Chapter 4: The Name on Millfield Road
Ray wrote the name on a napkin and slid it across the table.
*Tyler Greer.
16.
Lives above the laundromat on Millfield.*
I folded it and put it in my pocket.
"Mom." Evan grabbed my wrist.
"Don't."
"I'm not going to do anything tonight."
"That's not what your face looks like."
I covered his hand with mine.
"I need you to let me handle this."
"They'll make it worse.
If you go to their parents, they'll make it worse for me."
"I'm not going to their parents."
He stared at me.
"Then where are you going?"
"Nowhere tonight." I stood up and looked at Ray.
"Is there a first aid kit here?"
Ray nodded and disappeared into the back.
Dennis was still near the door, composed now, his hands in his jacket pockets.
"I owe you an apology," I said to him.
"You don't owe me a thing."
"My son was on your property every week for five months and I didn't know.
I should have known."
Dennis shook his head slowly.
"Ma'am, your boy showed up the first time with a pair of gardening gloves that were three sizes too big.
Said he'd noticed my hedges needed trimming." A faint smile crossed his face.
"I told him I didn't need help.
He said he'd do it anyway.
Just to practice." Dennis looked at Evan.
"He came back the next Saturday.
And the one after that."
Evan was studying the table.
"He talked about his father," Dennis said quietly.
"Not every week.
But sometimes.
Said his dad used to tell him that the best thing a man could do was show up for people." He paused.
"I think he was showing up for me the way he wished someone had shown up for his dad."
The diner was very still.
Ray came back with a small white kit.
I sat beside Evan and cleaned the cut on his lip.
He winced but didn't pull away.
"Tell me about today," I said.
"What happened exactly."
Evan was quiet for a moment.
"I finished my shift.
I went to Mr.
Dennis's like usual.
We were just sitting on his porch.
Then three of them came around the corner." He swallowed.
"Tyler and two others.
They said they'd been watching.
They said if I came back to this street again, they'd—" He stopped.
"What did they say, Evan?"
"They said they'd burn the old man's porch."
Dennis didn't react.
He'd already heard it.
My hand went still on the bandage.
"I told them to leave," Evan said.
"Tyler shoved me.
I shoved back.
That's when Ray pulled up."
I looked at Ray.
"I was doing a supply run," Ray said.
"I saw the three of them around Evan and I got out of the truck.
Tyler took off when he saw me.
The other two followed." He crossed his arms.
"But not before one of them said they'd be back next Saturday."
I pressed the last piece of tape down on Evan's lip.
"Okay," I said.
"Okay what?" Evan asked.
"Okay, I heard you." I put the kit aside.
"And I have a plan."
"Mom—"
"Not tonight.
Tonight we go home, you eat something, and you sleep." I looked at him steadily.
"But this doesn't go on another week.
I promise you that."
Evan searched my face.
Whatever he saw there made him stop arguing.
Dennis walked us to my car.
At the curb, he put his hand briefly on Evan's shoulder.
"You come back when this is settled," he said.
"The gutters aren't going anywhere."
Evan nodded.
His eyes were bright.
I drove home with one hand on the wheel and one hand on the napkin in my pocket.
Tyler Greer.
Sixteen.
Millfield Road.
I knew one person who could help me.
I hadn't called her in almost two years.
We'd left things badly, and I hadn't found a reason to fix it until now.
May you like
I pulled into the driveway and sat in the dark for a moment.
Then I picked up my phone and called my sister.
