Over the next few weeks, the bright red swelling of Allison's left eyelid faded into an angry, purple bruise, then a dull green splotch. Joshua was overly solicitous to his wife. Fresh flowers adorned the kitchen table every night, and Sammy watched his father do the dishes for a week straight. Prior to that date, he had never before so much as put his dirty plate in the sink. Sammy watched his father out of the corner of his eye, and from time to time he noticed a miserable mask of regret fall over Joshua's face. If Allison was in the room, Joshua would slowly walk to her, brush her hair out of her face, and place gentle kisses along her eyelid and in front of her ear.
Every single time it happened, Allison and Sammy both froze breathlessly and waited for Joshua to drop his hand, sigh, and leave the room.
And as the marks faded, so did Joshua's unusual mood. Sammy and Allison remained careful around him, so careful, and neither of them relaxed their guard. Sammy felt the constant need to escape his house, even when Joshua was nowhere to be found and not due to come home for hours. Allison kept taking care of her son as best she could. He never went without a meal, clean clothes, or assistance with his homework. But his mother seemed to be withdrawing into herself, and he had no idea how to stop it.
She encouraged him to see as much of LeeLee as he possibly could. When Leah came to their house, she put on a broad smile and offered them cookies and milk and acted like the mother he was used to. She asked the little girl about her parents, her baby brother, school, and anything else she could think of. But if the children wanted to go to the treehouse, or eat dinner with Sue and Harry, or run off into the woods, she never stopped them, not even if Sammy hadn't spent an evening at home for a week straight.
And so Sammy went.
X-x-x-x-X
Playing with LeeLee was a great distraction. She was great at finding things to do or inventing things when there was nothing to be found. Harry took them fishing, which they were terribly excited about until they realized that Harry, Billy, and Charlie spent most of the time drinking beer, laughing loudly, and scaring the fish away. But Sammy and LeeLee fashioned their own poles from spare line and thin branches after they failed to catch anything with the small poles that Harry had brought for them. Within twenty minutes, Sammy had caught a small steelhead. It wasn't large enough to keep, but he was infinitely proud that his makeshift pole didn't snap as the fish struggled against it, and LeeLee was as excited as if he had pulled solid gold from the water.
But half an hour later, they were a little bored until LeeLee suddenly dropped her pole onto the rocks and grasped his hand. "This isn't fun any longer," she complained to Harry. "We're gonna go exploring." And she tugged him along the river. He asked her where they were going, but she refused to say. But he was intrigued; the glint in her eye made it clear that she had a destination in mind. Ten minutes and two bends of the river later, they came upon a large set of boulders along the edge. "There it is! We found it!" she declared. "I found this a couple weeks ago, but Billy made me watch Jake because Rach and Becca refused to go fishing, and we couldn't get close because he's so little and doesn't know how to not fall in."
He climbed up first, eager to find out what was in the swirling waters below, before turning and helping her up. So his back faced the gentle eddy when she clamped her free hand over her mouth to muffle an excited squeal. He blinked quizzically at the odd gesture before she pointed down. When Sammy turned around, he saw them: two river otters playing in the protected cove. He understood immediately that they had to be quiet in order not to scare the animals away. LeeLee gingerly made her way to a large, flat rock and gestured for him to follow. They lowered themselves down to their stomachs and peered over the side. They stayed there for at least an hour, during which they also spotted two different kinds of turtles, six kinds of birds, including a huge heron, and a shiny blue-green beetle that walked slowly across LeeLee's arm. But half an hour into the excursion, Sammy stopped looking for animals and let himself stare at the dimple in LeeLee's cheek. That morning he had seen Harry place a messy kiss right onto it, causing her to make the funniest sound he had ever heard. He found himself tempted to do the same. After all, his mommy said that kisses were for people you loved, and didn't he love LeeLee more than anybody but mommy? And wasn't that dimple the most specialest spot on her face? Most people didn't even have one, but Leah had two, one on each cheek. Not to mention, he wanted to hear her make that funny sound again, part giggle, part snort, part squeal.
