The Sweet Smell of Magnolias and Memories

by Celeste Fletcher McHale

  Jacey shook her head. “I know you did,” she said. “And I really do appreciate that, more than you know.”

  “I was so mad at him, Jacey. I wanted to punch him in the face and knock his two front teeth out.”

  “That sounds like the Georgie I know.” Jacey chuckled. “But guess what we’re gonna do instead?”

  Georgia wiped her face with the towel around Jacey’s shoulders. “What?”

  “Well, I may be absolutely nuts,” Jacey said, “but we are gonna pick up the boys from school and head to Biloxi. The man I love needs to explain himself, and no matter what—if he loves me, doesn’t love me—I still have the best friend in the world and three unbelievable kids. Whatever happens, I’m gonna be all right.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay here with the boys while you go to Biloxi?” Georgia asked. The carpool line at the boys’ school seemed to stretch on for miles. “Doesn’t that make more sense? You can be alone with Colin and hear him out.”

  “No,” Jacey said. “I don’t want to leave them here while I’m there. It’s important they feel safe and secure, especially right now. I don’t want them to think I just up and decided to go somewhere else. People leave them all the time. Not always by choice, but still.”

  Georgia shook her head. “I get it,” she said. “But don’t they have school tomorrow? Is it okay to take them out? Do you have to report that?”

  “The teachers have an in-service tomorrow, so there is no school. And I can take them by child services tomorrow for their visit while we’re in Mississippi.”

  “Then this works out great,” Georgia said. “Hey, do the kids have any pictures of their mother and brother? I thought about that this morning while I was in the shower for some reason.”

  “I called the paper in Biloxi and was able to buy a copy they had,” Jacey said. “I had copies made and framed three of them. I put one in each of the boys’ rooms. Dewayne is the only one who talks about her very much. I saw him sitting on his bed staring at the picture a few days ago.”

  “Jacey, what you have done for those boys . . . It’s probably the most noble thing I have ever witnessed. I’m so proud of you. And I’m so sorry for what I did.”

  Jacey shook her head and smiled. “Stop, it’s done, over,” she said. “Now, don’t get me wrong. I am still mad at you. But sometimes I think about the nights right after the accident, when I was still in the ICU . . . and how every now and then I would wake up. Sometimes I saw Mama in the room, and sometimes Daddy . . . but I always saw you. You don’t throw away that kind of friendship because of a well-intentioned mistake.”

  Georgia smiled. “I couldn’t leave you with nurses I didn’t know,” she said. “And, Jacey, I have worried myself to death over that phone call for months. I’ve lost sleep over it. I’ve come so close to telling you so many times.”

  “Well, we’re going to find out today what he has to say,” Jacey said. “And then, whatever happens, we’re gonna work on you. Starting with a date.”

  “A date?” Georgia asked. “I don’t want to go on a date.”

  “It’s time,” Jacey said. “You’re moving on, whether you want to or not. Even if I have to drag you to a restaurant or a movie to meet a guy and physically put you in the chair. Now, do you want to find a date for yourself, or do you want me to find one for you?”

  Georgia pondered that for a moment. “You know, Colin told me months ago he wanted me to meet someone, a football coach. You think that offer still stands?”

  “I think there’s only one way to find out,” Jacey said. “If I like what Colin has to say, we’ll inquire about this mystery man. And if I don’t, well . . . I guess after you call the coroner to pick up the body, we’ll try to find him anyway.”

  Georgia laughed. “I’m glad you are keeping a sense of humor about this.”

  Jacey sighed. “The truth is I am scared to death. I don’t know what I’m about to find out. He’s already told another woman he loved her . . . so I’m not sure what I’m expecting. But hearing him out seems like the right thing to do.”

  “I think it’s a great decision,” Georgia said. “Just one thing: Where is he?”

  Jacey looked a little surprised. “Okay, until you said that, it never occurred to me where to look. Do we just drive into Biloxi, stop at a 7–Eleven, and say, ‘Do you happen to know Colin Jennings and where I might locate him?’”

