Snapdragon Way (Firefly Hollow Book 8)

by T. L. Haddix

  Eli saluted her. “Put it on our tab.”

  “Don’t think I won’t,” she called over her shoulder.

  “What do we do with them?” John asked Zanny, staring at the boys with consternation. “We can’t ground them.”

  “We’ll sleep here,” Noah told him. “I’ll take that chair.” He pointed in the general direction of the recliner.

  John rubbed his cheek, perplexed. “I guess we can pull the mattress out and let them sleep on the couch.”

  “I’ll get the sheets,” Zanny said. “What made you think getting drunk was a good idea, boys?”

  “It seemed like the thing to do. It was a lonnnnnnnggggg day,” Noah said, spreading his arms wide to demonstrate just how long. In the process, he nearly slapped Eli on the nose.

  “Watch it, would you?”

  “Sure thing, Jarhead.” Noah grinned at him.

  “I’m not a Marine. I’m a sergeant. Army.”

  “Okay.” Noah tried again. “Kn-knothead?”

  Eli’s scowl was slightly off kilter. “No. No head.”

  That did it. Noah started snickering, and he couldn’t stop. “No head. Poor Eli.”

  “Not lately, no. Damn it.”

  “Noah James!” Zanny scolded loudly as he and Eli laughed. “Eli Thomas! Watch your mouths.”

  John was no help, as he was laughing as hard as the boys. “Ow!” he said, rubbing at his arm where Zanny’d smacked him. “What was that for?”

  “For encouraging them. I’ll get the linens.” She left, shaking her head with every step, muttering under her breath.

  Noah was happy he couldn’t make out what she was saying. He figured it wouldn’t be too flattering toward him or Eli.

  “I gotta pee,” Eli said. He managed to sit up, then stand with John’s help. “I might need a little help getting there. Sorry, Dad.”

  “Oh, I’ll join your sister in putting it on your tab,” John teased gently as he assisted Eli from the room.

  When his mother came back in a minute later with sheets, blankets, and pillows, Noah was sitting on the edge of the couch rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. Now that the humor of the situation was starting to wear off, he was sobering up a bit.

  Zanny plunked the linens down in the recliner, then started scooting the coffee table out of the way. “What in the world happened?” she asked in a low voice. “I know something did.”

  Noah stood and started helping her remove the cushions from the couch, only a bit unsteady on his feet. “Haley. She broke him. Women are more trouble than they’re worth, Mom. You know that?”

  She paused, the mattress halfway out of the base of the couch, and sighed. “Oh, Noah.”

  “I kissed Sophie. Don’t tell Eli. Why does she get to me?” he asked, scowling. “I shouldn’t let her. And Eli shouldn’t let Erica get to him. Or Haley.”

  By the time Eli and John returned, the bed was made, and Zanny had Noah tucked in. Noah watched as she helped John with Eli, then left.

  “Feels like we’re little again,” he said.

  John chuckled softly. “Yeah, a bit.” He leaned down and kissed Eli’s forehead. “Need anything else?”

  Zanny came back in with bottles of water in hand. “Spill these on yourselves, and you’re sleeping in the mess,” she warned, handing one to Eli and one to Noah. “My baby boys. What in the world are we going to do with you?”

  John put his arm around her shoulder and shook his head. “I guess we’ll keep them.”

  Noah grinned, though his eyes were feeling heavy as lead balloons. “Good to know.”

  As he faded off to sleep, he thought about how devastated Eli had been earlier. “Sure was a lot simpler when we were smaller,” he mumbled. “If I ever have kids, I won’t let ‘em grow up. Hurts too much.”

  The last thing he felt was his mother’s hand smoothing his hair back. And then he was out.

  John sat down beside Zanny on the steps, staring at the boys who were both out like lights almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows. When she sighed and leaned against him, he put his arm around her, kissing her temple tenderly.

  “What do you think this means?” he asked quietly. “Are they in trouble?”

