His mind stuttered over the question again and again, because he couldn’t imagine his mom doing anything bad. She’d always been so steady, too steady, too attentive and present and there. She hovered and checked up on him, and said no to sleepovers more often than not.
“Are you taking Spanish next year?” Josephine asked, breaking through his thoughts as though she couldn’t take the silence any longer. “My parents want me to take Spanish, but I want to learn French. That doesn’t start until high school, though, which is stupid. So I may have to take Spanish first.”
“You’ll be trilingual.”
“True. Which would be kind of cool. And it would look good on college applications. I want to go somewhere far away for school. Georgia, maybe. That’s where my folks are from. Where are you from?”
“Here,” he said, though that wasn’t quite true. “Actually, I was born in St. Louis.”
“Oh, cool. A world traveler.”
Everett laughed, the last of his dark thoughts blowing away. “That’s me.”
By the time they made it home, Everett was laughing so hard at Josephine’s stories he forgot to be worried . . . until they walked into the office and his mom’s surprised eyes went wide and locked right on them. Everett always had to make complicated arrangements to get friends dropped off and picked up afterward because no one could just walk over. He’d never shown up with an unexpected guest.
“Mom,” he said, “this is Josephine. She lives over at the highway.”
“Well, hello, Josephine.”
“Hi, Mrs. Brown.”
“It’s Ms. Brown, but you can call me Lily.”
Josephine glanced at Everett and lifted her eyebrows in a signal.
“Oh, right. Could you call Josephine’s mom and let her know everything is cool and that you’re here and we’re safe and stuff?”
His mom leapt toward the office phone, all eager energy now. “Absolutely!”
Did she think he didn’t have friends because Mikey didn’t come over anymore? She looked way too happy at the prospect of a new visitor. Josephine gave her the information, and they wandered into the apartment, ignoring the overly cheerful parental conversation left in their wake.
There wasn’t much to show off. A big living area with a drab kitchen that looked nothing like the kitchens in decorating shows his mom watched on cable. Though he supposed the space was “open concept.”
He wondered what Josephine saw. The beige couch was nicer than the one they’d tossed last year, but it wasn’t exactly stylish. Then again, they lived in Herriman. There weren’t a lot of apartments, but there was a big trailer park. It wasn’t as if Everett was the only poor kid in town.
Still, on Josephine’s street, the houses were two stories with little front porches. She probably had a real dining room with a chandelier. Maybe she had a big yard and a trampoline, and one of those—
“Aw man,” Josephine sighed. “It’s just an apartment. I don’t even see any hidden doors.”
“Well, they’re hidden, duh.” He heard his mom laughing on the phone and tipped his head toward his bedroom. “Come on. I need to feed my cat.”
“I’m not allowed to go into boys’ rooms.”
His skin blazed hot in a moment of embarrassment at the implication of what that worry implied, so Everett blurted out, “I’m gay,” before he even realized he might say it. “I mean . . . I’m gay.”
Her eyes went wide with the same surprise he felt over his sudden out-of-context declaration, so he stammered out an explanation. “I’m just saying that I’m not, like, going to try to kiss you or something. You don’t have to worry. That’s all I meant. It’s safe. To come into my room.”
Josephine laughed, a quick, loud bubble of amusement that popped in his ears, and for one single heartbeat, worry imprinted on him like a camera flash. Would she mock him? Tell him he was going to hell? Most kids around here went to church, though only their parents still cared about grimacing at the gays. And there wasn’t much to say, anyway. It wasn’t like he was old enough to go on dates.
Then her laugh turned into a sweet grin. “Well, I’m not gay. Aren’t you scared I’ll try to kiss you?”
The alarm he’d felt must have finally appeared on his face, because her smile softened into concern. “Hey, I’m just kidding. I wouldn’t do that.”
“I know. I mean, I don’t really know, but I didn’t think you would. Not because girls can’t start things, of course. Just . . .” He shook his head, unable to think of a single logical conclusion to that sentence. Because I trust you? He barely knew her.
But her shrug ended his stuttering thoughts. “Can I tell my mom? She’ll be much happier about us hanging out. She was a little tense. But I won’t tell her if you don’t want me to.”
“No, that’s fine. My friends know. And my mom. It’s not a secret or anything.”
“Good. Because my mom is super paranoid about boys.”
Teen pregnancy was the one thing his mom didn’t worry about, so Everett decided to be thankful for that small mercy. “Well, stand in the doorway at least. Mom doesn’t know about the cat, so if she comes into the apartment, give me a signal and keep her busy.”
“She doesn’t know about your cat?”
“It’s a stray. It stays outdoors. Mostly.”
He hurried over to put out the food, apologized to Shadow for cutting things short, and was back in the living room by the time his mom popped in.
“Can I make you two some cookies?”
Everett rolled his eyes at her, pretending he was suddenly too old for cookies. “We’re going outside. I’m going to show Josephine around.”
“Just stay out of Mr. Mac’s boat!” she called as they hustled toward the door.
He led Josephine through the RV area, pointing out the sports cars draped with car covers. Several owners had debuted their toys for spring, and all he could do was point to a blank spot of flattened weeds where a bright-yellow Porsche had once crouched. Mikey had been impressed with all this stuff, but Everett had no idea what Josephine must think. Maybe it just looked like he lived in a junkyard.
But it was all he had. Not a trampoline or backyard Jacuzzi in sight.
He saved the best for last, leading her to an old gray-green tank with rust eating at its edges. Anyone would think that was cool, right? “Look at this. Some guy bought a frickin’ tank at an auction, and he’s been hiding it from his wife here for eight months. People are so weird.”
“Wow!” Pride sizzled through him at her open mouth and wide eyes. “That’s crazy! And how long is he going to try to hide it? Though I guess the tank is smaller than I’d expect.”
“Yeah, I looked it up. It’s some sort of light tank? Still pretty cool.”
“Definitely cool.”
More confident now, he smiled. “Are you afraid of heights?”
She looked up and around before answering. “I don’t think so.”
“Come on.” He led her to the tallest building on the grounds, built high for people who wanted to store their motorhomes and boats indoors. He gestured toward a metal ladder built into the rear of the building and out of sight of the security cameras. “Want to?”
“Heck yeah.” She grinned when he began to climb and immediately followed behind him.
“This is so cool!” she said when they got to the top. The whole neighborhood lay before them, though it really wasn’t much to see.
He pointed toward the huge field out back. “There are some good trails back there, if you’ve never been. I saw a porcupine once. And skunks. Do you have a bike?”
She nodded and turned in a slow circle. “I can see my house! My room’s on the other side, though. I have a view of the stupid highway. Hey, what’s the coolest thing you’ve seen here?”
“Here? You mean in storage?” At her nod, he frowned. “I don’t know. That tank, I guess. Oh, someone had a coffin once, but it was empty. They were just waiting until they needed it for themselves, which is pretty weird.”
“Yeah.” A breeze carried up the scent of spring mud. She looked out over the meadow to the trees beyond before turning toward the sound of a motor. A car drove up the long road and turned into the front gate before making its way to another building.