Still fastening his buttons, Rusty turned his head and stared down at her.
Life was suddenly good again for him.
Lee glanced at him, smiled, then said to all of us, “The kitchen floor’s gotta be dry by now. If anyone wants a Coke or something, feel free. I’m not moving, though. You’ll have to help yourselves.”
None of us spoke up.
Slim walked past me. She smelled like a strange, wonderful combination of lemons and marshmallows. Through the back of her T-shirt, I saw eight or ten bandages. She went to a wicker chair near the lamp table and sat down. Perched near the front of the seat, she folded her hands on her lap and kept her back straight.
Glancing from Slim to me, Lee asked, “So, all set for tonight?”
Slim hadn’t told her about the dog?
“Not sure yet,” I said.
“We’re still working on it,” said Rusty. He gave Slim a perplexed look.
Slim’s shoulders moved slightly.
Rusty returned his gaze to Lee’s slumped, lounging body. “Any ideas?” he asked her.
“Nothing spectacular. Anyway, I think you should work it out for yourselves.”
Looking at me, Rusty said, “I can get permission to sleep over at your house. Your mom and dad still go to bed at ten?”
“Around then.”
“So we wait till they hit the sack, then we sneak out.”
“I don’t know about sneaking out,” I said.
“It’ll work. It’s always worked before.”
I could’ve killed him for saying that in front of Lee.
She looked at me and lifted her eyebrows. She seemed amused and curious.
“We didn’t do anything much,” I told her.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I won’t tell.”
“I know.”
“But I’d like to hear about it sometime.”
“Sure.”
“And I’ll tell you about the times I used to sneak out at night.”
“I’d like to hear that,” Rusty said.
She lifted a hand off her belly, reached over and patted him on the leg.
His face went crimson.
Mine probably did, too.
“We’ll see,” she told him.
“If we have to sneak out of someone’s house,” I said to Rusty, “why not yours? Why does it always have to be my house?”
“I’m already invited for supper,” he pointed out.
“What’s that got to do with it?”
“I’ll already be there.”
“Right. So then I explain how you’ve asked me to spend the night at your place. And then we go over there after ...”
“Just can’t wait to see Bitsy again, huh?”
I grunted as if I’d been slugged in the stomach. “Oh yeah,” I muttered.
“I’m sure she’d love to see you....”
“Never mind.”
“Here’s how to work it,” Slim suddenly said.
I gaped at her.
Rusty actually went, “Huh?”
“Dwight, you tell your parents you’ve been asked to spend the night at Rusty’s house. Rusty, you tell yours that you’re invited to stay at Dwight’s. Then you both come over to my house.”
Stunned again, I mumbled, “Your house?”
“It’ll be perfect,” she said.
I pictured the mess in her mother’s bedroom.
“I don’t get it,” Rusty asked. “Why do we wanta go to your house?”
“We won’t have to worry about sneaking out when it’s time to leave.”
“We won’t?” I asked.
“We’ll have the whole house to ourselves.”
“Really?”
Smiling and nodding as if very pleased with herself, she said, “That’s right.”
“What about your mom?” I asked.
“She’ll be gone. She’s got a date tonight.”
“What do you mean?” Rusty asked. He had a dumbfounded look on his face as if he’d just woken up from a nap and couldn’t figure out what was going on.
“A date, you know? With a guy.”
“Tonight?” I asked. I was feeling slightly dumbfounded myself.
“Who’s the lucky guy?” Lee asked.
Slim shrugged, this time using only one shoulder. “I don’t know. She met him at Steerman’s last night.”
“You don’t know his name?”
“Charlie something. From across the river. He lives over in Falcon Bay. Anyway, he’s taking Mom out tonight in his cabin cruiser.”