Chapter 12

After the lost sleep in recent days, she had drifted off quickly, sleeping soundly for several hours. She awoke in a haze, not knowing where she was or how she had gotten here, but as the fog wore off, she remembered she was at her aunt’s house. Climbing from the bed, she threw on some shorts and padded down the hallway to the bathroom, pushing open the door to find herself face to face with some naked guy that looked just as shocked to see her as she did him.

“Oh, God! Oh, God! I’m so sorry,” she blurted out, turning around and running from the bathroom. She quickly made her way downstairs and went to the bathroom down there, emerging moments later to find her mother and aunt looking at her quizzically.

“The upstairs toilet isn’t overflowing again, is it?” Aunt Mary said with a furrowed brow.

“No. Um, at least I don’t think so. Uh, there was someone in there,” she said, realizing now that it was probably Cody. Cody who apparently didn’t know how to lock bathroom doors when he was indecent.

“Oh, yeah. I think Cody got in just a little while ago,” Mary said idly. “Well, you’ll want to get on some jeans and solid shoes to go into town with us. Hay tends to stick in sandals and scratch legs.”

Susan nodded, still in a state of shock from her previous encounter. Cody was hard to not notice. In only the seconds she had seen him, she hadn’t missed that he was tall, muscular, and put together in all the right ways. His shock of blond hair stuck out wildly everywhere, and his large green eyes cut right through you. Sparse hair populated a well-defined chest, and well, she had tried not to look at other things, opting instead to make herself scarce.

She practically ran back into her room for fear of bumping into him again before she had even stopped blushing from the first encounter. Changing into a summer tank and a pair of faded jeans, she slipped on some socks and sneakers before pulling her long hair up into a ponytail. She put her glasses aside, replacing them with her contacts, and dabbed on a light coating of makeup, eyeliner, and lip gloss before rolling a bit of mascara across her lashes. Just a touch of blush finished it out. She didn’t want to wear too much makeup, but didn’t want to look too pale, either.

Exiting her room, she turned to find herself once again face to face with Cody. At least this time he was dressed, wearing a t-shirt with a line of crows on it that read simply “Murder” and jeans that hugged him close enough to remind her of all she had seen just a little while ago in the bathroom.

“Hey, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t know anyone was up here but me. I usually have the bathroom to myself,” he told her.

“Doesn’t it lock?” she said, sounding a little agitated.

“It does. Now that I know you are here, I will be more careful. Who are you, by the way?” he asked.

“I’m Susan. Didn’t Aunt Mary tell you my mother and I would be here this week?” she asked.

“I’m Cody, and no, she didn’t. I’ve been gone for several days, and I came in the rear earlier when I got back. I didn’t see her, so she probably just hadn’t had a chance,” he said.

“Well, just stay on your side of the hall and lock the door when you’re naked,” Susan said, not sure why she was being so rude. Sure, she had been embarrassed, but she was being an ass and she knew it.

“I will. Listen, I don’t want any trouble. I’ve had enough of that recently. Your aunt and uncle are helping me out, and I don’t want to mess it up with them before I can find my own place,” he said.

Susan softened a little bit, realizing she was being too much of a hard case. She nodded and headed downstairs, leaving him to look after her quizzically. After a few moments, he came down the stairs behind her and went to the kitchen to get something to drink while Susan went to the den where her mother and aunt were talking about Tank’s new hobby of rigging up his own fishing lures.

“There she is. How did you sleep?” her mother asked.

“Pretty good. What are the two of you doing?” she asked.

“Mary is finishing a pie for the hayride, and then we are going to head into town. Are you ready to go?”

“Yes, I’m ready,” Susan said.

“Oh, Cody! I didn’t know you were home. Have you met Susan and my sister, Angela?” Mary asked him.

“I met Susan upstairs. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Angela,” he said. It seemed like a pretty informal way to greet your elders to Susan. He couldn’t be much older than she was, but she supposed her mother’s first name was all that had been given to him, so he had no choice.

“You, too, Cody,” her mother returned.

“Are you going into town to the hayride with us?” Mary asked him.

“I may go for a while, but don’t know how long I will stay. It depends on who I run into. I will just drive in separately,” he answered, taking a sip of his tea.

“I understand,” Mary told him, nodding knowingly. He left to go outside for something, and the women returned to their chatter.

“He’s a nice boy, really. It’s a shame what he has been through,” Mary said in a muffled voice to Angela. “Perhaps, he and Susan would enjoy spending some time together.”

“No fix ups, Aunt Mary,” Susan warned.

“No, I’m not trying to fix you up with anyone. It’s just that y’all are close in age and might have things to talk about is all. But you can’t deny he’s a good-looking boy,” she offered.

You have no idea, Susan thought to herself, the image of Cody’s naked body returning to her mind. It wasn’t that she was interested. She had other things on her mind, but she certainly wasn’t blind. The thought made her chuckle out loud, raising eyebrows from the other two women.

She smiled at them, and said, “I’m not blind,” sending both into a fit of laughter.

“What’s all this cackling about? Is this what I’m going to have to put up with the rest of the week?” Tank roared as he came in the door.

“The rest of your life, Tank. Get showered and let’s go to town. You smell like a smoke-filled pool hall,” Mary told him. He scowled and lumbered down the hallway to their bedroom. Moments later, they heard the shower running as he got cleaned up to go out.

The hayride wasn’t nearly as lame as Susan had anticipated, and Aunt Mary was right about the food. There was a large selection of fried chicken, wings, fresh vegetables, casseroles, and more pies than you could taste in a lifetime. She sat eating and watching a group of high school girls giggling near a fence that ran between the old fairgrounds where the event was held and the property next door.

“Those girls have no idea what life is about,” Cody said as he sat down beside her with a plate of food.

