Once and Again: Petal, Georgia, Book 1

by Lauren Dane

  “The one time I go for a woman like Lily and look how it turned out. Exactly the way it does with the rest.”

  “Do you really expect me to believe you care as little for Lily breaking things off with you as you did when Stephanie did? Really? I call poop on that,” she corrected with an eye toward the dining room.

  He squirmed a bit, knowing she saw right through him. “She’s a good person. I’d like to be friends with her again. But the last thing I need is to go sniffing around after anything more than that. She’s back in Petal to help with Chris but what about when he straightens up? She’ll head out to Macon and her old life.”

  “You’re lots of things, Nathan, but a quitter isn’t one of them. You’re the smart one in the family. Act like it.” She hmpfed and he laughed.

  The only woman he’d ever been able to count on stood right there in that kitchen. Lily had been the glaring exception in what had been his choice of women for romance. He had horrible taste. He was a menace to himself.

  “What can I do to help?” He picked up a bowl of green beans.

  “You think I’m letting you change the subject, Nathan, but I’m not. Lily is good for you and she’s back. I can’t for the life of me imagine why you’d let her go the second time. You’re pretty, but you’re not dumb. Now, take those beans out and get the garlic bread from the oven. We’ll start dishing up the food for the kids before calling them in.”

  He nearly kicked the tile floor and said, “Aww, Tate!” but his pride kept his control.

  She took his arm after he’d called the kids in from outside. “All that nameless, faceless fuckbuddy business is beneath you, Nathan. You need a woman who’s worthy of you. Stop dragging the bottom of the barrel and you might find one who won’t screw you over. Lily loved you something fierce. She’s exactly the kind of woman you need. You made a mistake, but I believe you two have been given another chance. Don’t mess it up this time.”

  She tiptoed up, kissed his cheek and swatted his behind with a towel as she guided the kids who’d just started to come in the door to their seats.

  And he thought about what his world would be like with Lily in it and then realized he didn’t know. He’d certainly changed in the last six years, she would have too.

  But it wasn’t an altogether bad thing. He realized he really wanted to find out who they were after all this time.

  “Lily, where are the keys to my car?” Pamela wandered into the room.

  Lily looked up from the essay she was proofing for her brother. “On the counter. Why? Do you need me to run an errand for you?” There was no way she was letting her mother drive in the state she was in.

  “Chris needs to run to a friend’s house. He needs to borrow it.”

  She looked at her mother, blinking. “We talked about this.”

  “He told me he made it through the whole week without being late once.”

  “It’s one week. He hasn’t turned in an assignment in his math class since November. He’s on lockdown, Mom. He’s got a long way to go to keep from failing his entire sophomore year.”

  “Nancy thinks you should give him some rewards.”

  She looked around the room. “Nancy’s not here. I am. Now, I told him no and you said you’d back me up. Worse, he knows he’s not allowed to have the car.”

  “I’m his mother, Lily. It’s my job to take care of him.”

  She looked at her mother and held back the scream of frustration roiling in her gut. She wanted to yell, So do it! But it wouldn’t help to get angry. Pamela would retreat and it would only complicate matters with Chris.

  But.

  “I didn’t give up my house and my life in another city to move here and help with Chris, to be undermined at every step. We made a plan. The counselor seems to think it’s a good plan. He’s responding really well to our united front. And to the stability. He’s going to school and turning his work in. Now he has to clear out the backlog. As for these friends of his, you and I both know none of them are good for him. We agreed to hold him accountable. Period. He needs stability. We need to stay strong. This is for him and his benefit.”

  Pamela sighed, but Lily could see her spine hunch a little as she let it go.

  Lily stood. “I’ll handle Chris myself.” She’d been the one to deal with the homework anyway.

  He had the good sense to show fear in his eyes when she came into his room. “Expecting to see Mom instead?” She tossed the paper to him. “Took the liberty of helping you recognize your potential. That’s sloppy work and you’re capable of more.”

