4. Jackson
CHAPTER 4
JACKSON
I took her back to the Mudflap, where I’d met Dad. Dad was gone, as I knew he’d be, headed for Reno. The bar was half-empty, a game on TV. A couple of heads turned as we came in, then turned back to the game, a quick dismissal. To them, we were nobody. Just some damn kids.
“Over here,” I said. I guided Hailey to a table in a shadowed alcove, away from the traffic from bathroom to bar. I still had sight lines on all the exits — front door, back door, fire door out the side. The chance anyone here would know Hailey was next to nil, but I never took chances. I knew better than that.
“What do you want from the bar?”
Hailey took a seat. “I’ll have a beer.”
“Good choice. Be right back.” I grabbed us two beers and headed back to our table. Hailey gulped half of hers and got foam on her lip. I thumbed my own lip so she’d wipe it off, and she did, laughing.
“Guess I was thirsty.” She leaned back in her chair and looked around some more. “What is this place? Like a dive bar?”
“Not like one. It is one.” I sipped my own beer. “My dad likes it here. It’s mostly truckers.”
Hailey perked up at that. “Your dad’s a trucker?”
“Yeah, he is. Ex-Army, like me. He drove for the Army, you know, supply. Then he came home, but he never stopped driving.”
Hailey smiled. “My dad, as well. An ex-Army trucker. At least, he was, till he married Mom. Then he started his own fleet so he could stay home.” Her smile faded a little, and she glanced at the bar. “He’s not here now, is he? Your dad, I mean?”
“Nah. He just left. Heading for Reno.” I tried to think what else to say to someone like Hailey. We had one thing in common — ex-Army dads — but I doubted she’d much want to talk about that. My life was work, mostly, and I guessed so was hers. So… work stuff? Annoying coworkers?
“Do I have a foam mustache?”
I gaped at her. “What?”
“You’re staring.”
“No, I was thinking, what would we have in common? Besides our dads, I mean. I don’t want to bore you.”
Hailey laughed at that. She had a sweet laugh. “This’ll sound dorky, but back at band camp?—”
I almost choked on my beer. “You went to band camp? ”
She did that thing again where she pretended to slap me, but actually slapped the air to one side of my arm. “I told you it’s dorky, but shut up, okay? We’d play this game, Five Faves. You go round the circle — well, here, it’s just us — and we both have to say our five favorite things.”
My mind went blank. “Just, any things?”
“No, there’s questions.” Hailey paused to think. “Okay, first one, what’s your favorite pet?”
Now, that, I could answer. “Dogs. I love dogs.”
Hailey lit up. “Perfect. Me, too. I always wanted one, but Mom was allergic. At least, she said she was, but I don’t know. I’d go over to Mina’s house and play with her dog for hours, then come home and hug Mom and she wouldn’t start sneezing.” She fake-pouted, then laughed. “Favorite food?”
“Wait, isn’t it my turn?”
Hailey frowned. “There’s no turns. Favorite food?”
“The portobello double cheeseburger from Veggieburg Palace. I’m not vegan, but that sandwich is awesome . And I’m taking a turn. What’s your favorite book?”
Hailey thought for a moment, biting her lip. She didn’t look, in real life, like she did on the billboards. Her hair was red but not that red, a sort of deep copper. Her eyes were rich hazel, like warm honey. When she smiled, her lips only went up at one side.
“If I tell you, you’re going to think I’m a dork.”
“Like I don’t already. You went to band camp.”
Hailey flapped at me, but she gave in. “All right. It’s City . I love sci-fi and dogs.” Was I imagining it, or was she half-blushing? Leaning forward to let her hair hide her face? She caught me looking and ducked behind her beer. “My turn: what’s the nerdiest thing you’ve ever done?”
“That’s not a favorite, but all right. Okay. In high school, I played quarterback.”
“ What? That’s not nerdy!”
“Wait. I’m not done.” I squared my shoulders, bracing for what came next. “I played quarterback, but I was also a Mathlete. Not just a Mathlete, but an Algebro .”
Hailey was trying hard not to laugh, lips pinched together, snuffling through her nose. She blinked twice, hard. “An Algebro?”
“That was our team name. The Algebros.”
She tried, but the giggles came bubbling up, first a snort, then a squeak, then gales of laughter. “The Algebros, oh my God! That’s just, that’s…” And she was off again, quaking with mirth. “You never get to make fun of band camp again.”
“I won’t even mention it if you won’t mention Mathletes.”
She stuck out a finger. “Pinky swear?”
We locked pinkies and shook them. Hailey dabbed at her eyes. She’d finished her beer, and I knew I should call it — this had been fun, but she had to get back. Instead, I grinned at her.
