Revenge (3 page)

He looked down the road to the south.
 
South was a whole different story.
 
South would take him to Tennessee, a place he hadn’t been in ten years.
 
When he left, he swore he’d left for good. He couldn’t think of a single reason to go there.
 
Except, he thought, it would be the last place they would ever look for him.
 
Tank and the others knew how he felt about the place.
 
They knew he’d rather be anyplace else.

There was another reason to head south, but Mercer wanted to kick himself for even thinking about that reason.  It had been ten years since he left.  She could be married with kids.  She could be dead for all he knew.  That reason was the worst reason in the world to head south, but without even realizing he was doing it, Mercer was back on the bike.   He turned the wheel to the left, roared the engine, and headed south.
 
He knew why he was heading in that direction.  She was there.

T
he next morning Danni woke hung over and wanting nothing more than to curl back into bed and sleep for days.  She hadn’t gone to sleep right away the previous night.  She had been too upset to sleep so she stayed up drinking vodka and listening to music.  She wasn’t a big fan of vodka, but there was half a bottle in the freezer and the liquor stores were all closed.  She started by making vodka martinis, but after the second drink she had started dumping booze into a glass.

She put CD after CD into the player and danced slowly the to music.  Each song she played was a memory for her.  Each one linked to a specific person in her life.  A musical trip down memory lane.  When the Rolling Stones “Goodbye Ruby Tuesday” was on she was thinking of Ben, the geologist from the oil company that had come through town looking for oil to drill.  He had only been in town a couple of weeks, but had made it a point to take Danni out as much as possible.

Another drink and another song.  Next it was the “I Wish It Would Rain” by The Temptations.  Earl Masterson had played that song on the jukebox whenever they went out.  They dated for six months and it was a wild ride.  Constant and passionate sex, but they fought almost as much as they fucked.  It ended badly between them, but on nights like this, when Danni was drinking she would put on The Temptations and think of him fondly, remember a time in her life when she was a little younger and a little wilder.

One more drink down and she remembered something.  Buried deep in a box in her closer there was a CD that Mercer Hawthorne had made for her.  He had given to her before she started dating Specs, his best friend.  She barely played the CD, even though it was full of songs she loved.  They all reminded her of him and thinking of him always went the same way.  She was remember him and smile, then get sad, and eventually angry.  Ten years had gone by since she had seen him and he still evoked all those emotions from her.  

She drank more until she passed out on her bed.  The next thing she knew the alarm was going off and the light coming in the windows was stabbing her in the eyes.  She slammed the clock off and ducked her head under the blankets.  Her head was killing her and she was dying of thirst.  After fifteen minutes she knew sleep wasn’t coming back so she took four aspirin with a gallon of water.  She ran the water cold in the shower and scrubbed herself clean.  It was bracing and horrible , but it woke her up complete and by the time she stepped out of the shower she felt good enough to risk breakfast.

Since Norma’s Diner had closed a few years ago there wasn’t a good breakfast place in town.  The closest was in Brockway, a thirty minute drive, but she felt like getting out of town.  She had half a mind to get in her truck, grab some breakfast, then keep driving away.

Halfway to the restaurant she realized if she wanted to keep driving there wasn’t much stopping her.  Certainly nothing of any importance.  A few clothes that could be replaced and a guy who probably wouldn’t care if he never saw her again.  Probably preferred it after their fight.  Danni kept driving and felt even worse.  She thought there was a good chance she might pull the truck over to the side of the road and start crying.  She couldn’t really say what was wrong with her.  Her place was nice enough and she liked her job well enough.  She even liked Ben well enough.  

And that was the problem.  She liked everything well enough.  She wasn’t overjoyed by anything anymore.  She didn’t love anything or anyone and she couldn’t remember a recent time when she did.  It seemed like she was a spectator in her own life, like watching the whole thing on a movie screen.  Witnessing everything, but not engaging with anything.

She shook it off.  She just needed some coffee she told herself.  Some coffee and some French toast.  Then she’d feel better.

***

Later at work Danni was too busy to think about how she left things with Ben or how bad she felt.  There was a big lunchtime rush at the bar where she worked because there was a new CVS being built a few blocks over and the crew was coming in on their break.  Danni was wearing her usual tight jeans and black tank top, guaranteeing her better tips, but that also meant a lot more of the usual comments from the construction workers.

As she brought an order to a table, one of them asked, “Is serving food all you?”

“I pour the drinks too.
 
You want a beer?” she asked, trying to pretend his question was innocent.

“I’d like to pour something down your throat if you know what I mean,” said the construction worker, with a big grin on his face that revealed several missing teeth.

Danni snapped, “I’d better not know what you mean or you’ll get a burger shoved in your face.”

The men at the table all laughed.
 
“You’re a firecracker.
 
Anyone ever tell you that?”

“I’ve heard it said.
 
You boys need anything else?”

“Just you sitting on my face,” said the man, and slapped Danni’s rear.

