The happiness, however, was quickly replaced with a new dread. In some ways, her next conversation would be harder. May Trenton tended to overreact about things, especially when it came to her surrogate granddaughter. She wasn’t going to like this new peace treaty. Not to mention, Carrie never knew who might be lurking around the Trenton home. She hadn’t seen Greg since the meeting. As far as she was concerned, she could go the rest of her life without seeing him again.
Googly-eyed.
As if she was thirteen.
The second May opened her door, she threw her arms around Carrie. It was the kind of hug that said, Where have you been? I’ve been so worried. Let me baby you.
“Hi, May,” Carrie said cheerfully. “How are you?”
“How are you?” May said back.
“Great.” Carrie scanned the house. All seemed quiet. “Where’s Mariah? Jenna said she had the boys today.”
“What do you mean, Jenna said?”
Oops.
May scowled so hard her wrinkles had wrinkles. “Tell me you haven’t been talking to Jenna. She and Jeff are horrible people. I still can’t believe Mariah took their boys today.”
“Now, May, be nice. Jenna’s having a really hard time. Jeff, too. You should see him. He looks as bad as Jenna does.”
“You saw Jeff?” May shrieked. “Carrie Lynne Ashworth, what in heaven’s name have you done?”
Carrie laughed. “Wow. You sound like my mom.”
“Carrie…”
There was no way she was letting May ruin her sunshine now. Carrie took her arm and led her into the kitchen. “I just fixed what needed to be fixed, but don’t worry about that. I’m here to ask for your help. I need some food—the goat meat, actually. And extra carrots if you have any.”
That distracted May. “Why, dear? Didn’t you get your allotment?”
“Yes, but…” Carrie winced. “I’m taking some to Jenna.”
May’s chin lifted. “Is that so? Well, we don’t have any. The goat meat is for emergencies, and the extra carrots are for something else.”
“Like what?” When May couldn’t come up with an excuse fast enough, Carrie put an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t go stubborn on me, May. Jenna is really sick. If she doesn’t get help soon, I worry about what will happen to her. I think that’s why Jeff got so out of hand on Thursday. This isn’t the time to threaten his family’s safety.”
“Don’t you dare defend him. It wouldn’t have mattered what was happening at home, he would have said the same things. I will never forgive him for what he said to you. Never!”
Carrie sighed deep and long. “Can you blame him? I was being selfish.”
“Carrie Lynne Ashworth, you stop that right now.”
“Wow,” Carrie said with a smile. “My full name twice in one day?”
May wasn’t about to be sidetracked. “You have every right to do what’s best for you. I should have let Gregory pop him one.”
That did it. Carrie burst out laughing. “Come on. This was my fight, not yours, and definitely not Greg’s. But the fight is over. Jeff and I made up, and there’s nothing you can do about it. So are you going to help me or not?”
* * * * *
Greg lowered another rock to Dylan, still mad he hadn’t thought to fortify the sides of the well before the rain started. Unwilling to make the same mistake twice, they were taking turns lining what remained of the walls before the next round of digging. It was hard to tell in knee-deep, muddy water, but Greg thought they’d dug close to five feet. They’d hit the sand level.
Nobody liked being stuck in that dark hole for long, especially covered in cold mud. They were lucky it was a warm day or they’d all end up with hypothermia. They needed a flashlight, which nobody had. Candles were asking for trouble when it was barely wide enough to fit a person and his shovel. Greg looked up at the sky, wondering if they could use mirrors to reflect the sun. All he knew was Carrie’s well was taking way too long.
Dylan’s arms barely reached ground level as he hefted the rock back out to Greg. “Nope. Too big.”
Greg went back to the pile in the woods. They had used up all the middle-sized rocks. Everything else was too big or too small. He found a large rock, hefted it up, and dropped it on a pointed one. The rock split in two. He grabbed both and headed back.
Halfway there, he stopped, spotting somebody coming around the side of Carrie’s house.
