A Long from the Girl Next Door: The Caldwells of Rebel Creek Book 2

by T M Morris

  “Let me help you clean up,” Dusty said bending to retrieve an empty plastic cup from the floor.

  “Thanks. Usually, the cleanup is why I avoid having many of these soirees. Oh. Let me call down to George and have him send up your luggage.

  “I can go down and get it later. It’s no problem.” He replied dumping an armload of cups into a trash bag.

  “Nonsense.” She picked up the phone and pushed a button. The way Lilly spoke to whoever was on the other end of the line made Dusty feel a little uneasy, almost jealous. He shouldn’t feel this way. After all, this was Lilly. Lilly was his best friend’s kid sister. He and Erik had been friends since Kindergarten. Too bad they rarely saw one another now that Erik was in the military.

  Lilly. He looked at her contemplatively. She wasn’t the same awkward preteen that would never speak to him. She used to blush and run away, even if he had simply said hello. She didn’t resemble a gangly newborn colt anymore either. She was quite appealing to him.

  “Are you okay? You look almost as if you are in shock.” Lilly asked him, returning the handset to its cradle.

  Dusty gave himself a mental shake. “Yeah. I’m fine. Just a little tired I guess.” He started gathering more cups.

  “George will be up shortly with your bag, and then I’ll show you where you can wash up. You can sleep in Josh’s bed.” Lilly replied while she emptied the ice bucket.

  “I really think I should get a hotel or something. I don’t want to put you out or…Josh. I mean it’s none of my business but why are you living here? Are you two a couple?” He hoped they weren’t. Not that is was any of his business.

  Lilly guffawed nearly spilling the contents of the chip bowl she was carrying to the trash. “I’m not living with Josh. Josh has spent the last year and a half in Hong Kong. He’s my friend and he let me sublet his apartment so he wouldn’t lose it while he was gone. Rent control, you know?”

  “I suppose. You don’t have any other lovers you need to inform that you’re leaving in the morning?” He pulled another trash bag from the box. He felt the room chill.

  “I don’t have any lovers. I never have. I promised Dad I wouldn’t and I haven’t. Simple as that.” Lilly archly stated.

  Dusty chuckled. “No need to get all offended.”

  “Are you laughing at me?”

  He threw his hands up in mock surrender. “Not me. I promise I’ll keep the protection of your virtue foremost in my mind.” He was laughing now.

  “How dare you laugh at me.” She was furious.

  He sobered quickly. “Lilly, please understand. I’m not laughing at you or your virtue. I’m laughing at the thought of me as your protector. I’m very proud of you. Most women wouldn’t have lasted into their mid-twenties without giving into the social pressure.”

  She was somewhat mollified. “I’m not sure I should believe you, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt this time.”

  He bowed his head in acknowledgment. “Thank you. Where’s the broom?”

  Lilly pointed to a small closet as the doorbell rang. She placed the bowl into the dishwasher. Wiping her hands on a dish towel, she went to the door. As the bell rang again, she opened it with a smile. “Thank you, George. You’re so sweet.”

  An old man stepped into the living room carrying Dusty’s bag and in a very thick Brooklyn accent he said, “It’s no trouble, Lilly. Where do you want me to put it?”

  “Right there is fine, George. Thank you. I’m going to miss you. I’m going home tomorrow. Let me introduce you to Dusty. He’s a friend of mine from home.”

  George nodded to her with a smile but when he turned to Dusty he glared and said, “Don’t you do anything to hurt my Lilly. I’ll hurt you if you do. Understand me fella?”

  Dusty nodded solemnly. “Yes, sir, I do. I assure you I would sooner die than hurt Lilly, sir.”

  The old man continued to stare at Dusty making him want to squirm. Finally, the old man nodded. “You do that.” He turned to Lilly and gave her a little peck on the cheek which she returned. “I’m going to miss you, Sunshine.”

  “Aw, thank you, George. I’m going to miss you too. You’re the best doorman in New York. You know that, right?”

  George waved her off as he headed to the door. “You flatterer.”

  “Good night, George.” She called to the closing door.

  “That was not the doorman I met earlier. The man I met looked like that guy, but he was grumpy, almost rude.” Dusty began to sweep.

