Chapter Nine
NOVAK
What’s wrong with me? Crawling through my bedroom window and sneaking down to the darkness of the front of our house. I’m soaked to the bone by the ungodly downpour. Even the bubbling wrath inside me isn’t enough to warm my body.
It’s for a good reason. I can’t have anyone else honing in on what’s mine. If Dale Birchwell wants to dance, I’ll introduce him to the blood ballet.
What the fuck? I must be delirious from the icy rain. Blood ballet? What is that even?
The front door cracks open shortly after I arrive beside Dale’s truck. I’m standing against it, fully expecting Tess to step into view, but she never does. From the driveway, I can’t see what’s happening at the door. It doesn’t stop my mind from turning to thoughts of Tess kissing this prick.
Dale steps off the front porch. His lips are pursed, and from a tiny hole between them, he’s whistling Bob Dylan’s “Lay, Lady, Lay”.
Tess’s choice of men is disappointing. He’s got some height on him, but that’s where his pleasant traits end. He’s thin as a yardstick, with slumped shoulders, a horrible fashion sense, and beady eyes. And where’s his chin? No man should have a jaw so weak.
He clicks a button attached to his key fob and the car beeps as it unlocks. He stops dead in his tracks, spotting me in the darkness. He even recoils a few steps.
“Who goes there?” I don’t for the life of me know why he chose such a weak old-fashioned question, when there isn’t an ounce of authority in his voice. It’s timid and scared. A bolt of lightning cracks across the yard, and in its brief illumination, Dale sees it’s me.
“Oh, Novak, it’s you.”
“It’s me.”
“Why are you out here in the rain? You’ll catch your death of cold.
” He sounds genuinely concerned for my well-being.
But there it is again. Another cliché! Why is he speaking like a carriage driver and then a grandmother?
What is wrong with him that he can’t simply say what’s on his mind in his own words?
Suddenly I wonder whether I thought this through enough?
Do I look as stupid as he sounds? It’s cold and terrible out, I’m soaked to the bone, and I haven’t prepared a single thing to say.
I thought something would come to me in the moment, as though I was the badass hero in some movie, scripted to sound cool as hell.
Yet, I’m standing here like an idiot waiting for inspiration.
In that respect, I am as false as he sounds.
“Novak? You gonna say sumthin’?”
I might be wordless, but my menacing figure is looming… no, I’m not looming. He’s too tall to loom over. My menacing glare is enough to keep his voice quivering.
“You showed up at my home uninvited,” the words finally leave my mouth.
“I was here to surprise—”
“You’ve gone over that part.”
I step away from the truck and take a step toward him. My hands are tucked into my jacket pockets, but even the thick fleece hasn’t managed to stop this unnatural downpour from soaking me to the skin.
Dale steps back as I approach him. Good, he’s scared.
“I don’t see what the problem—”
“Keep your mouth shut.” I whip a hand out of my pocket and point a finger straight between his eyes. “Now, you’re going to listen to me.”
He opens his mouth to reply and I jab a finger at him to silence him. He doesn’t get further than a few stutters.
“You’re going to get in this car and you’re going to go home. You’re going to delete Tess’s number from your phone. You’re going to burn her out of your memory.” Tess belongs to me, and I’m not the sharing kind.
“Ah, come on, man,” Dale says. He scratches the back of his neck and laughs, as though I’m making an empty threat. “I ain’t gonna do Tess no harm. You’re her big brother, and you’re worried about her, but she’s safe with me.”
“I won’t say it again, so you’d be wise to listen the first time.” I shove my hand back into my pocket and roll my shoulders.
In another flash of lightning, I see Dale’s eyes flicker. It’s not the frightful glimmer I was hoping for.
“Calm down, Novak,” he says simply. “There ain’t no reason to be worried. You never heard of sharing?” The confidence in his voice is… unsettling.
“Sharing? What are you talking about?”
“Come on, man,” Dale drawls as if I am stupid. “You musta heard the gossip. About how much you love to spend time with your step sister, and how you’re always following her and drooling.”
My God, he can’t be serious!
“That big ruckus you caused in church made some people think that what is being said is true…” He smiles as he lets the words linger.
“But hey, I have a sister too. I know how hard it can be to see them start dating guys. So yeah, calm down, eh? I’m not going to do anything to Tess.
We’re just seeing each other, is all. You can keep your big brother machismo out of our business. ”
Our business??? Where does this guy get off talking about Tess and him as an “our”? Not to mention that it takes me out of the equation. Sets me on the outside. I am not part of his “our”.
“You’re testing my patience.” I take another step, but this time Dale doesn’t shy away. He stands dead still, running a hand over his stubbly head.
“We’re not going to do this. Why don’t you take your puffed-out chest back inside and get yourself a cup o’ cocoa?”
I’m really not sure what to make of this. Minutes ago, when we were inside, Dale Birchwell was cowering from me. Somehow, in the time between, he’s managed to find a backbone. Maybe he isn’t the spineless, weak jellyfish I thought he was.
“I’d best be getting on, Novak.” He pats my shoulder as he walks past. “You have a good night.”
I continue to stand in the pouring rain as he starts his engine.
The hood of his car is coated in a thin layer of wilted white rose petals that hours ago were still neatly, and beautifully, perched on their bushes.
The rain has really put a damper on the garden.
I’d chuckle at the stupidity of my own joke if I weren’t trying to keep a straight face.
Before he leaves, Dale increases the volume of the radio, which blasts the same song he was humming, and he starts backing out of the driveway. As he reverses onto the road, he shoots me a smug grin and then a two-finger salute.
I do nothing.
Something’s going on here that I’m not privy to, but I’ll get to the bottom of it.