Once in a Blue Moon

by Sharon Sala

  “I just need to tell you I’m fine, I’m leaving the mall, and I never made it inside.”

  There was a moment of silence, and then his voice changed.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  She was still rattled and breathless and didn’t realize she was skipping details.

  “I saw them get out of the van. They were wearing trench coats and holding onto them like there was something beneath…and then I saw them pull up the masks just before they went in the mall. I turned around and ran. I called 911 just as they started shooting. I’m in my car in the back of the lot, and I’m going home.”

  “Oh my God, baby… Are you telling me there is an active shooting happening in the mall?”

  “Yes! I can see people running out of the mall from all over. And the first police cars are coming. I am leaving the parking lot as we speak. I’ll let you know when I get home.”

  “If I call you again, you’ll answer your phone, right?”

  Cathy swallowed past the lump in her throat. That fear came from the fact that she hadn’t answered before when she was chasing down Gage Brewer.

  “I promise. I’ll never let a call from you go to voicemail again. I’m safe. I’m already a block away from the mall and heading home.”

  “Do you want to stay on the phone with me for a bit?” he asked.

  Cathy was shaking as she put the phone on speaker. “Yes, please.” And then she started crying. “Oh, Duke. People were Christmas shopping. Some will die today. They always do. Why is this happening?”

  “I don’t know, baby. But I’m selfish enough to be grateful to God you aren’t one of them. Take a deep breath and just drive. I’ll talk to you.”

  And so he did, starting with his and Jack’s childhood on the farm. Telling her about the time eating a whole quart of dill pickles got them out of a day of school. How they’d snuck down into the cellar and ate the whole quart between them, then didn’t tell their mom why they were sick and throwing up. She thought they were coming down with something and kept them home from school the next day.

  And the stories went on. By the time Cathy reached the outskirts of Blessings, she had calmed down enough to breathe without wanting to scream.

  “I’m driving into Blessings right now,” she said. “I feel sick. I don’t know whether it’s shock or the fact that I didn’t eat anything yet today. I think I’m going to go on to Granny’s and get a little food in me and see if it helps. Don’t mention anything about me being in any way involved in that shooting. It was a fluke that I was there, and let this just be between me and you, okay?”

  “Yes, sweetheart. Very okay. And just so you know…the police have taken down both shooters and rescue is on the scene. I’m sure your early report helped. Just think about that. I love you,” Duke said.

  “Love you, too,” Cathy said. “And thank you.”

  “Always,” Duke said, and hung up.

  She noticed the Christmas wreaths were all up now, hanging in place on the streetlights, and kept driving to Granny’s. She needed to displace the horrible emptiness she was feeling—to settle the ache of what she’d seen and heard, and maybe a little comfort food would do it.

  But when she went to get out and saw the bullet hole in her purse, her composure slipped. She almost got back in the car to go home, but she was feeling too light-headed and sick to drive. Hopefully, a little food would help this.

  The tables in Granny’s were filling up fast as Sully led the way to her table, but Ruby and Peanut were sitting at a table together, and when they saw her about to sit down alone, they waved.

  “Is Duke with you?” Ruby asked.

  “No, just me,” Cathy said.

  “Then come join us,” she said.

  “Yes…please do, and save me from talking about perms and hair tints,” Peanut said.

  “Sounds like a mercy mission to me,” Sully said, which made Cathy smile.

  The idea of not sitting alone was appealing.

  “Then yes, I’ll sit with them,” Cathy said.

  Sully seated her and left her menu.

  “We haven’t ordered yet,” Ruby said. “Today’s special is a pork chop, mashed potatoes and gravy, one side, and dessert.”

  “I think I’m going to go for breakfast food,” she said.

  Ruby kept eyeing Cathy’s hair, and finally reached out and touched it.

  “Forgive me, but you have the most beautiful head of hair I think I’ve ever seen. And it’s all you, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Born with this…curls and all.”

  “It’s gorgeous,” Ruby said. “My hair has been every shade on the spectrum at one time or another, but I consider it advertising my wares.”

  “My hair is sadly out of shape,” Cathy said. “I kept thinking I’d get down to your salon before Thanksgiving and never made it.”

  “I have two whole hours open this afternoon, or I wouldn’t be here eating lunch with my husband. If you have time when lunch is over, come back to the shop with me and I’ll fix you up.”

  “Really?” Cathy said. “I keep it all one length so I can at least keep it out of my face, but I am badly in need of a trim.”

  “Yes, really…and it will be a ‘Welcome to Blessings’ hairdo on me.”

  “Oh no, I’d want to pay,” Cathy said.

  Ruby leaned over and patted her hand. “Sugar, I think you’ve paid enough in your life for a while. Let me treat you. I do it for all the newcomers to Blessings, so don’t take it as charity.”

  “Then okay,” Cathy said. “I’ll be grateful.”

  About that time, two women came in and were seated next to them. To Cathy’s horror, their entire topic of conversation was the shooting at the mall.

  “Hey, Ruby. Did y’all hear about the shooting at the Savannah Mall this morning?”

  Ruby gasped. “No! You’re not serious?”

