Page 62 of Small Town Beast

I’d wish for Amari back. And I’d wish to own a hair salon or something, just a nice business in town that would keep my head above water.

A schoolbus pulled up at the stop sign and the door hissed open. Children’s laughter rang out. Tanya watched the kids through the window.

A little boy got down and waved to the bus driver. Tanya’s heart damn near stopped; but it wasn’t Amari. The child was mixed race, with curly floppy hair. He had sneakers that lit up and he carried a backpack with that puppy cartoon Amari loved plastered on the back. An older woman– his granny?-- appeared out of nowhere; she must have come down from the holler behind the bus stop. She took the backpack off the kid’s back and ruffled his hair.

“Hey, chunks. Good day at school?”

“We made a volcano today!”

“That’s nice, honey.”

Tanya watched them from the corner of her eye until they disappeared up into Shady Holler. The bus moved on, the happy noises of the kids fading.

She fiddled with her keyring.Amari, said the custom plate. She had rubbed it so much the letters were dull and worn.

The ground rumbled under her feet and her head lifted again, hoping it was the bus. But it was just a pickup truck. It ate up the asphalt in spite of the heavy cargo of construction supplies inthe back: wood framing, steel, boxes wrapped in plastic. Before it passed she saw the driver and her heart nearly stopped again.

Him!

He didn’t see her; the Legacy blazed up the road and left a haze of smoke in the air.

Saverin was headedto Laura Jane’s holler. He had just crested the hill when he happened to take a glance in his side mirror and saw Tanya Weaver sitting at the bus stop, probably just coming off work.

He turned at the top of the hill and coasted back down, honking on his horn. She waved back hesitantly.

“Where are you headed?” He called.

“Not where you’re going,” she said, full of attitude as usual.

He beat the frame with a fist. “Get in.”

She shook her head. Something was up with her; he got out of the truck and crossed the road. She stood up from the bench, holding her bag in front of her defensively.

“Not today with you, Saverin!”

“What the hell is the matter with you?”

Tanya looked rumpled and irritated, and he could tell it wasn’t just the heat. Hair blew about her face, some strands plastered down by sweat.

“Long day at work?” He proposed. Her mouth buttoned up some more.If what I hear about that Appletree place is true I ain’t surprised.

“What’s all that for?” Tanya asked, gesturing to the materials crowding the Legacy bed.

“Doing some work for a friend. I can take you home; it’s on the way.”

“No, thank you. I have to check on my homegirl.”

“Where does she live?”

“Black Florin. You know,my side.”

“And where in Black Florin would that be?”

“Peach Holler. By that church. But I’ll wait on the bus.”

“You’ll be waiting a while. The bus is down,” he informed her.

“What?”

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