Catching Fireflies

by Sherryl Woods

  “Okay, I know you ladies are used to margaritas at your gatherings, but I thought we probably needed to stay stone-cold sober while we go over this final checklist,” Laura said.

  “I, for one, couldn’t be happier,” Annie said. “I have no idea how my mom, my mother-in-law and Helen have survived drinking those things.”

  “Amen to that,” Sarah said. “Laura, you need to get together with us and try one.” She glanced around at the others. “It would be okay, don’t you think so?”

  “Absolutely,” Raylene said. “The next time there’s a Sweet Magnolias margarita night, you’re invited. They tend to be spur-of-the-moment when there’s a crisis, but we do at least a little planning ahead for a celebration. We’ll give you as much notice as we can.”

  Laura understood that it was a huge mark of acceptance in Serenity to be included with this group of women. The Sweet Magnolias might not be an official organization, but they understood the true meaning of friendship. She was touched that Sarah, Annie and Raylene thought of her as a friend.

  “I’d love it,” she said simply. “But when your kids are old enough to be in my English class, don’t be expecting me to do them any favors.”

  “My stepdaughter is already in your class,” Raylene reminded her with a grin. “Believe me, I hear all about how tough you are. Every time Carrie moans about it, though, she also adds that you’re fair and that she’s learning a lot. You’ve even inspired her to keep her grades up, something I think Carter had despaired of accomplishing.”

  “An outstanding tribute, if you ask me,” Sarah said.

  “I’ll definitely take it as a compliment,” Laura said. “Now, let’s go over this list before my head explodes just thinking about everything we need to have ready by Saturday. Sarah, how’s publicity going?”

  “Travis and I have been talking on-air about the festival nonstop and about the musical performances. We’ve gotten mentions for the singers on the air at country stations all over the region. There have been calendar listings and a couple of stories in the papers, too.” She grinned at them. “I predict we’re going to be swamped with folks who never even knew Serenity existed before this. I am so glad we decided to move everything over to the high school. We couldn’t have managed it all on the town green.”

  “I’m still taking flak over that from the downtown merchants,” Laura admitted. “They say we’re toying with tradition and taking business away from them.”

  “The football field is a few blocks away,” Annie said. “There’s bound to be an overflow into town and even if there’s not, if people have a good time, they’ll come back.”

  “I agree,” Raylene said, “and I’m one of those downtown merchants. Sometimes it’s important to shake things up.”

  “And our vendor list?” Laura asked Raylene. “How’s that shaping up?”

  “Not to toot my own horn or anything, but thanks to all the extra publicity those country performers are getting, our vendor space is sold out. This is going to be the biggest fall festival the town’s ever had. We have a really nice balance of people who’ve come before and people who are new. We’ll have food, crafts, art, jewelry, a little bit of everything. One of the farmers is even putting out pumpkins.”

  Laura turned to Annie. “How about demonstrations? As long as we have that stage set up for the band, are we going to be able to keep it busy the rest of the day?”

  “The garden club’s talking about planting for fall color,” she said, consulting her papers. “I lined up a local chef for a cooking demonstration. That would be my mom, in case you were wondering.” She gave them a triumphant look. “And, ta-da, Ty says he and a couple of the other Braves players will come in to sign autographs for an hour in the morning and again in the afternoon.” She turned to Sarah. “Can you get the word out about that? Is there still time?”

  “Absolutely,” Sarah said eagerly.

  “This is going to be such a success!” Raylene enthused. “Laura, you’re amazing.”

  “Not me. You all have had these incredible ideas and pulled it together.”

  “Only because you encouraged us to think outside the box,” Sarah said. “Too bad we don’t have those margaritas, because this deserves a toast.”

  “Let’s save any toasting until after we’ve pulled this off on Saturday,” Laura cautioned, but even she couldn’t contain a grin. “I am so excited.”

