The next two days were surprisingly normal.

They didn't hear anything from Ann, and the little they heard from Bea was that she was busy.

He and Mae mostly just hung out. Gregg and Angus had been vaguely busy the first night, and the second night Gregg had admitted he was feeling antisocial and Angus kind of was too, so they'd come to visit when that had lifted. Mae was disappointed, but understanding. And, he thought, feeling antisocial herself, or at least distracted.

Besides the dinner with her parents, they didn't leave the house.

There was a lot to do.

He hooked up his Xbox to the TV in the living room and ended up getting Mae started on Max Payne. She'd had a bit of trouble with the controls at first, but had quickly acclimated to it and by the third level was playing pretty proficiently.

Trent ended up spending most of those two days going through the house, trying to get a complete inventory of everything that was now his. He was glad to find that his great-uncle had been pretty neat and tidy and not as much of a hoarder as he'd initially thought. He'd expected to arrive in a house that was a nightmare cluster of knickknacks and souvenirs and random crap and junk, but that thankfully wasn't the case. It wasn't exactly what he'd call minimalist, but besides the basement, which was packed with stuff, it was all pretty decent.

It was a bizarre experience, though. All this stuff that had belonged to someone else, someone he was realizing he only somewhat knew, that had been someone's whole life, was now his. It felt weird throwing some of it out, which he did, but Trent had already promised himself that he wasn't going to let that hold him back from making the place his. So he threw away anything he didn't want, didn't think had any real use, and figured he couldn't give to other people. By the end of it all, he'd filled one of those giant black trashbags with the stuff.

He'd also managed to set aside a pair of two-hour blocks of time to get everything properly photographed for Bea.

By the second night, he was actually getting a little anxious about both Bea and Ann, given he'd heard so little from them.

He'd asked Mae if that was normal. She said it was for Bea, probably was for Ann, but she didn't know her as well. Trent was starting to get paranoid that, despite how they'd left things, one or both of them was getting weird about the fact that they'd slept together. He didn't think Ann would, but Bea was uncertain enough that maybe it might have freaked her out. He wasn't sure whether or not to come to Mae with the specifics of the concern, because he didn't want to freak her out, so he just kept quiet. Trent was getting the idea Mae didn't exactly have the best grasp of the social contract, and might not be able to predict certain social pitfalls.

Not that he was so good at it either.

And so, consequently, he was both nervous and delighted when Bea texted him that she was on the way over somewhere around noon of the third day.

He'd awoken about an hour ago, and Mae was out like a light, so he'd gotten up and started getting ready for the day. He'd tried to wake her when he'd gotten the text but she was still out cold. So he'd pulled on his clothes and went to wait by the front door, finding himself more anxious than he cared to admit.

It didn't help when he saw Bea pull up in his driveway, get out of her car with a look of rage in her eyes, and start marching right up to the front door.

Trent opened it up before she could bang on it. She looked momentarily startled out of her anger, but it returned quickly.

He braced himself for something. He still wasn't sure what.

"Will you come with me and help keep me from driving my car into a fucking building and going to fucking prison?" she growled through gritted teeth.

"Uh...yeah, I can do that," he replied, feeling relieved, and then bad. Clearly, she was not upset at him. Clearly, something had upset her greatly.

"Thank you," she said. "I need to ask Mae something."

He stepped out of the way and she came inside, then hurried up the stairs. Trent followed after, snagging his hoodie and pulling it on as he did. He came to stand in the doorway as Bea marched into their bedroom.

"Mae!" she called.

"Huh!? What?! What's wrong!?" Mae replied, sitting up and looking around blearily. "BeeBee?...are you okay?"

"I'm pissed! Can I borrow your boyfriend?" she replied.

"Uh...for sex?" Mae asked.

"No." Bea paused, pursed her lips. "I mean, not yet. I need help cooling off."

Mae yawned. "Sex does that."

"Ugh! I will get to the sex, I promise! Just-I want to take him driving for awhile, is that okay? Please say yes."

"Yeah. Yes. Go on, Trent will make you feel better, he's really good at it," Mae said, rubbing one eye. "If you fuck, will you do it here? I wanna watch this time."

Bea laughed despite herself. "Yes, Mae. Thank you."

"Welcome."

"See you later, babe," Trent said.

"Later, honey pie," she replied as she fell back into her pillow. Trent laughed. He couldn't tell if she was trying to make a joke or was just tired or she just thought that was a good pet name. Maybe it was. He closed the door and then followed Bea downstairs. Locking up behind him after double-checking he had his phone on him, he joined Bea in her vehicle, which turned out to be a boxy red sedan, and they started driving.

