Page 130 of Them Bones

“Yeah, soon, soon…” he said.

“Well, as much as I love your company John, I have an early morning and need to get to bed.”

“You? An early morning?”

Cary rolled his eyes. “Kim wants me to meet hermom.”

John chuckled. Kim and Cary made an odd couple, that was for sure. She was as straight-edge as they came, didn’t touch drugs, barely drank, wore a little silver cross and called her mama every week. She wore mom-jeans and always had her hair in a low ponytail with a scrunchie. She was as un-Cary a woman as he’d ever seen, and it had shocked every single one of them when he’d dumped Sarita for her.

John had lost a hundred bucks over that.

Jerry cleaned them out, the only one of them who’d bet that he’d start dating that Plain Jane for real.

“Alright,” John said. “I’ll close up the shop for ya. You go get your beauty rest.”

Cary winked at him, reaching in his pocket for his key. “Oh, shit,” he said, slapping his forehead. “I left my keys and my wallet in my car, and I let Robbie take it for the night. He doesn’t have his snow tires on yet…”

“You got a spare key kicking around here?” he asked.

“No,” Cary sighed. “There’s one at the other house, but Robbie’s got my car so… Guess I’ll just have to break my door in again.”

It was John’s turn to roll his eyes. “Don’t bother. I’ll just drop you off at your other house on my way home. Tell Kim to pick you up there, in the morning.”

“Alright,” Cary said, collecting his jacket. “Less likely Sarita will show up there, anyway.”

Sarita had come around a few times, making a scene. Apparently she’d shown up at Jerry’s as well, although she didn’t seem to be flat-out stalking Cary yet as he hadn’t heard anything about Kim being harassed and knowing Sarita, that crazy bitch would be quite happy to burn down Kim’s apartment.

They locked up the shop and stepped outside, at least another six inches of snow on the ground even though they’d just run the plow in the lot an hour ago.

“It’s really coming down tonight, eh?” John said.

“Yeah… I hope Laney is tucked up nice and warm, somewhere safe…” Cary’s voice was strange. Tight, and sad, and angry. John shuffled his feet, busying himself with brushing the snow off his car.

The way Cary talked about Laney had always made him uncomfortable. He’d rather sit in stony silence with his wife than watch Cary pine for that girl.

NICK

Nick sat up straight as a vintage square body in excellent condition rolled into Laney’s driveway. His heart was thundering in his ears as she stepped out of the passenger seat and stood in the middle of the sidewalk with her arms out like she was flying, face tipped to the sky, her tongue out catching snowflakes.

Her monumentalprickof a boyfriend got out of the driver’s seat and ran over to her, picking her up by the waist and spinning her around. She was laughing and squealing with delight as he tossed her onto the lawn, and she momentarily disappeared from view, hidden entirely by the snow.

Shane disappeared behind the snow bank as well.

He stood a few minutes later, his back covered in snow, and reached out to haul her up. Once she was vertical, he grabbed the edges of her hat, pulling it down over her eyes with a laugh, and kissing her.

He could see her blushing from across the damn street.

Nick snorted an abnormally large amount of blow, even for him, his blood curdling with rage. There was no way that guy would ever know what it was like to live the way Nick had beenliving for the past year, would ever understand how it felt to fall asleep in your car and wake up hungry.

Shane smacked Laney's butt and sent her squealing inside, gesturing to the garage. She disappeared into the house, the living room light turning on in the dark, as Shane tapped a code into a panel beside the garage door and fussed with the snowblower. He tried to start it a few times but gave up and disappeared to the back of the garage.

He’s probably looking for a shovel.

Nick got out of his car and darted across the driveway – all logic abandoned – racing up the front steps and into the house.

LANEY

Laney hadn’t been to the house in weeks, and it smelled stale. Musty. She opened the basement door that led to the garage, warm light flooding inside.

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