Read Online Trinity by Kristin Dearborn - Free Book Online Page A

coverage.
    “Is there blood?”
    He willed her not to talk about it, but answered, “A little. Looks like old chocolate.”
    She chewed on her lip, and it made him want her. Easy, down boy. He got in on the passenger’s side of the car. He bet she wouldn’t let him drive after being in the ER.
    “Why didn’t you tell her how bad the hum is? It’s been driving you crazy since you’ve been home.”
    “It’s gone now. Been gone since the bleeding stopped.”
    “So what was it?”
    “I don’t know,” he said.
    Kate headed back onto SR-179, through Lott and into the desert to the south.
    The pavement ended and they passed a small brown sign informing them they were nearing the Lincoln National Forest.
    It started in harmony with the Daytona’s engine. At first he thought something was wrong with the motor, it whined a bit louder now. A belt wearing out? He tried in vain to come up with automotive solutions, grasping at them like a drowning man, but as it got firmer and settled around him like a glove, he knew the hum was back.

8

    “I’ve got to go and see my mom.” After Val woke up from his nap, an innocent conversation about nothing escalated into crazy monkey sex on the kitchen counter, the kitchen floor, and finally the couch. This, Val thought, was how it was supposed to be. Except for the fucking hum in his head. They lay there now, Val on the inside of the couch.
    “Do you want me to come with you?” she asked.
    “No.”
    Kate’s lower lip stuck out. Not a deliberate pout, he knew, but a sure sign he’d annoyed her.
    “It’s not another woman, it’s my mother.”
    “Your mother is another woman.” She tried to make it a joke, but her sulky tone shone through.
    “I can only see her for an hour.”
    “Do you want me to come along for the ride?”
    “Sure,” he said after a moment. He wanted to be alone. However, after so much time with so many other people, being by himself was one scary thought. He would go crazy out here without her. “Thanks for asking.”
    “I’ll drive if you want,” she offered.
    No fucking way. Now that he changed his flat, he wanted his truck, wanted to drive. “I got it. I want to put some gas in the truck anyway.”
    “You can drop me off in town, and I’ll catch up with you when you’re done.”
    “Sounds good,” he said, running his fingers through his hair, leaving it standing upright in a shocked mess. He reached onto the coffee table for his T-shirt.
    “You’re not wearing that,” she said.
    It was an Operation Ivy shirt, stained, faded and full of holes. Val stood up, and the blood rushing to his head caused the hum to accelerate like a chain saw. He grimaced. After a day, he was starting to get used to it. He collected the rest of his clothes, went down the hall to his bedroom and opened the closet. Everything was so old. He opened his mouth to call to Kate, to have her pick something out, but instead he sung under his breath a bit and selected a worn button-down black shirt. He sang the song in the same pitch as the hum. They played off one another, a pleasant harmony in his skull.
    He heard Kate go into the bathroom and close the door behind her. Back in the living room, Val dropped onto the couch to wait, running his hands through his hair in an attempt to make it lie flat. While he waited he laced up his boots.
    Kate emerged from the bathroom a moment later, and Val retrieved his black Stetson from the back of the couch and plopped it on his head.
    “Kate,” he said.
    “Yes?”
    “I love you.”
    Her face lit up as she followed him out.
    Rain pelted down from the sky and as they stepped out onto the wooden stoop, lightning flickered somewhere in the distance. Kate ran for the pickup, while Val chose to walk and feel the rain. You didn’t get to appreciate nature on the inside, not like this. After slamming the truck door behind him, he paused a moment and listened to the rain drum the metal roof. The engine coughed once then roared to