Tymber Dalton - Stoneface

She grinned evilly as she handed the phone to him. He glared at her and swallowed the piece of pizza he’d been chewing before speaking. “Hi, Mom. I’m fine…I know…I will…Boneless, skinless grilled chicken and steamed veggies…Yes, very healthy…Right. Dinner’s getting cold, Mom. Bye.” He hung up and put her phone on the table. “You are sooo lucky I love you so much. That was mean, making me talk to her.”

She laughed and reached for another slice of pizza. “Never tasted boneless, skinless grilled chicken like this.”

“Oh, please. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a cheeseburger?”

She poked his trim abs. “At least you’re not overweight. I’ll be riding your butt to watch that when you’re living here, you know.” With his reduced mobility, keeping his weight healthy to prevent additional health problems was important.

“Hey, I work out. I’ve got that tabletop arm bike thing I use, and I still lift weights. I also swim three times a week at the Y. But damn, I’m not a friggin’ rabbit. I want red meat sometimes.”

“And pizza.”

“Fuck yeah!” He sipped his beer. “And one of these every so often. Jesus, you are the best sister, hands down. Amy loses. She won’t buy me beer.”

“Too afraid of Dad?”

“Terrified. Last time I asked her, she freaked out so bad you’d think I’d asked her to strip for a living.” He closed his eyes and chewed another bite, savoring it. “This is heaven, sis. Really and truly.”

“Pizza and beer is heaven? Dude, we need to get you laid.”

“Yet another thing not happening if I’m living there. Can you see me trying to date? I’m at the point where I fake hurting every Sunday so Mom’s not dragging me to church with them or guilt-tripping me for not going. She keeps trying to fix me up with these women who…” He shuddered. “They’re either older than me, or practically jailbait. Not to mention another serious flaw.”

“None of them have penises?”

He laughed. “Bingo!”

After dinner, they cuddled on the couch to talk and watch TV. They did more talking than watching, Gwen lying with her head in Liam’s lap. It’d been months since the last time Liam had spent the night at her house, even though he came over a few days a month to spend the day.

Usually meaning he vegetated or watched HBO or Showtime to decompress from being around their parents.

“I may lock myself in my bedroom when you try to take me back. You realize that, right?”

She looked up into his handsome face. He had the same shade of brown hair as her, but he was the only one of the kids with blue eyes, like their mother. In high school, he’d had girls drooling over him. “I promise it’ll only be for a couple of days. You’ll need to start packing anyway.”

“Maybe I should start sneaking stuff out with you a piece at a time.”

“If you want to be moved in before doomsday, I suggest a more up-front approach. What will they do, forbid you to move? You’re an adult. I won’t let them hold you hostage, I promise.”

He played with her curly hair, wrapping strands of it around his fingers. “Mom’s going to cry and guilt-trip me.”

“I survived it. You can, too. Just think—beer.”

He laughed. “You know how to get right to my heart, don’t you?”

“Of course I do, bro. We’ve got to stick together.” She reached for her BlackBerry and checked her e-mail. Still nothing from Amy. She tried calling and got her voice mail. “Hey, I gave Liam beer. If you don’t call soon, I’m ordering him a tranny hooker off Craigslist. Bye.”

Liam roared with laughter. “That’s mean!” he finally choked out. “She’s going to have a cow.”

“Yeah, well, maybe it’ll get a response.”

An hour later, her phone vibrated. She picked it up and frowned.

“What is it?” Liam asked. “Is it her?”

Gwen stared at the text message from Amy.

Pls leave me alone. No more calls. I’m staying here a few weeks. Need space.

She turned the phone so he could read it.

“Oh, fuck.” He reached for his phone, dialed, and also reached Amy’s voice mail. “Hey, Amy? Give me a call, okay? Please? Love ya. Bye.”

A moment later, his phone also vibrated as a text message came through.

Told G no more calls. Not coming home right now. Seriously. I need space & 2 b alone.

They looked at each other. “This isn’t like her,” he said. “I really hate to say this, but you need to go out there and find out what’s going on.” Then he groaned. “Dammit, that was the world’s shortest parole on record.”

“Ruthie, I need you,” Gwen pleaded.

Ruthie shook her head. “How am I supposed to take care of Liam?”

Gwen took a deep breath. If it was up to her, she’d let Amy stay MIA in Rapid City, except it would worry their parents and get a buttload of aggravation dumped on her and Liam as a result. Not to mention her parents would invariably blame her for Amy’s disappearance because of the research Amy had done, regardless of the fact that she went out there for her day job in the first place.

And she didn’t want to be the one to narc out Amy’s secret man on the side to her parents. Just because she was aggravated didn’t mean she wanted to pile even more trouble on her sister.

Unfortunately, Liam had a few valid points as to why Gwen should go looking for her, including that maybe something had happened to her with her mystery man.

Gwen thought if it did, it was Amy’s own fault for being so secretive. But since Liam had asked her to go, no way could she refuse. Not to mention it did worry her that dependable, good-girl Amy would bug out like this.

“There’s nothing for you to do except be there for him,” Gwen assured Ruthie. “Keep him company. Make sure to help him if he needs it. He’s not an invalid. He just has problems with strength in his hands sometimes. He hasn’t had a bad day walking in a while. Help him cook if he needs it. If you don’t, he’s got to go back to Mom and Dad’s, and he’ll go stir crazy there. Not to mention Mom and Dad will go even more batshit over Amy being missing. Please, sweetie, I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t think you could do it. Bob’s still gone on his trip anyway. That way you won’t be alone either. Please?”

Ruthie nervously looked around at the safety of her home. It’d been three months since she’d last left her house, and that was when Gwen took her to a doctor’s appointment. “I don’t want to hurt him, Gee.”

“He’s not a baby you’ve got to worry about dropping on his head. He’s an adult. Sometimes he needs help with stuff in the kitchen. Sometimes he has trouble getting up off the couch by himself. Then all you do is hold his walker and help steady him. No lifting, no bathroom stuff, nothing like that. You two get along just fine.”

“You need me now? Right now?”

She nodded. “I have to leave tonight. It’s an emergency. I can take a flight out, but it leaves in three hours. If you can’t do this, I can’t go tonight and Liam has to go back to my parents. We’re trying to do this without them knowing. You know how they are. This is the lesser of the two evils of admitting we think there might be a problem without ratting her out. The sooner I get out there and get answers, the better. Please ?”

“You hate to fly.” But Ruthie was already off the couch and walking to her bedroom. “It terrifies you.”

“Yes, I know it does. If I drive it’ll take me nearly two days, nonstop, and that’s brutal. If I don’t leave tonight, I might chicken out and not go at all. Please?”