Cold Tea on a Hot Day

by Matlock, Curtiss Ann

  Vella had not realized that she had fallen into a thoughtful state, which Marilee had read as pensive. “Oh, honey, how very thoughtful of you.” She supposed she had been pensive, thinking of living alone. “But I won’t need to go live with you and Parker. I’m going back home.”

  Marilee looked startled. Then she smiled broadly. “Oh, Aunt Vella, I’m so glad. I know you’ve been disappointed in Uncle Perry, but you two can work this out. You should be together.”

  “Well, I don’t know about shoulds,” Vella said, touched by her niece’s emotion and sorry to disappoint, “but I know what I had to do. I went to see Jaydee Mayhall and started separation proceedings. I’ve moved Perry out of the house, so that I can move back in.”

  Marilee, in a stunned state, followed her aunt into the kitchen, where Aunt Vella began opening cabinet doors and asked, “Do you have anything planned for supper for the children?”

  When Marilee said she did not, Aunt Vella suggested macaroni and cheese. “I can eat with the children before I go to the Rose Club meeting, and then all Jenny has to do is get them bathed. I’ll be moving back home tonight, too.”

  “I’m going to bathe them before I go.” Marilee was following her aunt around the kitchen. “Have you really thrown Uncle Perry out? How can you do that?”

  Vella said, yes, she had thrown Perry out, and it had been easy. “I just packed him two suitcases. He really doesn’t have much. He can get all his televisions whenever he wants.”

  “How can you throw away forty-five years of marriage? Aren’t they worth anything?” Marilee wanted to know.

  To which Aunt Vella replied, “Yes, they are worth a lot, and I’m not throwing them away. I am honoring those years. They have made me the woman I am…a woman who isn’t so stupid that she wants to spend her remaining, relatively few, years being tied to an unfeeling dolt. Here, grate this cheese.”

  Marilee grated cheese and chopped up carrot and celery sticks, all the while saying in ten different ways: “Are you sure, Aunt Vella? Are you really sure? Do you not care at all for Uncle Perry anymore?”

  Vella replied, “Yes, I do care for Perry. I wish him well. I want him to be happy. But the first person I love is myself. God gave me a life, and it is my responsibility to honor and live this life. My husband no longer takes part in our marriage. He doesn’t even see me, so I see no reason to hang around and be ignored. I cannot live with that level of indifference.

  “I also love my house,” she added. “I picked it out, I decorated, I’ve kept it all these years, and I see no reason to give it up just because I’ve given up my marriage.”

  All of her aunt’s confident explanations dried up Marilee’s questions. A heavy sadness at the situation and at life in general settled over her. It appeared in that moment that life was a most uncertain and lonely business.

  When Marilee gave voice to this depressing sentiment, Aunt Vella said, “Of course it is. Those who think differently are fooling themselves with unreasonable expectations. There are no hard and fast answers anywhere, except to keep moving on and trusting God to guide, trusting Him be there with you, as well, through both wise and foolish actions.”

  Marilee could not seem to grasp this concept. Foolishness seemed too risky to trust even to God. When she stated this opinion, Aunt Vella said, “Why, honey, foolishness is the human condition and exactly what God handles best.”

  The IGA was a major place of running into neighbors and holding conversations. Tate wasn’t much in the mood for holding conversations, but he didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter.

  Minnie Oakes came up to him in the produce aisle and told him in no uncertain terms that she would not at all appreciate walking through Wal-Mart and coming upon a bunch of caskets. “If they did stock them, I’d expect a separate room, with the door closed. That’s my opinion, for the paper.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Thank you, Miss Minnie.”

  Tate noted her comments on an index card. She gave a quick nod and went off toward the bread, her tiny back ramrod straight. He turned to choosing bananas and some very aromatic nectarines, laid the bags gently in his cart and pushed on to the meat section. He hated grocery shopping.

  The store was having a beef sale, and Norm Stidham had a cart full of steaks and rump roasts. “Got a passel of grandkids comin’ in this weekend,” Norm explained, then gave the long list of names. “Oh, and I been meanin’ to give you my opinion on this casket monopoly, Editor. I think maybe we ought to have a tax and all funerals paid for by the government. Just my opinion. Do you know how to spell my name?”