  “Can I change the subject for a minute?” Annie asked. “I know we’re all figuratively jumping up and down now, but when we got here, Laura, you looked like you were a million miles away. Maybe it’s none of our business, but is everything okay? With you, I mean, not the festival?”

  Laura flushed guiltily. “Sorry, just a problem at school. I haven’t been able to keep it off my mind for long.”

  “Misty Dawson,” Annie said at once.

  Laura stared at her in shock. “What on earth have you heard?”

  “I just know Cal’s worried about her. He mentioned it when Ty and I were over there for dinner the other night.”

  “Is the whole town talking about this?” Laura asked worriedly.

  “For once, no,” Sarah said with confidence. “If they were, I’d have heard something from Grace Wharton. She’s the front line of my gossip patrol.”

  “Thank goodness it hasn’t spread to her, then,” Laura said.

  Sarah’s expression turned thoughtful. “Although, now that I think about it, she did mention she found it odd that Misty and Katie were in Wharton’s instead of at the football game on Friday night last week.”

  “But that’s it?” Laura pressed.

  Sarah nodded. “Grace was actually at the game herself. She only heard about it from the waitress who was giving her a rundown of who’d been in earlier in the evening. Otherwise, if Grace had been there, she’d have a whole lot more information. I don’t think the woman intentionally eavesdrops, but I swear she could hear a pin drop in the next county.”

  “Which makes Wharton’s the very worst place ever to tell anyone a secret or do anything you don’t want the whole town to know about,” Annie concluded. “She’s observant, too. I swear Grace knew before anyone when I was struggling with anorexia as a teenager. She picked up on the way I’d just push food around on my plate.”

  “She spotted the same thing with Carrie,” Raylene said. “Carter and I are both grateful that she noticed.”

  Laura listened to them in amazement. “I’m afraid I’d just dismissed her as a bit of a busybody.”

  “Oh, she is that,” Sarah said with a laugh, “but she is a very well-meaning one and I, for one, love her to pieces.”

  “For all our grumbling, all of us do,” Annie said. “Wharton’s is the heart and soul of this town in a lot of ways, and Grace has made it that way for a couple of generations now.”

  “Thanks for the perspective,” Laura said sincerely. She was also grateful that the talk of Grace had managed to steer the conversation away from Misty. As much as she would love input from these women, she wasn’t comfortable with drawing even more people into the middle of what could turn into an explosive situation, if her increasingly strong hunch that Annabelle Litchfield was somehow involved proved to be correct.

  * * *

  J.C. usually avoided participating in town events other than the high school games. Though he liked what things like fall festival said about Serenity’s town spirit and sense of community, he preferred to keep his volunteer efforts for some of the sports leagues that Cal Maddox, Ronnie Sullivan and others had organized.

  This year, though, Ronnie Sullivan had leaned on him to get involved. “My daughter Annie is on the committee. I’ve promised her I’ll be there to help with vendor registration and setup. I need more muscle.”

  J.C. regarded him warily. “This isn’t one of those things that will lead to an even bigger role next year, right?”

  Ronnie had merely grinned. “You never know. It’s entirely possible you’ll have such a good time, you’ll be eager to d
o more.”

  “Doubtful,” J.C. had said at the time.

  But when he arrived at the football field at dawn and spotted Laura Reed running around with her hair mussed, a clipboard in hand and a frantic expression, he realized that Ronnie had definitely had a hidden agenda. He turned to the traitor. “So, does Laura have anything to do with your sudden determination to get me involved in town activities?”

  Ronnie actually managed to pull off an innocent look. “No idea what you mean,” he said. “I thought you two had a thing going. I figured you’d be hanging around all day, anyway. I thought I might as well take advantage of that and put you to work.”

  J.C. merely shook his head and went off with a woman who’d requested help setting up her tent. “We’ll finish this later,” he muttered to Ronnie as he left.

