Friday morning, two weeks after their first kiss and two days before her aunt was due to arrive from Georgia, Owen went into town to finish some genealogy research. After spending a few minutes downstairs chatting with Shirley, he went up to the children’s department.
Sarah greeted him from where she was shelving books. “Hi, there. I didn’t expect you today. I thought you had work to do at home.” Sarah reached out and grasped his hand, holding it tightly for a moment in a private greeting.
“I did, but then I discovered that I had forgotten to research one particular family’s line. So, as much as I dreaded it, I figured I’d better come in. You know how I hate coming here,” he said, tongue-in-cheek.
“I know. It’s so admirable that you managed to drag yourself in.”
Owen winked. “I’d better get to work and let you do the same. You busy for lunch?”
“I am,” she said, shooting a flirtatious glance in his direction. “I have a date with my boyfriend.”
“Lucky guy.”
Sarah smiled. “Go do your research.”
An hour after he started, Owen was startled to hear a shriek from out front, followed by a loud clatter.
“What the hell?” He pushed his chair back so fast, it tipped over, and he dashed out of the room in time to see Sarah run, laughing, into another man’s arms.
Sarah had been hunched down, trying to straighten the phone cord from where it had gotten tangled under the desk, when she heard someone approach the desk.
“Can I help you?” Nellie asked.
A man answered, “Yeah, I was wondering if I could get a library card.”
As soon as she heard him speak, Sarah froze with disbelief. She straightened, barely avoiding the edge of the desk, to verify that her ears weren’t playing tricks on her. Sure enough, Jack was grinning down at her.
Letting out a shriek that startled Nellie and one of the patrons browsing the new books with her child, Sarah scrambled to her feet. She tripped over her chair, but kept going, and her brother met her halfway around the desk, wrapping her in a big bear hug.
Her eyes flooded with tears, and Sarah held on so tight, she knew she had to be suffocating him, but she couldn’t let go. “What are you doing here? Oh, dear God, Jack, are you really here?” She pulled back to look at him, touching his face. He was thinner than she remembered, but dressed in civilian clothes, with his Army haircut, he was a sight. “Have you seen Gilly yet?”
He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped her cheeks. “Not yet. I was hoping to stash my gear in your car first. I didn’t expect you to turn into such a watering pot.”
“Why not? We’ve been so worried about you. How is it that you’re here?”
He pulled her in for another hug, bussing the top of her head with a kiss. “I’m out, sis. They gave me a hardship discharge. I’m the only son, and now that Dad’s gone...”
Sarah noticed him glancing over her shoulder, and she turned. Owen stood there, a faint frown on his face.
“Owen! Look who’s home. I can hardly believe it. Come meet Jack. Jack, this is our neighbor, Owen Campbell.” Owen stepped forward, and he and Jack shook hands.
“I’ve heard rumors that he’s more than just a neighbor, Sarah,” Jack teased. “From what Gilly says, the two of you have been painting the town red.”
“You hush! We have not.” Sarah poked him in the ribs. A laugh bubbled out of her, and she threw her arms around Jack’s waist, squeezing him tight. “I can’t believe you’re here. Oh, Jack. Did Mama know you were coming home?”
He let out a put-upon sound, but he was smiling as widely as Sarah was. “No, she’ll be as surprised as you were. I didn’t want to tell anyone until I knew I was out for good, and by then, I was practically on the bus home. I figured I’d let my arrival be a surprise. So far, so good.”
Sarah started to go back around to her seat, but before she could sit down, Callie came upstairs. “Shirley sent me up here to tell you to take a little extra time off. She expects you back after lunch, but thought you’d be too excited to do much work this morning.”
“That’s awfully nice,” Jack said. “We’ll have to thank her on the way out.”
“I guess you’re pretty eager to visit the drugstore,” Sarah said. “And get a root beer float.”
He ruffled her hair. “I am anxious to visit the drugstore, but not for the float.”
“Then I’ll grab my purse, and we can put your bag in the car. Owen, will you go with us?”
Owen hesitated, looking truly unsure of himself for perhaps the first time since Sarah had met him. “I don’t want to impose.”
“Oh, don’t be silly. You can put your bag in my car, and pick it up when we come back.”
“You won’t be imposing,” Jack said. “Not if what I hear is true, about how much time you’ve been spending with my sister lately.” He grunted when Sarah stepped on his foot, but he hushed.
Owen shrugged. “Sure. Let me get my stuff together, and I’ll meet you downstairs.”
A few minutes later, while they waited for traffic to clear so they could cross the street, Sarah grabbed Jack’s hand. “Let us go in first. I want to see Gilly’s face when you walk in.”
“You think she’ll be excited?” he asked, and the uncertainty in his eyes tore at her heart.
“I think she’ll scream and cry, and whoop and holler, and there won’t be a dry eye in the house.”
“Okay, then.” He stood to the side of the glass storefront while she and Owen went inside. Gilly was working the counter, and Sarah had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from squealing. Owen assisted her onto a stool and sat beside her. The drugstore wasn’t crowded, as it was still early for the lunch crowd, but there were a few people.
