Chapter 74

Earl Laidlaw, who hadn’t said a word, shook Jane’s hand, nodded, and the Laidlaws left, followed by Harley and then Jennalee, after a glance at her mother. When Jane nodded, her daughter beamed because it was nice not to be asked a bunch of questions.

Earl and Lizann went to get their motorcycles and pack the clothing into the little trailer while Harley and Jennalee headed out front. “This is where I watched you guys arrive,” said Jennalee at the little fountain. She took a seat on its edge and Harley sat next to her.

The Sutherland exodus was just beginning. First to come out was Vaughn, pushing Haskel in his wheelchair, Anita following. She pulled their big wheeled bag, moving along way too serene, at least in Jennalee’s eyes. “Look at them,” she said, nudging Harley. “Like nothing happened, like it’s all the same.”

“Because it is,” he replied.

“But it’s not! He fucked Lorene all over the place! Anita went nuts over it!”

“And now it’s over. The reunion is over and everyone goes back to their appointed places.”

Jennalee had to consider this for a whole minute. If she were the wife, she wouldn’t let Vaughn get away with it. She’d torment him no end and she’d call up Lorene and tell her off, tell her to stop fucking Vaughn and if she ever even thought about it, it would be the end of her. Then Jennalee looked more closely at Anita, smartly dressed in white capris and fitted white jacket, gold sandals. Her hair and makeup were perfect and she had a little smile on her face, like she’d won in some way. And maybe in her own way she had, because she got Vaughn the rest of the time, back where he belonged.

“I couldn’t do it,” she told Harley.

“Do what?”

“Go back to regular life when my husband had been fucking around.”

“Well, that’s you, not Anita. She’s had practice at this. The life she leads appears to mean more than his fidelity.”

“Oh, God, I’ll never understand adults.”

Harley chuckled. He was straining to look toward the nearby paved lot where all the Sutherlands parked. “I don’t see Parker’s Kia.”

“Maybe they left early,” offered Jennalee.

“Driven out by Sutherland insanity over a girl child.”

“You think?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Harley. “It’s a really big deal. That little girl will probably grow up and marry a biker.”

Jennalee burst out laughing at this. “Another Lizann! They should name her that.”

“Maybe they will.” 21

Jennalee’s morning collapsed when she heard the roar of a motorcycle. Since Earl and Lizann were over near their silent machines, it meant only one thing. Garth.

Embarrassment flooded her and she dipped her hand into the fountain’s water, more for something to do than to cool herself. Suddenly she noticed how hot the day had become, heat radiating off the courtyard’s pavement. Closer and closer the motorcycle came as it ate up the long drive. It seemed louder than before, louder than when she’d been on the back riding away to do awful things. She wanted to run and hide, would have if Harley hadn’t been sitting next to her. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze as Garth roared into view.

He drove right up to them, Sutherland heads turning as he gunned the engine a couple times before shutting it off. He then took off his helmet, grinning like he had an audience, which Jennalee supposed he had.

“Hey, guys,” he said, remaining astride the bike.

“Hey,” Harley replied without enthusiasm.

Jennalee managed to squeak, “Garth.”

“Man, I am beat,” he declared, running a hand through his dark hair. Jennalee noted his stubble of beard, how it didn’t suit him. Harley pulled off that look, but on his brother, it seemed sinister. “I just took Andrea home,” Garth went on. “That chick is wild. You’d never know it, right? But she’s an animal in the sack. On the way to her house, she had me stop in this alley and she sucked me off. Shit, man, I am so beat.”

Now Jennalee wanted to die. If Garth was talking to them like this about Andrea, had he talked to Andrea this way about her? Had he talked to other people, too? It didn’t used to matter what kids said. She was the San Francisco Slut and proud of it, but that seemed ages ago. She felt things tipping over, the planet going off kilter, and she gripped the fountain’s brick edge to steady herself. It didn’t matter that Sutherlands were walking around fine. She was going to fall off the world.