Shoe Strings

by Christy Hayes

  “Why don’t you leave him here? I’ll put him to work after awhile, bring him back after supper.” He’d be grateful for the company, especially since Jesse had ushered Lita out first thing this morning.

  “Oh, Cal, you spoil him.” She stuck her hands in her back pockets and considered his offer. “I need to talk to him about something, thought I’d splurge on breakfast at DJ’s as incentive. You know he’d rather be here than just about anywhere, except maybe with Jesse.”

  “Speaking of Jesse,” Cal began. “He and Lita took off this morning, bright and early. Any idea where they were headed?”

  “Oh, I’d forgotten. He’s taking her rafting, poor thing. She’s not looking forward to it.”

  Cal thought he heard something in her tone. “You think he’s pressuring her?”

  “Pressuring her?” Kerri Ann laughed. “Chasing after her is more like it.”

  He knew Jesse had been trying to get her into bed. “But do you think she wanted to go?”

  “She’s not here, is she?” Kerri Ann asked sarcastically. “She likes him, Lord knows why.” She seemed to remember she was talking to Jesse’s father and backtracked. “I mean no disrespect, Cal, you know that. Jesse’s come a long way. I’ve bashed him for so long it’s hard to change old habits.”

  “I’d say you were justified in bashing. He put y’all through hell.”

  “Water under the bridge, Cal.” Kerri Ann leaned against the banister and spoke softly even though she knew Ty was still asleep. “I think Lita likes your boy more than she’s willing to admit. And she’s no pushover, so he’ll have his hands full with that one.” To Cal’s amazement, she laughed again. “Lord, she’s made quite an impression on this town in a very short time.”

  He hadn’t thought about Lita leaving and realized he’d better get used the place being quiet, at least until spring hung around for good. “Sure you don’t want to let him sleep, come back for him later? Or I can run him over to the restaurant.”

  “I’m sure, but I appreciate the offer.” She twisted toward the door, but turned around before going in. “You okay, Cal? You don’t seem yourself this morning.”

  I’m lonely, he thought. Lonely and missing Ellie. “I’m fine, sweet girl,” he said instead. “Go and get your son.”

  Chapter 19

  Jesse hadn’t thought he could enjoy a float down one of the slowest, quietest stretches of river in western North Carolina. But he’d never envisioned floating down a calm stretch with a Brazilian-American beauty. In the span of an hour, he’d watched as Angelita slowly let go of her anxiety and reclined back against the ducky the way he imagined her sprawled on a float in a pool. He’d enjoyed every step of her transformation from tightly wound to completely relaxed.

  “Oh, Jesse,” she said. “Look at the cows! I never thought we’d see wildlife along the riverbank.”

  Wildlife? Was she making this up? “I hate to burst your bubble, sugar, but cows aren’t considered wildlife.”

  “They are where I’m from.”

  She’d taken the rag off her head and tied her hair in a careless ponytail. As the breeze picked up, springs of her dark curls bounced free to frame her stunning face. When Jesse was able to pull his eyes from her, he noticed storm clouds forming to their west. He couldn’t gauge how long it would take them to float to the take-out spot where Jerry and his friend had driven Jesse’s car and left it for them. He hoped, for Angelita’s sake, they got to the take-out spot before the storm got to them. He knew for sure Angelita’s relaxed mood wouldn’t survive a soaking.

  “It’s not uncommon to see deer along the banks and at the rate we’re headed we sure won’t miss them.”

  “Deer! They’re not dangerous, are they?”

  She was too good to be true. “Not unless a tick flies off their hide onto you. But we won’t get that close,” he added when she looked alarmed. He could have so much fun with her if he wanted to. Although, come to think of it… “You know, it’d be a good idea to check each other really well after we get back to make sure we don’t have any ticks. That spot where we stopped for lunch was pretty wooded.”

  “You think we’ve got ticks?”

  He deserved a medal for not laughing at the look of abject horror on her face. “It’s a possibility. We’d better check to be on the safe side.”

  She ripped her hair free of the ponytail and ran her hands frantically through her hair. He had to pretend to look through the dry bag for something to hide his chuckle. Once she’d scratched every inch of her scalp, she settled in and relaxed again. Ten minutes later, she was bored.

  “So,” she said. “Is this all there is to it?”

  “I told you to let me take you on a class two.”

  “No, I’m not complaining, but we’re not moving very fast. And those clouds over there are getting dark.” She pointed toward the sky behind Jesse. “And close.”

  He looked over his shoulder. Yep. They were going to get wet. “Here.” He handed her a paddle. “This’ll make it go faster.”

