Chapter 3

Three

“So how’d you like Riley?” Kylie questioned on the way home.

“Oh, he was ok.” Bailee tried to be casual, but her sister saw through the act.

“C’mon, Bailee. I know you.” Kylie’s eyes gleamed mischievously. “And I think he liked you too.”

Bailee smiled rather sheepishly. “Ok. You got me there; I liked him. But as a friend, Kylie.” She amended once she saw her sister’s triumphant look. “That’s all.”

“For now.” Kylie practically sang the two words. How was it that she was so excited over Bailee’s love life, but not her own?

Several moments of comfortable silence ensued.

“Ava asked me to visit Dad with her again tonight,” Bailee commented quietly.

            Kylie continued to look out the window at the passing street lights like it was no big deal. “Did she?”

            Bailee glanced over at her. “Why does she keep asking me?” She asked with frustration.

            Kylie studied her sister. “Have you forgiven him?”

            Bailee kept her eyes firmly on the road before her. “Who?” She knew exactly who Kylie was talking about.

            “Dad.”

            “Oh.”

            A moment of silence passed.

            “Well?”

            “Well, what?”

            “Have you forgiven him?” Kylie repeated her question with patience.

            Bailee swung her gaze Kylie’s way. “Why? Why does it matter?” She looked back at the road with a hard, bitter expression. “I mean, why should I forgive him? After all, he killed mom.” Just saying the words brought her sharp pain. Her dad? Killing her mom? That was completely wrong and went against all laws of nature.  Not to mention the things he’d done to her… things she’d never told anyone. Why ever in this life should she forgive him— much less want to forgive him? It just didn’t make sense. He had ruined all their lives. Once her friends had heard the shocking news they had acted like it was her fault or that she was going to take after her dad. When she needed her friends the most, they’d all left her. All but Amy and Austin and Ben.

            “Because it’s the right thing to do.” Kylie replied softly.

            Bailee’s dark eyes flashed angrily at Kylie. “Well, I don’t always do what’s right, Kylie.”

            Kylie didn’t say anything; just looked at her with those big, sad, blue eyes of hers. Eyes that seemed to pierce Bailee’s very soul. “What?” She snapped.

            Kylie sighed. “Sometimes I don’t think I even know you.” She turned away.      

            Bailee fought burning tears. She didn’t want to get into a fight with Kylie. But they didn’t agree. How could they, when Kylie believed in God and believed that He made everything happen for a specific purpose? That everything was all right?

            Bailee didn’t feel that way. Yes, she’d been brought up in church… at least when their mother had been able to sneak them away to go. And she knew there was a God. But she didn’t know Him. Not like Kylie and Ava did. And there was no way her sisters could justify that what their father did was right— in any way. Or that he was worthy of forgiving. She knew he wasn’t.

But you’re not either, Bailee. Where had that come from? Bailee pushed the thought away; this wasn’t the time to do a self-examining.

            Sydney? Well, Bailee didn’t know about her. She was so closed up that she rarely discussed anything of such personal matters— even with her sisters.

            Bailee broke from her thinking and parked Janie. Kylie got out wordlessly.

            Riley watched Bailee walk away, the wind attempting to blow her petite frame away. Her short brown hair blew around her face, and then she disappeared around the corner of the house with Kylie in tow.

            Riley turned back to sit down and saw Austin watching him with a knowing smile.

            Riley plopped down on the log. “What?”

            Austin’s smile disappeared. “Face it, friend. You’re doomed.”

            Amy laughed. “Bailee’s really sweet, isn’t she?”

            “Mmm.” Riley rested his elbows on his knees.

            “Be careful with her.” Austin warned with a very stern expression. “She’s had enough heartache to last her five lifetimes.” He studied Riley with a protective older brother look.

            Riley looked closely at his friend, searching for some sign of joking. There was none. What was it about Bailee that made Austin so serious? Riley wanted to ask, but something in Austin’s face kept him from it.

            Riley turned to Amy, but she was gazing into the fire with a faraway look in her eyes.

            He shifted on the log. What had Austin meant? It had to be something bad with the way Amy and Austin had changed from teasing and happy to angry and sad within a matter of seconds.

            The next morning Riley woke to extremely bright sunshine streaming through the window directly onto his face. Getting up, he looked outside, and was very pleased to see that the majority of the snow was completely gone. It looked like spring would arrive here on time, after all.

            After getting a shower he went down stairs, knowing Grams would have eggs and toast prepared for him, if not bacon too.

            As expected, Grams was in the kitchen, her back to him as she cut up some oranges.

            “Good morning, Riley,” she greeted over her shoulder, seeming to have heard him come down. “Here are some oranges and there’s a plate of eggs, toast, and hash browns.” She pointed to the plate of food sitting alone at the table.

            “You slept later today then you have been, so your food got cold, and I ate with your grandpa earlier.”

            Riley went and sat down. “That’s ok, Grams. Where’s Gramps?” He shoved a piece of toast in his mouth.

