Chapter 15

Forrest liked having Nero in the passenger seat. It felt right. He was almost as proud of the truck as he was the farm.

Painted a dark purple, the truck even had wooden slats along the bed. Purple PhazeFarm was painted in a funky font across the doors. As a final touch, the tops of the L and the H were lavender fronds in different stages of bloom.

"This is damn cool," Nero commented, running his hand across the dashboard. "Original radio too, wow."

"Thanks." Forrest grinned over at him. "It's my pride and joy." He patted the steering wheel. "But I did just buy a 1963 GMC Greyhound bus. It has an incredible custom paint job, almost magical. Sea creatures, mermaids, all this underwater shit. Blues, pinks, and purples. It even runs. I can't wait to get it over here."

With everything that had happened, Forrest hadn't had a chance to make plans to pick it up yet.

"What are you going to do with a bus?" Nero asked. "Your farm isn't big enough for a driving tour, is it?"

"Nah." Forrest turned left onto the highway and began heading south back into town. "I might turn it into a shop though. The kiosk is great and I'll keep it, but I want to sell other stuff too. Might put an espresso machine in it, maybe have some seating for customers. It's a behemoth."

"I'd love to see it."

For a mile or so, they were both quiet, Forrest feeling guilty as they passed Levi's place. He didn't know what Nero was thinking about.

"It's a shame about Cooper Mansion," Nero said, breaking the silence. "Have you ever been inside it? I know it was donated to the city in the 1980s."

"Yeah, that's a no fucking thank you very much. Gramps forbade it."

"And I can tell you always listened to what he had to say. Why didn't he want you inside there?"

Forrest didn't have an answer. Ernst Cooper had never lived there himself, his father having moved out before he was born.

"You've got me there. But the mansion was one place I at least stayed away from. Maybe other kids, the ones who had baby teeth before being told scary stories, checked it out."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. Dina believed in scaring the shit out of me."

"Can I ask you something?" Nero asked.

"You just did."

"Ha, ha."

"Go ahead."

"You seem to only refer to your mother by her first name, not Mom or Mother. Is that your preference or was it hers? Was Witt the same?"

"I called Witt ‘Papa.' Dina insisted on her first name and by the time Lani and I moved in with Grandpa, it was just how I knew her."

"Did Lani call Dina mom?"

"We don't talk about her much, but I guess sometimes. Why?"

A quick glance told him Nero was staring out at the glimpses of ocean that could be seen through the stands of trees. "It's just odd, comparatively. Most kids use Mom, Dad, whatever."

"Dina certainly wasn't most parents."

"Doesn't sound like it. Let's stop at the library first. I want to see what R. Fernsby has to say."

"Sorry, no can do. I was banned from the library when I was fourteen."

"Banned from the library," Nero repeated.

"I might have been a little wild."

"Just a little wild?" Nero teased.

Forrest shrugged. "Just a tad. Xav Stone was banned too."

"What the hell did you two do?"

"We were fourteen," Forrest started, taking the last easy curve before town, "and?—"

Nero interrupted him. "As far as I know, just being fourteen isn't a reason to permanently forbid a person from entering a public building. Are you telling me you haven't been to the library in thirty years?"

He sounded outraged and Forrest couldn't help but laugh.

"Thirty years sounds about right. Remember, Xavier and me, we were acting out, and being a teenager in the small town of Cooper Springs meant the two of us got creative. Very creative."

"Keep talking."

"We snuck in one night and exchanged all the magazine innards with a bunch of skin mags we'd found at Xav's house. They'd probably been his dad's. There's no way Wanda—Xav's mom—knew they existed because she would've burned them."

"I'll bet you guys thought that was the funniest thing in the world."

"Oh yeah, we laughed so hard we couldn't breathe. Hilarious to imagine Old Steel Face—the librarian at the time was Agatha Steel—going through them and seeing what we thought were more bare naked men than she'd seen in her life."

"Fourteen-year-olds have limited imaginations."

"Especially when it came out after she passed that Agatha Steel wrote seriously steamy romance. Under a different name, of course."

"No kidding?"

"No kidding."

"And?"

"We got caught, naturally. Wanda grounded Xavier for the rest of the summer. I spent the next few months cleaning up after my grandfather's horses. I do not like horses."

"Why do I have the feeling punishment didn't stop either of you?"

Forrest felt the smile crease his cheeks and waggled his eyebrows; it felt good talking about his past with Nero. "It's like you know me already."

"Come inside with me," Nero said, "and break the library spell."

"No."

