Bone Deep (9 page)

“You can call me from the Burkett’s. You know, you should get yourself a phone installed. They’ve already run a line to Burkett’s. Yours
isn
’t much farther. It’s not safe for a woman living alone with no way to call for help.”

“I’ve been thinking about it. I’ll look into it.” She smiled and started to roll up her window to end to the conversation.

“If you do happen to see this retarded fellow, no matter how harmless he seems, you go get Charlie or else call me and I’ll come out. Better safe than sorry.”

“I will.” Sarah resisted the urge to gun the engine as she drove away. She turned onto her road and a half-mile later into her driveway.
Climbing out of the car, she noticed a section of the
picket fence around the house
was
scraped smooth for painting.

“Tom,” she called
, and for one heart-breaking moment, she was certain he wouldn’t answer. Of course, he’d left when the deputy came around. Her brief adventure and budding friendship was over.

Then Tom
emerged from the barn and walked toward her.

Relief and joy surged through her.
Funny
how quickly his
strange
face had become familiar and dear to her. She met him halfway across the yard.

“
Are you all right
? I talked to the deputy and he said he’d been
by
. I guess Reed left town. Maybe he didn’t want the police hunting for you, but everyone
in
Fairfield
does. Are you sure I can’t take you to the sheriff’s office so we can explain everything and straighten this out? You haven’t done anything wrong.
It’s not as if they can
arrest you.”

He frowned.
“No!
If you want me to leave, I’ll go, but not to the police.”

“Why? You can explain your side of the story
.
”

“They’ll want me to go back.” The deep furrow in his brow twisted the swirling tattoos on his forehead into new shapes. His jaw set stubbornly. “Anyone can see I belong with the carnival and that’s where they’ll take me.”

“They wouldn’t try to return you to Reed, not after I tell them
how he’s abused you
. They’ll see you’re not dangerous
,
that you’re normal.”

“I’m
not
normal.”
For the first time since she’d met him, h
is voice raised. He glared at her and spread his hands, indicating his body. “Look at me.”

She did
as he bid
, trying to see him as others would--strange, freakish, different. But all she could see was Tom
, and h
e looked beautiful to her.

“All right. Whatever you want. I’m not asking you to leave.” She smiled reassuringly
as she soothed him, then
added lightly, “Besides, if you left, who would finish the fence for me?”

Still frowning, he looked at the portion of wood he
’
d scraped. “I’m sorry I didn’t finish it
.
”

She laughed and nudged his arm. “I’m kidding! You have to learn when people are teasing. Here’s what we’ll do. If you’ll help me put away the groceries, we’ll have lunch then scrape the rest of the fence and put on the first coat of paint. After that we can go to the pond and swim because I think it’s going to be a scorcher this afternoon.”

He looked up at the clear blue sky. “A storm will come through tonight and cool it off again.”

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Did you have a vision?”

“No.
T
he air
feels
thick and heavy. It will break later.”

“Good. We could use
some
rain.”

Together they unloaded the car then Sarah made sandwiches and soup. Tom devoured his food with
his usual gusto.
She was pleased by his enjoyment of anything she set in front of him no matter how simple the fare. Then she remembered why he was so eager about food and her pleasure vanished.

Sc
raping peeling strips of paint from the fence took longer than expected. Sarah broiled under the hot sun. Her sleeveless blouse clung to her back and was soaked underneath her arms. She wiped sweat off her forehead and glanced over at Tom.

He was just as sweaty
as she,
but it looked better on him. Once more he
’
d removed his shirt--he seemed to have no discomfort with being half-undressed m
uch
of the time--and his colors shone under the blazing sun. She wondered if the pigments protected him from sunburn.

At last Sarah
stood, stretched her aching lower back and
grimacing
at the
gallon
of paint sitting in the grass. “You know what? Let’s save the painting until tomorrow
morning when it’s cooler
. I think we’ve earned a swim.”

She provided Tom with John’s old swim trunks then dressed in her own modest one-piece suit with a blouse and shorts over it. Her inner voice warned her it was a bad idea to go swimming with Tom, both of them nearly naked
together, but s
he ignored the voice. It was a hot day and they could surely paddle around in the water for an hour without
attraction
getting the better of them.

They trekked across the fallow field toward the pond at the edge of Burkett’s woods. Weeds scratched
Sarah’s
bare legs. Blackbirds flew up from the tall grass at their approach and chirping crickets went suddenly silent.