  “I’ll do it better next time.”

  “Oh I’m sure you will. And you’ll do better this time too. Right now. You have time since you won’t be going anywhere. Don’t go around me to her again.”

  He stuck his chin out, defiant. “She’s my mother.”

  “She’s mine too. And we both know she’s having a rough time of it right now. So I’m in charge. It’s not ideal, but it’s what you’ve got. Get your act together and stop being a brat. Everyone’s too tired for it.” She waved over her shoulder as she left the room. “Bring me the revisions. I’m going up to my room now.”

  Chapter Three

  Lily wasn’t sure why she was nervous. After all, she’d known Beth Murphy most of her life and through her, Beth’s sisters. She knew Maggie Chase and probably every woman on the other side of the door.

  She knocked before she could change her mind only to have the door yanked open by a grinning Beth Murphy. “Sugar, you’re here!”

  She hugged her friend and was yanked inside.

  Maggie Chase approached, grinning. “It’s been way too long since I’ve seen you last. Come on in.”

  Lily put her bag on the little bench at the entry and kicked off her shoes, following Maggie and Beth into the wide and full living room.

  “We’ve got sour apple and lemon drops made so far. Want one?” Beth indicated the counter lined with pretty martini glasses and two pitchers.

  A lemon drop in her left hand, she managed to nod a lot at the stuff people said as she made her way to the couch to sit.

  “You know everyone, right?” Beth asked.

  “Let’s see.” She looked around. “Yep. I met Cassie a few days ago at the bookstore. I know everyone else from school or town.”

  Beth hugged her side. “I’ve missed you so much. I’ve hated living in two different places. And when you come back to visit, it’s…”

  “Awkward. It’s all right. It put you in an odd spot and I didn’t want to make things worse after we broke things off. But I’ve missed you too.”

  “You’re back for good, right?” Maggie passed over a tray of something yummy looking so Lily took two. Just to be neighborly and all.

  “I had thought it would be temporary, but Chris is going to need me. He’s too much for my mom and he’s nervous enough about people leaving him. I made a promise that I’d be here for him and I will.”

  Tate smiled, nodding. “Nathan says he’s seeing a big difference since you’ve been back. It’s good you can do it. I know he’ll appreciate it in the end.”

  “Not so much when I take his car away and he starts with how I’m not his mother.” She laughed and raised her glass.

  Tate laughed. “Chris will take a while. But I think your being here for him is exactly what he needs.”

  “What’s your job situation?” Beth snuck one more of the little meatball things off the tray and winked at Lily.

  “I can do my job remotely. For a while anyway. Eventually they’re going to want someone based in Macon, and I get that. Once upon a time I made an okay living with my freelance work. I don’t know if that’s the case anymore. But I have some other ideas as to how I can pay the rent.”

  “You’re living with your mom?”

  “Above the garage, which is the same really. But it’s close enough, and I can be around to make sure Chris gets to school and that he’s not sneaking around and cutting class. My mom is… Well I’m glad I�
�m nearby.”

  “I was sorry to hear about what your dad did. How is she recovering from that? How are you?” Beth’s voice was low enough that it wasn’t a loud public statement. Conversation picked up all around them and Lily let herself relax.

  “He didn’t cheat on me and drop our marriage and child for some twenty-year-old. What I have to deal with is nothing compared to that. At the same time, this isn’t his first trip to another woman’s bed. I know it makes me uncharitable, but he’s always been the center of the universe and everyone was supposed to be a satellite around him. My mother made that choice to live that way. I didn’t. So she’s a wreck. I hope she snaps out of it and can be a better and more present mother for Chris, but I don’t know if it’ll happen. I sure know Chris doesn’t have the time to wait around for it or for our father to get his head out of his rear and remember he’s got other things in addition to his too-young girlfriend to support.”

  “Well, you know my history. If you want to talk about it, I’m around. I love your mom, but even I can see she’s sort of given up.”

