Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann Read Free Book Online Page A

the Cruz boy. I know he was your beau.”
    Kendall stares at the dirt between the steps. “He’s not dead,” she says. “He still is my . . . my beau.” She cringes at the old-fashioned word. It’s odd how the longer Nico is gone, the easier it is to call him her boyfriend.
    Hector is quiet. Kendall glances at him to make sure he’s not mad at her tone, and he assures her with a sympathetic smile.
    “Where’s Marlena?” she asks. “Did she search today?”
    “She took a fall last night, so she’s been down all day. She hit a rut that was hidden by brush and she flipped off her four-wheeler. She got a little too cocky with it, going too fast.” He says it softly, his hand shielding his mouth. “Don’t let the news crews hear of it.”
    “Oh, no,” Kendall says. She pulls herself out of herown misery for a moment. “Is she okay?” She remembers suddenly that tonight would have been the first soccer game of the season, but Coach canceled because of Nico.
    “She broke her leg and dislocated her shoulder,” he says. “She’ll be okay.”
    Kendall’s eyes bug out. “Oh my God. That’s terrible!” Her fingers flutter up to her throat. “I can’t believe this. I’m so sorry, Hector. I didn’t know. Is there anything I can do?”
    He tilts his head and glances at old Mr. Greenwood. “As I always say, people in tough times need tough friends. Right, friend?”
    Mr. Greenwood grunts.
    Finally Kendall’s mother emerges from the drugstore. She grabs Hector’s hand and squeezes it. “I just heard about poor Marlena inside,” she whispers. “So sorry to hear it. I’ll drop Kendall by to visit tonight.”
    Hector raises an eyebrow at Kendall, as if to say,
See? This is how it’s done,
but all he says is, “Yes, ma’am. She’ll appreciate that.”
    As Mrs. Fletcher and Kendall walk home, the news trucks come roaring past on their way out of Cryer’s Cross, leaving a trail of dust. For them the story is over.

ELEVEN
    Kendall sits in silence as Mrs. Fletcher drives her to Hector’s ranch. She’s tired. Not quite ready for life to resume.
    “Call me when you’re ready to be picked up.”
    “Okay,” Kendall says with a sigh. “How about now?”
    “It’ll be good for you to think about someone else for a bit,” Mrs. Fletcher says carefully. “Help you cope.”
    Kendall doesn’t have any tears left. She’s too weary to voice what she and her mother both know—that Nico is probably inexplicably gone forever, just like Tiffany, and life has to go on. In a farming town it is a simple fact of survival. The produce, the animals—no one can make living things pause in their growing. Not one human event can make the potatoes wait. When they are ready, they are ready.
    * * *

    Kendall pauses at the front door of Hector’s house as her mother drives back down the long driveway. Jacián is in the grassy yard between the house and a corral. A floodlight shines on a soccer goal. Half a dozen soccer balls are scattered over the grass and around the net, and Jacián dribbles one slowly, then fakes left and spins around an invisible opponent. He passes the ball to himself and sprints to the goal, smashing the ball into the net at a sharp angle.
    He moves like a dancer.
    He reaches down to pick up a ball and sees Kendall standing there. They stare at each other for a moment. Then Kendall breaks the stare and knocks on the door.
    Mr. Obregon lets Kendall in. He and Mrs. Obregon greet her warmly and thank her for coming. They usher her through the house to the family room, where Marlena rests on the sofa, right leg in a cast that reaches to midthigh. Her left shoulder is immobilized in a sling. Hector sits nearby in an old rocking chair. Marlena’s eyes are closed, but she stirs when Kendall comes in.
    “Hey,” she says with a sleepy smile. A single crutch lies on the floor next to her.
    “Hey,” Kendall says, taking it all in. “Wow. Did they keep you at the hospital overnight? This looks . . .