Jed Had to Die(83)

I spent the rest of the day showing people how Baby Cecil works, making everyone coffee, letting them see pictures of Liquid Crack that I had on my phone, talking about the franchise and just getting to know the people I’d grown up with all over again. When the gathering got to be too crowded for Emma Jo’s house, Starla invited everyone over to her backyard saying, “It’s probably best we don’t go out to Emma Jo’s yard and party on top of the spot where Jed was whacked in the head. Even if dancing on his grave does sound like a fine idea.”

There was a tense moment of silence where everyone looked at each other nervously. Then, Emma Jo laughed and everyone else joined in, making comments and jokes about someone finally putting Jed out of Emma Jo’s misery and how everyone should have been given a chance to punch him in the face one last time before his body was carted away.

This is a town full of sick assholes, but they’re my sick assholes and I’d never been happier to claim them.

Roy Pickerson ran to his bar and brought back a few cases of beer, Andrea Maynard had the owners of The Hungry Bear shut down early and bring over some food, Bettie lit a fire in Starla’s fire pit, and we all sat around listening to Caden Jefferson and his garage band play for us all night. They actually didn’t sound too bad after a few beers, and we all had a great time together. Well, until Buddy was called to the house because after a few beers, Starla thinks she’s a stripper. He stopped by at the end of his shift and it took him twenty minutes to convince her to put her clothes back on, go in the house, and sleep it off.

The best part of the whole night, was when the party disbanded and Buddy stayed behind to help Emma Jo clean up the mess. When I got up around three in the morning to go to the bathroom, I looked out the window and saw the two of them still sitting by the fire talking.

The worst part of the whole night was me constantly looking over my shoulder, hoping Leo would walk into the yard. Buddy tried to explain that he was swamped at the station with all of the paperwork from the murder investigation, as well as getting the farm ready for sweet corn season, but I could see it written all over his face that he didn’t come because I was there.

I startle out of my thoughts when the car slows and turns into Leo’s driveway. We pull off into the grass on the right, parking next to a whole row of cars that have pulled in to buy their sweetcorn for tonight’s dinner.

On the left side of the drive is a long white tent lined with a few strands of large clear bulbs, that were just turned on since the sun is starting to set over the fields on either side of the farmhouse a few acres away. A couple of long tables are lined up under the tent, one holding a cash register and a pile of plastic grocery bags, and I smile when I see the table next to it still holds row after row of boxes of vintage candy. Behind the tables are several huge bins, filled to the top with sweetcorn that was just picked fresh today.

The stand and the land it sits on, as well as the huge white farmhouse off in the distance takes my breath away, but not as much as the man I see walking down to the stand from one of the fields. Our car is parked in between two other cars on the opposite side of the yard where he is and his attention is focused on the stand, which is a good thing. I can take a few minutes to stare at him without him knowing, and boy, what a nice few minutes it is. He’s wearing a pair of tan cargo shorts and a white t-shirt, his hands in his front pockets as he walks until he gets up under the tent and starts shaking hands and greeting the people in line for corn.

“Alright, looks like he’s distracted so now’s our chance to grab everything and get over there,” Emma Jo states, opening her car door.

“Hold on, let me make sure I have video ready to go on my phone. If Payton bites it, I want it documented for future enjoyment,” Bettie says.

I curse at her and she laughs while getting out of the back seat. With one last deep breath for courage while Bettie and Emma Jo get everything out of the trunk, I quickly open my door and get out with Baby Cecil in my arms.

The two of them lead the way and I hide behind them because I’m too much of a chicken shit to face Leo first. I’m hoping that by the time he sees them and says hello, it will be too late and too awkward in front of all these people for him to order me off his property.

I hear his voice speaking to people the closer we get and it brings tears to my eyes. I’ve missed him and his voice so much that it hurts and it almost makes me want to turn back around and go hide in the car because I’m so afraid that low, baritone voice that I adore so much is going to turn hard and angry when he sees me.

“Don’t you even think about going back to the car,” Emma Jo mutters under her breath to me, reading my mind.