Chapter 8
It was almost noon by the time Tempest and Boon returned home. Their first stop was Maverik’s house.
Maverik was on his riding mower making more of a mess than actually cutting anything.
He hated the sparse grass that grew up as fall started and spent more than a few days during that time of year riding around in circles to cut it as short as it could possibly be.
What that meant was that dust was flying, pieces of debris along with it, and Maverik making regular passes through the dirt as he wore his headphones and sang at the top of his lungs as he attacked the ‘messy-ass grass’ as he called it.
Tempest and Boon materialized on Maverik’s front deck and couldn’t help laughing as Maverik’s version of ‘Roxanne’ buffeted their ears.
“Is that a real song?” Boon asked, his face all skewed up as he winced at the high notes Maverik was trying to hit — and clearly wasn’t successful at.
“Yes, it is. And no, it does not normally sound like that,” Tempest said.
“Rooooxxxxxxannnne!” Maverik wailed into the air, his face angled up at the sky, his eyes shut tight with the effort he was making to do the song justice, as he made another turn to come back toward his house.
He opened his eyes and stopped short when he saw Tempest and Boon standing there watching him.
“Hey! Where the hell y’all been?” he asked, turning off the engine with one hand while reaching up with the other to pull the headphones off his head.
“We went home,” Tempest said.
“And neither one of y’all could bother to let me know?” Maverik asked.
“You didn’t tell him?” Tempest asked, looking at Boon.
“He ain’t told no damn body!” Maverik said.
“It was the middle of the night,” Boon said to Tempest. Then he looked at Maverik. “It was the middle of the night.”
“What if you took your ass off somewhere and got in trouble? How the hell am I supposed to know to come save you? I won’t!
That’s why you gotta communicate, boy! And you gotta communicate long before you haul off and do something unexpected.
I mean, what if I was the panicky kind and I told Angelle that you were missing when she came looking for you?
Lucky for you I assumed you were with Tempest and said that. But give a male a heads up next time.”
“I will. You’re absolutely right. And did you say that Angelle came looking for me?” Boon asked.
“Sure did. She was making breakfast for you and her parents. I think it was a get to know you kind of thing.”
Boon shared an ‘oh shit’ look with Tempest.
“Was she upset?” Tempest asked.
“I don’t think so. She said thanks she’d talk to you later or something like that. Went off on her way and I cooked my own breakfast because Valerie wouldn’t get up and do it.”
“I’m going to go see Angelle,” Boon said, taking a step toward the stairs.
“And I’m going to see Brandt. Let me know what’s going on and when we’re leaving.”
“Leaving?” Maverik asked. “Who’s leaving? Why? For how long?”
“Angelle agreed to go home with me to meet my people and spend some time in my community to see if she might like it there,” Boon said.
“Then why’d you go home without her?” Maverik asked.
“I couldn’t ask her to stay in the place I was living,” Boon said.
“Think hovel. Barely a structure,” Tempest said.
“Hey, it was a hut.”
“Almost,” Tempest said. “We made it a much nicer place.”
“I couldn’t take her to stay in a place that wasn’t worthy of her.”
“That’s how you do it,” Maverik said, tapping his temple, “gotta think of things like that. Yep, you just might win her over yet.”
“I’m going to see Angelle,” Boon said, jogging toward the steps.
“Y’all tell a body before you go off again!” Maverik yelled after him. “And go away! I’m busy cutting the grass!”
“And the dirt,” Tempest said.
Maverik winked at her and grinned as he put his headphones back on, started his riding mower and rode away as he stirred up another dust cloud, singing again just as loudly as he could.
~~~
Boon knocked on Angelle’s front door and waited for someone to answer.
No one came right away, so he knocked again.
Still no one answered despite the fact he could hear noise from inside the house.
Taking a moment to consider his options, he knocked again.
Inside the house…
Angelle lay across her bed, fidgeting with the remote to her television.
The TV wasn’t on, she was just absently picking at the edges of the remote as her mind wandered.
The sound of someone knocking just barely registered in her subconscious, but the last thing she wanted to do right now was pretend to be nice.
She was in no mood to be nice, so she stayed in her room, confident that her parents would answer the door.
