The eat-in kitchen was just as big as the living room, with a table sitting by the double glass doors which had another beautiful view off the deck. She could imagine Stud and the girls eating breakfast there with the doors open.
She felt the lump in her throat get bigger as she walked throughout Stud’s home with him following behind. She found Aunt Katy’s room; it was next to the kitchen beside the laundry room.
She went up the steps to the second floor. The first bedroom had twin beds and pale pink walls. The lace curtains blew in the wind from the open window. Sex Piston went to the girls’ dresser they shared, picking up the red ribbon that she had seen in Meri’s hair then the purple one she had seen in Keri’s. She looked at Stud standing in the doorway, watching. He moved back as she went through the door, closing it behind her.
The room she saw next to the girls’ was Star’s nursery. The pale yellow and green walls with cartoon characters playing were adorable. She walked to her crib and saw a tan rabbit lying there. She reached in, taking the rabbit and brushing it against her cheek, smelling Star’s distinctive baby powder smell.
She left Star’s room reluctantly, going to the room across the hall. She opened that door and saw a room with pale, tan walls and a large bed and dresser, but it was otherwise impersonal. She closed the door to Stud’s guest room without bothering to go inside.
Sex Piston paused before opening the last door, knowing it was Stud’s. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. The room was the largest of them all, decorated with different shades of browns and green. It had a fireplace that was in the corner of the room,designed—Sex Piston was sure—so that you could lie on the bed and still have a view of the fireplace.
“You’re home is beautiful, Stud.” Sex Piston’s husky voice was soft in the quietness of the house. She walked to the window, pulling back the cream-colored sheers, looking at the beauty of the surrounding mountains.
“Thank you.”
Sex Piston laid her forehead against the window pane, closing her eyes. She felt Stud come up behind her, slipping his arms around her waist.
“I had a friend when I was younger. We were friends from the first day of school, Stud. Ma still has pictures of us in school, sitting together that first day of kindergarten. We were best friends all the way through elementary school. She had started school late because of her birthday and she hadn’t passed kindergarten the first time, so she was older than me, but she didn’t act it. I looked up to her because she already knew everything. I followed her around like a puppy for years.”
Sex Piston hesitated then continued with her story. “The first day of sixth grade, she changed. She became friends with girls in the seventh and eighth grades. I was small for my age, but developed. The boys and girls noticed. My friend started hanging out with her new friends, but they wouldn’t let me. They were mean, called me names and basically tortured me throughout middle school.
“I didn’t tell anyone, Stud. Not Ma or Pops, or even Diamond. The girls really didn’t like the boys paying attention to me. One day, I made the mistake of letting one of the boys walk me home from school. The next day at school, they were horrible to me, but I pretended to ignore them the way I always did.
“It was raining that day, so I rode the bus home. My friend motioned for me to sit with her at the back of the bus. She was smiling and waving at me, like when we were little. I went and sat down next to them. As soon as the bus started moving, they ganged up on me.
“The one that stabbed me twice had a crush on the boy who walked me home. She wanted to teach me a lesson. I learned my lesson that day, Stud, and I never forgot it. Allison didn’t participate, but she watched. She didn’t try to help me. She even stood in front of the back mirror so that the bus driver couldn’t see that six girls were beating me to death.”
Stud tightened his hold on her. “What happened?”
A smile touched her lips. “Killyama, Crazy Bitch, T.A. and even Fat Louise took them all on. They were hurt, too, but they managed to get the bus driver’s attention, and get the girls away from me. Killyama held my jacket against my side until they could get an ambulance. Ma told me they stayed at the hospital until her and Pops could get there. We became friends that day and it’s lasted all these years.