The nice thing about a long drive, Candice thought the next day, was that it gave her some quiet time to think, and heaven knew she needed to do that.

Someone had to drive over to Sault Ste. Marie, where Shay was attending Lake State University, so he could come home for the holiday break. At one time John and Candice had more or less planned on sticking Cody with the job, but that had been before it became clear that Janice would be nervous to have him gone for that long. She said she’d be willing to go with Cody to do the chore, but it was clear to everyone that she wasn’t up for a ride that long just yet. Since John had shorted his office time earlier in the week and had to catch up, there was no choice but to get Tiffany to watch the store again so Candice could make the trip.

At least after the discussion the day before, Candice had no worries about leaving Cody and Janice alone together for a long day. Cody had been pushing her hard to get her caught up on her school work, and she’d worked at it single-mindedly, along with his help. They planned on working on it again today, and Candice had little doubt that was exactly what would get done.

Driving in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula around Christmastime can be an iffy proposition, especially when the weather is marginal. The roads can get bad, and if something occurs, being stranded a long way from anywhere is quite possible. Given that, Candice decided to get on the road before daybreak, with the hope of being back in Spearfish Lake before dark. She stood a good chance of it if she didn’t get held up along the way. So after getting Cody and Janice up and running, it was just starting to brighten outside as she got the minivan on the road. As it grudgingly got light, Candice could see that it was heavily overcast and spitting some snow. While the weather report wasn’t very good, it at least seemed to indicate that no real bad weather was to be expected. Conditions were good enough that she didn’t have to may much attention to her driving and could concentrate more on what was really bothering her: the strange relationship that seemed to be evolving between Cody and Janice.

As before, Cody and Janice had spent the night together, apparently as innocently as always, with Cody’s P226 on the bedside stand, of course. Despite the conversations with each of the kids the day before, Candice still couldn’t help but be a little antsy about the arrangement. As far as she could tell, it would be all right so long as things remained static, but there is no certainty in life except change. What that meant for the future, Candice couldn’t say.

One of the things that had come out of the conversation with Cody was that he seemed to be dealing pretty well with the deaths of Jack and Bobby Lufkin. Perhaps it would have been nice to have seen a little remorse, but Cody apparently didn’t have it in him after seeing the way that Janice had been treated. When she got right down to it, Candice was right with him on that; if it had been her in the same situation she most likely would have wound up feeling much the same way. That was a hard way to feel, she realized, but she’d seen the effects on Janice.

The girl had clearly been through a special hell, and there was no doubt that it had affected her. From what Candice had seen the worst of what had happened had been in the last few months – probably about the time that Jack and Bobby Lufkin had gotten seriously involved with meth, she surmised without any evidence. Considering what Cody had seen and done, it wasn’t surprising that he felt very sympathetic toward her; in fact, Candice realized that she would have felt very disappointed in her younger son if he hadn’t been.

It might be that Cody was overdoing it a little, but maybe that might just be the initial reaction. It might well wear off as time went by and Janice recovered from her ordeal and regained some health and the ability to do things on her own. In fact, that was what Candice hoped would happen. But when she got right down to it, Candice realized that she was going on instinct, shooting in the dark, as it were. It might well be that Cody was going to need some professional counseling to help get things in perspective, but she was a little doubtful about that. It seemed likely that a counselor might want to focus on the shooting, on Cody’s remorse, or rather, lack of remorse over the killings, rather than on what discovering Janice’s situation was having on him. That meant they needed a counselor who had his head screwed on pretty good.

Maybe she ought to talk to Gil Evachevski about it. Gil was hardly a professional counselor, but he’d done a good job of putting Cody back together on the night of the shooting. In fact, he’d done a good job of putting all of them back together, making them get things into perspective on that night of nights. Candice couldn’t help but think that Gil’s approach was something that a lot of professionals wouldn’t have considered, but it seemed a lot more realistic under the circumstances of what had happened.

As far as that went, Janice really was the one who needed some professional help. Realistically, she seemed to be bearing up well so far, but she seemed very dependent on Cody, maybe a little too dependent. Again, that was something that might fade as time went on and she regained her health, because right now she did need a lot of support. But her experience had to have warped her in ways that Candice couldn’t hope to understand, couldn’t hope to figure out how to deal with, and that wasn’t a field that Gil Evachevski could be expected to know. The only logical thing Candice could think of was to talk to Gene Metarie, to see if he might be able to suggest an understanding counselor who could lead them through the uncharted territory.