Instead, after mulling over his options for an overly long time he stuck his finger into it, causing her to shriek, scaring off the otters and the heron. She hardly noticed their absence. Instead, she pinned him down and tickled him mercilessly along his ribs. If he hadn't known that her secret weakness was the space between her collarbone and her neck, he might have died from lack of oxygen, he was laughing so hard. He squirmed until she lost her balance and careened toward him. He turned his head just in time to blow a raspberry into the vulnerable spot but didn't manage to catch her cheek for the kiss he wanted, and she leapt away laughing like a maniac.
Leah was as agile as she was quick. She scrambled off the rocks and along the path before he had even righted himself. He didn't manage to catch her before she made it back to where the men were waiting, and so he didn't manage to steal a kiss, nor did he cause her to make that funny noise again. Yet he still considered it a successful afternoon.
X-x-x-x-X
A month later when summer break was in full swing, he was still on a quest to kiss LeeLee's dimple. He didn't realize how hard it would be. First of all, they needed to be alone. He wasn't sure if she would like it or if she would punch him, and he didn't need witnesses to his humiliation. Second of all, he wanted to kiss the dimple, not just her cheek. And it only appeared if she was smiling just the right kind of smile. Little smiles didn't produce the dimple at all, while big ones turned the dimple into more of a line. When she laughed, it appeared and disappeared without warning. Third of all, he had to be close enough. They were together all the time, but she needed to be within a couple feet of him for it to work. A few times he had found himself alone with her and managed to draw the dimple out of hiding. But he had hesitated, and when he finally leaned forward to close the gap between them, she had stopped and wondered what was going on, and the funny little dip disappeared only to be replaced with little frown lines between her eyebrows. They didn't look like nearly so much fun to kiss, although he couldn't explain why.
To make matters worse, he was on a deadline. In two days, Emily was going to come stay with Leah, and she wasn't going to leave for three whole weeks. It was going to be an eternity. He didn't know if he'd ever get his LeeLee alone again.
So for once, he was the one to suggest they go exploring. Sue was busy trying to get Seth to eat green beans before she left for her evening shift, and Harry was in his office doing something incomprehensible and dull. He and Leah were watching a cartoon starring three animals of indeterminate species, two brothers and a sister, who were reenacting a scene from a play that Sue declared some kind of classic. It made even less sense than whatever Harry was doing, although it was much more entertaining.
During a commercial break he convinced her to go outside. It wasn't difficult. It was raining, but that only meant that there were good puddles to jump into. Sue yelled out for Leah to please try to avoid making a total mess of herself, an instruction they all knew would go unheeded. She donned her rain slicker, floppy hat, and galoshes, looking for all the world like a shiny red toadstool, covered as she was in white polka dots. He pulled on his industrial green poncho and followed her out. He thought her floppy hat might get in his way but figured he would make his way under it, and they set off down the dirt road. Their parents complained about the upkeep of the roads, but the potholes made for fabulous splashing. The deepest ones were at the foot of the hill where the water tended to pool. But when they were only feet away from a temptingly large puddle, Brian Lincoln jumped out seemingly out of nowhere.
Brian was nine, a full three years older than Leah. "That's a pretty girly looking raincoat, seeing as you're a boy, Lee," he taunted. Brian hated Leah Clearwater, and he didn't bother to hide it. A knobby oak stood behind the tribal school, and at the end of the year she had declared that she could climb to a higher branch than anyone else. Brian had laughed at her before she proved herself right and him wrong, and ever since then, he had declared her to be a boy, not a girl, and an ugly one at that.
