“You could have followed me, Annie. I would have liked it if you had.”
“Why does any of this matter now after all these years? Look, we’ve been through this. If you stopped by the B&B to talk, there’s nothing for us to say, Chase. I thought I made that clear at the barbeque, and then again last night. Our lives moved on in different directions. We’ve…spent a lifetime without each other. We don’t even know each other anymore. There’s nothing left to say.”
“Are you done shopping?”
She blinked hard. Hadn’t he just heard her? “Chase…”
“I’ll help you finish and then I’ll help you bring the groceries home.”
“What?”
“You heard me. There’s nothing wrong with your hearing.”
“True, but there’s clearly something wrong with yours. I have been shopping for my bed and breakfast for years. I don’t need your help and I don’t want your help. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”
Turning on her heels, Anna Mae pushed the cart to the middle of the frozen food aisle and then looked around to see if Chase had followed her. She’d run away like a beaten dog with her tail between her legs. Taking in each breath to steady her rampant heartbeat, she realized Rita Mae was right. She hadn’t resolved anything after all these years. Decades had been wasted. And still, the only man who could make her blood boil or stir her heart was Chase Johnson.
Damn him.
* * * *
Well, that went well. Chase watched Anna Mae from a distance. It had been a mistake to follow her here thinking she’d actually be happy to see him. What the hell had he turned himself into?
In Nashville he was a much sought after studio musician. Every club manager he talked to booked him for a night at their club because they knew he’d bring a crowd. People loved him.
In Nashville. He hadn’t found so much love here in Storm despite all his kin living here.
It was his own fault. You couldn’t burn bridges the way he had without needing to later find a way to rebuild them. He had a long way to go if there was any hope of making things right, or as right as they could be with his kin and with Annie.
He didn’t blame her for wanting to keep her distance. He’d hurt her when he’d chosen his music over life here in Storm. There was a time during the days before he left that Chase had been convinced she was going to pack her bags and leave with him. But she hadn’t. Kin was important to her, and her sister had been dealing with her own pain at the time. Annie hadn’t wanted to leave her.
Chase could deal with Zeke’s anger toward him a whole lot easier than dealing with Annie’s. But she was right. He hadn’t called her. He’d walked away and never looked back until now.
Nashville was so different than Storm. Things happened for him quickly once he’d arrived and met a few of the local musicians playing in the clubs. He’d been busy. He’d had his reasons for not calling her. But most of all, Chase knew that the sweet sound of Annie’s voice and the longing he felt in missing her would be his undoing. He’d have gotten right back in his truck and driven back to Storm just to be with her again.
He’d been a shit. No doubt. But he was an even bigger shit for coming back here and thinking Annie would forgive him.
If she gave him nothing but ice daggers for the rest of his days, he surely deserved it. She hadn’t stopped him from going to Nashville. She told him to go. But he’d known she didn’t want him to. And he couldn’t stay. Storm was a wonderful place. But not for someone like him. And for each moment that passed since he’d been home, Chase had wondered why he’d even bothered to come back.
He walked through the grocery store and tried his best not to search the aisles like a lovesick teenager. He’d made an ass of himself coming here. What the hell had he expected? He was an old man. He’d had everything to offer Anna Mae all those years ago and now…now he couldn’t even button his shirt without his hands shaking so badly he needed to take a pill to calm them. And even then, sometimes that wasn’t enough.
He’d lived a long and full life that was full of booze, music, and women. He’d made a decision and he hadn’t looked back. He deserved to die alone if that’s what it came to.
The trembling in his hand started again, and Chase hurried to his truck, feeling the heat more than he normally did. He stumbled a few yards from his destination, but he didn’t fall. Still, being unsteady on his feet was something he was never going to get used to and something he hoped he could ward off as long as possible.
He needed his music now more than ever.
Yanking on the truck door, he paused before climbing into the driver’s seat. He paused with the door open just for a few seconds before putting the key in the ignition and gunning the engine. Before long, driving would be off the table and he’d be at the mercy of having someone else get him around.
A ball of fire burned high in his stomach and made his chest hurt. It seemed he got that a lot these days whenever he contemplated the future that was laid out ahead of him.
After slamming the door shut, he turned on the radio and blasted the a/c to keep from sweating. Then he put the truck in reverse and pulled out of the parking space. If he had any smarts at all, he’d get on the freeway and just keep driving. Somewhere. Anywhere. He couldn’t go back to Nashville. But Storm didn’t want him here. So why stay?
Chapter Seven
The buzzer on the oven sounded, pulling Anna Mae away from the towels and sheets she’d been folding in the laundry room.
It had been a long time since she’d baked a homemade pie the way her grandmother had taught her to when she was a little girl. She’d wanted to bake a peach pie, but peaches were so overpriced at the market now that they were out of season. Still, she’d been feeling nostalgic and in need of comfort after running into Chase, so she pulled out her recipe book and made the apple pie that she used to make with her grandmother every fall.
