by Rae Davies
Not that it mattered. Daisy Creek was where she’d failed, where her heart had led her astray, where she’d been stupid. She’d let Johnny cheat on her. People thought she was smart, but she wasn’t. It was all an act. No one with brains would have married Johnny to start with, or maybe it was more than that. Maybe if she’d loved him more, he’d have been happy with just her. Maybe he’d needed more than she could give. Either way, it was her fault, and she couldn’t face it anymore. Love it or not, she couldn’t go back to Daisy Creek.
Not even to be with Will.
Patsy tromped back to the computer to sift through a few more thousand lines of code. Lex slumped in the chair, dragging a virtual ace of hearts across the computer screen. She tapped on his shoulder and prayed for lightning.
o0o
Finally, it was here. Will cut open the carton and poured Styrofoam peanuts onto the floor. The figure nestled inside was perfect. He couldn’t suppress a chuckle as he held it up.
“What do you think?” he asked Ralph.
His companion sniffed the object and sat back on his haunches, one eyebrow tilted.
“It’s for Pugnacious. You think she’s going to like it?”
Ralph nudged it with his nose.
“I think so too.” Will dropped the figure back in the box, along with the note, and sealed it up. The doorbell rang while he was wiping excess ink off Ralph’s foot. Jessica stood on the front porch, a high school annual in her hand.
“Hey.” Her Daisy Creek High T-shirt was stained with paint and her sweats had holes in the knees.
“Jessica.” He tried not to stare. “Is something wrong?”
“No, yes, maybe...” She turned a bare face upward. “We need to talk.”
What? Was there a sign on his door?
“It’s about Patsy and… us.”
There was an us? Will led her to the horsehair loveseat.
“I was Daisy Darling freshman through senior year in high school.”
Okay.
Jessica clutched the high school yearbook. “I was also Sweetheart Dance princess.” She flipped open the book. “Here’s the picture.”
It was the typical high school “court” picture, girls with stiff hair in slinky dresses, escorted by gawky boys in football uniforms.
“This is Patsy’s ex.” Jessica pointed to the boy seated next to her in the picture.
“Patsy’s ex?”
“Her ex-husband. They got married right out of high school.”
Will was silent. Patsy had been married?
“What happened?” he asked.
“I’ll get to that.” Jessica wiped a tear away from her eye with her index finger. The tiny hearts on her charm bracelet tinkled like an out-of-tune piano. “The point is, I wasn’t supposed to be Sweetheart that year. I cheated.”
Still stunned by the earlier revelation, Will remained quiet.
“The football team picked the court, and the cheerleaders gathered and counted the votes. I didn’t win. Patsy did.”
“But she isn’t in the photo,” Will said.
A tear ran down Jessica’s cheek and plopped onto the red velvet upholstery. “I know. Like I said, I cheated. When I saw Patsy won, I trashed the ballots.” Her voice quavered. “I had to win, to know everybody liked me.”
“But you didn’t win.” The woman’s logic eluded him.
“I know.” Jessica wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. “It didn’t matter. Everyone thought I did. That’s what was important, at least that’s what I thought then.”
“I can understand you feel guilty, but that was a long time ago. I doubt Patsy cares.” Who was he kidding? Of course Patsy cared.
“It gets worse.” She sniffed loudly. “After high school, after Patsy and Johnny got married, I—”
Will pulled back. This didn’t sound good.
“I… there’s no right way to say this. I flirted with him. People always liked Patsy better than me, but the titles were mine.” She pointed at her chest. “Then, Patsy got that too. I couldn’t handle it. I knew she loved Johnny, and I was jealous. I wanted to love somebody like that, be loved like that. So I ruined it.”
“How does flirting ruin love?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Explain it.” It wasn’t often Will could resist a crying female, but this time he could.
“Johnny cheated on her.” At Will’s shocked expression, Jessica explained, “Not with me, with some girl from Boss. Patsy’s always been independent. I think Johnny wanted to get her attention.”
“That was one way to do it.” The idiot. He didn’t deserve to wipe Patsy’s shoes.