  “Let’s just start at the last place we saw him,” Georgia said. “The house on the beach.”

  Colin threw his bag on the bed in Joshua’s guest room and fell beside it. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Jacey had said to him. He couldn’t stop thinking about how pretty she looked or how good she smelled. He couldn’t stop thinking at all.

  Why hadn’t he gone to her earlier? Would he never learn? He was still treating people like they were disposable. Just as he had done with his parents. Just as he did with everybody. It was the worst kind of self-indulgence, like pressing the hold button on somebody else’s life until he felt like answering the call.

  Today he understood just how much he’d hurt Jacey. He’d seen it on her face as soon as she opened the door. Part of it was surprise, but most of it was pain. She looked wounded, although she tried to hide it. He’d have to live with the knowledge that he had done that to her. He’d hurt her, and that hurt had turned to anger. She had been ready to throw him off her property and was mad enough to physically attempt it. He was responsible for the look on her face and the venom in her voice.

  He walked onto the deck and watched the Gulf roll and spin and spill its waves against the shore. He suspected if someone cut him open and looked at his heart, it would look just like the waters swirling in front of him. He bypassed the gate and jumped over the deck railing, onto the path that led to the beach, and began to run. Nothing could soothe the soul like running in sand.

  He glanced up the beach to the house on the bluff. He wondered what Ava and Jasper were doing this evening and felt a tug of homesickness. That almost made him laugh. The only bright spot in this whole mess was knowing he could jog all the way there, run up the steps, and be invited into a loving home. There he would find parents who would listen if he wanted to talk, a nurturing mother because he finally allowed her to be, and a sage father whose advice was now welcomed and not ridiculed. He turned up the speed. He couldn’t get there quick enough.

  “What time is it?” Jacey asked.

  “Six thirty,” Georgia said. “We should be there soon.”

  “We’d already be there if you hadn’t packed everything in your house,” Jacey said. “There’s a good possibility we’ll only spend one night. Let’s face it: How long does it take a man to make a Dear Jane speech?”

  “You have gotten so pessimistic in the last couple of hours,” Georgia said. “And you know I always overpack.”

  “Where are we gonna stay, Jacey?” Dewayne asked.

  “We are staying at a hotel on the beach, fellas. Won’t that be fun? You can play in the sand tomorrow and build sand castles, and maybe we’ll find a pizza place to go to.”

  “Yay!” came the collective cheer from the backseat.

  “Tonight Aunt Georgie is going to stay with you awhile,” Jacey said. “Is that okay? I’ll be right next to the hotel, but I have to go visit a . . . friend.”

  Dewayne looked at his little brothers. “That’s okay,” he said. “Can we order room service, Aunt Georgie?”

  “How did you know about room service?” Georgia laughed.

  “Mama took us to Gulf Port once and we stayed in a hotel,” Dewayne said. “She called it a vacation, but I think she was just hiding from my daddy. Anyway, she let us call and order room service.”

  Sweet boy is missing his mama, Jacey thought. “I bet that was fun.”

  “Of course you can order room service,” Georgia said. “And after supper, you can order ice cream and pie and cake and candy.”

  “Georgie!” Jacey scolded a
s another collective “Yay!” rose up.

  “Hey, what are aunts for?” Georgia asked.

  An hour later the boys were watching cartoons and occasionally jumping on the bed. “Boys, I told you to stop that,” Jacey said. “One of you is going to fall and get hurt.”

  “What is it about parenthood that automatically turns you into a joy sucker?” Georgia asked.

  Jacey rolled her eyes. “Why do aunts believe that cake and an IV of soda can be supper?”

  “We ordered burgers too,” Georgia said. “Now go put this on and see how you look.”

  “Where did you get this?” Jacey asked as she looked at the flowing strapless dress. The fabric was beautiful and light, the colors muted and subtle. Not the usual kind of thing Georgia wore.