  Over in the condiments aisle Tate ran into the mayor’s wife, Kaye Upchurch, who asked his choice for the appetizer for Saturday night’s dinner party: cold artichokes or green bean vinaigrette.

  “Green bean vinaigrette,” he said.

  “Oh, really? I was leaning toward the artichokes.”

  “Then artichokes are wonderful.” He did not know how he would stand several hours of this woman’s demanding company, on top of his disappointment over Marilee not being with him.

  “Oh, and, Tate, please don’t bring up the subject of coffins at the party.”

  “No, ma’am, I won’t.”

  “And if anyone else brings it up, change the subject.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” His mother had taught him well.

  She gave him a quick nod and went on her way. With a deep breath, he lifted a bottle of ketchup off the shelf, then headed on around to the next aisle. As he went around the corner, he almost bumped right into an oncoming cart. It was Leanne Overton, and the first time he had seen her in other than her jogging clothes. She wore a crisp white shirt and turquoise jeans that hugged her slim shape in about the same manner as her spandex pants.

  “Excuse me,” he said. “They need traffic lights in here.”

  “Yes…” She smiled and headed on.

  For an instant Tate thought of engaging her in further conversation. Perhaps he should open himself to other women, since he had given up on Marilee James.

  He had no heart for the idea, though, and pushed on to the end of the aisle and the tea section, where he stood gazing at the array of colorful boxes of herb tea. His low mood might profit from his cutting his caffeine intake.

  “Marilee is still havin’ his party. Juice said that no one has canceled the order for steaks.”

  Tate’s ears immediately pricked.

  “Maybe Leanne had an emergency with one of her horses,” said another voice. “Her horses have had problems lately.”

  The vaguely familiar voices were coming from around the corner of the aisle, from women hidden from Tate’s view by the bulging end shelves of Little Debbie snack cakes and cookies.

  “I imagine they have,” said the first voice in a knowing fashion. “But what kind of emergency could it have been that she was comin’ out of Parker’s driveway at four o’clock in the mornin’?”

  Whoa, buddy. Tate became very still.

  The voice continued, “I had brought Juice to work, since his Jeep was in the shop, and I was goin’ home to get some sleep before I had to get to the post office. Tuesday’s my late mornin’. I should get a whole day off, but since Alice has been down in her back, I can’t get that.”

  It was Julia Jenkins-Tinsley, postmistress and Juice’s wife, speaking. She came pushing her cart around the corner and down the aisle, followed by a rather plump woman who Tate recognized although could not name.

  After a quick glance, he focused hard on the teas, more or less trying to blend in.

  “Well, I’ve seen ’em joggin’ together in the mornin’s. They come along about the time Everett raises his flag.” Ah—he placed the woman now—Doris Everett. “They don’t come together…they’ve been meeting up there where the path comes out in the field the other side of Blaines’. Sometimes Leanne rides her bike…and all the way in from MacCoys’, too. That’s maybe five miles. Usually when she comes back she stops at Winston’s, and Charlene’ll get her and take her back, or I
guess she goes down to the beauty shop and has Charlene get her from there.”

  Tate, still focusing on the array of tea, saw in his mind’s eye Lindsey and the shapely Miss Overton jogging along together.

  “She come out of his driveway without her headlights on,” the postmistress said. “Maybe she thought she couldn’t be seen, but there’s that pole lamp right there at the edge of the parking lot for the vet clinic. I mean, really, plain as day. Oh, shoot, I got to go on back and get biscuits. Mama’s comin’ to supper this Sunday, and she just loves those Grands biscuits.”

  Tate was again in the aisle alone. He snatched a box of Lipton loose-leaf black-and-orange pekoe and dropped it into his cart. He liked Grands biscuits, too, but he kept himself from continuing to eavesdrop on a conversation he could not truly qualify as having journalistic merit.

  What was he going to do about this thing?

