Lainie watched Fayette as the congregation erupted in applause. She clapped politely with the others, but her face was expressionless. Les, however, was clearly ill at ease. He shook his head and grabbed Brother Parker by the shoulder to mutter something in his ear. Brother Parker raised his hand to quiet the congregation. “Les has something he’d like to say.”
The church fell silent again and Les cleared his throat.
“I appreciate it. I really do. I don’t deserve your kindness, but I appreciate it all the same.” He glanced at Brother Parker, who gave him an encouraging nod. “Brother Parker can tell you that I was planning to do this this morning even before . . .” He glanced at Fayette. “Even before Fayette came home. And to tell the truth, I thought maybe I should put it off for another day. You know, I didn’t want to cause more hurt than I already done. But Brother Parker told me that once you take the step to follow Jesus, well, the best thing is to tell folks as quick as you can, so here I am.”
He broke off for a long moment. When he spoke his voice was shaking with the effort to control tears. “I’m so sorry. I’ve messed up so many lives. Fayette’s, that boy in the hospital up in Albuquerque, and who knows how many I don’t even know about. Evelyn, for sure she didn’t deserve everything I’ve put her through. I wanted her to be here this morning so I could apologize in public, just like I’ve disgraced her in public all these years, but she has a bad headache.”
He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose. “Anyway, I know Jesus forgives me, but I need to ask your forgiveness too. I want you to know I haven’t touched a drop since Christmas Eve. I can’t promise I’ll never slip up again, but with your prayers and God’s help, I’m taking it a day at a time.” He stopped talking and looked out at the stunned faces. “Thank you.”
He tried to walk away, but Brother Parker took his arm. “Stay up here, Les. Your brothers and sisters want to welcome you to the family.”
Les turned to face the congregation. For a long moment no one moved. Les looked at Brother Parker and shifted his feet again. Lainie caught movement from the third row as Fayette pushed past Elizabeth. Elizabeth was right behind her, but Fayette was the first one to reach Les. She put both arms around him, and as the Church of Last Chance lined up down the center aisle to welcome him to the family, Lainie heard her murmur, “I forgive you with all my heart. Can you forgive me for taking so long to do it?”
25
Mmmm, smells good in here!” Fayette smiled at Lainie and gave Elizabeth a squeeze, and Lainie noticed again how happy she looked. “Hope I’m not late. I waited around so I could talk to Les a little bit after everyone left.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “No, you’re the first one here. Brother Parker and Ray should be here in a few minutes, and I’m not sure about Steven. He’s sort of his own man these days.” She pulled the pan of fried chicken out of the oven where it had been warming and turned up the heat for the biscuits. “How did things go with Les, or do you mind saying?”
Fayette dropped in a kitchen chair and propped her elbows on the table. “Good, I guess. I had no idea what he’d been putting himself through since Matthew’s accident. Of course, I knew he blamed himself, and part of me was glad, I’m ashamed to admit. I blamed him too, at first. But I’ve had people around me to help me see things different, and he’s just been going through the torments of you-know-where.”
Elizabeth nodded. “It hasn’t been easy for him. But Brother Parker’s been right beside him every step of the way.”
“Do I hear my name? I hope that means you’re calling me to dinner.” Brother Parker came in, followed by Ray. “I met this young man on the front walk. Hope you don’t mind if I brought him along.”
Elizabeth held up her cheek for Ray’s kiss. “Hello, honey. Thought we might see you in church this morning.”
Ray caught Lainie’s glance and rolled his eyes. “Yes, I hoped I’d make it, but I had some work I had to finish before I could come over this afternoon.”
Elizabeth’s voice was low but clear as she ushered everyone to the dining table. “Six days shall a man work, but on the seventh . . . Now, Pastor, you sit there at the head of the table. Fayette, you sit here.”
She went on assigning seats, and Ray bumped Lainie’s shoulder with his own. The message was clear: “Help me out here!” Lainie gave him her most innocent smile and took the seat Elizabeth indicated.
