“Kim, Tom gave me jerky. I'm allowed to have it, right?” Sarah asked, already chewing on a massive piece of beef.
“You hugged me and pickpocketed my jerky,” Tom corrected playfully, patting his empty jacket pocket.
Sarah looked at him with a sheepish grin, swallowing the piece whole.
Kim sighed, shaking her head. “I'm not your babysitter, Little Pup. Your mother is still here. You can decide whose jerky you eat. Just know I’m not keeping secrets!”
“Do you know that kid?” Lisa asked, gesturing to where Samuel had disappeared.
“Kind of want to,” Kim admitted, a small smile touching her lips. His eyes, brown but with what looked like gold flecks in them, lingered. Then she turned serious. “How old is he?!”
“Like, seventeen or eighteen,” Jane reassured her. “You’re safe.”
Kim smiled again, relieved.
“Hey, we haven't seen Bigfoot, by the way,” Tom interjected, looking around to make sure no one was listening from outside the group.
“Yeah, I don't think they're coming,” Sarah said, tearing off another piece of jerky. “Mom talked to them.”
“Props to Sarah's mom,” Jane laughed. “She put Bullinger on a leash real quick.”
“Yeah, she said she'd rip his heart out and make him watch as it stopped beating if he ever met with a girl alone again,” Sarah remarked casually, as if discussing the weather.
The laughter died instantly. A few kids from the group stopped eating to stare at Sarah in horrified silence.
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“Thanks, Pup,” Kim joked, breaking the tension.
“I'm sorry,” Sarah said, looking around. She didn't understand what she’d done wrong, but she was desperately trying to figure it out.
“Don't worry about it, Wolf Girl,” Jack said—the kid who had howled at her earlier—coming over to ruffle her hair, breaking the tension.
Kim pulled Sarah close, grounding her. “So, back to the boy?” she asked the other girls. “Come on, details. I ate a potato chip for this.”
Jane laughed. “Not much to tell. He's at mass most Sundays.”
“He's a bit of a weird kid. But, you know,” Jack added with a shrug, “since all that happened in September, we're all trying to do better about judging people.”
“Don't get it twisted, he's cute,” Lisa said. “But he's just sort of... quiet. He's been coming here since at least September, but he talks to no one. At church? Nothing. Today was the most any of us got out of him.” She paused, looking at Kim. “And then, whatever that lightning was between you two.”
“I wouldn't call it lightning,” Kim deflected, mostly because she wasn't good enough with words to describe what it actually was.
“Girl, you kidding?” Lisa shot back. “You got hit so hard I felt it.”
Sarah’s face instantly dropped into a snarl of concern. “Who hit you?!” Her protective streak activated, eyes scanning for a threat.
Kim squeezed her and laughed. “No one, Sarah. It’s a figure of speech.”
The other kids smiled, the tension finally gone.
“So Church?” Kim probed, more about the boy than the sudden revival.
“It's part of the whole do-better thing,” Tom said a little sheepishly. “Plus Father Jeffery is cool.”
“Jeffery is cool!” Sarah piped in, suddenly remembering the generous old priest. Kim was less excited about the old priest since Sek’s visit.
“I demand to be called when Sarah comes to church!” Jack jumped in. Kim shook her head. Her mind wandered back to the boy again.
By the time her mind wandered back, they were joking with Sarah about something.
“So, I'm puppy-sitting this summer,” Kim announced, with a smile.
“Hey, I also like elk, but like, cooked and not pre-chewed,” Jack joked with Sarah.
They joked and talked like that as the sun began to dip lower. Eventually, the distinct roar of a certain vehicle announced the arrival of the rest of the cavalry. Macy, Shannon, and Adam joined them on the bleachers, bringing fresh snacks and fresh snark.
But even in the banter and the teasing, Kim’s mind kept going back to the boy in the jacket. And the way he had looked at her like he knew exactly what she was