  “What do I do with this?”

  “You row.” Jesse gave her a demonstration with a few strokes. “See, it’s easy. But we won’t make any progress if we aren’t in sync, so try to get in a rhythm.”

  “Why can’t you row?”

  He sneered at her snotty attitude, although he could tell by the quirk of her lips she was goading him. “Because when you raft the Powollachee, you’re going to have to do some rowing. You may as well learn now.”

  “Who said I was rafting the Powollachee?”

  “You already admitted you’re bored with this. You deserve a little excitement in your life, Angelita, and I’m the one who’s going to give it to you.” In more ways than one, he thought. She did too, if the look she gave him were any indication. He was happy to row if that meant they got to the cabin sooner. “That’s good. Use your whole body to row, not just your arms.”

  Thirty seconds later, she stopped rowing and placed the paddle on her lap. “This is harder than it looks. No wonder you’re in such good shape.”

  A crack of thunder had her eyes popping out like saucers. “Jesse, how much farther?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t rafted over here since high school. We’ve been on the water for an hour and a half.” He shrugged, even though he knew for certain they weren’t anywhere close to being done. And they’d stopped for lunch. She wasn’t going to be happy. “It could be a least that much farther.”

  ***

  DJ’s Biscuit House had mostly cleared out from the Saturday rush. Kerri Ann and Ty snagged a corner booth and settled in for the best biscuits in town. She watched Ty eat his first biscuit in three bites and in less time than it took her to unfold the wrapper from the one she’d ordered. The kid had a hollow leg.

  “Slow down and taste it, Ty. You might enjoy it more.”

  His only reply was a full-mouthed smirk. He was hopeless. “You and your dad have a good time last night?” She knew she needed to go ahead and dive into the prepared talk she’d rehearsed in the car on the drive over. She found it hard to concentrate on anything after the kiss Bryce had given her as they parted this morning.

  He nodded and swallowed, washed it down with a slug of Coke. “We fished for awhile and watched a ballgame. And I started on my homework.”

  “Did you? Well, that’s something new.”

  “How was your date with Bryce?” He sat grinning at her while she fumbled with how to answer.

  “It was fine, just fine. Thank you for asking.” Her mouth was suddenly so dry she could barely swallow. After a sip of tea and a big breath, she attempted to explain. “How do you feel about me and Bryce…dating?”

  Ty shrugged, clearly more interested in his biscuit than his mother’s love life.

  “Because I think we’re doing that now. Dating, I mean.”

  “Okay.” He took another colossal bite.

  She watched him chew and chew and chew before swallowing and taking another bite. That couldn’t be all
he had to say about the matter. “I didn’t know how you’d feel about me dating since I haven’t done a whole lot of it since your dad and I split up.”

  “I’m fine with it, Mom. Bryce’s great.”

  Bryce is great, she thought, but this conversation wasn’t going at all how she’d planned. It couldn’t be this simple. “A lot of kids have a hard time watching their parents move on and start to date other people after a divorce, no matter how long it’s been. Most kids hold out hope their parents will get back together and they’ll all live happily ever after.”

  “Mom, I know you and Dad aren’t getting back together.” He slurped his drink and she could see the mound of food travel down his throat. “I’ve known that for a long time.”

  “Well, I…that’s very mature of you. I’ve always wondered how you felt about us not being together like a family.”

  “We are a family.” He reached for a napkin from the dispenser on the table. “I remember the way you two would fight when Dad lived with us. It’s better this way.”

  “You remember…?” She felt the familiar pang of guilt. She’d hoped he’d forgotten the anger and harsh words they’d uttered to each other on a regular basis. “I’m sorry for that, Ty. Those couldn’t have been pleasant times for you.”

  “I don’t blame you, Mom. You or Dad. It didn’t work out.” He shrugged. “I get that.”

  As the conversation headed toward boggy ground, Kerri Ann decided to swallow her pride and set him straight before he had a string of marriages behind him. “Ty, I think you need to understand a few things. Your dad and I were very young when we got married…too young.”

  He polished off his second biscuit and slurped the remains of his Coke until it was gone. “I know you got married because of me. You don’t have to explain.”

  “I think I do. Ty, when you fall in love and get married, I want you to understand it’s forever.” She held up her hand when he took a breath to respond. “I know your dad and I aren’t married anymore and that seems to void this whole conversation, but it doesn’t. We got married because we were stupid. We were too young to be having sex, especially unprotected sex. I hope you understand how dangerous that can be--and for more reasons than just pregnancy.”

