Nate grinned. “Now who’s granting wishes? Okay, magician, how are you going to fix my office?”
“Can’t do that one. That’s between you and Stacy. You can’t move into the Stanton house for a couple of years so where are you planning to live in the meantime?”
Nate’s eyes brightened. “Is that house where we had the pizzas for rent?”
“The daughter of the mayor of Summer Hill staying at the lake? I don’t think so. When you entered the Thorndyke house to go to your office, what door did you use?”
“The front one. Why?”
“There’s a side door that leads to a full apartment. Billy’s grandmother, Babs, lived there. She was a wonderful woman. She used to let Billy and me drink her homemade wine. We thought we were very sophisticated.”
“Sometimes it seems like every story in this town leads back to Billy Thorndyke. How is he now?”
Terri looked down at her plate and the piles of green. “I have no idea. When does Stacy get here?”
“Thursday night. You don’t have any contact with him?”
“None. Where are you planning to stay after she gets here?”
“I haven’t thought about it. What was Thorndyke like as he got older?”
“Smart, athletic, beautiful and big. He ruled our school and he didn’t allow any bullying. There was a kid who transferred from the east who picked on the little kids. Billy hung him up on the wall of the gym. He didn’t bother anybody anymore. You need to think about where you’re going to stay.”
“I can see why a guy like that would choose you. He have any girlfriends before you?”
“If you’re asking if he and Stacy were an item, they weren’t. Billy was unattainable. Personally, I figured he was gay.” As she moved a wad of green around on a plate, she smiled in memory.
“I take it that you found out that he wasn’t.”
She glared at Nate. “How did this go from you to me? Unless you want to be stuck at the mayor’s house, you need to find a place to stay in town. I haven’t heard that Babs’s apartment has been rented. I bet Mr. Hartman would rent it for his daughter just to get rid of you.”
“I’m not sure Stacy and I will be living together.”
Terri drew in her breath.
“I mean, before the wedding. Summer Hill doesn’t seem like a place where people can live in sin.” He was smiling at his jest.
“Don’t kid yourself. This town is full of sin. You just have to sit outside and see the flashlights to know what’s going on.”
“Why did Billy leave?”
Terri started to reply, then closed her moth. “The kale ice cream has melted. You want to order some more?”
“Lord no!”
“I agree.” Terri looked at all the leftover food. “Let’s get this boxed and take it to Elaine. She loves this stuff. She even tries to get Dad to eat it.” She looked at the clock on the restaurant wall. “We’re going to be late to the meeting.”
Nate pushed his chair back. “Then we’d better go.” He nodded to the waitress, paid, and they waited for everything to be wrapped. As they left, he said, “Tell me about this Day of the Demons.”
Terri waited until they were in the car before she spoke. “After Mr. Cresnor started granting wishes, we got a lot more people wanting to come and see this cute little local custom.”
“Sort of like an anthropologist’s dream.”
“More or less. With more people coming, the vendors started wanting to put up their tents two weeks before the fair. Then six weeks, then three months. It was totally out of hand. So Dad and Uncle Jake decided to cram it all into four days, Monday through Thursday. The fair starts on Friday, goes through to the dance on Saturday night. They disassemble everything on Sunday, starting after church.”
“You don’t really think Jamie will need to be there, do you? I mean, as a doctor.”
“Yes.”
When Terri didn’t say any more, he looked at her. She seemed to be quite serious about it—or about something.
“You’ll need to move out by Wednesday,” she said softly.
“I thought Thursday morning. I don’t need to be at the airport until 5:00 p.m. I could move just after lunch.” He sighed. “Maybe I’ll stay at Jamie’s for a while. I could cook for them. Hallie’s getting very big and needs to stay off her feet. The baby’s due soon and I could help with that. We Taggerts know about babies.”
Terri was looking out the window and thinking of the house without Nate. No more waking up to the smell of coffee. No more spicy chicken dishes. Who was going to groan when she wanted to watch an old movie, but then would sit there with her? What about emergencies? Twice she’d been called out in the middle of the night. Both times Nate had gone with her. He’d calmed a hysterical family while Terri climbed on the roof to chase a feral dog away. The noise had terrified them. The second time, something had overturned a boat and the Enders were sure it was a bear. But it was just a couple of kids who’d sneaked out in the night. She and Nate caught the ten-year-olds and drove them to the sheriff’s office. Let their parents take care of them!
How could she and Nate have done so much in just two weeks? How could one person have become as much a part of her life as he had in such a short time? Her dad said that thanks to Nate he’d had two weeks of vacation. Even though she’d never stopped working, Terri felt the same way. Nate was like her, but he was also different. He believed in the old adage of stopping to smell the roses. Terri tended to go from one task to another, with no break in between. But Nate liked to escape. He found hiding places where they could run away from people. In the surrounding forest, they found an old shed, a leftover from when the Kissels owned the place.
They ran inside, feeling that they’d discovered something no one else knew about. When they found six used condoms on the dirt floor, they fell back in laughter.
