Since Last Time

by Danes, Ellie

  It was odd that Taylor wasn’t there. I turned, looking for her, and found the crotchety funeral director giving me an evil eye.

  He said, “It’s for family only right now. You need to come back.”

  “I am family.”

  Everyone at the casket turned to see me. The funeral director looked to Eric. Eric took a step forward. The girls shared glances back and forth between Eric and me, like a tennis match no one wanted to attend.

  Peggy stepped forward. “Frank, it’s okay. Boyo, it’s about time you got here!”

  She didn’t say I was family, but it was a step toward leaving the past where it belonged.

  Eric and the girl looked at each other.

  Peggy came over and gave me a hug. “Missed you!”

  Eric walked down the aisle, halting in front of me, taking my measure. “It’s good to see you, Dalton. I was wondering if you might show up.”

  I stepped forward, meeting him halfway. “Eric, I’m here to pay my respects to Pops. I’m not expecting anything else.”

  Eric nodded. Then, he cocked his head and did an amazing thing. He smiled at me. “You did me a favor, it turns out.”

  “I heard around the grapevine. George Harris.”

  “Yeah, The Third.”

  “He was such a douche.”

  “Still is.”

  There was a pause.

  “Damn, I missed you, Dalton.”

  “Same.”

  A span of two blinks occurred, and Eric scanned my suit and demeanor, sizing me up.

  “Just hug, damn it,” said Kris.

  Eric and I laughed at the same time, and time slipped away. I gave him my hand, and he grabbed me up my arm, brother to brother.

  “Kris, is that you?”

  Kris ran over and hugged the hell out of me. I glanced around.

  “Where’s Taylor?”

  Eric and Kris laughed.

  The gorgeous curly-haired woman waved. My jaw dropped, and I closed it quickly before I felt even stupider than I looked. That amazing woman was my Taylor?

  I walked over to her as she stood there by the coffin. The air around us vibrated as I stopped within touching distance of the woman whose face had haunted me over the years. Everyone else faded into the background.

  “Forgive me. You’ve grown up.”

  Taylor stood a little taller. “Happens when someone goes away and doesn’t come back. People grow up, change.”

  Her eyes hypnotized me, and I blinked.

  “I would know those eyes anywhere. I’ve dreamed of them.”

  At the clearing of a throat, I turned around to see Kris grinning at me. I stepped away from Taylor, and Kris rolled her eyes.

  Eric walked over and thought we were talking about Pops. “Do you need a moment?”

  I glanced down at the casket. “If you wouldn’t mind.”

  They all took a discreet step backward, and I walked forward and touched my friend’s hand. My eyes welled up.

  “I’m here, Pops. I don’t know what you planned with this, but I’m here. I kept my promises. Thank you. You know what for. I wouldn’t have made it without you.” I squeezed his cold hand. “Goodbye, Pops.”

  I stepped back and took a couple of deep breaths before I turned to the others. About this time, the door opened, and people arrived for the service. Eric, Taylor, and Kris took their seats in the front and as I headed for a different pew, Eric shook his head and motioned me over next to him.

  As folks came in, there was a murmuring as they turned to each other and asked, “Is that Dalton Dobbins?” I felt like getting up and walking out. The focus shouldn’t be on me; it should be on Pops, the man who had given his all to this community, who always had his finger on the pulse of the town.

  Eric leaned over. “I appreciate you coming back. You here for a while?”

  I looked beyond him to Taylor, who was doing her best not to look at me. But a man can tell, especially when I caught her doing it and her ears pinked.

  I looked back at Eric. “I don’t know. I have some business in the area, so I could be here a few weeks.”

  Eric nodded. “We can talk later at the wake.”

  The service was beautiful and dignified. Eric and Taylor said their goodbyes publicly. Peggy – who looked awesome for a woman her age – spoke thickly in her brogue about what a wonderful friend he was. Business people, even rival bar owners, talked about what a force Pops was and how he inspired them, never afraid of competition, but encouraged them to reach their dreams.

