I figured he might get to relax in twelve years, give or take a few.
You know your dad loves you, and you know he wants what's best for you, I said.
He wants me to be like all the other kids, Hunter said, half-sad, halfresentful.
He wants you to be happy. And he knows that the more people who know about this gift you have, the chances are you won't be happy. I know it's not fair to tell you that you have to keep a secret. But this is the only secret you have to keep. If anyone talks to you about it, tell your dad or call me. If you think someone's weird, you tell your dad. If someone tries to bad-touch you, you tell.
I'd just scared him now. But he swallowed and said, I know about bad touching.
You're a smart boy, and you're going to have lots of friends. This is just a thing about you they don't need to know.
Because it's bad? Hunter's face looked pinched and desperate.
Heck, no! I said, outraged. Nothing wrong with you, buddy. But you know what we are is different, and people don't always understand different. End of lecture. I gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Hunter, you get us some napkins," I said in the regular way, as Remy picked up the plastic tray with our Blizzards. I'd gotten a chocolate chip one, and my mouth was watering when we'd distributed the napkins and dug into our separate cups of sinful goodness.
A young woman with chin-length black hair came into the restaurant, spotted us, and waved in an uncertain way.
"Look, Sport, it's Erin," Remy said.
"Hey, Erin!" Hunter waved back enthusiastically, his hand moving like a little metronome.
Erin came over, still looking as though she weren't sure of her welcome.
"Hi," she said, looking around the table. "Mr. Hunter, sir, it's good to see you this fine afternoon!" Hunter beamed back at her. He liked being called "Mr. Hunter." Erin had cute round cheeks, and her almond eyes were a rich brown.
"This is my Aunt Sookie!" Hunter said with pride.
"Sookie, this is Erin," Remy said. I could tell from his thoughts that he liked the young woman more than a little.
"Erin, I've heard so much about you," I said. "It's nice to put a face with the name. Hunter wanted me to come over to go around the kindergarten rooms with him."
"How did that go?" Erin asked, genuinely interested.
Hunter started to tell her all about it, and Remy jumped up to pull over a chair for Erin.
We had a good time after that. Hunter seemed to be really fond of Erin, and Erin returned the feeling. Erin was also quite interested in Hunter's dad, and Remy was on the verge of being nuts about her. All in all, it wasn't a bad afternoon to be able to read minds, I figured.
Hunter said, "Miss Erin, Aunt Sookie says she can't go with me to the first day of school. Would you?" Erin was both startled and pleased. "If your dad says it's okay, and if I can get off work," she said, careful to put some conditions on it in case Remy had some objection . . . or they'd quit dating by late August. "You're so sweet to ask me."
While Remy took Hunter to the men's room, Erin and I were left to regard each other with curiosity.
"How long have you and Remy been seeing each other?" I asked. That seemed safe enough.
"Just a month," she said. "I like Remy, and I think we might have something, but it's too soon to tell. I don't want Hunter to start depending on me in case it doesn't work out. Plus . . ." She hesitated for a long minute. "I understand that Kristen Duchesne thought there was something wrong with Hunter. She told everyone that. But I really care about that little boy." The question was clear in her eyes.
"He's different," I said, "but there's nothing wrong with him. He's not mentally ill, he doesn't have a learning disability, and he's not possessed by the devil." I was smiling, just a little, when I got to the end of the sentence.
"I'd never seen any signs of that," she agreed. She was smiling, too. "I don't think I've seen the whole picture, though."
I wasn't about to tell Hunter's secret. "He needs special love and care," I said. "He's never really had a mom, and I'm sure having someone stable in his life, filling that role, would help."
"And that's not going to be you." She said that as if she were half asking a question.
"No," I said, relieved to get a chance to set the record straight. "That's not going to be me. Remy seems like a nice guy, but I'm seeing someone else." I scraped up one more spoonful of chocolate and sugar.
Erin looked down at her glass of Pepsi, thinking her own thoughts. Of course, I was thinking them right along with her. She'd never liked Kristen and didn't think much of her mental ability. She did like Remy, more and more. And she loved Hunter. "Okay," she said, having reached an inner conclusion. "Okay."
She looked up at me and nodded. I nodded right back. It seemed we'd arrived at an understanding. When the menfolk came back from their trip to the restroom, I said good-bye to them.
"Oh, wait, Remy, can you step outside for a minute with me, if Erin wouldn't mind keeping an eye on Hunter?"
"I'd love to," she said. I hugged Hunter again and gave him a pat and a smile as I moved toward the door.
Remy followed me, an apprehensive expression on his face. We stood a little away from the door.
"You know Hadley left the rest of her estate to me," I said. This had been weighing on me.
"The lawyer told me." Remy's face wasn't giving anything away, but of course I have other methods. He was calm through and through.
"You aren't mad?"
"No, I don't want nothing of Hadley's."
"But for Hunter . . . his college. There wasn't much cash, but there was some good jewelry, and I could sell it."
"I got a college fund started for him," Remy said. "One of my great-aunts says she's going to leave what she's got to him since she doesn't have any kids of her own. Hadley put me through hell, and she didn't even care enough about Hunter to plan for him. I don't want it."
"In all fairness, she didn't expect to die young. . . . In fact, she didn't expect to die ever," I said. "It's my belief she didn't put Hunter in her will because she didn't want anyone to know about him and come looking for him to use him as a hostage for her good behavior."
"I hope that's the case," Remy said. "I mean, I hope she thought about him. But taking her money, knowing how she turned out, how she earned it . . . that would make me feel sick."
"All right," I said. "If you think it over and change your mind, call me by tomorrow night! You never know when I might go on a spending spree or put that jewelry down on the table at one of the casinos."