THUGLIT Issue One by Johnny Shaw, Mike Wilkerson, Jason Duke, Jordan Harper, Matthew Funk, Terrence McCauley, Hilary Davidson, Court Merrigan Read Free Book Online Page A

being his usual sweet self, mollified her. But she fixed her narrow blue eyes on me and pursed her lips, looking me up and down. Sometimes, when people met me, they told me I looked exotic and used that as cover to ask about my race. Mrs. Carlow didn’t ask that, but I felt those cold eyes parsing pieces out, not liking any of them. While Jake was able to thaw her out, she remained cold and rude with me. She didn’t come out and say anything directly. Her insults were carefully couched in statements that were hard to answer.
    “Them’s some fine clothes you have,” she’d told me. “What’s that old saw? Fine feathers make fine birds?” She turned to Jake. “Cousin Hark’s wife just walked out on him. She was one who always thought real well of herself.” Her expression made it clear what she thought of women who thought well of themselves.
    I knew, even then, that Mrs. Carlow believed she could chase me off. What she hadn’t realized was that I’d already made up my mind about Jake and my own future, and that there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. What she couldn’t have realized was how much I wanted her to hate me.
    I was thinking of that visit as I steered my rental car along the roads. Nature was something I loved in healthy doses. Being surrounded by hills and fields with no indications of people nearby—except for occasional tractor-crossing signs—made me nervous. When it got to be too much for me, I stopped the car and turned on my cell phone. Jake had tried to call me several times before I’d boarded my flight; I hadn’t answered, and once I’d turned off my phone I hadn’t turned it back on. He had to be sweating by now, wondering why I wasn’t answering. I dialed his number and he answered immediately. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone? I’ve been worried sick about you.”
    “Why did you go running off in the middle of the night? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    He sighed. “I knew if I did, I’d never get here. I just had to do it then, Eric a. It was important. Don’t be upset, okay?”
    “Oh, I’m upset all right. Especially because I’m sitting in the middle of nowhere trying to figure out how to get to where you are.”
    It took him a second to absorb that. “You flew out here? To be with me?”
    “You didn’t think I was just going to wait at home for you, did you, baby?”
    “I was worried you’d be so angry you might file for divorce,” he admitted in a sheepish tone.
    “I’d never do that to you, baby,” I said, and I meant it.
     
    *****
     
    The only person who seemed distinctly unhappy to see me was Kady. When Jake brought me back to her house, where all of the family was meeting, her mouth pursed, just like her mother’s had when she’d met me. Kady had been friendly enough when I’d encountered her before, but now I saw bitterness and recrimination in her eyes. But that might only have heated up after her husband, a ruggedly handsome man named Ry, hugged me for longer than was strictly necessary.
    “I’m sorry about your mother,” I told her. She nodded, keeping her eyes on my face. Her own was red and blotchy, and her eyes were swollen. Her two young sons stopped running around long enough to inspect me, then took off, laughing. In the living room, a collection of cousins sat around drinking and laughing. It didn’t seem as if anyone missed Mrs. Carlow much.
    “You got here in a hurry,” Kady said to me.
    “It’s a tough time for Jake. I wasn’t going to leave him alone.”
    “You sure that’s the reason? Or were you afraid he’d come back here and go native?” Kady’s voice was more refined and less country than her mother’s had been, but it had the same twangy undertones.
    “Go native?”
    “You know exactly what I mean. You’re the reason he never came home. Jake was going to come back and be a doctor here. You wouldn’t let him do that.”
    “That’s ridiculous. Jake never wanted to come back here.”
    “Yes,