Steven didn’t come in until after dinner. He spoke to Elizabeth, Brother Parker, and Fayette, who were still seated at the dining room table discussing wedding plans, and came through to the kitchen where Ray and Lainie were doing dishes.
“Anything left over?” He stuck his head in the refrigerator and came up with a chicken wing. “Wings and backs. And all the cobbler’s gone. Thanks.”
“Sorry, bro.” Ray picked up a wet glass off the drain board and polished it with his dish towel. “If I had only known, I never would have taken the last drumstick. We haven’t seen much of you around here lately.”
Steven took a long drink of the glass of milk he poured for himself and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Is that supposed to be a dig?”
Ray shrugged. “All I’m saying is whether you’re up to speed or not, I’m out of here in ten days. If you want to make a go of the place, I’d suggest you show up.”
Lainie handed Ray a dripping plate. “What are the chances that Steven could take over this Friday? Fayette’s given me the day off. Maybe we could do something.”
Ray’s face lit up. “That sounds great. I don’t remember when I’ve taken a whole day off in the middle of the week.” He looked at Steven. “What do you think? Ready to try another solo run at the bar on Friday?”
Steven tore the last remnants of meat off the chicken bone with his teeth and threw the bone in the trash. “You should have thought of that before you hogged all the chicken.”
Ray bristled and opened his mouth to speak, but Lainie beat him to it. “Come on, don’t be a jerk. You’ve been telling me I need to get to Juarez for the day. This is my chance.”
“Wait a minute. Who said anything about Juarez? No way we’re going to Juarez.” Ray turned from the cupboard still holding the plate he was going to put there.
“Oh?” Lainie leaned against the counter and folded her arms. “Really. So where are we going?”
“I don’t know. There are lots of places we could go. It might be fun to pack a picnic and go out to the ranch and ride up into the hills. We could go up to Silver City and see some galleries. But Juarez is off the table. Don’t you read the papers? It’s a war zone.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t be such an old lady, Ray.” Steven perched on the kitchen table and plopped his feet on the seat of a chair, glancing into the dining room to check if Elizabeth could see him. “You know that’s all media hype. Bogeymen sell newspapers.”
Ray looked angrier than Lainie had ever seen him. “Some of those bogeymen were arrested between here and the border Tuesday, and a bunch more last month. This is serious. I know most of those poor fellas are just looking for a way to support their families, but there are some bad dudes out there.” He looked at Lainie. “Drop the idea. Pick someplace else, because we’re not going to Juarez.”
Lainie stared at him. No one told her what she could do. “Excuse me? Maybe you don’t want to go, but what makes you think you can order me around?”
Ray tried to backpedal. “Okay, I put that wrong. I should have said it’s just a really bad idea right now. Pick someplace else for us to go, and we’ll hit Juarez when things calm down. I’m just trying to take care of my girl.”
His smile was pleading but ineffective. Lainie’s voice was cold. “I’m a big girl, Ray. I can take care of myself just fine without your help. And I think I want to go to Juarez Friday. Are you going to take me? Because if you won’t, I’ll bet Steven will.”
“Sure, I’ll take you.” Steven had been following the conversation like a spectator at a tennis match. He grinned. “T
his whole thing is blown way out of proportion. You can stay out of trouble if you know what you’re doing.”
Lainie looked at Ray, willing him to change his mind. The angry set of his jaw was easy to ignore. The hurt in his eyes, not so much, but she was too mad to stop there. She turned a brittle smile on Steven. “All right then, what time do we leave?”
It hadn’t taken long after Ray left Sunday for doubt to start nibbling at her righteous indignation. She didn’t even like Steven all that much, and now here she was spending the only day off she’d had in months going to Juarez with him in a car he’d borrowed from Manny, while Ray . . . Well, what about Ray? Had she messed things up forever with Ray?
