Page 23 of Heart of Stone
THIRTEEN
AMY
My mom had gone in to take another nap. I knew now what it was like to be a young mom with a toddler relieved when the baby finally laid down for a nap. Mom’s meds were too heavy. With the exception of the violent shovel attack on the front porch, she’d been a walking zombie, barely able to speak or think. There was obviously a fine line between manic episodes and a comatose state, a line that would allow her to function, but we hadn’t found it yet. We were going to cut back on the dose, and as always, it was just wait and see. It was hard to wait and see when you had no idea what you were waiting for.
The weather was cooperating completely with my plan to clean up the front yard. A thin spray of crisp, salty air flowed over the yard, and the sun above was just warm enough to let me work without a cumbersome jacket. I had gone to the hardware store to get gloves, weeding tools, a rake and a box of trash bags.
Hunter’s bike wasn’t in the driveway. It was too early for him to be up and off. Chances were, he was sleeping in some girl’s bed and he hadn’t dragged his ass home yet.There was movement inside the house though, which meant that Slade was up. He cranked on the radio, and I decided music might make the work go a little faster. I ran up their steps and walked inside.
Slade heard me and came around the corner of the kitchen. “Street”—he looked past me—“Are you alone?”
“Uh, yeah. Who should I be with?”
“No one. I just thought maybe Hunter was with you. I haven’t seen him since he stomped out of Lazy Daze last night.” He leaned against the doorjamb. “So, how was your date? Still can’t fucking believe you’re hanging out with Rincon.”
“Yep, I seem to be a magnet for trouble. And about the date— don’t ask. Having your brother drag me into the office for one of his nosy ass reprimands and lectures was the highlight of the evening. Everything went downhill from there. I won’t be seeing that guy again. He’s not who I thought he was.”
“No? That’s good cuz he’s pretty fucking sketch.”
“Said the guy who works for him.”
“Good point. But we’re just middlemen. So that makes us only semi-sketch. What are you up to?” He looked pointedly at the work gloves sticking out from the pocket of my jeans.
“I’m doing some yard work, and I figured I could filch off of your music supply. My mom took the batteries out of my radio. She was sure they were radioactive.” I walked over and opened the front window. “This place needs airing out anyhow. Smells like you guys are using dirty shoes as air freshener.”
“Yeah, that would be the kitchen.” He lifted a hand before I could make the obvious suggestion. “I was just about to tackle cleaning it. That’s why I cranked the music. Thought it would make the job easier.”
“Yep, me too. Just to let you know, I’m going to make my yard all shiny and spectacular. So your house is really going to look like shit. You might want to come out and pull some weeds. You know how neighbors talk.”
He laughed. “That they do. And they’d run out of topics fast if they didn’t have us to talk about.”
Jade pulled up just as I stepped back outside. She carried out two big cups and handed me one. “Strawberry mango smoothie. My treat. As long as you fill me in on all the details of your date.”
“O.K.” I quickly took a long sip. “There, it’s mine now. The date details are so uninspiring, I figured you might want to take the smoothie back after you hear them.” I walked over to the porch and pulled out the gloves I’d bought her. “This is really nice of you to come help.”
She put down the drink on the porch step and pulled on the unwieldy canvas gloves. “I needed to get out. Colt is working on the siding, and there’s no way to sit in the house when he’s hammering on the outside.”
“Wow, we’re just all a bunch of do-it-yourself home fixer upper people. Like a damn cable show.” I pulled out a trash bag and gave it a shake like a sheet coming out of the dryer. “I figured we’d start over there pulling weeds and work our way to this side.”
“Quite an elaborate plan of action.” Jade took several sips of her smoothie and sighed. “There, I’m ready to go.” We walked to the far corner near our mailbox and wheremy mom used to plant daisies in spring. It had been so long since there’d been flowers there, I almost wondered if I’d just imagined the tradition.
Jade glanced over at the Stone house. “Maybe if we have some energy we can tackle that jungle too. It’s pretty darn ugly on that side. I don’t see Hunter or Slade coming out anytime today to join in on the weed pulling party. Even if they are providing us with some tunes.”
“Hunter is MIA and Slade is inside tackling the kitchen disaster.”
She laughed. “Slade washing dishes. I’ll have to sneak in there and snap a picture of that.”
“Well, he doesn’t always wash them. I’ve caught him just throwing away the ones that would take too much scrubbing. Pretty soon they’ll be down to just a couple of plates and a glass or two.”
We dropped to our knees and began the task of yanking weeds. Some had been growing for a long time, and they had roots that were as long and sturdy as a tree’s.
“You said Hunter was MIA? He marched out of Lazy Daze last night like he was going to start walking and not stop until he’d circled the entire world.” Jade pulled a weed and plucked off a ladybug before shoving the weed into the trash bag. She stopped and looked at me. “Colt told me how they knew the guy. Did you know what they were up to when they went off on their boat?”
“No. I knew they weren’t out fishing, but I tried not to think about what they might be up to. Wasn’t it just typical of me to latch onto another upstanding citizen like David Rincon?”
“Colt and I got into a little fight about it last night, but he insists they’re trying to save up enough so they can start doing something else, something that doesn’t have the threat of jail time hanging over it.”
“That would be good.” I yanked out a particularly stubborn weed and realized the entire root ball was left behind in the dry ground. “Do you think it’ll grow right back if I leave behind the roots?”
