Kiss Me Hard Before You Go (22 page)

Chester’s population was twice the size of Haines, and the bus station was busy despite its obscure location on the map. Given that it was the only bus station within fifty miles, it managed to keep a steady flow of traffic.

Finch and Evie walked to the counter to purchase a ticket. The closest city to Gibsonton was Tampa, and a bus was headed in that direction in one week. Finch pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket and handed them unfolded to the clerk.

Evie argued with him, but Finch just shook his head. “We already settled this.”

“Look. I’ve got money.” She opened her purse, pointing to the small stash of bills inside of it.

He closed her purse and muttered under his breath.

“Y’all are too young to sound like an old married couple,” the clerk said.

“Oh, we’re not married,” Evie corrected.

“You sure act like it,” the clerk said.

Finch took the ticket and handed it to Evie. She placed it in her purse and then grabbed the crumbled up bills. She stuffed them in his front jeans pocket and gave a satisfactory grin.

He clutched her around the waist and leaned into her, and Evie thought he was going to kiss her right there in front of everyone. Instead, he took the bills out of his front pocket and stuffed them in her back jeans pocket. He cocked an eyebrow and said, “tsk-tsk.”

Evie huffed and glared at him.

“Just like Nancy and me,” the clerk said and laughed.

Evie stomped off with a grunt and opened the truck door. Finch sat beside her and stared at her incredulously. “Let me get this straight. You’re mad at me because I paid for the ticket?”

“Yep,” she snapped.

“And that makes sense how?”

She didn’t like his tone. “I told you I’d help pay.”

“And I told you I’d take care of it. Why do you fight me, Evie?” He rubbed the back of his neck and closed his eyes for a moment.

“I’m not fighting you.” But even she knew that was a lie.

He looked up at her, and for a split second Evie saw his dark chocolate eyes were more like a puppy’s. “You are, Evie,” he said with a breath. “Just let me do this, okay.” He reached for her hand and held onto it.

After a few heavy grunts, Evie finally conceded and started up the truck. Few words were said on their journey back home. Evie wanted to ask him why he was doing it. Why would he make the sacrifice? But the words wouldn’t come out because she suspected the reason, that this thing, whatever it was between them, was more than a summer fling. She’d ache for him when he left, and it just couldn’t be one-sided, she thought.

***

A funnel of smoke filled the air, and a firetruck raced to the entrance of the property, cutting Evie off before she could take the left turn. Evie pressed her foot against the accelerator and followed the red truck in haste.

“What the hell?” Finch said. He stuck his head out of the truck window and tried to get a better look.

Evie screeched the truck to a halt. Finch jumped out before she could turn the engine off. He ran toward the smoke; a fire was ablaze, burning its way through one of the tents. Flocks of townies fled past them, rushing to get into their cars. Carnies tossed buckets of water onto the tent, but the fire continued to spread.

Friedrich ran with Mouse in his arms. Doris followed behind him. Finch took one look at Mouse. His face was gray and covered in remnants of ash. “Mouse!” he shouted in distress, heading their way.

“Go put out that fire!” Friedrich hollered.

Finch dashed toward the direction of the smoke and grabbed a bucket full of water. He tossed it on the tent. Evie joined him, in hopes that the flames would die out soon.

A trail of embers dusted the ground. Finch stomped on them with all his might. “Step on them, Evie,” he said with a stressed expression.

The air was thick with smoke, and Evie choked as she stomped around, squishing the embers into the clay.

Every member of the Haines Volunteer Fire Department was there. Most were retired from their previous jobs at the Post Office and moved as quickly as one would expect sixty-five-year-old men to move. They linked their hose to one of Gray’s spigots, struggling to hold onto the high-pressured contraption. A few carnies joined alongside them and sprayed the tent with full force.

Finch and other carnies continued to toss water onto the tent as the firefighters doused the lingering flames. The ground was soaked. Nothing remained of the tent, just a few scorched benches, too burned to be of any use. Kip appraised the area, shaking his head in defeat.

