New Year's Eve Read Online Free

own faults in other people.
    I set Daisy’s car seat on the table so she could see the dancers. I rocked the seat gently to the music.
    An older guy stopped beside Sharla. He bent his head to speak, and she went off with him. They joined the two-stepping couples on the dance floor. I could never get the hang of the two-step. I always turned it into a waltz by mistake.
    Up on a small platform behind the dancers, the little band was not bad. Five or six old guys. They played country tunes, some newer. But not very new. “Achy Breaky Heart,” for instance, which was old when I was a kid.
    Jade came back and sat on the edge of the table by Daisy, putting her fringed jacket on the chair. At the neck of her soft denim shirt, her collarbone showed like a smooth stick.
    “What a cute baby,” she said. “How old?”
    We talked about Daisy and how great she was. Jade showed me her two boys, fifteen and seventeen. They were standing with their friends by the far wall.
    She didn’t look old enough to have a seventeen-year-old kid. Or even a seven-year-old.
    Jade said the best part of kids growing up was not needing sitters any more. We talked about that for a while. How hard it was to find someone you could leave your kids with and not be nervous. She was easy to talk to.
    Tim, her husband, was having a good time in Vegas, she said. “He’s been having a hard year. Needed to get away from all this. Be by himself.”
    Talking about her sons, her face had lit up. When she talked about her husband, the light went out. She looked sad.
    I wondered what was going on with Grady and Ron and the buffalo.
    Then I realized why I was thinking about them. Because of the lights. Through the window, I could see the rolling red and blue lights of the police cruiser.
    I leaned to peer out. They had stopped a truck on the road close to the hall. Ron was standing by the truck window, listening to the driver.
    I could see Grady inside the cruiser. Talking into the radio, his face thoughtful in the dashboard light. Seeing him at work always made me like him again. That he would want to do this stupid job.

Chapter Five

    Jade asked if she could hold the baby. She lifted Daisy out of the car seat with strong, thin arms. When Daisy stretched out her legs, Jade let her stand up.
    I loved to watch Daisy being held by someone else. It was like I could see her better as herself. And she could see me, and that made her happy. She jumped and bent on Jade’s knee, dancing to the music. I kind of wanted to dance, too, to try out my new jeans.
    A couple of guys asked Jade to dance, but she smiled and said she was taking a break. Everybody gave me a nod of the head or shook my hand. Most people said how cute Daisy was. They were a lot like Drayton Valley people.
    “I could use a drink,” Jade said.
    She got up and handed Daisy over. I was glad to have her in my arms again.
    “You?” Jade asked me. “Or are you still nursing?”
    I said I was.
    “How about soda water with a little cranberry juice in the bottom?” she suggested. “I used to like that.”
    Jade started for the bar.
    Out on the dance floor, someone began shouting. The music broke off, then someone crashed into the band platform. The old guys shrank back to the wall with their instruments.
    A couple of kids were yelling at each other. The dancers stood still, watching. Everybody in the hall was watching.
    One young guy shouted, “You don’t even know who she’s—”
    The other one swung a punch and connected with a sound like fudge boiling, a wet plop. The first guy went down, out cold.
    At that, three or four other kids rushed onto the dance floor and started hitting wildly. The dancers got out of the way, Sharla among them.
    The fight looked nothing like a movie. These guys weren’t good at fighting, but they really wanted to hurt each other. They grabbed each other, clung together, then swung. They hit too slow or bashed heads. Pretty soon, most of them were bleeding and some of them