Small Town Girl

by Ann H. Gabhart

  Jay ignored the feeling. He had the offer of a bed with an old hound dog. Things could be worse. He’d go hunt up Graham Lindell. If he couldn’t find the old guy, he could find the blacksmith shop. That would be easy enough. But first he’d tell Kate goodbye. Or Birdie, if Kate turned an unfriendly eye his way. She wouldn’t stay unfriendly forever. He’d heard that promise in her laugh while they were running down the road with the kid.

  The party was breaking up. Once the couple of note was gone, the farmers started remembering the cows waiting to be milked. Mothers were gathering up their kids. Even the young people seemed to have lost the sparkle that had been shooting between them all earlier. Jay didn’t have to search for Kate. She drew his eye. He saw her when she slipped away from her friends to disappear around the side of the house.

  He pushed away from the tree he’d been leaning against and followed her. He found her staring at the pump on top of a well in the backyard. Like she needed water but didn’t know how the thing worked.

  “Hey there,” he said softly. “Everything all right?”

  She looked up at him and pushed a smile out on her face. “Everything’s great. I just came out to get some water.”

  Jay looked around. “Be hard to carry it in without a bucket.”

  She clucked her tongue and gave her head a little shake. “I knew I was forgetting something.” Then she grinned a little sheepishly.

  He went over and sat down on the concrete base around the pump. “You want to talk about it?”

  “About what? Forgetting the bucket?” She raised her eyebrows at him.

  “About what’s on your mind that made you forget the bucket.” Jay patted the rock beside him. “Nice comfy seat here. Not much give to it, but I think it’ll hold us up.”

  She sat down beside him. “I can see why Lorena likes you.”

  “Why’s that? Because I call her Birdie?”

  “No, I’m amazed she lets you get away with that. Her given name is very important to her.” Kate looked over at him. “No, because you know how to make people smile.”

  “It’s a learned art,” Jay said.

  “Did you learn it from Mike?” She turned her eyes away from him and looked sorry she’d asked that as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “I mean, Mike had people here smiling in church from his first sermon. Our preacher before that—actually my own grandfather—he didn’t believe much in smiling anywhere. Especially in God’s house. Church was serious business with him.”

  “I’ve learned a lot from Mike. He’s been better than a brother to me, but his smiles and mine are probably some different. Especially his preacher smiles. Me, I just try to level out some bumpy roads with a smile now and then.”

  “You on a bumpy road right now?” She held up her hand before he could say anything. “You don’t have to answer that. I shouldn’t be so nosy.”

  Jay let out a short laugh. “Don’t worry about it. Fact is, I’m most always on a bumpy road. How about you? Your roads all smooth and straight?”

  “Everybody thinks so.”

  “What do you think?”

  She sighed and didn’t answer. Instead she scooted a little to the side and stared at the pump. The handle looked well oiled from many hands pumping it to bring the water up from the deep. Spots of rust were proof the pump had been there a long time. Jay was getting ready to fish around for something else to say when she finally spoke, but she didn’t answer his question.

  “My grandfather Merritt used to take a bath here every morning. Right here at this pump. No matter the weather, winter or summer. Said a man shouldn’t give in to the elements.” She reached up and ran her fingers down the pump handle.

  “So what happened to him? Did he take pneumonia and kick the bucket?” Then thinking about what he’d said, he rushed on. “I didn’t mean to sound disrespectful to the dead.” There were some things a man shouldn’t joke about. Especially to a girl.

  She reached over and touched his arm lightly. “It’s okay. He’s not dead. Still going strong as far as we know. Maybe taking cold-water baths same as always. Just not at this pump any longer. He left Rosey Corner about five years ago.” She looked back at the pump.

  “Left here?”

  “Yeah, surprised us too. Just up and drove away one day without saying boo to any of us. Well, he left a note. Told Mama to run the store and Aunt Hattie to live here in his house. Giving orders even as he put Rosey Corner in his rearview mirror.”

  “Where’d he go?”