  But despite his claim of annoyance, he discovered he was enjoying seeing this side of Laura. She might appear flustered and as if she were going in ten directions at once, but she was completely calm as she spoke to everyone and stepped in to solve problems. She was unfailingly smiling, even when she spotted him and faltered a bit.

  “This is a surprise,” she said. “Who recruited you to help?”

  “A very sneaky Ronnie Sullivan,” he said. “Anything you need me to do?”

  “If Ronnie lured you here, I imagine you should be asking him that question.”

  “You look more frazzled than he does,” he told her. “Prettier, too.”

  She gave him a startled look. “Are you flirting with me, J.C.?”

  Was he? If so, he was as surprised about it as she obviously was. “Could be,” he admitted.

  A smile played about her lips. “When you figure it out, I’ll be around,” she told him and dashed off on her next mission.

  He stared after her, thinking about why on earth she got to him in a way no woman had for a very long time. Bottom line, though, was that she did. He just needed to figure out if he wanted to do something about it or not.

  * * *

  “You’re blushing,” Nancy Logan said when she spotted Laura gulping down bottled water as if she were dying of thirst.

  “It’s warm out,” Laura said. “Who thought it would be this warm at the end of October?”

  “We’re in South Carolina, not the North Pole. It’s usually warm this time of year,” Nancy said, grinning. “If you’re overheated, I think it has more to do with whatever J. C. Fullerton said to you.”

  Laura frowned. “No idea what you’re talking about,” she fibbed.

  Nancy merely lifted a brow. “Is that so?” she said skeptically.

  “I do not have time for this conversation,” Laura told her. “If you want to make yourself useful, go over to the PTA booth and make sure all the baked goods are displayed halfway decently. Last time I looked, it was a hodgepodge.”

  “I’m on it,” Nancy promised. “But I won’t lose my place in this conversation. We’ll pick it up later.”

  Laura sighed as Nancy left. Her life in Serenity was suddenly a whole lot more complicated than it had been in all of the past ten years rolled into one.

  Before she could get too anxious about how that had happened, there was a crisis with the sound system that had her scurrying off to locate Ronnie Sullivan. There were more crises after that, but by ten o’clock all the booths were open, Ty and his baseball buddies were signing autographs for a long line of fans, and people were walking around already with funnel cakes, apple cider and even hot dogs.

  “I think we have a major success on our hands,” Sarah McDonald said when she found Laura taking a break on the bleachers. “Carter told Raylene that the police are having trouble finding parking spots for everyone who’s driving into town. There’s an actual traffic jam in Serenity, and it’s all because of us!”

  “I imagine he didn’t sound half as happy about that as you do,” Laura said, chuckling.

  “Probably not,” Sarah said. “He’ll manage. That’s what a good police chief does, and Carter is excellent.”

  Laura looked around at the crowds of people. Most seemed to have made purchases at one booth or another. A couple of the jewelry vendors had people lined up three and four deep.

  “You know you’ll never get out of doing this festival again,” Sarah teased her. “No one will want to try to top this year’s event.”

  “You, Raylene or Annie could easily take it on next year,” Laura said.

  “But we like working for you. We don’t have to think. We just have to do what you suggest.”

  “You make me sound like some sort of benevolent dictator,” Laura said. “That can’t be good.”

  “In this situation, I think the proof of its benefits is staring us in the face. Now I’d better run over to the station and pick up our first group. Travis has them on the air right now, and they’re due to start their performance here at noon.”

  “Thanks, Sarah. You guys have been fantastic.”

  Minutes later, as she was trying to convince herself it was time to stir and make the rounds again, she saw Misty and Katie on the fringes of the crowd. Misty had that same fearful look in her eyes that Laura had seen far too often at school, as if she’d rather be anywhere but here.

  As she watched, Katie leaned closer and said something that almost drew a smile. Then, in a heartbeat, the smile was gone, replaced by utter panic. Laura searched the crowd to see who or what Misty had spotted that had her turning away as if to flee.

