To Trust

by Carolyn Brown

  “Think you should go straighten that out?” Jack asked Dee.

  “No, sir. I wouldn’t go in there without a pistol. You haven’t got enough money in your bank account to send me in there with that den of vipers. No offense, Marshall. I have no idea what I did wrong. What did I do wrong? Do I have food in my teeth?”

  “My apologies,” Marshall muttered.

  The tension was eased slightly when the band began to play and several women dragged their husbands or boyfriends out onto the dance floor. Dee stood up and held her hand out to Jack. “I do believe you promised to dance with me until we both ended up in our sock feet before we went to bed.”

  “I guess I did. Excuse me, Marshall. I’m sure this is a misunderstanding, and it will be settled in there.” Jack nodded toward the bathroom.

  “I hope so. I haven’t seen her act like that since the time she got it in her head I was having an affair with my secretary,” Marshall said.

  “Do you think she thought I was flirting with you?” Dee asked.

  “Surely not,” Marshall laughed. “I wouldn’t be that lucky.”

  Jack shook his head in bewilderment and led Dee out onto the floor. They danced half a dozen times before settling into comfortable bar stools to catch their breath.

  “I’m still getting glances like I’m a leper,” Dee whispered.

  “Don’t worry. Maybe Candace had another woman lined up for me tonight. It’s always been a big joke about how I never have a date.”

  Dillon showed up at her side. “Well, hellll-o. I was wondering if I might steal this beauty from you for a while, Jack. One dance and then I’ll bring her right back.”

  “Of course.” Dee set down the stemmed glass and let Dillon take her out onto the floor for a slow song.

  Jack’s heart constricted into a knot of jealousy. Dillon was the old proverbial tall, dark, and handsome. He worked out continually, was well traveled and educated, a smooth talker. He’d have Dee hanging on every word before the song ended and flying off to Paris to eat French cuisine within a week. Then he’d dump her, and Jack would have to pick up the pieces. Was that to be his fate? Always the friend; never the boyfriend.

  Dillon asked as they moved effortlessly together around the dance floor. “So who taught you to dance? You must have had lessons as well as you do this.”

  “No, just a love for dancing.” Dee wiggled a bit to put a little more room between them.

  “How much?” Dillon asked.

  “For what?” she asked right back.

  “To make you go away and forget all about Jack. He’s my good friend, and I don’t want to see him hurt. You’re just a little gold digger. You’ve found out he has money, and you’re out to take him. It’s plain as day.” He tried to draw her back tighter into his arms.

  “Would you explain what you are talking about?” She looked around for Jack, who was no where to be seen.

  “I’m asking you what I would have to pay you to walk away from him?”

  “Why?”

  “Because he is my friend and I don’t want to see him taken in by the likes of you. I know women. I’ve been around the clubhouse corner lots of times. Jack trusts too easily when it comes to women. I’ve been protecting him for years. It’s cost me a few dollars but, hey, I figure they were well spent,” Dillon said gruffly.

  “I. Am. Not. A. Gold. Digger.” Steam all but flew from her ears and eyes.

  “Oh, sure, you aren’t.”

  She inhaled deeply, clenched her hands into fists, and pushed herself out of Dillon’s arms. The whole thing with Candace suddenly made sense. All of Jack’s important friends thought she was just interested in his money. She couldn’t stay there in that kind of tension. Holding her head high and her back stiff, she resolutely walked off the dance floor, through the lobby, and to the elevators. By the time she got to her room, big black tears were streaming down her face. She stopped at the sofa, picked up the phone, and called the front desk.

  “Would you please have a taxi waiting for me in five minutes?”

  Then she went to her room, jerked off her fancy dress, and threw it into the suitcase along with the diamond necklace. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt when she rode the elevator down to the first floor and walked out to find her taxi waiting. She crawled into the back and suddenly didn’t know where to have him drive her.

  “Where to, ma’am?” He turned to face her.

