False Impressions

by Terri Thayer

  “Not me. You should know that.” Mitch’s bewildered look felt like a stab in April’s heart. He looked up at her, searching her face for the reason for her freak-out.

  “Look, I appreciate . . .” she began, seeking for words that would mollify him. She didn’t want him to look like a complete fool in front of the whole town.

  The crowd was shifting, waiting for the next act. Mitch turned to his statue, pulling off the tarp with a hard yank.

  “I want you to have this.”

  He swirled the tarp off with the aplomb of a bullfighter. The piece was revealed. The cameraman moved in. Jocelyn stood, microphone at the ready.

  April’s heart sank even further. The sculpture seemed to be glowing in the dark. It was not her design, not her entwined hearts. It was a giant ring, with a huge faceted stone. An enormous diamond.

  The crowd burst into applause.

  “Are you kidding me?” April burst out. Mitch looked startled. He reached up for her hand, but she snatched it away. “That was supposed to be the marketing piece for our new Stamping Sisters line. You ruined it.”

  She caught Rocky’s eye. Rocky was clearly torn between her brother and business. But she’d gone for the grand gesture, too.

  Mitch stood and said plaintively, “I just wanted you to move in with me.”

  She seethed. She didn’t trust herself, so she clamped her mouth shut and remained silent.

  “All right,” Mitch said, covering up the mike with his hand and standing up. He brushed off his knees. “I get it. You don’t want to move in with me.”

  “Right now,” April said through gritted teeth, “I don’t even want to see you.” She could just picture the evening news. She could hear that helmet-headed witch now. “April Buchert thwarted her boyfriend’s big proposal at the Aldenville Ice Festival today. Evidently, his six-foot-high diamond ring wasn’t big enough.”

  April faced Mitch, her back to the ring. She didn’t even want to look at it.

  Everyone had gone quiet.

  She gathered every good feeling she had for this man and tried to channel them. It wasn’t working. She could feel nothing but anger. But she wasn’t going to fight with him in front of this crowd.

  “Mitch, honey.”

  “I wanted to surprise you,” he said.

  “You succeeded. Can we talk about this later?”

  Mitch studied her face. He drew in a deep breath, then exhaled mightily. He turned on his heel. “Sure,” he said. He made a cutting motion across his throat. The bright lights went abruptly off. April blinked trying to adjust to the darkness.

  She took a step and felt her foot land on something round. A piece of ice, a rock. She felt her feet go out from under her, seeking more secure ground. But not finding it. She found nothing but uneven slipperiness.

  Arms windmilling, she lost her footing and fell heavily into the ring. It crashed into the ground, breaking into a thousand pieces.

  April fought to right herself. Mark stepped up and helped her. Mitch hadn’t moved, his face pale, his lips forming a perfect O. The noise reverberated, picked up by his mike. The crowd gasped as one.

  April ran.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Deana said. She and April were in Rocky’s booth. The Ice Festival was over. The Mitch and April show cancelled. She could just imagine the spectators getting a chuckle from the debacle. She’d be doing her shopping in Lynwood for the next month. Facing the checkers at the IGA would be too tough.

  “Why didn’t you stop him?” April said, looking from Deana to Rocky. “You had to know it was a bad idea.”

  Rocky put in, “My brother can be very persuasive.”

  April knew that better than most. But it was going to be her powers of persuasion that were needed. She had to convince Mitch that just because she didn’t want to get engaged right now, just because she’d humiliated him in front of the entire town, didn’t mean she didn’t love him. She put her head down on the ledge and groaned.

  Rocky pulled her giant card out from under April’s chin. “You know what this means, don’t you?” Rocky addressed her comments to April, but she was talking loudly so anyone could hear.

  “No nookie tonight. The Campbells are away, but I know my brother. He’ll need to a day or two to sulk.”

  An unwelcome voice joined in. “Best laid plans, eh?” Yost emphasized the middle word with a leer.