  “I got it a few weeks ago at Ted & Daisy’s. The day I decided I was going to lose twenty pounds,” she said. “It’s my inspiration outfit. You may as well wear it until I can. And it’s perfect to wear on the beach . . . the wind gently blowing through your hair, the dress flowing behind you in the breeze. It’s very Lifetime Movie Channel, don’t you think?”

  Jacey raised a brow. “Who are you?”

  “Just go put it on,” Georgia said. “Stop spoiling this for me. I’m trying to make amends.”

  “Stop it!” Jacey called from the bathroom “I don’t need you to make amends.”

  “I wish you would’ve let me get a room with a balcony,” Georgia said. “We can’t even see the house from in here.”

  “I have three kids now, Georgie,” Jacey said. “I can’t have a balcony on my room. What if they get too curious and lean too far over the edge?”

  “Like I said, joy suckers,” Georgia muttered under her breath.

  “Look, Aunt Georgie,” Derek said. He turned a flip in the air over the bed.

  Georgia sucked in her breath. Okay, that one scared her. “Noooooo,” she whispered. “Don’t do that.”

  Jacey came out of the bathroom and twirled. “Okay, how do I look?”

  Georgia clapped her hands. “It’s perfect,” she said, and it really was. The dress hugged Jacey’s slim body in all the right places, then gracefully billowed around her legs. “It’ll kill him. What’s the plan?”

  “What do you mean?” Jacey asked.

  “I mean, what’s the plan? What are you going to say? Do?”

  Jacey drew a blank. “I have no idea,” she said. “I haven’t thought about it.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “I guess . . . I’m just gonna go over there and knock on the door and hope for the best,” Jacey said.

  “Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The plan of the century.” Georgia shook her head in disgust.

  “It’s okay,” Jacey said. “Really, it is. I have zero expectations about this. I am here to hear the man out. I owe him that much. That flood will always bind us together, and I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did today. He deserves better than what I gave him.”

  Georgia shook her head. “I’m proud of you, Jacey.”

  Jacey smiled at her, then stood in front of the full-length mirror to assess the outfit. “You sure I look okay? This isn’t too much?”

  “You look amazing,” Georgia said. “And besides, you said yourself there is a possibility of getting seriously shot down. You may as well look good on the ground.”

  “That actually wasn’t helpful, but okay,” Jacey said. “I have my phone and I’ll keep you updated. Boys, come give me a good night kiss. You’ll be asleep when I get back.”

  “Wanna bet?” Georgia cracked.

  Jacey shot her a look that Georgia had dubbed “the mama glare.” She knelt down to hug the boys. They leapt from the bed to shower her with kisses.

  “You promise you’re coming back?” Devin asked.

  Jacey hugged him tightly against her. “I promise,” she said. “Now hop back on the bed. Your supper will be here any minute.”

  “Good luck or break a leg or jingle bells or whatever it is you say to somebody in this position,” Georgia said.

  Jacey held out her fist and Georgia bumped it. “Here goes nothing.”

  She took the elevator to the ground floor and walked out the back to the pool area. It was too cool to swim, but there were a lot of people on the decks and at the bar. She walked through the gate and onto the beach, and as soon as she turned toward the house, she saw it. Colin’s truck was parked behind the house.

  She stopped in her tracks. Maybe she hadn’t really expected to find him, and now that he was nearby, this whole idea seemed crazy. Did she really want to go through with this? Risk having her heart ripped out again just to hear what he had to say? What possible excuse could he have for saying “I love you” to two women at once? Nothing could justify something like that. She began to lose her nerve. Maybe I shouldn’t do this . . .

  She turned to go back to the hotel, but stopped again when she thought about the voicemail Georgia had erased. Had Jacey been a part of some competition she knew nothing about? If so, that might be the biggest insult of all.

  “Stop it,” she said out loud. “Stop trying to make it make sense, because it doesn’t. Nothing about this has ever made sense. Just go hear what the man has to say.”

  She marched over to the house, up the steps to the deck, and was surprised to find she could see inside the place. The back of the house was covered in huge floor-to-ceiling windows. She walked up to the door and knocked, her heart pounding as she waited for an answer. But there was no movement inside. She knocked again with the same result.

