The Husband She Can't Forget

by Patricia Forsythe

  “I guess I just never hung out with the right people.” He watched the dancers as he filled up on water, too, then leaned against a tree. “I think the tango is easier.”

  “Maybe you could teach me. Someday.”

  Luke gazed down at her, his lips tilting in a smile. “I’d like that.” He paused as she met his eyes. “Carly, this has been a great day. Thanks for coming with me.”

  Carly answered with a smile of her own. In spite of their history, all that had gone on before, and his current project, she couldn’t help the warm feelings that flooded through her. Somehow, all she could recall was the way he had helped her with Dustin, had rebuilt the fence between their properties and held her as he told her the death of their baby wasn’t her fault. She had felt a part of her heart heal when he’d said that. The ache for her baby would never leave, but at least it was no longer a cutting pain.

  She wanted to tell him that, to thank him for understanding, but Dustin walked up right then. “Are we going home, Carly?” he asked.

  “What’s the matter, did they run out of food?”

  “I guess. They said it was time to close down. There was an old guy over there who makes his own beef jerky. I tried some. It was pretty good. He said he’ll show me how to do it if I want to learn.”

  “Do you want to learn?” Luke asked.

  “Sure. If I learn to make it, I could sell it and—”

  “Of course.” Luke shook his head.

  “Which old guy was it?” Carly asked.

  Dustin pointed across the way. “That tall guy with the beard.”

  Carly laughed. “Reverend Smalley? He’s not old. He’s exactly my age.”

  “That’s what I mean.”

  “Very funny. Go get in Luke’s truck. I’ve got to find the basket I used to bring the apples for bobbing. Yvette Burleigh and Misty Summers were in charge of that, but they’ve probably long since taken their babies and gone home, so there’s no telling where my basket is.”

  “Okay,” Luke said. “As soon as you find it, we’ll go say good-night to Frances and Tom and thank them for a great party.”

  “Hang on to your wallet or Frances will have it emptied,” Carly advised.

  “She already did.”

  Carly laughed and hurried away.

  * * *

  LUKE STARTED AFTER her but someone from the drill site stopped to talk. It was fifteen minutes before he was able to get away and look for Carly. He found her in a hospital office with Gemma. They were looking through boxes and baskets for the one she had brought.

  “Do you mean that old red-and-green one with the plaid lining? One time we wanted to fill it with stray puppies and set it in front of the supermarket to convince people they needed a new pet for Christmas,” Gemma was saying as he stepped through the door.

  “That’s right,” Carly answered, smiling in fond remembrance. “Although I removed the lining and ribbons.”

  “I was sure we could convince people to take the puppies. After all, we’d convinced the animal shelter director to let us try.” Gemma sighed. “Too bad our mothers weren’t in favor of the idea.”

  “Big disappointment that day.” Carly glanced around. “Oh, hi, Luke. I’ll be with you in a minute. I called Yvette and she said she’s pretty sure she put it in... Oh, here it is.” She pulled out the wicker basket and held it up. “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t care, but this belonged to my grandmother. She used to gather her fruits and vegetables in it.”

  “I’m glad you found it. Is that all you need to take home with you?” He began urging her toward the door.

  “Why, yes, it is,” she said. “Are you in a hurry?”

  “Not really, just thought you’d like to get Dustin home.”

  He glanced at Gemma, who swiftly gave him the watching-you sign, and he answered her with a grin.

  They thanked Frances and Tom then hurried to the truck, where Dustin had eaten about three more sweet snacks, dropped the wrappers on the floor and fallen into a sugar-induced coma.

  “How am I going to get him inside the house?” Carly asked. “I could have carried him a few weeks ago but, thousands of dollars of groceries later, he’s too heavy for me to lift, and I’m strong.”

  “It adds up, I’m sure. I’m amazed at how much this kid can eat. I’ll help you get him in the house. It may take both of us.”

  As it turned out, they were able to get him up and walking into the house, though he was still mostly asleep.

  Carly decided to let him sleep in his clothes and only slipped off his shoes and threw a blanket over him. If he woke in the night, he could brush his teeth and put on the loose T-shirt and smiley face–printed pajama bottoms he usually wore.

  When she came out of Dustin’s bedroom, Luke was sitting on the sofa, leaning forward, his hands running over Wendolin’s trunk. She sat opposite him.

  “I’m glad this is here, Carly. It’s what she wanted and—”

  He was interrupted by a knock on the door. Carly excused herself and opened it to find Jay standing on the porch.

  “Jay, what on earth are you doing here at this time of night? I didn’t hear your motorcycle.”

  “It’s parked over by greenhouse number one. I’m sorry, Carly, but I thought you’d like to know. I was in town, at the hospital party, and I remembered I’d left a book in the greenhouse so I came back to get it. I was reading while I was watering today.”

  “You were reading?” She couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d said he was hula dancing.

  “Yeah, government test on Monday. I’ve gotta pass it.”

  Carly felt someone at her shoulder and glanced back to see that Luke had joined them.