  April glared at Rocky. She knew Rocky was just trying to lighten the mood, but really. “Does everyone know the Campbells are gone for the weekend?” She ignored Yost in the hopes that he’d go away. Instead, he leaned against Rocky’s booth as if he were one of the gang, getting the scoop on the latest gossip. April turned her head away.

  Rocky shrugged. “Winter doldrums. We don’t have much else to talk about.”

  April sighed, toying briefly with the idea of moving back to San Francisco. She wouldn’t, but now she needed her own place more than ever. One out of town. Away from the prying eyes. The fewer neighbors, the better.

  Deana kissed her cheek. “I’ve got to go. Mark and I have a viewing tonight. Call me later.”

  April waved limply as Deana and Mark walked away. Behind her, Rocky packed up stamps and supplies. Yost finally got the hint and took off when April wouldn’t talk to him.

  Lights were going out as booths were dismantled.

  “Can you give me a ride home?” April said.

  Rocky said, “My truck is full.”

  “I’ll take you home, April.” The offer came from an unexpected quarter behind her. April thought she recognized the voice but couldn’t be sure. She turned.

  “You’re right on my way,” Mary Lou said.

  That wasn’t exactly true. April and Mary Lou lived on opposite ends of Main Street. Not far, but still. The barn was ten minutes away from Mary Lou’s house.

  Rocky looked at April for an answer. She smiled encouragingly as though a reconciliation was on the horizon, but she hadn’t been there when Tina showed up. April could see Mary Lou had something to say to her.

  Mary Lou jangled her keys. “Come on, you owe me an explanation.”

  That much was true.

  They walked in silence to Mary Lou’s luxury SUV. She pushed a button and the car started, engine purring smoothly. As April got in, she could feel warm air already flowing. She rubbed her hands in front of the vents and felt her toes begin to thaw painfully.

  Mary Lou was silent as she backed out of her parking space and got into the queue of idling cars waiting to leave the park. There were a lot of cars with the same idea and only one lane leading out. It was going to take fifteen minutes to clear. Twice as long as it would normally take to get home.

  “I have never been so cold,” April said, hoping the time in the car would pass quickly if she filled it with small talk.

  Mary Lou held up a leather-gloved hand without looking April’s way. April got the message loud and clear. So this was how it was going to be. She was doing a neighborly duty, nothing more. April settled back and looked out the window at the dark night.

  When Mary Lou spoke, it was almost a whisper. The fight had gone. “My brother was all the family I had. Just him and Gregg. Our parents are dead.”

  April’s breath caught. She was afraid to exhale, afraid Mary Lou would shut down again.

  “He had so much potential, you know. He was the high school quarterback, prom king, head of the Young Republicans. Smart, too. He went to Penn.”

  April hadn’t known.

  “He threw it all away when he became a drunk.”

  Her voice broke. In the glow of the elaborate dashboard, April could see that Mary Lou was barely keeping it together. She’d gripped the steering wheel so hard, she’d popped the side seam of her glove. A very pink finger was showing through.

  “You have no idea the hell my brother put me and my family through. Thirty years of lies. He stole from me. He brought lowlife scum into my house.”

  April protested, “Tina’s not a lowlife.”

>   Mary Lou didn’t seem to hear. “He broke every promise he ever made to me.”

  The bottleneck eased with cars going off in two directions and up the cross street. Mary Lou hit forty before she reached the intersection. April would be home in a few minutes. The pain in the car was palpable. She felt her own throat tighten as Mary Lou talked.

  “He very nearly got Kit killed. He drove with her when he was drunk. That’s when I threw him out of the house. For good.”

  The bachelorette party Kit had told her about.

  “A few months later, he was arrested again for being drunk and disorderly. Caught taking a midnight swim in the community pool. Yost went easy on him. He was too lenient, to my way of thinking. Part of me was hoping he’d lock him up and throw away the key.”

  “Yost let him go?”

  “Not exactly. He got him into some kind of alternative program. Henry kept tabs on him and let me know from time to time how he was doing.”

  Had J.B. been part of the Anvils?

  “But you found out he was making meth?” April asked.

