I asked him to tell me about his life, starting with his childhood. He asked if I’d like him to tell what happened to him when he was seven years old. He stared up at the starry Oklahoma sky as he spoke. His mother had remarried and his new stepfather was a drinker, apparently.
The ringing of my cell phone cut into his story.
“Hello?”
“Lori?” I couldn’t believe it. That was Rhett’s voice.
“Rhett?”
“Yeah. I’m back in Texas, in Lubbock.” I knew that was corporate headquarters for his company. “How you girls doing up there in Tulsa?”
“We’re okay. Audie’s out for a coke, just now.” I motioned for Joe to give me the pencil and part of the paper he’d been using to write down measurements. “Tell me your number and I’ll have her call you when she comes in. She’s due back any minute now. 10:00 is her witching hour.”
He gave me his number and I jotted it down.
“But Lori, I really called to talk to you, babe.”
“What about?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking I just might have made a big mistake, you know?”
His words slurred slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I was thinking, hon, that if we could get back together as a family, you know, you, me and Audie. I’d just ship Nan right on back to the P.I.”
“Is your wife hearing this conversation, Rhett?”
“Yeah, but she’s probably not understanding a damned word of it.”
I felt a mean little clutch of joy in my chest. Maybe old Rhett was getting back some of his own.
“Why would you want to ship her back? You’ve only just married.”
“Oh, a lot reasons, hon, but mostly I miss having our family,” He lowered his voice. “I thought we might try getting together again. What do you say?”
I didn’t say anything for a moment. I’d been torn to bits by our breakup and here was my ex, offering me another chance at the gold ring. I allowed another silent second to pass.
“You there, Lori?”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“Well, what do you say, hon?”
“I don’t think so, Rhett, but thanks for asking, anyway.” I did owe him a thank you for that. He words went a long way to soothing my wounded pride… and my ability to turn him down was an even bigger and better high for me.
“Well, come on now, Lori, let’s…”
“I’ll have Audie call when she gets back, but I can’t talk anymore now Rhett. I have someone here.” And I flipped the phone closed. Never before in my life had I ever hung up on the man. That gesture did me a little good, also.
“My ex,” I explained to Joe. “Sorry. I interrupted your story.”
“He’s wanting you back, isn’t he?”
“So he says, but his offer didn’t much appeal to me. I’d much rather hear about what happened to you when you were seven than listen to my ex husband complaining about his new wife.”
Joe chuckled and went on to tell me about his stepfather taking him “fishing” up at Grand Lake, just a few weeks after he and Joe’s mother were married. One Friday after school, Joe and the stepfather drove sixty miles north to the lake, stopping frequently along the way so the stepfather could load up on a few more beers.
“Mama’s new husband, Lawrence, was pretty looped by the time we came to the lake,” Joe laughed and put his elbows back to rest on the porch. “That’s the time and place where I learned a lot about myself.” He closed his eyes and smiled at the picture he must have been seeing in his head.
“Heck. Even though I didn’t think so at the time, Lawrence did me a real big favor that weekend.”
I desperately wanted to hear the rest of the story but Joe’s big pickup slid into the parking space behind the house and bathed us in a double spotlight. Joe stood up to go get in the truck with his son.
Audie hopped out from the passenger side and we both waved the Casey boys goodbye “until tomorrow.”
I told Audie her father had called from Texas as I handed her his number. “He wants you to call him.” I told her. “He‘s lonesome for us, I think.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“Yeah. But only for a minute. You better ring your dad so he won’t worry. I told him you’d be right back. Did you have a good time?”
She nodded. “Joe Junior’s a lot of fun.” She and I went on into the newly painted dining room and sat at our desk/couch cum dining table. We both took a moment to admire the sunny yellow room.
“Nice.” She murmured as she looked around the room. I put my hand over hers before she dialed her dad’s number.
“Audie, I think he might have been drinking.”
She nodded understanding and sat listening to the ringing in Texas.