The sound of the buzzer grew louder the closer she got to the kitchen. So did the smell of the pie. After grabbing the potholders, she opened the oven door and peered into the oven. The ribbons of the piecrust looked beautifully browned to perfection. She’d made two pies. One for Rita Mae, Mary Louise, and Anna Mae’s dinner. The other she’d set out on the table for the guests.
She pulled the pies out of the oven and set them down on a cooling rack on the counter by the opened window. As she set the second pie down, she noticed a truck outside by the curb. She didn’t recognize the truck, but she knew all too well the man sitting inside of it.
How long had that hardheaded Chase Johnson been sitting out there in the hot sun?
* * * *
It had been a long time since Travis had gone straight home after closing up the pharmacy. Kristin made a habit of dropping by, even for a few minutes. He found the one thing that brightened his day since losing Jacob was to see her smile. But today she’d had a late appointment out of town.
He draped his arm across the steering wheel as he pulled his car out of the small parking lot behind the pharmacy, stopping at the stop sign and looking at the corner where the flower shop was located. He gave Pushing Up Daisies a quick glance. The lights were still on, and he could see the orange and black decorations in the windows, signaling the coming of Halloween. But he didn’t see Kristin’s car parked where it normally was, so he assumed she still hadn’t returned to Storm.
He sighed. One night of not seeing Kristin didn’t change how either of them felt about each other. He loved her like he’d never loved another human being, save his children. And she understood just how deep his love for them ran.
And Celeste? Well, he’d always have feelings for her in some form. But anything special they’d had was long gone. He’d married her and they’d had children together. He owed it to her to help her through her grief over Jacob. But it had never been as it was with Kristin and it would never be.
His cell phone rang through his car radio and flashed with Lacey’s number. Lacey wasn’t the strong one. Sara J
ane would always land on her feet. She was practical and for the most part, predictable. But Lacey was different. She was Travis’s baby. Pressing the button on the dash, he answered the call quickly. “Lacey? What’s wrong?”
“Mom’s not home.”
He frowned. “Did she say where she was going?”
“No.”
Lacey didn’t elaborate and Travis had to fight the groan working its way up his throat.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“She was weird this afternoon again. Drinking and looking at pictures. She’s always looking at those pictures. And…”
“And what?”
Lacey didn’t answer.
“Lacey, tell me. What happened?”
“She’s drunk, Daddy. I saw her in the dining room crying as she looked through the photo album. Then when I was upstairs, I heard her leave the house and then start the car. When I looked out the window, I saw her driving away. I…was afraid she’d get into an accident, so I followed her.”
“But you were upstairs. How could you have caught up with her? You weren’t speeding, were you?” He’d already lost one child. He couldn’t bear to lose another.
“No! Where else would she go but to the cemetery? So I stopped at the cemetery and saw her car parked there. I went to Jacob’s grave and she was…” He heard Lacey’s heavy sigh and waited. “She was stretched out on the ground crying with her face against Jacob’s headstone.”
Travis pulled over to the side of the road to give Lacey his full attention. He silently let out a curse and hit the steering wheel to let out his growing frustration. Lacey didn’t need this. She had her own feelings to deal with. Hadn’t their family gone through enough with Ginny Moreno’s lies? Since learning that Ginny wasn’t actually carrying their grandchild, Celeste had fallen deeper into despair, sometimes forgetting that she had two other children who were still alive and dealing with their own grief.
He heard the worry in Lacey’s voice. She’d been trying to put on a brave face despite everything that had gone on in Storm and with their family. But if things didn’t get better, she’d break, just like Celeste.
“Sweetie, I will take care of it. Don’t let this worry you at all,” he said warmly as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and tried to figure out how to handle the situation without causing more anxiety.
“But how is she going to drive home?” Lacey’s voice broke. “You didn’t see how much she drank earlier.”
“I’ll worry about her car later. You or Sara Jane can drive over to the cemetery with me later once I get your mother settled. Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay, sweetie.”
“Okay. Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
His heart squeezed. Hearing those words made him feel like a superhero. Like he could do anything to fix the wrongs that had been put upon his family. But as much as Travis knew Lacey meant them, he also knew he couldn’t fix what couldn’t be fixed.
Travis couldn’t protect Lacey from everything. He didn’t have the power to bring his boy back from the dead. And he couldn’t stop people from talking about Ginny Moreno and her claim that she was carrying Jacob’s baby. Or Dakota Alvarez’s announcement in front of the entire town that the child Ginny carried was not Jacob’s. It was Sebastian Rush’s. He could only take away this momentary worry that fell on Lacey’s shoulders.
“I love you too. Don’t you worry. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll see you at home.”
Travis pressed the button on the dash to disconnect the call and paused. She was his wife. If what Lacey said was true, he couldn’t leave her at the cemetery in the state she was in, broken and unable to move forward in the wake of her despair.
After glancing in the rearview mirror to check if the road was clear, he pressed his foot on the gas and swung the car around so he could head toward the cemetery to collect his wife.
A few minutes later, he turned into the cemetery driveway and slowly made his way down the lane toward the plot where his son was buried. Sure enough, Celeste’s car was parked askew with the nose of the car on the grass and the tail end of it on the pavement. He pulled his car up behind hers and shifted into park before killing the engine and pocketing the key in his jacket pocket.
