Sweet Carolina Morning

by Susan Schild

  Pretending to be listening to another group, Linny mentally crossed her fingers as the others seated around his table responded to him.

  Jessica cocked her head and looked at him like he was adorable. “Well, of course you need to smile and be sweetie-sweet, you big silly.”

  Linny tensed, waiting for the explosion, but Denny just flushed a dark red and tried to hide a chagrined smile.

  Jessica turned her hands palms up, as if it was obvious to everyone. “You’ve just been being Mr. Tough Guy Mechanic for so long that you never knew it was time to start acting nicer to people, and you need to.”

  Tina chimed in, running a hand through her crew cut. “You do. In your feedback your boss even said he wanted to promote you to running the whole shop if you can get better with customers. That’s a pretty big deal, Denny.” She gave him a matter-of-fact nod.

  Somebody else said to him, “You can do it, Denny.” From under her eyelashes, Linny stole a glance at Denny. He was shaking his head and looked flustered, but the corners of his mouth had turned up, and he sat straighter in his chair.

  Feeling a rush of vindication, Linny bit the inside of her lip to keep from grinning and cruised over to another table to listen in on them.

  * * *

  When the class ended, Linny handed each student a certificate of completion, and as they left the room, she shook hands with them and was warmed by their comments.

  Bob grasped both of her hands in his, his voice fervent as he thanked her. “You taught me things I can use to do the very best I can for Lush Lawns. It’s not just a job for me. I’m building a career there.”

  Over his shoulder, Linny watched Denny and the Spivey’s boys slip out the side door to avoid saying good-bye to her. What did she expect, for Denny, Wayne, and Ennis to tell her, “The information was most valuable and I’ll surely use it to improve my skills”? But as the wooden door closed softly behind them, Denny glanced back in through a glass panel in the door, caught her eye, and gave her a curt nod. She gave him a crooked smile and nodded back. Okay. She’d take it.

  * * *

  Late Tuesday afternoon Linny finished up smoothing Calm and Gleam to her springy hair before leaving for supper at Mama’s and glanced down at her phone yet again. Since Sunday she’d watched her phone as avidly as a teenaged girl, waiting for a text from a boy she had a crush on. She missed Jack terribly and hadn’t talked with him in forty-four hours.

  In this next phase of her new cool and breezy mode, Linny had decided to communicate with Jack just via text. If she talked to him, she might lose resolve and blurt out, “I’m playing hard to get.” She so missed his deep drawl that she’d listen to old voice mails from him. A half hour earlier she’d twice played back a message in which he’d asked her to pick up paper towels, kibble, and ketchup while she was at the grocery store. Linny shook her head. Pathetic. Disgusted with herself, she turned her phone off and slipped it into her purse.

  It was almost six o’clock. Linny lured Roy into his crate with a chicken-flavored dog cookie and slid shut the bolt. With one last look in the mirror to apply a slick of lipstick, she was off to the meet-and-greet supper with Mack. What in the world could Mama’s big surprise be? She couldn’t be announcing running off with Mack? When Linny had told her mother that she was marrying Jack so soon after she’d started dating him, Dottie had burst into happy tears and hugged her, saying, “Love has no timetable, sugar. You deserve to be happy.” Yikes. Maybe Mama was marrying Mack.

  She’d walk to Mama’s and work off her nervous energy. Carefully holding the dolled-up version of a box cake mix called Lolita’s Lovely Lemon Pound Cake she’d made that afternoon from a Fun Mom’s recipe, she’d thought about the quick phone conversation she’d had with Kate. Her sister had talked to Jerry and he’d said they needed to give Mack a chance. If Mack wasn’t a scoundrel, what was he like, and how would he and her mama be together? Daddy used to shoot Linny an exasperated eye roll when Mama chattered on too much, and with a pang of guilt, Linny recalled enjoying feeling like a coconspirator with him. She just hoped Mack was at least more respectful to her mother than Daddy had been.

  In the driveway she saw Mama’s Buick and a dark gray Jeep Grand Cherokee nosed up beside it. Hmm. Maybe this was a good sign. Conservative. Outdoorsy. No vanity plate that read CREALKLR. So far, so good.