  He hardly knew when he had made it to his kitchen, he was stewing so hard over the situation.

  Tuesday morning, the morning Lindsey had not shown up jogging, Leanne Overton had been coming out of Parker Lindsey’s driveway.

  He set his grocery bags on the counter and put the kettle of water on the stove over the flame.

  Leanne Overton had not shown up that morning, either.

  Of course, the two had been jogging together a lot, but not every morning. Leanne Overton generally did three mornings a week, while the Doc did all five…until that Tuesday.

  He had seen Leanne Overton’s truck heading in the direction of the veterinary clinic last night. She could have been going anywhere, though. He had no way of knowing the truth. What he had heard at the grocery store was idle gossip, not fact.

  Yet Julia Jenkins-Tinsley had been speaking of a firsthand sighting.

  I am committed to my relationship with Parker.

  There was no way he could go to her and tell her about this, he thought, spooning tea leaves into the china pot without even counting. It dawned on him that he had about five spoonfuls in the pot, and he had to empty it out and start over.

  It wasn’t his business. Except that he cared for her. Somehow her welfare did seem his business. Heat swept over him as he thought about Lindsey messing around on her.

  Then it came to him: she had said that about her commitment to Lindsey yesterday evening. He had not spoken to her today at all. Maybe she and Parker had broken up since then.

  He got rather excited about the idea for a couple of seconds. But he hadn’t heard anything about it, and surely he would have heard if they had broken up. People would have been talking about it already.

  Still, it was possible it had happened late in the day, and he might not have heard. He didn’t hear every single thing that went on.

  If Lindsey expected to keep his liaison secret, he was the biggest kind of fool.

  He had to find out about this thing. That was all, just find out where Marilee stood.

  Quickly, he fixed up a pitcher of tea with lemon and sugar, and ice cubes clinking around, and went across the backyard into the deepening evening shadows of the trees and through the gate.

  Marilee opened the door for him. Her eyes popped wide, as if she were surprised. “Oh, hello. Come in.”

  Tate himself was pretty surprised. Marilee was dressed in a black slinky dinner dress, a silver bracelet on her wrist, a silver earring in one ear, and she was trying to get the other earring in the other ear.

  He gave a whistle. “Goin’ somewhere?”

  “Yes.” Her cheeks turned pink, and her gaze flitted away. “Parker and I are going out.” She strode into the kitchen. “I’m sorry I don’t have time to chat.”

  He followed, going to the refrigerator and shoving the pitcher of tea inside, which was the only thing he could think of to do at the moment.

  “You don’t have to keep bringing me iced tea. I’m sure you’ve repaid me a number of times over.”

  “Don’t you like it?” he demanded, feeling suddenly quite annoyed.

  “Oh, yes. I do, very much, it’s just that I don’t want you to feel obligated.”

  “I don’t do things out of obligation.” He realized his anger was out of all proportion.

  “Here…let me help you with that.” He motioned toward her earring, which she still had not gotten into her ear.

  “That’s okay…I’ll go to the mirror.”

  “Just let me have it.” He fairly snatched the earring out of her hand.

  Her eyes met his, and then she leaned her head over and pulled back her hair. He focused on the pierced hole in her lobe. Her flesh was warm to his fingers.

  She said, “Aunt Vella has moved back home.”

  He saw her blink rapidly. He couldn’t see well enough to get the wire through the hole. “Let’s move over to the light.” He fairly dragged her by the ear. “So Vella and Perry are gettin’ back together?”

  “No…Aunt Vella threw Uncle Perry out.”

  “Well, dogged.” He got the wire through the hole and let go of her ear. “It will be all right with Vella and Perry. Things do work out.”

  She gazed at him. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

  They stood there gazing at each other. He wanted to haul her against him and kiss her senseless. Kiss her and show her what she needed.

  The sound of the front door opening broke their gaze. Marilee stepped around him and away into the living room. He heard her voice welcoming Lindsey.

  Tate stepped into the doorway to the living room, and at that same moment the telephone rang, drawing Marilee away from Lindsey’s embrace.

  Tate looked full into Linsey’s face. The veterinarian frowned at him.