  Mary Lou nodded slowly, her head looking heavy. “I ran into him at a Walmart in Bloomsburg. I was there picking up some things for Connor, when I was visiting him at college. J.B. was in the pharmacy section with a half-dozen packets of cold medicine.

  “I didn’t know what that meant. It just seemed strange. He was acting so suspiciously. I asked Henry Yost later why he was so squirrelly. He wouldn’t tell me, but I found out from Connor. The college dorm was riddled with info about spotting meth makers.”

  But April was curious about the more recent time Mary Lou had seen her brother, the meeting she’d been keeping a secret. “The day he died, people saw you talking to him at the gas station,” April said.

  Mary Lou pulled off the road. April’s breath caught until Mary Lou had stopped the car safely on the shoulder. She buried her face in her arms crossed on the steering wheel. Her shoulders heaved, and April heard her sobbing. She reached over and touched her back but wasn’t sure Mary Lou even felt her hand. She left it there anyway.

  The tears subsided, and Mary Lou lifted her head. “I did. I saw him get out to pump gas. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was so furious. I didn’t let him say a word. I just yelled at him. My last words to him were so harsh.” Mary Lou wiped her eyes and pulled back onto the road.

  So she never saw her brother again? He never made it to her house after seeing Kit? It was so sad.

  “And now, Tina’s having my brother’s baby. That’s my family. That changes everything.”

  Mary Lou turned into the barn’s driveway. The motion detector lights came on, but the barn was dark. April’s car sat forlornly ahead of them.

  “No Campbells?” Mary Lou said, peering into the barn’s windows.

  Mary Lou had to be the only person who didn’t know she was alone tonight.

  “They’re off to his sister’s. They don’t drive at night, so they’ll stay over.”

  Mary Lou looked pointedly at April. She got the hint and opened the car door. “Good night.”

  April left Mary Lou’s car, wishing she had words to give to Mary Lou, but there was nothing to say.

  CHAPTER 18

  April held her phone, staring at the screen. She’d thought she’d heard the ping that meant a text from Mitch. Nothing. She scanned the barn. It felt empty despite the Campbells’ furniture taking up most of the floor space. She’d never thought she would miss Charlotte and Grizz, but the barn felt terribly empty.

  It was too early to go to bed, but crawling into her loft and staying there until morning was tempting. Her phone rang when she was halfway to the ladder. Not Mitch’s ring. She plopped down in Grizz’s recliner to answer.

  “Hey, darling.”

  “Mom? What are you doing up?” It was just past seven, which meant it was after midnight in Ireland.

  Bonnie laughed. “Just out to a pub.” She sounded happy. “I got your messages. I’m sorry. I couldn’t figure out the time difference. Clive tried to tell me.” She laughed. “You asked me about a microcassette tape player.”

  April had called her mother when she couldn’t find the right size player.

  “I just remembered where I put the one I had. Look in the top drawer of my dresser, way in the back. I think it’s in there. I once had a notion I’d write my family history, so I started taping memories.”

  That would be some document. April smiled. “That’s a lovely idea, Mom. I hope you do more.”

  “How are you?”

  She felt her mom’s true concern about her welfare and it pierced her like a pin going in a balloon. She felt herself deflate.

  “It’s been a rough night. Today was the Ice Festival. Mitch proposed in front of everyone . . .”

  Her face burned at the memory of Mitch down on one knee.

  “Mitch asked you to marry him?” April heard her mother repeat the news to Clive. Clive clapped his hands.

  “Hang on, hang on. I didn’t say yes.”

  “Why the heck not?” Bonnie shushed Clive, who was hooting and hollering. Of course he would find the scenario wonderfully romantic.

  April rubbed her cheek. What to tell her? “He didn’t really mean it. He just wants me to move in with him.”

  “What’s the problem with that?”

  “I’m not ready.”

  Her mother was silent. April knew she was picking her words carefully. “Are you sure?”

  “You of all people should understand,” April cried. Her mother had to be pushed into marrying Clive. Without the threat of his deportation, April wasn’t sure she ever would have. “Why would I want to get married? I just got divorced, for crying out loud.”

