and getting into fights isn’t the way to handle this.”
“But it’s true, what they’re saying about you.”
“Some of it used to be true. It isn’t anymore. They’ll see that eventually, as long as we don’t let them beat us down.”
“I don’t know why you wanted to come back to this stupid town. It sucks here.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Everyone thinks you’re a slut.”
“Well, I’m not. And I told you to watch your mouth.”
“They call me a slut, too.”
Lily gave up. “You aren’t a slut.”
“I don’t have any friends because of you!”
That broke her heart in two. “You have Peri.” She was a cute little redhead that May said was an outcast like her.
“Peri is a dolt.”
Pulling to a stop in front of the school, Lily watched May’s face go grim with dread.
“Hold your head high and do well in your classes. You’ll meet some friends who won’t judge you the way the others do.” When May didn’t move to get out of the truck, Lily said, “Go on. You’re better than this, May.”
May turned her head and looked at her. “I don’t like it here.”
“We aren’t moving. We just got here.”
With a heavy sigh, May opened the door and hopped out.
“I love you,” Lily said.
May looked at her and didn’t say anything before slamming the truck door. Lily watched her until she disappeared inside the school building, and then drove away.
That was the hardest part about all the talk in town. She hated what it was doing to May. But they’d get through it. The talk wouldn’t go on forever.
She headed for Main Street. Bonnie Gene Kelley had called this morning and Lily had agreed to meet her. Parking, she got out and started walking down the street. Bonnie Gene had an uncanny ability to pry out whatever was bugging her. It had been a week since the hearing and still Lily was having trouble dealing with seeing Brandon in person.
Walking down Main Street, Lily was vaguely aware of people turning their heads to look at her. She passed the Corner Bar and jaywalked across the street toward the West Ridge Hotel. Next door was the Honey-B Café, where she’d agreed to meet Bonnie Gene. For once they weren’t meeting at Kelley’s Cookhouse, the restaurant Bonnie Gene and her husband ran.
Bonnie Gene was one of two people in town Lily trusted enough to call friends. She had stuck by her through everything over all these years, starting out as more of a mother figure, but as Lily grew older, their friendship had grown. She was the only person who knew about Brandon.
Lily wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. As soon as Bonnie Gene discovered she’d testified at Brandon’s hearing, she’d picked up on how badly it was affecting her. And Bonnie Gene didn’t take no for an answer once she made her mind up about something. So, whether Lily liked it or not, which this morning she didn’t, she had to meet her friend for breakfast before heading to the library for work.
The thought of eating breakfast soured her stomach. She’d just die if the parole board decided to release Brandon after the agony of her testimony. He hadn’t done a very convincing job pleading his case. As far as she was concerned, he’d been cold and deliberate, stating that he’d received treatment while incarcerated and he was reformed and ready for society. He’d even had a plan. Move back to his hometown in North Carolina and work for his dad’s remodeling company.
Ready for society. More like ready to hunt down more women in society. He’d just come out of a fifteen-year drought. Surely he was eager to assuage his evil cravings. She hoped the parole board hadn’t been fooled.
Pushing open the door to the café, Lily looked around for Bonnie Gene and spotted her at a table, waving a hand, her dark brown hair brushing her shoulders. For a sixty-four-year-old, she still looked good. Lily went toward her, dreading having to talk about Brandon. She sat across the table, seeing Bonnie Gene’s light brown eyes soften with sympathy. Sometimes sympathy was worse than anything else. She wished people would just treat her like a normal woman.
“I’m all right,” she almost snapped.
“Don’t get all defensive with me,” Bonnie Gene said. “I know what this is doing to you.”
Lily felt her shoulders sag and she leaned back in the chair. A waitress stopped by the table.
“Nothing for me,” Lily said.
“Two Western skillets,” Bonnie Gene told the waitress. “And some good strong coffee.”
“I’m not hungry.” Especially for Honey-B’s ham-and-cheese-laden Western skillet.
“You have to eat.” Then to the waitress, “Two skillets.”
The waitress glanced once at Lily, then scribbled the order and left. Lily wondered if that look was because of the rumors rather than Bonnie Gene’s bulldozing.
“You’ve been doing so well up until now,” Bonnie Gene said.
“I’m fine.”
“There you go again, all defensive. It’s okay to be upset about this, you know. Anybody would be.”
“I’m over it.”
“You’re strong and you’ve done well with your life. You never let it get you down, but seeing him in person like that…”
She’d overcome the trauma of her rape, but now it felt as if she were going through it all over again. Reliving it.
“What was it like seeing him again?”
Lily angled her head with a do-you-have-to-ask look. Bonnie Gene was trying to get her to talk.
“I mean, how was he toward you?”
“Actually, he never looked at me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he seemed uncomfortable that I was there.”
“Really?”
She nodded.
“What if he was?”
“He was acting.” For the sake of the board.
“I’ve heard some criminals get that way at their parole hearings.”
“That’s a crock.” She’d never believe Brandon was miraculously cured. Anyone who could do what he’d done to her and have no remorse couldn’t possibly be normal, even after spending so long in prison. Especially after that.
Bonnie Gene looked at her for a while. She didn’t have to say anything.