“Want to play darts?”
She peered around till she found the dartboard, off by the fire door, between two plants. “Isn’t it a bit dark?”
“What are you, chicken?”
I knew she wouldn’t stand for that, and sure enough, she didn’t. She was up in an instant, ready to go. I grabbed the darts from the bar and let her take the first shot.
“So, I aim for the bullseye? Straight for the middle?”
“That’s right,” I said. “Or, you could?—”
She tossed the dart, thunk . A clean triple twenty. Fresh giggles burst out of her, and she clapped her hands. “Ooh, lucky shot!”
“Lucky shot? Are you kidding me? Am I getting hustled?”
Hailey spun in a circle and lined up her next shot. It hit so close to the first one the feathers were kissing.
“You are . Holy shit. I’m getting hustled!”
“Want to make it interesting?”
I frowned. “Like how?”
“Like, if I win, you get our next round?”
Now, she was double-hustling me. I’d paid for our first round. Which, hadn’t the deal been that was on her? “And if I win, you’ll let me take you on home?”
Hailey winked. “Take me home? Maybe. But you won’t win.”
I wanted to protest I hadn’t meant it like that . I’d meant drop her off home, not take her home , take her home. But she was already lining up her next shot. I waited for the second she was poised to release, then leaned in and murmured, “The Algebros.”
Hailey laughed and her dart bounced off the board. “Oh! Interference!”
“Gotta stay focused.”
Hailey poked out her tongue at me, but it was my turn. It’d been a while since I played, not since the Army, but my old tricks came back to me easy enough. Not enough to beat Hailey, as it turned out, but enough I could still shake her hand without shame.
“Good game,” I said. “You’re quite the shark.”
“My dad had a dartboard in his man cave. Still does, I guess, but I haven’t, uh…” She made a face, and I wondered, had her dad walked out, too? Taken his dartboard to some new man cave? Then her bright smile was back. “You owe me a beer.”
I grabbed us two more and we toasted her win. Beer splashed her fingers and she flicked it at me. I flicked some suds back at her and made her laugh. It felt so surreal, her laughter, her smile, how a girl like her was so good at darts — it felt so improbable I had to ask, was this real? Or had I gone out and partied too hard, and seen her face on a billboard on my way home? Was this some damn dream, and I was snoring?
“What?” Hailey frowned. “Something on my face?”
I was staring like an idiot. I looked away. “We should get out of here. It’s getting late.”
I swear, my plan was, I’d drive her home. I’d drop her wherever she wanted to go, watch her safely inside, and that would be that. Only, she wouldn’t say where she lived.
“I used to live right up here, with my best friends.” She waved vaguely westward, then shook her head. “Never make work friends. They’re not your friends. They’re your competition. Where do you live?”
I cleared my throat. “That’s classified.”
“Aw, come on. Show me. One quick nightcap?”
I should’ve said no to her, but what could I do? Keep driving all night with no place to go? And the way she was smiling made her hard to resist. The way she fixed me with those big wide eyes. Whenever I'd look at her, she’d tilt her head, bite her lip. Twist a lock of her hair around her finger. It shouldn’t have worked on me, but somehow it did. She wasn’t just hot. She was fun. Sweet and smart. I hadn’t met anyone like her in a while.
“One nightcap,” I said. “Then I’m taking you home.”
Five minutes later, we were pulling up to my place. Hailey slipped in the second I opened the door and made her way through the house, flicking lights as she went. I winced as each one went on, seeing my place as she saw it — my barren front hall with its dusty hat shelf. My kitchen, with one folding chair at the table. A glass-fronted cabinet full of paper plates, cups. If she opened my fridge, she’d find beer, protein shakes. Water, maybe, if she got lucky. My place was cheap, plain, to fit my life on the road. I came here to sleep, and that was?—
“This your bedroom?”
She was perched on my bed, with its tight-stretched sheets. Its faded old quilt folded up at one end. My neck went hot as I pictured where she slept — a fluffy four-poster. Pillows like clouds. Gold curtains. Fairy lights. The softest of sheets.
“I can tell you’re ex-Army by how neat you are.” She reached under my pillow and pulled out my PJs. “Ha! I knew it.”
“Hey, now…”
“Come sit.” She patted the bed next to her, an invitation. I knew I should brush it off, shoo her back to the kitchen. Have one last beer with her, then take her home. But she was watching me. Biting her lip. Leaning back so her skirt rode up and her hair tumbled down. She kicked off one shoe and then the other.
“Come here,” she said again, and held out her hand. I should’ve taken it and pulled her to her feet, back to the kitchen for that nightcap.
Instead, I let her pull me down with her.