Free Returning Pride by Jill Sanders Page B

taken her almost an hour to clean up all the clay that the kids had smeared everywhere.
     
    She’d heard from Tanya that both Tommy and Susie, along with their younger sister, had been removed from their home by the Child Protective Service s .
     
    It was hard for her to think that Kevin or Brenda would do anything to hurt their children. After all, she’d gone to school with both of them. Kevin had been the picture-perfect athlete back then. Brenda had been the head cheerleader and most popular girl in school. Of course, since high school, Allison hadn’t really been close to either of them. Actually, she hadn’t been close to them in school either.
    She knew Kevin worked in the mill across the river. After graduation, he had taken to hunting as his main hobby or sport. He went everywhere in town in his camouflaged outfits. He even drove a large truck that had a roll bar and lights on it. Sometimes he would carry his four-wheeler in the back. It too, was decked out in camouflage and she’d even seen his hunting guns strapped to the back.
     
    Once, she’d seen him come back with a pile of deer in the back. He’d had a couple of other guys with him that time.
    Allison knew Brenda was a stay-at-home mom. Actually, Allison had hardly seen her since school. When she’d seen her in the store a few times, she noticed how quiet she was. She’d changed so much since high school. She used to be the outgoing head cheerleader, but now had become a timid mouse of a woman.
     
    She was thinking about them as she walked out of the school building just as the sun was setting. She was half way to her car when she heard a door slam and turned to watch Kevin storm out of his truck.
     
    “You’ve got some nerve,” he said, as he stopped right in front on her. “Just who do you think you are?”
     
    “Hello, Kevin.” She tried for her best teacher voice, one she’d recently learned.
     
    “If you think I’ve been hitting my kids, you should have come to me first. I would have told you to go to hell.” His breath reeked of alcohol.
     
    Looking around, she realized they were alone in the almost empty parking lot.
     
    “Now you have Brenda and I trying to explain everything to the law. You know how Robert is; he thinks he owns the damn town.” He leaned closer and she tried to hold her breath through the stench.
     
    “I think this is a matter you’d be better off talking to CPS about.” She took a step back and bumped into her car door. Her keys were in her hands and for a second she thought she could use them in case she had to protect herself. Kevin still had an athletic build, but now he had a beer gut on him as well. He was shorter than she was, but outweighed her by about eighty pounds.
     
    “You’ve always been a busybody. Now you’ve taken my wife and kids away,” Upon her empty look he continued. “Oh, you didn’t know that Brenda left me last night. Because of you, she’s claiming I abused her and the kids. The damn state’s given her full custody of my kids and I’m left high and dry.” He leaned forward as she cringed against her car door.
     
    “Maybe that’s just what you wanted. To get me all to yourself?” His eyes raked up and down her simple tan slacks and blue top. She kept trying to pull back as he continued. “I remember you in school. Yeah, that tight little body of yours.” He ran his eyes down her again. “Still looks tight. Maybe I should have paid more attention to you instead.” He leaned against the car door, his hands on either side of her. His breath hitting her face full force.
     
    “If you think I want anything to….”
     
    “Oh, I know you’d like it honey. If I remember right, you always did like the jocks. I bet I could make you scream.” He leaned back a little as he heard a car approaching. The car turned and started coming their way.
     
    “I will make you scream.” With these words he stormed off, got in his truck, and peeled out of the parking lot,