  “Oregon.”

  Jay whistled softly. “Must have got a real case of the wanderlust.”

  “Have you ever been to Oregon?” She looked back at him.

  “Haven’t wandered that far yet. Been to Tennessee. South Carolina. Ohio. Thinking about Illinois next. They say the Great Lakes are something to see. I’ll get out to the West sooner or later though. A lot to see out that way too.”

  “How does it feel to just pick up and leave home?”

  “You gotta have a home before you can leave one.” He ran his hand over the concrete beside him as if he needed to smooth it down. “So that’s not something I’ve had to worry about. I’ve been pretty much on my own a long time.”

  “No family?”

  “None that give me any thought.” He had family. A sister and three half brothers, last he’d heard, but it had been years since he’d seen his sister and he’d never seen the brothers.

  “But family’s important.” Her shoulders slumped and she stared down at her hands.

  “You missing your grandfather? Were the two of you close?”

  “I wouldn’t say that. Nobody was really close to Grandfather Merritt. At least not here. I don’t know about out there. He got married again, so maybe.”

  “Then what’s making you so blue, Miss Merritt? You wishing you were the bride instead of your sister?”

  “Oh no. I wouldn’t steal Evie’s happiness. Not for anything.” She glanced up at him with a genuine look of denial, but then she let her eyes drop back down to her lap. “It’s just that nothing will ever be the same again with her married. I guess I’m missing her already. She’s irritating and bossy and drives me crazy, but she’s my sister. And now she won’t be living at home anymore.”

  Jay wanted to put his arm around her, but thought better of it. Instead he reached over and gave her hand a sympathetic squeeze. Then he kept hold of her hand and scooted a little closer to let his shoulder touch hers. He wondered if she’d slap him if he tried for a kiss. His own lips tingled with the thought, but she kept her head bent, looking down at his hand on hers. She didn’t pull away.

  He leaned over to peek up into her face. “She’s not going to Oregon. She’ll be right here in Rosey Corner every weekend, driving you crazy like always. Being the preacher’s wife will give her the chance to be double bossy.”

  A corner of her mouth twitched up in a smile.

  “You’re right,” she said without looking up. “She’ll be unbearable.”

  “Completely,” he agreed. He took a chance and reached with his other hand to tip her face toward his. That put her lips enticingly close, and he had to moisten his own lips before he could continue talking. “If you ask me, Mike picked the wrong sister. But I’m kind of glad he did.”

  Her eyes popped open a little wider at that. Beautiful eyes sparkling with life. Her breath was coming faster, mingling with his.

  “Can I kiss the sister of the bride?” he whispered.

  She tilted her face up toward him, a truer yes than one spoken. But he wasn’t quick enough. There was a shout behind him. A rough hand on his shoulder jerked him back.

  “What do you think you’re doing with my girl?” The farm boy balled up his fists and glared at Jay.

  Jay scrambled to his feet and gave the farm boy what he hoped was a calming look. He didn’t want to ruin his new suit in a fight with the hayseed. Besides, it was his best friend’s wedding day. Not a good time to punch out one of his church members. Too bad Mike w
asn’t around to soothe the guy’s ruffled feathers.

  “Whoa, buddy.” Jay held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Take it easy. Nothing’s going on here that you need to get all worked up over. We were just having a little talk.”

  “Looked like more than talking to me.” The farm boy put up his fists.

  “Carl, for heaven’s sake, stop acting like an idiot.” Kate was on her feet glaring at the boy.

  “Stay out of the way, Kate. This is between us men.” The farm boy’s face looked ready to burst into flames any second. His buddies, who had followed him around the house, were hanging back, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

  “I’m not fighting you.” Jay searched through his mind for the guy’s name. “Carl. Why don’t you take a deep breath and we can talk this out?”

  Jay thought he was sounding just like Mike. Peace loving. The stray thought popped into his mind then to ball up his fist and deck the guy before he knew what hit him. That was the way to do it when a man kept talking about fighting. Get it over with. But Kate was watching. He wasn’t going to make any points with the girl by smacking down the farm boy, and he wanted to tally up a few points with her.