  Kate’s Honda wheeled into the driveway, kicking up dust and coming to a bouncing halt. Linny stopped in her tracks, wide-eyed. Not Kate’s usual sedate, bordering on old ladyish style of driving. With her cloth shopping bag draped on her arm, her sister slammed the car door, stalked toward the house, and stopped abruptly. From the end of the driveway, Linny watched as her sister launched into a yoga-ish maneuver, lifting her arms slowly overhead, breathing like she was in labor, and moving her hands to a praying position over her heart. She’d neglected to take off the shopping bag and her purse, and they kept bumping against her rounded belly, but Kate didn’t seem to notice.

  “Hey there, sweets,” Linny called softly and edged toward her cautiously, the way Jack had taught her to approach a horse that might kick. She tilted her head and gazed at Kate. “What’s going on?”

  Kate’s eyes were stormy. “Jerry’s slipping back into his old workaholic ways.”

  “Is he?” Linny asked, genuinely surprised. He’d seemed like a changed man after Kate had had a come-to-Jesus talk with him a few months before and told him she refused to raise a baby with a workaholic Daddy. She patted her sister’s arm sympathetically. “Tell me.”

  Kate frowned and nodded. “He’s been getting home from work later and later, just like before, and it took me a while to notice because I’ve been so busy with teaching and getting ready for the baby. Just now, he announced—by text, the big chicken—that he’s going up to the mountains to meet with some richy-rich clients who want him to build them a fancy retirement house on a mountain. He’s leaving at four a.m. tomorrow morning to meet them in Waynesville.”

  “That’s near Asheville, right?” Linny asked. That was a good five hours away.

  “Yup,” Kate said crisply. “He’ll be gone two days. He’ll miss a Lamaze class, too.” Her voice was wobbling now, and she blinked, looking dangerously close to tears.

  Linny felt a flare of anger. She loved Jerry to pieces, but he was acting like a knucklehead. Couldn’t he see how much Kate needed him these days? Making a mental note to try to shake some sense into him if Kate couldn’t, Linny put an arm around her sister’s shoulders and gave them a squeeze. “Well, honey, sounds like he’s backsliding, but you got him to see the light last time. You can do it again.”

  “I shouldn’t have to,” she said stubbornly. “He’s so determined to be gone all the time or die early by neglecting his health, and I just can’t have it. I have the baby to consider.”

  “I know,” Linny said with a sympathetic look. Last time it had taken Kate packing a bag and staying at the Marriott downtown for a few days to get Jerry’s attention about his out-of-control work schedule.

  Kate hesitated for a moment and, looking steely-eyed, said, “I’ll do what I have to do.” Lifting her chin, she pushed back her shoulders and composed her face.

  Linny felt a wave of relief. Kate would go to the mat with him about his family needing to be a priority, and when she did, Jerry would come to his senses fast. Linking arms with her sister, Linny slowly walked her in the direction of the front door. “Now let’s see what Mr. Mack is really like. Maybe we’ll hook him up with electrodes and do one of those lie detector tests.”

  A smile played at the corner of Kate’s mouth.

  Linny went on, “And here’s a big question: What in the world is our retired-from-cooking Mama having for supper? Maybe she’ll buy takeout and try to make Mack think it’s homemade. Can’t you picture Mama pushing the empty Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket into the trash can and fluffing newspapers on top to hide the evidence?”

  Kate’s face had cleared and she smiled. “I can.”

  Linny
called out a hello and pulled open the door. A delicious aroma wafted toward them, and she raised a brow at her sister.

  As they walked toward the kitchen, Kate whispered, “Can takeout smell this good?”

  Linny shrugged, mystified.

  Standing in front of an open oven, Mama smiled cheerily and waved them into the kitchen with an oven-mitted hand. “Come in, sweet girls. Mack is in the other room. Curtis accidentally knocked over a table with that tail of his and Mack’s fixing it. The table, I mean.” She dimpled happily. “I love a man who’s handy.”

  Linny blinked. Daddy had been world-class handy, and look how that had turned out.

  Her mother pulled a succulent-looking glazed ham dotted with cloves from the oven and slid it onto the stovetop. On the back burners a pan of fried okra sizzled and sweet steam rose from a casserole dish of candied sweet potatoes.

  “Yum,” Kate said as she leaned in to hug her mother.

  Linny kissed Dottie and asked in a playful tone, “Mama, can it be that you actually cooked a meal from scratch?”

  Dottie eyed them over steamed-up glasses and said tartly, “I can still cook, girls. It just got to be an awful lot of bother to cook for just one person.”

