-Caleb-
As the dust kicked up around us, I reached for Jocelyn’s hand and squeezed it.
“I wonder how far he’ll make us walk,” Jocelyn said, but her tone indicated she didn’t really care.
“At least I have shoes this time,” I pointed out with a grin.
Jocelyn giggled then coughed on the dust.
I fanned the air with my free hand, but it didn’t seem to help. “We’ll have to give him some lead time, otherwise we’re going to be walking in a dust cloud all the way.”
“Good point,” Jocelyn rasped.
I decided we didn’t need to wait in the cloud while the dust settled and pulled Jocelyn into the woods to let her cough it out. I wished I’d had the presence of mind to grab a couple of water bottles before jumping out of the Suburban.
“You don’t really see me as your sister, do you?” Jocelyn asked after she finished coughing.
I snorted. “Not likely. I see you as my lover. My girlfriend. But definitely not my sister. I was just trying to make a point.”
Jocelyn gave me the most beautiful smile, and my heart melted. “Am I your girlfriend?”
“Yep. And I’m your boyfriend. And that’s what we are,” I said firmly.
“Good.” Jocelyn wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me, pressing her cheek against my shoulder.
I wrapped my arms around her, too. “I’m not going to let them make us live-in babysitters. And I can’t believe they’d planned on dropping that bomb on your eighteenth birthday. I mean, that’s a big day for you, something to be celebrated. Not something to be overshadowed by some pregnancy announcement.”
“I thought my birthday was perfect the way it was,” Jocelyn replied softly.
Remembering the sweet way she’d arched beneath me while she gave me her virginity, every precious sound, just made a sense of awe wash over me. I’d treasure that night forever. “I’m glad. I’m still just so... honored you chose me.”
Jocelyn leaned up and kissed me. “Who else would I have chosen?”
“I don’t know, but the idea of it makes me want to punch him,” I chuckled.
“Now we’re punching imaginary lovers?” Jocelyn laughed.
“Guess so.” I kissed her again on the lips then sucked the spot I’d made on her neck.
“Caleb, we can’t!” Jocelyn gasped.
I groaned. “Why not?”
“What if Dad circles back?” Jocelyn pointed out. “Plus there are any number of fishermen and loggers on the road today.”
“Like our friends?” I asked.
Jocelyn shivered. “Don’t remind me. I really thought they were going to kill us.”
“Yeah,” I said, “me, too.”
Of course, those thoughts brought back Bill, and I remembered, again, how his skull looked all crushed in. It made me want to be sick.
Jocelyn touched my cheek, bringing me out of my horror. “Hey. Don’t go there. That was not your fault. He was going to hurt me, Caleb. Hurt me very badly and probably kill me after. I... I know it’s a horrible memory for you but... but... I’m so grateful.”
I gave her a wan smile and ran a hand over her hair. “I’m glad he didn’t hurt you. I’m... glad I was there.”
Jocelyn hugged me tightly.
I looked out to the road and saw the dust had died down. “Okay, I think we can start walking.”
Jocelyn nodded and took my hand again. We walked along the side of the road, ready to jump off again if a logger or a fisherman passed.
It was a cool day, which was also a good thing. I sweated just the same, and Jocelyn wiped her sleeve over her brow a few times.
We must have walked at least five miles before we saw the Suburban and boat trailer pulled off to the side of the road.
I looked at Jocelyn. She looked at me. Then, we both just kept walking.
A door slammed and Hank came running up to us. “Don’t be stupid. Get in the truck.”
“It’s a nice day today, isn’t it, Jacey? Good day for a nice, long walk to a bus station,” I mused.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Jocelyn said.
Hank grabbed my shoulder, but I slapped his hand away. “If you want to be helpful, toss us a couple of waters and then fuck off,” I growled.
“Boy, you don’t get to talk to me that way!” Hank barked, but I ignored him.
Jocelyn tugged on my hand, and we kept walking forward.
“Do you have your passport with you?” Jocelyn whispered to me when Hank finally gave up and got into the Suburban, following us at a crawl.
“Yes. And my wallet. You?” I said.
“Just my passport. But I’ll pay you back if you get me a bus ticket,” Jocelyn replied quickly.
I chuckled and barely restrained myself from slipping my arm around her waist. “Don’t even think about it. We’ll call it my birthday present to you.”
“But you already gave me such a nice birthday present,” Jocelyn said.
Remembering being inside her tight, hot, wet body as the sky filled with shooting stars made my balls tighten. I swallowed and tried to think un-sexy thoughts. “I thought it was a nice present, too, but that was sort of a mutual present. You know, something we both enjoyed.”
“Well, so would a bus ride with you,” Jocelyn pointed out.
“I think anything involving the two of us together would be a mutual gift,” I said.
Jocelyn smiled at me, and we continued walking easily down the road with Hank rolling along in our wake.
“Caleb, Jacey, please get in the truck. Hank is sorry,” my mother called out the other window after a while. “We both are. Please, can we talk about this?”