She took the empty tray and cracked him on the head.
 
He jumped up and came after her.
 
Danni quickly moved behind the bar and grabbed a baseball bat.
 
He was still coming toward her, so she reared up and was about the strike him when the man’s eyes went wide, his body started to jerk, then he fell to the floor.

“Shermer, haul him in and book him for assault.”

Sheriff’s Deputy Harvey Ellis put his Taser back in his belt.
 
He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a barrel chest.
 
He kept his dark hair short and neatly trimmed.
 
He easily hoisted the assailant to his feet and handed him off to the other deputy.

“Thanks, Harvey,” said Danni and she put the bat back under the bar.

The sheriff stepped behind the bar with her.
 
“Danni, what have I told you about instigating with those guys?”

“If I remember right, he came after me first.
 
I think there’s a couple witnesses that can testify to that.”
 
Danni gestured to the bar full of people, some of whom were looking at them, wondering if any more action was going to happen.

“That’s not the point.
 
You can just ignore what they say to you.
 
And it wouldn’t hurt if you dressed a little more conservatively.”

“Fuck you, Deputy.
 
I didn’t need your fucking help and don’t need your fucking condescension.
 
I’ll dress however the fuck I want to.
 
Now, you got the bastard in custody, do you need anything else?”

“Just to pick up our lunch order.”

Danni went into the back and came back out with two large brown paper bags.
 
She handed them to him, then turned away to pour a beer for one of the other customers.

Ellis didn’t move.
 
He just stood there holding his bags.
 
“Danni, I’m sorry.
 
I didn’t mean to—”

She cut him off.
 
“You got your food.
 
I’ll add it to the Sheriff’s tab.
 
The department can settle up at the end of the month.”

Ellis didn’t say anything else.
 
He took his food and headed back to his car.
 
By the time the afternoon lull had come around, Danni had managed to mostly forget how Ellis had treated her.
 
It’s just Harvey being Harvey, she told herself.
 
They had known each other since high school, and even though they weren’t dating—had never dated, in fact—he seemed to think he could tell her what to do.

After the lunch rush, the place emptied out and Jeannie, the other bartender, was prepping for dinner, so Danni snuck off for a few minutes by herself.
 
She went out the back door, threw a bag of trash into the dumpster, then made her way up the metal ladder on the side of the building.
 
On the roof, she took out the can of Pabst that she’d managed to cram into her back pocket, cracked it open, and took a seat in the small folding chair she kept up there.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
 
She sank lower into the chair and stared out over the town.
 
Danni liked it up here.
 
She loved watching the town go about its business.
 
She took another drink of beer and felt the small buzz ease into her head.

She knew she should really be in the office, getting the order forms filled out and making sure the paychecks were handed out on time, but she needed this: just the roof, her beer, and a little quiet.
 
Besides, doing all that wasn’t even her job, not really.
 
Sal was the owner, but he was never around. Plus, when he was around, he was drunk, so the job fell to Danni.

She was OK with that.
 
When she’d first started working at Stax, it was one of the worst dives she had ever seen The kind of place where the blood and teeth were mopped up at the end of the night.
 
Danni had started making changes.
 
Little things at first, like making sure the restrooms were always clean.
 
Then she hired a bouncer to keep out the troublemakers, then started serving food and opening up the bar for the lunchtime crowd.
 
The place was even turning a decent profit now.
 
She was proud of her efforts; she’d worked hard and turned the place around. But lately, that feeling of success was turning hollow and worthless.

Danni drained her beer, then put her feet up in the chair and wrapped her arms around her legs.
 
That same feeling from the night before was back.
 
She couldn’t really put a finger on it, but it was like restlessness and sadness rolled up into one.

Enough, she thought.
 
There’s shit to do besides sit here and feel sorry for yourself.
 
She dropped the beer can off the side of the building, heard it hit the dumpster perfectly, then climbed down and got back to work.

She busied herself in the office, then served the dinner crowd.
 
She distracted herself with work, but once the clock rolled past nine, the place was unusually dead.
 
It was so dead that she closed the kitchen and sent Jeannie home for the night so she could let the babysitter off early.
 
She put on an old Patsy Cline record and started putting the chairs on the tables to get the sweeping done.

At half past ten, nobody had come in.
 
Danni was debating just shutting down and going home when the door opened and she saw Mercer Hawthorne for the first time in ten years.

M
ercer rode past the sign welcoming him to Calumet.  Which he found funny because no one in that town was welcoming him back.  He rode fast down the state highway that he had raced down too many times to count as a teenager.  He didn’t think he would feel anything as he got closer to town, but a wave of familiarness and nostalgia hit him.  He felt the curves in the road and the cracks in the pavement and the memories started coming back.  He used to ride alongside Specs each of them gunning the accelerator, daring each other to go faster.  They were stupid teenagers.  Thinking they were invincible, like nothing could touch them.