Liabilities (Balance Sheet 2) Page 4

  Violet and I had always been close. She was a free spirit much as I had been. When I suggested she should go off to college with me, she’d only rolled her eye and told me that the only thing she’d ever be good at was mothering. So it had been a surprise when it was Mary who had given birth first. In fact, Mary was also the first of us to get married.

  “Vi.” I quickly set my plate down and then hugged her.

  “Bails,” she cried out with genuine excitement. After returning from the elder meeting, there hadn’t been time for me to greet her before I was put to work. She’d had a plate and had been talking to various people before she sat at the table. Having seen that only made it more ominous why people were avoiding her now. Her smile quickly disappeared and I followed her line of sight to her hand. The man sitting across from her held it in a tight grip. For a second I didn’t understand what happened until it felt like a frosty wind had passed through. “Bails, this is my husband Mike. Mike, this is my younger sister Bailey.”

  Mike loosened his grip and set her free. In the process, popping out just above his tunic neckline and peaking around his wrist were hints of tattoos. His long, dirty blonde hair was tied back. His beard was slightly unruly and might have been attractive in a rugged kind of way if he didn’t have a nasty gleam in his eye. I hated to dislike someone I’d never met before, but this man gave me chills.

  “Bailey, I like. Cool name compared to most of these yahoos.”

  Stunned, I couldn’t believe he’d just spoken unkindly about a group of people who’d taken him in. Strangers weren’t really welcome because most had a fascination about our community as if we were some sort of cult. Usually, they wanted knowledge to exploit us. You had to prove yourself to be allowed to join our clan. He’d obviously passed and had been allowed to marry my sister. My father was stern and protective. He would never let any of his girls marry a guy unfit for our society. So what was it that I was feeling?

  A fake smile warmed my face. I would try hard not to let this first impression affect me. My sister’s sadness could be due to a recent argument. “Hi Mike.”

  I was just about to say something when Turner sat next to me. When I looked at him, his face only held a smile for me.

  “Can I talk to you later?” Turner asked.

  “I’m supposed to stay at Mary’s. I’m not sure when they go to bed for the night. With a new baby, I don’t want to intrude on their schedule. It would be best if I head on over after helping clean up. I don’t want to arrive late and wake them.”

  It was an excuse, but I wasn’t ready for the talk I knew he wanted to have.

  Violet brightened. “Don’t stay with Miss Prim. You’re welcome to stay with us.” But then she stopped herself as if she’d spoken out of turn. She looked over at Mike and I trailed her gaze. He gave her a predatory smile.

  “Of course your sister is welcome. We have more than enough room until you start popping out those babies.” His hand went to her belly and spoke as if there was more meaning laced in his words.

  Violet went deathly pale. I looked between her and her husband. He went back to working on his plate. It was piled higher than anyone would have given him. I looked to Violet’s plate, and hers looked only half eaten. I assumed his extras were taken from her helping.

  Turner said, “I think Mary would be disappointed if you don’t stay with her.” His voice was cautious. He looked at Mike watching the man shovel food in his mouth the way trash trucks do when they lifted dumpsters to empty their contents into their bellies.

  Mike barely lifted a brow. “I think these two sisters need time together. I’ve heard so much about Red. And we live so far from everyone else. Violet hardly ever gets to talk to anyone.”

  His words made my face tensed. Then I felt my features relax as I schooled them. Everyone in the community worked together to keep this place going. Most jobs weren’t solitary. No matter where Violet lived, she shouldn’t be starved for conversation.

  Mike’s hand was back on Violet’s. I caught it when her head snapped up. “Yeah,” she said shakily. “Please come and stay with me so we could catch up.” Her voice was sweet but something sour was definitely there. The longer I was around them, the more I disliked the feeling I was getting in the pit of my stomach.

  “Yeah… I’ll stay with you tonight.” And tonight I would find out what the hell was going on.