  Linny flushed. She knew all too well how lonely if felt to cook for one after cooking for two. She leaned over and gave her mother another kiss. “Well, it smells divine.”

  Looking mollified, Dottie gave the okra a quick stir with a wooden spoon. “I’m about finished here. I’m just going to let this ham cool for a little bit and then we’ll eat.” She slipped the apron off her head and looped it on a hook in the pantry.

  Linny gazed at her mother. Dottie’s freshly set hair was a becoming ashy blond color instead of her usual pinkish shade. She wore a flattering, deep coral-colored sweater over her slacks. Her eyes were bright and her face was open. She looked about ten years younger than she used to. Was this all due to Mack? Linny wondered uneasily. “You look pretty, Mama,” she said quietly.

  Dottie colored. “I do?” she said in a disbelieving voice.

  “You do!” Kate said firmly.

  Always uncomfortable with a compliment, Dottie made a shooing motion with her hands. “You two girls go in there and chitchat with Mack. I’ll be in in just a minute.”

  Linny widened her eyes at Kate, and the two trudged into the other room.

  They’d only seen Mack on blurry Skype calls, and during one of those calls he’d been dressed as a TV millionaire for the costume party. Today Mack wore a plaid button-down flannel shirt and khaki slacks, and if he hadn’t had 170 pounds of dog curled up cozily on the tips of his loafers, he’d have looked like a normal older gentleman. He sat on the couch with a small end table lying on his lap. Between his knees was a bottle of Gorilla Glue and in his hands he held a tabletop joined together with a C-shaped clamp. He beamed at them. “So nice to see you girls. I’ve heard such fine things about you. I’d get up and shake your hands, but I’ve got to wait a few more minutes for the glue to dry . . .” He glanced at Curtis and shook his head helplessly.

  Coolly, Linny and Kate said their hellos and sat down on two wing chairs that flanked the couch. Linny eyed him, wanting to dislike the man on sight. She looked for a weak chin, eyes that wouldn’t meet hers, a fake smile, but came up with nothing. There was time, though.

  Cutrtis twitched in his sleep and gave a snuffling sigh. Mack explained, “Your mama watches that show with Cesar Millan, the dog-whispering fellow. She says Curtis needs a male as a confident father figure and wants him and me to bond. We’re bonding.” He gave a bemused smile and nodded his head at the drying tabletop.

  But Linny wasn’t going to be charmed. “Mack, tell us about yourself,” she said, sounding more like a bring-the-perp-to-his-knees CSI investigator than she’d intended. She glanced at Kate for help. Her sister’s leg was jiggling, one of her nervous tells.

  Kate jumped in, smoothing things over. “We hear you’re a dance instructor, Mack. That is so interesting.”

  “I am,” Mack said, slickly sliding the broken table from his lap to the floor without disturbing Curtis. “I get to travel, and I work with a great group of folks. It’s given me something to do since I retired. ”

  “Mama said you worked in a gas station,” Linny said.

  He cocked his head and smiled. “Well, in a way that’s right. I owned a propane business serving folks in Worth and Grayson counties. Our customers heated with gas, or used it for their grills or fireplaces.”

  “Ah,” Linny said, nodding. He wasn’t a penniless guy on the mooch, but still, she wasn’t ready to let go of her suspicions.

  Her mother walked in and clapped her hands together. “I’ve got an announcement. I’ve talked this over with Mack to make sure it’s a prudent idea, but we’ve decided it is.”

  Linny stopped breathing and felt her sister do the same. “What, Mama?”

  “I’m taking some of that money I won and doing something fun with it.” She beamed and tossed her hands in the air as though she was throwing confetti. “We’re taking a bus—”

  “A motor home,” Mack interjected, his voice mild.

  “—a motor home on a grand adventure road trip. It’ll just be us, the open road, and the US of A.” Dottie nodded so happily that the curls on either side of her face bounced.

  Linny’s thoughts careened around wildly. Her mother, the church lady who’d only been out of North Carolina once, was going on a road trip with a man she hardly knew? Her mouth gaped open, then she shut it.

  A long moment spun out.

  Kate pasted a smile on her face and croaked, “You and Mack are going on a grand adventure road trip in an RV?”

