Night Moves: Dream Man/After the Night by Linda Howard Page A

clutching at her legs and getting in her way as she mechanically tried to do her chores.
    After Gray had left that morning, Faith had numbly started packing, but Amos had slapped her on the side of the head and yelled at her not to be stupid. Renee might’ve gone off for a couple of days, but she’d be back, and old man Rouillard wouldn’t let that young son of a bitch run them out of their home.
    Even in her misery, Faith wondered why Pa called Guy an old man, when he was a year younger than Pa.
    After a while, Amos had gotten into his truck and gone in search of a drink. As soon as he was out of sight, Jodie darted into the bedroom and began going through Renee’s closet.
    Faith followed her sister, and watched in bewilderment as she began tossing garments onto the bed. “What are you doing?”
    “Mama won’t need these anymore,” Jodie blithely replied. “Guy will buy her all new stuff. Why do you think she didn’t carry this with her? I can sure use it, though. She never would let me borrow any of her clothes.” This last was said with a tinge of bitterness. She held up a tight yellow dress with sequins around the neckline. It had been oddly striking on Renee, with her dark red hair, but clashed horribly with Jodie’s carroty locks. “I had a hot date with Lane Foster last week and wanted to wear this, but she wouldn’t let me,” she said resentfully. “I had to wear my old blue dress, and he’d seen it before.”
    “Don’t take Mama’s clothes,” Faith protested, her eyes filling with tears.
    Jodie gave her an exasperated look. “Why not? She won’t be needin’ them.”
    “Pa said she’ll come back.”
    Jodie hooted with laughter. “Pa don’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. Gray was right. Why on earth would she come back? Nah, even if Guy chickens out and goes running home to that ice cube he’s married to, Mama will get enough from him to keep herself real pretty for a long time.”
    “Then we’ll have to leave,” Faith said, and a salty tear trickled down her cheek to puddle at the corner of her mouth. “We should be packing.”
    Jodie patted her on the shoulder. “Baby sister, you’re too innocent for your own good. Gray was mad as hell, but like as not, he won’t do anything. He was just shootin’ off his mouth. I think I’ll go see him, and maybe get the same kind of arrangement his pa had with Mama.” She licked her lips, and a hungry look came over her face. “I’ve always wanted to find out if what he has in his britches is as big as I’ve heard it is.”
    Faith jerked away, jealousy slicing through her misery. Jodie didn’t have the sense to see that a snowball would have a better chance at surviving a Fourth of July picnic on the equator than she had of attracting Gray, but oh, how Faith envied her the gumption to try. She tried to imagine how powerful it would feel, to have the self-confidence to walk up to a man and be certain he found her attractive. Even when Gray turned Jodie down, it wouldn’t put a dent in her ego,because there were too many other boys and men panting after her. It would just make Gray more of a challenge to her.
    But Faith had seen the cold contempt in his eyes that morning when he had surveyed the shack and its inhabitants, and shame had shriveled her soul. She had wanted to say, “I’m not like that,” wanted him to look at her with admiration. But she was like that, as far as he was concerned, because she lived in this squalor.
    Humming happily, Jodie took Renee’s gaudy rainbow of clothes into the back room, to try them on and put darts in the bodice, because Renee’s breasts were larger.
    Barely choking back sobs, Faith grabbed Scottie by the hand and took him outside to play. She sat on a stump with her face buried in her hands while he pushed his little cars around in the dirt. Normally he would be happy doing that all day, but after about an hour he came over to her and curled up by her legs, and was soon asleep. She