“What in the hell?” Delilah’s daddy shouts so loud it echoes off the pots and pans.
I jump back from Delilah but it don’t even matter, her daddy’s already got me by the collar.
“Daddy, don’t!” Delilah reaches out for us, but we’re halfway to the door.
I raise my hands up high. “I’m sorry, sir.”
Mr. Reese unloads a stream of curses while he drags me out, and I hold my tongue. Even when he calls my whole family hillbilly white trash. I don’t know if it’s just ’cause I’m wired on caffeine, but I can see it real clear now. Delilah’s daddy, our family feud, this whole town, they ain’t nothing but background noise. The only thing that matters is Delilah.
She follows us out, screaming for her daddy to stop.
When he slams me against the cab of my truck, I twist my head till I can see her, and when we meet eyes, I do my best to smile. I got the wind knocked out of me but I mouth the words, “We can get out.”
“Okay,” she says, real quiet, just to me. The tears in her eyes catch the light as she nods her head. “Just let him go, Daddy. He didn’t do anything.”
Delilah’s daddy shoves my head against the door and holds it there. I’m sure it’s gonna ache something fierce later, but right now I don’t feel a thing. He presses my temple into the metal and leans in close. “You touch my daughter again, I’ll shoot you. You hear?”
“Yes, sir.” It’s amazing how stuff ain’t scary once you know you’re never gonna see it again.
Mama’s unloading groceries in the kitchen when I get home. For once, I didn’t mind doing the rest of the deliveries. It helped pass the time and kept me awake.
Mama’s on me as soon as I set foot in the room. “What were you thinking?”
I guess she heard. Figures. Nothing in Stillwater stays quiet for long. “It wasn’t nothing, Mama. Delilah’s daddy overreacted.”
Mama grabs a dish towel and starts wringing the life out of it. Her knuckles go white with the effort. “Are you messing around with that girl?”
I don’t have the energy for this. “Can we save this for when Dad gets home?”
Mama purses her lips like she’s upset at the suggestion, but I know she prefers for Daddy to do the yelling. “Fine. But don’t you come out of that room until then.”
“Fine,” I say, and head for the stairs. If I know my daddy, he’ll be too pissed to deal with me till morning. He’ll make me sit up in my room all night without supper and “think on what I done.” I ain’t feeling so guilty for leaving anymore.
Now all I got to do is stay awake.
Nothing ever changes in Stillwater. Nothing. Every day in this town is exactly the same—hotter than all get-out, and just as boring. I’m up with the sun, but I’m exhausted, and my head hurts, like I hardly got any sleep at all.
I’m craving coffee, even though I can’t stand the taste. That’s different, but not so much as to be exciting. Mama and Daddy are at the breakfast table when I stumble into the kitchen.
“Morning, Pruitt,” Mama says all chipper like. Daddy just grunts.
“Morning.” I can feel their eyes on me while I fix myself a thermos of coffee. I load up the truck and make my deliveries same as always. And like always, Mrs. Pearson pinches my cheek too hard when she tells me, “Why, Pruitt Reese, you are becoming more like your daddy every day.” I never can figure why everybody in town thinks that’s such a good thing.
At least by the time I get to the Stillwater Café, I’m feeling more like myself.
Delilah’s at the back door before I’m even halfway out of the truck. “Pruitt?” There’s something different about the way she says my name. Like it matters to her whether or not I say something back. If I didn’t know better, I’d get my hopes up.
“Hey, Delilah,” I say as I put the gate down on the truck. “Just gimme a second to get unloaded.”
She puts her hand on my arm, giving me a start. “How are you feeling, Pruitt?”
I’m having a hard time breathing right now with her touching me, but I don’t think that’s what she’s asking. I can’t think straight enough to come up with anything else, so I tell her the truth. “I’m fine. Just a little tired, is all.”
She nods like I just said something real important. “Me too.”
Delilah will always be beautiful, but she does look a bit tired around the eyes.
“How’s your head?” She reaches up and brushes the hair at my temple aside like she’s looking for something. I flinch both ’cause I’m surprised and ’cause it stings there like I got punched.
I’ve imagined this more than once—her coming out to meet my truck, reaching for me, but this is real life and I don’t know what to do. She smells like lilacs.
“Pruitt, I need you to do something for me.”
Right now, with her hands on me, standing this close, she could ask me anything and I know I’d do it. “Okay.”
She’s got her eyes on mine, and part of me keeps waiting to wake up. She only looks at me like that in my dreams.
Delilah gives my shoulder a squeeze like she knows what I’m thinking. “Meet me out at the ridge at eleven forty-five tonight.”
“Okay.” My voice cracks on the word, but I’m way past caring.
She looks at me like she’s looking into me. “You really will, won’t you? Without even knowing why?”
I can’t breathe let alone remember how to say yes. I nod my head and hope she can tell how much I mean it. And then it hits me. “Wait, is this . . .” I take a step back, out of her grasp. “Are you messing with me?” It’s the only thing that makes sense, but I never figured Delilah for being mean-spirited.
She smiles when she shakes her head, but it’s sad somehow. “I would never do that.” Delilah closes the distance between us. She puts her hand on my chest and I realize my heart is racing. When she lifts her pretty brown eyes to mine, I can feel her breath on my face.
Somewhere nearby a car backfires, and I remember we’re right outside the back door of the diner. As much as I don’t want this to end, I don’t want to get caught, either. Her daddy scares the hell out of me. “Is your daddy around?”
Delilah grins and my heart damn near stops. “We don’t have to worry about Daddy.”
Before I can ask why not, she slides her hand to the back of my neck and kisses me. Soft at first, but then she pulls me close and my arms find their way around her waist. It’s like our bodies already know how we fit together, and we kiss like it’s the one thing that’s been missing in our lives.
“Delilah,” her daddy shouts from inside the kitchen. “Did that boy deliver the supplies yet?”
We fly apart, breathless, and Delilah backs toward the door to shout, “He’s here now, Daddy.”
I start unloading the truck. Delilah’s dad is still talking but I can’t hear a thing over the pounding in my chest.
Delilah turns to me. Her cheeks are flushed and I have to grip the handles of the crate to keep from grabbing her and kissing her again. “Promise me something.”
I set my crate down on the dolly and grin at her. “Anything.”
She looks me dead in the eye, as serious as I’ve ever seen her. “Don’t go to sleep today. Not even a nap. Just don’t sleep. Okay?”
I can’t imagine ever sleeping again. “Okay.”
She grabs my face with her hands. “Promise.”
I put my hands over hers. “I promise.”
She studies my face like she’s trying to memorize it and then lets me go. “Good. Remember, eleven forty-five tonight.”
How could I ever forget?
When I walk into the clearing, Delilah is there waiting. Her face lights up when she sees me, and I want to pinch myself to make sure this ain’t just another one of my dreams.
She runs over to me. “You came!”