Sarah could smell the pond before they reached it. The east side was mostly swamp water and cattails and the smell of algae and mud was pungent. But the rest of the pond was clear
enough
. They
stopped
on the muddy bank to remove their clothes.

“The local kids come out here sometimes, but we should be safe today. They wouldn’t be
home
from school yet.”

She unbuttoned her blouse and took it off.
E
ven though she was still fully clothed in a bathing suit when she was finished
, the act of removing it in front of Tom felt somehow sinful
. Sliding her shorts down her hips, she refused to glance over and see if he was watching her.

Still without looking his way, she dove into the water. It was a little tepid and muddy but refreshingly cool compared to the
steamy
air. She swam to the
opposite
side where the cattails grew and halfway back again before she finally looked at Tom.

He
stood
on the muddy bank, testing the water with one foot. John’s navy swim trunks covered him from his waist to mid-thigh and in that moment, Sarah would have given anything to have them disappear
so she could see all of him
.

“Can you swim?” she called.

He looked at her with
a small smile and
dove in, cutting cleanly through the water,
re
surfacing then stroking toward her. He looked like a glistening wet jigsaw puzzle, his colors pure and rich in the reflecting light.
He
swam slowly around her.

Sarah trod water, waving her arms beneath the surface to keep afloat. “This feels great. I was so hot.” She leaned back and floated, eyes closed, aware of Tom still lazily circling her in a side-crawl.

His hand touched her heel lightly and she started, afraid for a moment he was going to
duck her under
. But he merely turned her in an easy circle, round and round like a floating leaf, as he swam.

Sarah relaxed and let him rotate her. With her eyes closed and body suspended, she felt weightless
,
almost bodiless. She realized he was playing with her
,
the first sign of anything
remotely playful
she
’d seen from him,
and she was touched.

After spinning her around for a while, he ducked underwater
and
swam away across the pond like a wild animal that had dared to come close then just as quickly retreated.

Sarah dove under the surface herself
and
shot off in pursuit of Tom
. She
caught up
to him
in the shallows
, where her feet touched bottom and t
he water
level stopped at her chest
. Impulsively, she scooped water with both hands and drove it toward him.

He stood there letting it sweep over his head. He sputtered and blinked but didn’t fight back.

“Come on. Race you across.” She turned and swam toward the opposite shore.

In seconds he was beside her, and then ahead of her. He cut
cleanly through the water while she churned in his wake. He stood in the shallows on t
he far
side of the pond, waiting for her
with
a big smile on his face. His teeth were white against his brilliant skin and his eyes crinkled at the corners.

“
S
o you’re fast. How are you in a water fight?” She planted her feet on the muddy bottom and splashed him again.

When he continu
ed to stand there, Sarah teased,
“Show me what you got. Fight back.”

He hesitated then pushed a wall of water at her.

Sarah retaliated. Soon the surface of the pond was a
churning
battleground. As she shrieked, choked and laughed, she realized Tom was laughing too--actually laughing out loud. She
’
d never heard such a beautiful sound
as his
deep-throated chuckle
.

“Truce!” she finally
called
, holding
up
her hands. “Enough. I surrender.”

He stopped immediately, but his smile lingered.
Water beaded on his body and his long eyelashes. He was a beautiful sight and
Sarah
’s
heart
beat faster just looking at him
.

They waded out of the pond and stretched on the grass away from the muddy edge.
S
un soaked into their bodies
and
Sarah closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of
the pond
, pine trees and
the nearby
wild grapes,
sweet
and overripe. The harsh chorus of cicadas in the trees lulled her to sleep.

She was awakened, disoriented, by Tom gently shaking her arm.

“You’ll burn. We should go back.” For a brief moment his hand linger
ed
on her arm, trailing down her pale flesh toward her hand. “Your skin is pretty.” His voice was low and admiring.

A
tremor
of lust shivered t
hrough her at his light caress
. Drowsily she reached out her hand and stroked the angel on his forearm. “Yours is too.”

He looked from her hand to her eyes, his gaze dark with desire.

Sarah was instantly awake. She
snatched
her hand from his arm as if she’d been burned
, got up and began gathering her clothes
. “You’re right, we should go home now.”

Again they trudged across the field. She wondered how long this tension between them could hold before it broke like the dark clouds rolling in on the horizon
.

J
ust as Tom had predicted
, t
here would be a storm before morning.