“Like hell,” Sunny said. “A fetal ultrasound, Evie? You’re pregnant?”
And there it was. Out loud.
The floor began to wobble beneath her. Her ears filled with white noise, her heart all talon and scratch inside her ribs. Was there any point in begging Sunny not to tell the world? She could already feel the weight of opinion and advice and good intention bearing down from all corners, like whatever she chose to do about this was suddenly everyone’s business but her own.
A picture of Shaun, crashing over her. A picture of him leaping from the Grains.
Blood rushed from Evie’s head. If she didn’t sit down, she would surely fall down. Sunny’s voice sounded muffled, like her mouth was full of stuffing, and Evie backed away. She could see Sunny’s lips moving, her liquid-dark eyes almost hidden by her thick, black hair.
Evie turned away from Sunny, and away from the lab. She started walking fast toward the front of the building, and then she was running—right out the front door, before Sunny could see the tears streaming down her face.
24
R
Réal gathered up the pages of the second-last exam he’d ever write in his life, God willing. As he carried them to the front of the classroom, a familiar shape passed by the open door. He shook the pages at the teacher. “Come on, man. Take ’em,” he muttered. The teacher raised a brow, but took the pages without a word. “Thanks,” Ré said, halfway out the door.
Evie’s black sneakers squeaked with each quick step away from him.
“Hey!” He ran to catch up with her.
She turned. Her eyes darted over his shoulder before they settled on his, as if she’d seen something looming up behind him. “Hey,” she replied.
“How are you?” he asked. He shoved his fists into his jean jacket. “Feels like I haven’t seen you in days.”
She shrugged. “You haven’t.”
“Yeah, right. Exams, I guess,” he said. She just nodded. “So how you been?”
She looked at him funny again, blue eyes darting all over before she answered. “I don’t know.”
Réal ran his lip through his teeth. I’m sorry, he wanted to say. Instead he said, “Hey, you need a lift home or something?”
She shook her head like she was saying no, but then she said, “Yeah, okay.”
Ré smiled, but something fluttered behind his ribs. Every single time he’d been near Evie in the last month, he’d been half waiting for Sunny to jump out at him. Not like she had any right to be jealous, but she would be. She was. But that was over now, so she couldn’t care one way or another. Right?
They walked to his car. Réal opened the passenger door, then went around and hopped in the driver’s side. He brought the big engine to life with a flick of his wrist. Neither of them said anything as he eased out of the parking lot and headed east, through town.
Finally, she said, “They’re selling Shaun’s car.”
He glanced at her. “Really? How do you know?”
“I went to Nan’s.”
Ré’s brows shot up. “Whoa,” he said quietly. “How is she?”
She gave him a look like, how do you think? But she didn’t say that. She looked down at her lap. “She asked me to tell him to come home.”
“Fuck,” he said, breathing out. He checked his mirrors. He hadn’t seen the cops lurking around the school in a while. Maybe the worst was over? Maybe that thing with the bear grease had actually worked? “Ev,” he said, “can I ask you something kinda weird?”
She looked at him, curious.
“I was wondering if I could cook something at your house,” he said. “It’s meat. Please don’t ask why.”
She didn’t laugh, like he’d thought she might. She just nodded like she was thinking it over, then said, “When?”
“I was thinking maybe Saturday?”
Again, silence. He glanced at her, fully expecting a no.
She leaned against the headrest and looked out the window. “Is it a secret thing?” she asked.
“Uh, kind of,” he admitted. “It’s also just a roast, but I can’t do it at home or my folks will think it’s dinner.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Will it be disgusting?”
“Nah,” he said. He hoped. “It’s pretty normal, I guess.” If gorging on bear meat to kill a demon is normal.
She shrugged. “Okay.”
He smiled, relieved. “Thanks, Ev.”
After a while she said, “Can we go to your place right now? I don’t feel like seeing my mom today.”
He looked at her, puzzled. She stared back, big blues, her dark hair sliding across her cheek in the breeze. He checked his watch and calculated how many brothers might be home at this time of day. Two at most. Maybe none. “Sure,” he said, heart fluttering again.
He pulled a U-ie at the next lights, and five minutes later they were in his driveway.
25
R
Réal led her into the front room, then stood in the doorway, not sure what to do next. He scratched behind his ear. “You thirsty?”
She shrugged. “Not really.”
He tried to see his living room the way she was seeing it now, for the first time. All the toys and shoes and laundry in baskets that would probably just get picked through and worn again before it was ever folded. He might have once been embarrassed by the mess, but that was pointless. This room never looked any better than it did now.
“Where’s your dog?” She nudged a leash on the floor with her sneaker.
“Upstairs, probably. He’s super old. The twins’ll walk him when they get home.”
She nodded. She stood with her hands balled in the pockets of her cutoffs.
“How come you don’t want to see your mom?” he asked.
She glanced at him and took a deep breath, letting it out before saying, “You keep asking me what I’m doing about the baby.” Before he could protest that he’d laid off, she continued. “And I didn’t tell you ’cause I didn’t know. I didn’t want to think about it. But when I saw Nan the other day…I don’t know. Something happened.”
Réal