Sam knew better. Brian was a liar. After all, LeeLee was obviously the very prettiest girl in the school, prettier than the Black twins, prettier than Lily Adams in the third grade, prettier even than Alexa Redstar in the fifth. She was a tomboy, yes, not only the best tree-climber, but also the fastest runner and the next best kickballer other than himself. But he knew every side of her. She would never pull any of the other boys into her treehouse to have tea with her stuffed animals, but she brought him. He knew they would make fun of him if they knew that he sat cross legged on the floor of the structure pretending to sip Earl Grey with her, Mr. Pickles, and Snappy (he still didn't know what Earl Grey was, but LeeLee swore it had a robust flavor). But even if they did find out, he still wouldn't give up tea time. Because the end of tea time always degenerated into a battle to the death between the stuffed animals, and he always got to play with Snappy, who was an alligator, and LeeLee conceded that Mr. Pickles the housecat was no match, although he always put up a surprisingly good fight. Better yet, Leah substituted fruit punch kool-aid for the Earl Grey, and she pilfered Sue's fancy chocolate squares as stand-ins for cucumber finger sandwiches and currant scones, neither of which sounded like they tasted any good.
Besides tea time, Leah also liked to dress up in pretty skirts and dresses, many of which she ruined by then running through the dirt and the rain. It drove Sue crazy. Sammy even allowed her to play with his hair when it grew out, although he drew the line at letting her weave flowers or ribbons through it. But he often brought her wildflowers that he found on the way to her house, and she happily stuck them in hers. He didn't tell her, but he thought she was especially pretty that way.
But whether or not she was more girl than boy, Brian hated her either way. "Hey, if it isn't a couple snot-nosed babies." He turned his sneering face at Leah. "Did your parents toss you out because they realized they have a real boy at home now? Not just a fake wannabe like you? I'll bet they wished they aborted you when they had the chance." Neither knew what this meant, exactly, but obviously it wasn't good.
"You're just a bully, and you don't scare me one bit," Leah answered immediately, swerving around him where he stood in her path.
But Brian wasn't about to let the little girl get the last word, and he wasn't leaving until she was good and afraid. Abruptly, he moved in front of her. "Not scared, huh? You should be. How'd you like it if you ended up in that hole?" He pointed at the pothole next to her.
"Shows what you know," she snorted and jumped right in, splashing him with mucky water.
Brian was incensed. "You filthy little rat!" He leaned forward and took a threatening step toward her, reaching his arms to her shoulders.
But before the bigger boy could push her down, Sammy grabbed him and twisted him around. Brian looked as shocked as he looked angry, but Sammy saw red. The bully had insulted his LeeLee and was going to hurt her. An image of his mother flashed into his brain, bruised and cowering. He might not have been able to stop his father, but there was no way Brian was going to touch Leah again.
Sammy wedged himself between Leah and the older boy. Sammy was big for his age, easily the size of an eight year old, but Brian was taller yet. Sammy didn't care. He pushed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest like he had seen his father do when he got angry, and he screamed, "Don't you dare touch her again!"
But Brian just laughed and reached out a single, mocking finger to poke Sammy in the chest. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, you little brat?" Then he tried to reach around to jab at Leah, but before he could get to her her, Sammy grabbed his wrist and shoved it away.
"You stay away from my LeeLee!" Sammy screamed and thrust his palms out in front of him, hard. Brian went stumbling back.
The older boy's eyes were wide and furious. "You stupid little shit!" As soon as he caught his balance, he started forward again, fists clenched. Sammy braced himself for a blow. But before it landed, Leah darted around him and kicked Brian firmly in the shin. He slipped in the mud, plopping flat on his back in the muck, and as he struggled to right himself, yelling words at them that they knew he wasn't supposed to say, Leah grabbed Sammy's hand and pulled him away.
They sprinted back to her yard and scrambled up the swinging ladder to the treehouse. Sammy made sure she went first and got safely away from Brian, not minding the dirty water that dripped from her galoshes and onto him. So long as nothing happened to her, he didn't care how dirty he got. They yanked up the rope ladder and tumbled into the surprisingly dry structure.
Leah tried to peel off her rain gear but got stuck in the sleeves, then collapsed into a fit of laughter. After he helped her out of the garment and they helped themselves to the stash of granola bars she kept in the corner, she grinned at him, and the dimples appeared. But before he could crawl forward to press his lips to one of them, she shook her head at him. "You know, I could have taken stupid Brian all by myself."