  Finally, it was my turn. I made my way up to the podium, my hands moist. I turned around, and I could feel Taylor and Eric’s gazes on me.

  “Many of you may know me. My name is Dalton Dobbins. As a kid, there was no place that felt like home except The Boar and Brew. It was the place I could go to and have a fatherly talk. You never felt that because you were on the wrong side of the tracks, that you were wrong. Pops took me under his wing and helped my mom and me in so many ways. After she passed when I was in college, he offered me a job. It changed me.”

  I took a breath. “The last nine years have been the hardest and most challenging of my life. If I didn’t have Pops to talk with me, mentor me, and be the father I never had, I wouldn’t be the man I am today.”

  I saw Eric and Taylor look at each other and mouth “talk to” before I turned to the casket. “Thank you, Pops.”

  I walked down the aisle and out of the church.

  Chapter Five

  Taylor

  I talked with most of the people who came to pay their respects, friends of my dad’s forever. It wasn’t just the men who came to the bar to talk. Pops helped keep marriages together or not, doling out his wisdom like candy. His quiet but deep voice helped with that persona, and he genuinely cared. I wiped my moist hands on my dress. Early summer humidity. One of the things I didn’t like about North Carolina. It didn’t help that my curls frizzed up, and I was desperate to get my ponytail back in.

  My eyes went out to the limo in front and the man who had troubled my dreams for years. Taking a deep breath, I said thank you to the last woman, hugged her, walked down the steps from the funeral home, and marched right over to him. Man, he still looked fantastic. He had his jacket over his arm now and the shirt suit seemed to have been molded to his chest in the heat. Now that was one of the pluses of North Carolina humidity. I couldn’t believe my dad had continued to talk to him over the years without ever letting us know. Forbidding me to talk to him, but he could? Not that I had listened, per se, but I didn’t understand it, and it hurt my feelings that Pops kept that from us.

  “I didn’t have much of a chance to say hi. Will you be at the graveside?” I asked.

  Dalton smiled at me. Of course, he would have perfect white teeth. He didn’t answer right away, as if he debated what to say to me. “Do you want me to be? I planned on talking to you alone without an audience.”

  My cheeks heated up. I couldn’t even form words after he said that.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. Can I give you lift?” He motioned to the black limo.

  I shrugged. It was an interesting choice to bring to a funeral. Never been in a limo. Even for prom. Kris and I went stag and drove up on her first cycle for our senior prom. Our dresses were all blowing in our face. Fun times.

  “I guess. A bit over the top, don’t you think?”

  Dalton didn’t have time to respond before Eric finished up shaking all the hands of Asheville and strolled over.

  “Nice ride, man.”

  “Need a lift?” asked Dalton.

  “Nah, I’m going to ride my bike and clear my head. I’ll meet you there. Kris, you riding, or going with Dalton?”

  She gave her answer by grabbing her helmet off her bike and putting it on. Eric gave her a little bump on her shoulder on his way to his bike. I shook my head. He really was oblivious to her feelings and his own. I may need to start giving him a nudge. But what did I know about love? I had let Joe go, and he was the only one I had
dated for the last five years.

  Dalton motioned to the limo, and I got in. It was pretty swanky and had a little minibar. He didn’t spare any expense. He put his suit jacket back on and sat across from me. The chauffeur shut the door and for the first time in nine long years, I was alone with Dalton. Our knees touched, and I felt a pop in my soul like a music box that’s lock had been pressed, opened, and the ballerina was free to dance.

  He cleared his throat. “I think I’ll be spending the day apologizing to everyone. That includes you most of all.”

  I looked out the window, watching gravestones pass, not quite sure how I wanted to reply. I was glad that the air conditioning started humming to give me time to think. “Why would you need to apologize to me?”

  “Because of how I left it with you.”

  “I figured I meant nothing to you. You kissed me, left, never saying goodbye or calling Eric or me in what… nine years? Then there’s the fact that I found out about Courtney and couldn’t ask what the hell was going on. Anything so I could help Eric get through. Do you know humiliated I felt? Even if no one else knew, I knew. It was my first kiss, Dalton!” I sounded like a fish wife.