  It wasn’t that difficult to pinpoint the problem. Annabelle Litchfield, Trish Peterson and two other girls from school were heading in Misty’s direction. Laura watched as Katie Townsend stood her ground, looking them in the eye and all but daring them to come closer.

  Laura was on her feet at once. She forced herself to stroll casually in their direction, ready to intervene if there was so much as a hint of confrontation.

  “Hey, slut, how come you’re not shacked up with some boy today?” Annabelle called out loudly, clearly intending her remark to be overheard. “Have they all figured out just how lousy you are in bed?”

  Laura froze in place for an instant at the ugliness of the taunt. She’d heard way too many comments along that line years ago when word of her pregnancy spread through her school. Suddenly she was that scared, humiliated, seventeen-year-old again, and she knew with every fiber of her being the shame and fear and fury that Misty had to be feeling.

  Without giving it a moment’s thought, she walked into the middle of the group, turned on Annabelle and leveled a look into her eyes meant to put the fear of God into the girl.

  “Enough,” she said quietly. “I suggest you girls leave right now.”

  Trish latched onto Annabelle’s arm. “She’s right. We should go.”

  The others waited to see what Annabelle would do. Her face was flushed, and her eyes sparked with anger, but she managed a careless shrug. “Who wants to waste the day at a dumb fall festival anyway?”

  Once Laura was sure they were gone, she turned back toward where she’d last seen Katie and Misty, but they’d vanished, as well.

  So, she thought, now she knew. For reasons she didn’t understand—and wasn’t sure she had to—Annabelle Litchfield was bullying Misty. What she didn’t know was whether what she’d seen was the worst of it or only the tip of the iceberg.

  * * *

  J.C. had spotted Laura talking to a group of girls, her expression intent. As soon as the girls had walked away, he approached her. Her expression alarmed him.

  “What the hell just happened?” he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Laura, you’re shaking.”

  “I am about as furious as I’ve ever been in my life,” she told him.

  “Let’s go sit down and get you something to eat. You can tell me.”

  “I have things I should be doing,” she protested.

  “After you’ve eaten and we’ve talked,” he said with just as much determination. “Doctor’s orders.”

  She managed a weak smile at that. “I’m a little old
to be getting advice from a pediatrician.”

  “That’s my specialty, not the only medicine I know,” he countered patiently, already steering her toward the food booths. “What’s it going to be? Hot dog? Corn dog? Hamburger?”

  “I really don’t think I could eat right now,” she argued.

  “Ice cream,” he said decisively. “Nobody turns down a chocolate-vanilla swirl cone. Sit, and I’ll get you one.”

  He came back with ice cream, corn dogs and fries, plus two diet sodas. She looked at the food and laughed.

  “Your patients must love your food guidelines.”

  “Comfort food,” he said. “I just barely managed to turn down the fried-mac-and-cheese balls.”

  “Thank heaven for small favors.” She wiggled her fingers and took the ice cream. “It’ll melt if I don’t eat it first.”

  He watched with pleasure as she devoured the cone, then after a thoughtful look at the rest of the selections, reached for the corn dog.

  “Are the fries still hot?” she asked as she took her first bite of the corn dog.

  He pushed them in her direction. “See for yourself.”

  Only when she’d eaten half the corn dog and most of the fries did he look her in the eye and say, “Now, tell me what happened back there.”

  The light in her eyes immediately died. J.C. almost regretted forcing her to talk about it, but he had a strong suspicion she needed to share it with somebody. He happened to be handy.

  “Laura, tell me,” he prodded when she looked everywhere except at him. “Did somebody say something to you?”

  “Not to me,” she said. She described the incident between Annabelle and Misty. “I think this rivalry or whatever it is has been going on for a while now. I had no idea that Annabelle was capable of being so vile and mean. It wasn’t just the words, though those were horrible enough, it was the way she said it. She meant it to be cruel and she meant to be overheard. She wanted to hurt and embarrass Misty.”

  “And none of the other girls stepped up to stop her?”