  My younger sisters, whom I had only glanced at while they slept came over and hugged both me and Violet as if they’d seen neither of us in a very long time. That only added to my concern. Turner playfully mussed their sandy blonde hair and told them just how pretty they were.

  My two brothers, however, hadn’t bothered to greet me except to say “Hi” in the food line as if it hadn’t been years since I’ve seen them. Jacob, the older at seventeen, carried himself like my father, regal and sure of himself. The younger at fourteen seemed in awe of his big brother, but was more reserved and shy. He gave me a winning smile. I was sure he would have happily hugged me if not for Jacob at his side. So when my sisters walked away, I used that as an excuse to seek out my brothers.

  “John,” I said, enveloping him in a hug. “I missed you.”

  He squeezed me back. When he spoke, his voice lacked the baritone that came with age and in fact cracked a little. “Bails.” A shyness that screamed embarrassment crossed his face. I wanted to tell him he wouldn’t be the squeaky boy for long. Yet, I held my tongue.

  When Jacob walked over trying to be cool and lightly punched me on my shoulder, I took him by surprise in my embrace. “Hey Jake,” I teased. He was Jake and father was Jacob. It had always been that way to keep them separate since they shared a name.

  “Bails,” he hesitantly said, patting my back awkwardly before pulling away. “Yeah, since you’re so happy to see us, maybe you could do us a favor.”

  “And what’s that?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

  “There’s a dance Friday. Father won’t let us go unless we have an escort.” He rolled his eyes like it was nonsense.

  An arm at my shoulder acknowledged the presence of Turner at my side. “She’ll come because she’s my date.”

  John glanced back and forth between us, and Jake got a wicked gleam in his eye. “I bet she is,” Jake said before striding off. Apparently he was done with me. The strawberry blonde in the corner he was heading towards was all the confirmation I needed that I’d been sorely dismissed. John smiled before following in his brother’s wake.

  “Date,” I said, swiveling to face Turner.

  “Yeah, the one I was going to ask you on. But thankfully Jake took care of that.”

  I almost contradicted him when the elders strolled in. Everything quieted and I headed back to my place by Violet with Turner in tow.

  The meeting only brought me further back in time. It was almost as if I’d never left. According to the elders, things were good. More and more people wanted to purchase food and other handmade goods from our community. They talked about the plan for the upcoming winter and what needed to be done to survive it. It reminded me that firewood was important to find and store safely as it would be our only source of heat.

  I eyed my sister’s husband who was barely paying attention. Mike had the look of a man who didn’t care because he had no intentions of being here when the cold hit the area. It didn’t’ take a genius to see something wasn’t adding up. So why was he allowed to stay here?

  After the meeting was over, it was up to the younger generation to remove any plates or trash left on the tables. The women were huddled outside in front of large basins either washing or drying the dishes. While others wrapped up leftover food for those who had iceboxes and wanted to take it. The men worked together to move the large tables and benches to one side of the hall leaving the place empty for whatever events were to come. And according to Jake that would most likely be a dance on Friday night.

  When it was all done, Mike was nowhere in sight. Vi looked nervous and I was about to ask the importan
t question when Turner walked over.

  “Can I walk you ladies home?”

  Vi looked up at Turner with dreamy eyes. Of course she had crushed on him. Turner was closer to her age than he was to mine. Being the good natured person she was, when she found out years ago that Turner and I had eyes for each other outside of friendship, she’d sighed and told me I was a lucky girl.

  On the other hand, Mary wouldn’t have handled it the same way. Mary always competed with me at every turn. I wasn’t even surprised at her choice of husband. Thomas had pursued me until he found out about my betrothal with Turner and backed off.

  “We don’t need your protection like we did when we were little.” I teased him. Honestly, I wanted time to talk with my sister before we were near her husband.

  “What kind of man would I be if I let two beautiful women walk home after dark alone?”