  Dalton leaned back in the seat and sighed. He opened the mini bar. “Would you like a drink?”

  “It’s just after noon!”

  “Says the girl whose father owned a bar. I need one.”

  He looked away, eyes down, almost too nervous to look back. Shit, I feel like a shrew.

  “You got a point.”

  Dalton looked up and smiled at me. My heart skipped a couple of beats.

  “Kraken and coke?”

  I crooked my head. “Really?”

  “Long memory. Made them for you behind Pops’ back.”

  “The limo company stocked that?”

  “I hoped I would have some time with you alone and made sure they had it in the little bar.”

  I laughed. “I think he knew. He would shake the Kraken bottle and look at me every now and then.”

  “You could never hide anything from him. Your face reads like a book.”

  I sighed and nodded. “I could never get away with anything with a face like mine.” I put my index finger by my mouth and smiled then put my hand down and looked back at the trees lining the road.

  “How are you, Taylor?”

  Even how he said my name brought a heat to my body. I didn’t answer him. He didn’t get to ask me how I was.

  He finished making the drinks and handed me mine as we traveled down the road to wish Pops a good rest at his final place next to my mom.

  I wanted to be the one in charge, the one who had answers, and I asked the question foremost on my mind after taking a few good breaths and a hefty swallow of alcohol.

  “Why Courtney? Did you hate me that much? Did I mean that little to you?”

  Dalton coughed on his drink. He spilled some and wiped it off his custom-made black suit. “Right to the point then.” He took a large swallow of what looked like whiskey. “No, I was angry, and I sought comfort where comfort could be found. Courtney had been after me for a while, and I was impulsive and stupid. When Pops caught us…”

  My eyes widened as I looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean, Pops caught us?”

  “Exactly what I said. He saw me kiss you and told me I had to leave. He sent me as far away from his little girl as he could get me. Los Angeles. Not only to put some space between us, but that’s where I was going to get my master’s degree. I just went there early.”

  He paused and took a sip of his drink. “He didn’t want you to have your head messed up before you went to college. He had big dreams for you and from what he told me, you made him proud.”

  I turned back to the window. “Sounds like something he would do.”

  “So, I was mad and stomped off to the bar. Eric was busy, so I went out to have a smoke, and Courtney followed me out. Like she would do all the time. Normally, I would just go back in the bar, but this time, when she sauntered up to me and rubbed my arm, it was a moment of weakness I have regretted ever since. When it got back to Pops, he called me in L.A. said he would help me with college, but it would be better if I didn’t come back for a while. He told me to cool my heels there and get my head on straight. If I came back, he wouldn’t help pay for it.”

  Dalton stared at the beautiful mountains as the limo drove up the curving road. The view was beautiful. This cemetery was a bit farther from town, but Pops had wanted Mom to be able to have a great view and to lay with her later when it was his time to rest.

  “I miss it here,” he said.

  He leaned forward, close enough that I could smell his distinctive masculine musk. I remembered it from our time in the kitchen, and I swear I could smell it in my dreams. I felt wetness start between my legs, despite all the years of not seeing him, and only sharing that one single kiss. I shifted in my seat. Dalton touched my knees and just before I could lean in closer to him, mesmerized by those sky-blue eyes, the car stopped. I immediately sat back in my seat, embarrassed.

  The driver came around and opened the door. “We’re here, sir.”

  “Thank you,” Dalton said.

  He got out first and leaned back for my hand. His grasp warmed my entire body from head to toe. I wanted to feel anger at him, not this barrage of feelings. I couldn’t control what was happening and didn’t know why my own body was betraying me. I didn’t like that at all.

  We arrived about the same time as Eric and Kris. I wanted to look anywhere but at Dalton, and I could feel his eyes on me. Kris stopped and kicked her bike stand down. As she got off the bike, she stood up abruptly as she was putting her helmet on the bike. She lowered it slowly onto the seat. I followed her sight line and saw the last person we wanted to see.