Mouse sat nearby. He hacked a dry, painful sounding cough. Doris handed him a cup of water. He chugged it down and handed her the empty cup, indicating he wanted another. A few townies coughed as they wandered the property in a daze. They were offered water, but they rejected the offer, and fled the carnival.

“This is a disaster,” Kip said to any carny that would listen to him. Most were too stunned to hear him.

“Luckily, no one was hurt,” Finch said to Evie. He ambled to Mouse and patted his friend on the back. “You okay?”

Mouse looked up at him with glazed eyes and coughed. “Just swallowed some smoke,” he croaked. Doris dabbed his face with a wet handkerchief.

Evie latched onto Finch’s hand. She’d never seen anything burn to the ground before, and the sight of it was horrifying.

Children of carnies cried, still shaken from the fire. Olga pulled them close to her and consoled them, singing a Russian lullaby to sooth their nerves. Dmitri frowned and placed his hand on her shoulder. He wiped her tears and looked at Finch with a mournful expression.

“What happened?” Finch asked Doris.

“Don’t know,” Doris answered. “We were in the middle of our show, and the next thing we know the whole damn tent was on fire.” Her ample chest rattled as she let out a cough. “Poor ole Mouse got the brunt of it, and some of the townies that were sitting in the front row.”

“I don’t understand how the fire started,” Finch said.

“Me neither, Honey Lamb. Thank God no one was hurt. ‘Course Kip is sore we lost some business. I don’t think those townies will ever come back,” she said. “People could’ve died here today.”

Firefighters rolled their hose and scanned the area for any last remaining embers. The chief, or at least that was what everyone called him, spoke to Kip. He took off his cap and ran his fingers through his thin, sweaty hair. “Ain’t got any idea how this started, but it was a doozy,” he told Kip.

“They said it started in the middle of their show,” Kip said, pointing over to Doris, Friedrich and Mouse.

“Most fires just start. Ain’t no slow goin’ with ‘em,” he said.

Finch covered his mouth with his hand and glanced back at the empty spot in the ground. He brought his gaze back to them.

“What is it?” Evie asked him.

“It just doesn’t add up. There’s no reason for a fire to start,” he said.

“Think it was the electrical?” Doris asked.

“No,” he said. “I checked those wires myself, and Harry never does a crappy job installing them.” He scrunched his eyebrows together. “This doesn’t feel right.”

“I agree with you,” Friedrich said to him. He wrapped his arm around Doris’s shoulder.

Dmitri and Olga passed by them, the children still latched onto her. Dmitri turned to Finch and said, “When I was preparing for my show, I saw a man behind the tent. I did not think anything of it at the time, but now I wonder if he had something to do with the fire.”

“What did he look like?” Finch asked.

Dmitri thought for a moment. His eyes darted back and forth. “He had brown hair and was wearing a blue shirt, but I didn’t get really get a good look at his face,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Finch said as Dmitri gave a half-shrug and continued moving.

Kip approached them, a scathing scowl covered his gaunt face. “You.” He pointed at Finch. “Where were you?”

“You can’t lay this one on me,” Finch said.

“I saw you jumping out of her truck after the fire started. You wanna hanky panky with her, don’t do it on my time,” he spat.

“Don’t talk about her like that,” Finch snapped, taking a step forward. He clenched his jaw and breathed hard and heavy. “Don’t blame this on me, because I had nothing to do with it!”

“You should have been here.” Kip pursed his lips and stormed off, cursing.

“He’s just worried is all,” Doris said, trying to calm the situation.

“Doesn’t mean he has to talk about Evie like that,” Finch said through clenched teeth.

“I’m fine,” Evie said, squeezing his hand. “Let it go.”

“You’re better than that, and I don’t want him saying those things about you like you’re nothing,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter what he says, Finch.”

“She’s right, Honey Lamb. All that matters is what you two think about each other. Ain’t no one else’s opinion gonna matter unless you let it matter, and if you do, then y’all are in a world full of hurt.”