He stopped on his hands and knees. This might have been the case, but she could not possibly have expected him to just sit back and watch her get threatened.
But the dimples hadn't disappeared, so she couldn't have been genuinely upset. She finished, "But thank you for your gallant behavior, good sir."
Then he was just confused. "My what?"
The dimples were gone. Matter of factly, she explained, "Daddy has been reading me a princess story every night for the past thirteen bedtimes. That's what the princess says to the knight who saves her from the dragon. We should go on a quest to find a dragon! We can kill it together and find the treasure!"
"Sure, that sounds like fun!" Then he temporarily forgot about his quest to kiss one of her dimples. Because they began to crawl around the treehouse (which was really a complicated network of caves) in search of the sleeping dragon resting upon a pile of gold.
X-x-x-x-X
By the time they had slain the dragon, he had lost his chance for a kiss. They didn't kill it that first night, and they spent most of the next day chasing each other through the woods behind her house, since the forest paths made a much better labyrinth than the treehouse. They were alone, but he couldn't get close enough to Leah to plant a kiss, plus the dimple kept winking at him before disappearing a second later.
The day after that, he didn't even bother going over to her house. He was too busy sulking that her cousin was visiting. He really didn't feel like sharing his LeeLee. But then his mother brought him along when she went grocery shopping and let him buy a bag of gummy bears, and it was pretty hard to be sad when his mouth was exploding with sweet, chewy goo.
On the following day, Allison dropped him off at Grandma Uley's house for their weekly waffle brunch. It didn't escape his notice that Grandma gave Allison an especially big hug when they arrived, and he wondered why Grandma kissed the tips of her fingers and pressed them gently to his mother's belly.
But when Allison turned to leave, Grandma peered behind them at the otherwise empty porch. "Where's strawberry girl?" she asked.
"Busy," Sammy sighed. Grandma knew Leah's name, he was sure of it. But the first time he had brought her with him to meet Joshua's mother, Sue had sent her along with a small basket of the wild strawberries that grew in the forest that bordered the back of their house. They had cut up the ripe berries and eaten them on the waffles. Ever since then, his LeeLee was "strawberry girl". She really liked the nickname.
Grandma Uley instantly picked up on his bad mood. "But she won't be busy forever, right?"
"Almost a whole month," he pouted.
"Wow. A month is a long time," Grandma nodded soberly. "Did she go out of town?"
He shook his head. "No, she's home. It's just, there's somebody else there. At her house. Some girl."
"Some girl?" Grandma prompted.
"A cousin."
"And you can't go over while her cousin is there?"
"Well, not exactly," he admitted.
"Did she invite you over to see her and her cousin?"
"She said I could come over anytime."
His grandmother smiled warmly at him. "But you'd rather have her all to yourself, is that it?"
Sammy frowned and changed the subject. "I'm hungry. Can we make waffles?"
Her eyes sparkled. "Of course we can, sweetheart."
X-x-x-x-X
It turned out that he couldn't hold out longer than two more days. He didn't admit it to his mother, his grandmother, or even to himself, but he was waiting to see if she would spontaneously appear and beg him to come over and play. He wanted to know if she missed him as much as he missed her. Maybe Leah's cousin was so boring she wanted to pull her own hair out. Maybe she was so nasty that Leah wanted to pull her cousin's hair out. Maybe the other girl would want to play with the baby instead of with Leah. Or best of all, maybe some kind of emergency would cut her visit short and she wouldn't even be there anymore.
No such luck.
When he arrived, he heard Leah's voice drifting out her open bedroom window. His stomach knotted with jealousy when he heard how happy she sounded without him. But just as he was about to turn away and go home without seeing her, he realized what she was talking about. She was talking about him. He knew it wasn't nice to eavesdrop; his mother told him that if she found him hiding behind a door. But LeeLee was talking about him, so didn't that make it his business?
