Page 20 of Nomad

Even in the dim light from the dashboard she could tell that he was giving her a withering look.

“It’s not a gang. It’s a club.”

“Okay. Don’t be so sensitive.”

“It’s not beingsosensitive to want to get things right.”

“Club. Gang. Who really cares, Johns?”

He turned on the radio and fooled with the dial. The only station he could get clearly was on AM, a bible thumper preaching God, guns, and gays. For the first two. Against the last.

“We’re not really going to listen to this, are we?” she asked.

“Not a big range of options out here and I need to stay alert.”

“Thisis gonna keep you alert?”

He smiled. “Not likely to get sleepy with that goin’ on.”

Cann was a little amazed that he was smiling, given the fact that he’d brought a heap of trouble right to the SSMC doorstep. Potentially. He reached over and shut off the radio abruptly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“That my daddy’s a Ranger?” He gave her a glance that said no nonsense. “There was no reason to think it’d be an issue.”

“Not an issue,” he repeated drily.

“Look. He’s gone for weeks at a time. That’s how it’s always been. How did I know he was gonna come home?”

“I don’t know how you knew it, but you obviously did. That’s why you ran, right? If you’d thought he was gonna stay away until after your birthday, you would’ve stayed in a nice warm,drycomfy place.” He emphasized the word ‘dry’ to remind her that when they’d met she’d been in a situation that spelled desperate any way you looked at it.

Her shoulders sagged. “I didn’t know when or if, Johns. Honestly. But I couldn’t take that chance. When he left, he said, ‘When I get back we’ll be taking care of things’.”

“So he’s not getting a ‘parent of the year’ award.”

She snorted. “He kept the water and lights and gas turned on. Left money for groceries and stuff. That was pretty much it.”

“So you’re sayin’ you raised yourself?”

“Not exactly. I had a next door neighbor who kind of looked out for me. She taught me how to do stuff that men don’t know how to do.”

“Toenail paintin’?”

“No. Laundry.”

He barked out a laugh. “You think men don’t know how to do laundry?”

“I never met any.”

“Sure you have.”

“What’re you saying? That you know how to do laundry?” He gave a quick dip of the chin. “You’re lyin’.”

“Whatever.”

“Maybe you’ll get a chance to prove it to me.”

He laughed. “So you’re sayin’ that, if I play my cards right, Imightget to do your laundry? Pretty slick, kid.”