L Akers - Fight Like a Man

Grayson ducked his head down and looked up into Puck’s face. “It’s okay. I have a girl about your age myself. She’s away at college right now though. You can trust me.”

Puck frantically shook his head. “Mama Dee wouldn’t like that. And Jenny doesn’t like strangers. I need to stay home.”

“I could meet her. Then I wouldn’t be a stranger, right? My name’s Grayson, by the way.” He stuck his hand out in greeting, only for it to hang there empty.

Puck shrugged and screwed up his lips, looking away. He was obviously avoiding the suggestion to meet Jenny, and the handshake. Then, as though just remembering, he exclaimed, “She’s hungry. Mama Dee was bringing Jenny some food too. Spose’d to anyway.”

Jenny wasn’t the only one hungry. He could hear Puck’s stomach growling. He doubted the boy could cook, and apparently neither could Jenny. “Why were you up in that tree?”

“I like trees. People don’t see me up there. Usually. I was looking for Mama Dee cuz I can see far up there. But the mean boys,” Puck’s lip quivered. “They wanted Jenny’s food.”

“Where’d you get that food?”

“I borrowed it. Jenny’s hungry.”

Grayson scratched his head, still surprised at the childlike responses coming from the young man. No wonder the boys were chasing him. He was worried about them coming back too, even though apparently Puck was the thief. Did they know Puck lived right down that dirt road next to where they were standing?

“Listen, kid. You can’t take things that don’t belong to you. That’s stealing.”

Puck hung his head and Grayson realized he was crying again.

Oh hell.

Grayson reached out and patted Puck’s back, only to be surprised at the kid flinching. He stepped back to give him some room. “Hey now. It’s okay. But don’t do it again, huh? How about you ride over to the house with me, and I’ll cook you and Jenny some hamburgers on the grill. Something to hold you over until your mama gets home.”

Puck pursed his lips and looked up at the sky. He swiped the tears off his cheeks. Finally, he answered, “I’d really like that. Do you have a pickle? Mama Dee gives me a pickle with my burger. But I’m not s’posed to be talking to strangers. Or going to someone’s house.”

He looked back up into the sky, leaving his mouth hanging open a moment. Then suddenly blurted out, “Maybe I can just stay outside so Mama Dee don’t get mad? Jenny won’t eat a burger. So just for me.”

“She doesn’t like hamburgers ? How about a hot dog then?”

“No meat. Meat makes Jenny throw up.” Puck beamed as though he’d answered a million-dollar trivia question. He held up the sack of salad stuff like a trophy, seemingly not ashamed of his theft after all. “This is for her.”

“Meat makes her sick? Is she pregnant?”

Puck squeezed his eyebrows together and shrugged.

“Is she going to have a baby?” Grayson further explained.

Puck screwed up his face in disgust. “I don’t think so.”

Jenny sounded like a heap of trouble. Probably one of those millennial vegetarians or something. Graysie had brought a friend home a month ago that said she was ‘vegan,’ and had nearly drove him and Olivia both up a wall. Their family was big on meat. But Grayson felt sure he could come up with something more filling than a salad.

“Come on, then. Get in the truck. I’ll make you both something.”

Puck hooted and hollered and ran to the truck, jumping in the back in a single leap, into the truck bed where he sat against the cab and grabbed the side. He tightly held on and yelled, “Ready, Mister Gray Man.” He squeezed his eyes shut and grinned, as though about to take off on a carnival ride.

Grayson sighed and smiled. This kid was weird. Mr. Gray Man? He ran his hand over his mustache and goatee. Maybe it was time to let Graysie get creative with some hair dye. And riding in the back wasn’t exactly safe—or legal—nowadays.

Hell, it was only a few miles home, he could ride in the back. Why not? What’s the worst that could happen in two miles?

GABBY GLARED at Olivia in disbelief, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head.

“Are you serious? You left your bag at home ? What were you thinking? Did Grayson know you were leaving it? I thought he’d told all of us to never, ever leave without it? So, you’re exempt, because, why?”

Olivia raised her shoulders up around her ears, and closed her eyes. “I know. I’m an idiot. I swear, this is the only time I’ve ever taken it out of my car. Grayson has no idea. But I didn’t have room for all of our luggage, and three more bags. I threw mine and Emma’s out in the garage when you guys were in the house. And… I hit my head,” she whined, hoping to use her injury again against Gabby’s wrath.

“Emma’s too?” Gabby shook her head. “And the bleeding stopped. You’ll live. We’ll work on it in the car—with my first aid kit from my bag. This really makes me mad, Olivia. You should know the one time you leave it, Murphy’s Law, is the one time you need it. I can’t believe you left both of them. Seriously ?”

Emma calmly stepped between her older sisters. “Hey, what’s done is done. We’ve still got one. We’ll be fine. Besides, we’re not walking. Home is only four hours away, maybe a little more with all the stalled cars on the road. But as long as we’re riding, we shouldn’t even need the bags. There’s not time to fight now, we need to get to Larry’s car before he changes his mind and leaves us.”

Gabby sucked in a breath and held it for a moment, willing herself to calm down. Emma was right, there was no use being mad at Olivia. They couldn’t change the fact that they now had only one bag with one gun . And a small bag at that. She didn’t know what was in it, but couldn’t be much. They’d just have to make do with what they had. They were probably luckier than most of the people in this tourist town, she doubted many carried a Get-Home bag at all. Now they just needed a way to carry all this other stuff. Emma and Olivia could each hold a bag on their lap, if they had one. She studied the huge pile on the bed.

“Emma, you sort this stuff. We can’t take it all. We need the water, the phones, one hat each, one clean shirt each, a pair of socks each—pack three pair even though Olivia doesn’t have shoes—and any jewelry or valuables we have here. Also, get our wallets, my Chap Stick, and sunglasses for all of us. Roll the clothes tight to make more room. Olivia, you need to take real sneakers, not flip-flops. Hurry. I’ll make us a something to carry it all in.”

If only they could have a do-over. In a situation like this may be, they needed all their guns. She wished they’d listened to Grayson and started carrying concealed on their person or in their purses. And she wished they’d all brought sturdier pants; a pair of jeans at least. All they had were shorts, dresses and bikinis.

Olivia cringed. “I didn’t bring any sneakers. All I have are flip-flops and sandals.”

Omigod. This can’t get any worse. Gabby ran her hands over her face and shook her head. Ignoring Olivia, she snatched the scissors out of her make-up case and grabbed the largest T-shirt in the pile. Probably a workout shirt, or sleep-shirt.

She laid it flat on the other bed and cut off the sleeves, going in further than the seam, turning the T-shirt into a tank-top. She cut the collar out of the middle, making it more of a deep scoop-neck-tee, turned it inside-out and cut thin strips four to five inches long across the bottom of the shirt, fringing it, and finally tied the knots together, two at a time. She finished the entire row across the bottom of the shirt, and then started from the other side tying knots again to the knot next to it until the bottom was double-secure. She flipped the shirt right-side out and held it up.