Mile after mile rolled by almost unnoticed as Candice’s thoughts explored the whole situation. Where was this all going? Would Cody and Janice draw apart as she got better, or would they get even closer? Despite Cody’s protest yesterday, would their sleeping together evolve into, well, sleeping together? How did she feel about that? If it started to develop, what should she do? Getting past the sympathy for a stray kitten part, how did she really feel about Janice? From what Candice could see beyond the hurt kid, there were glimmerings of an intelligent and likeable girl there, but was Janice a girl she would like to see Cody get together with? Good questions, lots of good questions, and not many answers.

For some reason that Candice couldn’t put her finger on, she didn’t particularly like Sault Ste. Marie or Lake State University. Shay seemed to be happy with the place, and seemed to be doing well for having only just completed his first semester, so she supposed she couldn’t complain. After all, it was his decision; the scholarship he got was good if not fantastic. It looked like he’d at least be getting a college degree out of it, although what he would wind up doing wasn’t clear to her, and she suspected he didn’t have any idea yet, either.

The hell of it was that she suspected that the big reason Shay had decided on Lake State in the first place was that Ontario was right across the river, where the drinking age was nineteen; it seemed likely that he’d made a few trips across the bridge. Shay liked his good times, and he’d probably had some, although there hadn’t been any word of that getting back to Spearfish Lake, or none that she’d heard about, anyway.

A few miles out of town Candice called ahead on her cell phone to warn Shay that she was close. A little surprisingly his cell phone was charged up for once, and he said that he was ready to go. Another call from the parking lot soon brought him down, carrying a small suitcase and a couple of huge, well-stuffed laundry bags, making it clear that the washer and dryer were going to be getting a workout back in Spearfish Lake.

“Hi, Mom,” he said as he quickly threw his bags in the back seat, and got into the front of the minivan. “I thought Cody was coming for me.”

“No, we decided that Cody should stay home with Janice,” Candice told him as he buckled his seat belt. “She seems to be happier when he’s close by.”

“Wow,” he grinned. “Sounds like she’s got him wrapped around her little finger.”

“No, not really,” Candice replied as she started to drive out of the parking lot. “I know we haven’t told you much about her, but she’s very fragile right now. She’s been through a lot, and we’re all very concerned about her. I think she’s just happier to have Cody close by because he literally rescued her in a very trying situation.”

“Yeah, I suppose it had to be pretty traumatic, from what I’ve heard about it.”

“From what I’ve found out, traumatic is hardly the word. Horrifying might be a better one. She said in the hospital that she thought Cody was an angel that God sent to rescue her, and really, I haven’t seen much to say that she’s changed her mind.”

“Some angel, packing a nine millimeter,” he grinned. “So he got away with it?”

“That’s probably not the word to use. He’s not going to get prosecuted, which amounts to the same thing. We were all very relieved when that was made official.”

“Yeah, no doubt. You know, I was a pretty surprised when you told me about it, but now that I think about it, that’s just the kind of thing that Cody would do.”

“I’ve come to think that myself,” she agreed. “But if we’re going to talk about it, we’d better do it before we get home. That’s still kind of a sensitive issue with both Cody and Janice, and we try to not go there if we can help it.”

“I can imagine,” Shay shook his head. “So what’s this Janice like? I don’t remember her from high school.”

“We’re still finding out ourselves. She’s rather quiet. From what Cody tells me, she wasn’t very visible around school, just one of those kids who’s there but you don’t notice very much. She seems like a smart kid, but she’s been badly hurt and is very weak and fragile. She can’t do much for herself with a broken arm, ribs, and her other injuries, so we’ve all been helping out. Don’t be surprised if she doesn’t warm up to you right away.”

“Yeah, I suppose she’d have a problem trusting strangers.”

“When you get right down to it, she has a problem trusting anyone but Cody, although she seems to trust him implicitly. I had to take her to the doctor yesterday, and she was very unhappy that Cody wasn’t going with us. It took both Cody and me to get her to go along with it, and she was pretty happy to see him when he got home after we got back.”

“Wow, it sounds like she’s really hung up on him.”