“He hooked up with this girl. I’m not sure how. Anyway, Patsy found out.” Jessica shivered. “It was ugly.”
Will could imagine.
“She ran his truck into the Current River, ruined the interior—he was always real proud of that truck.” She looked at him like she expected a response. Will nodded.
With a sigh, she continued, “Once she cooled down, they tried to work things out. That’s when I stepped in.” Jessica bit her lower lip. “He was still hanging out at the roadhouse a lot, and I just started flirting with him. I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t love him. I wanted to prove I could get him. Patsy came in one night when we were dancing. That was it. She just left. It was cold, like she wrote him off. She filed for divorce the next day.”
“What happened to him?” Like Will cared. As long as he was out of Patsy’s life, that was.
“He went back to the girl from Boss. She wound up pregnant, and they got married. They don’t come around here anymore. I think they’re scared of Patsy, though truthfully, I don’t think she’d waste spit on them. The rest of her family’s who they should worry about.”
And Will.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Jessica’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Because of us.” She picked up his hand, squeezed it. “I don’t love you, Will. I was doing it again. Taking what Patsy has.”
After reassuring Jessica he would survive the heartbreak, he escorted her to the foyer. She managed one last tearful hug before he closed the door on her.
Well, that explained the tension between Patsy and Jessica. Knowing Patsy, he was surprised she tolerated Jessica at all. To be honest, he was surprised anybody involved in this little drama survived Patsy’s temper longer than it took her to rev up her Jeep. Jessica said she’d just walked away. That didn’t seem like Patsy. The experience must have hurt her more than anyone knew.
If nothing else, this had been an interesting week. Wonder who would show up next?
Chapter 20
Patsy fought her way down 44. The stop-and-go traffic was giving her a splitting headache. When she got home, she intended to watch whatever mind-numbing selection the networks had to offer and fall into bed.
A giant cardboard carton blocked her path. She unlocked the door and jostled the box inside.
“Look, a package,” she announced to Pugnacious.
The pug scampered over, apparently sharing in Patsy’s delight.
“And it’s a big one.” Enveloped by the same thrill she got from discovering that the biggest box under the Christmas tree was hers, Patsy ripped at the tape. Nestled at the top of the carton was her half-finished jack-o-lantern basket.
“Who would send this?” She set it to the side and dug deeper. The rest of her basket materials were carefully wrapped and packed below it. Digging more, she found a note.
“A deal’s a deal. Less than two weeks to Daisy Daze and you owe me three baskets.
Will”
Of all the nerve. Did he think she had nothing else to do? What made him think he could boss her around? Patsy picked up the orange basket and tossed it back into the box.
“Come on, Pug Girl. Let’s go for a walk.” She snagged the leash and headed down the street.
Ten pigeons, two golden retrievers, and a thousand stop-and-sniffs later, Patsy and Pugnacious trudged home. Pugnacious,
after being released from her lead, trotted over to the box and attempted to climb inside.
“No, girl.” Patsy was going to have to find somewhere to keep this stuff. She grabbed one cardboard flap and, with Pugnacious bouncing around her ankles, tugged the box toward the closet. Three feet from her destination, the flap tore, sending Patsy and the contents of the carton spilling to the floor.
“Damn it all.”
Pugnacious bounded over, nuzzling and snorting. Clawing her way to the top coil of oak strips, she looked down at Patsy.
“Get off there.” Patsy shooed her dog away and hooked her arm through the coil. The heavy weight of it surprised her. Not that she hadn’t lugged around plenty of coils of wood strips, she’d just forgotten. Already.
It hadn’t even been two weeks since she left Daisy Creek. It seemed like months. Running her hand over the wood, she squatted next to the mess and began sorting through it. Everything she needed was here. Wasn’t like she had a hot date or even a cold friend to occupy her time.
Pugnacious scampered back, sending the pumpkin basket rolling toward Patsy. She picked it up and studied the half-finished grin. She hated to leave things incomplete. Pushing herself up, she went to the kitchen to find a pan for water.
o0o
No word from Patsy. The basket materials should have arrived yesterday, and nothing. The note had to have ticked her off. Will’d hoped enough that she would call and yell at him. He missed being yelled at by Patsy.