  Lilly smiled sadly as she resumed loading the dishwasher. “He is to everyone but me. I remind him of this girl he was dating before he went off to Korea. She died in a car accident just before he got back. They were going to get married. He never did marry. I think it’s sad that he never found someone else.”

  Dusty bent with the dustpan to sweep up the little pile of detritus. “I guess for some there is only one and they aren’t willing to settle for second best.”

  “I guess not. Thank you for helping me clean up,” Lilly closed the dishwasher and pushed the start button. “If you’re ready, I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

  He put the broom and dustpan in the little closet and turned to follow her down a short hall.

  Chapter Two

  “Come on sleepy head. Get up. We have a plane to catch.” Dusty tickled the bare foot sticking out from beneath the covers. It was all he could see of her. The pillows and comforter were a mass in the middle of the bed, and only her one foot was showing. He wondered if she could breathe under there. “Come on,” he tickled her foot until he got a response.

  She threw a pillow at his head and grumbled something unintelligible.

  “Come on, Lillian.” He pulled on her ankle until her calf and lower thigh were exposed.

  She gave a yelp and pulled her leg back beneath the pile of bedding. The pile moved a little and then it began to undulate. It stopped when her head poked out of the opposite end from where he had pulled her foot. She growled. “I’ll be out in the kitchen in fifteen minutes, Dusty. Do I have fifteen minutes to shower and throw on some clothes?”

  “That’s all the time you need? I thought models took hours to get their hair and makeup just right.”

  “I’m not going to a shoot. I’m going to be flying on an airplane. You know I don’t wear much makeup if I don’t have to.”

  “How would I know that? I haven’t seen you in years.”

  “Uh, I don’t know. Just get out of here so I can get up and get ready. Did you make coffee?”

  “No.”

  “Could you?” She looked at him with big pleading golden green eyes.

  “Only if you promise to get up. You haven’t made any move to get out of bed yet.” He looked at her appraisingly. “You don’t wear any pajamas?”

  “I do.” She blushed crimson as she stammered, “They’re just not very modest.”

  He grinned as he continued to tease her. “So you’re hiding Victoria’s Secret under there are you? Outgrew those flannel granny gowns you wore as a kid?”

  Her face flamed. “Get out, or we’ll miss our flight.” She could still hear him laughing as he closed the door and drifted down the hall toward the kitchen. Slowly she emerged from the pile of covers wearing a t-shirt and flannel shorts. She grinned. She may have outgrown the granny gowns, but she would never outgrow flannel.

  She lost all sense of humor when she spotted the alarm clock. Five a.m.? Their flight wasn’t until ten thirty-five. She groaned picking up the few remaining personal belongings she had set out the night before a pair of jeans, a sweater, and undergarments. She marched into the bathroom and quickly went through her morning toilet. She entered the kitchen with two minutes to spare.

  She found Dusty staring out the window at the sunrise peeking over the horizon silhouetting the Williamsburg Bridge. She banged her coffee mug down on the counter startling him. He spun around. Their eyes met, and she let loose. “Why on earth did you get me up so stinking early? Our flight doesn’
t leave for another five hours!”

  He smiled slowly then chuckled into his mug irritating her even more. She watched him take a long slow sip before meeting her eyes again. She asked, “Well?”

  “Well, Filly Lilly you’re just gonna have to forgive me. I was under the impression that women—especially models take forever to get ready to go anywhere. Sorry. I won’t make that mistake again. I’ll never wake you up more than an hour before we go ever again. I promise.” He raised his right hand in oath.

  If it weren’t for the merriment in his eyes making them sparkle and dance she might have taken him seriously. “Don’t ever call me Filly Lilly again. I’ve grown up. Maybe you should too. And, besides, there isn’t going to be a next time when it comes to waking me up because I’m not going with you.” She replied sourly.

  “You should never say never, Lillian and you are coming with me. You gave me your word, and you aren’t going to break your word?”

  Lilly turned her back on him and liberally poured cream and sugar into her mug. He knew how much she hated being called Lillian. However, it was preferable to be called Filly Lilly. Her pique was still evident in her jerking movements. “I can’t go back. Dad doesn’t want me. Besides, I can get tested here.”