  His chivalry was sweet, but I needed answers. So I went ahead and asked the question despite Turner’s presence. “Vi, is there something you want to tell me?”

  She didn’t even pause in her footsteps. “No, why?” she asked sweetly.

  I knew my sister, and I heard the undercurrent of nervousness in her statement. “Are you and Mike fighting?” I prodded. Turner remained silent behind us. I almost glanced back, but I kept my gaze on Vi for any signs through body language of what she wasn’t telling me.

  “It’s nothing. Just something stupid,” she confessed. Her smile was so sincere, I didn’t press her further.

  Instead I couldn’t resist and peppered Turner with questions. Still walking ahead of him, over my shoulder I fired off one. “You said you’re a bachelor. Does that mean you have your own place?” I couldn’t imagine him still living at home.

  His response was surprisingly overtly flirtatious. “Why? Do you want to stay with me instead?”

  I could hear the smirk in his voice which made me snicker and shake my head.

  Vi spoke to him over my mirth. “Father would so kill you.”

  “Only if he found out,” Turner quipped. “Would you tell him?”

  My laughter quieted when I noticed a hint of seriousness in his last remark. I stopped and faced him. “Father is already going to have a coronary because I didn’t follow his directions and stay with Mary. He’ll probably have a search party looking for me in the morning.”

  We all stared at each other with a minute more of seriousness before we started to laugh again.

  On the very back edge of town, Vi’s home came into view. It was the last stop before our community ended. It belonged to old man Fisher.

  Stopping at the end of the path with the small cottage in front of us, I turned to Vi. “You guys live with Mr. Fisher.”

  Vi’s faced morphed into a nauseated expression. “No.” She put a hand to her mouth like she might cry. Instead, she choked out the following words. “He sponsored Mike, and they lived here. He died in his sleep the night before our wedding.”

  “Oh,” I said taken aback. I hadn’t known. Mr. Fisher had been a respected elder in our community for as long as I could remember. He was a very nice man and one who never looked down on anyone. He viewed everyone as equals including women.

  It wasn’t a shock my family hadn’t sent word. A part of me was saddened by that. But then again, my father most likely assumed I hadn’t cared about this place once I left. Not knowing what else to say, I took in the darkened home.

  “Mike’s not home?” My voice was full of concern. The house looked barren. Even though we didn’t have electricity, there should have been light from candles or a fire. I hadn’t seen him back at the town hall. Where was he? There wasn’t night life here. We didn’t have bars. Drinking wasn’t outright outlawed but wasn’t encouraged either outside of special events. And he didn’t appear to have many friends based on the wide berth everyone had given him. I hadn’t seen anyone speak to him all night except us.

  My sister faced me with the moonlight spotlighting her face. She looked almost relieved that her husband wasn’t home. And actually, I was kind of grateful because I had more questions. Obviously she was hiding something big.

  “I’ll help you start a fire,” Turner said, heading to the side of the house where logs rested against the outside wall.

  Vi opened the door without a key. This wasn’t an anomaly. We didn’t lock our houses while we weren’t at home. It just wasn’t common practice. There was really nothing to steal. We didn’t have electronics in our homes. We did however lock ourselves in at night. I always thought that weird. My father had explained that it was a precaution when we were at our most vulnerable. His worry was for outsiders who could breach our borders not from those who resided in the community.

  I’d just stepped inside behind Vi when a voice rang out of the night and stopped us dead. “There you are wife. Why don’t you get some wood for the fire?”

  My hand landed on my sister’s shoulder to stop myself from running into her back. I tensed at the disembodied voice that came from nowhere and everywhere all at the same time.

  When she didn’t respond, he said, “And Violet…”

  “Yes,” she whispered. In the seconds that followed, I awaited the ominous voice to return wielded by a man with a meat cleaver or something waiting to chop our heads off. Yet the seconds ticked by as if he knew how on edge he’d put us.