  She squeezed his knee. “Let’s lock up and go to bed, and I’ll tell you.”

  Once they were settled in for the night, she told him what Noah had said. “His voice, John, when he said Sophie’s name… and Haley. I thought things were going well between her and Eli.”

  “They were. Maybe it’s something stupid and once they’ve had a chance to think, they can fix it,” he said as he ran his hand down her arm, capturing her hand to lace their fingers together. “As to Sophie, well, I’m hoping proximity takes care of that. He really said he kissed her?”

  She nodded. “He did. And not to tell Eli because he didn’t know about it.”

  “Then I’ll keep my mouth shut, even though curiosity’s liable to drive me nuts.”

  Zanny propped herself up next to him, tracing his eyebrows with her fingertip. “Think we’ll ever get them paired off, married, whatever? Happy?”

  “I hope so. The last thing I expected when Molly’s phone rang tonight was it to be the boys, drunk off their asses…” He gave a little snort of laughter as he thought about how addled his sons had been. “I should get an award for not sitting them down in front of a video camera.”

  “Hush,” she said, goosing him lightly. “Though I don’t necessarily disagree with you. Jarhead.”

  They held on to each other as they laughed, trying to keep the noise down so that they didn’t wake the kids.

  “You got a little bit too much of a kick out of that one,” she told John with a smile.

  He caught her hand and used it to pull her across him, then kept going and turned her underneath him, grinning down at her. “Yeah, well. I can afford to be smug and laugh at them, can’t I?”

  She wound her arms around his neck as she lifted to meet him halfway for a leisurely kiss. “Depends on how good you are.” But then a moment later, she sighed. “They’ll be okay, right?”

  John looked down at her somberly. “I think so. We’ll be here to help them work it out. They’re good kids. All three of them. I thought Molly was going to clobber them both.”

  “That’s my girl. I love you, you know.”

  He nodded. “I know. I love you, too, Suzanna D’lores,” he whispered against her lips, using the shortened version of her middle name that had been their own private endearment for more than thirty years. “I’m glad you’re here with me, glad we’re sharing this together. I couldn’t do it without you, Zanny. I hope we never have to find out what that’s like.”

  She cupped his cheek as he touched his forehead to hers. “Me, too.”

  He didn’t know what the morning would bring—hopefully not two grown sons with massive hangovers and tempers to match—but for right now, for the night, for the moment, he had everything he needed in the world in his arms, and that was more than enough.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  The pounding of footsteps was the only warning Eli had before a laughing Molly launched herself off the foot of the stairs and onto the sofa bed. She landed between him and Noah with a bounce, causing both brothers to groan loudly and yell at her.

  “What are you doing?” Eli rasped, holding on to the side of the mattress as she jostled him. He glared at her over his shoulder. “God, Molly, don’t you realize what my head feels like this morning?”

  She snorted. “Of course I do. Why do you think I’m doing this?” She gave an extra bounce as he growled, then she turned to nudge Noah with a firm shoulder.

  “Go away, Pest,” Noah muttered, swatting at her. “I’m not hurting so much that I can’t roll over and thrash you.”

  “Y
ou can try,” she told him in a sing-song voice. “Come on, lazy butts. Get up!” And she bounded off the bed, stopping at the end to tickle both his and Noah’s feet before heading toward the kitchen with a laugh.

  “That girl is a menace,” Eli growled, pulling his pillow over his head.

  “Yeah, and she’s our menace. Come on. Let’s get up before she comes back.”

  Getting up and out of bed was the last thing Eli wanted to do, but he knew he didn’t have a choice. He had to stay on the edge of the bed for a couple of long minutes after he sat up to give his stomach time to settle.

  When Molly came back, she was carrying two cups. She handed one to Eli, then went to Noah with the other.

  “What is this?” Eli asked, staring down at the murky brown liquid with suspicion.

  “Aunt Gilly’s hangover remedy. Bottoms up, both of you.”