  “There’s nothing to talk out. Kate’s my girl, and I’m not about to let no fly-by-night slick talker mess with her.” The farm boy took a menacing step toward Jay. He wasn’t wanting to be talked down.

  “Carl Noland, you leave him alone.” Kate grabbed for the hayseed’s arm, but her words only made the guy’s blood run that much hotter.

  “Look, buddy, I’ll just back away and you and Kate can work things out.” Jay took a peek over at Kate and knew that wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t want it to happen, but the words sounded peacemaking. Again what he thought Mike might say.

  When in Rome do as the Romans do and all that. Rosey Corner people probably didn’t engage in fisticuffs at wedding parties. At least not usually. However, this Carl fellow did seem determined to punch somebody. Well, not just somebody. Him. That wasn’t something Jay intended to let happen, but the top of the well was blocking his easy retreat.

  “What’s the matter, pretty boy? You chicken to fight?”

  Some of the farm boy’s friends started doing a little crowing behind him. Jay took a long, slow breath to keep from making fists. Instead he tried to step sideways away from the guy, but the guy moved over in front of him. Jay took another peek at Kate. She looked about as ready to explode as the poor, deluded farm boy who believed she was his girl. From the look on Kate’s face, the guy was going to have his illusions shattered, and soon.

  Jay should have pushed past him and left the whole mess behind. Let Kate straighten the farm boy out. But ever since he was a kid, Jay had a way of poking at whatever sore place he could see on whomever he was up against.

  “I don’t fight boys,” he said, and then he smiled. He knew better, but he did it anyway. He figured it was the smile that sent the farm boy over the edge.

  Jay feinted a little to the left so the blow didn’t hit him full in the face. Even so, the guy landed a pretty solid punch on his cheek. He could have kept his feet, but if he was going to get socked, he might as well play it to the full for Kate’s sympathy. There was more than one way to win a fight.

  7

  Kate’s father broke up the fight. Not that it was much of a fight. The only punch was the one Carl threw to deck Jay Tanner. That surprised Kate. If anybody was going to deck anybody, she figured it would be Jay knocking Carl down. A man like him, who had bounced around a lot, had to know how to defend himself. But he claimed not to want to fight and he stuck to his words. After Carl punched him in the face, he just sat on the ground rubbing his cheek and working his jaw a little. It had to hurt, but the funny thing was he never completely stopped grinning. Like it was all some kind of joke.

  Carl was smiling too, proud of himself. A complete idiot. It was a good thing her father came out the back door when he did to stop the foolishness or another punch might have been thrown. Her punching Carl. She was that mad.

  “What’s going on here, Carl?” her father asked. At the sight of his frown, the friends who had been egging Carl on began muttering about needing to get home as they started back around the house. All the boys knew Victor Merritt was nobody to mess with when it came to his girls.

  “Carl’s lost his mind. That’s what.” Kate gave Carl a hard look.

  “He was bothering Kate, Mr. Merritt. I wasn’t about to let him mess with my girl.” Carl kept his fists up like a fighter ready to go another round. He was acting like he thought Kate’s father might grab his arm, raise it up, and declare him the winner.

  Kate’s father looked from Carl to Jay picking himself up off the ground.

  “Sorry about this, sir,” Jay said with an apologetic shrug. “I wasn’t meaning to cause trouble. Kate and I were talking about the wedding. That’s all.”

  “That’s all, like heck,” Carl shouted, his smile fading as Kate’s father looked back at him. “You had your hands on her. I saw you.”

  Kate could feel the blood rising in her face. She hadn’t been even close to this angry since she’d caught one of the neighborhood kids making fun of Lorena’s name. And that was different. Just a silly little boy. Carl wasn’t a little boy. He was simply acting like one. Like a kid on the playground claiming more than he had.