“Hello.” She nodded at me to show he’d answered. “This is Audie.” She smiled and asked, “Daddy, how come you’re back in Lubbock?”
I didn’t stay to hear the rest of the conversation but went inside to run a hot bath so I could clean up in preparation for my morning drive to the “Quonset” and my direct mail job, which was moving along quickly. I was looking forward to getting a rather hefty check at the end of the project. I knew I’d probably need to start looking for some other kind of contract work within the coming few weeks. We had to eat, pay Joe a little something, and we really needed a table and another chair. I could just picture the future with the couch and the desk in the living room, a table and two chairs in the dining room and our mattresses and suitcases in our bedrooms. We were settling nicely into our cleaned up nest.
Audie interrupted my decorating dreams with a knock on the bathroom door. I answered and she opened the door a few inches to talk to me.
“Daddy wants us to come down to Lubbock. He’s still on the line.”
I shook my soapy head. “No way, Audie. I can’t leave my work right now. I’m on contract here for at least three or four more weeks. Tell him he’ll have to wait until my job at TU is finished or he’ll have to come up here to see you.”
I didn’t want to hear further arguments so I ducked my shampooed hair under the faucet to cut off any more discussion. Lubbock, indeed! He’d decided to let Audie do the dirty work of persuasion for him. I’m pretty sure he had heard finality in my voice when I’d spoken to him and he knows my soft spot is his daughter.
CHAPTER 8
On Saturday I wasn’t of much use to Joe while he worked on the electrical switch box in the kitchen but I sat on our chair in the yellow dining room and chatted with him just to keep him company.
“We never did get around to your adventure at the lake with your stepfather. He got drunk, you said, then what happened? What did he do?”
I loved hearing Joe’s laughter.
“Yeah, our first trip to the lake was an education in itself.” He stepped back from the box on the wall. “He told me he was going to get a beer and he left me on the dirt road by the shore of the lake.”
“Left you? Alone at the lake? You mean he didn’t come back to get you?”
“Not for a couple of days.”
“He left a seven year old boy on the edge of the lake for two days? Did he leave food for you?’
“Nope. No food.” Joe laughed again. “But my real dad had given me a pocket knife before he left us for good. I always had that in my pocket.”
“Did you have a blanket? A fishing pole? A soft drink?”
“Nope. Nothing. After an hour or so I realized I was going to be on my own so I tried to figure out what I should do. It was cool, but not real cold. I was wearing my jacket.”
“What in the world did you do, Joe?” His story not only fascinated me. It horrified me, as well.
“I’d had peanuts and a couple of Dr. Peppers on the way up when my stepdad had beer, so I wasn’t hungry.” He cut his sharp green gaze toward me to gauge my reaction. “I thought I’d better get some sleep.”
“Oh, Joe.” Behind my lids I could feel sympathetic tears thre
atening. “You were so brave. Were you scared out of your mind?”
“I’ve always loved the outdoors and I’d had time to plan what I was going to do, so no, I guess I wasn’t scared. I’d spotted a tree trunk that had leaves piled up several feet deep against it. I decided to make those leaves my bed.” He grinned at my gasp. “I used a stick to check around in the leaves to be sure no snakes were there.”
“Joe, Joe, Joe. Did you sleep?’
“Yep, and pretty soundly, too, I guess. The sun in my eyes woke me and I had to put the next part of my plan into action.”
“Were you starving?’
“No hungrier than I’d been lots of times when I was at home and the cupboard was bare. Sometimes food was pretty sparse in my mama’s house.” He pulled some wires through a metal plate. “I tore down a vine that was still green and cut myself a long stick to use as a pole.” He glanced at me again. “I knew some about fishing. I knew I couldn’t join the Boy Scouts but I had been reading their book from the school library.”
In essence, the little boy had lived: he’d slept, cooked, eaten and survived in the wild for two days and nights alone. When a friendly family stopped their car to ask if he needed a ride anywhere he’d told them no, that he was waiting for his dad.