"So...where are we going?" Trent asked after several minutes of silence.

"Little restaurant at the edge of town," Bea replied. She was chewing on something, a cigarette, he realized. Abruptly, she spit it out. "Do you give a shit if I smoke?"

"No," he replied.

"Thanks."

She reached into her pocket and spent a moment fishing out another cigarette and lighter and lighting up. She rolled her window down a crack, took a deep pull, then blew the smoke out in a long exhale. She sighed. "That's better at least," she muttered.

Trent waited for her to puff away for awhile, and hoped she'd start talking about whatever it was that had her so fired up.

But she didn't.

He waited, though. It was obvious she needed this, and he was willing to help. In much the same way he had a sort of instant like for Mae, he had that for Bea as well. Even now, when she was pissed and enraged, he was feeling that connection again. Or maybe because she was pissed, and apparently the most logical thing that had come to her mind to help her feel better was to seek him out, even though they hardly knew each other.

Trent thought Bea was beginning to calm down...until they pulled into the empty parking lot.

"No," she whispered, bringing the car to a stop. "No, no, no."

Trent was trying to think of something to say, because he had an idea of what was wrong, when she threw the car into park and jumped out.

"Come on!" she cried, marching across the lot up to the front door where a paper was stuck. She read it silently before abruptly snapping "FUCK!"

She turned and stormed back over to the car, hopped in, threw it into drive and whipped them back around.

"You okay?" he asked, gripping the emergency handle as she wheeled them back out onto the main road and stomped on the pedal.

"Fine," she growled, chewing on her cigarette. "We're going to a spot in the woods. I need to...blow off some steam. Are you still okay with this?"

"Yep," he replied.

"If you aren't, you can tell me. I can handle it," she said.

He wasn't sure whether or not that was true, though he believed that she believed it as she said it. "I'm good," he replied.

"Thank you. Very much."

They drove for another five minutes, Possum Springs now behind them, before coming to a dirt road that she pulled onto and drove along for a few miles.

She pulled off into a small clearing and then reached down under the dash and yanked on something, popping the trunk and then hopping out. He joined her and as he came around to the back of the car, saw her pulling out a shiny metal bat.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"You ever seen Office Space?" Bea replied, lifting the bat high and studying it with a crucial eye.

"Yeah…?"

"Something like that."

She slammed the trunk close and then walked off into the trees that fringed the clearing. He followed after her. She put the bat over her shoulder, walking with an angry strut, and he had to admit he was getting turned on. Was that weird? Maybe, but there was burning, raging confidence in everything she was doing.

And she looked really good today. She was wearing a pair ripped-up bluejeans, some black boots, fingerless leather gloves, a black leather jacket, and her choker collar. All of it accentuated her daunting goth beauty.

Bea came to a halt in another clearing that had an old, gone-to-rot picnic table and a random scattering of weather-worn items and trash.

"You mind sitting? I need some space. I'm about to get loud for like a minute. I just need a minute," she said. "Then we can talk."

"Sure," he replied.

She nodded tightly and then walked over to one of the trees. They were all mostly dead by now, their leaves almost totally gone, standing like headstones. Bea cocked the bat back, shifted her grip on it, rocked from side to side a few times, then…

"FUUUUCCCCKK!"

She began swinging the bat into the tree like a furious, ineffectual lumberjack. Trent winced but held his peace, just watching her, waiting.

"GOD! FUCKING! DAMMIT! SHIT!" she yelled, punctuating each curse with a swing of the bat. The sound of the metal kissing the tree was loud and clear in the frigid air. Bark flew off the tree in chunks each time she struck it.

She was pretty strong for her frame.

She kept at it until she stopped abruptly, and stood there, panting. Finally, her shoulders slumped. She turned around and walked over to where he sat on the picnic table, dragging the bat. She dropped it, then sat down beside him. After a moment, he tentatively put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him almost immediately.

"Whenever you're ready," he said.

"I'm sorry," she replied quietly. "I'm going to cry now."

"I understand."

She began to say something, then abruptly lost herself in a sob. He turned towards her and hugged her and she hugged him back, squeezing him tightly as she started to cry against him. He felt a number of things as he sat there with her, holding her. This was a bit awkward and uncomfortable and it felt like a lot to drop in his lap given he'd moved here less than a week ago and he barely knew her. And yet, at the same time, this felt right. Natural, almost. It felt like he did know her, in the same way Mae had described feeling about him.