  “I do, Mom.” He’d slouched down into the seat and his eyes darted around the restaurant, making sure no one overheard their conversation. “You don’t need to lecture me about this.”

  “Ty, I loved your father when we had you. I still love your father, but more like a friend. We weren’t supposed to be together and if I hadn’t gotten pregnant and we’d had the time to figure things out, we would have seen that. Neither of us would change what happened, not for a second, but I don’t want you to think you can marry and divorce like it’s no big deal. It’s a very big deal.”

  “Mom.” Ty leaned his head toward her and whispered, “Dad’s already explained about the divorce and everything. He said it was his fault you two split up and he threatened to kill me if I even thought of having sex without using a condom.”

  “He said it was his fault?” She couldn’t believe her ears. Since when did Jesse beat her to the punch on the hard issues with Ty?

  “Yeah. He said he was too selfish and immature to deal with a marriage. He said he left because he couldn’t handle things anymore, not because of anything you did.”

  Well, she ought to look in the sky for flying pigs because she never saw this coming. “Oh, well…” She sipped her tea. “What were we talking about?”

  Ty rolled his eyes. “You and Bryce are dating…sound familiar?”

  “Oh, yeah, right. He’ll be spending a lot more time with us, around the house at night and stuff.”

  “No problem, Mom. He’s always been around.”

  “It’ll be different.”

  “I know, I know. You’ll kiss and hold hands and stuff.” He rolled his eyes again. “I’ll just look away.”

  Kerri Ann felt tears threaten. Her little boy was growing up right before her eyes. She’d never loved him more. “I love you, Ty.”

  He gave her a killer smile as he eased his big body from the booth and stretched. “Enough to take me to Asheville and buy me a new PS3 game?”

  “Don’t push it.” But she’d have bought him the moon if she could.

  Chapter 20

  Lita ran for the Scout and didn’t give a hoot about Jesse, out in the rain, lugging the raft and their gear to shore all by himself. When she realized he’d left the doors off, she cursed him again and ran for the pavilion another fifty yards from where she stood fuming.

  The sky had opened up, literally opened up like a dam, and poured not only rain, but hail down on them for a solid hour. The drizzle that fell from the sky now felt like mist compared to the drenching they’d rafted through. Jesse had the nerve to hoot and holler in joy as the river rose and he steered them through the quickening waters. The man had proved himself insane. The only good news was that their increased pace got them to the car faster. The car with no windows or doors, where the clothes she’d taken off earlier sat puddled in the backseat.

  It didn’t take long for Jesse to drag everything to the Scout and saunter toward her like a man with absolutely no reason to hurry.

  “Did you see your car?” she sputtered before he’d made it to the pavilion. “It’s soaked, just like we are. We’re going to freeze on the drive home.”

  Jesse shook the rain from his hair and grinned at her. With his dripping hair and glistening chest, she almost forgot to be angry. “Good thing we’re not headed home.”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  He looked at his watch. “It’s after five. It takes three hours to get home. Plus, as you pointed out, my car’s soaked.” He pulled a small towel out of a bag and handed it to her. Miraculously, it was dry. “I’ve made arrangements for us to stay overnight in a cabin not too far from here. We’ll head home in the morning.”

  The idea of a warm cabin and hot shower almost had her skimming his explanation. “When did you arrange this?”

  “It’s dark and you’re freezing, Angelita. I can see your teeth chattering. Let’s go warm up and we’ll get some dinner.” He tried to lead her to the car and she pulled her arm free.

  “I asked you a question. We’ve been on the river all afternoon and I’ve been with you since seven this morning.” She shook her head at him and wondered at the depths of his manipulations. Even though she’d never admit she was thrilled to hear they didn’t have to drive home sopping wet, she couldn’t believe he’d done all this before they’d even left. “You set this up from the beginning.”

  Jesse ducked his head, looked up at her with a rueful shrug. She wasn’t fooled for a second. “I figured it’d be late when we got off the river and didn’t think you’d feel comfortable driving back in the dark. But if you’d rather head home now, I’ll towel off the seats and we can get going.”

  “Uuuurrrrrr, you’re infuriating. Why didn’t you just tell me what you’d planned? Were you so sure I’d say no?”

  “Would you have said yes?”

  “We’ll never know now, will we?” She marched to the car and got in. She buckled her seatbelt and folded her arms across her chest like a spoiled child. She didn’t care how she looked; she was freezing and irritated. “I’m showering first,” she declared. “And there’d better be hot water.”

  ***