Chapter 18
DUSTIN
On Friday, we boarded a plane together in D.C., and headed for Middletown, Ohio, via Cincinnati.
“You look stressed,” Cat told me as our plane was close to landing. “Anything I can do for you?”
“I already told you the three things I like,” I winked.
She laughed. “Well, we’re starting our descent so I don’t think we can get a sandwich. And I don’t think our aisle-buddies would appreciate a live porn show. So do you want to talk hockey?”
I smiled and slipped my hand down to her leg, squeezing her thigh.
“Is Middletown a hockey town?” she asked.
“Hardly,” I said as we looked out at the grey, cold February morning. “I guess you could say I kind of started the trend.”
“So am I going to learn all about the skeletons in your closet this weekend?”
“That time I made out with my history teacher when I was a senior in high school, the time I beat up a kid because he insulted my mother, that kind of thing. Oh yes.”
Her eyes didn’t widen. I was surprised. “That sounds like pretty standard stuff,” she said. “Anything, you know, that you’re actually ashamed of? I feel like you’re more just bragging right now.”
“Nah,” I said. “No secrets, really.” In high school, no. College, yes.
We’d talked about love, and there was the one girl I had vowed never to tell anyone about after the embarrassment I felt.
As we walked through the airport and waited for our luggage, I went through all the names of my family with her again, and she tried repeating them back to me.
“So there’s your mom Betty, your grandpa Greg, Grandma Pauline, Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Mary, cousin Bobby, cousin Rachel, cousin Timmy, and cousin Virginia?”
I nodded. “Yes, and don’t forget my sister Wynona. And that’s all of my mom’s side.”
I saw our baggage coming down the belt, and her eyes were popping out of her head. “That’s just one side? What about your dad?”
“Well, he lives back in Jackson, Kentucky.”
“So are we meeting him this week?”
“We can,” I shrugged. “I didn’t plan on it though. To be honest, he was a sort of a shadow figure for me when I was growing up. I didn’t know him much.”
Her eyes flickered and I could tell she was reflecting on all of the information I’d just dropped on her. She mindlessly let her hand drift up to my neck, and she played with a tuft of my hair for a few moments.
A warmth spread through me.
“Well,” she said. “I guess I am going to learn all of your positions this weekend. I mean relatives.”
I picked her bag up off the conveyor belt. “Damn, shorty. What do you have in here? Bricks?”
She nodded. “I mean what do you take on your vacations?”
“We’re a humble bunch, the LeBlancs,” I said. “If you’re worried about dressing up and stuff, I wouldn’t be.”
We rented a car, and less than an hour later we were pulling up in front of my house.
“You excited? You’re the first girl who has ever met my grandparents. Since high school.”
“Dusty!” my grandmother was saying, tapping on the glass of the SUV I’d rented.
Cat shot me a look. “I thought you said no one is allowed to call you Dusty.”
“Except for Mamaw.”