Page 42 of Shame the Devil

“Do you want to see the end of the game?”

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“I kinda thought you already did. Except that if you’ve lived in that town all your life, I guess it wasn’t much of a secret.”

“No, it wasn’t. Here’s the real secret. I’m not much of a football fan. Don’t tell Blake.”

He gave a shout of laughter, then sobered and said, “Oh. It’s because of what happened. With … whoever.”

“Who, Danny? Maybe. Mostly, I just don’t care. Everybody gets so passionate, and I think—hey, I’m not the one playing, so why should I care? They’re not watching me domything and cheering about it, so why should I give them my Sunday?”

“So what do you watch?” he asked. “Or what do you play?”

She laughed. “How about nothing? Well, I like to swim. I like that a lot, even though I can only do it in the summer. I like to hike some, as long as it’s not some death march carrying an enormous backpack. Call it ‘strolling in the woods,’ maybe. I like going out on the lake on a boat, even if it’s a kayak and I actually have to work for it. Not that I get to do it much. I used to think I enjoyed catching a glimpse of wildlife. I’m rethinking that part.”

She looked out the car window at a whole lot of nothing. Snow-covered land flat as a pancake, a divided road with nobody on it, and a few low buildings looking lonely and bleak against a gray sky. A Jack in the Box, an Arby’s. “But if I’m going to spend my time watching something,” she went on after a minute, “I want to watch a movie, with a story about people. Or maybe a play. I think. Plays always sound fun.”

“You’ve never seen a play?”

“No, but it seems like there’d be … I don’t know, energy in the room. Musicals, especially.”

“How have you never seen a play? I was always having to go to some play. High school. College. Now, for that matter. Some girlfriend, dragging me along.”

She turned her head and looked at him. She was trying not to laugh, he could tell. “You’re going to ruin your sensitive image.”

“I don’t have a sensitive image.”

“You do with me. Well, you did.”

“Oh.” He digested that. “Ah. I get it. High school. Baby. Et cetera.”

“Bingo. Let’s just say that extracurricular activities did not loom large in my life. And that I didn’t go to football games.”

“You’re right,” he decided. “I’m not sensitive. I just now figured that out.” She laughed, so that was better. “And we’re here.”

“Wait, already?” She leaned forward to look out better. At what? At a plowed parking lot lined with berms of dirty snow and filled with cars and bundled-up figures in parkas. “It’s freezing out here,” she said. “Are they seriously going to stand around for an hour?”

“It’s North Dakota. It’s required.”

“Are you ready for this?”

“No,” he said. “But I’m doing it anyway.”

* * *

She thoughtfor a second about Harlan being nice to the driver, and whether he’d been making a point for her benefit, and then abandoned it. First, she’d swear he wasn’t that calculating, and second, she didn’t have mental space to contemplate more than the fact that they were here.

Harlan told the driver, “Keep going. Up to the front.” And he did. Slowly. Heads were turning, people moving towards them, then moving faster. They were making an entrance, then. She’d seen Blake part the crowd plenty of times. Some men just had that star quality.

She’d just never imagined herself making an entrance with one of them.

Harlan told her, “Be sure to zip up your coat, and put on your hat and gloves, OK? It’s going to be cold.”

“Did you call ahead?” she asked.

“Yeah. Called the mayor.”

The SUV stopped and Harlan opened the door. She asked him, fast, “Did you call your dad?”