“Tell me that’s not Jeff,” Greg said.
The others looked up.
“Yeah,” Braden said. “That’s him.”
Greg dropped the rocks. “This’d better be good.”
Richard grabbed his arm before he could storm past. “Hey, keep it clean, alright?”
Greg looked down at the mud dripping from every part of him. “I think it’s a little late for that, don’t you?”
Before Greg even reached him, Jeff said, “Guess who just apologized.”
thirty-three
THOUGH MAY GRUMBLED THE entire time, Carrie ended up with a full basket of food. May even tossed in some extra cheese when she thought Carrie wasn’t looking.
“Do you want to come with me?” Carrie tried one last time.
“No,” May said. “I have to finish lunch before Gregory and Mariah come home.”
There was nothing left to finish. Carrie had made extra burgers, but she smiled anyway. “Suit yourself. Thanks for your help, May.”
May followed her to the door. “Carrie?” From her sullen expression, Carrie would have thought someone died. “I didn’t know my Gregory had a girl in North Carolina.”
Before Carrie could say it was fine, that it didn’t matter, and there was nothing going on between them anyway, May went on in a rush.
“He just didn’t tell me—although I can’t imagine that Nicole girl being anything compared to you. There’s not a girl in the world as sweet as you. Or as pretty. I mean, look at the way your hair glows. And your cute little figure. I don’t know what that boy is thinking! Every time I ask him, he says—”
“I have to go,” Carrie interrupted before her self-esteem took another hit. “Thanks for the food.”
* * * * *
Braden leaned over the hole. “There she goes again.”
“Help me up,” Greg said. “C’mon. Get me outta here!”
Braden grabbed one hand and Dylan the other. They heaved Greg up and out of the mud pit. Once Greg was free, he broke into a run. His shoes slogged in the grass, and his jeans weighed twenty pounds, leaving a trail of mud across Carrie’s lawn. But that’s not why the guys laughed. He was going to pay for this.
“Carrie!” he called, sloshing onto the street.
Either she didn’t hear him or chose to ignore him. She kept up her fast pace, passing both him and her yard.
“Hey, Carrie,” he tried again, catching up to her. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
She gave his appearance a once over, nodded, but kept up her fast pace down toward the cul-de-sac.
Falling in line next to her, Greg eyed her basket of food. He nearly lost his cool right there. He was half tempted to trip her and let Jeff’s food go sailing. Instead he said, “Mmm, somethin’ smells good. Where you headed?”
That did it. She stopped mid-stride and squinted up at him in the sun. “Do you need something, Greg?”
“Yeah.” Only he wasn’t sure where to start. There was a lot he wanted to say, about the meeting, about Jeff, but something told him she wouldn’t want him to. Still, he tried.
“Sorry about the meeting,” he offered.
“Don’t be,” she said dismissively. “It’s all worked out. What do you need?”
It’s all worked out. With four short words, his blood boiled. He knew only too well how she’d worked it out. But he focused on the question at hand.
“Terrell’s still gone,” he said, “and I figured somebody ought to check on him.”
Her light brows pulled down. “Why? Do you think something’s wrong? Sometimes it tak
es him a week to meet up with that guy, and then he has to wait for the supplies.”
“Probably not. With luck, he’s got a boatload of stuff and could just use some help cartin’ it back.”
Pausing, he scratched some dried mud from his cheek. “I’m goin’ tomorrow to find him and I, uh…” He paused, wondering if he was about to get a slap or a kiss. “I was hopin’ you’d go with me.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“I wanna find other clans along the way,” he added to sweeten the deal. “You, more than anybody else, know how badly we’ve gotta find a doctor. Richard said you’ve been to the other clans, so I figure you can show me the way.”
“I thought contacting other clans was outvoted.”
“It was,” he said.
She cocked her head to the side, throwing her honey-colored hair over a shoulder. “Does Richard know you’re doing this?”
He wiped his forehead. “Nope.”
“Does anyone?”