Chapter 21

The days passed, and everyone seemed to be on edge. The fire impacted the carnival’s business, and Kip saw a decrease in ticket sales. Townies talked. And once word got out that there was a fire, the faint of heart steered clear. There were those that continued to come, generating some business, but not enough for Kip. He snapped at anyone and everyone in the carnival. Doris, Mouse, and Friedrich bared the brunt of his wrath. Finch wasn’t in his good graces, either, and was smart enough to run the other way when he saw him coming.

Gray’s dark circles shadowed his blue eyes, and worry filled him. He expected a huge lump sum, a good sized profit from the carnival. If business continued to slow for the next two and a half weeks, that trip to Florida he had planned for Evie and himself was going to be a bust.

“Don’t forget to take your medicine,” Evie said to him while they ate dinner. The bottle had more pills in it than it should.

“I won’t, Mother,” he said sarcastically. 

“He’s been a grump lately,” Cooper said to Evie.

It was their night to work at the skating rink, and Cooper decided to join them for dinner. “Tell me about it,” Evie agreed.

Gray stood up in a huff and walked outside, slamming the door.

“He’s been like that all week,” Cooper said to her.

“Why?”

“I ain’t sure. Men don’t talk to each other like you women do. Maybe you can draw it out of him,” he said.

“I’ll try, Cooper. I guess we better get to work,” she said.

***

Evie sat patiently while Katie painted her fingernails ruby red. “You know that this will just chip off, right?” Evie said.

Katie squinted at Evie’s pinky finger and applied a coat in one even stroke. “Shh, you’re breaking my concentration.”

“Probably by tomorrow, too,” she continued.

“Sshh,” Katie said. She held Evie’s hands and appraised them. “Looks good.” She smiled and placed the brush back in its bottle.

“I’m going to miss you,” Evie said, and a lump caught in her throat.

“Eves, since when did you get all touchy feelly?” Katie said.

“I’m not. I’m just going to miss you.”

“Me too, but I gotta tell you, I won’t miss taking cold showers.” She gestured her head to the bathroom. “If anyone should be taking cold showers, it should be you and Finch.” She laughed.

Evie fought to roll her eyes.

“Oh, please don’t deny it.”

“I’m not saying anything.” Evie looked down and closed her eyes. She could feel her face turning ruddy.

“Gotcha!” Katie smiled. “You’ve got my seal of approval by the way, in case you wanted it. He’s a keeper.”

“Thanks, but I don’t know how serious it is. He goes to his next location in two weeks,” she said.

“So?”

“So,” Evie repeated. “It’ll be hard to date when he’s gone,” she said and paused. “If that’s what we’re doing,” she added.

Katie twisted her lips to the side and waved her hand up in the air. “Y’all are definitely dating. You could make it work. Todd and I were going to continue to date while he was at Wake Forest.”

Evie gave her a silent look.

“Well, we saw how well that worked out.” She laughed, but Evie could tell it was forced. “Have you seen him?”

“No,” Evie said. She hadn’t seen him since Finch made him piss his pants. She hoped he hopped on a train or drove off into the sunset and would never come back to Haines again. Rumor had it that he was staying with his grandparents on the coast until he started school at Wake Forest.
Good riddance
, Evie thought.

“What about my father? Have you seen him again?” Katie asked.

“Not since that one time,” she said. Katie knew about the run-in they had in town. “You know he still calls me Evelyn? The only other person that called me that was my mother.”

“They were friends. He probably picked it up from her,” Katie said.

“They weren’t friends when we were kids,” Evie said incredulously.

“Sure they were. I remember her coming over to the house a few times.”

Evie leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I was really little. I just remember her being over there.”

“How come you never told me?” Evie asked.

“‘Cause you never asked. It’s not a big deal. Calm down, Evie.” She let out a sigh. “Anytime your mother is brought up you have a shit fit, and it gets old real quick. Do you see me having a fit every time Todd’s name is mentioned?”

“No,” Evie agreed with a pout.

“I’m your best friend and I love you, but this shit with your mom has gotta stop.”