Norma Jane pursed her lips. “You know how I hate gossip, so I don’t put any stock in what Betty told me, but I saw you, with my own two eyes, leaving Cody’s house this morning. Then, he carried breakfast over to your house. What a sweet, caring young man.”
I widened my eyes at Lance, but he just laughed harder as he passed out more bulletins. “Norma Jane, what did Betty say?”
Norma Jane’s eyes sparked with excitement. She had lied in church and everyone knew it. She loved gossip. “Well, her grandson, you know, the mortician that you dissed?”
“I didn’t diss him—” Lord save me from gossips who tried to use slang they were forty years too late for.
“Well, he was at that club last night and he told Betty that you danced very provocatively with several young men and went home draped over Cody. Betty, of course, thinks such behavior makes you a right hussy, but I say more power to you girl. You’re young and you ought to be enjoying as much cock as you can.”
I choked on some renegade saliva and nearly hacked up the breakfast Cody had fixed me. “It’s not what you think,” I said, gripping Norma Jane’s hand a bit more tightly than I should have. “Cody and I are…The truth is I don’t even like him very much.”
Norma Jane frowned and shook her head. “I hope you’re lying to seem more ladylike, Carrie Harrison.”
“But I’m not,” I said. “I would tell you if I was in a relationship. Cody just helped me out last night.”
“That will not do,” she muttered. She pulled her hand from mine and pursed her lips in thought. “I will have to make some more calls.” I stared after her as she walked away, a sinking feeling of dread immobilizing me for a moment.
I looked over at Lance, who was still laughing at me, the rat bastard. “What is she talking about? Who is she going to call?”
Lance wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I’m sure I have no idea. She’s probably senile.” He pretended to be busy handing out bulletins and straightening the table inside the vestibule but I knew he was lying to me. I also knew I’d get nothing out of him. The man was like a bank vault when it came to secrets.
I finished handing out the bulletins. Before I went to take my seat with the kids, Lance wrapped an arm around my shoulders and looked over at them. “Everything okay, there?” he asked.
“I have no idea. I’ll call you later.”
Kayla smiled at me when I sat next to her. Jenny climbed into her lap, rested her head on Kayla’s chest, and stuck her thumb in her mouth. Kayla pressed a kiss to the top of the little girl’s head. Simon was sitting up straight on the other side of Kayla, watching as the acolytes took their seats and the service began. They all looked so young and so weary, and my heart ached. What was going on at home? How much of a mother’s role was Kayla taking on? She was just fifteen and she was bright and ambitious, but she also seemed sad and lonely.
By the time the service had ended, Jenny was fast asleep on Kayla’s chest. “Would you like me to take her?” I asked. “I can carry her to the car.”
Kayla forced a smiled. “She’ll freak out if she wakes up and doesn’t see me, I’ll take her.”
I led the kids to my car and Simon jumped into the back. Kayla woke Jenny up before she slid her into the back seat, and sat next to me in the front passenger seat. “Can I take y’all to lunch?” I asked. “Or would you rather go home?”
“I’m hungry,” Simon whined from the back seat.
“We have food at home,” Kayla said, her voice firm, though soft and sad.
“No, we don’t,” Simon said, his whine taking on a hard edge. “I’m tired of noodles.”
Kayla spun in her seat and glared at her brother. “We’ve imposed on Miss Harrison enough, Simon.”
“I’m hungry, too,” Jenny said, her voice small but insistent. “I want real food.”
“Noodles are real food,” Kayla said. “Dad’s home from work and he wants us home.”
I knew better than to argue with a parent’s orders and so did Simon and Jenny, apparently, because aside from a few mutters and grumbles, they quieted down. “How about we just go through the drive-through?” I said. “I’m starving myself.”
Kayla gave me a small nod, though her eyes were dark with emotions I could only guess at. “That would be nice. Thank you, Miss Harrison.”
I took them to my favorite fast food place. Kayla tried to pretend she only wanted an order of fries, but Jenny and Simon had no qualms about speaking up and requesting half the menu. I got a cheeseburger for Kayla and milk shakes all around. My car would be an absolute mess by the time I got them home, but it was worth it when I saw the smiles on Simon and Jenny’s faces and watched them dig in to their meals.
Kayla didn’t eat, but clutched her food tight while she texted hurried messages on her phone. I wondered if she had a boyfriend I didn’t know about.
When I pulled into the driveway at her house, a man stepped immediately onto the concrete stoop at the front of their two-story house. The siding needed a good power-washing and it looked like the yard hadn’t been mowed in a couple of weeks, but the man on the stoop, though scarecrow thin, wore clean jeans and a button-down shirt that looked like it had been recently pressed. He grinned and waved. Kayla was out of the car before I’d put it in park. She raced to the stoop and pretty much shoved her father into the house. Then she turned and hollered for the kids.
Simon groaned. “She’s so bossy,” he said. But he got out of the car and plodded to the house. I got out of the car, hoping to talk to their father and get a better idea of what was going on, but Jenny leapt out of the car and threw her tiny arms around my waist. She held her milkshake in one hand and her bag of food in the other. “Thank you for lunch, Miss Harr’son.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” I peered into the car to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, but the bench seat in the back was spotless, not even a crumb or drop of milkshake in sight.