  Beth’s parents were far worse than Lily’s ever could have been. For her, it had been neglect, but mainly benign. The Murphy parents were a living nightmare.

  “Nancy has been sniffing around.”

  Beth made a sour face. “You need another drink for that, and then you and I are going to talk about Nathan.”

  Lily put her hands over her face, but laughed anyway.

  “What? What are you embarrassing her over? You have to share so we can snicker too.” Cassie leaned in, smiling.

  “Nathan and Lily used to be together back in college.”

  “Seven years ago. It was nearly seven years ago.” Her face blazed.

  “Ha. Clearly you’ve forgotten all about it since you know exactly how long ago it was.” Beth handed her another drink. “And you need to try those little popover things there.” She pointed to another plate.

  “What’d he do?” Cassie asked. “What?” She looked around, laughing. “You all might know but I don’t. I wager most of you don’t know and want to know, but you’re all just too chicken to ask. I’m a Northerner so I get to be rude. Polly told me that last week and I’m clutching it close as an excuse now. Don’t be jealous. I’ll share.”

  Lily winked. “I surely do like you, Cassie Chase.”

  “Okay, hang on. Let’s top off everyone’s drinks and bring out the rest of the food before we go into the story.” Maggie went to grab some more plates of food, Olivia moving to join her.

  “It’s not even a big deal. We were both young. He’s moved on. I moved on.”

  Beth rolled her eyes. “He’s been agitated since Monday. Don’t tell me he’s moved on.”

  “I heard he was engaged. Sounds like it to me. And to Stephanie Prater?” She hated Steffie. She’d been a stupid, shallow girl in school, and Lily had no doubt was still stupid and shallow. Just the idea that Nathan considered her worth marrying and Lily not even worth explaining to made her want to punch something.

  Tate laughed. “To a grown woman who made people call her Steffie. She showed up to his house with wedding invitations made!”

  “Sad she has self-esteem issues.”

  “You are such a good addition to this group.” Olivia put her feet up and sipped her virgin drink. “Marc and Nathan are a lot alike. All those pretty men with ladies falling over their feet to get to them, and they get lazy. You take work I bet. And I mean that as a compliment.”

  “Well I certainly require that any man I date who says he loves me doesn’t go kissing up on other women.”

  “He did not!” Anne’s eyes widened. Anne was another one of Nathan’s sisters and also part owner of Tate’s salon. “He’s always been so closed mouthed about it. I guess I know why now.”

  “He did. But we were on a break so whatever. He never found it very important to try to explain and that is that. Period. I’m either worth it, or I’m not.”

  “I didn’t know he never tried to explain and I sure never knew he cheated.” Anne frowned. “I need to thump him.”

  “Please don’t. Really.” Why it was important to her that his family not be angry with him, she didn’t know, but it was. “We were on a break, but we’d promised to not see anyone else while we worked things out. He apparently found his answers and acted on them before talking to me. We were young. I was twenty-one years old! I didn’t know anything about anything, but I do know despite his flaws when it comes to women, Nathan is a good person. Please don’t be mad. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  Beth patted her knee. “Don’t worry. We all still love him. I find it interesting you’re concerned over how we think about Nathan. Are you going to protect his virtue? ’Cause that’s a big job.”

  Tate snorted. “And he saw the light with Steffie and broke things off. She’s crazy too. Oh girl, she shows up all over town and scares him.”

  Ha! Good.

  “Yes, I smirk a little too. Still, he’s not the same selfish boy he was when you two were together before.” It seemed a nice punishment that Tate would smirk over something Nathan did.

  Lily put her hand up. “Enough talk about Nathan Murphy. He moved on. I moved on. It was a silly romance years ago. Loving someone more than they love you is a sucky thing. But I’m over it.”

  They let the topic pass and moved on to other things. Gossip was pretty much the same as it had been when she lived there before. But when she got home later that night and had checked in on Chris, she realized it’d been the right choice to go. The right choice to start building a life here in Petal, for the long haul.