“She is, but not the way you’re thinking. Like I said, I think she sees Cody as an angel sent to protect her, and Lord knows she needed protecting. It’s still causing her problems, although it’s one of those things we hope that time will heal. Cody, well, Cody seems to feel that it’s his job to watch out for her. I think he sees her as a stray kitten that got picked up off the street, all wet and starving. He wants to see her happy and healthy and purring, and I can’t blame him. It’s that kind of sympathy, and don’t get on him about it, at least around her, because it might cause things to get set back. Like I said, she’s just very fragile right now.”

“I’ll try to help out where I can,” Shay shook his head. “It just seems, well, strange, to have a girl hanging around him like that. Cody hasn’t been real interested in girls, at least that I can remember.”

“He hasn’t been very social, that’s for sure,” Candice agreed. “But this is different. This isn’t social, this is, well, sympathetic for the lack of a better word. Like I said, she feels safe when she’s with him, and frankly, I don’t blame her in the slightest.” She took a deep breath, and tried to figure out how to phrase something that had to be said. “Look, I’ve got to tell you something that has to just stay in the family, because I don’t think it should get out.”

“I can keep my mouth shut if I have to.”

“Good. When Janice was first with us, she had nightmares that her father and brother were coming after her again, even if Cody was with her. He solved the problem. She’s been sleeping in his bed with him, and he has the P226 on the bedside stand. He told her that if they came after her in her dreams, he’d just have to kill them for her again. She hasn’t had a nightmare since, at least as long as she’s in bed with Cody and he has the P226 with him.”

“Hold it!” Shay exclaimed. “They’ve been sleeping together?”

“Just sleeping, nothing more. She’s not really in any kind of shape to do anything more and Cody knows it. What’s more, he’s got a good reason not to do anything more, because he sees himself as protecting her. And he is protecting her, even in her dreams.” She let out a sigh. “But you can see why that’s something we wouldn’t want to get spread all over town.”

“Mom, that’s a little hard to believe.”

“You think it’s hard for you to believe? It isn’t any easier for your father and me, but we’ve seen it working. And one of the things that you need to understand is that just because your brother is spending the night with Janice doesn’t mean that it’s all right for you to invite Bethany over for the night. It’s not the same thing, and we both know it.”

“But Mom . . . ” he started, then paused to think about it. “Yeah, I guess it’s not the same thing, but if Bethany found out about it, she’d have a hard time believing it.”

“Which is why we don’t want Bethany or anyone else to find out. Now look, you know how I feel about Bethany, but you’re an adult now so I suppose there’s not a lot I can say. But I will say this: I haven’t talked this over with Cody or Janice, but if you can be quiet about what they’re doing I’ll see if we can’t work out an opportunity now and then for the rest of us to leave you and Bethany alone. It’ll probably be during the day sometime. What you do with that time is up to you, and what we don’t know won’t hurt us. Just be careful and don’t do anything irreversible.”

“Thanks, Mom. I never really expected that.”

“I’m not crazy about the idea, but considering everything else, I don’t see what else we can do to be fair, and I was a horny college kid myself once, believe it or not. Like I told you, I’m not exactly fond of Bethany and you know it. But it’s your funeral, and you’re getting a better deal out of us than I expect you’ll get out of the Frankoviches.”

“Yeah, Bethany’s mom can be kind of a pain in the butt. She wants to have everything done her way or it’s the highway. This will help a lot.”

“So when is she going to be home?”

“Not till Saturday, she’s got exams downstate on Friday. I probably won’t get to see her much till the first of the week.”

“That’ll give us a while to get everything worked out, then.”

“Thanks, Mom,” he shook his head in disbelief. “I really appreciate it. I take it that Cody and Janice aren’t going to school yet?”

“Not right now,” Candice explained. “There’s still a week of school to go, but Mr. Hekkinan over at the school worked it out for them to do their assignments at home. Janice is in no way ready to go back to school, and we’re all a little concerned that Cody is going to get some fallout from the shooting. We all pretty much agreed that if they don’t go back to school before Christmas some of the talk should die down.”

“Maybe,” he shook his head. “That kind of stuff kind of hangs over you at the school, no matter what Mr. Hekkinan says. A lot of kids get put down when something happens, and I wouldn’t doubt that Janice will take as much shit as Cody will.”

“I think people will be sympathetic, at least to her.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” he sighed. “I’ve been in that place a lot more than you have, and there are plenty of kids who hand out shit so they can enjoy handing it out. I never had much problem with it, but I know Cody has taken some in the past.”