I draped my arm companionably around Jocelyn’s shoulders as a way of protecting her from any guilt my mother might be stirring up at that moment. “Nope.”
“Jacey, get your ASS in this truck!” Hank shouted. “Unless you want me to revoke your college tuition!”
Ah, there it was. The same carrot he was dangling for me. My jaw worked, and a feeling of bitterness coiled in my stomach like a snake ready to strike. “You know, Hank...”
Jocelyn put a hand on my chest, and I stopped walking. She’d turned very pale. “Let’s just get in the Suburban.”
I lowered my voice. “You sure?”
“Yes,” Jocelyn said. “I can’t get financial aid because of how much money Dad makes, and he’ll never co-sign for a student loan so...”
She was in the same boat I was. Damn Hank Collins anyway. “Okay. Okay, baby.”
I climbed in the Suburban ahead of her so she wasn’t the one riding hump and pulled her in next to me. We both buckled up in silence.
Hank was still fuming. As soon as the door was closed and our seatbelts clicked, he stomped on the gas, and we went careening and bumping down the road.
I prayed no logging trucks came from either direction, because the way Hank was driving, there would be zero time to react.
As though we were psychically connected, my mother let out a gasp. “Hank, please, not so fast! Think of the baby!”
Hank slowed down immediately. “Sorry, darling.”
Jocelyn and I had probably worn the soles of our tennis shoes straight through on that gravel road, but God forbid something happen to my mother and her precious cargo. If I didn’t also love my mother, I’d have been enraged. As it was, I was angry on Jocelyn’s behalf.
She must have sensed I was about to let loose on Hank because Jocelyn dug her nails into my knee. I sighed and patted her hand gently.
“I just don’t see why you don’t want to help with the baby,” my mother said after a while.
“I just don’t see why you’re having a baby if you can’t take care of it yourself,” I grunted back.
“Family takes care of family,” Hank intoned from the driver’s seat as though he were Moses coming down the mountain with the Ten Commandments.
I squeezed my eyes shut and counted backward from fifty while Jocelyn’s nails dug into my knee again. “Hank, WE’RE family, too. How is it taking care of us to add something new and time-consuming to our plates when we’re already doing the school thing?”
“You’re not doing ‘the school thing,’” Hank said.
“I’m working. I’m padding my resume so I look better to universities AFTER the next stretch,” I explained patiently. “I’m going to be busy. Very busy.”
Hank glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “Maybe you should start paying rent. A thousand bucks a month sounds good.”
“Hank!” my mother cut in, scandalized. “Of course he shouldn’t pay rent!”
“If I’m paying that kind of rent, I’m getting my own apartment,” I seethed, ignoring the pricks of Jocelyn’s fingernails. “And I won’t be coming back to take care of any baby. In fact, I might do that anyway.”
Hank’s face went almost purple. “Why you ungrateful...”
“Why don’t you pull over and let us walk again? Teach us a real lesson,” I mocked him.
“Hank, just let it go,” my mother pleaded. “I guess we were wrong to think they would help.”
“Both of you are ungrateful bastards,” Hank snarled. “I expected this kind of crap from you, Caleb, but Jacey? I am very surprised and disappointed.”
Jocelyn hung her head. “I suppose I could come home on weeke—”
“The hell you will,” I interrupted her. “You need to enjoy college. Next thing you know, they’ll have you driving back and forth from college to take care of the kid so they can act like a couple of honeymooners instead of parents. If you need help, hire somebody. Jesus.”
Hank was so red with rage he looked as though he’d explode. “I’m dropping you two at the bus station. You can find your own way home. I won’t spend another minute longer than I have to with you.”
“Fine by me,” I snapped. “The feeling’s mutual.”
Jocelyn leaned her head against the seat back and squeezed her eyes closed.
“Is that true, Jacey? Is the feeling mutual?” Hank asked.
“I’ll go with Caleb. I need time to think,” Jacey said softly.
“Think about what? We’re family. We take care of each other,” Hank scoffed. “You’re going to have a little brother or sister...”
“Dad, I don’t want to talk about it. Because if we talk about it now, I’m going to say very hurtful things, and I don’t want to,” Jocelyn replied.
I wished I could put my arm around her. Hold her in my lap. Kiss her slowly and reassure her with my body. But I couldn’t do any of those things with our parents there. Jocelyn’s eyelids were wet even though she’d squeezed them shut. I wanted to feed Hank his balls.
Hank shook his head and grumbled under his breath about “ingratitude.”
My mother shrank small in her seat, openly crying, her hands over her still-flat belly.
I worked my hand over to Jocelyn’s jeans and curled a finger in her belt loop, giving it a little tug, just so she knew I was there.
Jocelyn turned her head slightly in my direction and opened her eyes. Tears she’d been trying to hold back rolled down her cheeks, but she dashed them away quickly.
Honestly, the bus station couldn’t come soon enough.