Carolina Mercy (A Southern Breeze Series Book 2)

by Regina Rudd Merrick

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Mom turned to go back in then turned. “Oh, and Charlotte, Lucy is coming over later to start movin’ stuff around. Tom, can you stay and help?”

  He drew in a deep breath. Thrown together yet again. He was almost getting used to having her around. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be your strong right arm.” And he would get to see Lucy again.

  “Very well then. I appreciate it.”

  “You’re more than welcome.”

  Lucy was beaming. There were close to fifty people at the shower, including Jared’s parents. Everyone was outside eating the sumptuous low-country supper she, Mary Ann, and Charly had put together: fried chicken, shrimp and grits, crab cakes, coleslaw, cornbread, and all of that topped off with a five-layer coconut cake with fruit salad, and pecan pies.

  “Y’all did great.” Tom had walked up on the porch behind Lucy while she was basking in the success of yet another event in Sarah’s honor.

  “Thank you, kind sir.” Her cheeks warmed at his proximity. “This was fun. And this house. It’s beautiful and cozy at the same time. I keep thanking your mother and sister for helping, but they seem to be having as much fun as I am.”

  “They are. It’s good for them to get to do this. A year ago, Mom wasn’t doing so well. She could see better than she can now, but she was down.”

  “She’s a great lady.”

  “She is. You would have loved my dad.” Tom leaned on the porch post and looked out over the crowd in the lengthening shadows underneath the bistro lighting he had strung between the porch posts and the live oak trees in the front yard.

  “I’m sure I would have.” Tears pricked as she looked up at him. He looked relaxed for once. She hadn’t seen him like this in a while. Since last summer, in fact. “When did he die?”

  “It will be two years in August.”

  “You never mentioned it last summer.” Finally, she had breached the “last summer” topic. What would he do with it?

  “It never came up. I guess it was still pretty fresh.” He grinned. “Not a good ice-breaker with a pretty girl you’ve just met.”

  She raised her lips in a smile. “True. I guess I didn’t tell you all my woes, either, did I?”

  “No. I didn’t know your mom had died when you were a child until Sarah told me. That had to be hard.”

  “It was, but I had Daddy. He worked hard so I wouldn’t know the difference. He was both Mom and Dad to me.” She gave him a half-smile. “Now I think about how lonely he must have been. It’s no wonder he was willing to do anything to get me to move back home after college.”

  They stood there, a little apart, listening to the chatter amongst the guests. A marshy, salty breeze whispered through, lifting her short blonde waves. She crossed her arms as if chilled.

  “Cold?” Tom frowned.

  She laughed. “Goodness no. It’s still 90 degrees. Somebody walking over my grave, I guess.” She smiled then sobered. “Charly told me your mom started going blind last summer.” She searched his face, looking for answers to unasked questions.

  He looked straight ahead and stood tall. “She did. The three of us went on a trip to the Smokies and Biltmore Estate, and it was while we were gone that she started having the headaches. She didn’t say much, but she didn’t feel right. When she went to the doctor, she got her diagnosis. It’s been downhill since.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Tom looked down at her, surprised.

  “Really, I am. I wish I had known.” She looked him full in the face.

  Timing was everything. As they stood there, staring at one another, Lucy was distracted by Charly’s voice. It was time to open presents.

  Gifts and people filled the living room and dining room of the old house. Mary Ann Livingston looked as happy as Tom had seen her in a long time. Charly and Lucy were in charge of making sure the gift opening went smoothly and that each gift was acknowledged promptly as details were documented for the later thank-you notes.

  He couldn’t help but smile at Lucy flitting from Sarah, to Charly, and to his mother. She fit in so well. Too well. She was in her element.

  As tissue paper, bows, and ribbons were collected into a large garbage bag, Charly stepped to the middle of the room.

  “If I could have your attention, please.” Talking continued.

  “People!” Lucy got their attention. “Charly’s got something to say, and y’all need to listen up or you won’t know what’s going on.” He had a feeling, by the look on Sarah’s face, that Lucy was using her ‘teacher voice,’ and it brought with it a laugh from the crowd.

