by Sharon Sala
“Excuse me, lady. Where can I find Band-Aids and alcohol?”
She turned around and for a split second lost the ability to speak. It was T. J. Lachlan in all his manly glory. Black hair, brown eyes, and a shade of a dimple in his right cheek. Then she caught herself and quickly answered.
“Next aisle over, about midway down,” she said.
He nodded without even meeting her gaze and walked away.
Lily felt his disregard and accepted it, but it didn’t make her sad. In fact, it reinforced her intent. She hurried to finish shelving because it was almost her quitting time. As soon as she was through, she carried the empty boxes outside to the Dumpster, grabbed her things, and waved good-bye to Mitchell as she went out the door.
The air was chilly, but she’d had the foresight to wear a warmer jacket today. When she passed the fitness center, she wouldn’t look at her reflection. This was just day one; no time to start judging progress. As soon as she got to the corner she crossed the street and, instead of heading home, went to the Piggly Wiggly.
Gladys Farmer had been a checkout clerk at the supermarket since LilyAnn was a kid. She couldn’t imagine the place without her. When Lily walked in, Gladys saw her and spoke, just as she did to everyone who came in, even while she was scanning groceries for another customer.
“Evening, LilyAnn.”
“Hi, Gladys,” she said, and headed toward the produce department pushing an empty cart.
She began loading it up with vegetables she liked to eat raw, then vegetables to cook, and finished up with a couple of different kinds of fruit before moving to the meat department. She chose a big bag of frozen chicken pieces and a small ham, which was leaner in fat than red meat, and it was already cooked, which served her purpose, too.
After adding skim milk, high-fiber cereal, and a dozen eggs, she was good to go. She had a moment of regret for buying so much stuff when she remembered she was on foot, but she kept moving toward the front. She wheeled into line at the checkout to wait her turn and hadn’t been there long when someone wheeled up behind her.
“Well, hello, LilyAnn. Long time, no see.”
Lily turned around and stifled a groan. Polly Winston, her high school nemesis.
“Hi, Polly.”
Polly eyed her old schoolmate with a satisfied smirk. LilyAnn might have beaten her out from being crowned Peachy-Keen Queen years ago, but she’d gone to hell in a hand basket afterward. The blond bombshell of Blessings High was overweight and dowdy. God was good.
“How’s your little mama doin’?” Polly asked.
“Just fine. She and Eddie are coming home for Thanksgiving. It’ll be great to see them again.”
Polly smirked. “I guess it was hard to see your mama move away, leaving you behind.”
Lily wanted to slap that look off her face, but resisted the urge.
“Actually, it wasn’t hard at all. Mama was real sad after Daddy passed. I’m glad she’s happy again.”
The smirk slid a little sideways, but Polly persisted.
“I guess. It’s a shame you never managed to get over Randy Joe and all.”
Lily arched an eyebrow. “Why, whatever gave you the idea I was still grieving for Randy Joe?”
The smirk was gone. Polly frowned. “Well, you didn’t marry or even date anyone else. I just assumed—”
Lily interrupted. “Now Polly, you know what they say about the word ‘assume.’ It makes an ass of you know who.” She giggled for effect. “Actually, I just never found anyone else in town interesting enough to bother with. By the way… how’s Darrell? I heard he had another wreck. Is he okay? My stars, I’ll bet your insurance premiums are through the roof.”
Polly’s mouth opened, but she was so shocked she didn’t know what to say. Not only had LilyAnn just stood up for herself, but she’d also done a fair job of bitch-slapping Polly right back for that dig without touching a hair on her head.
“Uh… Well, I…”
“Oh. Gotta go. I’m next,” Lily said, and wheeled her cart right up to the counter and began unloading her groceries.
LilyAnn was so mad she was shaking, but she wouldn’t let on. She carried on a conversation with Gladys as she paid for her things, but didn’t remember a single word of what they’d said by the time she got outside.