  “Oh, dear Lord. I’ve heard about this stuff,” Noah said. “Never thought I’d get the chance to try it. Here goes.”

  Eli turned his cup up, too. He had to block out the sounds of his brother’s retching to prevent his own gag response, but he managed to do it. “Dibs on the downstairs bathroom,” he said as his mother appeared in the doorway, a mug of steaming coffee in her hand. “Morning, Mom.”

  “Hey, sweetie.”

  After washing up, he felt some better, and he could feel the hangover remedy kicking in as he made his way to the kitchen. Noah was already there, seated at the bar, head propped up on his hand as John piddled around at the stove.

  “How’re you feeling?” he asked as Eli sat down beside Noah.

  Eli waved away the offer of coffee. “God-awful, which I’m sure you figured out. Sorry, Dad.”

  John sent him an assessing look. “Why?”

  “Getting drunk and ending up on your couch in the middle of the night?”

  The grin on John’s face surprised him. “Ask your Uncle Ben about that sometime. Same damned bar, too. Are you okay?” he asked, growing serious. “Need to talk? Want to?”

  Eli shook his head. “Nothing to say. You about ready to go?” he asked Noah. “Are you up to driving?”

  Noah shrugged. “I didn’t have that much to drink. I’m fine.”

  “Will we see you at the farm this afternoon for lunch?” Zanny asked as they walked through the living room. She and Molly had straightened up the furniture and were putting the last of the pillows back on the couch.

  “I don’t know that I’m up to socializing,” Eli told her. He gave her a careful hug, aware that he wasn’t at his freshest.

  “No pressure, then. Love you both.”

  “You, too, Mom.”

  By the time twelve thirty rolled around, Eli was pacing the living room. “I can’t do it,” he told Noah. “I can’t go sit up there and pretend everything’s okay when it isn’t. And I can’t field the questions, well-intentioned though they may be. I’ll implode.”

  “No one says you have to go.”

  “It isn’t just today. It’s the whole idea of this week. I’m coming out of my skin.” He scrubbed his face, cursing under his breath. “This is ridiculous.”

  “What do you want to do?” Noah asked calmly.

  “Get the hell out of Dodge.”

  Noah grabbed his phone and looked at something. “For how long?”

  “A few days. I know that’s a lousy thing to do—beg you for a job one week, bail out on you the next. I’m such a fucking screw up!”

  The study Noah leveled on him was unconcerned. “No, you’re not. And you didn’t beg me for a job. You pointed out, very accurately I might add, that I needed help. And that you were the one who could do it. We don’t have anything scheduled this week that can’t be put off. If you need some time, take it. Where would you go?”

  Eli stared at him. “I don’t know. Someplace warm, sunny, with beaches maybe. Wanna go with?”

  Noah scowled. “You know, I do.” He hit a button on his phone, lifting it to his ear. “Hey. You’re going to be here all week, right? Yeah. Okay. Well, I need a favor. Eli and I need a favor. Fig needs a babysitter. Can you stay here at the house and take care of your fur-niece?”

  Ah, he’d called Molly, then.

  “No, just a few days. Maybe until Thursday? Thanks, kiddo. I’ll owe you another one. Yep, the usual. I’ll put the schedule up on the fridge. Okay, bye. How fast can you pack?” he asked Eli.

  Half an hour later, they were on the road heading south.

  “Where, exactly, are we going?” he asked Noah when they stopped for gas in the tri-state area where Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia came together.

  “I don’t know. South Carolina? We could go see family.” Their Great-Aunt Kathy and her husband Charles, and Jack and Gilly, as well, were all in Charleston.

  “Why don’t we hit Myrtle Beach or Savannah, and work our way to Charleston? I’m not quite ready for all the visiting.” Eli suggested.

  Noah held his hand out for a fist bump. “Sounds like a plan.”