  “That’s not the point. You can get tested anywhere. The point is your mother wants to see you. Your mother. Surely the stubborn spunky girl I knew can stand up to her father one more time to make her mother happy before she dies.”

  “Okay. I’ll go,” Lilly sighed. Turning to Dusty, she studied him while he studied her. “I don’t know you anymore, Dusty. The Dusty I knew barely acknowledged my presence. You…you seem to be making an effort to needle me into reacting to you. Why?”

  He shrugged. He wasn’t about to tell Lilly how he dreamt about her constantly as a teenage boy. He daydreamed. He night dreamed. He had it for her bad back then but her brother was his best friend, and he didn’t like for anyone to look at her more than once. So he kept it to himself. “I guess I see you now. You were just my best friend’s skinny, coltish little sister when we were coming up. Besides, I’m three years older than you. I was in college when you hightailed it up here to the big city to become a model. We didn’t run in the same circles.”

  “We didn’t run in the same circles? You practically lived at my house. You and Erik could have been mistaken for conjoined twins. At least until he decided he wasn’t college material and dropped out.” She ended sadly. She didn’t want to think about her brother.

  “Erik couldn’t stay in college because of his partying. He lost his scholarship. Otter said he couldn’t afford to send him and he needed him on the farm. There just wasn’t money enough for him to stay in college.”

  “I could have paid for it.”

  Her statement was so flat and toneless. Dusty knew she remembered things best left alone. He quickly changed the subject. “Well, since we have all this extra time on our hands, why don’t we grab some breakfast somewhere and then you can give me the two-bit tour of the town. Whatcha ya say?”

  Knowing what he was trying to do, she smiled. “Thank you.”

  He shrugged. “No problem. Where’s a good place to eat?”

  “I know just the place.”

  Chapter Three

  “I’m not sure I can do this Dusty.”

  They were sitting in his battered old work truck in the hospital parking garage. They had been sitting there for fifteen minutes. He wasn’t going to rush Lilly, but he was getting hot. Late September was not the time to be sitting out in your car without air conditioning. It was hot. “Can we at least move to the lobby where there’s air conditioning? You can make up your mind from there, okay?”

  She turned to look at him. Her golden green eyes were so full of uncertainty he felt his heart tear a little. “Come here.” He held his arms open offering her a hug. She flung herself into them and buried her head in the crook of his neck. He’d made a mistake. He should have kept her at arm’s length. He was in trouble.

  She pulled back a moment or two later. “Thank you for being patient with me. Let’s go in now.”

  Dusty helped her out of the truck and led her into the building and straight to the elevators. Devon pressed the button, and they waited for one to stop and open. When the bell dinged indicating the one about to open they stepped in front of it, ready to board as the doors slid back, and the passengers began to disembark.

  “Hey, Dusty. You here to visit Aunt Addie?” A tall, lanky young man thrust his hand out to shake Dusty’s and give him a half hug.

  “Eli. Good to see you. I am here to see Miss Addie, and I’ve brought along your long lost cousin.” Dusty pulled Lilly around from where she was hiding behind him.

  “Lilly,” Eli exclaimed as he scooped her up in a bear hug. As he set her back on her feet, he continued, “We have all missed you so much. If I didn’t have somewhere to be in about an hour, I’d stay. Then we could catch up.”

  Lilly smiled. “I’m happy to see you again, Eli. I’m sorry you can’t stay, though. When will I be able to visit with you again?”

  Eli thought for a minute. He said, “I’ll be home in a couple of weeks for the weekend. I’m in medical school now, my second year.” He shook his head. “Wow, Lilly. It’s been such a long, long time. I sure am glad to see you, but I have to go.” He hugged her again.

  Lilly nodded and said sadly, “I’ve missed you too.”

  Dusty pressed the button again. “We’ll get together then okay?”

  Eli gave him an odd look as he said, “Yeah, we can do that. I’ll see y’all.”