He spotted Sue through the kitchen window and realized there was no good place to hide on the porch, and he couldn't very well climb to the roof without everyone realizing he was there. There was only one place to go. Silently he ascended the rope ladder to the treehouse. He peeked out the little window that faced the house but immediately ducked back down. Leah was sitting on her bed right beside the open window and talking to an unseen someone, presumably the bothersome cousin. Thankfully she wasn't looking in his direction, otherwise he would have immediately gotten caught. And he wasn't ready for that yet.
A funny snorting sound drew his attention. An unfamiliar voice said, "Wait. Is this a real friend or an invisible friend?"
Leah cackled with laughter. "Sammy? Imaginary? He's a real one! Of course he's real!"
The response sounded skeptical. "Then how come I've never seen him? If he's over here so much?"
"I don't know, do you want to go find him? We can go get him and go play. Maybe find the bunnies?"
"No, it's gonna rain," Emily protested.
"So? It's always raining. What's the difference?"
"We'll get wet!" She sounded appalled at the suggestion.
"Yeah, we'll get wet! But not too wet, not if we bring the froggy umbrella."
Emily protested, "Don't get my froggy umbrella wet!"
Sam sputtered a little. What was an umbrella for, if not to get wet? LeeLee apparently felt the same. She was laughing. "You're silly, Em. It's not even raining yet, and there's so much stuff to do outside. Don't you want to go exploring? Don't you want to find the bunnies?"
"I like your room. Let's stay here. It's dry in here." Why did she want to stay in there when LeeLee knew where to find bunnies? Now he wanted to see the bunnies.
"It's boooring in here! Don't you at least want to meet Sammy?"
"I dunno..."
"Sammy's great! He's nice and he's funny and he's smart and he's awesome!" Sammy's cheeks felt hot, and he got a fluttery feeling in his chest.
"You keep saying that."
"That's because Sammy's the best!" Leah repeated.
"Yeah, but..." Emily didn't seem to have a real protest.
Sammy heard squeaking, so he snuck a peek through the window and saw Leah jumping up and down on her bed. Her pigtails were bouncing on either side of her head, and her skirt kept flying up around her waist. "And it's been days and days and days and, like, forever! I haven't seen him in forever! Let's go get Sammy and go find the bunnies!"
Leah's bouncing was apparently displacing her cousin on the bed. Another little girl scooted into view. She seemed to be having trouble keeping her balance as she sat on the moving surface, and she was frantically grabbing at some things laying across the surface. "Leah! Stop it! You're gonna squish my clothes! You're gonna squish my..."
And then Leah bounced down onto her hands and knees, playfully tackling her. This was one of Sammy's favorite games. They would jump and bounce and crash and collide, then get up and do it all again until one of them fell off the bed. Apparently Emily didn't like it nearly as much as he did. "You squished me!" she yelled.
Leah leaned back, looking sheepish, eyes wide. "I'm sorry, I was just playing. Did I hurt you?"
"No. Yes!" Emily felt along her arms and legs dramatically. "Maybe not," she reluctantly admitted. "Just don't do it again."
"I'm sorry." Leah really did look very sorry. She was settling down onto the comforter, curling her arms around her legs. Sammy couldn't stand how sad she looked.
So he stood up fully, and she immediately spotted him. "Sammy! Sammy! Sammy's here!" LeeLee squealed. She jumped to her feet and clapped, but then immediately stopped, not wanting to frighten Emily again. Instead she leaned far out the window and held her arms out to him. "You're here!" Dimples appeared in each of her cheeks, and he wished he could fly over to her.
"I'm here!" he called out. "I want to play!"
"I found bunnies, Sammy! Do you want to see them?"
"Yeah! Where are they? You have to show me!"
She started climbing out the window, but Emily grabbed her leg. "What are you doing?" She looked shocked.
"Going to Sammy!" Leah pointed at him. "We have to find the bunnies! Come with us!"
Emily blinked, her jaw open wide. "That way? Out the window? You're gonna fall!"
