The Charles Martin Collection by Charles Martin

Author:Charles Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2016-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

To help ease the transition, I’d told Unc I’d hang around and maybe take Sketch into work with me if he’d go. I was watching him eat his cereal when Tommye walked into the kitchen, looking sleepy. She pulled the orange juice from the fridge, poured herself a cup, and sat at the table, her shoulder leaning against mine. She winked at Sketch, then laid her head on my shoulder.

She spoke to me without looking. “I like Mandy.” She sat up and crossed her legs. Her face was flushed, and her eyes looked glassy.

I placed my hand on her forehead, and she pulled away. Still hot. “How’re you feeling?”

She shrugged me off. “I need to go to town today and thought maybe I’d make you my lunch date. You game?”

“You gonna answer my question, or pretend like you didn’t hear me?”

“You gonna take me to lunch, or do I have to ask Spider-Man here?”

The kid, whose head was on a swivel as we talked, looked at me, eyebrows lifted. He wanted to know just as much as she did.

“You like barbecue?” I asked him.

He looked at Tommye, who nodded at him and then wrote a secret note on her napkin and passed it to him. He read the note, turned the napkin, nodded, and slid the napkin across the table to me, then tapped it twice.

I knew what it said without looking. Tommye and I had been eating at Hawg Heaven since we were old enough to drive each other to school and appreciate good barbecue. I finished off my coffee and looked at Sketch. “You like Hawg Heaven?”

He looked down at the napkin and double-tapped it again.

“Okay, okay . . . I heard you the first time.”

He sat back. Tommye gave him a smile and another wink, and in less than a second his spine grew another two inches.

As we were walking out the door, Unc appeared from who knows where and said, “Hey . . .”

Sketch looked up.

“I have some work to do today and thought maybe you’d be my helper.”

Sketch looked at me, asking for permission to stay and at the same time wanting to know if I’d take him to Hawg Heaven another day.

I smiled. “Yeah . . . I’ll take you some other time.”

Unc put his hand on Sketch’s shoulder and looked at Tommye and me. “Good, ’cause I think they need to have some grown-up talk.”

Hawg Heaven sits just north of the causeway that leads out of Brunswick and onto St. Simons Island. Famous for their pulled pork and breaded French fries, they’re a local staple.

We sat at a booth in the back, Tommye with her back to the room and still wearing her sunglasses even after the iced tea had been delivered.

I leaned across the table. “Not too bright in here.”

She nodded and said, “Uh-huh.”

After we ordered, I noticed five guys in white shirts and ties sitting at the table in the center of the room whispering and looking our way. Every now and then one of them would utter a hyena laugh.

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