  Lilly watched him walk away as the elevator opened. Stepping into it, she sighed. “I can’t believe how much he’s grown and in medical school too.” Silently they rode to the floor where Miss Addie was in a room. As they stepped off the elevator, Lilly once more stopped, pulling on Dusty’s hand which she was holding. “Give me a minute. What if Dad is in there?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge if we have to. We don’t know if Otter’s here or not now do we?” Dusty rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “I’ll be here with you, Okay?”

  She gave him a weak smile. “Thank you for doing this. I don’t think I could do this without you. You are a good friend.”

  He nodded. With a determination to keep his feelings hidden, he turned and gave Lilly’s hand a tug. “Let’s get in there.”

  Lilly lagged a step behind him all the way down the hall. They stopped in front of a door that had a tag with Miss Addie’s name on it slid into a clear plastic sheath. Lilly looked up into Dusty’s eyes seeking reassurance. He smiled and gestured toward the door with his head. “Come on. You’ve come all this way. Remember, this is your mother, and she needs you.”

  Taking a deep breath Lilly pulled back her shoulders and turned in the opposite direction. Dusty held tight to her hand and spun her back around. “I never thought I would see the day when Lilly Caldwell was afraid of something, especially her sick mother.”

  “It’s not my Mama who scares me. It’s Dad. He doesn’t want me here. He told me never to come back, remember?”

  He pulled on her hand once more. “Maybe he’s had a change of heart.” Knowing Otter the way he did even Dusty had his doubts, but he promised Miss Addie he would bring Lilly back to see her before she died. He wasn’t going to get this close without succeeding. He gave her hand another tug. “Come on.”

  Thankfully she complied and let him drag her into the room after he knocked briefly. “Miss Addie? Look who I brought to see you today.” He pulled Lilly from around his back.

  “Mama?” Lilly croaked.

  Miss Addie reclined in the hospital bed, a husk of what she had been ten years previously. Lilly watched her face light up as she sat up. “Baby. Oh Baby, come and give me a hug. I have been praying every day that you would come home. I just wished you’d come home sooner. I’m kinda puny at the moment.”

  By this time Lilly was crying in her mother’s arms. “Mama, I can’t tell you how m
any times I wished I could have come home.” She pulled away wiping her eyes. She looked around. “Is Dad still put out with me?”

  “What are you doing here?” As if her question had conjured him, Otter walked into the room carrying a big bouquet of flowers. He nodded toward his wife. “Miss Addie. Are they bothering you?”

  “No, Otter, they aren’t. Look Lilly has come home.” She smiled hopefully. “Thank you for the flowers. You didn’t need to spend any money on me.”

  He nodded absently at her comment on the bouquet he picked up in the gift shop downstairs. “Dusty, what do you mean by bringing this reprobate in here? Miss Addie’s sick and doesn’t need this kind of excitement.”

  Lilly sucked in a deep breath. “Dad, I came home to help out in any way I can. Tomorrow I will make an appointment with Mama’s doctor to be tested to see if I’m a match for a bone marrow transplant. Dusty told me all about it, Mama.”

  “What makes you think you would be a match? Miss Addie doesn’t need your bad genes.”

  Lilly’s eyes grew wide. “If I have any bad genes, Dad, they came from you.” She snarled as she turned to go. “Come on, Dusty, let’s get out of here. I guess I need to find a place to stay.”

  “Nonsense. You’ll be staying at the house in your old room. It’s just as you left it and Otter you’re going to be fine with it.” Miss Addie said using her most commanding voice Lilly had ever heard come from her mother.

  Otter flopped into the only chair in the room. “If you weren’t sick, Miss Addie, I wouldn’t put up with this at all. But seeing as how it’s what you want.” He let his words trail off. Everyone in the room knew what he’d left unsaid. Otter wouldn’t have allowed Lilly to set foot on the property, much less stay in the house if it were up to him.

  Dusty cleared his throat. “I guess I’ll put Lilly’s things in your truck and I’ll be on my way. I did what you asked, Miss Addie. I’ll be by to see you when I can.”

  ‘Now hold up there, fella. I’m not taking that Jezebel to the house. Just because I said she could stay there doesn’t mean I want anyone to associate me with her.” Otter waved at him in dismissal. “You brought her here. You deal with her.”