Page 32 of Them Bones

“Don’t touch my girls and we won’t have a problem,” he said.

Shane stiffened, but nodded once.

Cary reached his arms up and hooked his fingers on the trim over the entryway, lifted himself so his feet came off the ground, and swung lightly into the kitchen towards the stove. “Extra crispy?” he said, looking over Jerry’s shoulder.

“O’course, boy!” Jerry said, smacking Cary’s chest with the spatula. Cary laughed again, and everyone visibly relaxed.

Everyone except Laney.

Shane slipped out of the kitchen and down the hall. Laney cast a furtive glance at Cary’s back, and then turned to follow but Dustin’s hand shot out and he gripped her arm.

No.

Laney’s lip was wobbling, so Dustin looked her right in the eye.

Don’t.

Laney nodded once, blinking away the tears in her eyes, rearranging her face before Cary turned around. By the time he did, she was smiling at him and pulling out a box of Froot Loops. Cary wrinkled his nose at the cereal box.

“More bacon for me, then!” Cary said, smacking his girlfriend’s butt.

Dustin reached for a cereal bowl, too.

Cary never shared the bacon.

SHANE

Six weeks went by without any dramatic incidents. Despite the unrelenting murderous urges he had towards Cary, Shane had managed to keep his cool.

Dustin returned to school, and to the bakery. When Dustinwashome, he kept out of Cary’s way as much as humanly possible.

Shane left for work early every day well before Cary got out of bed, driving the beat-up square body that Jerry had indeed delivered the Sunday after Halloween. Cary kept himself occupied in the evenings, so Shane rarely had to interact with him. But Laney did.

Shane was worried. Both Laney and Dustin had told him that Cary only ever stayed for a few days, a week tops, before fucking off again. But Cary was showing no signs that he was growing bored at home. He didn’t want to ask Dustin about it – the kid looked peaky enough as it was – and he hadn’t had an opportunity to speak more than a few generic phrases like “please pass the coleslaw” or “how was school” to Laney since Halloween. Every second that Laney and Shane were both home, Cary was at her side. It set his teeth on edge, and she was clearly drained. But until Cary left and he had a real chance to talk toher, all he could do was watch her fall apart, and it was killing him.

He spent hours every night convincing himself not to sneak into her room.

He threw himself into the job at the scrap yard with such force that Jerry had run out of tasks in the first week. Shane couldn’t do anything about the emotional roller coaster he was riding, but his body?Thathe could control.Thathe could wear out.

He slept. He worked. He ate. He smoked fatties with Jerry. He hung out with Dustin in his room and watched him sketch. He tried not to think about Laney’s mouth. He smoked bigger fatties.

Jerry hadn’t been kidding about the perennial garden. It was too late in the season to do anything about the plants, but he fixed the low brick walls that had been damaged by the forklift. Then he fixed the skid steer. Got the old quad running. Sorted piles of metal until his back ached. And was now dismantling several rusted-out vehicles for parts instead of scrap.

At first, Jerry was pleased. Then contemplative. And now Jerry looked straight-up concerned.

“I need to talk to ya, kid,” Jerry said, holding out a joint. Shane wheeled himself out from under the raised bed of an old Ford, accepted, and took a puff. He’d seen this coming.

“It’s okay, Jerry,” he said. “You don’t have to keep paying me. But… if it’s okay with you… I’d like to still come here. I’ll work for free.”

Jerry blew out a smoke ring. “Don’ worry about the job boy. It’s starting to look like a respectable business around here. But I’m not so sure you should be in that house at all right now.”

“Somebody needs to look out for Laney,” he said. “And Dustin,” he added quickly, flushing.

“I’m not arguin’ that, Shane. But… I think you need a break from them. I think you need to get away for a few days.”

“I’m fine,” Shane said tightly.

“No. You’re not.” Jerry said. “You’re wound tighter than I seen ya on Halloween an' we both know how that went. I can see it comin’, we both know you not gonna be keepin’ to yourself much longer.”

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