  “Take me to the bus station.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She missed the first bus north by ten minutes and had to wait half an hour for the next one going to Oklahoma City. The station manager said the bus went straight up Interstate 35 and would stop at a service station just off exit 55, only fourteen miles from Sulphur, but she’d have to pay the full fare to Oklahoma City. Carrying her suitcase with her, she went to the bathroom, washed her face, removing all the makeup, and put Roxie’s necklace in the zippered compartment of her purse. She’d have to check the suitcase and with the way her luck was running, she’d end up losing the thing.

  The bus was only about half full, so she had a seat to herself. What had started out as a perfect evening had suddenly turned into a nightmare. For two hours she stared out the window at the darkness and wondered what Dillon had seen in her to make him think such a thing. She didn’t have a single answer when they reached the exit.

  She used the pay phone and called Roxie who said she’d be there in half an hour to pick her up, then she sat down in a booth and drank a cup of strong coffee. Business was slow. Two people came in for an A&W Root Beer float. A couple of cars were filled up with gas. But other than that, she was alone in the station-store combination. Roxie arrived just as she finished the last drop of coffee. She picked up the suitcase and pulled it along behind her out to the white Cadillac.

  “So what is this all about?” Roxie asked. “Did Jack die?”

  “No, but he might when he gets home. His friends all think I’m a gold digger. His friend Candace was so rude it was awful, and he disappeared when they hauled me to the lion’s den.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t understand what Candace was talking about. And I sure didn’t understand what Dillon was saying until he spelled it out for me. That’s why everyone was staring at me and frowning. Why would Jack let them think I was that kind of person?”

  “I don’t believe he did. Did you confront him?”

  “No, I just ran away. He’s my best friend, and I couldn’t face him or any of them. It was horrible. I’ve never been treated so rudely in my whole life. It reminded me of the feelings I had when Ray came in and told me we were annulled and he was marrying Angie. The pit of my stomach felt like I’d swallowed acid. I just called a taxi and caught a bus home.”

  “We’ll get it all straightened out tomorrow.”

  Dee buried her face in her hands and broke into a fresh batch of wracking sobs.

  Jack checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror and ran his fingers through his hair. He’d been nice and let Dillon dance with Dee once, just because he needed to make a run to the men’s room, but he’d be hanged if he let anyone else claim her for even one dance.

  He walked out and scanned the dance floor and bar for her. Evidently, she’d had to go to the ladies’ room right after the dance finished. He just hoped the old cats were finished clawing their way through whatever burr was in their saddle before she went inside. Hurriedly, he located all five of them, sitting together at the bar, their heads together.

  “Good,” he said aloud. At least they wouldn’t have Dee cornered. However, if they did, he’d put his money on the girl. She could probably single-handedly take them all on and come out the winner.

  He grabbed a bar stool as far away from them as possible and ordered a Coke.

  “Hello. Hope you didn’t like that girl.” Dillon claimed a seat beside him.

  “What?” Jack turned to face him.

  “I upset her, and she took off like a scalded hound. Maryle
e said she saw her getting in a taxi just a few minutes ago and hightailing it out of here,” Dillon said.

  “Dee is gone?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry. It’s my fault but I just voiced what we all already figured out. I did you a big favor, again.”

  “What are you saying?” Jack asked.

  “Can’t anyone understand me? She acted dumb and now you are too. Candace could see through her. Eva knew the minute she spoke to the girl. Marylee said that she didn’t fool her for a minute. Can’t you see that she was just after your money?”

  Jack’s fist shot out and clipped Dillon on the jaw, knocking him to the floor. “You fool. Whatever made you say that about her? She’s been my best friend forever.”

  “She’s not your friend, Jack. She’s after your money. I could see it. We all could. I was just protecting your interests.” Dillon rubbed his jaw and righted himself back onto the bar stool.

  Everyone in the place stopped and stared at Jack.

  “For your information, Dee Hooper lives next door to me in Oklahoma on Buckhorn Corner. I’ve known her my whole life. We grew up together, and she’s not after my money.”