  In the dead silence out here away from most of the other cabins, it was easy to hear a breath let alone a whisper. So when he spoke in a murmured calm, we heard. “Tell you pretty sister to come over here and keep me company.”

  It was my turn to shutter. As much as I hated to admit my sister had made such a choice for a husband, there was no denying he was bad news.

  “I have the wood,” Turner announced, coming up behind us. His chipper voice was indication enough he was unaware of Mike’s presence. Vi and I stood there in the open door not knowing what to do when Turner asked, “What’s wrong?”

  My throat had the feeling of a cotton field, and I wasn’t sure how to answer him.

  “Ah, Turner,” the voice said. “Figures. I’ve heard enough about your love for Red that I should have known you’d find a way to spend more time with her. Not that I blame you. A fine piece of ass she is.”

  A tiny beam of light burst through the darkness and landed on Mike’s face. His eyes squinted in the sudden shock of light. Turner had a flash light? Albeit it must have been a small one because the beam was thin and fine. I filed those thoughts away understanding Turner wasn’t the purist I’d once thought him.

  A clatter brought an end to my thoughts. The beam shifted to a bottle of alcohol that rested on the table next to an illuminated hand.

  “I think you need to sleep this off,” Turner gritted out.

  Mike directly faced the light that moved to focus on him. “I think you need to leave and get the hell out of my house.”

  Turner didn’t back down, instead he squared his shoulders. “This house belongs to the community,” he declared. “You just live here.”

  The basis of our community was that we all were part owners of everything. Nothing belonged to the individual unless you made it by yourself. Anything made with help from others was considered community property. And most houses were built with help from others.

  “You need to leave because I want to fuck MY wife.”

  Vi blanched. She looked at me as if she wished she could take this all back.

  Turner dumped the handful of wood just inside the door. “Bails, I don’t think you should stay here tonight.”

  I agreed with him but I couldn’t go home or to Mary’s. “I have nowhere else to go.”

  “You can stay at my house.”

  Before I could respond, Mike’s dark chuckle filled the room. “Now you owe me one, Turner boy. Bet you were looking for a way to get her in your bed.”

  “Dude, you need to go sleep this off.”

  Dude? Had Turner just said dude? This wasn’t the time to make such observations, but I couldn’t help but no
tice that college life had really changed him.

  “Violet, you’re welcome to stay with me as well,” Turner offered.

  A scrape of wood against wood signaled Mike was getting out of his chair. That sent our attention back to him. The light illuminated his pants where Mike’s head had been a moment ago, before it highlighted the ground. Footsteps declared Mike was moving in our direction. Involuntarily, I found myself stepping back. Vi seemed frozen in her spot, until Mike stood next to her. I’d stopped moving once my back was pressed against Turner’s chest.

  “Violet honey, do you want to stay with me or Turner?” His tone was deadly. For the first time, more than just simply concern, I was truly worried for my sister’s safety.

  I knew my sister, and her smile was as fake as his sweetness. “With you.” Her voice was soft and compliant.

  “Well, it looks like the two of you can go,” Mike declared. His sneer was all the more evident with the moonlight on his face.

  “I’d still like to stay if you don’t mind.” I kept my voice pleasant. All my years with Scott had trained me how to hide my true feelings.

  When I glanced at Turner, he didn’t seem at all happy. With a pointed look, he asked, “Can I talk to you for a minute before you turn in for the night?”

  I nodded and turned towards my sister. She appeared relieved and moved to pick up the wood from the place where Turner had dropped it. “Your room is on the right,” she directed. “Ours is on the left.” She hesitated, and then said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I followed Turner outside. He led me to a tree stump in their yard where we sat.

  Chapter Six

  It felt almost sinful sitting out in the dark with Turner. When I’d lived here, that would have been a big no, no. And Turner was still one of the most handsome guys I’d ever laid eyes on. So why couldn’t I just be with him. It was obvious he still held feelings for me. Kalen was a dream. Turner was a reality.