home.
Where he spent the rest of the afternoon working on the documentation for The Store's accounting package.
2
Summer.
Shannon awoke late, ate a leisurely breakfast, and spent the rest of the morning lying on her bed, staring into space and listening to the radio. She hated summer, although she didn't know when that had started, when her feelings had flip-flopped. She used to love the season. As a child, there'd been nothing better than three months with no school, and the long days had been filled with limitless possibilities. She'd awakened early each morning, gone to bed late each night, and spent the sunny hours in between playing with her friends.
But she didn't play anymore, and now the days stretched endlessly before her, a massive block of time in which she had nothing to do.
It wouldn't have been so boring if her friends had been around, but this summer they all either had jobs or had gone on vacation with their relatives.
Even Diane was working, spending the days behind the cash register at her father's gas station.
It would have been different if she'd had a boyfriend. Then she would've welcomed the freedom. She wouldn't even have minded the absence of her friends.
She would have had plenty to do with her time.
Jake.
She still missed him. He'd been a jerk sometimes -- a lot of the time but she missed having someone to talk with, to walk with, to snuggle with, to just be with.
It was still hard to get used to the fact that someone who had meant everything to her, who'd claimed to love her, with whom she had shared intimate secrets, embarrassing fears, now didn't care if she lived or died. It was a hard thing to reconcile, a big adjustment to make, and she thought that this was what it must feel like when someone you love dies. The emotional withdrawal was the same.
She breathed deeply and with difficulty, stared out the window of her bedroom. It was one of those still summer days that were far too common in Arizona. Blue sky, no clouds. Heavy air: hot, no breeze. It might have been bearable if they had air conditioning, but they didn't, and the fan she'd set up on her dresser only created a weak warm current that died halfway across the room. She thought of Sam, working in The Store. Air-conditioning. People. Music.
Noise. Life. It suddenly sounded good to her and she decided at that moment that instead of wasting her summer vegging out and watching soap operas and television talk shows she'd get a job herself. There was nothing she really wanted to buy, no specific reason she needed to earn money, but she could take what she made this summer, put it in the bank, and get a head start on saving for her own college education.
Excited and newly energized, she bounded out of bed and hurried down the hall to her dad's office. The door was closed, but she opened it without knocking. 'Daddy?'
He looked up from his computer. 'What is it, daughter dearest?'
'Stop being a buffoon.'
'That's why you invaded my privacy? To insult me?'
'No. I want to get a job.'
The expression on his face shifted, hardened. 'Where?'
'I was thinking of applying at The Store.'
'I don't want you working there,' he said grimly.
'Why? Everyone else does. Sam does.'
'Sam's older.' He paused. 'Besides, I don't like her working there, either.'
'Fine. I'll apply somewhere else, then. Although, just in case you haven't noticed, business is not exactly booming in Juniper.'
'Why do you want to get a job anyway? It's summer. Enjoy it. You'll be working for the rest of your life. You might as well enjoy your summers while you're still a kid.'
'Earth to Dad. I'm seventeen. I'm not a kid anymore.'
He smiled sweetly. 'You'll always be my little girl.'
'Buffoon alert.'
'You still haven't answered my question. Why do you want to get a job?'
'I'm bored. All my friends are either working or gone. There's nothing to do.' 'There's always something to do --'
'I don't want an inspirational speech. I just want to find a job.'
'Go ahead,' he said. 'With my blessing.' He met her eyes. 'Anywhere but The Store.'
She nodded, started to close the door and turn away, then swiveled back to face him. 'Can I take the car?'
'Your mom has the Jeep and Sam took the Toyota. But if you can find a third car in the garage, you're welcome to it.'
'I forgot,' she said sheepishly.
'Have a nice walk, and don't forget to close the door behind you.'
She closed his office door, heading down the hallway to the kitchen, where she pulled a Dr Pepper out of the refrigerator. She considered scrapping the whole idea. Or at least waiting for another day. It was hot as blazes out there, and she'd be drenched with sweat by the time she walked all the way into town.
The chance of anyone hiring a sweaty, smelly seventeen-year-old for any position was pretty slim.
But an endless afternoon stretched before her, and she'd already had enough of those the past few weeks to last her a lifetime. She needed to get out of the house, find something to do. Besides, no one was going to want to interview her today. She'd just pick up applications this afternoon, bring them home and fill them out, then return them tomorrow.
And she already knew where she really planned to apply.
The Store.
Any other place in town probably would give her an instant interview, a quick yes or no. The Store was the only employer big enough to be impersonal, and despite the promise she'd given her dad, it was the only place she wanted to work.
She knew her parents didn't like The Store for some reason, but she wasn't exactly sure why. Some of the rules for employees seemed to be weird -- like that dating prohibition (wasn't it usually the other way around?) -- and it still made her feel uncomfortable when she thought of the Store guards at the Grad Night party overseeing the rest of them as though they were cattle -- and Mindy -- but there didn't really seem to be anything about the place that would generate the sort of bizarre hatred her parents, and especially her dad, seemed to feel.
It was probably a political thing.
Her parents were big on that stuff.
She went into her bedroom and grabbed her purse, just in case she needed ID. 'I'm going!' she called out.
'Good luck!' her dad yelled.
She let the screen door slam behind her and walked down the long drive to the road, where two of Mr. Sutton's horses were watching her forlornly from behind their fenced barricade. She ran across the dirt road, jumped the ditch, and gave them each a quick hug, murmuring reassuringly. If she'd seen them from the porch, she would've gotten some sugar cubes from the kitchen for them, but she didn't want to turn back now, and she patted each of the horses, promising to bring them a treat next time. The animals were hot, too, miserable in this windless weather and trying to stay in the shade. It was edging into the warmest part of the day, and though the horses obviously wanted company, she had to get going, and she gave them each a quick good-bye hug and jumped back over the ditch onto the road, heading toward town.
By the time she reached The Store, it looked like she'd been running a marathon. Her blouse and shorts were sticking to her skin, her hair hung in wet clumps about her face. She couldn't ask for an application looking like this, so she bought a can of cold Coke from the newly installed machine next to the door and sat outside on the bench next to the building, staring out at the parking lot while she tried to cool off.
She looked around. This was the spot where Mindy had crashed into the wall, and though she hadn't thought