He looked down at his project. It was ugly, really ugly. Not a redeeming quality to it. He swallowed. He hated to fail, and the atrocity in his hands was proof he wasn’t perfect, he wasn’t good at everything. Lately, he wasn’t good at much.
He couldn’t go through with it. Sweeping bits of reed into the garbage, Will considered his options. Maybe he should give up on the covert lures and be more direct. Approach Patsy head on and tell her she didn’t belong in St. Louis. It couldn’t be worse than this. He thumped his creation with his finger. He couldn’t let anyone see that. No, its destiny was at the bottom of the city dump.
He was disposing of the evidence when the bell rang. Not again. Resigned, he trudged to the door.
Ruthann leaned against the porch swing, a stuffed lion in her hands.
Sighing, Will swung open the door.
“I don’t know what to do.” Ruthann confided as she stroked the lion’s mane.
Will wandered outside and collapsed on the swing. Patting the seat beside him, he said, “Join me.”
“Patsy always tells me what to do and when to do it. With her not here, I’m lost.” Ruthann perched on the edge of the seat.
“What’s wrong?” Will heaved out.
“Randy.” Ruthann drew the name out into three syllables.
Great, just what Will wanted to do—discuss someone else’s love life, someone who had a love life.
“I thought you were getting along now,” he said.
“We were, but his momma...”
“His momma?” Who cared about Randy’s momma?
“Patsy says she’s an old biddy.”
Will smiled. That was his Patsy.
Ruthann yanked the lion’s mane into a makeshift bun. “Patsy gave me this, when we were twelve. Some older girls were making fun of me. Calling me names, saying my clothes were Goodwill rejects, and...” Her voice tapered off to a whisper. “...that my momma was a...” Will leaned forward to catch the last word. “...whore.”
Will wondered briefly if his sister had been part of the gang. Sounded like her loving nature.
Ruthann continued, “Patsy brought me this and told me I had to learn to stand up for myself. Every time somebody hurt me I was to think of this little lion and roar right back.” She shook her head. “I can’t do it, though. Patsy can. She’s the strongest, bravest person I know, but I can’t.”
Will shifted his weight, making the swing sway back and forth. “What happened?”
“Nothing yet, but it’s going to. Randy’s momma isn’t stupid. She’s going to figure out all that stuff we told her at church isn’t true, and then what am I going to do? She’ll hate me even more, and I’ll lose Randy.”
“You think Randy’s that weak?” And if so, why did she want him anyway?
“He loves his momma,” Ruthann mumbled.
“More than you? You think he’d dump you just because his mother doesn’t approve?” Will could not track the way these women thought. First Jessica, now Ruthann; how did he become the keeper of Patsy’s problems?
Ruthann pulled the lion’s mane so hard Will thought the king of the jungle was going to need transplants.
“If he’d do that, you don’t want him anyway,” he said.
She looked up at him. “That’s what Patsy said. But then I talked her into helping me, and we came up with that big act at the church. It was just supposed to buy me some time to get closer to Randy. Then Patsy was going to work on him, convince him he should stand up to his momma...” Her voice quavered. “...But Patsy’s gone, and I don’t know when she’s coming back.”
No tears. Not twice in one week. Keeping his voice firm, Will replied, “Patsy can’t solve this for you.”
“She can’t?” Ruthann blinked close-to-overflowing eyes. “She always has before.”
Geez, Will’d had no idea how dependent these people were on Patsy. “Take a risk.” Get some balls. “Don’t you think it’s time you confronted something on your own?”
Will walked a bewildered Ruthann to her Cavalier. Leaning through her car window, he tucked the tiny lion onto the dash.
“Time to roar, Ruthann.”
o0o
Lex lounged in Patsy’s cubicle, painting his fingernails with her Wite-out.