The air was sharp, and the sun was about to set. If she hurried, she would get home before dark. And if she didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. This was Saturday night, the night when a good number of the citizens had places to go and people to see. It wasn’t like she’d be walking a dark street alone.
Her stride was long as she headed for home with the bags bumping against the sides of her legs. The first five blocks weren’t so bad, but the wind was picking up, and with the sun about to disappear, the temperature was dropping with it.
As she was approaching another intersection, she heard the sounds of a vehicle braking and someone calling out her name. She turned to look and then smiled as Mike came running. He took the sacks out of her hands.
“Get in the car before you freeze to death, woman.”
She didn’t have to be told twice. She jumped in the front seat as he put her bags in the back, and then off they went.
“Did you have car trouble, honey?” he asked.
“No. I just felt like walking and forgot I was going to get groceries. Totally my bad. Thanks for stopping. It was getting cold.”
“Any time,” he said, then slammed on the brakes just as a shiny, black pickup truck ran a stop sign and sped through the intersection in front of them.
LilyAnn recognized the truck and the driver and shivered just a little as the sound of that hot-rod engine rattled her senses.
“Stupid jerk,” Mike muttered.
Lily blinked. She didn’t like to think that T. J. Lachlan might be a stupid jerk with flaws, but he had been speeding.
“Yeah, dumb,” she said, and looked away as they drove on through.
A couple of minutes later, Mike pulled up in her driveway.
“You go unlock the door. I’ll get your groceries,” he said.
She did as he asked, then held the door aside as he carried her things inside.
“In the kitchen?” he asked.
“Please,” Lily said, and followed him in.
He set the bags on the counter and couldn’t help but notice the amount of healthy stuff she’d bought. He didn’t say anything, but he was pleased. Yet another sign that she was serious about change. If only he could figure out how to insinuate himself into her sights.
She was already putting up groceries and missed the look of longing on his face.
“Is there anything else you need me to do?” he asked.
“Uh… no, oh, wait! I almost forgot. Do you already have plans for Thanksgiving?”
Mike’s heart leaped. “No. Are you inviting me to dinner?”
She nodded. “Yes. Mama and Eddie are coming, and Mama wanted me to invite you.”
Disappointment shredded the little bit of hope he’d just felt.
“Your mama said to invite me?”
“Yes. Hand me those bananas, will you?”
He dropped them in her hand.
“What about you, LilyAnn? Do you want me to come to dinner, too?”
Lily looked up and frowned. “Well, of course. What a silly question.”
“Yeah, silly questions are my specialty,” he muttered. “So if you don’t need anything I’ll get out of your hair.”
He walked out without saying good-bye.
“Thanks for the ride,” she yelled, but all she heard was the door slam. She shrugged and promptly forgot about it.
***
The Sunday morning ritual for most of Blessings was about the same—breakfast, then church, or early church, then brunch.
It all depended on the denomination. LilyAnn was a member of the Wesley United Methodist Church, and there was never a question of if she was going to church. It was simply a question of which service.
&n
bsp; When she was little, her parents had taken her to the last one. Sunday school always began at 10:30 a.m. and preaching afterward at 11:15 a.m., and she’d been dressed for display, like the little doll she was.
Now she dressed to hide, and cooler weather was her friend. Jackets and coats, long-sleeved shirts and slacks hid a multitude of sins, which was good when you went to a church where people preached against them.
***
LilyAnn eyed the sky as she carried the trash out to the bin behind the house. It was nearly half a mile to church, too far to walk in heels. The day was cold but clear, and she could take a walk this afternoon. Right now, she needed to hurry and get out of her sweatshirt and jeans or she was going to be late for church.
She ran back inside, shutting out the cold as the door slammed behind her, and was on her way down the hall when the phone began to ring. She lengthened her stride to get to the bedroom to answer.
“Hello.”
“Hey, it’s me, Mike. Can you come over right now? I need some help.”