By the time I looked up, Jenny was running into the house, the door closing behind her.
I considered following her, knocking on the door, and asking to speak to their father, but I didn’t know what I’d say and the truth is all I had to say began and ended with the question, ‘what’s wrong in this house?’ Probably not the best way to get on his side and earn his confidence. I shook off my concerns. The only secret they were likely hiding was that money was tight and Kayla’s father had to work two jobs to support them. That would explain why he had hadn’t been home that morning and why Kayla got her sister from the bus. He was probably doing the best he could, and my prying do-gooder tendencies would be of no help to anyone.
I’d keep an eye on Kayla at school and be there if she needed me. That’s all I could do.
I went back to my quiet, comfortable house, I ate my take-out, and I worried about those kids with every tick of the clock on my kitchen wall.
I called Lance after I’d eaten and told him what I’d seen. “You did the right thing,” he said. “You made sure the kids were fed and safe. There’s nothing else you could do, so stop beating yourself up about it.”
“I’m not beating myself up about anything,” I lied.
He sighed. “I know you, Carrie. You suspect something is going on with Kayla and you want to fix it, but you can’t force everyone you care about to be happy. For all we know, she’s a typical teenager struggling with keeping up with fashion trends when money’s tight at home.”
“It’s more than that.”
“Yeah. Probably. But until she comes to you and tells you what’s going on, there’s nothing more you can do.” He paused. “Unless you have a good reason to suspect she or the other two are being abused.”
“No. You know I’d have told you if I’d seen anything like that. All physical signs indicate you’re right and they’re just very poor. It’s just…”
“Your intuition is telling you there’s more going on, but intuition isn’t enough of a reason, Carrie, to intrude on someone’s life.”
“I know.”
It was a fact of life as a teacher that we saw things, things we felt were wrong. Freedoms that parents allowed kids that we felt were more than they could handle or parents who were too busy to know or care how many hours their kids were spending watching on-line porn or sexting or wearing clothes that exposed their children to the wrong kind of attention. None of that was right, but none of it was illegal, and interfering, telling a parent they were making a mistake, overstepped a boundary we were supposed to respect. I had to respect Kayla’s privacy and her father’s privacy unless I believed something truly dangerous or illegal was going on.
“I know you know,” Lance said. “And I know how hard it is to look the other way, to let it go. I also know what will take your mind off it.”
I groaned. “Don’t drag it out. Just tell me everything I did last night.”
“You were like a different woman,” he said. “A fun, crazy, uninhibited woman.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
And then he told me everything, not sparing a single detail. I hated and loved him simultaneously for his willingness to see me at my worst, report on it, and still love me. Apparently, I’d danced with Cody almost the entire rest of the night, except for one time when I escaped him and tried to dance with some guy Lance said looked like he was underage. Cody had saved me, but I’d escaped him again and climbed up on the bar top and danced alone. I’d been kicked out of the bar when I wouldn’t get down and Cody had taken me home. Lance didn’t know everything I’d said to Cody, but I’d apparently been all over him and told him he had great lips and beautiful muscles. I didn’t even like his muscles, they were too big and veiny and muscley. He was so not my type, but I’m afraid I gave him the message the night before that he’s exactly my type.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. I was an adult. I knew better than to behave that way. I should have known that the one night I tried to let loose and act my age, disaster would strike. I wasn’t just cursed when it came to guys, I was cursed period.
I dropped my head in my hands. “I’m going to become a recluse and only leave my house for work and a run every day. And gardening. I’m so bad at being young.”
“No, sweetie,” Lance said. “You drank a bit more than you should have, but you didn’t hurt anyone or anything. You had fun and it looked like Cody was having fun. Don’t feel bad about this and don’t abandon your plan to be young.”
“Maybe I’m just not made for fun.”
Lance, who was almost never serious, got serious. “You’ve had a lot of bad breaks, sugar, but everyone deserves fun. You more than most. Don’t give up on it, yet.”
CHAPTER SIX
Cody
Monday morning hit me like Thor’s hammer. I forced myself out of bed and out the door for my run, but I felt like I was running through black tar. I hadn’t slept for shit. My bed still smelled like Carrie and, every time I closed my eyes her naked body flashed in my mind like it was permanently tattooed there. I found myself out of bed and halfway to my front door to go see her three times and, every time, I had to stop myself and go back to my bed. I reminded myself that she was the kind of woman who wanted a relationship and, even if she didn’t leap out of my bed like I had the plague, even if she showed any signs of wanting me when she was sober, I wasn’t in the market for a serious relationship and I couldn’t just bang my neighbor and then pretend not to know her. That would be a dick move. I wasn’t saying I wasn’t a dick, but I was trying to be better.