  “Jack, I’m so sorry,” Dillon said. “I just figured . . .”

  “You just figured wrong and don’t apologize to me. It’s Dee who you’ve hurt.”

  “Jack, it was an honest mistake. We were just trying to be your friends and protect you,” Marshall said.

  “I don’t need your protection or your friendship if this is the way it goes. That was a malicious mistake. You could have asked me, Dillon. I’m leaving and hopefully I’ll find her. And don’t go meddling in my business ever again. Is that understood?”

  Dillon nodded.

  Chapter Eleven

  Dee gathered the quilt tightly around her and snuggled down into the porch swing. She’d gone to bed but tossed and tumbled, unable to sleep, so she’d gone outside, dragging the quilt from her bed behind her. Thoughts kept running an endless circle around her mind. What she should have done, which was stay and confront the whole lot of them. What she surely should not have done, which was run away and let them all think they were right. What she’d say to Jack. Why hadn’t she thrown a fit right there on the dance floor? Like a screaming fishwife, slapping Dillon and maybe even Candace.

  The crunch of gravel under the tires of the limo brought her out of the “what-if” world and back into reality. The white automobile sparkled in the light of the moon and even though Dee was angry at Jack, she couldn’t keep from watching. He tossed his suitcase at the porch, peeled several bills from a money clip and handed it to the driver, and then promptly marched toward Roxie’s.

  Just as he raised his hand to knock on the door at three o’clock in the morning, she spoke. “Are you looking for me?”

  “Yes, I am.” He sat down on the swing.

  She pulled her feet back so he wouldn’t touch her.

  He sighed. “It was all a big, big mistake. . . .”

  “I should have decked Dillon. Take me back down there and I’ll march right into his room, drag him out of bed, and beat him until he’s cold.”

  “I did deck him. I am so sorry for all this, Dee. I’m never leaving the Corner again. It’s not worth it. I may sell every dime of my stock in TCI.”

  “I didn’t trust you after all. I shouldn’t have run away.” The truth settled like a heavy shroud around her, smothering the breath from her lungs, causing her heart to ache.

  He cocked his head off to one side and stared at her. “What did you say?”

  “Trust. It all boils down to trust, doesn’t it? I should have plowed right into that bathroom and straightened it out with those women, but I didn’t want to cause a scene. Ray would have died on the spot if I’d ever put a ripple in the water, so I learned to ignore women like Candace. Then when Dillon accused me of being after your money and said he was always protecting you from women, I ran away without even confronting you and not slapping fire into his cheeks either. I said the other day I trusted you, but evidently I didn’t.”

  “Me neither, Dee. When you were out there with Dillon on the dance floor, a part of me was terrified that you’d let him talk you into a date and then you’d run away with him like you did Ray. I didn’t trust you either. I figured he was so smooth and slick that he could talk you into anything. What did you just say? That he’s always protecting me from women? Well, that sure as hell explains a lot.”

  “That scoundrel? He’s slick but slick as in slimy, not as in desirable.”

  “So what do we do? I was miserable the whole way home, worrying that you’d been mugged or hurt. Someone saw you leave so I got in touch with the cab company, who traced your destination to the bus station. I missed your bus by an hour, so I just called the limo service and came home.”

  She stretched her feet out and put them in his lap. “What do we do? We go on. It was a terrible weekend. Roxie says that which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

  He tucked the quilt more firmly around her toes. “I don’t feel stronger. I’m still angry at Dillon and all the rest of them.”

  “Don’t sell your stock because you are angry. You are doing too much good with your money. Think of all those kids who are getting an education.”

  “Okay, but I’m going to stay right here in my corner of the world.”

  “Me too,” she sighed.

  “Are we back to normal?”

  “I don’t know. What’s normal?”

  “I’m not sure, but I know I was jealous tonight. The only other time I can remember feeling like this is the night you eloped.”

  “Jack . . .”