Nate was great with all the college kids who did the grunt work of the place. They were usually Brody’s responsibility, but Nate had such an easy way of solving problems that he’d taken over the job.
Everything was easier and more pleasant with Nate around. And he was endlessly thoughtful. When he saw books in someone’s cabin, he asked if he could borrow a murder mystery for Terri. He exchanged recipes with people. He introduced them to each other. More than once he’d dumped a bratty, restless kid onto some grumpy adult, then left them with each other. Thanks to Nate, there were some groups of old and young that were studying turtles or learning about cameras or just lying on the bank and doing absolutely nothing.
“I can’t imagine the place without you,” Terri said so softly she could hardly be heard.
Nate reached across the console and took her hand. “We’ll always be friends. No matter what happens.”
“I know.” She pulled her hand out of his grip. Friends! she thought. Friends.
When Nate’s phone buzzed, he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Would you see who that is?”
“Stacy. You really need to speak to her.”
“Not while I’m driving. I’ll call her when I get home.” He put the phone back in his pocket.
Minutes later, Terri’s cell was ringing and caller ID said it was Bob Alderson.
“Terri! Where are you?” His voice was testy.
“In the car with Nate. Why?”
“Put me on speaker and hold up the phone. He needs to hear this.”
“Bob wants to talk to you.” She held her cell up.
“Nate,” Bob said, “can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear. What’s up? Want to buy my office furniture?”
“No!” Bob sounded very angry. “I spent hours singing your praises to all four parents. Just when they were beginning to believe that you weren’t some girl-stealing jerk, Stacy called. In tears.”
Nate glanced at Terri. “Why?”
“I... I, uh...” Nate couldn’t come up with an excuse for not taking her calls.
Terri turned off the speaker and put the phone to her ear. “He’s been dealing with Widiwick business.” She was almost snapping. “Remember that? Our biggest event of the year? So when’s Stacy get in?”
“Early tomorrow morning. Her parents are spending the night in Richmond and they’ll pick her up. Listen, Terri, if Nate’s going to be forgiven for this, you better make up some emergency that involves a hospital and kids. And blood. Lots of blood. Everyone is so angry at him that I don’t think I can fix it for him.”
Terri chose to ignore what he was saying. “Did you get the boxes to my father?”
“Yeah. He didn’t know where the two of you were. You two aren’t... You know, are you?”
“No, we’re not.” Her teeth were clamped together. “Okay, thanks for this. We’ll get her tent set up first thing in the morning.”
“Terri, Stacy is a nice girl. She doesn’t deserve—”
“Thanks!” Terri clicked off her phone.
For a while, she and Nate rode in silence. Terri knew she should be thinking about how to make up everything to Stacy, but what blared in her mind was “Last Night.” This was the last night that they’d spend together. “You heard?” she asked.
“Every word. Every bone-scraping, hair-raising word. How do I make this right?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“Surely some guy has stood you up, not taken your calls, whatever. What did he do to make you forgive him?”
“Never happened. It was always me who did the standing up. Some lake emergency and I never showed up. I had to jump off a dock in my prom dress.”
“Yeah? What did you wear instead?”
“Oh no, you don’t. This is about you. How are you going to make Stacy believe that you really do care?”
Twice, Nate opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He gave a sigh of defeat as he drove over the bridge to the lake.
In silence, he parked the car and they went inside the house. They stood by the door, looking through to the outside, neither of them moving.
“You should go pack,” Terri said, and Nate nodded. As soon as he was down the hall, she called her father.
“Where have you been?” Brody shouted. “I had to do that damned meeting all by myself. You know I hate those things! You and Nate will have to put up with—”
“Stacy’s arriving tomorrow morning.”
“Damn! Now Nate will be going on a bunch of those wedding lunches. There’ll be no work and we’ll have pink doilies everywhere, and—” The misery in his daughter’s voice finally hit him. “I’m sorry, baby. I know you’re going to miss him.”
“I think Nate should move into your apartment.”
“Okay. Want me to stay at your place?”
“No!” Terri said loudly, then quieted. “Let Nate use the pullout couch, but you stay there with him.” She waited for him to understand.
“You don’t want Nate to be staying alone when Stacy gets back, do you?” She answered him with silence. “Oh, honey, this isn’t good. He asked Stacy to marry him, so he must be crazy about her.”
“I know,” Terri said softly. “It’s just... I mean...”
“You want to postpone the inevitable.”
“I guess so. Who knows? Maybe Stacy will return with some Italian guy and...” Her voice faltered. She couldn’t keep up the joke.
“Okay. Whatever you want. But listen, honey—”
She heard Nate’s footsteps. “I gotta go.” She clicked off the phone.
“All done,” Nate said, “but you better check. I may have missed a shoe or left my stash of cigars behind.”
Terri didn’t smile. “You’re moving into Dad’s apartment.”
Nate looked alarmed. “And your dad will come here to stay with you?”
“Actually, you’re going to sleep on Dad’s pullout sofa. But if you want the apartment to yourself for, uh, you and Stacy, you can have it.”
