Page 69 of Just Friends

“Are you kidding me? Come on. I’m not some prissy little twat. That sounds like a good fit. I’ll introduce you to my buddy Ty; he’s a Sheriff Deputy.”

“Oh, and by the way, no swearing around Danny, Autumn gets mad.”

Weasel laughed.

Danny returned to attempting to stand again, but slipped; Weasel caught him before he hit the floor. “Gotcha.” He tossed the baby up and caught him, much to Danny’s delighted squeals. “Your mama runs a tight ship around here,” he told Danny. “But don’t worry, your Uncle Weasel will let you have some fun.” He bounced Danny who grabbed a handful of his shirt and tried to shove it in his mouth. “Boy, Autumn keeps you on a tight leash.”

Dan flashed his wedding ring then flipped Weasel off. He eyed Weasel for a moment with Danny. “What about you?” he asked as Weasel lowered a wiggling Danny back to the blanket. Then, he held out a brightly colored giraffe toy with a freakish long neck that rattled. Danny snatched the toy and stuck the giraffe’s head straight into his mouth.

“What?”

“You gonna make an honest woman out of Rebecca and settle down; have a couple of kids?”

Weasel rubbed his temples. “I still can’t believe you got suckered into hunting her down the morning after your wedding.”

“That’s not an answer. And she still hasn’t told Autumn.”

“And that’s why I sure as shit can’t give you an answer…I don’t know.”

Dan nodded and had the grace to not push Weasel to say what he wanted. “It’s not a good time for her today.”

“No,” he agreed. “Want to target practice sometime?”

“Yeah. Danny has an Elmo doll I want to use as a target.”

“What’s an Elmo?”

Dan’s eyes widened. “It’s horrifying.”

???

The next couple of days were a blur as the Gilbert’s descended on White Oak, and Rebecca prepared for her dad’s visitation and funeral. She accepted Weasel’s offer to stay at his cabin and left her apartment to her aunt, Janet. After finding out she couldn’t remember the last time the car had the oil changed, he’d spent the morning replacing the oil, tinkering under the hood. Then, he took it through a wash. Behind the wheel of her clean car, he pulled into the White Oak Funeral Home parking lot, and Rebecca’s breath caught. The lot was almost full.

“I’m hoping this isn’t all ours,” she said. “This was only family for the first hour.”

Weasel opened the door and reached down. “Ready?”

Not by a long shot. But Rebecca clutched his offered hand and climbed out of the car.

Weasel pulled the Funeral Home door open to reveal an overabundance of people standing around the lobby. And they all turned to her. Wishing she could turn around and hide behind Weasel’s back, she tried to remain calm as he lightly squeezed her hand. Surrounded by a chorus of “Sorry about your dad,” her chest tightened.

People she hadn’t seen in years mixed with those who she had no clue if they were relatives or family friends. Maybe they just wanted the free food that appeared in droves.

She was pulled from Weasel’s grasp and hugged by a swarm of cousins. Two were Janet’s daughters, Kelsey and Olivia. Kelsey’s hair was bleached blonde and her teeth were glowing white. Olivia had gone the exact opposite direction, and her hair dyed jet black. The family all had naturally dark hair, but she’d taken hers even darker. Three were relatives of her dad—April, Cynthia, and Tonya. Rebecca extricated from the hug, glanced around, and didn’t have to search far; his hand rested on the small of her back. The expression in his eyes conveyed that he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Hi, I’m Rebecca’s cousin, Kelsey,” she thrust a hand at Weasel who shook.

“I’m Harlan,” responding with his real name before Rebecca could answer.

Then Janet barged up. “Rebecca honey, Margaret needs a chair. The woman’s eighty-two for Christ’s sake.”

“What? Aren’t there four couches in the middle of the room?”

“They’re all full. When are they going to let us in to see him? It’s past four already.”

“People in this family won’t move to let an old woman sit down?”

“I’ll take care of it,” Weasel said. “And then I’ll find Larry. Don’t worry.”

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