  “So you and Marilee are goin’ out to dinner,” Tate said, coming forward.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s nice.” Should he bring up what he had heard?

  “Yes, it is. What are you doin’ here?”

  “I brought some iced tea. Marilee likes my iced tea.” He wanted to knock the guy’s teeth down his throat.

  Something in Marilee’s voice had them both looking over at her.

  “Yes…thank you for calling, Ruth. I hope Jenny gets feeling better very quickly.”

  She replaced the receiver. “Jenny’s sick with the stomach flu. Just started throwing up twenty minutes ago. She can’t come baby-sit.”

  She sighed, and Lindsey said, “Oh, great,” in thorough disgust.

  “What about Vella?” Lindsey wanted to know.

  “She’s already gone to get Winston. It’s her Rose Club night.” Then she added, “And she’s moved her things back home. I don’t want to disturb her.”

  Lindsey made an irritated sound this time.

  “We can stay by ourselves,” Corrine said. She had come silently, as always, to the hallway and stood there looking small but brave. “I can look after Willie Lee.”

  “Oh, honey, I know you can look after you and Willie Lee, but I wouldn’t want you here by yourself.” Marilee went to Corrine and pressed the small girl against her legs.

  “You can give her my mobile number, Marilee. She could get us if she needed us.”

  “No.”

  Lindsey was a fool to think she would go for that. Not Marilee, who did not care to let the children out of her sight. “I’ll stay with the kids.” Tate spoke before he even knew he was going to. Was he nuts? Why should he help Lindsey?

  Marilee and Lindsey looked at Tate. Marilee’s eyes were wide, Lindsey’s searching.

  “I think I qualify as an adult. I’ll stay with them. What do ya’ say, missy? You and me can handle it, okay?”

  Corrine grinned at him, tentatively, and then her grin widened as Marilee looked down at her. She nodded at Marilee.

  “Well, I guess that would work.” Marilee spoke slowly, still uncertain. “If you’re sure you wouldn’t mind? You don’t have plans?”

  Her eyes, smoky and beautiful, were on Tate.

  “No, I don’t have plans. You two go on with yours.” He did what he felt was required of him.<
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  She had to make certain with Willie Lee, before agreeing to the plan. For two minutes Tate stood five feet away from Lindsey.

  “You’ve been a busy man lately, I hear,” Tate said.

  “Yeah…a little bit.”

  No time to go further with it, because Marilee came back and got her purse, at the same time thanking him all over the place. She kissed the children good-night, and walked out the door on Lindsey’s guiding hand, and Tate kept all of his words inside himself. He had made a pledge to God to let go.

  Marilee and Lindsey returned three hours later. She had an engagement ring on her finger. Tate congratulated the couple and kissed the bride-to-be on the lips, but quickly.

  He did not leave, but stood there while Marilee went to the bedroom to check her children, who were now asleep.

  The instant she was out of the room, he said in a low voice, “I trust that this engagement means you have cut off your fling with Leanne Overton.”

  Lindsey about jumped out of his skin. “What do you mean?” he said in an equally low voice.

  “You have a small problem in that Leanne was seen driving away from your house at four o’clock in the morning.” He let that sit there while Lindsey stared at him about like a deer caught in headlights. “Marilee is bound to hear about it sooner or later, so I would suggest you be the one to tell her.”

  “There isn’t anything between me and Leanne.”

  “Tell Marilee, don’t tell me.”

  Marilee came back into the room. “Thank you, Tate, for watching them.”

  She was relaxed now, and pleased, and this pleased him. “It was my pleasure. I got to be a kid again for a while.”

  He would have kissed her again, but something held him back, some unnamed, fearful caution.

  Then he shook Lindsey’s hand, squeezing it as hard as possible.

  It was not his place to tell people how to live their lives. Each one had to find his own way. He hated that. He was reminded how Lucille used to tell him that he liked to think he knew everything, that he thought he was God. He had learned a thing or two since then, one major lesson being that people did not like tale bearers. Marilee would not thank him for telling her the truth about this man she had decided to marry.