  How could he think she was his girl? Sure, she went to the movies with him, but she never let him kiss her. They didn’t even hold hands. She was going to have to tell him straight out how things were, but not here. Even as angry as she was, she didn’t want to humiliate him in front of Jay Tanner and her father. They’d been friends too long for that.

  She stepped in front of Carl and stared him right in the face. She kept her voice tightly controlled. “Go home, Carl. I can’t talk to you right now.”

  “You could talk to him.” Carl’s words were harsh, accusing.

  “I can talk to anybody I want to, but right now, I don’t want to talk to you.”

  “But you’re my girl, Kate. I had to take up for you.” He reached out to grab her arm, but she stepped away from him. He held his hand up in the air a moment before he dropped it to his side.

  “I’m not your girl, Carl.” For a minute she almost felt sorry for him as his shoulders drooped and he got a whipped dog look. But then he brushed her words aside as though they didn’t mean a thing.

  “Aw, Kate, everybody knows we’re getting married. That it’s just a matter of time.”

  Kate shut her eyes and blew out a long breath. Without looking, she knew Jay would be watching them with that same grin, like he’d found the sideshow at the Rosey Corner circus. She was glad when her father stepped up to put his arm around Carl’s shoulders.

  “Kate’s right, Carl. You better go on home. The two of you can talk this out after tempers settle down a little.” He had a sympathetic look on his face as he turned Carl away from Kate. Like he was feeling his disappointment instead of thinking the man was a complete idiot the way Kate did.

  “But Mr. Merritt, you know it’s true. She’s been my girl forever.” Carl peeked over his shoulder toward Kate.

  Kate’s father kept walking him toward the front yard. He sounded almost sad when he said, “Later, Carl. Now’s not the time or the place.”

  They moved on around the house, her father’s voice calm and Carl’s voice taking on a whiny sound. That left her and Jay Tanner alone again. She waited for him to say something, but he was silent. The voices of the women in the kitchen drifted out to them. No words, just the easy sound of family.

  Aunt Hattie laughed, and Kate wished she was inside with them instead of standing out in the middle of the backyard, wondering what to say to Jay Tanner. Because Carl was right. He had been holding her hand, and she hadn’t minded at all. She hadn’t even minded when he asked to kiss her.

  How could her world get so totally turned upside down in one short day? And mixed up. Grieving over Mike promising his life and love to Evi
e one minute. Happy for Evie the next. And now ready to let a man she’d just met kiss her when she’d never once turned her face up to invite a kiss from Carl. Carl, who thought she was his girl. Carl, her friend she’d let think she was his girl.

  She bent her head and breathed out a whisper of a sigh. Maybe she was the one being the idiot instead of Carl.

  “Are you all right?” Jay asked.

  She glanced around at him. He’d picked up his coat, but he hadn’t moved any closer to her. The grin was gone. In its place was a different look. A wondering look. Like he was waiting to see what she was going to do next.

  She pushed a smile out on her lips. “I think I should be asking you that. You’re the one with the shiner.”

  He winced a little when he touched his cheek below his eye. “The boy packed a better punch than I expected.”

  “Why’d you let him hit you?”

  His lips turned up in a smile to match hers. “You did see how much he enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

  “So you were simply doing your good deed of the day?”

  “Something like that.” His grin traveled up to his eyes. “I guess my trouble was that I could see Mike standing behind him, shaking his head at me. Saying ‘Not on my wedding day.’ But somehow when Mike tries to keep the peace, it works. When I try it, I end up on my backside looking up. I was glad your father came out. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could be so peace loving.”

  “I didn’t see much peace.”

  “We can only keep our side of the peace. We can’t make the other side do the same. Or so Mike used to tell me when I was fighting my way through school. All that turn-the-other-cheek stuff. Nothing about that promises we’re not going to get smacked upside the head again, but I think there are limits to my peacekeeping.” He turned his face to the side. “How bad does it look?”

  Kate stepped over to him and gingerly felt the swelling below his eye. “Looks like you could have a black eye.”