Steven turned up the radio. “This is a great song.” In another moment he was singing along and slapping the steering wheel in time with the music.
Lainie couldn’t help laughing at his falsetto. “You’ve got a really rotten voice, you know that?” Steven glared at her in mock umbrage but didn’t miss a note. “No, I mean it. You’re really bad.”
Steven continued to sing as if she hadn’t spoken, and the childlike exuberance of his voice coupled with the sunshine spilling down the rocky hillsides lifted her spirits. She even tried to harmonize with his ever-changing key.
They reached the outskirts of El Paso in late morning. Lainie’s breath came faster as they drove past the sprawling suburbs toward a skyline that loomed from the desert floor. She had never realized until now how much she missed the city. When they joined the line of cars to cross the bridge into Juarez, she was jazzed and ready to go.
“It doesn’t look like a war zone.” Lainie craned her neck and looked all around them.
Steven laughed. “Nope, I told you it was all hype.”
“Why are all those people walking across the bridge?”
“More weenies. They’re scared something might happen to their cars, or they’re afraid someone might pull a scam and they’ll wind up in jail.” He snorted in derision.
“That stuff never happens?”
“Not if you know your way around.” Steven grinned at her and eased onto the street. “And I know my way around.”
The day they spent in Juarez was everything Steven had promised. He parked the car, paid a kid to watch it for them, and took Lainie’s hand as he led her from shop to shop through streets filled with tourists. It seemed odd to have vendors calling after them and even following them down the street, but Steven spoke easily in Spanish and mostly waved them off. The first time someone asked if they wanted to get married and offered to help, he looked at Lainie in thoughtful consideration.
“What do you think? That would really shake them up back home. Want to go for it?”
Lainie’s mouth flopped open and shut before she gasped, “No!”
Steven laughed and squeezed her hand. “Chicken.”
When the sun disappeared behind the buildings and the shadows filled the streets, Lainie glanced at her watch. “Don’t you think we should be heading home? We have quite a drive ahead of us.”
“After dinner.” He steered her into a cantina where the music had already begun to pour out onto the streets. “This is one of the best places in town. You can’t come to Juarez and just pass it by.”
Lainie reluctantly allowed herself to be led inside. With the setting sun, her desire to be away from home had evaporated. The day had been fun, but it was over and time to go home.
Steven didn’t hide his annoyance when Lainie insisted they head for the car as soon as they finished their dinner. Clearly he had planned to continue their tour of Juarez’s nightlife, but this time Lainie was adamant.
“You told everyone we’d be home by bedtime, and that means Elizabeth will be waiting up. I don’t want her to worry.”
“Gran always worries. She’s as much of an old woman as Ray.” Steven put down his empty glass and signaled the waiter for another. Lainie stood up.
“I’m not even going to try to answer that, but we’re done here.” The waiter arrived with the fresh drink, and Lainie picked it up off the table and put it back on his tray. “No. The check, please.”
Confused, the waiter hesitated and looked from Lainie to Steven. Steven glowered and reached for his wallet. His irritated expression quickly changed to one of alarm as he jumped to his feet and began searching all his pockets.
“It’s gone. My wallet’s gone. I can’t believe it. It’s got to be somewhere.” He slapped all his pockets in turn.
The waiter’s expression changed from confused solicitation to hard suspicion. He wrote out the ticket, placed it on the table, and stood watching Steven do the missing wallet dance.
Finally convinced that his wallet wasn’t hiding from him, Steven dropped his hands to his side and stated the obvious. “Someone took my wallet.”
The waiter cleared his throat. “Señor . . .”
Lainie opened her purse. “I’ll take care of this. We need to get on the road.”
The car was waiting where they had left it and from a quick examination appeared to be in good shape. Lainie held out her hand.
“I’d better drive. Hand me the keys.”
Steven dropped them in her hand. “That’s right. I lost my driver’s license with my wallet.”
Lainie opened the driver’s side and got in. “Yeah, right. I’m worried about your driver’s license. All the tequila shots don’t mean a thing.”
