I was about to put my wallet to rights, when Wavy came through the back door carrying a grocery sack from the store up the road. She dragged a chair to the counter and emptied the bag: a package of liver, an onion, a green pepper, a carton of eggs, and a box of ice cream sandwiches.
“I think I already got some ice cream sandwiches.”
She shook her head.
“You ate my ice cream sandwiches?”
An embarrassed nod.
“That’s okay. I’m sorry about what I said before. It’s okay for you to come here.”
I was so tired, I sat down at the table and drank a beer while I waited. In fifteen minutes, I had a steaming plate of liver with onions and peppers.
While I ate, she counted my change into piles and sorted through the stuff laid out on the table. She sniffed the Lifesavers and then traced her finger around the spot where the shell casings had stood.
“Those were trash,” I said.
She went through all the cards as she put them back in my wallet. My driver’s license, my library card, my blood donor card.
“O negative,” she mouthed.
Then she hit on a card that made her frown.
She primed herself with a big breath and said it out loud: “Barfoot.”
“I used to have a different name.”
I put out my hand and she gave me my old tribal ID card with my father’s name on it. I was Junior when I was a kid, but after he kicked me out, I started going by my granny’s name. Tipping back in my chair, I pitched the old card into the trash.
I finished my dinner, while Wavy watched me. I was never sure what that meant, her watching me eat. I figured she must like it, or she wouldn’t take so much trouble to feed me.
“I’m about done in, so I better take you home before I fall asleep,” I said.
“Mama.”
It made my skin crawl the way she said it. Like you’d say, “Tornado,” if one was bearing down on you.
“What about Val?”
Wavy brought her hands to her head and made her fingers stand up, like antlers. Or flames?
“Is she acting weird? Where’s Donal?”
“Sandy.” Wavy came around the table behind me and rested her hands on my shoulders. “Can I stay?”
“I don’t know, that’s not…”
I didn’t even remember what I was gonna say after she tightened her hands on my shoulders. She squeezed the spot where I’d gotten all bunched up from the stress.
When I got down on the kitchen floor, she took off her boots and walked on my back.
“What happened?” she said.
I knew if I didn’t answer, she’d never ask again. Part of me wanted to do that, but I couldn’t keep it in with her waiting to listen to me. She knew how to keep a secret.
“I killed some guys. This job Liam sent me on down in Texas. It got all fucked up and I shot these two guys.”
She stopped walking her feet on either side of my spine.
“Who?” she said.
“A couple of drug dealers, so not any kinda good guys, but I guess that makes me about the same. Not any kinda good guy.”
It didn’t surprise me when she stepped off my back. I didn’t blame her if she didn’t want to be around me. I’d thought I could stick it out with Liam, to stay close to Wavy, but maybe all I was doing was turning into Liam.
“I’ll take you home,” I said.
“No.”
She got down on her knees and slung her leg over me. There I was thinking she’d wanna leave, but she laid down on top of me, and pressed her cheek against mine. She didn’t have to say anything, because I knew what that meant. She still thought I was a good guy.
*
I drifted off for a second and jerked awake.
Daylight was coming through the window over the sink. I’d fallen asleep on the kitchen floor and slept the whole night in a blink. When I was younger, I used to get so drunk I passed out, but I hadn’t done that in years.
On the other side of the table, Wavy was working her feet into her boots.
“Hey,” I said.
I was worried it would startle her, but she’d known I was awake. She stamped her feet to seat the boots and pulled on her backpack.
“Let me get myself together and I’ll take you home.”
I got up, stiff in weird places from sleeping facedown on the floor, but at least my back didn’t hurt anymore. In my bedroom there was a rumpled spot on the bed where Wavy musta slept. Still warm when I laid my hand on it. In the bathroom, a second damp towel was hanging next to mine. So she’d had herself a shower, too. I took a piss and then splashed cold water on my face, trying to get things into focus.
In the kitchen, Wavy was standing right where I left her.
When I sat down to pull on my boots, she slid a piece of paper across the table to me.
Her school registration form. She’d filled it all out, but she needed a parent’s signature and the twelve bucks to register. Nobody had registered her for school, and that morning was the first day. I couldn’t pass myself off as Val, but I was getting pretty good at playing Liam.
4
WAVY