I watched as the broken head of one of the porcelain figures bounced across the street and rolled to a stop by my feet.
I looked up, eyes fixated on the little Honda as it zipped down the street and turned the corner until it disappeared out of my sight.
Wow. Just…wow.
I had to see her again.
But first, I had something to take care of. I pressed the doorbell and waited on Dingle Dick’s porch. His face was confrontational as he opened the door but cleared when he spotted me.
He must have been expecting her. I suppressed my smile.
“Hey,” he said, blocking the doorway from me.
I didn’t blame him. People were usually wary of me. My best friend, Caleb, said it was my size. I towered over almost everybody. I was lean, and working in construction, with all that heavy lifting, had filled me out. He also said, “Sometimes, when you turn all quiet and dark, you get this look that freaks people out. You look at them as if you’re assessing them and you can see right through them. You’re not afraid and that makes you unpredictable. It’s really cool. Like Batman, bro.”
The truth was I knew how cruel and ugly people could be behind the masks they show the world. I also knew how to be like them when needed. And I despised it. Maybe that was why I was so drawn to her. She didn’t hide anything. She was so…real.
“You’re the guy who lives across the street, right? The one with the cool-ass bike.”
“Yeah.”
He scratched his head. “Look, man, I don’t want no trouble.”
I nodded, trying to appear friendly. “I figured. See my bike out there?” I pointed with my thumb over my shoulder.
He shifted. His eyes bugged out as he spotted my bike. “Son of a bitch. What happened?”
I gave him the saddest look I could muster. “She happened.”
His jaw fell open. “You mean she did that?”
I looked at him solemnly. Not agreeing, not denying. Well, technically she did. “I may have forgotten to pay my bill.”
He sighed, scratched his beard. “It was just a hundred and thirty bucks, man.”
I shrugged. What a piece of shit. “Mine was only fifty.”
“Well, shit.” I could see the wheels in his head turning. “I really don’t want no trouble. My old lady will be back tomorrow.”
“I heard this other guy owed her money and she phoned his work, his parents, his grandparents, his girlfriend, his neighbors a few times a day. She stalked him everywhere he went until he cracked and paid.”
He looked horrified. “Well, shit.” He hung his head. “I guess I better pay that bill.”
* * *
My mind was so busy thinking about her that it wasn’t until I was on my way to the gym when I realized I had no idea where she worked. I could ask Dingle Dick, but then I’d blow my cover and he might not pay her at all.
Son of a bitch. How the hell was I going to find her?
My phone vibrated as I was storing my things in the gym locker. It was my dad. Automatically, as if my brain was conditioned by it, my body braced for a fight. Resentment whirled in my chest. What the hell did he want now? I ignored it, slamming the locker door closed. I don’t know how long I stood there, brooding, getting sucked back to that hateful place, before I shook my head to clear it. I headed to the pool.
It was still early in the morning, so I had the pool to myself. Just the way I liked it—alone.
I raised my arms and did a good, long stretch before I dove in the water. As soon as the water surrounded me, muting the sound of everything, I started to relax.
I cut through the water, and an image of her flitted in my head. I smiled.
Her eyes had that upward tilt at the corners. I felt sudden regret that I hadn’t been close enough to see the color of them. They could’ve been green or brown, I couldn’t be sure.