My doorbell rang as I was finishing breakfast and my first thought was of Carrie. Instead, I found Mary Ellen on my porch. She was wearing slim slacks and a sheer blouse, her hair and make-up perfect, her body out of this world, and still my heart, and other parts of my anatomy, sunk to see her and not Carrie. I shook my head like I could shake off my obsession and Mary Ellen frowned.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m a few minutes early, but I can come back.” Her eyes raked over my body, before landing back on my face and I resisted the urge to cover myself. I hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt, yet, but at least I had on a pair of jeans. Was this how Carrie had felt when I’d ogled her naked body after her shower?
“I’m just running a bit behind,” I said. “Give me two minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”
Mary Ellen took a seat on my couch. I went back to my room and pulled on a t-shirt, my uniform these days. It was so much better than the suit and tie I’d had to wear every day when I’d been trying to please my father and work in the family business, but I’d put that suit and tie back on in a heartbeat if it gave me just five more minutes with him.
Mary Ellen stood when I walked back out. “Do you want your girlfriend to join us today?” she asked, her lips pursed.
I just stared at her, confused. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
She smiled. “I didn’t think so, but you know gossip. I just had to check.”
“What gossip?” A nasty rumor could get me run out of this town by townspeople waving pitchforks and rifles. I knew that from experience.
Mary Ellen waved her hand. “I don’t care for gossip myself, but folks are saying you went home with your neighbor the other night and that she stayed here until morning.”
A sour taste filled the back of my throat. Did people in this town have nothing better to do than talk about other people? “Why is anyone talking about me? How did anyone even notice in a town this size?”
Mary Ellen gave me a condescending smile. “The university makes us seem like a much bigger place than we are. There’s only one public high school and people take notice of a new guy moving to town and looking for property.”
Shit. I had a bad feeling this was all going to come back to bite me. “How many properties have you got for me today?”
“Just the one,” she said, her mouth turned down like she didn’t like my tone. That was okay, because I didn’t appreciate her not so subtle way of prying into my business. “Bartholomew Gregory has finally accepted that his grandkids aren’t interested in his land and he’s not in any shape to care for it. He’s going to move closer to town. His place is exactly what you’re looking for.”
Finally, some good news. “Great, take me to it.”
Twenty minutes later, Mary Ellen parked at the end of a winding driveway in front of a three-story, southern Gothic plantation house, with brick facing and two-story pillars. It had a large porch on the first floor and a wrap-around balcony on the second. It was in amazing condition and would be perfect as a bed and breakfast and focal point for events. The weeping willows and ancient oaks in the yard only added to its charm. “Do you want to see the house?” Mary Ellen asked, studying my reaction. “I would have thought you’d be more interested in the land.”
“I am. But there’s no way this place is within my budget. This house alone has got to be worth over a million dollars.”
“It only looks that way from the outside. Everything in that house dates backs to the early nineteen sixties when it was built to look like an older plantation home. The electric and the plumbing need to be updated or replaced and there’s a fair amount of damage to almost every room, because the roof has needed to be replaced for several years. The owner has only been living in three rooms and has kept the rest of the house shut off.”
That would take money to repair, but I could live in the same three rooms until I had a tasting room up and running and had some more money coming in. Not to mention, it would make a perfect bed and breakfast and save me the expense of building one. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s see the land.”
I expected to get back into the car, but Mary Ellen led me up a small rise where we could see acres and acres of cleared land spread out before us. “The owner’s family bred horses and raised beef cattle,” Mary Ellen said, “so they kept the land cleared. The owner let the business go after he got too old to keep it up any more, so there’s some brush grown up, but nothing you couldn’t clear in a couple of good weekends.”
I could see that Mary Ellen was right. Despite
her love of revealing clothes and gossip, she knew her business and she’d understood what I was looking for and given it to me. I’d have to get soil samples to make sure the land would support a vineyard, but everything else about it was perfect. “How much are we talking?”
“He’s asking more than you have, but only by about ten grand. I know he’s ready to get out of the house before it falls down around his ears and, just between you and me, he’s quite well off, so I think you could talk him down.”
“Do it.” I took the soil samples I needed, but it wouldn’t be the deciding factor. The land and the house were too good to pass up and I could buy my grapes elsewhere or purchase other land for a vineyard later. The views alone would attract tourists and wine lovers.
We walked back to her car and I signed the necessary paperwork. She put in the phone call while I listened. She talked a long time and told the owner exactly what I was planning to do with the land. She also told him my name, which I didn’t much care for, but it sounded like she knew him. She hung up and looked at me. “He wants to meet you. He says if we stay here, he’ll be back for lunch at the house and we can discuss the deal.”
My mouth dropped open in complete shock. “I’m paying you to negotiate with him.”
She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “Look, Cody. I’m going to be honest with you. Bart is my great-uncle and his sons, my cousins, are worried some kind of sick about him being out here in this big old house all alone. He was holding onto the property for his grandkids, but they don’t want it. Uncle Bart is very particular about who gets a hold of his land. He won’t sell it to you until he’s convinced you will use it in such a way that will benefit the town and not create a blight on our beautiful countryside.”
I just stared at her. I’d thought Catalpa Creek was a progressive, well-populated town, but she was acting like…Well, she wasn’t acting like a realtor ought to act. “You do understand that what you’re doing is highly irregular, right?”
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