  “Government test. You were reading, and...?”

  “When I came back just now, the water was dripping from the faucet. You know how that one by the door doesn’t turn off unless you really twist it?”

  “Yes, Jay, I know. Is this about a leaky faucet?”

  “No, about the water. There’s something wrong with the water. It dripped all over the floor, and it looks funny.”

  Carly studied Jay’s face. “The water looks funny? Funny how?”

  “Cloudy.”

  “Cloudy?” She stepped outside. “And you only noticed it now? You should have told me right away.”

  “I am,” he insisted. “I found it before you got back home, about fifteen minutes ago, and I was trying to figure it out myself.”

  Carly nodded. She couldn’t encourage him to be a self-starter and problem solver one day and then berate him for doing that very thing the next.

  Realizing she’d hurt his feelings, she said, “It’s okay. I’m grateful you tried to figure it out yourself.” She hurried to the greenhouse and Jay trotted along with her.

  Luke came, as well, calling Shelby on his cell phone as they went. Hanging up, he said, “Shelby is on her way home. Be here in a minute.”

  “Did you check the connections to make sure the well water hadn’t become crossed with any water from Luke’s operation?” Carly asked.

  “Yeah, but how could it? It’s well water.”

  “We have no idea what’s going on underground.”

  “I guess.”

  Luke must have heard this exchange because he said, “We’ve barely started drilling, Carly, and we’ve actually stopped for now. I don’t think it’s because of our operation.”

  “But you don’t know that,” she said as she reached for the handle on the greenhouse door.

  “I can be pretty sure,” he said, holding the door open and then walking in right behind her. He looked at Jay. “We’ll need to check the water lines. Can you get some flashlights?”

  Jay glanced from Carly to Luke, sensing the tension between them. “Uh, sure. I’ll be right back.” He ra
n to the work shed.

  Terrified that her worst fears were coming true, Carly gathered up her skirt and crouched beside the faucet, where she turned the water on to a trickle, checked to make sure the spray wouldn’t get on her plants and took a sniff. It didn’t smell bad, but the cloudy color was alarming and quite obvious on the beige tile floor.

  Luke came down beside her, touched the water and then sniffed. “My test kit is in the truck. I’ll get it.”

  He hurried out the door as Shelby stepped inside.

  “Can I help, Carly?”

  Clenching her hands together, she stood. “I...I don’t know. I can’t think of anything except finding this problem and fixing it.”

  Jay came back with flashlights and Luke with the water test kit. Carly filled a bucket of water and handed it to Luke.

  “This had better be harmless,” she warned.

  Luke answered with a steady look and poured some water into a glass jar. It was definitely murky.

  “Look, Shelby,” Luke called out, motioning her to the table. “Have you seen this before?”

  Shelby started to shut the door, but it was stopped again when Dustin slipped inside.

  “What’s going on?” the boy asked.

  Carly looked up. “I thought you were asleep.”

  “I had to go to the bathroom. Hey, why does the water in the toilet look funny?”

  “Oh, no,” she said, her horror growing. She scooted back to the table to see what was going on. Jay moved to stand beside Dustin and told him, in a few words, what had happened.

  “Wow,” Dustin said. “We could be poisoned.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Jay ordered, then gave the younger boy a sharp look. “Did you drink any water when you got up?”

  “Uh, no. I had some juice.”

  Relieved, Carly smiled at him and nodded a thank-you to Jay for thinking of that.

  Shelby took the jar and peered at it carefully, turning it this way and that. She sniffed it and frowned.

  “Methane,” she said.

  “You mean like cow farts?” Dustin asked, startling a laugh out of Shelby.

  Jay cuffed him on the arm.

  “Methane, like natural gas stirred up by oil fields and oil exploration, right?” Fighting panic, Carly looked from Shelby to Luke and back.

  Luke tested the water and then nodded at Shelby. “You’re right.”

  “I guess it’s possible,” Shelby admitted. “But we’ve barely started drilling.”

  “Still, some of your activities might—”

  “No,” Luke said firmly. “It’s got to be something else.” He took a flashlight from Jay and went outside, heading straight to the well.

  Carly grabbed the other light and ran after him. Everyone else followed along, but Luke put his hands out to stop them.

  “Stay back,” he said. “I only want to check for leaks.”

  “Water leaks?” Carly asked in confusion before her eyes widened in horror. “You mean methane leaking from the water well?”

  “Yes.”

  “It could blow up?”

  “Not if it’s vented correctly,” Shelby said. “Luke, you need to call the engineers over here to take care of this.”

  “I will.”

  “But we need to find out how it got here from your drilling site and stop it,” Carly said.

  “We don’t know that’s what’s caused this,” Luke said.

  “I know that’s what caused this.” Frantically she looked around at the fields she was readying for winter, at the greenhouses, shed and house.

  “This will ruin me, Luke. My land contaminated, my livelihood gone. What will I do?”

  “First of all, we’ll find out what caused this, and then we’ll fix it,” he said.