“Why do you say that?” she asked.

“Just look at them. They’re fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, at best. Their parents hand them everything, and their biggest problem is deciding what shade of lip gloss goes with their outfit. Most of them will never make it out of this hick little town, and a good many of them will be pregnant before they graduate,” he said.

“Wow, you have quite the high opinion of women,” Susan said.

“No, it’s not that. It’s this place. It does something to people. In another place, they would go to college, see the world, achieve something besides popping out a kid, but here, they see big achievement as marrying the quarterback and coming in first at the pie baking contest. It’s sad,” he said.

“So, you are a feminist then?” Susan laughed, warming up to him a bit. He spoke his mind, whether he thought anyone agreed with him or not.

“No, I’m not a feminist. I’ve just been to places where women have no rights. They can’t show their faces or make eye contact. They can’t expose their ankles or speak their mind without fear of punishment, and I don’t mean a slap on the wrists or a mere admonishment. They are stoned, beheaded, awful things that no one does anything about. If these girls could see women like that, they might be more ambitious about changing the world they live in, rather than living in a world that changes them,” he said.

“Wow, you’re right. You aren’t a feminist. You are a cynic,” Susan told him.

“I suppose I am. Hey, listen. I want to apologize again for my nakedness earlier. I’m not shy, but I know you were embarrassed. I really didn’t know anyone was up there but me,” he said.

“It’s okay. I overreacted. It’s not like I’ve never seen a naked man before,” she said, then immediately wished she hadn’t. She felt the flush run up her face as embarrassment took over once again.

“It’s okay. Don’t be embarrassed. Let’s just forget it happened and be friends. It looks like we are hallmates for at least the rest of the week. If it makes you feel better, you can streak through the hallway and give me a taste of my own medicine,” he said with a grin.

“Yeah, I bet you’d like that a lot. I don’t think so.”

“Well, you can’t say I didn’t offer to even the score,” he told her, digging into his food again. They were quiet for a while as they ate and just watched the people around them. After a bit, he began telling her about some of the people in town.

“That’s Widow Stephens. Her husband died ten years ago, and she tells everyone that she just can’t imagine dating again. She’s moved her old college roommate in with her for company instead. People pretend they don’t know the truth, but they really do. She’s been a lesbian for years and only married her husband to cover it up. There are rumors that she poisoned him for the insurance money and so she could be with her lover, the woman standing nearby in the jeans and plaid shirt,” he said.

“Do you think she did?” Susan asked with raised eyebrows.

“Nah, I think it was just a stroke of good luck. He used to get drunk and beat her, probably because she wasn’t doing her wifely duties if the truth was known. One night, he got all sauced up and stumbled home in the snow. He passed out on the porch and died, a combination of alcohol poisoning and hypothermia, but people like to tell their versions of stories.”

“Lively little town when you start digging in closets, huh?” Susan said.

“Yeah, black sheep and skeletons abound,” he replied.

“What about you? Are you a black sheep?” Susan asked.

“I don’t know what I am, Susan. I wonder that myself almost every day. I don’t know if you’ve ever had anyone you were close to die, but it stings for a long time, and you eventually find peace with it. I just haven’t found my peace yet, I’m afraid,” he told her.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know exactly. I got shipped off to the Middle East within weeks of my father’s death, and when I came home, my mother had shacked up with some loser who thinks he owns the house my father worked so hard to build for us. I can’t accept it. I thought I would come home to my mother and she would somehow make this all better for me, but it didn’t work out that way. First, I was angry, and now, well I’m just kind of lost, I suppose,” he told her, staring off into the night.

“I know how you feel,” she replied. It was like a big nothingness swept in and covered everything she used to care about to the point that she could no longer decipher what she felt about it. It was almost better to be angry than to just feel indifference.

“I hate that for you. It’s not a good way to feel for anyone,” he told her, finishing off one last bit of pie. “You want to go on the hayride with me? I don’t really care much for it, but I’ll go and keep you company.”

“Sure. It’s something to do,” she replied.

They got up and tossed their plates in the trash before heading over to the large wooden wagon being pulled behind a shiny John Deere tractor. It smelled like hay and oil to Susan, but she had agreed to go, so she would manage. She found it surprising that she and Cody seemed to hit it off so well after their run in earlier, but she found him surprisingly refreshing. It was nice to meet a man that didn’t seem to have any secrets. She had only just met him and he had no problem talking about some pretty personal feelings.

The hayride itself wasn’t too bad, the fresh air blowing away the smell of the tractor and replacing it with the fresh air of the countryside that surrounded them. She could see why people liked to go on these, though she doubted it was something she would want to do all the time. They passed through town and then ventured out onto farmland that ran along the banks of a large stream. It was incredibly beautiful, even in the near-darkness.

“What a gorgeous place,” she commented.

“Yep. Full of fish, too. Do you fish?” Cody asked.

“I haven’t been fishing since I was little. My parents used to come down here and my dad and grandfather would take me fishing with them, but I mostly just sat on the banks and watched butterflies,” Susan confessed.

“You can’t catch fish with butterflies.” He laughed.

“You can’t catch butterflies without a net,” she told him.

“Well, if you want, we can come out here tomorrow. Old Man Hopper owns this entire stretch of land and doesn’t mind me coming here. We can fish or catch butterflies to your heart’s content,” he said.

“I don’t know,” she said, realizing she really knew very little about Cody.

“You have absolutely nothing to fear from me. Trust me,” he said as he looked over at her and Susan believed him. For whatever reason, she felt an immediate connection with Cody. It put her at ease in a way she couldn’t describe.

“All right, then. Fishing, it is,” she told him.

“Great. We’ll run by the bait shop in the morning and head out here while they are still biting. You’re going to love it!” he said.