  “Thank you, Lucy. I guess I need to start working on that, don’t I?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Sarah piped up. “For Lucy, it was natural.”

  “Ha. Ha. Better be good, or I’ll conveniently lose the ring come wedding day.” Lucy made a face at her best friend.

  “You wouldn’t,” Charly whispered to Lucy, her eyes round as saucers.

  “Of course not. I’ve worked too hard on this wedding to mess it up.” She winked back at Sarah and gestured to Charly to take the floor.

  “Okay, every good wedding shower needs three things: good food, presents, and games.” When she heard a groan, she held up her hands. “Hold on a minute. I promise not to embarrass anyone, and I promised my big brother we would not play spin-the-bottle.” She gave him a smart look.

  Lucy lifted a delicate brow at him. He could feel his face getting hotter and raised his hands in surrender.

  “The first game is a kissing game.” Hoots and whistles from the crowd had her holding up her hands. “No, not one where you actually get to kiss somebody. I know better.”

  “I would hope so, young lady.” Mom laughed.

  “Yes, ma’am. Now this game is different. It’s called ‘Worst Kiss, Best Kiss,’ so be thinking about what you want to share. Nothing graphic, please.”

  “Shall we start with the bride and groom?” Lucy gave Sarah a batting-eyelash look.

  Jared spoke up. “I think it’s only fair, don’t you, Pookey?” He pulled Sarah close to him as she gave him a bewildered, and slightly hostile, look.

  “Pookey?”

  He laughed out loud. “I’m trying out pet names.”

  “Well, you can stop with that one.” She shook her head. “Pookey, my foot.”

  Jared’s father raised his hand. “I don’t mind starting this off, if it’s all right with you, Charlotte.”

  “Why, Mr. Benton, I would love to have you volunteer.”

  “All right then. Worst kiss first.” He thought a few seconds. “I have to say my worst kiss was with my sweet wife.”

  “Conrad Benton!” His wife jabbed him with her elbow.

  “Now, Lizzie, hold on right there. Remember our second date?”

  She giggled like a schoolgirl. “I do. I guess I should say that’s my worst too. It so happened I had agreed to go out on a date with one of the cadets in my father’s unit, unbeknownst to me. Our first date was a dance, and we met at the rec hall. On our second date, we were on the front porch, Conrad leaned in for a kiss, and the front porch light came on. When my daddy said ‘ten hut, soldier,’ Conrad almost took my lips off when he straightened and saluted.”

  The room burst into laughter. Jared was flabbergasted. “Why have I never heard that story before?”

  “You weren’t old enough, son.” Conrad Benton gave his son a jaunty salute as they laughed together.

  The ice thoroughly broken, dating and kissing stories swirled around. Finally, it got to Tom. Great. That’s all I need. To have the whole community know my dating history.

  “Tom, you can’t get out of it. You’re the best man, after all,” Jared teased, but there was a glint in his eyes.

  Sarah nodded in agreement. “And Lucy will be next.” The engaged couple looked at one another and nodded in unison.

  “Fine. Okay . . . worst kiss. Seventh grade hayride, Jenny Adcock, braces on both parties. Get the picture?” Gro
ans all around.

  “What about best?” His baby sister had ended up next to him, and she slid her hand into the crook of his arm.

  He looked down at his sister, at the crowd, and after surveying the group, his eyes went straight to Lucy. “Best kiss. Last summer, Myrtle Beach boardwalk, Lucy Dixon. And no braces.”

  All eyes joined his as they looked at Lucy, waiting for her story. Would it match his? He wanted to look away from her, but he couldn’t. It seemed she was mesmerized, as well. Were there other people there?

  Finally, after chewing her bottom lip for a moment, she spoke. “Worst kiss. All of them except one. Best kiss? Last summer, Myrtle Beach boardwalk, Tom Livingston. Definitely no braces.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  September

  Saturday, the day of the agency-wide open house dawned to sunshine but with a hint of storm in the air. Charleston was under a hurricane warning, but it was predicted to stay south of Georgetown County.

