Page 83 of Them Bones

“Hi,” he whispered in her ear, breathing in her scent.

“Hi,” she whispered against his chest.

Two doors slammed shut, and Shane looked up to see Dustin walking towards them, his backpack slung over his rightshoulder, and Jerry leaning against the hood, looking as worn out as he’d ever seen him.

“What are they doing here?” he asked Jerry, shifting so that Laney was tucked under his arm, her face sinking into the crook of his shoulder.

“I done fixed this mess for you, boy,” Jerry said grumpily, pulling out a stogie and lighting it, the comforting smell wafting over and mixing with his other favourite smell in the whole world –Laney.

“What do you mean youfixed this mess?”

“Little Laney an’ the boy are gonna come here every day, after school.”

“Don’t call me that,” she mumbled.

“Laney is gonna help me with my paperwork. Lord knows neither o’ us are any good at it. An’ Dusty’s gonna do his homework. We’ll drive them home every day after dinner.”

Shane was floored. “Howdid you swing this, Jerry?” he asked, concerned.

Jerry waved a hand. “It all been cleared by Cary. Laney works here, now. I’mma pick them kids up after school and bring them here, and deliver ‘em to the house by 8:00pm sharp every day.”

This can’t be real. This can’t be happening.

“Jerry… Cary knows I work here. He knows Ilivehere! Why is he allowing this?”

“Because Cary trusts me,” Jerry said, “an’ knows I’ll be watchin’ ya. You two get inside,” he nodded at Laney and Dustin, “I need a minute with Shane.”

Laney reluctantly peeled herself from his chest, frowning at his nose and reaching up to touch him but Shane caught her hand and pushed her towards the house.

“Later,” he said to her.

She nodded, took Dustin’s hand, and led him inside.

Jerry passed Shane the stogie and he took a puff, coughing a little, before handing it back.

“Now you listen to me, Shane Mathers,” Jerry rumbled, his voice low and serious. “It wasn’t no easy thing, convincin’ Cary to let me bring her here. Even if I really do need the help with my paperwork.”

“How did this happen? How did you pull this off? Is Nick… What's going on?!”

“I told Cary that Linette been dippin’ into the kids’ money for bills. Which is true. An’ I told him I been needin’ a hand. That maybe I could keep an eye, take care of dinner and the like instead of Cary leavin' money for them, less cash in Linette’s pocket. He can’t stand Linette, it was the only angle I could think that might help get Laney outta that house, make things a bit easier on you two…”

“Why was Cary at Nick’s? Does he know, about him and Laney?”

“He was there for unrelated reasons, and no, Cary don’t know. John, his number two, has some suspicions. Oddly enough, he figuredyouwas the one who’d be keepin’ Nick in line.” Jerry levelled him with a hard stare.

Jerry hadn’t supported Shane’s cold-turkey Laney blackout. Said it was cruel, to all of them. That Shane was just torturing himself for no good reason, and depriving the kids of someone who loved them.

Shane had thrown a really nice bottle of scotch into the wall, brown liquid seeping down onto the tile.

“I can’t control myself with her, Jerry!” he’d shouted. “I can’t do it. I wish I’d never met her!”

Jerry had tutted at him, a look of pity on his face.

“You two are inevitable, boy. Maybe you stop trying to figure out how to live without her and start tryin’ to figure out how to livewithher.”

“What about ‘time never hurt nobody’,”Shane had said in a mocking voice.

“Can’t fight fate, kid,” Jerry had replied, reaching for a tea towel to sop up the scotch on the wall and floor. “An’ this is comin’ out of your paycheck. That was a two-hundred-dollar bottle of brew.”

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