And Bea must feel the same way. Given what little he knew about her, that she had come to see him, driven him out to the middle of nowhere, had a breakdown, and started crying against him, had to be a huge display of trust.

It was as scary as it was heartwarming. Not that she was having this breakdown, but that she felt she could trust him to help her in her most vulnerable state.

She cried for several minutes, and then stopped suddenly. After disengaging herself from him, she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out some tissues. After cleaning her face and blowing her nose, she stuffed them back into her pocket, then unzipped her coat, reached into her inner pocket, and pulled out a small canteen.

"Is that, uh…"

"No," Bea said after taking a drink, "it's not booze. It's just water. I don't really drink. Crying makes you thirsty."

"You seem prepared for this."

"Yeah, I knew exactly what was going to happen when I came out here…" She took another drink, then replaced it and shook her head. "God, where the fuck do I even start?"

"Wherever works," he replied.

She laughed bitterly. "Shit. So many things. Little things. Chris, one of the guys that works for me, got a bug up his ass recently and started getting cocky, trying to tell me what is and isn't gonna work. I don't know what is wrong with him. He's always been a bit of a jerk, but he fell in line easily enough. Now? I don't fucking know but he wants to argue about everything. I got into a huge fight with him and I was this close to firing his ass right then and there, but I can't because it isn't my store. I finally got him out of the fucking store on a call. And then there's the shipment, they fucked it up again! And I've gotta tangle with their fucking resources department and they're going to sit there and bullshit me like they always do…

"I was out of cigarettes today and telling myself fine, I was quitting anyway. But I wanted one so fucking bad. And it just kept getting worse. I barely slept last night, and my fucking back hurts, and my knees, my legs, my shoulders. I'm fucking starving. It's fucking freezing now. Then Danny calls up and tells me he quits. He just started a few weeks ago! I tried calling Germ for help but he's not answering. Then some customer comes in, wants to argue about the goddamned nails they bought. I just refunded them, got them the fuck out of there, because I was seriously gonna do to them what I just did to that motherfucking tree."

"That really sucks," Trent said, not sure what else to say. Because it all did suck.

She laughed again, more harshly. "It does. But it's all nothing compared to my big fucking problem. I called my dad and tried to get him to cover for me, to actually come into the goddamned store and do something, and he started giving me shit and excuses and I just...I told him I'm leaving the store whether he comes in or not and then hung up on him. He tried calling me back a few times, but I just-I couldn't talk to him. I'm so fucking angry at him. This is all Mae's fault," she groaned, rubbing her eyes.

"How is it Mae's fault?" he asked.

She sighed heavily. "I mean, it is and it isn't. I can't blame her, not really. But Mae, in her sweet yet fucking dumbass tone-deaf way, when she learned about my particular job situation, told me I shouldn't take it, I should just quit, and it was wrong, what my dad was doing. And she's right! Of course she is, but what's the fucking alternative!? We had a fight about it. Her heart was in the right place, but she can be a fucking dumbass sometimes. I was so fucking mad, because it's like, I didn't fucking ASK FOR THIS! It just got fucking DUMPED in my lap and what the fuck am I supposed to DO ABOUT IT!?"

She shook her head and fell silent for a moment, then lit up a fresh cigarette. "You smoke?" she asked.

"Just weed, occasionally," he replied.

"Ugh, God, I'd kill for some fucking weed. You got any left?"

"No, it was Ann's," he replied. "But maybe we could get some from her?"

"Shit. Maybe. Fuck." She shook her head and took a few more puffs. "That's not even the biggest problem."

"What is?"

"My dad. He's going to fucking die. And then both my parents will have fucking died on me."

"I...is he sick?"

She groaned and took another few puffs. "I mean, maybe. I dunno. I don't have anything, like, definitive. He didn't test positive for cancer or have a stroke or something. But like...have you ever heard that phrase: women survive their men, men don't survive their women?"

"Yeah."

"Well yeah, that's gonna be my goddamned dad. My mom died two years ago. Cancer. It was...the hardest fucking time of my life. When she died, my dad just...I don't know, man. Something broke in him. And I feel for him, I fucking do. I lost my mom, he lost his wife. But it's like he's not...doing anything anymore. He used to at least do shit, like go to the bar and have a drink with his friends, or run the fucking family shop, or go shopping, or fucking anything. He never leaves the apartment anymore. I do everything. I do the shopping, the car maintenance, pay the bills, run the goddamned fucking Pickaxe. SHIT!