“You,” he said. “If we find a doctor, we’ll tell everybody else. If not, no harm done.”
She took this in a moment before shaking her head. “Why me? Can’t someone else show you the way?”
He pointed to Jenna’s food. “You’re motivated. Plus, I’ve got another idea for the clan, but I wanna run it past you first.”
Instead of jumping up and down at the prospect of being stuck alone with him for a day, she looked around the neighborhood as if searching for an escape.
“I don’t know, Greg. I’m supposed to help Kristina make cheese tomorrow, and I need to get the field ready for the early crops. Plus I have to teach school, and I want to take Little Jeffrey and Jonah again.”
A list of excuses. Weak ones at that. Not quite the reaction he expected considering what Jeff just told him. Regardless, Greg still needed her help. Not to mention, the curiosity was eating him alive.
“What about Jenna?” he said. “She needs a doctor.”
Carrie hugged the basket until her shoulders fell in defeat. “That takes priority, I guess. What time do you want to leave?”
“When are you up?”
“With the sun.”
“Me, too,” he said. “I’ll meet you outside after dawn.”
She nodded and started away from him, swiftly headed for the end of the cul-de-sac and the food’s final destination.
Jeff.
Greg’s fists clenched, one still burning. There was no way he was letting her deliver that package.
“You know,” he called, “Jeff was just at your house.”
His words brought her to a stop.
She turned slowly.
“Said he wanted to help with your well,” Greg went on, “though he, uh…couldn’t stay long.”
She broke into a wide smile. “Wow. That was nice of him.”
“Nice? Nice!” The small twig containing his temper snapped. “He told me what you said to him, Carrie. Every. Last. Word.”
She froze as she, no doubt, played their entire conversation over in her head. But it wasn’t until she realized what Greg meant that her cheeks flushed and she dropped her chin to hide behind her thick hair.
That upped his rage. She hadn’t shown her face since that meeting, and now Jeff just decimated her. Again. Jeff deserved everything Greg had done—and more.
Greg picked the easiest part first.
“Jeff said you’re givin’ Oliver another chance. Is that true?”
She nodded but didn’t look up.
“Why the sudden change of heart? It wouldn’t have anything to do with Jeff bullying you, would it?”
She shook her head.
“Right. You were dead set against Oliver before. What changed?”
Her blue eyes lifted, but not to him. She took in the bright neighborhood, awash in spring colors. “Someday I’m going to live in a place where what I say to one person doesn’t make it around the neighborhood before I can. Being a private person makes living in a clan like this…” She rubbed the basket without finishing.
There was probably a nicer way to broach the subject, but he couldn’t think of one.
“Do you want me to leave the clan, Carrie?” he asked.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Jeff’s convinced I’m distractin’ you from Oliver, but I don’t mind leavin’ if that’s what you need.” Especially now that his mom had Richard. Not that Greg had anywhere to go. He refused to go back to North Carolina. Ever. But maybe up north. Or out west to find his uncle.
He waited for a denial of her affections, a few lies, or even the less-benign twisting of the truth. What she had admitted to Jeff obviously hadn’t been meant for Greg’s ears, but her behavior toward Greg was impossibly contradictory. Several people, including her own little sister, confirmed she wasn’t interested in him. Jeff had just spewed a mouthful of lies, but if that was the case, why wasn’t she saying so?
For a long time, she stayed that way, eyes down, avoiding him. He wasn’t sure if she’d answer since his question had been direct. Then again, that’s how he’d always been with her.
Finally she met his gaze, although it took obvious effort. “If anyone should leave, Greg, it should be me. What I would give to be swallowed up in a big city like Chicago or somewhere with a few million people,” she added wistfully. “But…I can’t leave Zach and Amber, and this clan needs your ideas, so I’ll just have to make the best of what life has given me, which seems to be several slices of humble pie.”
She did it again. He expected a, What? I hate your guts! Or at least a barrage of excuses, yet she took it in stride. Which meant what?
Was Jeff right?