With a heavy sigh, he pushed the car door open and stepped out into the hot Texas air. It had only been about fifteen minutes since he’d left the pharmacy but already the setting sun had made the evening air cooler. He didn’t come to the cemetery often, but he knew exactly how to find Jacob’s plot. He walked a few yards and stepped around one of the cottonwood trees with a park bench beneath it that had been strategically planted in the cemetery to give people a place to shade themselves while visiting a loved one’s grave.
What Lacey had described to him was bad. But Travis wasn’t prepared for what he saw when he finally reached Jacob’s grave.
Celeste was stretched out on the grass in front of the headstone. When he reached her, her eyes were closed and her mouth was parted. Grass clippings were stuck to her cheek, most likely pasted there by her tears.
“Celeste,” he said quietly as he bent down. Grabbing her arm, he gave her a gentle push to rouse her.
She didn’t move but he heard her snoring quietly so he knew she was breathing.
“It’s time to go home, Celeste,” he said a little louder as he snaked his arm under her body to get her to sit up.
She moaned a little and whimpered and then her head fell back.
“Come on, Celeste. The groundkeeper will be here soon to lock the gate. We need to go.”
“I don’t…I…my baby…how.” None of what Celeste was fighting to say made sense, but Travis got the gist of it. It had been the same thing for months. My baby. How did this happen? I don’t know how to live with this.
She was dead weight in his arms even though she wasn’t a big woman. Travis fought to help her to her feet and then he fought again to drag her to his car. When he reached the car, he wrestled with holding Celeste steady while he opened the passenger door and then got her settled enough so he could buckle her in. Before he closed the door, he rummaged through the glove compartment for a pen and a piece of paper. He found a pen, but had to settle for an envelope that had the pharmacy logo on it. It was full of old receipts that he emptied into the glove compartment before carefully shutting the car door and walking to Celeste’s car. He wrote a quick note to the groundskeeper with the lie that the car had broken down and they’d be back in the morning to remove it. Travis listed his telephone number in case the groundskeeper had any questions and then slipped the envelope under the windshield wiper blade.
It had been a long day, he thought as he walked back to the car with a heavier step than he had when he’d arrived. He needed a smile and a way to forget the nightmare his life had become. He needed Kristin. But right now he needed to get Celeste home and to bed and then make sure that Lacey was okay. He’d deal with his own needs later.
* * * *
Ginny waddled into Cuppa Joe and looked around. Mid-afternoon, her sister’s bakery was quiet. She quickly spotted Max sitting at a table.
“I’m glad you came,” Ginny said, easing herself into the chair opposite Max.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Ginny shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s been really…weird here ever since the Founders’ Day fiasco. When I heard you were coming to Storm, I nearly wept with joy. I’ve missed you.”
“Me, too.”
“How is it staying with your grandmother?”
“Great-grandmother. It’s good to see her. She’s getting old though. I hadn’t seen her in a long time so I didn’t realize just how old she was getting.”
Hedda Garten, Max’s great-grandmother, was the owner of the florist shop in town. She knew just about everyone and everything that happened in Storm.
“She’s the one who told you about what happened.” Ginny said. A swell of embarrassment rose up inside her. Max had come to Stor
m after Ginny’s world had fallen apart. But Ginny hadn’t been the one to tell him about it.
“Word gets around. But only because my mother asked what was happening in Storm. My mother knew that we were friends.”
“And you came running.”
“What are friends for?”
“Speaking of friends,” Ginny said, determined to change the subject, “where’s your friend, Scott? Didn’t he come to Storm with you?”
“He decided to stop by and see Brittany. We ran into Marylee and Brittany Rush at the flower shop when we arrived.”
A dull ache worked its way from her stomach to her chest. Brittany Rush had been Ginny’s best friend and she’d failed that friendship miserably. She didn’t have the slightest idea how or if that relationship could ever be repaired. There was a time when Brittany would have been the first person, aside from Jacob, that Ginny would have run to with a problem. She couldn’t exactly run to Brittany now without causing her more pain.
Max seemed to sense Ginny’s mood. “You know, we could have gone someplace for more than a cup of coffee. Someplace nicer.”
Ginny chuckled. “Are you saying my sister’s place isn’t nice?”
“You know what I mean. Someplace where we could have had a burger or something.”
Ginny shrugged. “This is practically the only place in town where I’m welcome these days.”
“Slight exaggeration, don’t you think? Your sister’s place isn’t the only one in town. Not everyone knows about what happened between you and the senator, and I’m sure not everyone cares.”
“You don’t know Storm. People will look you straight in the face and smile and then as soon as you turn your back, they’re talking about you. I should know. It seems I can’t get away from it.”
“People are going to forget.”
“You sound like my sister.”
“She’s right.”
“Maybe they do in Austin. But not in Storm.”
Max frowned. “Come on, it can’t be that bad.”
Brave the Storm, Season 2, Episode 3 (Rising Storm) Page 5