"I do everything but he's the fucking adult! He's the parent! It's like, I have to be the parent now! I gave up college so I could take care of him and help run the shop until he got back on his feet and it's just, it's never going to happen! I'm going to be stuck here in this town until he dies and then by then I'll just be stuck here! God, I don't want him to die but I just know he is. He's going to have a heart attack or something and die in his sleep...and then I'll be alone…"

"You don't know that he's going to die, like, soon, Bea," Trent said. "And you have people who care about you. You know Mae does. Ann seems to like you, you and Mae and Gregg and Angus all seem pretty close. Obviously I like you. You aren't alone."

She laughed, then suddenly grew serious and stared hard at him, making direct eye contact. "Thank you, for this. You are a fucking MVP dude. Seriously. Thank you for...all of this. Coming out here with me, listening to me, trying to make me feel better. Letting me just fucking...vent. It means so much. I know I'm just dumping a lot on you, and I apologize, but thank you for helping me with this. You are really stepping up for someone in need."

"I like you, I wanted to make you feel better," he said.

"...and it's just, it's that simple for you?"

"I mean no, I wouldn't do this for anyone. But we...I dunno, connect. I felt something...when we were talking yesterday. And in the shower, too."

She laughed awkwardly and blushed, looking away. "...yeah, I did, too," she admitted. "That's why I came to you. I would've gone to Angus, but he's already got too much on his plate. I guess I would've gone to Mae, but I don't know if that girl knows how to let people vent. You saw how fucking mad I was…"

"Yeah, you pissed and Mae might not be the best combination."

She sighed. "Yep...fuck, I guess I've indulged enough. Goddamnit, I wanted to eat at Mickey's though. That place we went to, nice little diner. They shut the fuck down. I can't believe it. Been months since I was out here, because of money. I used to go there with my mom and dad, sometimes just my mom, it was a special indulgence. They had the best pancakes. And now they're gone...well, time to face the music."

"What do you mean?" he asked as she reached into her other pocket.

"I need to call my dad and apologize. This was stupid. I need to get back to work…"

"I think you deserve some time off."

"Oh, I do too, but an unhappy reality I've been forced to face is that what you deserve doesn't really matter. You get what you get, not what you deserve."

"I feel like I've heard that somewhere before…"

"House. Excellent show. I really fucking identify with the protagonist." She stared at her screen for a second, then sighed heavily and got to her feet while punching a button. "Gimme a minute."

She walked away and he watched her as she began pacing in the clearing. "Hi, dad," she said quietly. "Yeah...I'm sorry. I was gonna shoot someone if I didn't get out of there, but I'm ready to come back now." She paused. "Are you sure?" Another pause. She stopped pacing. "Are you positive about that? You can handle it?...if you're sure. Okay, yes!...thank you, dad. No, uh, I think I'll spend the night at Mae's place...yeah. All right...love you, too. Bye."

She hung up.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He actually came in, and is covering for me for today and tomorrow. Holy shit." She put her phone away, then winced. "Shit, sorry dude, I forgot to ask, uh...can I spend the night? I will def-" She paused and looked around, then lowered her voice. "I will definitely have sex with you."

"I, uh, wow. Yeah, I don't mind and I know Mae will be absolutely over the moon."

Bea stared at him for a moment, then crossed her arms. "So be real with me...this whole you and me hooking up thing, like...is it really on the level? Mae is actually cool with it?"

"As far as I know: yes. Believe me, I had the same reaction. But she's not just cool with it, she's enthusiastic about it. She says she doesn't believe in monogamy, so…?" He shrugged.

"Huh. Interesting. Well...I unexpectedly have some time to myself, and I would love to get high and get laid and eat some huge fucking meal and just fucking turn off for the next forty eight hours, if that's possible," she said, walking up to him and running one finger along his jaw, grinning.

"It is...but, uh...potentially awkward," he replied.

"Why's that?"

"Ann has the weed. I haven't heard from her once since we hooked up. And, like, I feel like it'd be super weird that the first thing out of my mouth when I see her after we had sex is 'hey can I get some weed so I can get high with and fuck Bea?' You know?"

"Yeah...mmm. That'd be...yeah. Well, I mean, I wouldn't be adverse to her being there."

"Huh...all right. Lemme see if I can get in touch with her."

Bea nodded and shivered. "Come on, let's start heading back into town regardless."