by Kim Law
“Mom,” Kendra whispered, her voice coming from directly behind Lee Ann.
“Yeah?” Click. Click. Lee Ann shifted and positioned the camera in front of Candy, allowing her to work the controls.
Kendra sat on the tree trunk and leaned close as she pointed to the other side of the stream. “I think I see something.”
Lee Ann scanned the bank until she saw what her daughter had spotted. She couldn’t make out what was hidden in the snow and leaves, but there was definite movement. She slipped an arm around Kendra. “Good catch. Let’s wait a few minutes and see if anything comes out.”
Candy rose from her position and followed their line of sight with the camera. Being the less patient of the twins, she whispered to her mother and sister. “It’ll get dark soon. What if it doesn’t come out in time? Let’s cross and see if we can find it.”
Kendra scowled at her sister. “You are so immature. Mom already taught us about disturbing nature years ago.” She focused on the moving leaves and lost her condescending tone. “Anything we do could potentially harm the wildlife in any number of ways.”
Lee Ann retrieved her camera in hopes of catching a nice shot, but she concentrated more on what having time alone with her daughters had done for them all. After the pain of having Cody not show up for the party, they’d all been too heartbroken to hang around for a lame apology. Together they’d made the decision that he’d messed up big-time, and none of them had wanted to stick around to see what happened next. All the girls knew at this point was that he’d skipped out on the party. She’d wanted to keep the Holly situation away from them as long as possible so as not to impact their decision about how they wanted to move forward with him.
With school out for the holidays, they’d packed enough clothes and essentials to keep them away from Sugar Springs until the first of the new year. This year they would do something different and celebrate the holidays in the Smokies. Just them and their grandmother, who was coming out today.
They’d spent the first night in a hotel on the main strip, but the following day Lee Ann had been able to secure a cabin that would be theirs for ten days. It cost more than she would normally be willing to pay, but these were trying circumstances. After checking in with her mother to remind her to mind the business messages and return any calls that couldn’t wait, then texting Holly that she wouldn’t be back to work at the diner, Lee Ann had turned off her cell phone and spent the days totally alone with her girls. She hadn’t wanted to be made aware of any gossip or risk getting any calls she didn’t want to take.
Along with spending each day scouring the woods together, they’d also shopped and enjoyed the holiday festivities along the strip. Come New Year’s Eve there would be a huge fireworks show visible from the enormous deck of their cabin. Fireworks showering over the trees would make good portraits as well.
“Mom,” Candy whispered, louder this time as she checked her watch. “We need to get back. Grandma should already be here.”
Lee Ann’s mom had resisted the idea of their leaving town and even suggested she come, too, but Lee Ann had known they needed time to lick their wounds. Lee Ann and the girls had talked about Cody and his actions during their daily hikes, and although no major decisions had been made, the wounds were already healing. At least they were for the girls. They were more resilient.
Although she’d refused to let Reba come, Lee Ann had promised to leave the key on the deck for her on Christmas Eve. Her mother planned to arrive while the three of them were out for their daily walk, bringing a fully cooked turkey along with her. They would make the side dishes together, and then they’d have their normal Christmas Eve dinner.
Her mother would spend the night so they could all be together the next day before she headed back home. She had to be at work the day after Christmas. City offices didn’t close down just because some people needed to escape and hide in the woods.
Lee Ann glanced at her watch. They did need to head back. Not only did her mom need help with dinner, but also the sun was rapidly disappearing. She patted the log beside her. “Come sit with us a minute.”
After Candy scooted in close, Lee Ann wrapped her arms around both her girls. The pain in her heart was still there, as strong as it had been Saturday night when she’d learned Cody had chosen Holly over them. She squeezed the girls to her, sorry she’d let him hurt them the same way. Each rested her head on Lee Ann’s shoulder, and they released a sigh in unison. Lee Ann smiled. They were so similar. She wished she’d been closer to her sister and had some times like this, but some things just weren’t meant to be. Like her and Cody, apparently. “We need to talk before we go back and see Grandma.”
