Page 36 of The Homecoming

“Aw, sweet little Autumn’s gotten feisty,” Weasel said. “I like this side of you, Ms. Mac.”

“Dude, that’s my sister,” Jason cut in, punching Weasel on the arm.

“Jesus, man. I ain’t hitting on her,” Weasel said. “I’m not that stupid.”

Autumn made eye contact with Weasel and shook her head slightly.Please do not say anything about Daniel.Weasel opened his mouth and stared at her for a beat, then recovered. “Now, come on, you need the practice,” he said. “You couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a wrecking ball.” Jason shook his head and smiled. They fell into a semi-friendly competition with lots of trash talk. Ultimately Weasel won, but he had grace enough not to mention it.

“You coming hunting with us Saturday?” Justin asked Autumn.

She shook her head. “There’s no way I’m going deer hunting.”

“No, you’re not,” Jason said. “Your draw weight’s not strong enough to kill a deer.”

“Good,” she said. “I don’t want to, anyway. Going out in the dark, freezing my butt off with you smelly boys? No, thanks.”

“We can do small game,” Weasel said. “Beavers, groundhogs…”

“Or weasels,” she smiled.

“It’s still a little early for that.” He laughed, picking up his bag. “Walk out with me, Autumn,” Weasel said as he tilted his head toward the gate. They walked out to Weasel’s truck. “So,” he said, setting his bag in the truck bed. “Jason doesn’t know about Dan.”

Autumn shook her head.

He leaned back against his truck. “Why?”

She shrugged. “It’s never seemed like the right time to bring it up. And you got into my head by telling me that he didn’t want Dan to ask me out.”

“Yeah, when we were younger,” he said, eyebrows raised.

“You don’t know,” she said. “I… I don’t want anything to upset him.”

“Is it that bad?” he asked, but she shook her head again.

“Thank you for coming out, and I’m glad you’re getting him out of here on Saturday.” She turned away.

“Autumn,” he said, catching her arm.

“What?”

“If you need anything, call me.”

Winter

21.

The paper on the exam table crinkled under Autumn’s shifting weight in her attempt to adjust the matching paper gown over her shoulders and the large sheet of paper spread over her legs. Brandon stood near the table behind her, wide-eyed at the posters of the reproductive system on the wall. He gave her a weak smile, and she laughed.

“Don’t laugh at me,” he whispered.

“Sorry,” she smiled. “You know how much I appreciate this.”

“I’m only doing this ‘cause you weren’t doing it,” he said. “I still don’t know why I couldn’t stay in the waiting room.”

She sighed. “’Cause this is the scary part, back here.”

“We both agree on that,” he quipped.

“Just stay by my head and you won’t see anything horrifying.”

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