It was the slight tremor in his voice that made her heart kick out of rhythm.
“I’m on my way,” she said, and hung up the phone. By the time she got to the door, she was running.
She flew across her front yard and up his driveway, then around to the back door because she knew it would be unlocked.
“I’m here!” she yelled, as she ran in through the kitchen. “Where are you?”
“In the bedroom.”
She’d spent half her life in this house playing with Mike when they were little and knew exactly where to go. But the moment she started down the hall and saw the blood, panic hastened her steps. The trail went all the way across the hardwood floor of his bedroom and into the bathroom. The door was ajar.
“I’m coming in!” she yelled.
Mike was leaning over the bathroom sink, wearing a pair of blue jeans and nothing else. Blood was pouring from a cut on his forehead, and there were smaller cuts and scratches on his torso. The Plexiglas shower door was in shards.
“Oh my God, oh my God, Mike! You fell!”
“I got dizzy. Slipped. Tried to get dressed, and this is as far as I got. I’m too dizzy to drive myself to the ER. Can you—”
“Sit down,” she said, and slammed the lid shut on the commode, then grabbed a hand towel, folded it into a large pad, and pressed it against the cut. “Hold this,” she said, and flew back into his bedroom, snatching a button-up shirt from the closet and a pair of house shoes from beside his bed.
Within a couple of minutes, she had him dressed and on his way down the hall, but he was leaning on her with every step.
“Where are your car keys?” she asked.
He pointed to the dish by the front door.
She grabbed them on the way out, pulling the door shut as they went. Her purse and driver’s license were at her house, and that was just too damned bad. If they got stopped on the way to the ER for speeding, the police officer could kiss her fat ass.
By the time she got Mike in the car, all the color had washed from his face and she was getting scared.
“How long have you been bleeding?” she asked, as she backed the car down the driveway and took off, leaving rubber on the street as she accelerated.
“I don’t know,” he mumbled, and then passed out.
“Oh my God! Mike! Mike!”
But he wasn’t talking. She grabbed the compress that had fallen into his lap and shoved it against his forehead, steering with one hand as she ran stop signs and red lights, thankful it was Sunday morning when the traffic was sparse.
She picked up a cop car two blocks from the hospital, but she didn’t slow down. If he wanted to give her a ticket, he was going to have to do it there.
When she didn’t slow down or stop, the cop hit the siren and accelerated, trying to catch her. She pulled into the ER bay with him on her bumper. When she got out running and covered in blood, the cop’s attitude changed as he jumped out of the cruiser and followed her to the passenger door.
LilyAnn recognized the officer as a former classmate and started issuing orders.
“Lonnie, get me some help! Mike is unconscious!”
Every angry comment Officer Lonnie Pittman had been planning to deliver shifted into nervous energy as he dashed into the ER, coming back moments later with a doctor, a nurse, and two orderlies pushing a gurney.
“What happened?” the doctor said, as they dragged Mike’s bloody body out of the car.
“He fell in the shower. I don’t know how long ago, because he’d lost a lot of blood by the time he called me. It was a bad fall so he may have internal injuries, too. He has cuts and scratches all over his upper torso. Don’t know about the rest of him because he was wearing blue jeans when I showed up. All I know is that the shower door was Plexiglas and it was in pieces.”
“Are you his wife?” the nurse asked.
The question startled Lily. She’d never thought of Mike in that way. “No, but…I guess I’m the closest thing to family here in Blessings. We grew up next door to each other and still live in the same houses.”
“Follow me inside. Maybe you can help with some of his medical history.”
Her voice was beginning to shake. “I need to move the car.”
“I’ll do it,” Lonnie offered. “Meet you inside.”
Lily followed behind as they wheeled Mike in. Her heart was hammering so hard that it was difficult to catch her breath, and she couldn’t look at the blood on her clothes without wanting to cry.
