hadn't made the break, he would have. I don't know the details. I don't want to know the details."
"Nor do I."
"Darn! It's raining again. Hang on, kid, we're going fast. There's a handle above the door."
Sherry reached up and grabbed the handle just as Frank took a corner too fast. "You drive like a wild man."
"You should ride with Mark. He has a lead foot. He's already lost his license twice. Once when he was eighteen and once when he was driving back and forth to college. Jan was going to college then, too, so she drove until he got his license back. But he didn't learn anything by it. He still goes like a bat out of hell. He has points on his license now. If he gets caught speeding again, he'll lose them. Chad warned him he will no longer look the other way because they're friends."
Frank flipped the turn signal on and pulled in the driveway at an angle so he could back up to the front porch. "Go unlock the door," he ordered as he shifted to park.
Sherry grabbed her purse and the bag of chips and bailed out. She nearly collided with Frank as he was coming around the truck to get her basket off the top of the mattress. She darted past him and made for the breezeway door. Tossing her purse, keys and chips on the table as she passed, she ran to the front door. Frank was there with her basket when she opened it.
He moved the tab that held the storm door open and jumped on the truck to hoist the mattress to its side and scoot it toward Sherry who waited on the porch. She grabbed her end and backed in the door at an angle pulling her end toward the living room archway. Frank closed the door with his foot and pulled the mattress along to the dining room where they propped it against the wall.
"It's not too wet." He headed for the bathroom.
She was in the kitchen when he came out. "Will you make me a cup of that tea? I have to get that sheet of paneling out of the rain before it gets so wet it comes apart." He came back to the kitchen carrying a battery powered drill and their purchases from Lowe's. "As soon as I get these bolts installed, I'm going home to brew some coffee and hit the sack until milking time. Here's your hammer."
Before he left, Frank took out his cell phone and opened it. "Mark won't answer if he's in class but I can leave a message for him to stop for you. That way you won't have to walk over in the rain when it's time to do the milking."
After he left, Sherry made up her bed and flopped down, pulling the blanket over her because it was cool in the house. It was so good not to be sleeping on the floor. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Sherry sat right up in bed. A glance at her watch told her it was ten to four. She debated whether to go back to sleep or just get up. Hunger and a full bladder made her decision for her. She'd just gotten to her feet when she heard a knock at the front door. She changed direction and went to see who was there.
Mark stood there with the storm door open. The bruise on the side of his face was livid as the blood under his skin followed the pull of gravity. "Open the door," he called to her. "May I come in?" When she left him in, he said, "Dad left a message on my cell to stop for you. It's raining. "
She turned around and headed to the bathroom. "Close the door behind you."
Mark was seated at the table when she returned to the kitchen. "I have a headache this big," he said holding his hands away from the sides of his head.
She opened the pantry, took out the shoebox that held her first aid kit and got a bottle of ibuprofen which she tossed to him. She got a bottle of tea. "It's not cold. I don't have a fridge."
He popped three pills in his mouth and washed them down. He reached for the bag of chips and opened it.
"You didn't ask if you could eat my chips," Sherry declared.
"May I? I'm really hungry. All I had yet today was two doughnuts and coffee."
"I make a mean PB and J sandwich."
"Sounds good to me."
Sherry got out the bread, peanut butter
Eden Winters, Parker Williams