  Dottie’s eyebrows rose almost to her bangs and she put a hand on her heart. “Goodness, Kate. How do you ever come up with these ideas?” Dottie sent Mack an apologetic look and explained, “Ruby, Dessie, and I are going. Oh, Mack and Dessie’s scrap-metal man might catch a flight and visit with us at one or two of the places we stop along the way, but we’ll be mostly on our own. We each came up with a list of things we wanted to do while we were still young, and that’s what we’re going to do on this trip.” She intercepted the quick look Linny telegraphed to Kate and said evenly, “This may be news to you girls, but being in your fifties and sixties isn’t old. We aren’t going to sit in a senior citizens’ place and crochet and knit.”

  But Dottie loved to crochet and knit, Linny wanted to remind her, though she kept her mouth shut.

  “Of course you’re not old, Mama,” Kate said staunchly. “We just . . . we didn’t know about you wanting to . . . see the US of A,” she finished lamely.

  “I always wanted to travel, but your daddy never wanted to. He was a homebody. Just stayed at the farm or went down to the river.” Mama’s face darkened, probably picturing the Ava Gardner–looking woman Daddy took up with at the river. But she glanced at Mack and brightened. “Anyhow, Ruby wants to see Dollywood and Branson, Dessie wants to see Mount Rushmore, and I want to ride on the train that goes across Canada.” She looked at Mack for a prompt.

  “The Trans Canadian Railroad,” he said, crossing his legs and looking relaxed.

  “I didn’t know you wanted to see Canada,” Kate said, her eyes wide.

  “I loved Anne of Green Gables,” Dottie explained.

  “She thinks a lot of those Canadian Mounties, too,” Mack added drily.

  “They always get their man,” her mother said chirpily.

  Mack just shook his head and chuckled.

  “Who’s going to drive?” Linny asked pointedly. Her mother’s Buick was pockmarked with dents that Dottie swore were from people backing into it while she was innocently shopping at the Winn-Dixie. Linny winced inwardly, picturing her mother laughing gaily while at the wheel of a humungous juggernaut of a motor home barreling down the road, bouncing from one guardrail to another.

  “Ruby used to drive a bus all through high school, and Dessie and Del had a big old camper, so those girls are going to do the
driving.” She shrugged and gave them a mischievous smile. “If it turns out to be too much for them, we’ll just hire us a driver. That’s what money is for, girls.”

  Linny stared wonderingly at her mother. This from a woman who never went to the Winn-Dixie without a fat envelope of coupons and considered buying a new eyebrow pencil a splurge.

  But Kate broke into a delighted grin. “I’m proud of you, Mama. Taking this trip is the best idea! You’ve worked hard your whole life, and it’s time you did exactly what you want to do.” She gave Mack a level gaze. “If you had anything to do with Mama giving herself the OK to do this, I want to thank you.”

  Mack gave a modest shrug. “I didn’t do much. Your mama came to this herself.”

  Linny chimed in, a little late. “Good for you, Mama.” And it was good—a fabulous idea really. But why wasn’t she more thrilled for her mother? Linny wondered as she listened to Kate pepper Mama with questions and Mama burble answers back. Mack smiled benignly as he listened to them chatter. Besides the mental pictures of the motor home plunging over a cliff, and her worries about three sheltered women from Willow Hill, population 787, out and about in the US of A, Linny flushed guiltily, realizing that she was more than a tad envious. Her mother had the guts to go for what she wanted and Linny couldn’t even decide on a ring or a wedding date.

  * * *

  After supper Linny and Kate said their good-byes and walked out into the cool evening. “I’ll give you a lift home,” Kate offered.

  Linny climbed in the Honda and Kate drove the quarter mile down the road to Linny’s trailer. When they pulled in the driveway, the two sat in silence for a moment, both lost in thought.

  “Big changes for Mama,” Linny said.

  “I know. It’s mind-boggling,” Kate said softly and turned to Linny. “Mack is so good to her. I like him.”

  “Me too. I didn’t find a darned thing wrong with him, even though I was trying,” Linny said wryly. “I can’t get over how Mama’s changing. I never wanted her to spend the rest of her life reading Christian romance novels and yard saling and going to church all the time. But now she’s just going for it. Mama’s just full speed ahead.” Linny turned to her sister. “She’s got a passport, a beau or a friend or whatever he is, great girlfriends, the trip of a lifetime. . . .” She shook her head admiringly. “Mama’s living so fearlessly.”