I couldn’t help it. I walked into the kitchen to stand behind him and put my hand on his shoulder. He grinned.
“That was a long time ago, Lori.”
His whole life had been one of working, learning, and depending wholly upon himself. He got no help from his mother or stepdad nor from anyone else. He lived at home until he was in high school but he worked odd jobs to buy his own food and clothing. One day he came home from school and found his parents had moved away and left him without a word, and without a forwarding address. He spent a couple of nights alone in the empty rent house, sleeping on the floor, but he didn’t like that much. All through the rest of his high school years he lived in the car he’d bought himself by doing work on other kids’ cars.
“I made it.” He stood up and took my hand in both of his. The callused palm felt warm and strong. “It was all good for me. I learned how to take care of myself. I learned that drinkers are losers and I even graduated from high school. I’ve never taken a dime from anyone that I didn’t earn.”
“But Joe…”
“I did the best I could with what life handed me, girl, and I find I always have plenty of work I can do that will bring in money or something else that I need.”
I moved closer to him.
“I’m so sorry, Joe.”
“Don’t be, darling. My boys all know how to survive too. I took them out to the lake early on, but I stayed with them and showed them what they needed to do to eat and sleep in the wild. They are all growing up into decent men and my ex and I are friendly enough. Life looks pretty good to me, Lori,” He smiled down at me, “Especially now. You Prideaux girls have me and Joe Junior waking up whistling every morning these days, ‘cause we’re going to see you two.”
He flipped a switch and the lights in the kitchen came on. The refrigerator hummed with life. Again, it was if I heard a distant bell chime.
“Oh, thank you Joe… for telling me your story and for helping us survive, too.”
“You little ladies deserve some help, I think.”
“Lori called Rhett back after youall left last night. He might be coming up here.”
Joe’s hand tightened on mine, then without a word, he loosened his grasp, turned and left the kitchen, slamming the heavy wooden backdoor hard against the frame. He strode out to his pickup and drove away without another word.
Uh huh. So much for the distant ringing of bells. Romantic ideas are okay but at this moment reality was staring me in the face. “What was that all about?” I asked aloud but I knew that Rhett Prideaux had once again made trouble for me. If only I had made door slamming a part of my life I might very well have saved myself some heartache. It appeared to be a solid way to get a point across! Joe was not happy with my news. He’d let me know it right away. Very effective.
I took myself out to the back steps to brood over this latest development.. The cooling afternoon air was full of the scent of an outdoor barbeque somewhere nearby and beneath that was the dry dust smell of the dying grass and leaves. The concrete steps were still giving off the heat of the day.
September in Oklahoma is usually close to being as warm as the heat of August during the day, with 100 degrees not unheard of, but it begins to cool down into the 70’s or lower at night. That lowering of the temperature gives notice that cold months lie ahead. Sometimes we have snow in January, but not always. I remember that we never fail to live through one ice storm or two, where everything, from trees to bushes, to structures of any kind are covered with an outer skin of ice. I rather like them because of the fairylike beauty of the phenomenon. Lots of car wrecks, of course, but we Oklahomans take that in our stride… or stay home. I’d hoped we’d be snug in our old house in a bad neighborhood on the wrong side of town by the time the first ice storm hit us.
From my hillside perch I glanced around at the houses nearby. Years of living in a third world country can make even the poorest American city neighborhood look like a really great place to be. Our dirtiest, most ramshackle, most crowded areas look wonderful compared to the places where much of the rest of the world must live.
Tulsa is noted for being a pretty, art deco city, clean and beautiful, more or less. We had few places that could be called “ugly.” Homely, maybe, but not frighteningly ugly. But even those few places would be blessed once or twice a year. Ice would cover any of Tulsa’s ugliness with diamonds.
I wished that I had a man sitting next to me so I could put my head on his shoulder just for the comfort of it. I realized I wasn’t wishing for Rhett. I wished for Joe.
