Saturdays at Sweeney's

by Ashley Farley

  The closer they got to Jackie’s house, the better the view they had of her driveway. And there was no sign of her SUV.

  “She’s not here,” Sean said, raking his fingers through his copper hair. “Where could she have gone? Maybe she went back to Prospect, thinking I will ride with you.”

  “She doesn’t know you’re with me,” Jamie said with a sense of dread. He explained the sequence of events with the texts he’d received from Jackie and his phone call with Sam.

  “Great! She’s gotta be freaking out. She has no idea where I am. I need to call my dad. Maybe he knows where she is.” He held out his hand. “Can I use your phone?”

  Sean was punching in his father’s number when a figure emerged from the mist. The shape and size of the woman’s body resembled Jackie’s, but the way she carried herself was off somehow. Was she limping?

  Sean looked up from his phone and caught sight of her. “Mom!” He shoved the phone at Jamie and hurried to her side.

  “Thank God you’re okay,” Jackie said as she threw herself at her son. “I’ve been out of my mind with worry.”

  Sean patted his mother’s back as one might a small child’s, oblivious to the mascara being smeared all over his white work shirt. “What happened to your foot?”

  “I stepped on a piece of glass. It’s a long story. When I found the drugs in your backpack I thought maybe—”

  “What drugs?” Sean pushed his mother away so he could see her face. “What’re you talking about?”

  “I say drugs, but it was only one pill. I assumed there were more, and that you’d taken them. I found this in your backpack.” She removed a small plastic bag from her pocket and held it out to him.

  Jamie had seen his share of drugs at Carolina, enough to know it was Xanax.

  “That’s not mine.” Sean stared at the bag as though it might bite him. “I have no idea where that came from.”

  “Yes, you do,” Jamie said in a nonaccusatory tone. “Remember your friend who gave you a ride home from the library? He mentioned leaving a present in your backpack.”

  Sean’s blue eyes grew wide. “That’s right! That asshole! I swear, Mom, I didn’t know he put that in my backpack. I haven’t had anything to drink nor have I done drugs since Memorial Day.”

  Jackie squinted as she studied him. Jamie could tell she wanted to believe him, but part of her remained skeptical.

  “He was with me tonight, Aunt Jackie. Working for Heidi. Two servers called in sick with food poisoning at the last minute.” He walked her through the evening’s events, including the part about Sean’s phone being dead and the stress of moving the party indoors. “We screwed up by not calling you.”

  Jackie’s shoulders slumped as the tension left her body. “It’s not your responsibility to call me, Jamie. It’s Sean’s.” She looked over at her son. “You have no idea how much you scared me tonight.”

  “But I do,” Jamie said. “I’ve been through this before with my mom. You naturally assume the worst when someone you love has an addiction. And that’s not a good feeling. Aunt Jackie, you can’t give up on Sean, and Sean, you have to work harder to earn back your mother’s trust. You can start by keeping your phone charged.”

  They shared a laugh. Jackie smacked Sean’s arm with the back of her hand. “Don’t do that to me again. I’m old. I can’t handle the stress.”

  “I’m sorry for worrying you, Mom. I promised to do a better job of staying in touch.”

  Jamie checked his phone for the time. “It’s almost ten o’clock. We need to get going. Aunt Jackie, where’s your car?”

  “I ran out of gas over near Colonial Lake.”

  Jamie’s mind raced as he sorted out the logistics. “Sean, take your mom inside the house and bandage her foot. In the meantime I’ll go get my truck from the Hornes’. They have a gas can we can use.”

  He started off at a jog down the street. When he heard a squeal, he looked over his shoulder in time to see Sean lift Jackie off her bare feet and fling her over his shoulder like a sack of flour. He shook his head and smiled to himself. They had their problems, like everyone else in the Sweeney family, but their love for each other would see them through.

  THIRTY-THREE

  Sam

  Sam could count on one hand the times she and her sisters had agreed on something important with little deliberation. And the planning of this day had been one of them. Lovie would have a traditional funeral as was befitting of a classic southern lady.

  Her grandsons and sons-in-law served as pallbearers. They carried her mahogany coffin, adorned with a spray of hydrangeas and roses cut from Jackie’s garden, down the center aisle of the First Methodist Church. Every pew was filled, with standing room only in the vestibule. Folks had come from across the state to pay tribute to the woman who, for decades, had supplied them with fresh seafood and offered tips on how to prepare it. Lovie meant more to them than that, though. She was a friend they’d visited with every Saturday during the summer. And now they had come to say goodbye.

  The service was uplifting. No one was there to mourn. They had gathered to celebrate the life of a very special lady. Lovie would not want anyone to be sad about her passing. She would want her family and friends to pause for a brief moment to reflect on the past, to count their many blessings, and to look forward to the future.