  She sat down in one of the chairs on the deck. She texted Georgia to give her the news, then made herself comfortable. He had to show up sometime, and she wasn’t moving from her spot until he did.

  Colin left his mom and dad feeling much better than when he arrived. He told the whole story, starting with the flood and ending with this morning’s showdown.

  “Perhaps she needs some time,” Ava said. “Women are a mystery, Colin. Even to me.”

  “She’s had months,” Colin said. “I think I just messed up. That’s all. I don’t think I can do anything about it.”

  “I think you did too,” Jasper said.

  “Jasper!” Ava said.

  “We’re telling the truth around here now, aren’t we? You made a mistake, son. If she won’t listen to you when you try to tell her, write her a letter. Women aren’t going to throw a letter away without reading it. They are the nosiest people on the planet.”

  Ava stared at him. “Remember the cookies you asked me to bake? No.”

  “Now, Ava, I wasn’t talking about you,” he said.

  Colin laughed. “You may be onto something, Dad.”

  “With all this technology, letter writing is a lost art,” Jasper said. “Write your girl a letter. If she doesn’t answer, then you’ve done all you can do.”

  “Thanks for lending an ear,” Colin said. “I’m gonna head on back to Josh’s.”

  “You want your father to drive you?” Ava said. “Maybe you can make him some cookies.”

  Colin laughed. “Thanks, but I think I’ll run back,” he said. “And don’t make him do time for that, Mom. You know he’s crazy about you.”

  Ava smiled. “Well, we’ll see.”

  Colin made his way down the wooden steps to the beach and began running back to Joshua’s house. He thought Jasper’s idea was spot-on. He could write Jacey a letter and explain everything that had happened. A giant redwood may have to give its life for the paper he’d need to complete it, but he was going to write it just the same. If she didn’t reply, he would learn to live with the loss. But at least he would know he’d done everything he could.

  He made it back to the house in about ten minutes. He was surprised he could still run the entire way. It had been so long since he’d tried. But he needed to shave some time off that. He really needed to get back to the gym and start—

  “Hello, Colin.”

  His head jerked up to see Jacey standing on t
he deck of Joshua’s house. And he’d never seen a more beautiful sight.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  At first he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, conjuring up some lovely mirage because he wanted to see her so badly. But here she was. Standing on Joshua’s deck wearing a beautiful dress that moved gently around her legs with the autumn breeze. The moonlight cast a soft glow over her face and tinted her hair a shimmery golden brown. Maybe she really was a mirage. No one could look this . . . perfect.

  “Jacey?” he said. “What are you doing here? How did . . .”

  She walked slowly across the deck and opened the gate by the steps. “You said you needed to tell me something,” she said. “So . . . tell me.”

  Colin ran his hand through his hair and stepped onto the deck.

  “I can’t believe you’re here,” he said. “I thought, after today, well . . . I didn’t expect to see you again. Can I get you anything? Water, a drink, anything?”

  “You can tell me why I’m here, Colin. That’s all I want.”

  Colin gestured to the French doors. “Let’s go inside,” he said. He opened the door and motioned her inside, then followed close behind her.

  “Sit down,” he said. “You sure you don’t want anything? I’ve been running, so I need some water, but I can fix you anything . . .”

  “Talk to me,” Jacey said, taking a seat on the sofa. “Please.”

  Colin grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sat in front of her on the ottoman.

  “I can’t tell you this story without starting at the beginning,” Colin said, “So you may be here awhile.”

  “Okay,” Jacey said. “But first . . . I want to apologize for today. You caught me off guard, and I really didn’t mean to come off the way I did. I know I sounded just awful, and I really am sorry.”

  Colin took her hands into his. “No, Jacey,” he said. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. It’s on me. All of it is on me.”

  The touch of his hands on hers made her want to cry. His hands were strong, but gentle. They had shoved her into a boat, sheltered her in a storm, held her when she cried, and caressed her face. But she pulled hers away, reluctantly. She couldn’t think straight when he was touching her.