  “Yes, as a heart attack. It’s awful, just awful. People were shopping the leftover sales from Black Friday, and two men came in with automatic rifles and started shooting up the place. They say there’s dead people everywhere.”

  Cathy swallowed past the lump in her throat as their waitress finally appeared with their drinks and a basket of hot biscuits. She smiled at Cathy.

  “I saw you had joined them. Sully said to bring you some sweet tea.”

  “Thank you,” Cathy said, and took a quick sip, hoping to settle her stomach and her emotions.

  “We’re having the special,” Peanut said.

  “I just want biscuits and gravy,” Cathy said, and then reached for a biscuit and buttered it before taking a bite.

  By the time she’d eaten half of it, she was already feeling better and had zoned out of the conversation, just nodding now and then and pretending to follow it.

  When their food came, it gave her even more reason not to talk, and she ate without really tasting it, just concentrating on getting enough food in her belly to take away that empty feeling.

  The waitress swung back by with Ruby and Peanut’s dessert—little bowls of peach cobbler—and brought one for Cathy on the house.

  “Enjoy,” she said, and topped off their drinks.

  Cathy managed to eat just enough of it to be polite, and then excused herself to go to the ladies’ room while they were still eating.

  She made it inside before she came undone and cried until her eyes were almost as red as her hair. She knew they would notice. Hopefully, they would not remark about it.

  When she came out of the ladies’ room, Peanut and Ruby were waiting for her in the lobby.

  “Sully said your meal was on the house,” Ruby said. “Want to follow me to the shop?”

  Cathy nodded, then paused at the register on their way out.

  “Thank you for my meal,” she said.

  “You’re welcom
e,” Sully said. “Glad to have you.”

  Cathy got in her car and headed for the Curl Up and Dye.

  Peanut dropped Ruby off at the back of the salon.

  “Something’s wrong,” he said. “She seemed okay until they started talking about the shooting.”

  “I noticed,” Ruby said. “I’ll find out. Don’t worry. The hair salon is a better confessional than the one at the Catholic church.”

  Peanut smiled. “I know that’s the truth. I’ll see you at home tonight.”

  Ruby waved, then jumped out and went in the back just as Cathy walked in the front.

  “I’ve got her,” she said as Vera put down her sandwich and started to go greet Cathy. Ruby sailed past them, then led Cathy back. “Girls, this is Cathy Terry. Cathy, my stylists, Vesta and Vera Conklin, and manicurist, Mabel Jean Doolittle.”

  “It’s so nice to meet you,” Vesta said.

  “Ditto,” Vera said.

  “Welcome to Blessings,” Mabel Jean said.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” Cathy said.

  “Okay…introductions are over. Sit, child,” Ruby said.

  Cathy plopped down in the stylist chair at Ruby’s station, while the women finished eating their lunch.

  Ruby whipped out a cape and fastened it around Cathy’s neck, then turned her toward the mirror. When Cathy saw herself in the mirror, she kept thinking, But for the grace of God, I would be lying dead in a parking lot, not sitting here in this chair, and broke into tears again.

  Ruby put her arms around her.

  “What’s wrong, sugar? You’re among friends here, and whatever we hear in this place goes no further.”

  Cathy kept shaking her head and then wiping her eyes with the tissue Ruby gave her.

  “I’m sorry I’m making such a scene,” she said.

  “Are you sick?” Ruby asked. “Can I call someone for you?”

  “I was at the mall,” she said. “The shooters walked in just ahead of me. When I saw them pull up their masks and pull out their guns, I ran. They shot at me three times.” Then she pointed at her shoulder bag with the bullet hole hanging on a hook at Ruby’s station. “The only thing they hit was my purse. They turned around and ran inside, and I called 911.”

  “Oh my God!” Ruby said. “And all those two biddies did during lunch was drag out the gossip they’d heard about it. I’m so sorry.”

  “I just keep thinking about the gunshots I heard. I knew people were Christmas shopping, and I knew there were people dying. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

  Ruby just kept hugging her, then finally patted her on the shoulder.

  “Come with me to the shampoo station. A good scalp massage is relaxing. And you can tell me how you like to wear your hair after we get back in the chair.”

  Cathy got up and followed. When the warm water began flowing through her hair and onto her scalp, she closed her eyes.

  “It’s gonna be okay,” Ruby said.

  And by the time Ruby had her hair trimmed and styled, Cathy was feeling better.

  “Thank you for everything,” she said. “And thank you for not telling anyone. I’ve had enough drama in my life the last few weeks to last the rest of my life. I just don’t want to be attached to anything else…however random.”

  “We understand,” Ruby said. “Your story is safe with us. Go home and call that handsome boyfriend of yours. We all saw the video. We saw him come to your rescue in a most heroic way. I’m thinking he would be good for what ails you.”

  “Well, yes, there’s that,” Cathy said, and was smiling when she got in the car and went home.

  But once she got there, she showered, got into pajamas, and curled up on the sofa under a blanket. She wanted to watch TV, but every local station was covering the shooting, so she scanned her guide until she found a Disney movie and settled in to watch.