  Bonnie made a sound that sounded like a giggle. Must have been the connection.

  “Darling girl, listen to me. You know how I felt about marriage. Well, I’ve changed my mind. Marrying Clive was the best thing I’ve ever done.”

  April heard kissing noises. Her mother and her husband were demonstrative in their affection for each other. She felt a pang of something too close to jealousy to suit her. Being envious of her mother’s happiness was wrong.

  “But Mom, it was an awful scene. He sprung it on me, out of nowhere. Got down on one knee in front of everyone at the Ice Festival. Used the PA system so the whole place heard. Even had his friend, that TV reporter, there taking video.”

  “He did what? Oh Clive, we missed a good one.” Now Bonnie was laughing outright. Before she’d met Clive, April hadn’t heard her mother laugh like that in years. Maybe in forever. It was lovely to hear but not at her expense.

  “Mom, it was mortifying.”

  Her mother and Clive had obviously been drinking at the pub well past their usual limit. Bonnie snorted over the phone, a wet sound that made April pull the phone away.

  Their laughter was contagious. April heard herself let out a giggle. “He had changed the ice sculpture we were working on. Made it into a giant diamond ring.”

  Bonnie roared. “A ring?”

  “Huge. Taller than me.” April laughed at the incongruity of it.

  Her mother’s laugh turned to deeper, and she fought to catch her breath. “That’s a man worth keeping, April. Not too many guys would have the nerve to go through with that. In front of the whole town. Think how much he loves you.”

  April stopped. She hadn’t thought of anything but her own humiliation. The fact that Mitch went to all kinds of trouble to set the whole thing up had escaped her.

  Even though it was misguided, it was a phenomenal effort.

  “Have you talked to him?”

  Her mother knew her. Knew how she could dig in her heels when she was mad. “Call him. Let him apologize. Don’t let it go too long.”

  April agreed.

  “Have you been over to water my plants lately?”

  April was silent. She’d forgotten completely about her mother’s house plants all lined up in the bathtub. All she had to do was go over once a week and give th
em a drink. She hadn’t been to the house in ten days or more.

  “Go. Right now.”

  “Mom, it’s wicked cold.”

  Bonnie insisted. “If you wait for it to warm up, my plants will be dead. That pothos belonged to your grandmother . . .”

  April agreed and they hung up. As long as she was going to Bonnie’s, she’d look for the tape player, too. There’d be no sleeping tonight anyhow. Maybe the tape would tell her more about J.B. She found it and pocketed it, grabbing her heaviest coat and pulling her boots back on. She opened the sliding barn door. Bonnie’s house was only ten minutes away.

  But she was parked in. Mitch’s Jeep was pulled in behind her car. She felt her heartbeat stutter as he got out. He hesitated, then crossed the distance between them in several long strides. He stopped short of taking her in his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, leaning in so his forehead touched hers. “I’m a jerk.”

  She stopped, thrusting her hands deep into her jacket’s pockets, feeling the plastic case the cassette was in. She’d heard what her mother had said. She knew relationships weren’t easy, but they didn’t stand a chance unless there was communication.

  She turned away and opened the door. “Come in,” she said. She took off her coat and hung it on the pegs by the door. He stayed in his until she insisted he take it off. She heard her mother’s voice insisting Mitch was a keeper.

  April moved into the kitchen. She leaned against the counter. She’d have liked to busy herself with wiping down the counters or doing dishes, but Charlotte had left the place immaculate. Mitch propped himself on the table. His head hung low.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “That was a silly thing to do. I didn’t think it through, April . . .”

  She couldn’t stand to see him beating himself up so. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like this.”

  Mitch barked, “Like what? Like a horse’s ass? I’d say that was all my doing.”

  “It’s not about marrying you or not marrying you,” she said. “I just want to have my own place for a while. I’m happy with the way things are with us.”

  Mitch crossed the room and stood in front of her. His eyes were misty. “I love you.”