“Cody hasn’t said much about it,” she replied. “Well, he said at one point that he sort of snuck by while you were there, and that he’s still been sneaking by since you’ve been gone.”

“Yeah, some of the real assholes knew he was my brother and if they got on his case too bad they’d have to deal with me,” Shay confirmed, “but with this, that’s probably over with.”

“You may be right. If you are, it’s just one more concern to have to deal with. I think Cody can take care of himself if he has to, but looking out for Janice, well, that’s a totally different problem. And he’s going to feel that he has to look out for her, whatever else happens. Believe me, if you have any idea about what we can do about it, I’m ready to listen.”

“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “I still know some people at the school. Maybe over Christmas I can have a little talk with some of them. I don’t know how much good it’ll do, but maybe it’ll help.”

“Anything you could do would be appreciated,” she said.

“If all else fails, I can let a few of the pains in the ass know that I can still come back and bust heads if I need to.”

“That might be a little extreme,” Candice smiled, “but it might get the message across, too. Like I said, any help you can give will be appreciated.”

“Well, I’ll have to be able to get out and around a bit to be able to do it. I won’t be able to if I’m stuck at home without wheels. Mom, I have to ask. Have you decided anything about giving me the Escort?”

“No, we haven’t even talked about it,” she replied honestly; what with everything else that had happened, it hadn’t even crossed her mind. “My feeling is that the parking situation at the college probably hasn’t changed, and frankly we’ve got other things to deal with that are a higher priority. However, when spring comes, we probably can work something out. At least over break, I think we can cut you some slack on having wheels to get out with Bethany a bit, and maybe hang out with friends or something. I expect that Cody and Janice will mostly be at home except when they have to go someplace, even if it’s to give you and Bethany a little breathing space.”

“Well, that’s good,” he said. “But I was kind of thinking about maybe being able to get away over a weekend to drive down and see her. There’s just no way I can do it without wheels.”

“It’s only one more semester at the worst case. Like I said, there are other issues we have to deal with right now, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to come up with a car for you to take to Cedar Point in the spring. Maybe before, I don’t know.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he sighed. “But we were also talking about maybe driving down to Florida for Spring Break, too.”

“No promises about that,” Candice smiled, remembering a couple times that she’d made the trek to Daytona Beach on Spring Break, what seemed like not all that long before. Those had been wild and crazy times; the second trip with John had been even wilder and crazier than the first, when she’d gone with a bunch of girls from her dorm. They were pleasant memories, and she could understand her son wanting to experience some of that, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted him to. At his age, it really wasn’t her decision to be making. “You might think about flying,” she suggested. “I remember that parking was really a pain in the butt down there.”

They rode on quietly for a ways, down the few miles of four-lane they would see on the trip, then turned off onto the first of a long series of two-lanes that would take them back to Spearfish Lake. A few miles off the Interstate, Shay asked, “Mom, maybe this is premature of me to ask, but what’s going to happen with Janice?”

“That’s a darn good question,” Candice sighed. “I really can’t give you an answer to it. She’s got to regain her health before we can even think about it, but we’ve agreed to help get her through high school.”

“Is she thinking about college?”

“I really don’t think she has,” Candice admitted. “We haven’t talked about anything that far in the future. Back when Janice was still in the hospital, Cody said that he doubted that she’d done any planning any further ahead than how she was going to survive the next day, and I suspect he was right. That’s something that we’re going to have to bring up at some point, but I don’t think she’s quite ready for it yet.”

They rode on down the empty roads through the spitting snow back toward Spearfish Lake, sometimes talking, sometimes not. But, when they weren’t talking, Candice was pondering the point that Shay had made. It was only what? Less than a year and a half before both Cody and Janice would be graduating. She was sure that Cody had been doing some thinking about his future, possibly becoming a police officer, but she also knew it hadn’t been settled yet. But Janice? Like she’d told Shay, there hadn’t been any discussion about it. There needed to be, and soon, because in that year and a half there would have to be some sort of an end strategy evolved for Janice. At this point no one had even raised the question, much less done anything about working out an answer.

When you picked up a stray kitten off the street, you took on the responsibility of caring for it the rest of its life, either yourself, or by getting someone else to do it. It was no less true with Janice, and it was something else to think about.

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