Brian tapped on Angelina’s front door. He needed her help getting his car fixed. Officer Ingersoll’s irritation after the rear-end accident had stuck with him.
Angelina opened the door, her face turned away as Kaya’s voice bounded from upstairs, “You don’t care if you lose everything, do you? You don’t care if you lose me.”
“I can come back later, Angelina, if you’re in the middle of something.”
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But she grabbed her keys, eager to leave. On their way back from the auto body shop, Brian told her the accident would never have happened if he hadn’t pulled over to throw up.
“Hailey told me how drunk you got. And we agreed it’s good you’re letting loose like everyone else.”
A muscle near Brian’s jaw twitched. “The communal life gets on my nerves. Everyone so certain that just because they know each other’s business they truly know each other inside and out.”
“Welcome to higher education, Brian. You get involved. Otherwise, you end up alone outside. Can you make sure Jacob and Royce come to our meeting tomorrow morning? And Trevor, too, whether I get a word with him this evening or not.”
Brian doubted he could guarantee anything Trevor might do. They still ran the mountain trails every morning. And Trevor routinely dashed ahead, appearing and disappearing so thoroughly that Brian didn’t dare call out to him.
That evening when Carla and Trevor arrived to cook the dinner, Brian noticed Crescent and Lauren shooing him away. Because Trevor broke things.
Brian occasionally, carefully, asked Hailey if she wouldn’t rather eat at their place, just the two of them. But Hailey enjoyed the group and the bonfires so much that Brian pretended he did too. Sometimes he didn’t need to pretend, the beat and heat took over him. Pretending wasn’t lying, Brian decided; it was going along.
The next morning Kaya and Brian sat at the meeting table simultaneously, the first to arrive. Five minutes later, Kaya announced, “No reason to wait for Trevor. The boy craves an entrance.”
The rest sat with notepads and pencils. Royce had finished the geodesic dome and installed high-end space heaters. Acoustical panels hung from the soaring space above. He had built partitions for a dance space and music practice. He wanted to build a theatre, too, before the winter festival.
“The UNC administration is disturbed by the cost,” Kaya said. “After all, the Arts Consortium is set up as a full-fledged college—six teachers for an exclusive fifteen students.”
“Who’s upset?” Angelina asked for what sounded to everyone like the hundredth time. “We’re not in debt to the university; Brian and I adhere to their budget. The rest comes from me. Whoever’s complaining has no right.”
Kaya’s voice was sharp but weary. The women had discussed this many times. “You’ve got to stop selling marijuana, Angelina. But instead you’re pushing more all the time.”
Jacob opened his hands. “I wasn’t sure when to say this, but my woman wants to move to California. Her people have a legal business there.”
Kaya sighed. “Better be careful what I wish for.”
“Trevor can grow the same crop I do,” Jacob said. “We’ll talk day to day.”
“Speak of the devil,” Brian said as Trevor skidded into the room, fresh from a shower.
“Who got lucky last night?” Kaya taunted him. “Lauren or Crescent or who?”
Confused, Trevor looked from Kaya to Angelina. “You vexed?”
“The Police Chief thinks you’re out to break his daughter’s heart.”
“Want me to talk to him?”
“No,” Kaya said. “Angelina wants to do that.”
“So we hold hands,” Angelina said. “Old times sake; it shouldn’t bother you, Kaya.”
“That’s not it and you know it. The Chancellor has asked me twice why I changed my name to Kaya. Someone told him it means marijuana.”
“Ol’ Chancellor ’erb?” Trevor asked. “Old ’erb Harris whose name means the same?”
“It’s pronounced Herb.” For once Kaya smiled. “Spelled the same.” She’d work things out with the officials. Angelina could reassure Everett Clay—Kaya didn’t mind. Brian shut his eyes as if to disappear.
Between the invisible and the inevitable Brian’s trepidation accumulated. Overhead something hideous was looming. That was always so. He tried not to let it get to him.
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