  By Wednesday afternoon, Eli was finally starting to be able to catch his breath. The pain from the implosion of his relationship with Haley wasn’t lessened any by the time he and Noah spent sprawled out on the beach doing absolutely nothing, but he was getting to a point where he was dealing with it more. At least he’d stopped checking his phone every five minutes to see if she’d called.

  She hadn’t.

  The woman who had called, however, was Sophie. “I’m worried about you,” she said when he answered the phone Wednesday afternoon while waiting for Noah to grab their lunch order from a local café.

  “I’m fine.” He hadn’t wanted to tell her about the letters, about the accusations Erica had made that Haley believed. “Are you still looking forward to moving back to town?”

  “Absolutely. When are you guys heading back?”

  “Tomorrow or Friday probably. As long as we’re back by Sunday, we’ll be fine.” He sighed. “I guess sooner than that, though. So yeah. Probably tomorrow or Friday.”

  “You don’t want to come back, do you?”

  “No. I don’t. And I feel particularly childish and churlish about that reluctance. Noah’s heading back with the food,” he told her when he spied his brother walking back to the truck. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Who was that?” Noah asked as he passed the drink carrier through the open window.

  “Sophie. She’s worse than a mother hen when she worries.” Eli pretended he hadn’t seen the flinch that crossed his brother’s face when he mentioned Sophie’s name.

  “Did you tell her yet? What happened?”

  “No. It would hurt her.” He opened the sack of food, handing Noah his sandwich. “I’ve told her that we had some words, and we’ve taken a break from each other for a while.” He’d told Noah the whole sordid tale the day after they arrived. “I hope to God that’s all it turns out to be, but I’m not holding out much hope it is.”

  Noah, the perpetual worrier, surprised him. “I don’t know. I still think she’ll come around. You haven’t even had a chance to talk about things yet, to answer any questions she has.”

  “Maybe. We’ll see. So what say we head up to see the peeps in Charleston today? Spend the night there. It’s about time to think about heading home, and I’d like to see them first since we’re in the neighborhood.”

  “Okay. It’ll be good to see them. It’s been a while. Jack and Gilly have been down this way for months now. You heard what Mark said, that they were thinking about moving here. Wonder what they’ll do with their house?”

  “I don’t know.”

  It would be a good visit. Eli hadn’t seen Kathy and Charles for years, nor Jack and Gilly. And having that visit to focus on gave him one more layer of emotional protection from the pain of losing Haley.


  Chapter Fifty-Three

  When Haley pulled into her driveway Friday evening, a car she didn’t recognize was parked beside her spot. When she saw who the driver was, she nearly backed out and drove away. Sophie.

  “Of course he put her up to this,” she muttered, staring at the blonde who had gotten out and was standing beside her car, impatience written all over her face. Haley also got out, slamming her door shut. “What are you doing here?”

  “We need to talk. You can probably guess what about,” Sophie said tersely, following her up the porch steps.

  “I can’t believe he sent you.” Haley was angry, feeling cornered, and she didn’t bother tempering her words or her tone as she unlocked the door. “That’s an immature thing to do.”

  Sophie stepped inside after her. “He doesn’t know I’m here. He and Noah have been gone all week, won’t be back until tonight sometime. They don’t even know I’m in town though I will swing by to see Eli before I leave again. What happened?”

  “He didn’t tell you?” Haley asked over her shoulder as she took her coat off. It’d been a long day and she just wanted to get some hot soup and put her feet up. She sure as hell hadn’t been expecting to have a confrontation with Sophie.

  “No. Just that you two had some words and were taking a break, which tells me it was something you initiated and he’s trying to be nice about it. He wouldn’t be so recalcitrant if he’d been the one to screw up.”

  This time, Haley did manage to bite her tongue. Something about the concerned look on Sophie’s face spoke to her.

  “Why are you here?” she asked.

  Sophie gave a half smile. “Because he’s the only person in the world I can count on, and I’m worried about him. And because I don’t know how to keep my nose out of other people’s business? Please, Haley, talk to me. Let me help.”