Sammy was already halfway down the rope ladder. He heard Emily protesting against Leah's plan, and he waited impatiently on the ground as they argued. Eventually, a pair of dirty sneakers landed a foot away from him, and he looked up to see Leah peering at him from the low hanging roof. She grinned widely at him. "Hi!" Then she slid down the post holding up the roof and landed at his side.
He grabbed her hand, not caring whether her cousin was coming or not. He highly doubted it after what he had heard. "Hi. Show me the bunnies!"
She had to let go of his hand to put on her shoes, but she grabbed it again before she took off into the woods. He forgot all about her cousin. Ten minutes later, when she pointed out an elderberry bush overhanging a little hole in the ground, he recognized the hole for what it was: a rabbit den. It only took a few more minutes of searching the area to come upon the inhabitants, who were eating dandelions. That led Leah to make up a story about a family of bunnies that sounded suspiciously like Peter Rabbit. Sam embellished details of her story, which prompted her to send her fictional bunnies off onto an adventure involving a flying squirrel, which segued them into a discussion about squirrels hoarding nuts for the winter, which made them talk about walnuts, which initiated a discussion about whether brownies were better with or without nuts (they agreed that brownies were good, and nuts were good, but not together), which made them both hungry.
Their growling bellies finally urged them to go home and find food. Sammy dragged his feet a little on the way, finally remembering that her house would have the strange girl in it. In fact, he walked so slowly that Leah actually pointed it out. She wanted to know why. And despite not wanting to tell her, he did anyway. She had a way of pulling the truth from him. "I like it better when it's just you and me," he admitted, focusing on a caterpillar crawling along the forest floor.
"Me too," she answered softly.
And when he looked up at her, she was smiling at him with just the right side of her mouth. Which meant that her dimple appeared only in her right cheek. He zeroed in on it and when it didn't disappear, he leaned in quickly and pressed his lips to it.
She was soft and warm, and a little tingle swept from his mouth down to his belly. It was wonderful.
Then he ran away.
X-x-x-x-X
He hadn't managed to make LeeLee make the funny noise she had made when her father had kissed her dimple, but he wasn't exactly disappointed. He hadn't been expecting the tingle. The tingle was as good as the funny noise. Maybe even better.
On the other hand, now he was much too embarrassed to go see LeeLee again. Was he supposed to do it again? Was he supposed to pretend he had never done it at all? Was he supposed to ask her if she liked it as much as he had? He had no idea. So he avoided figuring it out by staying at home.
He was a bit disappointed that she didn't come to see him either. Or he was until he found out that Harry and Sue had apparently decided to take a couple days off work and had taken the entire family camping. They had left the day after he kissed LeeLee. Sam snorted, trying to imagine cousin Emily camping. If the girl couldn't stand to get her umbrella wet, how was she going to survive the woods? He thought it was funny until he wondered if Leah had actually asked to be taken camping just to get away from him. She wouldn't do that, would she? She was still his best friend, wasn't she?
She had to be. He didn't know what he would do without her.
But he fretted about it enough that he decided not to try anything like it again, not even if the tingly feeling in his tummy was really, really nice. Not unless she asked him to. After all, his LeeLee wasn't exactly shy about saying what she wanted.
So by the time she came back, he had resolved not to kiss her and not to think about it. Best to pretend it never happened. Instead, the day she was due to come home, he stuffed his backpack full of supplies. Allison noticed and was about to stop him, thinking that the last thing the Clearwaters wanted upon arriving home was yet another extra child to deal with, one who probably wanted to camp out in their treehouse when they all probably wanted to sleep in their beds. But then she noticed how wobbly Joshua had become after several beers that evening, saw him open the cabinet and reach for the Johnny Walker, and decided that Sammy was better off somewhere else that night. So she didn't stop him, instead kissing the top of his head as he set out the door.
