Small Town Girl

She moved farther away from him, dragging the hose and waving the nozzle above the carrots. 'So you don't want me to sing with the choir?'

'I didn't say that. I said I didn't put him up to inviting you.'

'I believe you,' she said, refusing to glance at him again.

He seemed nonplussed by her quick admission, and stood momentarily disarmed before blurting out, grumpily, 'We practice on Tuesdays, though. If you intend to sing with us you better sit in on next week's practice.'

She closed the thumb switch on the sprinkler and threw it down on the grass. 'Look!' She marched over to confront him at closer range, glaring up at his eyes. They were brown and belligerent with a spiky set of lashes that were perhaps his best feature. His mouth might not be bad if he ever stopped crimping it up like a rooster's asshole. But did he have to put on that look and assume that domineering stance? She rammed her hands on her hips and thrust her nose forward. 'You've been pissed off at me since the moment you walked into my mother's house and saw me there. You faked it real nice at the hospital today in front of the minister, but we both know something gives you an acid stomach every time we're in the same room together! So do you want me to sing with your choir or don't you? 'Cause it's no skin off my ass if I do or I don't! i mean, I don't need it, Jake! It's not my church and he's not my minister! But if you haven't got enough gumption to tell him you don't want me singing, then at least have the gumption to tell me! Because I don't intend to stand up in some choir loft and raise money for your church while I have to put up with your antagonism and your belittling attitude, so get rid of it, mister!'

'You're a fine one to talk about belittling attitudes!' he retorted with equal anger. 'Yours stretches as far back as 1976, doesn't it?'

'Oh, so that's what this is about!'

'Y' damn right that's what this is about, and you know it!'

'How I treated you in high school?'

'You were cruel! You made a mockery of people's feelings!'

'Oh! And what about my feelings two days ago when I came home? You walk into my mother's house and treat me as if I just flossed in front of the Queen and your feelings were hurt? Why, you didn't even have the common courtesy to say hello to me!'

'And what kind of common courtesy did you show me when we were in high school? Do you think I didn't know how that gang of smart-asses you ran around with made fun of me?'

'Oh, Kenny, for God's sake, grow up. That was nineteen years ago. People change.'

'Oh, yeah, and you really did! Roaring in here with your thirty-thousand-dollar car-'

'Forty.'

'-and your vanity license plates, wearing a shirt that says Boss. Lady, you really impressed me.'

'I wasn't out to impress you, Kenneth. The car is mine. I paid for it with my own money. Why shouldn't I drive it? And for your information, I bought the sweatshirt at a Springsteen concert.'

'Oh. Well, excuse me! I guess I was wrong about how you used to poke fun at me back in high school, too!'

She gave him a short consideration and said, more calmly, 'You carry a long grudge, Kenny.'

'You deserve it, Tess,' he replied, more calmly, too.

It was the first time he'd called her by her given name instead of Mac, with a sardonic twist. She backed off a little.

'All right, maybe I do, but did you have to be such a nerd?'

'See? Attitude! Didn't I tell you you have an attitude? You did then and you do now.'

'Might I remind you of how you used to wear your hair? And how your glasses used to hang on your nose? Hey, tell me something. Do you still get nosebleeds?'

'No. Do you still think you're the best singer in the state of Missouri?'

'I know I am.'

'And do you still send anonymous sappy and insincere valentines to guys you think have crushes on you, just to watch them squirm?'

'I never sent you valentines!'

'And I never had a crush on you. I hated you.'

'You did not. You couldn't take your eyes off me.'

'You thought every guy couldn't take his eyes off you. Probably most of them were just cross-eyed, though.'

'Oho, very funny. What about that choir trip when you were a senior and I was a junior and you tried to hold my hand?'

'Hey, I wasn't trying to hold your hand, I was trying to cop a feel. I had a bet on with a bunch of my friends that I could feel you up.'

'Kenneth Kronek! You are disgusting!'

'Well, that makes two of us. Kenny Kronek and the girl who stole his underwear and sent it back with a lipstick kiss on it, just to embarrass him. You were the one who did it, weren't you?'

'Guess.'

'Who did you get to steal them out of the boys' locker room for you?'

'Guess.'

'You got me in a lot of trouble, you little brat. That package came when I was at school and my mother opened it up.'

'All right, Lucille!' Tess brandished a victorious fist in the air. 'Way to go!'

'You were, without a doubt, the most reprehensible female in the entire high school.'

'Oh, hey, what about Cindy Gallamore? She was more reprehensible than I was.'

'Why? Because she got the lead in the school play that you wanted? Boy, that really bummed you out, didn't it?'

'She never quit rubbing it in. Never!'

'And I never quit applauding her for it.'

'Does your sweet little daughter know you harbor all this hidden viciousness?'

'No, but she knows all about yours. I've told her.'

'Oh, you have, huh?'

'She knows all about every rotten thing you ever did to me. How you teased me, and set me up, and wrote me notes starting 'Dear Kenny Crow Neck,'-C-R-O-W-N-E-C-K-and generally made my life miserable whenever you could.'

'Yeah, but she still admires me, right?'

'That's right. So do you think you can haul your big ego over to church and give her some reason to?'

'If I do, are you going to treat me like an insect or are you going to be nice?'

'I'll think about it.'

'Uh-huh,' she said dryly.

They eyed each other warily for a few seconds, but the air had definitely cleared. They suddenly realized they were were sparring and enjoying it. They were very good at it, actually.

'Hey, you know what?' Tess said thoughtfully, tipping her head to one side a little.

'What?'

'For an ex-nerd, you sure are quick at repartee.'

'Why, thank you, Tess. That's the nicest thing you've said to me since we were in rompers. I'm so relieved to know I've managed to elevate myself in your esteem.'

They weren't actually grinning at each other, but they were tempted. It had been startlingly refreshing to air their grievances and see where it got them. They were still standing beside the garden with the watering forgotten, sending challenges with their eyes, when across the alley, the porch door opened and Faith called, 'Kenny… are you out here?'

He tossed a glance over his shoulder, then locked eyes with Tess again. She bent down, picked up the hose, turned it on and sent the spray fanning across the rhubarb leaves.