  Her condo in Macon was up for sale. She just had to hope that despite the economy she could move it soon enough. Then she’d have a good down payment for her own place in town. It’d go some way in convincing Chris she had no plans to leave. And it’d give her a sense that she was putting down roots.

  She was approaching thirty and it was time to settle in for real.

  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Lily followed Beth through the crowd toward the table of women near the dance floor.

  “You don’t let anyone talk you into anything. You have a strong will, Lily Travis. You wanted to come here to kick up your heels and dance. Takes the edge off a crappy week.” Beth grabbed her hand and tugged her along. Murphys never seemed to move slowly—except for the one.

  At the thought of Nathan, she drew a deep breath and made herself think about Josh Lucas instead. Which worked for five seconds.

  Tate, Anne and Maggie Chase waved them over when they caught sight of their approach.

  “Hey you two. Pitcher just arrived. I heard about how you chased your brother and caught him by jumping a fence.” Tate pushed a beer in Lily’s direction. “That’s awesome. Once when Jake was in trouble for something or other, can’t remember what now, Tim jumped the fence at the drive-in and caught him.” Everyone laughed, imagining the look on Jacob’s face as his six-foot-plus brother cleared something so tall and then got close enough to grab.

  “The boy will be the death of me.” She gulped the beer as she watched the ebb and flow of people on the dance floor. “I can’t believe the little shit made me chase him in the first place. I didn’t think about it until I was nearly up and over it. Lucky I didn’t land on my ass and break something.”

  “Was he with other kids?”

  “Yes. I grabbed one of them too and marched him home. Chris told me he got put on restriction for six months. At least he got in trouble, I guess. The other two are little thugs and I’ve forbidden Chris from hanging with them. Who knows if it’ll take or not. I’m now the meanest sister in the world.” She mock bowed.

  Beth snorted. “I bet Chris is good and scared of you now, though.”

  “He does jump every time I walk into a room.” She raised her glass to the group. “Why are we here? I thought we’d head to Riverton.”

  “Used to. But the Tonk is closer.” Beth shrugged. “It’s sort of become our pl
ace over the last few years.”

  “How’s your momma?” Maggie asked. “Polly saw her on Wednesday out in the yard. She been sick? Polly said she seemed pale.”

  That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? Her mother had taken to drinking along with the pills and walked around the house in a daze. Lily hated for Chris to see it. If it went on much longer, she’d have to deal with it, and there was already so much to deal with, Lily wasn’t sure she could do it all. Much less do it all right.

  So she sighed. “She’s a mess. But she stays out of my way when I’m dealing with Chris for the most part, so that’s good. I guess.”

  She and Beth had talked about it, about this growing addiction. Beth and her siblings knew what it was like to grow up in a house with addicts. It wasn’t pretty and Beth had a very low tolerance for it. Lily got that. It was bad for Chris to see, though she wasn’t sure he got it quite yet.

  “If you need anything, let me know.” Tate reached out to squeeze her hand. “I understand more than you think.”

  She was wrong there, of course. Lily knew exactly how hard Tate had worked to raise her siblings around the violent, drunken episodes between her parents, and the ones her father had aimed at the children who were clearly not his own. She’d seen firsthand what Tate’s face had looked like after she’d jumped in-between Beth and their father, and he’d taken out all that anger on her.

  “I appreciate that.” But damn it she didn’t want to think on it. Wanted a few hours of some peace and lighthearted fun before she had to dive back in.

  “Where is Chris tonight?” Beth passed the tray of potato skins over.

  “Church youth group. Their youth pastor is a good guy. A few of Chris’s friends are going. Friends he doesn’t get in trouble with. Anyway, they’re doing a sleepover in the rectory and watching movies. I don’t want to take everything away from him. You know? I want him to have friends and a life. I just don’t want that life to include having to jump fences to catch him when he’s cutting school.”