  “Don’t say a word. I don’t want a long-winded ‘I’m your friend’ speech. I’m tired. I’m glad you’re home. I’m sorry for what happened. I’m going home and to sleep. Want to go fishing tomorrow afternoon? I’ve already planned on having the day off.”

  She nodded.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “You told me not to say a word,” she reminded him curtly.

  “Come over and beat on the door when you wake up,” he replied with the same amount of icy undertone.

  “Are we parting company still mad at each other?”

  “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at me for wanting what I can’t have.”

  He left her speechless on the swing.

  She gathered her quilt around her body and went inside, made her way gingerly around furniture to the living room, and curled up in a chair in a dark corner, flipped on the lamp beside her and jumped two feet straight up. Roxie was sitting in a rocking chair not two feet away. Pink sponge curlers covered her head. She wore some kind of whitish-green mask on her face. Her yellow satin caftan had splashes of red flowers the size of dinner plates all over it. One yellow satin slipper with marabou trip and two-inch heels dangled from the end of her right foot, which was slung over the leg of the chair.

  “So do we get two shovels and bury him, or did he have some kind of tale to tell that kept his heart beating a while longer?” Roxie asked.

  “I don’t know about his heart, but mine just stopped when I saw you.”

  “Don’t get testy, girl. Tell me what happened.”

  “He hit the man who hurt my feelings and came home.”

  “Those people must have the IQ of a box of rocks. . . .”

  “They were so mean,” Dee said.

  “Upset you awful, didn’t it?” Roxie sat still.

  “Yes, it did.”

  “Why didn’t you go right then and jump in the middle of him? I think you care about that man and you’re afraid to trust him. That’s what I think.”

  “I think you are right. I do care about Jack. I love him, but I’m not going to get romantically involved with him, Roxie, because I do love him. You can see what happened tonight. I couldn’t bear it if we lived together seven years and he walked in one day and said he didn’t love me, that there was another woman. I’d die.”

  “Probably not. He would be dead, because I�
��d kill him for sure. It’s tough isn’t it? You don’t get seven years or even seven minutes. You only get now. The past, with its failures and triumphs, is gone. The future is just a bright star in the sky. Today is what you’ve got. Learn to trust your heart, Dee.”

  “That’s what Jack said, but it lied to me with Ray and I’ll never trust it again.” Dee dabbed at her red, swollen eyes.

  “Your heart never lied to you, girl. You ignored it and me, both. Now, I am going to bed. Couldn’t sleep, knowing you were out there fighting with Jack. You’d do well to get some rest. You look like hell warmed over on Sunday morning.”

  “Thank you so much.” Dee followed her up the stairs.

  “Truth is truth whether you like it or not.” Roxie had the last word as she shut the door to her bedroom.

  Dee lay awake until the sun was a big orange ball outside her window, then finally she shut her eyes and slept.

  Jack and Dee sat on the curb outside the haunted house listening to Bodine scream louder than anyone else. Dee drew a bright-pink zippered sweatshirt tight around her when the north wind picked up. At least it was a cool night. When Indian summer claimed its rights at the end of October, sometimes the festivals were hot as a July day. Dee liked the cool, crisp fall weather much better.

  Murray County had two Halloween festivals: one in Davis and one in Sulphur. Roxie had brought Dee and Tally to both every year when they were little. She could well remember being the girl in the haunted house with the best set of lungs, as well as being the girl in the classroom with no voice the next day. Roxie had opted to stay with Molly that year. Tally had midterm tests to study for. Mimosa had a date with some guy she met at a coffee shop in Ardmore. That left Jack, who’d already promised Bodine a Hummer limousine for the evening. She’d decided two days before Halloween that she’d be satisfied with a plain old limo rented from an agency right there in Davis, if she could bring extra friends. So Jack and Dee were entertaining five little girls and a big white Hummer limo was parked just around the corner beside the Davis News building.

  “Cold?” Jack asked between bites of a Frito chili pie.