Page 75 of Them Bones

When they finally pulled onto her street, Laney sat up and let out a breath. Cary’s car wasn’t in the driveway, and there were no lights on.

He squeezed her hand.

“It’s going to be okay, baby,” he murmured into her hair.

She nodded, and then slipped out of the cab and into the house.

The cab pulled out of the driveway, and Shane watched the houses whiz by as they headed out of town to Jerry’s.

“Can I say something?” the driver said, looking at Shane in the mirror.

“Go ahead.” Shane was too exhausted to argue.

“I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into, but would you listen to a stranger if I told you to get out of this cab and never go back there?”

Shane closed his eyes. “I keep trying. And keep failing.”

“Try harder,” the driver said, before turning his attention back to the road.

DUSTIN

Once Laney had confirmed that Cary hadn’t come by the house, she had crawled into her bed and passed out.

When Dustin checked on her again later in the morning, she was in the same position she’d been in when she’d landed on the pillow. He wet a face cloth in the bathroom and gently wiped all the makeup off her face. She didn’t stir.

At 7:00am the phone rang, and Dustin answered.

“Hello?”

“Dustin? Is Laney there? Is she okay? Are you guys okay?” It was Shane. He sounded stressed.

“She’s here. She’s sleeping.”

There was a muffled noise, and he heard Shane say ‘she’s okay’, presumably to Jerry.

“Is Cary home?” Shane asked. “Did anything happen?”

“Cary hasn’t been home since July,” Dustin said. “Laney got in early this morning and passed out.”

“So Cary hasn’t come to the house?”

“No,” Dustin said, annoyed. “Why do you and Laney keep asking me that?”

“Because Cary is back,” Shane said, “and he was at Nick’s when she phoned him last night.” Dustin froze, understandingdawning. “Look, Dustin, I want to come over but with Cary back and nobody knowing what’s going on yet, I don’t think… Can I just talk to Laney? Can you get the cordless and take it to her?”

“Ma threw out the cordless. She said it would give us brain cancer.”

“Wake her up, then, Dustin. She can sleep after. Just… go wake her up and tell her it’s me.Please.I’ve been up all morning waiting to call, but…”

“Okay,” Dustin said. “One second.”

He let the phone dangle by the cord and ran downstairs, trying to shake Laney awake.

“Laney,” he yell-whispered, “Laney, wake up!”

“Hmmmmm…” she groaned.

“Laney, please, wake up! It’s Shane.” Her eyes popped open. “It’s Shane, he’s on the phone. He needs to talk to you.”

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