The Jealous Kind (Holland Family Saga 2)

“So why are you with them?”

“It beats getting your ass pinched in a cocktail lounge. Your parents did a good job. You’re a good kid. Keep me in mind if you want that cherry shake.”

She blew a kiss at me, then drove off to park in front of Krauser’s house. My head was a basket of snakes by the time I reached the Stop sign.

A HALF HOUR LATER I pulled into the deep shade of Valerie’s driveway rather than park on the street, where my heap might be recognized and vandalized by Loren’s friends. I twisted the bell on the door. No answer. I walked up the driveway, beneath the tall windows, and tried to see inside by jumping above the ledges. I saw Valerie’s face behind a dining room screen, a towel wrapped around her hair.

“Are you out of your mind?” she said. “Why are you looking through the windows?”

“I’ve been calling all morning. Where have you been?”

“I went to the grocery.”

“I have to talk with you. It’s urgent. Call it of global significance.”

“I thought we were going to Galveston,” she said.

“Once we get some things out of the way.”

“Stop shouting.”

She went to the back door and pushed it open. I brushed against her as I stepped into the house. I could smell a scent like strawberries on her skin. She was dressed in faded jeans and a short-sleeve blue denim shirt with cacti and yellow and red flowers sewn on it. She ha

d unwrapped the towel from her head. Her hair was damp and hung in ringlets on her cheeks and neck.

“Let’s go for a cherry milkshake,” I said.

“Cherry milkshake? We’re not going to Galveston?”

“I can’t think straight. I just talked with a woman who’s probably in the Mob. She was talking about cherry milkshakes, so I have milkshakes on my mind. She was talking about you. Or seemed to be. So was Saber. How long did you go out with Grady Harrelson?”

“What does that have to do with anything now?” When I didn’t answer, she said, “I went out with him for two months. Why?”

“It took you that long to discover what kind of guy he is?”

“Yes, it did. What is wrong with you?”

“I don’t believe it would take that long.”

“I don’t care what you believe. It’s the truth. Grady can be thoughtful and kind when it suits his purpose. But I saw another side to him the night you walked up on us at the drive-in.”

“Saw what side to him?”

Her mouth was a tight seam, as though she were deciding how long she would tolerate my behavior. “A Mexican girl got out of one of the cars and came over to say hello. She had a pachuco cross on the web of her left hand, like a street kid might wear. She got confused and didn’t know what to say and kept looking around. I felt sorry for her. She walked off, humiliated in front of Grady’s worthless friends. He swore to me he didn’t know who she was. So I went to the restroom. When I came back, he was talking to one of his friends, the guy who flipped a cigarette against your back. Grady didn’t see me. He said, ‘Get that bitch out of here. Tell her she’s going to be a grease spot if she bothers me again.’?”

“You never had a clue about him before that?”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but if you’re trying to hurt me, you’re doing a good job of it.”

“I just wondered why you were with a guy like Grady. It doesn’t make sense. How could it? You’re everything that’s—”

“A woman in the Mob said something about me?”

“I saw her at Harrelson’s house. She was asking me if I had a girlfriend.”

“Why are you telling me all this crap? Why now? We were going fishing on the jetties.”

“I was trying to tell you you’re everything that’s good. That’s why I couldn’t understand how you could go out with Harrelson. I’m not the same since that night at the drive-in.”