The line of cars snaked slowly toward the border, and the butterflies in Lainie’s stomach started doing the Macarena. Something about having an officer stick his flashlight in your car and ask questions did things to your breathing—like stop it altogether.
The border crossing proceeded without a hitch. Lainie glanced at the instrument panel and merged onto the freeway.
“I hope we have enough gas to get us home. Paying your bar bill cleaned me out.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll pay you back for that. I’d pay you for a tank of gas too, if you want to put one on your credit card.”
“I don’t have any credit cards. We have two dollars in my wallet and whatever change you have in your pockets to get us home, so pray nothing else goes wrong.”
They came around a curve on the freeway to find traffic stopped and a sea of flashing red lights ahead. Lainie hit the brakes, praying the borrowed car had good ones, and brought the vehicle safely to a stop. She barely had enough time to breathe a sigh of relief, however, before the squealing of brakes suggested that the car behind them was not similarly equipped and the grinding thunk that threw them against their seat belts confirmed it.
“Are you all right?”
She turned her head. Her neck still worked. “I’m okay. You?”
“Yeah, I think so. Let’s hope the car came out okay too.”
The seat belt clasp still worked, and the door latch. Lainie slid out the barely opened door and stood by the car. The freeway resembled a parking lot as far as she could see both ahead and behind. The two cars appeared welded together in an accordion of mangled metal. Despair slid around her shoulders and pooled in her stomach. This car wasn’t going anywhere. She took a deep breath. Okay, I know I’m not going to spend the rest of my life standing here in traffic staring at a wrecked car. This will all get worked out somehow. She clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut to force back tears. I just wish I had the slightest clue how.
“Whoa. Lucky you were driving, huh?” Steven huffed into his cupped palm to check his breath and eyed the police officer making her way toward them. “This could have been bad.”
A half hour later, as they watched the tow truck hoist the car off the pavement, the officer handed them forms to sign. “Do you know anyone who could come get you?”
Steven, who had tried to keep his distance and had opened his mouth as little as possible, shook his head no. Lainie started to agree with him but stopped in midsentence.
“Wait, I do know someone.” She dug in her purse for her address book and flipped through the pages. “Hand me your phone and pray she’s
home.”
Steven handed it over. “I forgot to charge it before we left home, so it’s nearly dead. Where’s your phone, anyway?”
“Don’t have one.” She jabbed at the keypad and stared at the pavement until a grin crossed her face and she gave Steven a jubilant thumbs-up. “Lindsay? It’s Lainie. You’ll never guess where I am.”
26
She’ll be here in ten minutes.” Lainie handed the phone back to Steven. “You call home and tell them what’s going on while I finish up here. I’m supposed to open the Dip ’n’ Dine for Fayette tomorrow.”
Lindsay drove up as the tow truck eased its way back into traffic.
“I can’t believe it! Where have you been? We all thought you were dead or something. Nick was so worried when you just disappeared.”
Lainie ignored Steven’s raised eyebrows and his silently mouthed “Nick?” and climbed into the passenger seat beside Lindsay. “It’s a long story, and I just want to get off this stupid freeway. Can we go now?”
“Sure. Whatever you say.” Lindsay’s smile faded and she checked her rearview mirror.
Steven leaned forward from the backseat and thrust his hand between the seats. “I’m Steven. And I’ll be the one to thank you for coming to rescue us. Lainie’s still a little shaken up from the accident. She’ll come around in a little bit, maybe even introduce us.”
Lainie leaned her head against the headrest and closed her eyes. She didn’t have to see Steven’s dimple or his slow, lady-killer smile. She could hear them in his voice. She sighed. “Did you call home?”
“Yeah, left a message.”
“Who with?”
“Fayette. Isn’t she the one you were worried about?”
“Yes, and your grandmother, and Ray. All of them will be looking for us pretty soon.”
Welcome to Last Chance Page 21