  “Holy shit,” said Kris as I walked over to her.

  Her comment made Eric stop putting his helmet up. He looked over at Kris and swiveled to see what the problem was. Courtney. And George Harris, The Third.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” said Eric.

  Kris and Eric shared a look. He smiled at her, and I could almost see her melt like milk chocolate. She really should ask him out for coffee. Maybe more. I shook my thoughts away from matchmaking. If I couldn’t make my relationship with Joe work and had steadily watched it crumble, I really had no business helping others in their romantic entanglements.

  “It’s fine, Kris. You know she does come into the bar with her friends and George. I long ago gave up harboring any grudges toward her. What would be the point? And they spend a lot of money on alcohol.” Erik started walking toward the cemetery.

  “What in the hell is Courtney doing here, Taylor? It’s not like she spent any time with Pops. I don’t think she even knows how to care. Has the empathy of a toad.” Kris pointed at her.

  I pushed her arm back down. “I like toads. Don’t give them a bad name.”

  “Seriously, that woman only likes to cause drama. The grapevine moves fast here in the hicks. People’s digits were probably burning up the Twitterverse. Someone must have told her Dalton was back in town, and she came out to see for herself. Being married doesn’t seem to have stopped her from sleeping with anyone she wanted. And you know what she wanted the last time Dalton was in town,” Kris continued.

  Dalton cleared his throat. “I’m right here, and I’ve grown up a bit since then.”

  Kris hmphed at him. “We’ll see.”

  I laughed to myself. Kris never stopped standing up for our family. A blow to us was a blow to her. Loyal to a fault, that girl. She helped Eric during that time. Kris spent more time at the bar than I did, just giving Eric a listening ear.

  Dalton caught up to Eric, and they started walking to the gravesite.

  Kris hung back. “Come on now. How was the ride? Did you experience that kiss all over again?”

  I gave her a dirty look. She knew all about that night. “Did you know Pops caught us kissing in the kitchen and told Dalton to leave?”

  “What? I
s that what Dalton said? Holy shit, and I’ll be damned. That explains a lot.”

  “Explains what?”

  “Pops never put up with nonsense. Why Dalton left even though Pops loved him like a son? That must not have been comfortable for Dalton. You know your dad could really lay it on thick. What else did he say?”

  Kris saw the heat on my face.

  “Or not say,” she emphasized, which made me wish the ground would open and suck me in.

  “Nothing. Or at least not where we could do something about it. Ride ended too fast.”

  “I hate when that happens,” Kris snarked.

  I rolled my eyes, knowing full well that she has always saved herself for marriage.

  We walked to the boys. I heard the steady beat of heels on asphalt and knew I was being stalked by the one person I really could have done without talking to today. Courtney.

  As she strutted her stuff across the graveyard parking lot in her stiletto heels, I took a mental step back. One, I couldn’t believe how that woman actually fit into what little she was wearing and two, how on earth she thought that cut-out dress was appropriate attire for the occasion. I mean, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Homecoming Queen. Hips and breasts and the money to make them look right.

  Courtney didn’t care about what people said or didn’t say. She was all about the looks and the money. A family of money and history in this city. Blowing up Dalton’s and my brother’s friendship was all in a day’s work for the little socialite hussy, and having sex with both of them, probably within hours of each other, hadn’t bothered her in the least. Following in her dust was George, her husband of seven years, on his phone as usual. This was just all kinds of wrong.

  She headed straight up to Eric and Dalton, who both tried to pretend she was invisible by talking with each other.

  Kris was having none of it and walked a little faster to catch up. “Courtney, what are you doing here?”

  Courtney adjusted her sunglasses. “What? Can’t I pay my respects to an old friend’s father?”

  Courtney ran her hand up Eric’s arm, not caring that her husband watched her with no interest at all. As a matter of fact, he was so involved with his phone that he was oblivious to everything else. What a perfect couple they made! I wouldn’t want a relationship where the other party didn’t deeply care about me.