'll introduce you to him."

Cheryl went from morose to ecstatic in one ten-billionth of a second. She sprang to her feet. "You know Tyrone Hayes?"

"Honey, this isn't Dallas," I said.

Maynard nodded. "I've known his whole family since his dad and I were kids, back before the ski basin opened. This was a lot smaller town then. Everybody knew everyone else. And everyone else's secrets. Still do, mostly."

Cheryl squealed with excitement, grabbed Maynard, and kissed his cheek. Then she repeated the gesture with me. I glanced around and noticed several people, especially boys her age, wondering how to get her to repeat that with them.

"You missed some other excitement, too," he said to me. "While he was on stage, some hopped-up junkie decided to rob one of the voting tables."

I hadn't heard that. "Cops get him?"

"After a couple of boys took him down."

"Boys?" Cheryl asked, puzzled.

Maynard pinched an earlobe between a thumb and forefinger and rubbed it. "Not many outsiders realize it, but there aren't any other towns like this anywhere else in the country. You remember those kids trapped in Hargus Mine a couple years ago?"

Cheryl vaguely did. The memory came back to me. "They were from here, weren't they? We passed by the ghost town on the way to Panorama Point."

"Their band was Tyrone's backup last night. One of the two who took the guy down was also at the mine with them. Got hurt a little during the collapse. He's a martial artist now, and a darn good one. The other boy is his trainer."

We were interrupted by Jeff's return. Cheryl babbled excitedly about possibly getting to meet The Tyrone Hayes.

Jeff was unimpressed. "Yeah, he's a lot better singer than me in the choir," he said, "but I always remind him that I'm the better running back."

The emcee announced that Stampede was the night's winner in the voting and that Junior and the Twins was the overall winner by a few thousand votes. Stampede played shitkicker for their final encore. That did not go over well with my lovely niece, who had been without Jeff since eight, when he'd received a phone call and had to leave.

The Eeew! nose turned to me. "Want to leave early?"

"I wouldn't recommend it," said Maynard. "Thanks to IST's money, we have the best fireworks display between Denver and Salt Lake City. Since you didn't get to meet Tyrone, you need some substitute fireworks."

Cheryl's eyes had never left mine. A subtle change in them told me that Maynard had tightened my foot in the bear trap. "Okay. We'll stay."

Maynard was right. It was spectacular. Throughout the display, Cheryl bounced and squealed in delight, the way she did when I blew fart kisses on her tummy when she was a baby. Weird, the memories that come back to you when you least expect them.

We stashed our gear in the camper. "Diet Coke?" I asked.

"Sure."

I fetched two out of the fridge and turned around. I know I hadn't had my back turned long enough for her to strip completely, including her shoes and necklace, but she'd done it.

"Cheryl! You know I'm not supposed to see you naked! Young lady, you get that necklace back on immediately!"

"Unh uh," she said, shaking her head. "I don't want to wear anything the first time you make love to me."

"Cheryl, we can't..."

She threw up an index finger. "Stop!" She took the two cans from me and sat them on the table. Then she put my hands on her breasts. "Cool," she said as her nipples hardened. "Literally."

"Cheryl..."

She pressed the index finger to my lips. "Uncle Randy, you've taught me a lot since I got here. Now it's my turn to teach you something. Sit down."

She pushed, and I sat in a chair. She sat on my legs, facing me. "You said my life was mine to live. When I said you might think my proper place was at Long's ranch instead of Summers', you said my proper place was where I wanted to be, not where you wanted me to be. You said you wanted me to be where I'd enjoy myself. Remember?"

"Yes. But I meant..."

"Wait. Where I want to be is on my back in that bed enjoying you inside me. Or on my hands and knees in that bed enjoying you inside me. Or sitting right here in your lap enjoying you inside me. Or in the cab of the truck enjoying you inside me. Or out there in the water enjoying you inside me. Or up on Panorama Point again enjoying you inside me. Let me know when you see a pattern here."

"I think I see it," I said dryly.

"Well? It's my life and my virginity, and I want my first time to be with somebody I love and respect. There's nobody I love and respect more than you."

I cupped her face in my hands. "If you change your mind later, you can never take it back and give it up to somebody else instead. It's a once-in-a-lifetime event."

Her slender hands closed around my wrists and squeezed gently. "Yeah. And I can always spend the rest of my life regretting that it wasn't you, it was someone else. Who's to say that wouldn't happen? Uncle Randy, if it's going to be a mistake, let me make the mistake, don't make one for me. It's my life, remember? You said so yourself."

"I also remember you saying that your parents had some say so..."

"When Mom said she was sending me here, did she tell you not to fuck me?"

"Well, she thought I wasn't straight. It never occurred to her to say that or she would have."

"Yeah? You said she would have told you not to let me bleach my hair but she got sidetracked, so you bought me that hair bleach, didn't you?"

I should have known that hair bleach was a mistake. "That's not exactly the same thing."

"Okay. Then, did she tell you not to eat my pussy or finger me until I got off? You've done that, as you may remember."

I understood how the bear felt when it realized the trap was escape-proof. And when it realized it could get away only by chewing off its own leg.

"Cheryl..." I sighed. "Look. I said your life was yours to live and your proper place to be was where you wanted to be, modified by your parents while you weren't of age. Well, I am of age. We aren't talking about just your proper place but my proper place as well. You're deciding what I should do for me, just the way you are arguing that I should not do for you! Isn't that wrong?"

"Uncle Randy, you promised you would never lie to me, and so far you never have. I have just one question for you. I know you'll be totally honest and truthful because I took the time and trouble to know the real Randy Long now, and you're someone who always keeps his promises."