Mike was the invincible one. Seeing him so pale and still brought back memories of her daddy’s heart attack. He had gone from the emergency room to the funeral home in less than two hours, and this was a horrible reminder of that day.
After giving them all the pertinent information regarding age, birth date, address, and so on, she referred them to Mike’s family doctor for medical info. It was all she could do. Before she knew it, they were wheeling him into surgery.
Lonnie Pittman found her in the surgery waiting room. When he handed her the car keys, her hands were shaking so hard that she dropped them twice before she got them in her pocket.
“I’m sorry I was speeding,” she whispered.
“Yeah, well, unusual circumstances and all that, but damn it to hell, LilyAnn, don’t ever do that again. Call an ambulance next time.”
She nodded.
He sighed. “Is there someone you want me to notify? Does he have a girlfriend? Maybe his pastor?”
“No girlfriend,” she said, and then frowned. “At least none that I know of. I’ll call his parents as soon as I know what to tell them.”
“Where do they live?”
“Denver, Colorado. They moved there after his dad retired. That’s where his sister’s family lives.”
“Okay. Well, remember what I said.”
Unaware there were tears on her cheeks, she looked up.
“I will, and thank you.”
He patted the top of her head. “You’re welcome, LilyAnn. Hope he’s okay.”
She didn’t know when Lonnie left. Her gaze was fixed on the doors at the far end of the hall. Mike had to be okay. She couldn’t imagine life without him somewhere in it.
Chapter 4
In a town the size of Blessings, word spread fast about Mike Dalton’s accident. Within an hour, customers and friends alike began showing up in the waiting room to check on his condition. Seeing LilyAnn sitting there with her clothes covered in blood just made the situation worse. The fear on her face set the tone for the room as silence grew.
And then Ruby Dye showed up. Someone had asked for prayers for Mike Dalton at her church, and the moment service was over, she had headed for the hospital. When she saw LilyAnn and the shape she was in, Ruby gasped in horror.
“Honey! What on earth happened? Are you okay? Is any of this yours?”
It was the sympathy that did Lily in. She started to cry.
“No, Sister, it’s all Mike’s. He slipped in th
e shower. He had a bad cut on his head, and they were talking about internal injuries.”
“Well, bless his heart,” Ruby said. “Soapy surfaces, I guess.”
Lily shrugged, about to agree, when she remembered something Mike told her.
“No. He said he was dizzy. Oh my gosh! I forgot about that. He said he got dizzy.”
“From the head injury, I’m sure.”
“No, no, it was before he fell. Mike used to get inner ear infections a lot, and they always affected his balance. I need to tell the doctors. I should have remembered. They need to know.”
“You can tell them later. Right now he’s where he needs to be.”
Lily nodded as she wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“Is there anything I can do?” Ruby asked. “Do you want some clean clothes? I can go to your house and get whatever you need. Is there anything we can do for Mike?”
Lily thought of what his house looked like when they left it.
“There’s blood all over his house, and the shower door is in pieces.”
Ruby patted her hand. “I’ll get the girls from the shop, and we’ll take care of that. Can I bring you anything from your house? Make me a list. Tell me where to find the stuff, and I’ll do it gladly.”
Lily felt weight coming off her shoulders. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” Ruby said.
Lily leaned over, lowering her voice so no one else could hear.
“Mike is a private person.”
Ruby whispered back. “Honey, we’ll just clean up, not mess into his business, okay?”
“Okay. The back door at his house is open. The front door is unlocked at my house, too. I’ll give you a list of stuff to bring from my house, including my purse and keys. If you’d lock both houses when you’re through, I would appreciate it.”
“Consider it done,” Ruby said, and gave LilyAnn a quick hug. “I’ll be back later with your things. Have faith, honey. He’s going to be fine.”
Lily sighed. “From your lips to God’s ears.”
***
Mike Dalton was in recovery when Lily finally made the call to his parents. It was the most difficult phone call she’d ever had to make. Just when she thought the call was going to go to voice mail, someone picked up.