CHAPTER 9
“Lori, Daddy talked about all of us getting together again. The company is going to send him back to the P.I. when his furlough time is up.” Her turquoise eyes glistened with hope. She bore the young female version of Rhett’s handsome face; tiptilted eyes, creamy skin, high cheekbones and all.
“Honey, you can go back to your daddy anytime you want. I’ll even help you go, but you’ll have to count me out of that equation.”
Audie’s eyes pleaded with me. “Dad says he’ll act decent if you’ll just come back home.” She bent to put her head on my shoulder. I realized she’d grown inches just in the months since we’d come back to the U.S. She was now almost a head taller than I was. “He said he’d send Nan and the baby back to her family. If we went home I could enroll at the American School again. I could see my friends.”
“What about Joe Junior?” I had to smile when her head shot up as if she’d been electrified.
“Oh, yeah. Joe Junior.”
“I’m divorced from your father, Audie, at his request. Now my life and yours, if you stay with me, will be moving in a different direction from his.”
“I don’t want to leave you, Lori.”
“Or Joe Junior, either?” I had to laugh.
She laughed with me. She’s such a good kid.
“For sure I’m not going to stay with dad and that dumb Nan by myself.”
“No school or job today so we might as well get started on the outside painting, kiddo. Go put on your oldest clothes.”
I was washing our breakfast dishes when the kitchen door opened and Joe stood framed in the early morning light. He ducked slightly to step inside.
“Hi, Joe. I’ve just now told Audie we need to start on…” Before I could finish my sentence he had clasped me in his arms. He kissed me. The kiss was exciting, romantic and also a plea for forgiveness, I thought.
I leaned into him and my own kiss answered his plea with my own. His body felt so strong, his arms so protective. I had a flash of pity for the deserted seven-year-old, then happiness that I’d found him, that the man he’d become was worth any intelligent woman’s attention.
His lips asked and mine answe
red. I decided at that moment that Joe Casey was special in several ways. My hands found their way around his neck.
“Audie will be out in just a minute,” I whispered.
Joe looked toward the back door. “I’ve got someone with me who wants to see her.” He gestured toward the door but he didn’t drop his hands from my waist when Joe Junior stepped into the doorway.
“What’s that smell?” I whispered the question to his father.
“He bought himself some men’s cologne. Wanted to impress Audie.” Joe pulled me close once again.
“Joe, should we be doing this in front of the kids?”
“What kids?”
“Well, your kid.”
“Joe Junior, does it bother your six foot frame to see me kissing Audie’s mom?” Joe kissed me again before his son could answer. Or maybe he did answer and I just wasn’t paying attention.
Audie came into the kitchen and headed for Joe Junior. “Um-m-m. You smell good, J.J. Ready to paint?” She and Joe Junior stepped out onto the porch, gathering brushes and cans as they went.
“She liked his new cologne?” I was dumbstruck. The boy had reeked.
Joe grinned. “I’ll wear some of his frou frou next time we come if you’ll compliment me the way she did my boy, Lori.”
“You don’t need perfume, Mr. Casey. Your ways with a wrench or a paintbrush, not to mention electrical wiring, already turn me right on.” We followed the kids outside.
We’d decided to do as much of the exterior of the house as we could before noon. Joe had been given tickets for the Oklahoma Aquarium which had recently opened in Jenks, a small town to the south of Tulsa. The tickets had cost someone $12.95 each, and we didn’t want to waste them We had all agreed to go see the aquarium and the Karl White National Fishing and Tackle Museum at the Arkansas River and Creek Turnpike Bridge together in the afternoon. Maybe talking about his lakeside adventures had whetted Joe’s appetite to see exotic fish and collectible fishing equipment. We expected sharks, at the very least. The two teen agers reverted to childish expectation whenever we talked about the planned afternoon.
Chik~Lit for Foxy Hens Page 11