  Each of the three sisters gave a eulogy. Faith greeted everyone with a few remarks. Sam provided the history of Captain Sweeney’s Seafood Market, outlining Lovie’s accomplishments during her decades as proprietor and sharing anecdotes from daily life at the market. And Jackie concluded the lineup, delivering with eloquence comments both heartfelt and witty. For the first time ever, she had worn flats to a social function. “These are the only shoes I own that I can cram this big bandage into,” she said of her pewter Tory Burch ballet flats. The gash in her foot had required eight stitches, which Mike had sewn himself when she arrived at the hospital on Tuesday night.

  The entire family, including Cooper, had made it home in time to say goodbye to Lovie. She never opened her eyes again, but had been surrounded by all her loved ones when she drew her last breath.

  Saturday was the obvious first choice for the funeral, but the church was already booked for a wedding. Friday afternoon proved to be a splendid second best as most folks took off work early for the weekend to attend.

  Jamie and Sean were planning their own special tribute to their grandmother. Starting at dawn on Thursday morning, aside from a few hours for sleep, they’d worked nonstop until it was time to shower and dress for the funeral. They’d tripled the size of their usual haul, bringing in so many crabs, Sam feared for the inlet’s crab population. Steamed and spiced and packaged by the dozen, the crabs were stored in the cooler at the marina awaiting tomorrow morning, when Jamie and Sean would give them away, while supplies lasted, to locals and vacationers on their way to the beach. Sean and Jamie didn’t fret over the loss of income. They viewed it as a gesture of goodwill, in honor of their beloved grandmother, to all the customers who’d remained loyal to the Sweeney family over the years.

  After the service everyone gathered in the small cemetery adjacent to the church, where Lovie would later be laid to rest beside Oscar. Reverend Webster read a few Bible verses and said a prayer before extending an invitation to those gathered to join the family for a reception afterward. Police officers on motorcycles led the caravan of cars out to Moss Creek Farm, where a crew of workers valet-parked them.

  The picture-perfect weather boosted the spirits of all in attendance. The temperature was cooler than usual for the Lowcountry this time of year, with highs in the mideighties and low humidity. Fluffy white clouds dotted the periwinkle sky, and a gentle breeze rustled the moss in the oak trees.

  With only two days to prepare, Heidi had pulled together a reception fit for a royal wedding. They offered a few choices for the landlubbers, but the focus of the cuisine was seafood. Sam made a point of tasting every item, and her seasoned palate confi
rmed she’d made the right decision in going into business with Tasty Provisions.

  Strangers and friends waited in line to speak to the sisters, to express their condolences and tell funny stories about their mother.

  Sam held her breath when Donna Bennett appeared in front of her. “I never much cared for you, Samantha, but I always had the utmost respect for your mother.”

  Sam laughed out loud. “One thing about you, Donna—I always know where I stand with you.” Her lips grew thin. “Seriously, though, I owe you an apology. I should never have accused you of setting the fire.”

  Donna nodded her acceptance of Sam’s apology. “And I owe you an apology as well. We should have validated our source before we printed the recipes.”

  Sam waved a hand at their surroundings. “This seems like as good a time as any to bury the hatchet. What say, Donna, should we try to be friends?”

  A moment of silence filled the air between them as they considered Sam’s suggestion. Finally they looked at each other, shook their heads in unison, and laughed.

  “Why ruin a good thing?” Sam asked.

  “Exactly,” Donna added. “I like our relationship just fine the way it is.”

  Sam realized that she too liked their relationship as it was.

  Moses was next in line. He had tears in his eyes when he told her how much he’d thought of Lovie. “She was one of a kind. A true lady with a rare grace and beauty.”

  He kissed Sam’s cheek and moved on to speak to Jackie. Sam couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.

  “Watching Sean suffer with his addiction has opened my eyes to my own Xanax usage,” Jackie said. “Of course, mine is prescribed and monitored by my doctor, but I’d like to learn some techniques for coping with anxiety without medication. Is that crazy, Big Mo? Am I too old to change?”

  “Not at all. Don’t ever give up the fight, Jackie. When you stop trying to better yourself is when you grow old.”

  Sam spotted Sean in the crowd—standing beside Cooper but at arm’s length, no longer in his twin’s shadow. Cooper’s attention was on Annie, who stared up at him with as much adoration as he bestowed upon her. Annie had gone to New York ready to set the world on fire, but she’d returned immediately after finishing culinary school when she realized how much she loved the South. With any luck Cooper would have the same realization and move back to the Lowcountry, if not to Prospect then to Charleston.

  Sam saw Lizbet heading her way and smiled at the pretty young woman as she approached. “Mrs. Marshall, can I get you a glass of sweet tea or lemonade?”

  “I’m fine, but thank you,” Sam said. “I’ll tell you what you can do for me, though.”

  Lizbet’s face lit up, she was so eager to please. “Name it!”