  She fell asleep in the middle of it, and when she woke up, there were tears on her cheeks. She wiped them away, then threw back her blanket and went into the kitchen to make coffee. Once it was done, she took a cup of it back into the living room and pulled the blanket back over her and changed the channel.

  It was almost dark when she heard a car pull up in her drive, and then she heard footsteps on her porch. She knew that stride, and was on her feet in seconds. She opened the door before Duke had time to knock.

  Even though the room was dark, he saw enough by the light of the television to know she’d been crying, and shut the door behind him as he walked in.

  “I don’t know why you’re here, but I’m glad,” she said.

  “I didn’t want you spending the night alone.”

  “You’re staying?” Cathy asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. In your bed, with you held tight in my arms.”

  “Oh, honey…thank you,” Cathy said.

  Duke took off his hat and coat. “I had to. You’re hurting, and I can’t think about you going through this alone.”

  “I have something to tell you, and you need to sit down,” Cathy said.

  Duke sat. Then listened to the tremor in her voice as she told him the rest of the story and tried not to react to the horror he was feeling. But he was shocked and shaken as he pulled her onto his lap. “I feel like I should never let you out of my sight again.”

  The weight of his arms around her was the safest feeling in the world.

  “I know things happened to me, but I realized something this evening as I was sitting here in the dark. I keep surviving them, because I’m still supposed to be here, with you.”

  “Thank you, God,” Duke whispered, then laid his cheek against the top of her head and just held her.

  They sat within the silence of the darkened house, staring through the curtains at the streetlights that had come on, and at the flashing Christmas lights on the house across the street.

  “You are the best Christmas present I’ll ever have,” Duke said.

  “It isn’t Christmas yet,” Cathy said. “In fact, it’s not quite December.”

  “Today was my Christmas. Just getting you home alive is all that matters. Have you eaten anything at all today?” he asked.

  “Biscuits and gravy at noon.”

  “Do you have ice cream?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Then we are having ice cream for supper. Get some socks on so your feet don’t get cold, and meet me in the kitchen.”

  And just like that, her world began to settle back into orbit. She ran down the hall to her bedroom as Duke got up and pulled shades and turned on lights, and then went into the kitchen.

  He took the ice cream from the freezer, then began digging through her refrigerator. By the time she got into the kitchen, he was in the act of building two sundaes. A three-scoop for him and a two-scoop for her.

  “In lieu of chocolate syrup, we have chocolate chips. And in lieu of nuts, we have granola. You also have honey, which is actually a good ice cream sauce, so pick your poison.”

  “I’ll have some of all of it,” Cathy said. “Light on the granola.”

  He spooned and he poured, and he sprinkled and he dipped until both sundaes were finished. Then he poked a spoon in each of them and carried them to the table where she was waiting…watching.

  Cathy took her first bite and then rolled her eyes. “My compliments to the chef, and I love the honey on ice cream. It’s turning into a kind of taffy from the cold.”

  Duke reached across the table and ran his finger down the side of her face.

  “Love you.”

  Cathy leaned into his touch. “Love you, too.”

  Chapter 18

  While life for some had ended that day, and families were still reeling in shock and in grief, Mary Cathleen Terry had survived. She didn’t know why, and it no longer mattered. She didn’t need a reason to be grateful she was
alive. And Duke’s presence in her life gave her the joy that had been missing.

  Making love to him this night was as life affirming as rolling over in the night and feeling his arm tighten ever so slightly to secure her again, even as he still slept.

  They woke to a slice of sunlight that had slipped through the bedroom curtains and made love again to celebrate the beginning of a brand-new day.

  In the aftermath, Duke still held her.

  “I don’t want to leave you,” he said.

  Cathy sighed. “But you have to. You have work to do, and I will find my own way through this day. Don’t make me afraid to be alone.”

  He hugged her. “You’re right, and I acknowledge I am overprotective.”

  “But it always comes from love, and that’s never bad,” Cathy said. “Do you want me to make breakfast?”

  “If I stay for that, then I will delay even more.”

  She smiled. “Understood, and I’m going to go to the Crown sometime today and get some chocolate syrup.”

  He laughed, then threw back the covers and got dressed while Cathy watched from beneath the covers, admiring the view…and then he was gone.

  She was too warm and comfortable to get dressed and go out for a morning run, so she settled for sweats and a cup of coffee to jump-start the day. It wasn’t until later that she went to the Crown and noticed the houses in town were being turned into winter wonderlands even though they were missing the snow.

  There were a few blow-up Santas that weaved and bobbed with the slightest breeze, and down the block, a sleigh and three little plastic reindeer in the act of taking flight perched precariously on a roof , while the Santa that went with them had been unceremoniously tied to the chimney. It looked more like he’d been taken hostage than that he was getting ready to climb down the chimney, but it was the thought that counted.

  She was enchanted with the displays and felt obligated to stop at the hardware store and get a few strands of Christmas lights to string along the edge of her porch. Then she added a big green wreath with a red bow, and a hook to hang it on her front door. She thought about getting a small artificial tree for inside her house and then decided not to, since she would be spending the day with the Talbots again, so she paid for her things and then headed to the Crown.