Hot Summer Nights (Lucas Brothers)

“That’s where you’d be wrong,” she says with so much glee that it drops off her words like sticky-sweet candy.

I don’t respond. There’s not much to say unless I want to discuss my mother’s sex life—which I really don’t ever want to do. Instead, I keep my attention on the road. As I pass cornfield after cornfield and go from blacktop road to gravel—that seems to go on for miles and miles—I begin praying that these people Mom found aren’t actually serial killers.

My gaze goes out to the side of the window briefly as I take in nothing but crops of corn that are thick and ready to harvest. The corn is tall, too. It practically reaches the horizon.

Suddenly, I begin hoping that whoever it is we’re going to meet aren’t descendants of the Children of the Corn. Because let’s face it, I definitely don’t have the best of luck these days. A brief image of Bryant floats through my mind and I can’t stop the sadness from creeping back in.

Mom makes it sound so easy. She doesn’t understand why I can’t put the past in the past and live in the future. She doesn’t truly understand, though. I’ve said it before, but she doesn’t know me. If she did, she’d probably hate me as much as I hate myself.

I push those thoughts out of my head. I’m not strong enough to even remember them. Then, I concentrate on finding this place Mom has us searching for. The quicker I find it, the quicker I can get Mom home and go and find Bryant. I can’t agree to two weeks with him. I’m too weak. I love him, and it’d be so easy to fall into his arms and let him hold me. It’d be way too easy to lean on him as I get through this health crisis.

Easy but not fair.

Bryant deserves better than me. He always did.

15

Bryant

I barely get out of the shower and dress in time. I’ve just sat down to take a minute to actually breathe. I feel better, though, and I’m ready to face a very mad ex-wife.

At least I hope I am.

I hiked over four miles to the cabin, parking my truck on a gravel road that dead ended. I hope my poor truck survives without anyone finding it and destroying it, but if not, it is what it is. You can drive to the cabin, sure, but I didn’t want my truck here. If Maggie saw my truck, she would demand I take her home.

If I’m going to make this work, I need Maggie completely surprised.

When I looked online for a rental, I had two requirements. First, it had to be off the beaten path and private. Secondly, I wanted to make sure it was primitive. That meant no electricity except for generators or solar power, no internet and nothing to link me to the outside world. For my two weeks with Maggie, I wanted to be totally off the grid.

I didn’t realize that Maggie’s cousin, Faith, and her husband had just exactly what I was looking for. Ida Sue came through by letting me know that. It’s perfect. Their place fits everything I just described and so much more. There are no neighbors for miles and miles. There’s a small pond and the cabin is rustic but comfortable. It has a backup generator, but it runs completely on solar power. I’m sure Titan put a mint in the place—rustic or not. There’s also a king-sized bed that screams luxury—right down to the satin sheets. Titan hates roughing it, but he loves Faith and it’s what she wanted. So he compromised. He bought this place so they could both be happy, and he’d have some place he could be with Faith alone without anyone around to hear when he had his wife. Apparently, Faith is a screamer. That’s a piece of information I didn’t need to know, but I somehow got it anyway. I didn’t share personal details back. I mean, I could have. Maggie’s not a screamer, but the noises she makes are erotic and haunt me all the time, but that’s not something I ever want to share. Maggie’s noises belong to me and me alone.

I shift on the bed as I look out the window and see Maggie’s vehicle pull up. I’m really nervous. Christ. I hope she accepts this easily…

I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I have the front door cracked because I know my Maggie. When she gets here and there’s no one around, but the door is somewhat opened, she will look inside. There’s one bedroom, a combined kitchen and living area and one large bath with a washer and dryer in it. That’s basically it.

Except for the cat.

She just showed up. I couldn’t say where she came from, but she seems to like me. She’s a fluffy, gray, long-haired cat, with blue eyes. She’s also currently lying beside me on the bed, her little kitten head perched on my hip.