He arrived an hour too early. The minivan was missing from the drive and the doors were locked. He scrambled up the porch to the roof and slid open her window before jumping in. The room was littered with unfamiliar things. Not LeeLee's things. He picked up a little mirror bordered by frilly lace, hair ties with big plastic balls on the end, and a brown plastic horse. These foreign items in her room made him uncomfortable, so he left the way he came and went to the treehouse. He pulled a juice box and a Justice League comic from his backpack and settled in to wait. He couldn't stop his knee from bouncing as he waited for her, but there was no one here to mind (Joshua couldn't stand it when he did that). He read and re-read the same page in which the Joker was taunting the Batman, over and over and over. He couldn't focus. He just wanted his LeeLee to come home.
After an eternity, she did.
He screamed out the little window as soon as he heard the car pull up and the door slam. "LeeLeeLeeLeeLeeLeeLee!"
She came tearing around the side of the house and practically flew up the rope ladder. She jumped up and down, he jumped up and down, and they grabbed at each other's arms. He wasn't certain what she was talking about; her mouth couldn't keep up with her brain. But it had something to do with peeing. Of that he was sure, particularly since once she stopped bouncing, she started doing a squirmy little dance and clutching at the hem of her shirt.
"Go to the bathroom!" he finally ordered, pointing at the house. "And then come right back here and don't leave me again!"
She flung her little arms around his neck and reassured him, "I'd never really leave you, Sammy. Not ever."
Then she disappeared over the edge. He watched her run into the house and caught a glimpse of the back of Emily's head, but that was the last he saw of her cousin that night. Despite Leah's pleading, Emily refused to step foot on the loosely swinging rope ladder or to sleep on anything other than a mattress. Sam was thrilled at her decision, and despite Sue's admonitions not to abandon her cousin, LeeLee flatly refused to sleep apart from her Sammy for another night. And since Emily balked at the notion of a boy joining a sleepover in Leah's room, Leah and Sammy fled to the treehouse, pulled the ladder after them, and refused to come down.
The next day, LeeLee was in trouble. But she declared that he was worth it. Sammy was still in the treehouse debating whether it was safe to try to ask Sue for breakfast before he went home when Sue forgot about being mad at Leah for ditching Emily for the night. Sammy hadn't thought anything of it when he heard her answer the phone, but when she came outside and gently called up to him that he was staying with them for the rest of the day and that night, his stomach fell into his feet.
He trudged slowly inside. All day long, he imagined the worst. Or the almost-worst, anyway. Sue reassured him that his mother would be fine and that she would pick him up the next day. He hardly cared about the presence of the strange girl in the Clearwater home. They ignored each other all day long. And he barely noticed when Sue left for her evening shift. No one reprimanded Leah for sticking to his side like glue, and even Emily did not say anything about the fact that Leah could hardly do anything for herself with one of her hands locked tightly with his. No one protested when she followed him up into the treehouse to curl up with him in the sleeping bag and shared her purple pillow with him. He fell asleep with his face buried in her neck.
And when Allison arrived the next day looking none the worse for wear, he breathed a sigh of relief, practically slid down the ladder, and threw himself at his mother. It wasn't until she winced and he made contact with something hard under the jacket she had loosely draped around her arm that he pulled the fabric back and saw the plaster cast she had been hiding. She smiled warily. "I'm fine, Sammy. I just fell down the stairs."
He didn't believe her. He should have waited, he realized that years later, but he was terrified and infuriated all at once. When he noticed how she had her good arm wrapped around her belly instead of around him, he yanked up her shirt before she could stop him, baring her black and blue stomach for Sue and Harry to see.
He didn't remember much after that, just a haze of tears and anger and fear. But as he lay in bed that night, wishing desperately to be back in the treehouse or LeeLee's bed instead of his own, he heard low, rough voices floating in through the wall. He recognized Sue's voice as well as his parents'. He didn't know exactly what it meant, not then, but the words, "baby" and "never" and "sorry" were repeated over and over. Finally, what was loud and clear was the sound of the front door slamming and Joshua's heavy boots as he stormed away.
Sammy hoped he would never come back. But the next morning, when he went to the table, his father was sitting there silently reading the newspaper. Sammy refused to look him in the eye or say good morning, but he was certain that Joshua didn't care.
X-x-x-x-X