A minute or two later, whoever was at their door knocked again. Other than glancing irritatedly in the direction of the front of the house, Angelle ignored it again. She tossed her remote up toward the pillows at the head of her bed and flopped onto her back. “Just go away,” she murmured.
Less than a minute later, whoever it was knocked again.
Really irritated now, Angelle quickly jumped to her feet and strode up the hallway to the living room.
“I know you both are just sitting here watching television! Why don’t you answer the door?
” she asked as she came around the corner and into the living room.
She awkwardly came to a stop when she found her mother sitting on the sofa glaring at her father.
Her father was seated in his recliner, but both his feet were planted firmly on the ground.
His scowl told her more than anything else.
“Why are you so angry?” Angelle asked.
“Your mother said if I open the door I have to be civil. I don’t think this situation calls for civil. I think it calls for me whipping some ass, but I’ve been forbidden from doing so until I ask about the issue at hand,” Daniel explained through clenched teeth.
“And the problem with that?” Avaleigh asked.
“I don’t care what the answer is. I want to kick his ass,” Daniel said.
“Whose ass?” Angelle asked.
“His!” they both said, jabbing their fingers toward their front door, though they kept staring at each other, locked in a contest of wills.
Angelle turned toward the door, then it hit her. “It’s Boon?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
“Brave isn’t he?” Daniel snapped.
“Hello?” Boon called from outside. “Anybody in there? It’s Boon!”
“He needs to leave,” Daniel just almost growled.
“He came back,” Avaleigh said.
“He left! He ran off in the night without a word. She was devastated,” Daniel said.
“She’s standing right here,” Angelle said.
“You need to get a grip. You have no idea what happened, or why. Just see what he has to say before you go off half-cocked,” Avaleigh snapped at Daniel.
“There’s no half about it. He hurt my baby,” Daniel said.
Angelle hung her head tiredly and looked at her toes for a second. “I’m tired,” she said softly.
Daniel stood quickly. “Then I’ll make him go away.”
“What I’d really like is for you both to let me speak.”
Daniel nodded, as did Avaleigh.
“Go ahead, baby. I’m listening,” Daniel said.
“Not to you. To Boon. I’m going to open the door and I’m going to speak. You’re not.”
“Have you forgotten…”
“No. I’m well aware, but the problem is that I’m not exactly sure what it is I’m well aware of. I won’t be until I open the door. Don’t kill him!”
Angelle stood there, staring at her father, and he stared back for a few seconds before he finally nodded.
“Mom? You, too,”
Avaleigh smiled sweetly. “I’d never make him feel unwelcome.”
Angelle raised her eyebrow, causing Avaleigh to laugh. “I give you my word.”
Angelle moved toward the door, hoping that neither of her parents would interfere as she handled what she had to in order to make Boon go away.
He knocked again just as she reached for the door knob. As she pulled the door open, his hand was still raised in mid-air, ready for another strike against the door.
Boon smiled at her, his entire expression softening when he saw her. “Hi.”
Angelle was amazed by how much meaning he could pour into one little two letter word. “Hello,” she said, careful to not add an ounce of anything at all to the word.
“Maverik told me just a few moments ago that you came over this morning to invite me to breakfast with you and your family.” He paused but no one said a word.
Not Angelle, and not her father or mother who were both standing a few feet behind her with their arms crossed over their chests as they glared at him.
So, he rushed to explain. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.
I had to run home for a little while. But, I’m back! ”
“I see that,” Angelle said.
“Why didn’t you let Angelle know you were leaving?” Daniel asked.
“Daddy,” Angelle said warningly, without turning around to look at him.
“I didn’t really leave, exactly. I just had to go home for a little while, but with every intention of coming right back.”
“She thought you just left,” Avaleigh said.
Daniel’s head snapped Avaleigh’s way. “Oh, but I have to be quiet.”
“You both do,” Angelle said.
“Wait, you thought I actually just went home for good — without a word?” Boon asked.
Angelle looked him in the eye as she nodded.
“Why would you think that?” Boon asked.
“I’m not exactly what you’d expect from a woman. It’s fine, it didn’t surprise me that you’d left. But it is what I thought.”
“It’s not fine. And you are the only woman I’ll ever want. I don’t want you to ever speak about yourself like that again.”
Avaleigh and Daniel shared a look, then turned their attention back to the interaction between Boon and Angelle.