  By 10:00, the starting time for the open houses, Sarah and Lucy were doing all they could to help out with limited experience.

  They were in the golf cart traveling between open-house homes in the Litchfield Plantation development, taking boxes of supplies back and forth to the different houses. As a realtor-in-training, Sarah couldn’t technically show houses, but she could make sure the licensed realtors had everything they needed to have a great showing. Flyers, business cards, shoe covers, restroom supplies, giveaways. All this was part of it.

  Sarah slowed the silent vehicle to a stop next to a Crown Victoria. Lucy didn’t know who it could be. When the window rolled down, a jolt rattled her heart. It was Tom. She hadn’t seen him since the wedding shower at his mother’s house, and she didn’t know how to talk to him for some reason.

  “‘Morning, Tom!” For today, anyway, anti-morning Sarah had turned into Little Mary Sunshine.

  “Sarah. Lucy, nice to see you.” Tom flickered a look her way and then looked at Sarah. “Y’all are keeping an eye on the weather, aren’t you?”

  Sarah held up a walkie-talkie. “We’re all connected, and all have our weather apps on standby. Do you think it will be bad later?”

  “It’s looking like it might be. Tropical storm watch south of here, and that could change pretty quickly. I’ll be in the area, and we’ve got everybody working this weekend. This would have to hit on Labor Day weekend.” Tom shook his head as he kept an eye on traffic around them. “Both of you be careful.”

  “We will. See ya, Tom.” Sarah waved and put the vehicle in gear. “Never seen you so quiet, Luce.”

  “Just don’t feel like talking, if you know what I mean.” She gave Sarah a look that did not bode well for a certain police detective. “I can’t keep up with him. He’s too changeable for me. One time I meet him and he seems interested in me and the next, he turns into Mr. Darcy and shows no emotion whatsoever.”

  “Ah, Mr. Darcy showed plenty in the end, didn’t he?” Sarah laughed.

  Lucy and Sarah had watched the PBS mini-series of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen more times than they could count. Mainly because of Mr. Darcy. And a young Colin Firth.

  Lucy sighed. “Yes, but I want a fairy tale like yours and Jared’s. One look and Cupid’s arrow had you both at the same time.”

  Sarah laughed. “It wasn’t quite that easy. At first I wondered if Jared was interested in me for my inheritance. I mean, it should have all been his, but Uncle Alex decided to leave my family the bulk of the business. I didn’t think I, a school teacher from Kentucky, was nearly enough woman for Jared.”

  Lucy snorted. “You’re nuts, you know that? Jared knew a good thing when he saw it. I would have thought, being friends with Jared, that Tom would have the same smarts when it comes to women.” She crossed her arms in what could almost be considered a pout.

  “Well, you are a good thing.”

  “Right? That’s never been in question, has it?” Lucy’s lips twitched in a smile, and a laugh gurgled up. “I’ve been working on that ‘walk humbly’ part.”

  “I can tell.”

  By 3:00, Sarah and Lucy were tired but pumped. The agents had shown houses to more people than the year before, possibly because of the rip currents and winds keeping beach-goers off the beach. Her phone buzzed as she drove the golf cart down the street of a development that had several homes to show.

  “Sarah here.” She answered as she surveyed the skies.

  “Hey, it’s Ron. Could you bring a box of shoe covers down to Beachside Bungalow? We’ve run out.”

  “I’m not surprised. That’s an awesome house. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “Thanks, Sarah. You’re a life saver.”

  Sarah sighed. It wasn’t exactly what she envisioned when she decided to go into real estate, but she was only half-way through her real estate licensing courses, so at this point she was a glorified go-fer. A gust of wind hit the vehicle and made her swerve. The weather wasn’t looking promising for the afternoon.

  “Hey, watch it there!” Lucy held on to the bar next to her seat.

  Sarah grimaced and concentrated on the road and the skies. “Sorry. That gust surprised me.”

  “Me too. There’s the supply truck. You stay here, and I’ll run out and get what you need.”

