Annie piped up.
Maybe Billy did let them drive, Cherry thought. At least they knew more about a stick shift than she did. “All right. Here goes.”
It was touch and go at first, but she managed to get the truck into second gear, and they chugged down the lane headed for the highway. She stalled a couple of times and ground the gears more than once before she got the hang of it. But she felt proud of herself when she finally pulled into the school parking lot and killed the engine.
“We made it,” she said, glancing at her wristwatch. “With five minutes to spare.”
“You forgot our lunches,” Raejean said.
“What lunches?”
“Mrs. Motherwell always made us a sack lunch. We’re going to starve,” Annie said.
“Daddy’s going to be really mad,” Raejean said.
“Maybe you could buy your lunches today,” Cherry suggested.
“I guess we could,” Raejean conceded.
Annie and Raejean held out their hands for money.
Cherry realized she hadn’t brought her purse with her. She checked both her jeans pockets and came up empty. “Look, I’ll go home and make lunches for you and bring them back to school. How would that be?”
“Okay, I guess,” Raejean said.
“I don’t feel so good,” Annie said, her hand on her stomach.
“Probably all the excitement this morning,” Cherry said sympathetically. “You’ll feel better once you’re settled in class. Have a nice day, Raejean. Enjoy yourself, Annie.”
She watched the two girls make their way inside, Raejean skipping and Annie holding on to her stomach.
To be honest, her own stomach was churning. It had been a hectic morning. And it wasn’t over yet. She had to get home, make lunches and get back, then get the kitchen and the house cleaned up before the girls got home in the afternoon.
It was a lot of responsibility for someone whose biggest problem before today was whether she could figure out her calculus homework or get the formulas right in chemistry class. The entire responsibility for the house and two lively children now rested on her shoulders. It was an awesome burden.
She should have thought of that sooner. Now that she had made the commitment, she was determined to see it through. There were bound to be a few glitches at first. The important thing was to keep on trying until she succeeded.
Of course, she wasn’t going anywhere until she figured out how to get the pickup into Reverse. No matter how many times she put the gearshift where she thought R ought to be, she couldn’t get the truck to back up. When the final tardy bell rang, she was still sitting there.
She was going to have to call Jewel after all.
“Hey, Cherry, what’s the matter?”
Cherry looked up into the sapphire blue eyes of her eleven-year-old brother, Colt. A black curl had slipped from his ponytail and curled around his ear. He was wearing tight jeans instead of the frumpy ones currently in style, and a white T-shirt and cowboy boots reminiscent of James Dean. Colt truly was the rebel in the family. But he somehow convinced everybody that doing things his way was their idea.
Cherry glanced at the empty schoolyard and said, “You’re late, Colt.”
He grinned. “Yeah. Looks that way.”
“You don’t seem too concerned about it. Zach will be—” Cherry stopped herself when she realized she was about to echo Raejean and say “really mad.”
“Dad knows I’m late,” Colt said. “Things were a little crazy this morning because of you disappearing and all. You really did it this time, Cherry. Mom went ballistic when she heard what you did, and Dad hasn’t come down off the ceiling since he got back from the Stonecreek Ranch. Are you really married to Billy Stonecreek?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Neat. He really knows how to use his fists to defend himself.” Colt shrugged his book bag off and did some shadow boxing. He was tall for his age, his body lean, his movements graceful. “Billy’s been in three fights this year,” he said. “Do you think he’d show me a few punches?”
“Absolutely not! And where did you find out all this information about Billy?” Cherry asked.
“I heard Mom and Dad talking. They’re worried that Billy’s a bad influence on you. They said he’s gonna undo all the hard work they’ve done, and you’re gonna end up back in trouble again.”
Cherry felt her face heating. Not that she didn’t appreciate what Zach and Rebecca had done for her. But she had come a long way since the days when she had habitually cut school and been ready to fight the world.
“You’d better get inside,” she told Colt.
“It’s all right. Mom called and told them I’d be late,” Colt replied. “What are you doing here?”
“I drove Raejean and Annie Stonecreek to school.”
“Why didn’t they take the bus?”
“They missed the bus.”
Colt grinned. “Overslept, huh? You never were very good at getting up in the morning.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I didn’t over-sleep. I merely lost track of the time.”
“Same difference,” Colt said. “So why aren’t you headed back home?”
“I can’t figure out how to get this damn truck into Reverse.”
Colt laughed. “It’s easy. Press the stick down and over.”
“Press down? You have to press down on the stick before you move it?”
“Sure.”
Cherry tried it, gave the truck a little gas, and felt it move backward. “Good grief,” she muttered. “Thanks, Colt. I owe you one.”
“Will you ask Billy if he’ll show me a few punches?”
“I’ll think about it,” she replied as she backed out of the parking lot. “Tell Rebecca I’ll come see her tonight,” she called out the window as she drove away.
It was the coward’s way out to have Colt relay her message. She should have called Rebecca and told her she was coming. But she didn’t want to be forced into explaining things to her mother over the phone, and she knew Rebecca must be anxious for some sort of explanation for what she had done. The truth was, she needed the rest of the day to think of one.
By the time she made it back to the ranch she was a pro at shifting gears. She parked the truck behind the house, stepped inside the kitchen, and realized it looked like a tornado had been through. What if Billy came back home for some reason and saw it looking like this?
But