“No!” Nate answered instantly. “This arrangement is fine. Unless your dad snores.”
She knew Nate was trying to make a joke, but it didn’t cover the fact that he didn’t want to be in an empty apartment. Did that mean he didn’t want to be alone with Stacy? She didn’t dare ask for fear that he’d give an answer she didn’t want to hear.
They got the leftovers from the kale feast out of the car and put them in the fridge. “We have to remember to take these to Elaine.”
Nate nodded in agreement.
It took them nearly an hour to get all his things together. Nate had missed several items and Terri found them. Since he was staying one more night, his shaving gear was left out. Twice, she’d stood in the bathroom door watching him shave as they went over what needed to be done that day.
As he straightened his toiletries, they glanced at each other in the mirror, but they said nothing.
Once they’d finished, they stood in the living room looking out at the water. “Beer?” Nate asked.
“Sure.” They knew that he’d get the beer, she’d get cheese and crackers, and they’d meet in the chairs outside.
They sat side by side, sipping and munching and watching. The fading sunlight was glistening on the water, and far down the lake they could see a flashlight.
“The Phillips,” Nate said.
“No, that’s Mrs. Jenkins and the blond kid who works in the kitchen.”
“When did they get together?”
“Three days ago. Didn’t you see her in those tiny denim shorts?”
“Was that the day you wore that green swimsuit that’s cut up to your waist?”
Terri took a sip of her drink. “You have to stop that. Can’t say it, can’t look. Stacy—”
“I know. She doesn’t deserve anything bad.” He took a breath. “Sometimes it’s like I can hardly remember her. I can remember ten years ago when I was with Kit in my first sandstorm. And I vividly remember when that damned camel bit my leg. But my time with Stacy in DC has become a blur.”
“Maybe that’s because you were in a job you hated.” Terri wanted to ask Nate to stay. To tell him to call Stacy and say he’d changed his mind.
But she couldn’t do it. She had to live with herself. She knew she was being judged by the town—and knew she was failing. If Nate broke up with perfect little Stacy Hartman for Terri Rayburn, she’d never live it down. Their children would grow up under a stigma.
Oh! she thought. To be able to say, Let’s run away together. Go to Colorado and open a horse ranch. She’d never been on a horse but maybe she could learn.
But she couldn’t do that. Couldn’t leave her dad with the lake.
She looked at Nate’s profile, saw that his expression was glum. “Can you ride a horse?”
The incongruous question startled him enough to put a sparkle in his eyes. “Quite well. When I was a kid I did some rodeos.”
“Bucking broncos, that sort of thing?”
“And a few bulls.”
“I’d like to see that.”
“Now I’m too old—and I know a lot more about pain.”
“So what did you talk to Della Kissel about?” she asked.
When he turned to her, he was smiling. “The same question everyone has. Why did you break up with Billy Thorndyke? From the way you talk about him, you still seem to think he hung the moon.”
She took her time answering. “You have any secrets that you’d die before you told?”
“About a dozen.”
“I have one.”
“Between you and Billy?”
“More than just he and I know, but...” She trailed off. “Weren’t we talking about you? I’m sure that once Stacy is here, you won’t remember any of this.” She motioned to include the lake, the house and herself.
“Since I heard you yelling at me to get out of your house, it’s like time has stood still. I remember being in DC with Stacy, but it’s like a movie that I saw long ago.” He looked at her. “What would you do if Billy walked through that door right now?”
His question annoyed her. “What would you do if Stacy walked through the door?”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“You think not? It’s different because you and Stacy are engaged to get married? Want to see the ring Billy gave me? He cashed a bond from his grandmother to buy it for me.” She started to get up but Nate caught her hand and held it tightly. He didn’t look at her or speak, and his hand kept her from leaving.
When she began to calm down, he loosened his grip. For a few minutes they sat side by side, fingers lightly entwined, and looked out at the water.
“How about thick, greasy bacon burgers?” she asked.
“As good as water in the desert. And the first one who brings up anything serious has to eat the kale leftovers. All of them.”
“That’s cruel.” She started to get up but paused. “Does talking about having to deal with tomorrow’s temper tantrums and putting up a fancy Italian tent count as ‘serious’?”
Nate groaned as he stood up. “Yes! Let’s talk about how old that Mason girl is and did you get the thick-cut bacon that I like?”
“Too young, and yes I did. Did you take the sheets out of the dryer?”
“Sure.”
“Did you change the bed?”
“How about if I put some shawarma spices in the hamburger meat?”
Terri groaned. “You left those sheets for me to put on the bed, didn’t you? Well, I’m not going to do it. It’s your job, not mine.”
Smiling, Nate stepped aside for her to go into the house before him.
* * *
Terri tried to act like it was any other night. Nate found a rugby game on some obscure foreign channel and sat at the end of the couch and watched it. She had an old Josephine Tey murder mystery that she couldn’t seem to get into. She thought Nate was absorbed in his game until the announcers started yelling about some great goal, and he didn’t blink. It looked like his mind was elsewhere.
Met Her Match Page 14