"What if they have something important to say? You might want to hear it in person."

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

"We'll be fast. Like tearing-off-a-Band-Aid fast. In and out."

"In and out is not what I think of when it's time to take off a bandage."

Nero was silent, but Forrest spotted a twitch to the corner of the lips. Forrest's cheeks warmed, along with other parts of his body. He shifted in his seat. Dammit, he'd suspected he was in trouble and now it was confirmed. He just wished he knew exactly how deep the trouble was.

"The librarian, Fernsby, said he'd be here until five. And maybe he's nicer than Old Steel Face."

"Don't tell him her nickname."

He could feel Nero staring at him. "Dude, I am sure Librarian Fernsby—who seems to take his job very seriously, from what I can tell—already knows what you called Agatha Steel back in the day. Especially since he's lived here for years." He tapped his forehead. "Librarians are observant and smart."

"Fuck, you're right. I didn't know Fernsby grew up here. Still," Forrest said, swinging a right after the town's single stop light, "let's just play innocent."

"Has that ever worked for you?" Nero teased. "Playing innocent?"

"No, it has fucking not," Forrest complained. "I feel like I deserve some slack."

There were several parking spots in front of the small library building. Forrest pulled into one and turned off the engine.

"Ready?" Nero asked him."When we're done here, we'll go find Rufus."

"No, I am not ready. Do you really need me to come inside?" Forrest shot Nero a begging-puppy-dog glance.

"Yep," Nero said heartlessly as he opened his door and got out. "The quicker we get this part over with, the quicker you'll see my brake lights heading out of town."

"You have a point."

Forrest felt a little twinge in his chest. Did he want Nero to leave? A month ago—hell, four days ago, the answer would have been a resounding, "Yes, and don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out." Things had changed.

With a grumble, Forrest climbed out of the truck and strode around to meet Nero on the sidewalk.

Glancing in Nero's direction, he sucked in a deep, fortifying breath. "I'm ready. Lead the way."

"Ah. I'm the fall guy, huh?"

"Absolutely."

Nero smirked at him as they headed toward the small building.

In spite of the economic downturn that Cooper Springs had suffered for decades, the library exterior was reasonably well kept up. The wood siding was in good condition, and the white paint on the windowsills wasn't peeling. A set of matching flowerpots stood on either side of the doors and currently had cheerful bright yellow daffodils blooming in them.

"Somebody's got to do it," Forrest muttered.

"What?"

"Be cheerful."

"What? Never mind. So," Nero said, leading the way up the steps to the library's front door, "whose idea was it to change out the magazines? Yours or your friend Xavier's?"

"Shhh! Don't speak of it," Forrest hissed dramatically, looking over his shoulder as if Nero might have accidentally summoned a demon.

Rolling his eyes, Nero pulled open the door and gestured for Forrest to go ahead of him. Forrest's mouth dropped open, but it was too late for him to step to the side since others had followed them up the sidewalk.

"You'll pay for this, Vik," Forrest said out of the side of his mouth as he walked past.

Nero held the door open for a mom, a young child, and a toddler before catching up to Forrest in the foyer.

"So much drama. Have you always been this dramatic? And why do I think the answer is yes?"

"I was a traumatized child," Forrest protested.

"Huh," Nero grunted. "I suspect you would have been dramatic whether or not you'd spent the first six years of your life growing up in the woods."

Forrest admitted that Nero likely wasn't wrong, just not out loud.

The two of them approached the checkout desk. The person behind the counter was no one Forrest recognized. He did his best to appear nonchalant and harmless—nothing to see here. The mom and her two kids walked by them and headed to the children's reading area.

"Hi," Nero greeted the man with a smile. "May I speak with Mr. Fernsby?"

"I'm afraid Mr. Fernsby isn't here at the moment. His absence is causing quite a strain on our staffing, I might add." The last was said with a decided sniff.

Ah yes, one of those people who couldn't bring themselves to be sympathetic. Whatever happened was all about how it impacted them.

"That's odd." Nero frowned. "I got an email from him maybe an hour ago saying he'd be here."

"Well, I'm afraid I can't help you with that. He was supposed to be here but, as you can see, he is not."

Nero couldn't help himself. He glanced around and, unless Fernsby was hiding underneath a table or in the restroom, he really wasn't there.

"Well," said Nero when they reached Forrest's truck, "he must have changed his mind. Mr. Peacock certainly wasn't very pleasant."

"I don't think his name's Mr. Peacock," said Forrest.

"Well, that's what I'm calling him. Shall we track down Rufus?"