“You okay there, buddy?” Hannah gave him a look.
“Fine. Just fine. How’s the hand?”
Hannah held it up. You couldn’t really tell because it was all bandaged up, but she didn’t seem to be in much pain.
“Can I check it?” Renee said. Once she’d ascertained that Hannah’s hand was just bruised and swollen, she went back to her coffee and staring off into space.
“I’ll drive you. Do you just mind if I take a shower first?” I said, giving her a look, and I watched as she remembered I’d said earlier that I had a favor.
“No big. Hey, do you have a comb I could borrow?”
“Yeah, sure.” She put her cup in the dish drainer and followed me back downstairs.
She rounded on me as soon as the door shut.
“I’m guessing you need a favor so you can sneak away and make out with a certain boy that has gorgeous green eyes. Am I correct?”
“Let’s just say that we sort of made up. Kind of. Anyway, we’d like some alone time, so would you be my alibi?”
She got down on one knee and held my hand.
“I would be honored to be your alibi anytime you want to get together with Dusty and bump your bits together.”
I took my hand back. “That does not sound sexy. At all.”
She shrugged and I went to my drawers. She followed and shoved me aside as I pawed through, trying to find something remotely cute.
“Girl, you have a serious wardrobe crisis. We need to get you some new clothes ASAP. But for now, how about this?” She pulled out a green three-quarter-sleeve shirt that must have hitched a ride from my previous life.
“This is cute. And it brings out your eyes.” She also selected a pair of dark skinny jeans that I’d bought with the intention of wearing them, but it had never actually happened.
“He said I needed to bring socks. Brand-new ones.”
She laid the clothes out on my bed and then went for my underwear drawer, picking out the only matching set of a black bra and panties that I owned and adding them to the pile. “Are you making puppets?”
“That’s exactly what I said.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Okay, then. Socks.” She found a pair and set them on the bed, as well. I didn’t have much choice in footwear because it was winter and we lived in Maine and you had to wear shoes you could potentially slog through the snow in, so that meant boots nine times out of ten.
“I’m going to shower.”
“I’ll be here.”
I showered as quick as I could and got dressed, wondering what to do with my hair. Dusty seemed to like it when it was down, but it was wet and it was winter and I didn’t fancy pneumonia, so I twisted it back on the sides and formed a bun. Once I was at his place I could take it down and let it dry. Maybe it would actually have some curl in it from being twisted up. Yeah, probably not.
“Verdict?” I said, coming out and spinning around for Hannah to see.
“You need jewelry. Other than your bracelet. Which is why, when we were buying stuff last week, I got you these.” She pulled something out of her pocket and handed them to me. They were tiny silver studs shaped like trumpeting elephants.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“But I did. Do you like them?”
“Yeah, I do. Thank you.” I gave her a hug and then put the earrings in. They were small and understated, which I liked.
“Perfect. Now we just have to get you some socks. Oh, by the way, are you on the pill, or anything else?”
“Yeah, the pill.” I’d gone on it last year when I’d thought things were serious with Matt. Yes, I hadn’t planned on having sex until we were married, but that didn’t mean I thought it couldn’t happen earlier. More than anything, it was probably wishful thinking. If I’d learned anything about living with Renee, it was that you always had to protect yourself and never leave it up to the guy.
“You got condoms?”
This should have been a crazy uncomfortable conversation, but somehow it wasn’t.
“My sister gave me a box when I got my period. No joke.” I’d been thirteen and so mortified I’d hidden them in the very back of my sock drawer. “And I find them periodically in my stuff, especially now. There was a box in the drawer when I got here.” I went and got it, putting a few in one of the zippered pockets on the inside of my purse.
“Good girl. I think you’re ready.”
“We’re not going to have sex, Hannah.”
“Well, it won’t be long. I’ve seen the way you look at each other. The logs have been laid, the gasoline has been poured and all someone has to do is strike the match.”
She gave me a hug and we dashed upstairs.
“Renee? I’m going to study with Hannah today. We have this thing to work on for our class.” This was true. First step in crafting a good lie was to use something that was actually true and build upon it.
“Okay. Just be careful. There’s supposed to be a snowstorm coming in this afternoon. If you get stranded, Mase can come get you.” He had an extra truck with a plow attached to it so we didn’t have to pay anyone to plow the driveway.
I’d been so wrapped up in everything I hadn’t even paid attention to the weather. I hoped it didn’t cut my time with Dusty short. That would seriously suck. But then, weather forecasters were notorious for predicting a huge storm that would never happen. They’d already been wrong at least twice this winter.
“Very smooth, Jos. I’m impressed,” Hannah said, giving me a high five as we drove toward the Bangor Mall.
“I’ve had a lot of practice.”
* * *
Hannah gave me a lot more advice, most of which sounded like she’d gotten it from the internet or movies or from urban legends. Sometimes it was hard to tell.
I dropped her off and had strict instructions to give her every single dirty detail when I called her that night.
Dusty’s place was pretty easy to find from his directions. He was also right; it was a shit shack. How the crap was this building still standing?
It kind of looked like someone had taken parts of three other buildings, glued and stapled them together on top of each other and called it good. I sent him a message saying I was here as I tried to figure out the least dangerous way to get to the front door. The porch was definitely suspect. He messaged me back that there was a set of stairs around the back, which weren’t much better than the porch, I discovered.