Page 40 of Home Body
The back door opened so slowly and quietly it might have been a ghost come to haunt them. Jessa started to scream but Kenyon motioned her to stop while she peaked around the corner into the mudroom. She jumped and slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. She lowered the knife. Jessa followed suit, putting down her skillet.
When Zack suddenly saw them, he bolted and let out a low shriek. “What the hell?” He did his best to whisper. “A kitchen knife? And a skillet? Damn it! You were going to kill me?”
“What the hell are you doing?” Kenyon asked her younger brother. “You’re supposed to be upstairs sound asleep.” She put down her weapon, picked up the spoon, and went back to stirring the cocoa heating on the stove.
“Oh, yeah. Huh. Well, I couldn’t sleep so I, um, took a little ride.”
“In that jalopy of yours?” Jessa was aghast. “That thing’s noisy as a train.”
“Not when I put it in neutral and push it down the driveway and don’t start it until it’s in the street. There isn’t room for it in our garage, so I park it on the other side. Mom and Dad never know.”
Kenyon got a third mug out of the cupboard and poured a serving of the hot chocolate for each of them. She handed one to Jessa, one to Zach, and held hers up to her nose to inhale the aromatic steam.
“Thanks, sis.” Zach leaned on the kitchen counter and blew on his before taking a sip.
Jessa let hers cool off as she backed onto one of the island stools. “Okay, Butch Cassidy. Or is it Sundance Kid? Whatever, give it up. What are you doing sneaking around in the night?”
“Yeah,” Kenyon said as she sat down, too, “what are you doing and how often do you do it?”
“Chill. It’s no big deal. I don’t do it often and when I do I’m just meeting friends for a little while.”
“You aren’t stupid enough to do dope, are you?” Kenyon snarled.
“No, sis, I don’t do stupid drugs because I’m no dope.” He was the only won who got a kick out of his bad joke.
“Girls?” Kenyon wanted to know. She had to admit that her pesky little brother had somehow managed to become a handsome young man. His curly red hair, a virtual bird’s nest until recently, had been cut into a neat style. His jaw somehow had squared, and his body had filled out from that of a scrawny kid to become a man she supposed teenaged girls called “a hunk.”
Zach shrugged. “Sometimes. But don’t worry. Nothing serious yet. Besides, Mom and Dad have given me the condomlecture at least forty-seven times, including the part about how it’s so much more special if I wait for the right girl.”
“So has the ‘right girl’ come along yet?” Jessa wanted to know, not the least bit embarrassed about prying into his sex life.
“I have an entire unopened box of Trojans in my car. Does that answer your question? There’s one girl I like but she doesn’t like me yet.”
“Really?” Jessa asked.
He chuckled, said “I’m working on it,” and chugged his cocoa.
“Well, just be careful,” Kenyon advised.
“Okay, okay.”
“Don’t you leave for college at the end of the summer?” Jessa asked. “I hear you got a big-shot soccer scholarship and everything.”
“Yeah. Well.” Kenyon noticed that he hedged. “Hey, how was Mexico?” He masterfully changed the subject.
“Oh, that was great,” Jessa said. “Your sister here fell in love.”
“Oh yeah?”
Kenyon shook her head. “Of course not. We were only there for a week.”
“Too bad,” Zack said. “That would’ve really got under Chad’s skin if you’d fallen in love on your honeymoon.”
“And got married!” Jessa laughed, slapping her knee.
“Oh, man, yeah. Too bad you didn’t do that. Speaking of Chad, did you see how he fixed his sign?”
“Yeah, we saw it.” Kenyon finished her drink and put the cup in the sink. “And with that, I’m too pooped to participate. I’m going to bed. Jessa, stay up as long as you want. You know where the guest bedroom is.”