“What in the world are you doing in here this early? Did they run you out of the library?” Gilly asked as she came down behind the counter.
Sarah tossed a packet of sugar at her friend. “No. We decided to come down and take a break. If you want us to go somewhere else…”
Gilly tossed the sugar back at her. “You know better. Owen, can’t you keep her in line?”
He looked from Sarah to Gilly and back. “There’s no right answer here, is there?”
Sarah grinned. “No, there isn’t. And aren’t you smart for knowing that?”
“So what can I get for you two lovebirds?” Gilly asked. “Or did you come in here to torture me?”
Sarah tried to keep her answer natural and calm, but she was practically vibrating. “How about a root beer float? I’ve not had one of those in a while.” To her surprise, a shadow crossed Gilly’s face. “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”
Gilly gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Nothing. It’s just that I’ve not heard from Jack in a while, and you know how he loves root beer floats. I usually get a letter from him every three or four days, but I haven’t gotten anything since early last week. Have you heard from him?”
Before Sarah could answer, the bell over the door jingled, and Gilly looked up. Sarah didn’t look away from her friend’s face as Jack walked in, but reached blindly for Owen’s hand and clasped it tightly. Gilly’s eyes filled with tears. Her hand came up to cover her mouth, and then she was running to Jack. He met her with open arms and lifted her off her feet. His eyes closed, as well, and for several seconds, Gilly’s sobs echoed through the building. Sarah had to look away, and she turned her face into Owen’s shoulder.
“You okay?” he asked, his mouth next to her ear. She couldn’t talk around the lump in her throat, so she nodded. She was hurting, she was so happy. It was too easy for her to imagine herself in Gilly’s place, and Owen in Jack’s. She realized then how strong her friend had to be, to deal with being separated from the man she loved.
With a start, it dawned on Sarah what that aw
areness meant. Before she could think about it too much, Owen’s arm came to rest around her shoulders, and he pressed his lips to her temple. When the rest of the drugstore’s customers started clapping and whistling, she turned to see that her brother had Gilly bent over one of his arms and was kissing her soundly.
“Jack, you’d better marry that girl,” an older man called out.
Jack straightened, keeping Gilly in his arms, and sent the man a wink. “Just as soon as I can, sir.”
“What in the world is going on out here?” Gilly’s father asked as he came out from behind the pharmacy counter. He ground to a halt when he saw Jack and covered his mouth much as his daughter had. “Rosemarie, you’d better get out here,” he hollered over his shoulder. Jack walked over and held out his hand, but George used it to pull the younger man into a hug. Gilly’s mother emerged from the back and let out a cry.
It took several minutes for the revelry to die down. By the time he and Gilly joined Sarah and Owen in a booth, Jack was looking a bit harried.
Rosemarie came over to get their order, and she placed a hand on Gilly’s shoulder. “You are off for the rest of the day, young lady. Go have fun once you all are done here. But not too much fun,” she cautioned, shaking a finger at Jack. Sarah snickered when he blushed, and he shot her a look that promised retribution. She didn’t care. He was home, he was safe, and he was happy.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Gilly said once her mother had taken their order. “I’m beside myself. I don’t know what to do.” She looked across the booth at Sarah. “Did you know he was coming home?”
“No. He surprised me, too. But I guess now we know why he hasn’t written you in a few days.”
“I guess so.”
The look Gilly sent Jack was almost painful to see, it was so full of love and happiness. Sarah leaned against Owen, and he put his arm around her.
Jack noticed and raised an eyebrow. “So you’re dating my sister. How’d that come about, exactly?”
Sarah glowered at Jack, but he ignored her. From the look he was giving Owen, Sarah had to think Jack was none-too-pleased by the courtship.
“We met at the library, and one thing led to another. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl go to the movies, have dinner, and by some miracle, she didn’t decide to give me the boot right away,” Owen said. He looked down at Sarah with a half-smile, apparently unconcerned with the grilling.
“I heard it was a little more contentious than that, that you’d argued about someone trespassing on your land.” He turned his gaze to Sarah. “And that’s something we’re going to have a discussion about, young lady.”
Sarah didn’t think sticking her tongue out at him in public was the best course of action, so she settled for saying, “No, baby brother, I don’t think we are.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Gilly goosed him in the ribs. “Leave them alone. There will be plenty time for this later. Right now, let’s just celebrate your being home.”
Jack’s face softened as he looked down at her. “You’re right.”
The mood at the table lightened, and Jack even relaxed enough to joke with Owen a little. Before Sarah was ready, it was time to go back to the library.
“What time do you get off work, sis?” Jack asked as they went out to the sidewalk.
“Five o’clock. If you want to meet me at the car, I’ll probably be there around ten after.”
“I’ll see you then. Owen.” Jack held his hand out, and the two men shook again. “I expect I’ll see you around in the next few days.”
“Probably.” Owen placed a hand on the small of Sarah’s back, and they headed across the street and back toward the library, opposite the direction her brother and Gilly were walking.