            Grams turned to him with an exasperated look. “Where do you think he is?” She shook her head. “Working on that old barn again, of course. He’s getting much too old to be doing that kind of stuff these days! But his old stubborn pride will let you do nary a thing! Why?” Grams shrugged. “I don’t know. After all, you’re his grandson. It’s not like you’re some neighbor offering charity. Not that it’s charity anyway. I mean, you can’t have some old man trying to build a whole barn- all by himself. It just isn’t done.” She shook her head again, thoroughly disgusted and reached for an orange slice. Biting it, she continued thoughtfully. “He’s gonna kill himself, that’s what he’s going to do, with hardly a thought to his old ailing wife. Why, old Harry Brans even got help to tear down and rebuild his barn, and he’s only fifty-nine. But Bill… well, Bill is Bill. I don’t think he’ll ever change.” She took another orange piece and pointed it at Riley. “It’s pure foolishness on his part, that’s what it is.” She bit the previously outstretched orange. “But you’re still going to help him build it, right?” She stared down at Riley, giving him no choice.

            Riley smiled to himself. “Of course, Grams.”

            Grams smiled sweetly. “Good. Now finish that breakfast of yours and get out there with him!” She left the room, taking an orange slice with her. “If you need me, I’ll be downstairs.” She called.

            After she was gone Riley allowed himself to grin outright. His grandma had a large tendency to ramble on for minutes— or hours, depending on what you got her started on.

            Forking in his last bite of hash browns he rose, put his dishes in the sink, and then went out to help his grandpa.

            Bill Peterson didn’t even acknowledge his grandson as he made his way towards the barely constructed building.

            Riley didn’t care. He stood there a moment, observing the work his grandfather had accomplished then went and picked up the hammer and nails and started where he left off the other day.

            Finally, Bill spoke. “I don’t see how you young folk stand to do it.” He groused.

            Riley waited for him to continue.

            “Stayin’ up all hours of the night and then thinkin’ you can get a full day’s work done. That’s impossible, and you well know it, Riley.” Bill grunted loudly with disapproval.

            Riley hammered a nail into a board and reached for another one. “I wasn’t up past 12:00, Gramps.”

            “Well, I go to bed at 8:30, and then I’m able to get up at 5:30 in the morning. You go to bed as late as you do, and you can’t get up until 8:30 or 9:00.”

            Riley knew that wasn’t true, but contradicting Gramps would be unwise. Especially about something as trivial as sleep. So, he kept his mouth clamped tightly shut and kept on working.

            “Don’t you have something to say for yourself, Boy?”

            Gramps was in a rare mood this morning, Riley realized. He seemed to want to pick a fight. Well, Riley wouldn’t allow it. “You seem to have it all figured out,” he mumbled quietly, not caring if Gramps heard or not.

            But Gramps had much better hearing than Grams and heard distinctly what he said. “You bet I do! There’s no way you can stay in bed all morning and be able and ready for a good full day’s work.” He reached for the handkerchief hanging out of his pocket. “Impossible,” he added as an afterthought.

            Riley wiped his forehead and discarded his flannel over-shirt, leaving his t-shirt on. It was much warmer today than it had been.

            “And as far as you’re concerned, I don’t need you.” Bill exclaimed rather harshly. “I can get this blasted barn up all by myself… without the help of a lazy grandson.”

            Riley ground his teeth together to keep himself from replying. He listened to the pounding of the hammer hitting the nail firmly into the wood. That was lazy? Then Gramps was lazy too. The thought made him chuckle quietly. If Gramps would only listen to himself, he’d see what a fool he was making himself to be.

            Gramps looked up sharply and scowled. “Quit laughing, Son, and get to work. You’re burning daylight.”

            Riley laughed outright. And Gramps thought he didn’t need him?

           

            Bailee waved goodbye to Mary-Lou at the front desk and breathed a sigh of relief as she walked out of the daycare and headed towards her jeep. Generally she liked working with the children, but today had been a little much. Someone had ended up getting blood from a scraped finger everywhere; another child threw the worst fit that Bailee had ever seen in her life. One little boy had discovered what fun boogers could be and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon torturing the other children by stuffing them in their faces. She had been so busy taking care of the fit and blood that she hadn’t been able to stop him. She hadn’t even known he was doing it till a little girl named Emma Leigh came up to her and requested that “Miss Lee-Lee” make him stop because it was very, very nasty. By then he had all the little girls screaming and the little boys ready to rip his head off. After that, Bailee had been ready to rip her own head off.

            She sighed again as she reached Janie; as if the weight she carried was too large. Stacy had informed her earlier when she’d come into work that the mirror on the left side of her jeep had gotten hit and was dangling by only a few cords. She said she thought it was from a tree branch that had fallen, but she wasn’t sure.

            It had been really windy this morning, Bailee recalled, but what were the chances that a branch would just happen to fall at the same exact time her jeep was parked under it? The odds were like what… one in a hundred? Yet she was standing here, observing that one in a million chance that had happened to her. She didn’t want to drive around with Janie in a mess like this, yet she didn’t really have the extra funds to pay for it to be repaired. She wasn’t really sure what to do.

