Page 17 of Roads Behind Us
“Hey,” Abey said, smiling. She tipped her brown sheriff’s hat. “Good to see you again.”
“Hi.”
I’d met Abey once before when she’d come up to Sheridan with her mom to visit Brand, but she hadn’t been wearing a uniform then. She looked good in it, and the woman standing next to Abey agreed with me. She checked out Abey’s ass, then smacked it playfully.
“Glad to have you here,” Rye said. He was a character, I could tell. Every word out of his mouth came coated with a smirk. “Alright, since I’m off the clock, I’m takin’ my food to go. I’ve got so much shi—stuff to do today. And Aubrey’s on her way over. She said she wants to talk to me about somethin’, but I think she just wants a hot little… Uh, hug. I think she wants a hug.”
“And I’m Devo,” the dark-haired woman said as she leaned down to kiss Athena’s cheek, rolled her eyes at Rye’s self-interrupted sexual innuendo, and snagged a piece of bacon off Athena’s plate. “You must be the woman who’s come to finish our house.”
“I am,” I said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Have you seen it yet? The house?” she asked, and her deep brown eyes twinkled as she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and delivered the bacon straight into her mouth.
“No. I got in late last night, but I’m plannin’ to head over there after breakfast.”
“Mind if I come with?” Devo asked as she chewed. “I can be a little late to work. It makes me so happy to see it. I can’t wait to get in there and start decoratin’.”
“Sure. I don’t mind the company, but from what Brand has told me, there’s still a lot of work to be done before you can live there.”
“Oh, I know,” Devo said. “I’m just excited.”
“Hey.” Rye’s head popped up behind Devo’s. She was about my same height, so he probably could’ve stepped on her and wouldn’t have noticed, and in his hand, he held a plate that he’d scooped enough of my eggs and bacon onto to feed a small town. “Bax, you think you’re up to a little work today? I’ve got some phone calls I’ve been meanin’ to make. You could do it since you’re stuck in the house. I mean, if you feel up to it.”
“Please,” Bax said. “I’m so fuck— I’m so sick of lookin’ at the TV.”
Athena snorted. “Guys, it’s really comical the way you all try to hide the cuss words, but I know exactly what you mean to say. You’re not protectin’ my innocence. I hear y’all swearin’ up a storm when you think I can’t.” She shook her head, and I laughed. This kid was sharp. She looked around the room. “Can I go with Devo and Bea? I wanna see the house too.”
Devo looked at me, and I looked at Bax. He was staring at my mouth, though, and he didn’t answer. Did I have green peppers stuck in my teeth?
Looking back at Athena, I sipped my second cup of coffee and tried to free the green peppers with the tip of my tongue. “Don’t you have to get to school?”
“I mean, technically,” she said with a grin.
“No way,” Abey chimed in. “You’re goin’ to school. Devo can pick you up later and show you.”
“I can’t,” Devo said. “I have a meetin’ this afternoon about that big fundraiser for the community center. Sorry, Road Trip. Maybe this weekend then?”
Athena sighed in defeat. “Okay, I guess.”
I blurted, “Why on earth do y’all call this child Road Trip?” What a weird nickname. I’d heard Bax use it twice this morning, and now again. “Is it like my nickname,” I asked Athena. “Do you hate it?”
She smiled and shook her head.
Finally, Bax woke up. “She can’t sit still. She’s always off on a road trip, a new adventure.”
Athena beamed at her dad. “That reminds me. I need fifty bucks for drama-club dues.”
“Drama-club dues?” he repeated woodenly, like the words Athena had said made no sense strung together. “They charge for that shi—stuff now?”
“Yeah, it’s just for snacks and field trips. Stuff like that. We’re goin’ over to Jackson in early December to watch an adaptation of “A Christmas Carol.”
Rye turned and set his plate on the counter behind him. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and handed Athena a fifty.
She tugged it from his fingers. “Thanks.”
I’d been feeling sad for Athena that she’d lost her mom, and since I knew what that kind of devastation felt like, there was still a lump in the back of my throat, but as I watched her with her dad and extended and found family, the sadness began to disappear.
When I agreed to fill in for Brand, I hadn’t expected to be included in his big family. I’d never had a family like the Lees. I’d had my mom and dad before Mama passed. And when my dad died, I had my ex-husband, kind of, but I’d never been part of a family this loving and involved supportively in each other’s lives.