“Lexter, any new holes in your head?” Patsy glided in, plopped down on her desk and shoved her chair back with her foot. Working on the baskets had made her a strange mixture of happy and depressed. While she was weaving, she was at peace. When she stopped, she thought of nothing but the man who’d sent them back to her.
Lex quit blowing on his nails. “You talking to me?”
“Not that sharp first thing in the morning, are you? Might want to cut back on the habit.” Patsy nodded to the bottle in his hand. “Can’t afford killing good brain cells; need to leave a few for the drugs and alcohol.”
“Do you know who I am?” With one eye squeezed shut, Lex blew on his fingernails. “I have connections you may need.”
“You think?” In her current mood, ticking off the grim reaper himself wouldn’t intimidate Patsy. He couldn’t put her through anything worse than the self-doubt she’d been stewing herself in.
“I know.” He tossed her Wite-out into the lap drawer and sauntered off.
“Stop in again anytime. On Friday we have a special on French tips,” she called after him.
Pulling her “protocol manual” out of her bottom drawer, Patsy flipped it open. Time to tackle the delicate issue of code comments. Didn’t want to step on any toes. It was a matter of such earth-shattering importance. One person’s comment might be another person’s insult. Had to be diplomatic about the whole issue.
Let’s see, how about “when using comments, take utmost care in constructing them in a manner least likely to be effective in any way.” Yes, that would cover it.
Now to review Lex’s work from yesterday. She flipped to the section on closing tags. “Closing tags, good. Not closing tags, bad.” Patsy smiled. You had to love a smart-aleck.
After jotting down changes for both sections on pink post-it notes, she stuck them on the pages and shut the manual.
“Patsy, could I see you in my office for a moment?”
Uh-oh, Kelsey sounded more tense than normal, not that she was ever what you could call tranquil. Inside her office, Patsy moved a stack of files off a chair and sat down.
“You and Lex getting along?”
“Why?” Had the little rat ratted her out?
“No reason.”
Kelsey reached in
to a McDonald’s bag sitting on her desk and pulled out a cherry pie.
“Apple’s better,” Patsy announced.
Kelsey looked at her in surprise.
“There’s not enough cherries in those, it’s mainly juice,” she explained.
“Oh, I bought an apple too, but I felt like the cherry.” Kelsey nipped the end off the pastry with her teeth.
Patsy nodded her head. “Are we done?”
Pie juice dribbled between Kelsey’s fingers. “I know he’s worthless.”
Patsy shrugged.
“His father’s a vice president. If you want to keep your job, you have to get along with him.” Kelsey’s tone became apologetic. “It’s just how it is.”
Patsy shrugged again. Lex was growing on her, and it didn’t sound like he’d snitched. “I understand. That it?”
Waving the pie, Kelsey indicated she could leave. “Patsy?” she called. “You want the apple?”
Fried pastry in hand, Patsy strolled back to her desk. Had Lex ratted her out? No, not his style. Kelsey must be keeping a closer watch on her than she’d realized. But why?
o0o
Trash day. Will pulled out a twist-tie and yanked open the built-in garbage drawer in his kitchen. Grasping the sides of the plastic bag, he tugged it out. Something inside poked through the plastic, tearing the sack and spilling garbage onto the plank floor.
Ralph wandered over to investigate.
“Careful, boy, don’t step in it.” Using a whisk broom, Will brushed coffee grounds into a pile. When he looked up, Ralph was sitting in the mess, holding Will’s creation from the day before in his mouth.
“Pretty awful, huh?” Will asked. He pulled the item from Ralph’s gentle hold. A few coffee grounds were wedged between the reeds, but overall it was clean.
Will shook his head. He hated failure. Why couldn’t he make something with his hands? Why did he think he could make something for Patsy? He’d tried, but he botched it. Holding open a new bag, he started to drop the embarrassing mess inside.
Patsy helping him measure reed and weave it into a basket flashed through his mind. She didn’t care that what he made that night was lopsided and unattractive. She loved the process. He set his creation on the counter and spun it in a circle. Ugly, but he’d made it; maybe Patsy would appreciate that.