“Yeah, we know—” Kendra mumbled, and Candy finished for her, “we need to talk about how we’re going to handle this issue with Dad.”
Lee Ann’s heart lurched. They were both so grown-up. “You know Grandma will ask how you’re doing?”
Kendra tugged against the weight of Lee Ann’s arm, so she loosened her grip but didn’t let go. Both girls straightened and focused on a spot on the other side of the stream. Candy spoke first. “We’ve been talking about it, and we think we should give him another chance.”
Lee Ann sucked in a quick burst of air. She was tired of giving the man chances. “But he might—”
Kendra nodded. “He might hurt us again. We know. But he’s still really just learning this fatherhood stuff. He hasn’t really messed up with us until now, so it’s pretty much his real second chance with us.”
“We owe him the chance,” Candy added.
Lee Ann closed her eyes. Her girls were good, considerate young ladies. And they wanted to believe the best in everyone. But Lee Ann worried their hearts would be crushed over and over with this one. “Are you sure?”
They both nodded, then grew silent, but Lee Ann knew they had more to say. While she waited, she tried to discern how to handle Cody visiting sporadically for the next five years, maybe more. She was finished with second chances. As soon as she figured out how to get him out of her heart once and for all, she would move on herself.
Candy gripped Lee Ann’s hand and held on. “We think you should give him another chance, too.”
“No.” She couldn’t.
“Please, Mom, we know he loves you.” Candy turned her pleading gaze to Lee Ann, and the irony struck her that this was the daughter who’d been so hesitant to open herself to him in the first place. “And we know he broke your heart a long time ago, so we totally get it if you can’t. But we were thinking...maybe if you forgive him just this one more time, he’ll stay in Sugar Springs with us.”
Lee Ann’s heart deflated at the sight of the hope on her daughters’ faces. She cupped both of them on the cheek. “Sweethearts, he isn’t staying. That’s not an option.”
“But...” Moisture deepened the brown of Candy’s eyes. “But if you tell him you love him, and he already knows we love him, maybe he’ll quit running.”
Lee Ann’s throat thickened. They recognized he was running? “Cody has...” How did she explain it? She licked her lips and tried again. “Cody has some issues that have nothing to do with any of us. I don’t think he knows how to quit running.”
“Then we just teach him.” Candy stood before them, determination covering her face. “That’s all we have to do. Give him some more time, but teach him he doesn’t have to run anymore. He has a family here.”
Sounded so easy. But Lee Ann knew differently. Kendra rose to mimic her sister’s stance. “We can do it, Mom, but it would be easier if you would give him that chance, too. You do love him, don’t you?”
Lee Ann thought about him choosing Stephanie over her, choosing Holly over her. Then she thought about him never choosing her again, and her heart bled. She nodded. “Of course I love him, but that’s not enough.”
Hesitant hope pulled at the edges of the girls’ mouths. “Love has to be enough.”
Adolescence was such a wonderful thing. Lee Ann gave a sad smile to h
er girls and wished she could keep them from ever losing their belief in love. “I’m afraid it isn’t always that easy.”
Kendra flipped her long hair over her shoulder. “Maybe if you just tell him you love him.”
“I did,” Lee Ann said, her voice cracking. She hated what she was about to do, but they had to know. He hadn’t just skipped out on them, he’d skipped out on her as well. “Then we talked about the future Friday night, and I told him again. I begged him to quit running then.” She took in a deep gulp of air. “But he went out with another woman instead.”
Kendra’s eyes bulged, while anger heated Candy’s.
“He wouldn’t do that to you.” Kendra shook her head, not believing, but Candy glowered, fire brewing in the depths. “Who was it? There has to be some mistake.”
“It’s hard to mistake something like that when it happens in public.”
“Did you see it with your own eyes?”