  “That’s easy for you to say. It’s not your world being ruined.” She lifted a shaking hand to shove her hair back from her face.

  “But I’m trying to keep yours from being ruined.” Luke reached into his pocket for his cell phone. “I’ll call the engineers and get them over here first thing in the morning to see what’s going on.” He glanced up as he located the number. “Shelby, can you help?”

  “Of course.” She gave Carly a sympathetic look. “You know you can’t stay here tonight. We don’t know how widespread this is yet.”

  Dustin was watching and listening, wide-eyed and anxious, probably afraid he was going to lose yet another home. If it was only her, Carly would have stayed, but she couldn’t take a chance with his health or risk another asthma attack. Realizing she had to be calm, at least for his sake, she said, “I’ll call Lisa. She’d love to have houseguests overnight.”

  Taking a deep breath, she gave Jay a shaky smile and said, “Thanks for alerting me to this, Jay. You’d better go on home.”

  “I know this isn’t a good time to ask, but do you think that I could have—”

  “Yes,” she broke in, half-hysterical and throwing her hands up in surrender. “If Joslin Gardens survives this, you’re getting a raise.”

  “Now you’re talking,” he said. “Good night.” He ran to his motorcycle and roared off.

  Carly put her hand on Dustin’s shoulder. “Let’s get our things together.”

  Shelby said, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Carly. Try not to worry. It may be nothing serious.” She headed for her car while Carly stared after her wondering how this could possibly be nothing serious.

  Luke’s phone rang and he turned away to answer it.

  “Come on, Dustin,” she said, putting her arm around his shoulder. He must have sensed how bad the situation was because he didn’t pull away. “I’m going to have Lisa pick you up while I turn off the water to all the fields in case there’s a leak. I’ll be over to her house as soon as I can.”

  Dustin went to gather his things and Carly called Lisa, who said she would come over right away. She hung up and rushed to her room to change into work clothes and boots.

  When Dustin was ready, she hurried him outside and down the front steps to wait for Lisa, who arrived within minutes, her tires spewing gravel as she fishtailed onto the driveway and sped to the house. They were gone in two minutes and Carly breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to have such a friend.

  Luke strode up as she was switching on the yard lights in preparation for shutting off the water and checking for leaks.

  “I’ll help you with whatever you’re—”

  “No!” Carly raised both hands, palms out. “No. You asked me to trust you and look what’s happened. You said Shelby’s process would be less harmful, but it obviously isn’t.”

  “Carly, I keep telling you, we don’t know that.”

  “But I do, Luke.” She balled her hand into a fist and clutched it to her stomach. “I know it in my gut. Everything I’ve worked for might be ruined. I should have tried harder to stop you, but instead I believed you when you said you’d do everything you could to prevent harm to my land.”

  “I have, Carly.” He took a step forward but she backed away.

  “Get off my property,” she said through trembling lips.

  He shook his head. “You need help.”

  “I don’t need your help. You may own the mineral rights to my land, but it’s still my land and I want you off of it. And...and don’t come back.”

  Luke stared at her, his lips pressed together in frustration. “I’ll go, but I’ll have people over here tomorrow to find out about the methane.” Before he climbed into his truck, he turned and fixed her with a cold stare. “This isn’t over, Carly.”

  “Yes it is,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes as he drove away. She whirled around to turn off the water, grab her things and leave her beloved gardens behind.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “MS. JOSLIN,
DID you know there used to be a landfill in this area? Right behind that hill.” The hard-hatted engineer pointed toward the east as he gestured for Carly to join him.

  She had been hovering, not wanting to get in the way but unwilling to be out of sight of Shelby and the crew she’d brought to look for the source of the methane. They had maps and charts of a type she’d never seen before, which they’d spread out on the hood of a truck and studied.

  After she had reached Lisa’s house and they had discussed everything that had happened, Carly had spent the night being alternately panicked about the methane, furious at Luke for endangering her land and furious at herself for trusting him. Mostly, she felt hurt and betrayed.

  She had only herself to blame. History and common sense should have been enough to warn her to keep him out of her life, but she’d foolishly ignored both.

  “Miss, is that your land?” The engineer reclaimed her attention.

  “No, it’s a neighbor’s.” She threw her hands out in frustration as she asked, “How is it possible I didn’t know about an old landfill?”

  “Has this always been your family’s land?” he asked as Shelby walked up to join them.

  “No. We lived in town when I was growing up. My mom worked in the school cafeteria and my dad was a maintenance man. My parents bought it thirteen years ago from...Robert Sanderson.” Saying his name made her stomach clench. “But he hadn’t owned it very long.”

  “People probably forgot. Must have been closed up fifty years ago, or more.”

  “And that’s where the methane is coming from?”

  “We think so.” The man took out his phone. “I’ve got the name of someone at the county offices who might be able to tell me about the landfill. He probably won’t like having to talk to me on a Sunday, but that’s tough.” He moved away as he punched a number into the phone.

  “The old landfill has to be the source,” Shelby said, joining them. “We haven’t drilled far enough to have caused this problem.”