Sarah let out a breath. “Mama’s going to cry her eyes out when she sees him. She’s worried so much,” she said as they reached the car to get his bag. “I guess this solves the problem of me staying at home by myself, too, come to think of it.”
“I’ll admit that I’m relieved he’s home for that very reason,” Owen said. “Maybe I’ll sleep nights now, knowing that you’re protected.”
Sarah rolled her eyes, thinking he was joking, but his face was serious. “Owen, this is nineteen-sixty, not the pioneer days, when panthers and bears and Indians were lurking outside the cabin doors.”
“I know what year it is,” he said as he held the door to the library open for her to pass. “But I also know that there are a lot of sick and twisted people in the world. A woman, particularly one who looks like you, living alone? You’d provide a lot of temptation for that sort of predator. It’s enough to give me gray hair, worrying. And before you say it, Miss Independent, it has nothing to do with you being able to protect yourself and everything to do with my protective instincts.” He walked back to the employee break room with her and waited while she locked up her purse and clocked back in.
“Do I dare interpret that to mean you aren’t simply biding your time with me?” she asked jauntily, her heart pounding as she waited for the answer.
He stopped her with a hand on her arm, his eyes unreadable. “If you knew how much you mean to me, how I feel about you, I’m afraid you’d run the other way so fast, I’d be left in a cloud of dust.”
Sarah swallowed, her hand coming up to cover his. “I—”
They were interrupted by Shirley. “I’m sorry to interrupt, kids. Sarah, Nellie needs you upstairs as soon as you can manage it.”
“Okay. I’ll head right up.” She waited until Shirley had passed, then said, “We need to continue this discussion later, I think.”
“Later’s probably a good idea. I guess you’re going to be busy tonight with your brother. Do you want to cancel our date?”
“Cancel, no. But we’re going to have to postpone it, I’m afraid. Can we try to meet tomorrow afternoon at the pool? I have to work, but I should be home by two o’clock or so.”
“Then I’ll hope to see you there.” He walked to the stairs with her, but didn’t go up. “I have everything I need, and I should probably get home and finish out this project.”
“I hate that I won’t see you tonight.”
The gentle, open smile that she loved so much spread across Owen’s face. “We’ll see each other tomorrow. That’s barely twenty-four hours.”
“Might as well be a year, the way I feel. Be careful driving home.”
“I will,” he assured her. “You do the same, later.”
With every bit of willpower she possessed, Sarah turned and went up the stairs. Her longing for Owen—for his company, his smile, his hugs and kisses—was growing exponentially. It was ridiculous to feel that way about someone she’d only known a few weeks. She’d discussed it several times with her mother, who had ruefully admitted she had fallen as quickly for Sarah’s father.
“I came in from school one day. I was sixteen years old, and Ira was visiting your Uncle Joe. I took one look at him and told my mother, ‘That’s the man I’m going to marry.’ The day after I graduated high school, we had our wedding. And I never regretted a single day.”
Given how hard Kathy had fallen for Randall, and how strongly Jack seemed to feel about Gilly, Sarah figured she shouldn’t be surprised that she’d tumbled so quickly. She was hesitant to put a label on her feelings yet, but she very much suspected she was falling in love with her neighbor.
Chapter Twenty-Six
THE RAIN STARTED LATE SATURDAY morning, a relentless drizzle that caused a thick, heavy fog to move into the valleys and coves of the holler. Sarah usually loved to sit on the porch and watch the fog roll up, but not when it threatened her meeting with Owen. The fog had caused her to take nearly thirty minutes longer than usual to get home. It was well after two by the time she pulled in the driveway.
She rushed into the house and yelled
out a hello, but didn’t get a response. In record time, she changed into her walking clothes and dug her rain poncho out of the back of her closet. She hurried back downstairs and into the kitchen to pull a bag of food together, most of which she’d prepared that morning before leaving for work. As she laid the poncho across the back of a chair at the table, she saw a folded note with her name on it.
Sarah,
I hope you had a wonderful day at work, sweet baby girl.
The house should be empty by the time you get home. I’m going over to First Creek to visit Mahala Brashear. As you know, Jack’s out with Gilly and won’t be back until this evening. I expect you’ll be late getting in, as well. Tell Owen hello for me.
Also, please ask him to dinner tomorrow. I think it’s time he had a sit-down with the whole family, don’t you?
Stay out of trouble, have fun, and stay safe.
Love,
Mom
Sarah’s eyes smarted, and she closed them against the tears that always seemed to hover right below the surface these days. She knew her mother was doing the best thing she could to heal by going to Georgia, and she wanted to see Eliza find her feet again. But Sarah was going to miss her mother, who was truly her best friend in the world. She swallowed, raising the paper to her face to kiss it. “Love you, too, Mama.”
With the food packed, Sarah shrugged into the poncho and made sure the doors were locked. As she headed across the yard, she checked her watch and winced. It was nearing three o’clock, and she wondered if Owen would even still be waiting for her. As the thought went through her head, she heard a noise and looked up to see him coming down the path toward her.
“Hey!” she called. “I’m sorry I’m late. It seemed like everything in the world was trying to keep me from getting here on time. And then it’s raining to boot.”
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