Lee Ann couldn’t help the little smile, which lifted her spirits. Her girls would always be there to take care of her, but they wouldn’t let her take the easy way out. “No, I was at the party all night with you. Joanie talked to Gina Gregory, who saw him.”
Candy’s shoulders slumped, and a little of the anger left her posture. “Gina Gregory? Even we know she’s after Dad. Maybe she just made it up.”
Lee Ann hadn’t considered the idea. But now that she thought about it, she supposed it was a possibility. Gina would stoop to any level to get what she wanted.
“What did she say?” Kendra asked.
Shaking her head, Lee Ann rose and motioned for them to lead the way. They’d better finish talking on the walk or they would end up in the dark. “It doesn’t matter. She may want him herself, but telling a lie that could so easily be checked out makes no sense. All I’d have to do is ask.”
“But you didn’t.” This drifted back from Candy, and Lee Ann’s head spun at the maturity of the simple declaration.
No, she hadn’t asked. But it couldn’t be fixed as easy as that. He’d skipped out on the party. Stood them all up. It had to be because of Holly. “Then why didn’t he show up?”
“He’s scared. He ran. He just didn’t run all the way out of town this time.” Kendra shrugged. “Maybe he managed to control his fear enough to keep him in town.”
Lee Ann stopped in the middle of the path until both girls faced her, questioning looks on their faces. “How do you know so much about him?”
Candy gave her an incredulous look. “Anybody who knows anything about his past knows he’s running from something that scares him.”
Lee Ann shook her head as if to remove the cobwebs. “And how do you know so much about his past?” Other than an overview, she and Cody had chosen not to tell the girls too much.
Even in the dimming light, Lee Ann made out the blushes covering both their faces and she knew.
“The vents in the house?”
They nodded, sheepish, before both spoke quietly, “Sorry.”
For the first time since this conversation began, Lee Ann laughed. If she’d been in their shoes, she would have kept an ear to the vent, too. “You’re forgiven.”
They began walking again, and Kendra asked, “So what’s he running from?”
Lee Ann dropped back and snapped pictures of the girls as they walked ahead of her, scuffing their toes in the leaves too shielded from the overhead branches to have received any snow. “A misguided notion that everyone he gets close to will eventually want him to leave.”
“Are you kidding me?” Both girls gawked at her.
Lee Ann snapped their incredulous expressions. With a grin, she silently thanked her sister for leaving her such terrific girls. They were part Stephanie, part Reba, part Cody, and a whole lot her. She couldn’t ask for a better combination. “Nope. That’s his theory. He did have a bad childhood, so he’s got some reasons, I suppose.”
Kendra began walking again as Candy shook her head at her mother. “Well, when’s he going to grow up? You can’t blame everything in your life on your childhood. Even we know that.”
Lee Ann reached Candy’s side and looped an arm through hers. “Tell me about it,” she grumbled.
“So we just prove him wrong.” They came out of the woods at a paved road, and Kendra stopped to wait for the others. “That’s the answer, we stick to his side long enough to prove him wrong.”
“But how?” Candy scrunched up her face in confusion. “He’s leaving.”
Lee Ann slowed her steps as she considered making the suggestion. If it wasn’t for the unresolved Holly issue, it might be the thing to do. She pulled the stocking cap off her head and fingered her flattened hair.
“What is it, Mom?”
She had to put it out there. “He did suggest we follow him to Florida and then figure out from there where to go next. You could see him more often if we did that.”
Of course, it would only add years of misery to her life, but for her girls, she would do that. She would spend the time working hard to make a name for herself and just let Cody pay the girls’ way for a while. She had pride when it came to taking care of them, but over the last few days she’d realized that if nothing else, he owed her the chance to get on with her life. She’d put parts of it on hold years ago, but she wasn’t doing that anymore. For anyone.
“More often?” Confusion flitted across Candy’s face. “But not all the time? Is that because he doesn’t want to be around all the time?”