Was Carrie interested in him?
He was stuck on that intriguing question when she turned to leave. Toward Kovach’s.
“You’re still takin’ them food?” he called angrily.
She flashed him a curt smile. “None of your business.” And she decidedly walked away.
When Carrie returned five minutes later, she wasn’t smiling. In fact, she looked angrier than Greg had ever seen. And there was no question who she was angry at.
Dylan laughed. “Man, she’s going to kill you. I can’t wait to see this.”
“She should,” Richard added with a sharp look.
The rest of the guys laughed. Greg wasn’t about to indulge them in witnessing his slaughter. He ran up the hill, hoping to get out of earshot before Carrie started in.
She didn’t wait.
“What gives you the right to punch Jeff?” Carrie said.
Greg folded his arms. “He deserved it.”
“He was coming over to help me, Greg! This is my yard and my well.”
“In my book, he came three days too late. He didn’t deserve your apology, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why you gave it. He’s a jerk and a bully, and you never shoulda gone over there. From what Jeff said, he didn’t even apologize in return. Said he’d done nothin’ wrong, so what was there to apologize for.”
She threw her hands in the air. “Don’t you get it? Jeff coming here was his apology. That’s just the way he is.”
“Believe me,” Greg said darkly. “He wasn’t comin’ to apologize. He was comin’ to gloat.”
“So you decided to teach him a lesson by slugging him in the face?”
“Yep.”
Her blue eyes blazed, which only made his temper dig in. There’s gratitude for you. Jeff slandered her in front of and behind her back, and he got a hot meal. Greg defended her amidst digging her new well, and he was about to get a hot slap across the face.
“After everything you’d done for him, Carrie, everything you were doin’ that very minute for his wife, after every vile thing he’s said to your face and behind your back, I can’t believe you’re mad at me. You called him out about pimping you out, and the guy didn’t even flinch. Then the second you left his house, he ran over here to brag about how you, of all people, admitted to bein’ selfish. You, Carrie. Selfish. Then to top it off
, he had no problem tellin’ not just me, but every guy here, that you’re madly in love with me. Believe me,” Greg seethed, “Jeff deserved a lot more than a black eye.”
A few other guys nodded.
Carrie glanced over his shoulder, realizing they had eavesdroppers. The other guys suddenly went back to work, but her freckled face flushed with fury.
“I’m so sick of everyone butting into my life. Would everyone just leave me alone?” she yelled to the world.
“No.”
She whirled. “Excuse me?”
Greg knew he should bite his tongue—truce and all—but somebody had to say it.
“Look, Carrie, you once told my mom that this clan is a family, which means we watch out for each other like family. If Jeff had said all that to my little sister, I woulda done the same thing, if not worse. What’d you think your dad woulda done in my place? Sat back and let Jeff sell you off? Who next? Amber?”
She jerked back at the mention of her sister.
“Didn’t think so,” Greg said. “What happened to the whole, right being right regardless of the consequences?”
Her mouth dropped. “How did you know…? Amber!” she growled.
“You had every right to stick up for yourself against me and Jeff,” he said. “And for a second there, I thought you’d put us both in our place. But Jeff didn’t quit. He kept throwin’ punches, and you went down in the first round. Well I’m not lettin’ it happen again. I’m steppin’ into the ring now. Jeff’s gonna have to take his miserable life out on somebody else.”
“This isn’t your fight!” she said, throwing up her hands. “I can take care of myself just fine.”
“Really? ‘Cause last I checked you only take care of everybody else. Zach. My grandma. Jenna. Amber. You about took off my head when I overheard about Amber on the night of the raid. Or what about when you risked your life and my hand”—he flashed the scar on his palm—“to save Jeff’s stuff? When I see that Carrie stick up for herself, then I’ll back off.”
Her eyes flew to his hand, finally realizing what had happened to it. But that’s not why he kicked a dirt clod, sending it flying.
Citizens of Logan Pond Box Set Page 25
