The Outliers
Page 11

"She's the bravest woman in entire damned world."
 
Finn placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. I loved how he always seemed to know when I needed to be reassured and at that moment I needed it more than ever. I'd been wrong. My gut and my head and my heart had all thought the worst.
I'd been wrong.
So very very wrong.
"I never...wow," I said, instantly feeling hurt and shame at ever suggesting my mother was selfish.
"There are only two things I regret in this life. Not finding you two, getting to you sooner is one of those things."
"What's the other?" Finn asked, twirling his beer around in his hand.
Critter didn't hesitate when he glanced up at us with cold hatred in his eyes.
"Not killing that son of a bitch, Richard, twenty-two fuckin’ years ago."
 
 
Chapter 6
 
 
Finn
 
 
When my phone rang I left Sawyer and Critter on the porch to talk to answer it. "Hi, Mom."
"Honey, how are you? It's been days and you haven't called."
"I talked to you yesterday, Mom," I reminded her.
"Are you sure? It seems like longer."
"I'm sure," I said, smiling into the phone.
"You sound a lot different. Does this have anything to do with the girl I've heard all about from everyone in that town except my own son."
I looked to where Sawyer was talking with Critter and my heart warmed. "Yeah, something like that."
"Finn Hollis, you bring that girl up here for a visit the very second you get a chance. We'd come there but your father's asthma has been acting up. It’s a little too humid this time of year."
"Stop making me sound like an old man," my father grumbled in the background.
"Then stop doing old man things like sucking on your teeth after breakfast," my mother scolded.
"You two haven't changed," I said.
My mother's tone turned serious. "Finn, we haven't seen you in a long time. Well, not since…” She paused like she was waiting for something. A reaction of some sort.
"You can say her name, mom. It's fine. Jackie. Her name was Jackie." I was downright proud of how far I’d come. Saying her name used to bring nothing but pain. Now it was a name associated with a girl I’d once loved and lost.
And that was okay.
She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Christ himself. It wasn’t long ago you treated her name like a swear word. A bad one. Like the one you called your English teacher in the third grade. What nine-year-old calls their teacher a cu— “
My father interrupted. "Son, are you coming up here or do we have to bribe you? We've only been asking for two years now," my dad yelled to the phone.
Phone calls with my parents used to be stressful. I’d spend every moment trying to convince them I was okay when I wasn’t. Lately I hadn’t even had the urge to hang up and throw my phone in the swamp.
I crossed my arms. "That depends. What have you got to bribe me with?"
"Cobbler and your favorite fried chicken sandwiches?" My mother asked. My stomach growled at the thought of my mother's famous chicken. "And I'll have Ethan come get you then you won't have to drive."
"And you'll bring that girl of yours so we can meet her?" She asked hopefully.
I looked to Sawyer and our eyes met. She smiled.
"Definitely."
 
 
Chapter 7
 
 
Sawyer
 
 
Ever since Critter and I had spoken a few days ago I felt better. Lighter. But the lingering dread over an uncertain future was starting to weigh on me. I felt drained. My eyes were tired as was my mind. The thought that lingered with me the most, the one that whispered through my ears like an unseen mist was that Richard was still out there. There was a possibility he'd come for me. After all, I'd stolen from him and he hated me because he blamed me for my mother's death. Any other man in the world would have no reason to come find me, but Richard Dixon wasn't any other man. I knew sooner or later he'd come. I'd always known that. But one thing had changed.
Mom.
If Richard came for me and found her instead...I hated to think of what would happen. Maybe if we left Outskirts, just for a little while, just until the tent service packed up and left, then we could keep him from discovering she was alive.
I was about to voice the idea to Finn when he sat down beside me on the dock and distracted me with his bare chest and rippling muscles. When he smiled at me my stomach and something a bit lower did a little flip of happiness.
"What's that look on your face? Not a good book?" He asked, pointing to the book open on my lap.
MODERN RELIGIONS FOR A MODERN WORLD
Book?
"Oh. Yeah. It's not that it's not good. It's that I don't think it's really what I was looking for," I said, staring down at the title of the chapter and reading it again in case I'd read it wrong the first time around.
Nope. I'd read it right.
"What?" Finn asked, leaning over to glance at what I'd been reading. I breathed in his fresh scent and leaned back into him ever so slightly to better feel the warmth of his chest through my thin tank top.
I scanned the article quickly and gave him the stand out points. "There is a religion called Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The basis for it is that the followers of this religion believe a being they call the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world and everything in it. It's literally flying pasta and meatballs," I said, pointing to the picture below the caption. I closed the book and set it to the side, shaking my head in disbelief.
"How is that any stranger than believing that a man walked on water or rose from the dead?" Finn asked, leaning back on his hands. "Or that cows are sacred animals? Or that there are people who keep a piece of toast for decades because they swear they can see Jesus Christ’s the image of Jesus Christ burned into it by the toaster.”
"Well, now that you put it that way, Flying Spaghetti Monsters don't seem all that strange.” I replied playfully.
Finn grabbed my hand. “That makes sense, but the thing is, this all may seem crazy to us but to a lot of people it brings them peace, makes them feel whole. Gives them purpose. It’s not up to anyone to decide what’s crazy and what’s not. If it makes someone feel whole then more power to them.”