  Lucy sprinted to the truck and pulled out a box of shoe covers to take to the beach house that seemed to be the hit of the season. It was new and the star piece of property. Local designers had been sought to plan and decorate the interior and the landscaping. The shoe covers were designed to keep the floors in the pristine condition they were in when the open house started.

  As Sarah drove into the drive of Beachside Bungalow, her phone buzzed again, this time with a weather alert.

  “Luce, what does that say? I need both hands to drive.”

  “Yikes.” Lucy’s eyes rounded as she looked over at Sarah. “We were in a severe thunderstorm watch as a result of the impending Hurricane Rosa to the south, and now we’re under a tropical storm watch, one step away from a warning. Possible hurricane force winds. No kidding, huh?” The golf cart shuddered a little with the next gust.

  Jared was across town in another development. Sarah pressed Jared’s number, and he answered immediately.

  “Jared?”

  “Sarah, I got the weather alert. How does it look over there?”

  “The wind is getting up. The sun keeps peeking out.”

  “That’s not good. It makes the weather more unstable. I’m going to call the agents and tell them to close down early. Did you figure out your storm shutters at your house?”

  “I think so. As soon as we get the golf cart back to the office, I’ll run home and take care of it and pick up Oliver. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” Hearing the worry in his voice made her nervous, but she held it together. He had the weight of this entire event on his shoulders. As a partner, the least she could do would be to take care of a few things on her own.

  “Keep an eye out for the weather. I was afraid of this.”

  “I thought hurricanes were forecast weeks in advance?”

  “They are, but even if you’re not in the eye of the storm, it can wreak havoc with beachfront property and beyond. Tornadoes, lightning strikes, high winds. You name it, we could have it. Listen, if they call for an evacuation or for people to take shelter, get to the church. Promise?”

  Okay, this was getting scary. Having never lived through a hurricane, Sarah only knew what she had seen on television. Jared, on the other hand, had been here.

  “O-Okay. I’ll keep my eye on the sky, and my ear to the weather report.”

  “Good. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can. Call me when you get to your house.”

  “I will. Jared?” Her voice was shaking along with the rest of her.

  “Yes? Do you need something?” He was quick and to the point. Problem-solver mode.

  “I need you to be careful too.” She could feel nervous tears gathering.

  There was a pause. “Don’
t worry. I love you, Sarah.” His voice gentled.

  “I love you, too, Jared. See you soon.”

  They ended the conversation. Sarah stared at Jared’s picture on her phone for a second before another wind gust threatened to blow them out of the golf cart. Time to get to the office and batten down the hatches both there and at her house. No time to linger.

  Jared surveyed the churning clouds as he drove from north of where Sarah had called him. The weather report had not improved. North of Georgetown, across the river, they had been included in a tropical storm warning, which meant the probability of Pawley’s Island being threatened was imminent.

  The open house signs had been stacked in the back of various SUVs, and he got word the storm shutters on the office had been closed, thanks to Sarah getting there ahead of most of the veterans. She should have gone straight to her house. He was more worried about her than the office.

  Traffic was getting heavy going away from the storm but light headed south, as he was. Not a good sign. Cell phones were getting spotty. He had tried to reach Sarah’s phone several times, to no avail. Too many calls.

  Jared slowed as Tom flashed the headlights on his unmarked cruiser, and they met side by side as the rain began.

  “Where are you headed? We’re trying to get everyone to safety, and here you are going the opposite direction of where you should be.”

  “I wanted to check the new house. It’s close to the office and shouldn’t take a minute.” When the weather notification on his phone signaled, he looked down briefly and saw the word “Warning” before it went out. Severe thunderstorm? Tropical storm? He would have time to check on Beachside Bungalow, and head to Sarah and safety.

  “Okay, but be quick. We’re under a warning now. High-level tropical storm.”

  “Thanks, Bud. My phone died.”

  “Yeah, my cell did too. Probably a wind gust got a cell tower.”

  “Great. I’ll get to the church as quick as I can. I told Sarah I’d meet her there.”