Page 28 of The Homecoming

Jason reached over and rested a hand on Autumn’s arm. He held it there and squeezed just enough to keep her together, or perhaps himself, too.

Had Dan gone back there? Back to where he was at risk of being blown to pieces by one of these sadistic IED’s?

17.

The leaves began to give their green away to shades of gold, red, and yellow. The morning air started getting crisp, and if Autumn could pull herself out of the exhausted funk she’d been in for the past few weeks, she could enjoy her favorite time of year. In the shadow of the plateau, the seasons changed with reliability, and the lower altitude in White Oak meant they didn’t get as much brutal cold and snow as their higher neighbors. They still had a couple of months before they had to worry about it getting too cold. Whenever anyone asked Autumn what her favorite season was, she never said fall because she’d had all the jokes she could stand growing up.

The flashing lights and whirling machine rides of the county fair were in full swing when she and her group of friends walked through. Autumn had even convinced Jason to come along and get some fresh air, as he’d barely left the house since arriving home. Weasel met them at the gate and passed out wristbands that allowed them to get on all the rides for free. She didn’t ask how he’d gotten them; in her experience, it was usually best not to ask too many questions when it came to Weasel.

She fell behind the group to walk alongside Jason, watching Hannah and Justin meandering along, holding hands with a murmured conversation between them punctuated with smiles and giggles. A twinge of jealousy returned.

She’d been praying for Dan’s safe return every night and she now asked for one other thing: that Jason to start acting like himself again. He never mentioned that he had trouble sleeping, but she heard movement in his room late at night. She couldn’t ask Jason about it because she’d been too scared to tell him about her and Dan. Weasel had mentioned Jason’s disapproval of Dan asking her out in high school, but she’d been fourteen then… Maybe it wouldn’t matter now.

The siblings were both at the fair following her friends and neither of them were speaking. They went on a few rides without much of a reaction. Autumn came back to herself a little on the bumper cars after attempting to run into her friends. Rebecca was clearly upset with Kyle, continuously going after him alone and ramming his car. The rest of them laughed their way through three more rounds, slamming and diving after each other’s cars endlessly. Then there was the fair food—corn dogs, chicken tenders, nachos, and funnel cakes. Brandon announced he was starving and returned to their table with a tray full of food. The others passed around the food sharing, so everyone could try the variety of delectable and questionable food.

They left the food court in a big group. “Having fun?” she asked Jason.

He shrugged. “Sure. But, you don’t have to babysit me, I’ll be fine.”

“Nah, I think you do need a babysitter,” Weasel came up behind them, slapping Jason on the back. “You look like a shifty son of a bitch to me,” he grinned.

“Where did you go?” she asked Weasel.

“I’m managing a team for private security out here.” He looked bored. “Gotta keep the drunks in check and the teens from vandalizing shit.” A walkie-talkie clipped to his belt sounded, so he pulled it out, saying, “Go for Weasel.” Autumn heard something unintelligible on the other end, but the only words she could make out were ‘clown’ and ‘naked.’ “On my way,” he said before hanging up. “I hate the fucking fair,” he muttered before storming off.

“I think karma might have been swift for ol’ Weasel,” she said.

Jason smiled, and it was the first genuine look of happiness Autumn had seen on his face since he’d been back. “Yeah, dude was bonkers back in the day.”

“Was?” Autumn asked, shaking her head.

Jason laughed as he patted her on the back. “Come on, let’s catch up with the others.”

She shrugged. “Whatever.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She started heading back toward the group. “Nothing.” She didn’t know how to tell him that she’d fallen in love with his best friend, a military man who lived his life in danger and would have to leave at a moment’s notice. Autumn missed him; she was stupidly lovesick and hated it. Maybe he wouldn’t come back, and one day she’d reminisce on that one summer she spent with a sexy man.

They caught up to their friends at the line for the Ferris wheel. Brandon was bouncing in one spot. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“He ate an entire ball of cotton candy in like, three seconds on top of that funnel cake and all the other crap,” Ben responded. “Now he’s jittery.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Brandon said, despite his abnormally shaken demeanor.

“How long were we gone?” asked Autumn. “And why didn’t you save me any?”

“We can go get some more,” Brandon suggested. The entire group immediately nixed that idea; the last thing he needed was more sugar.

“We need some way to get him through the sugar rush,” Hannah said.

“The Ferris wheel isn’t going to cut it.”

“How about the tilt-a-whirl?” Justin said.

They grabbed Brandon as a group and headed to the spinning carnival ride. And only few seconds in, he was already green. Afterwards, Brandon hugged a trash can and strung multiple swear words together in combinations she’d never heard before. Justin started laughing as Brandon loosened his grip on the side of the can long enough to give a middle finger without looking up. His vomiting left a queasy feeling in her stomach that she didn’t want to test by riding anything crazy.

Weasel walked up, looking irritated at the sight of Brandon’s head in the trash can. “Is he drunk?”

---