  “I’d really like it if you’d call me Sam.”

  Sam was looking forward to getting to know Lizbet better. She was hardworking, with a good head on her shoulders. She and Jamie had so much in common. One only had to look at them together to see the chemistry between them. Love was in the air for two of the Sweeney boys, and she suspected Sean would soon find someone special as well. He was getting his life back on track. Sam prayed he’d learned enough from his mistakes to prevent him from making the same ones again.

  As the crowd began to dwindle, Faith cornered Sam on the terrace. “I’ve decided what I want to be when I grow up.”

  “Hmm, let me guess,” Sam said, pressing a finger to her lips. “You’re going to open a home for abused women.”

  Faith’s jaw dropped to the bluestone. “How’d you know? Did Mike tell you?”

  Sam chucked her sister’s chin. “No one told me. You forget, baby sister, that I know you. Sometimes better than you know yourself. It’s the obvious choice for you, but you needed closure from your relationship with Curtis in order to move forward with it.”

  A small group of close friends, old and young, lingered until almost dinnertime. Thanks to Heidi, they had enough leftovers to feed the family all weekend. The sisters stood in the driveway, waving goodbye to Heidi in her Tasty Provisions van.

  With the exception of the sisters, everyone who remained at the farm—the cousins, their dads and stepdads, Lizbet and Annie—changed into bathing suits and headed down to the dock to swim.

  “Wait here! I’ll be right back,” Jackie said and disappeared inside.

  She returned five minutes later with a blanket tucked under her left arm and two wine bottles under her right, her fingers gripping three crystal champagne flutes.

  “Now you’re talking!” Faith grabbed the blanket and spread it out on the ground on the hill.

  Jackie handed each of them a glass and popped the cork on both bottles—prosecco for Jackie and Faith and a nonalcoholic sparkling wine for Sam.

  They stretched out on the blanket and sipped their bubbly in silence while they reflected on the day.

  “I can’t believe she’s gone,” Faith said finally. “The world is a smidgen less bright without her presence.”

  “She set a shining example for sure,” Sam said. “She lived clean, worked hard, and recognized the best in every one of us.”

  “Even when that best was buried beneath layers of ugliness,” Jackie added.

  “We’ll miss her like crazy, but her legacy will live on,” Sam said.

  Jackie rolled onto her side to face Sam. “It’s easy for you to say, Sammie. You have the market. Every time one of your customers walks through your front door, they will think of Lovie.”

  “That’s true enough, but the real legacy is them.” All eyes traveled to the water, where the boy cousins were gathered around their girl cousin, who was currently holding position as queen of the inner tube. “Every time you look in the twins’ eyes, you see Daddy. And Bitsy is destined to look more like Mom than any of us ever did. And Jamie? Well, he doesn’t really look like either one of them,” Sam said of her son, who was the spitting image of his father.

  “Maybe not,” Faith said. “But he has Mama’s generous spirit and iron will.”

  “Just think.” Jackie rolled onto her back and stared up at the darkening sky. “Mom and Dad, Oscar and Lovie, are together forever now. What do you think they’re doing?”

  “Watching us and smiling,” Faith said. “They can rest in peace knowing that no matter what happens to us we’ll always be here for one another.”

  <<<<>>>>

  A Note to Readers

  So many lives are affected in some way by Alzheimer’s disease. Our husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. This cruel and debilitating disease strips our loved ones of their memories and their dignities. I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to my good friend Alison Fauls for sharing her personal experiences with me as I wrote the final drafts of the novel.

  Most of us reach the stage in our lives when we are forced to cope with aging parents. We make grave sacrifices to tend to our loved ones. Oftentimes, those sacrifices continue for years. I admire you for your courage, strength, and perseverance. Remember to be kind to yourself. Take time out to reset. Take a long walk, have coffee with a friend, or cook a healthy dinner for your family. Most of all, keep reading. Nothing provides escape from our problems like women’s fiction.

  Acknowledgments

  I’m grateful to the many people who helped make this novel possible. First and foremost, to my editor, Patricia Peters, for her patience and advice and for making my work stronger without changing my voice. To my literary agent, Andrea Hurst, for her guidance and expertise in the publishing industry and for believing in my work. To my faithful readers for their love of the Sweeney sisters and for encouraging me to write another installment in the series. And to Damon Freeman and his crew at Damonza.com for their creativity in designing this stunning cover.

  I am blessed to have many supportive people in my life, my friends and family, who offer the encouragement I need to continue the pursuit of my writing career. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my advanced review team for their enthu
siasm of and commitment to my work, and to my family and friends for their continued support and encouragement.

  I love hearing from you. Feel free to shoot me an email at ashleyhfarley@gmail.com or stop by my website at ashleyfarley.net for more information about my characters and upcoming releases. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. Your subscription will grant you exclusive content, sneak previews, and special giveaways.