“This morning when he dropped Adam off. He has quite a shiner. Emmett Barnes is a scary guy and you could have been really hurt.”
“I know, but a man named Hayden Dean stepped in. If it weren’t for him, Emmett would have hit me.”
“Probably, but those Deans aren’t much better, believe me.”
“Really? I was going to try and find out where Hayden lives so I could see how he’s feeling today.”
Shelly shook her head. “Stay away from those people. I think Hayden is his own first cousin.” One red brow lifted. “If you know what I mean.”
Hope smiled, no longer caring if Shelly wanted friendship or information. It had been so long since she’d stood around gossiping with another woman, she’d forgotten how much she missed it. “Do you want to come in? I think I might have a diet Pepsi.”
“Diet? Do I look like I need a diet?” asked the neighbor who looked like she’d had to lie down to get her Wranglers zipped up. “I don’t diet.”
“I might have some tea.”
“No, thanks. Wally and Adam and I were just headed down to the lake for a late picnic. Why don’t you join us?”
Hope had a million and one things to do. Finish her alien story, take photographs of the area, have them developed at the one-hour photo place in town, scan them into her computer, then transpose some aliens into pictures. She had to read over the articles she’d xeroxed at the library, and she had to decide if there was a story in there somewhere. One that hadn’t been told before.
Her eyes felt scratchy, her brain mushy. A few hours lying on the beach, emptying her head, and chatting about anything but work sounded like heaven. “Okay,” she said. “Give me ten minutes.” As soon as Shelly left, Hope ran upstairs and peeled out of her clothes. She washed her face and shaved her legs. Her blue-and-green tie-dyed one-piece was cut high on her hips, and she liked it because it made her legs look long. She grabbed an old picnic basket she found in the pantry and checked for petrified rodents. It was clean and she tossed in a few diet Pepsis, grapes, crackers, bleu cheese, and her Minolta camera and case. With a beach towel over one shoulder, a pair of Japanese flip-flops on her feet, and her sunglasses covering her eyes, she headed to the lake.
Adam and Wally were already in the water, while Shelly relaxed beneath the shade of ponderosa pines. She sat on the beach in a chaise longue, drinking a Shasta Cola and chowing on barbecued potato chips. She wore a Hawaiian print halter with a matching swimming skirt.
“We brought extra sandwiches if you’re hungry,”
Shelly offered as Hope sat in the chaise next to her neighbor.
“What kind of sandwiches?”
“Peanut butter and jelly, or ham and cheese.”
“Ham and cheese sounds good.” Hope sat, straddling the lounge chair. The metal frame warmed the insides of her thighs as she placed her picnic basket between her knees. “I brought some fruit and some cheese and crackers,” she added as she opened the basket.
“Is it squirt cheese?”
“No, bleu.” Hope spread the cheese on a cracker, plopped a grape on top, then bit into it.
“Ahh…no, thanks.”
Hope glanced at Shelly, who was watching her as if she were eating entrails. “It’s really good,” she said and popped the last of the cracker into her mouth.
“I’ll just take your word for that.”
“No way. I ate your cooking, now you have to eat mine.” Hope fixed Shelly a cracker and handed it to her.
“This is your idea of cooking?” She looked doubtful, but she took it anyway.
“It is these days.”
Shelly bit into it, chewed carefully, then declared, “Hey, this is better than I thought.”
“Better than squirt cheese?”
“Yeah, except for bacon flavor.” Shelly motioned for Hope’s basket and they swapped.
; “You can eat anything in there but the peanut butter and grape jelly,” Shelly told her as Hope pawed through the items. “It’s Adam’s and he’s real picky about his jelly. It has to be real smooth, no seeds or anything. Dylan has to make his sandwich special for him.”