            “That’s too bad.”

            Bailee glanced up at the male voice. “Oh, hi, Jon.”

            “You gonna get it fixed?”

            Bailee touched the poor, mutilated mirror. “I don’t know.”

            “Hmm.” Jon observed the mirror through his thick-rimmed glasses. “Probably wouldn’t be too expensive.” He straightened. “Well, have a nice day, Bailee.”

            Hah, like that’s gonna happen. How could this day get any worse? “You too, Jon.”

            After Jon left she stroked Janie’s dark blue side. “I’m sorry, baby. We’ll get it fixed.”

            She climbed in and headed home. Reaching the apartment, Bailee shoved the key in the lock and turned, then kicked the door open. Kylie should be home. “Kylie!” She called. No answer. Apparently she wasn’t there yet.

            Bailee plodded to her bedroom where she dropped her purse on the bed and her jacket. Kicking off her shoes, she started to make her way out to the kitchen to prepare dinner when she remembered her fish. She turned around and headed back towards her bedroom again.

            “Hold on, Beans. I’m gonna get you your food.” She pinched a few pellets of food. “Here you go.” She dropped them in the water. The little goldfish didn’t move.

            Bailee set down the food canister. Not another one. “Hey, Beans. Wake up, buddy.” She crouched and tapped the glass with her fingernail; Beans didn’t move. Bailee sighed and stood up, picking up the fishbowl with her. And I thought this day couldn’t get any worse.

“Well, Beans, you ready to join Kyle, Porky, Drake, Cleopatra, and Minnie— your fish friends?”

            Bailee carried the fish bowl to the toilet, scooped out Beans and dropped him in. She reached for the toilet handle. If only I can flush him before Kylie gets-

            “Bailee!” Kylie’s sing-songy voice floated to the bathroom as she came through the front door.

            Bailee pushed the handle. The fish went swirling around, and around, then finally disappeared down the hole.

            Kylie peaked her head in the bathroom door. “Bailee? Are you ok?” Kylie came and looked at the empty fishbowl. “Beans too?”

            Bailee simply nodded and stood there staring at the toilet for one more moment. She had sort of hoped she could flush the fish before Kylie saw it… well, here comes a new fish from the pet store. Finally she snatched up the fish bowl, dumped out the water, and headed back to her bedroom. “Well, that’s that.”

            “Oh, don’t worry.” Kylie tagged along behind her. “I’ll be going down by Sherry’s Pet Shop soon; I’ll pick up another Beans there.”

            Bailee mentally groaned. “Really, Kylie? Please, enough with the fishes. Can’t you see that they aren’t going to stay alive?”

            Kylie disappeared in her bedroom and then reappeared a few moments later, changed into a casual outfit.  “Bailee, you have to try.”

            Bailee didn’t respond. That was a ridiculous statement; one she didn’t have a comeback for. She went to the kitchen, pulling out supplies for dinner. Someone really needed to go grocery shopping; there were almost no supplies around.

            “Kylie, you need to go shopping; we need food.”

            “Actually, it’s your turn.” Kylie pulled a bottle of tea out of the fridge and popped the lid. “Oh, by the way, did you notice that your mirror needs to be repaired?”

            Bailee gave Kylie a sidelong glance. As if I couldn’t notice. “Yes. That happened at work. A tree branch fell on it.”

            “Are you going to fix it?”

            Bailee dumped some Italian sausage into a pan. “Probably.”

            Kylie pulled out a bag of frozen broccoli from the freezer.

           

Riley stood on the back porch of the sprawling old farmhouse after dinner, enjoying the crispness of the evening and clear view of the stars overhead.  His grandpa and he had only finished their work about an hour ago, Bill always wanting to stay out till at least dark. Riley had tried to tell him that it wasn’t wise to work on the barn in the dark, being unable to see what you’re nailing and where you’re going, but Gramps would have none of it. He thought he knew best, and Riley was in no position to question him. After all, it was Gramps’ barn, and he if he chose to kill himself by doing things foolishly, so be it.

            Riley sighed and leaned his hands against the wooden railing, looking out across Gramps and Grams’ farm; it really was a beautiful place. If only his grandparents weren’t getting so old; too old to take care of it. He couldn’t really stay here forever, could he? On the other hand, it wasn’t really like he had much pressing him in Kentucky; in fact, nothing at all. He really could stay as long as they needed him. He loved Scranton, Pennsylvania with its rolling hills and open meadows… he’d missed it while he’d been gone.

            “I wouldn’t mind moving here again,” he mused to himself, “wouldn’t mind at all.” The only thing holding him in Kentucky was his apartment, which at the moment a friend was living in while he was gone.

            Plus, he had Austin here, a good friend throughout many, many years, and he wouldn’t mind seeing Bailee a bit either. She’d been on his mind pretty regularly since he’d seen her five days ago. He wondered if there was any way he could convince Austin and Amy to have another get together any time soon.

            Riley rubbed his arms with his hands and after several minutes headed back to the house. It was getting downright chilly.