Nebraska Stars

Chapter Nine

When we pulled into the driveway that evening, Hailey was sitting on the front steps. She was wearing a white sundress, a little like the one I'd worn to Jay's party, but it looked different on her. She was sexier in her white sundress, because of her curves and her deeply tanned skin, and maybe a little because of her attitude. What? She doesn't have a key? I thought sarcastically. We got out of the truck and started walking up the little brick walkway. As I got closer to Hailey, I noticed a delicate silver bracelet on her wrist and wondered if Hank had given it to her, a little pit of dread forming in my stomach.  

Hank hustled up the steps and Hailey threw herself onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He kissed her, and when she pulled back, she squealed "Babe! You're all sweaty! Gross!" She extricated herself from him and started to inspect her dress, looking for sweat stains. I rushed past them, letting the screen door slam behind me. I wanted to run right up into my room, throw myself on the bed, and go to sleep until September, but Fiona called to me from the kitchen. 

"Is that you, Mae?" I was surprised she was home. Why had Hailey been waiting for Hank out on the porch instead of in here?  

"Um, yeah," I said, almost too quietly for her to hear me. I walked down the hall and into the kitchen, where Fiona was standing at the stove, boiling water for pasta.  

"Hi sweetheart," she said brightly. She turned to look at me, steam rising behind her. I sat down at the kitchen table, which had been cleared of any debris that had been there this morning-Fiona's note, sections of the paper, sunglasses, a stray set of keys. Now there was just a pretty vase of freshly cut flowers in the center of the table. I gripped the edge of the table, rubbing the smooth wood under my thumb.  

"You don't have to sit in here with me if you don't want to," she continued. "I just wanted to see what you did today. And I totally forgot last night to give you keys to the house." She left the stove and crossed the room, pulled open a drawer and dug around in it for a minute before coming away with a keychain that had a single key on it. "Here you go," she said when she handed it to me. The keychain was one of those little viewfinders, where when you look into it, you see a picture. I held the keychain up to the light and looked into it. It was a picture of the Augusts standing next to Mickey Mouse. Hank looked to be about 8 or 9 years old. He was wearing an oversized t-shirt and shiny, baggy athletic shorts. His hair was awkwardly cut and hung down into his eyes. They were all grinning happily. 

"Oh god," Fiona said, laughing. "Let me see that." She took the keychain from me and held it up to her eye. "Oh wow! This is from when we went to Disney world!" She handed it back to me and sat down, her body perched precariously on the very edge of the chair, like the she was ready to spring up again at any moment. "That trip seems like it was so long ago. Believe it or not, Hank begged us to take him there. He was obsessed with the Pirates of the Caribbean." She shook her head, smiling and remembering. "Do you want a different keychain?" 

"No, no, this is fine. It's perfect." 

She paused for half a second and gave me a puzzled look. I blushed. "Ok, great." She stood up and walked back over to her pot of boiling water. She opened the box of pasta she had sitting on the counter and dumped the whole thing into the pot, then started stirring like crazy. "Oh no, I hope I have enough water in here." She looked over her shoulder at me and laughed. "I always do that. I never boil enough water and then the pasta doesn't cook right, or I put too much in and it boils over." 

"It'll be great, I'm sure." I didn't have the energy for a big conversation with her. I just wanted to escape to my room. Out on the porch, I could hear the faint sound of Hailey giggling. This was worse than listening to Jo get tickled by Jay. So much worse.