Lee Ann lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “He and I would have to be together for that to happen. I’m sorry, hon, but I don’t see how that can happen.”
Kendra frowned. “That makes sense. Not if he cheated on you again.”
“Yeah,” Lee Ann agreed. “Not if he cheated on me again. I’ll go if you want, but we’ll both have to give a little. You’ll have him near, but I won’t have him in my house.”
They were both quiet for several minutes as they thought through the options. Glances were exchanged, and once again she saw the connection between the two that she had never had with her sister. It made her glad that they’d been born together, no matter how hard it had been on her in the beginning.
Candy turned to her and stated. “But I love Sugar Springs.”
“Me, too.” Kendra sighed.
“How about another compromise, then?” Both girls regarded her when she spoke. “Maybe we could try something temporarily? At the end of the school year we could move to wherever he is for the summer. If it works out, we reconsider where you’ll go to school next year, but if it doesn’t we come back.”
Hope flashed across their faces, and though the thought of seeing Cody but having no relationship hurt, it would be worth it if the girls got the father they so desperately wanted.
Just as quickly as the hope had shown on Kendra’s face, it disappeared. “But we can’t do that to you unless you work out whatever happened the night of the party.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Lee Ann slipped both her arms through the girls’ as they headed up the last hill. “I’ll be all right. Let’s just worry about you two right now.”
“No, she’s right,” Candy said. “We don’t want to do it if he really did that to you. You deserve better.” She paused before continuing. “And we deserve better. We don’t want him in our life if he’s really that bad of a person.”
Lee Ann had never been so proud of her girls. They refused to either desert their mother or lower their standards. They were turning out pretty good.
“Who was it he was supposedly seen with anyway?” Kendra asked, kicking at a clump of snow as they walked.
“Holly.”
Kendra gasped and stopped in the middle of the now-dark road, the streetlight throwing shadows over her face. “Holly?” She shook her head. “Mom, Holly is not the type to do that to you.”
“Yeah, she’s not the type to do that to anyone, no matter how she much she flirts,” her other daughter agreed.
Lee Ann hadn’t thought so, either. But
still, it was hard to say nothing was going on if he had her butt gripped in both hands.
“Nothing about it makes sense. We need to go back so you can ask Holly what happened.” Kendra marched up the road, a young lady on a mission. “Maybe we should go home when Grandma goes tomorrow.”
“That way we can see Dad on Christmas...” Candy stopped, probably thinking she sounded selfish for wanting to see her father on Christmas Day.
“You’re right,” Lee Ann said, nodding. “I need answers, and you two need to see your dad.”
They reached the top of the hill, and the first thing Lee Ann noticed was her mother’s car wasn’t the only new vehicle in the driveway. Cody’s SUV was also parked there. Her heartbeat sped up—she couldn’t help it—and then she tamped down her excitement. He was probably there for the girls. She was happy about that, but she wouldn’t let him see how bad she wanted him to be here for her, too. To tell her Gina had somehow been mistaken.
And then they saw him standing on the deck in the glow of light from the house. He stood unmoving, looking out over the woods. Kendra was the first to shout. “Dad!”
He didn’t turn. Instead, it took Candy shouting at him again before he finally turned his head toward them, a look on his face as if there was no recognition whatsoever. He then glanced at the back door and said something she couldn’t make out.
They reached the stairs to the deck, Lee Ann hanging back as both girls hurried up the steps. When Cody didn’t come toward them, they stopped twenty feet away and stared. They rounded on Lee Ann and whispered, “What’s wrong with him?”
Something was definitely not right. Lee Ann squeezed their hands and stepped in the middle of them. They would face Cody together. They moved forward as the back door opened and more light spilled onto the wooden slats.
And then Cody stepped out.
Lee Ann’s gaze bounced from one man to the other. She quickly picked up on the fact the real Cody was the man who’d just walked through the door. The girls seemed to catch on only seconds later, and they released her and hurried to his side.
