Count on Me (Petal, Georgia)

by Lauren Dane

  “I need to call Melissa. Jesus.”

  “You call her and you tell her she and Clint are invited to dinner at my house tonight. That’ll give us time to get this mess dealt with. And you can make a list of whatever you’ll need and we’ll get the important stuff and tomorrow we can hunt down clothes for work and that sort of thing.”

  “I’ve got clothes at your house. I just did laundry there. Two suits and some other work stuff. My birth control pills are at your place, along with my makeup. My journal and laptop. Thank goodness for that, I’ve got work on it.”

  Royal was glad to see her getting herself together.

  “Let’s see what we can salvage here. My office is plenty big for you to share with me. Especially when our work is really so different. Or you can use the kitchen table if you prefer. We’ll load some stuff into your car too and you can drive it to my place.”

  “What? Wait, what are you talking about?”

  “You calling Melissa and inviting her. That’s step one.”

  Which she did. Melissa was outraged and immediately offered her a place to stay if she wanted, and when Caroline had said thanks but no, she’d also offered to come over and help her clean up.

  “You know how when you’re all worked up and mad and on the verge of tears? I just need to work it through a bit. I’m not okay right now.”

  Melissa made a soothing sound. “I got it. We’ll see you tonight. I’ll bring some of what we have here for the barbecue. Definitely all the makings for margaritas.”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  “Call me if you need anything before I see you later on, okay? I’m glad Royal is there with you.”

  Caroline hung up, tucking her phone in her pocket.

  Royal put down the photograph he’d managed to save from the mangled remains of a frame and took her arms.

  She smiled, but she was pale, her pupils still too big. “They’ll be at your place tonight. I feel so bad cancelling on her.”

  “Was she mad?”

  “No. Not at all.”

  “Problem solved. Now as to the second thing. You’re going to move in with me at least until this whole mess is figured out.”

  She nodded. “All right. Thank you.”

  When she didn’t argue, he truly got how frightened she was. Which made him so angry he had to breathe through his nose several times until he’d gotten himself back under control. “You’re not going to argue with me?”

  “Hell no. I’m freaked out. In all the time I’ve been an attorney, I’ve never had anything like this happen to me. This is scary and awful and I hate it.”

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You’re going to be with me at my house. Spike will be happy to have you so he can ride around on your shoulder all day long.”

  “He prefers it when I simply accept that he’s in charge.”

  He laughed, kissing her.

  “All right, let’s make a list. I always feel better when I make lists.” She pulled a pad from her bag. “I have multiple copies of all this paperwork. The originals are at my office right now as well. This wasn’t all my furniture anyway. I have a storage unit where ninety percent of it is until I buy a house. My bed is destroyed, which sucks because it took me forever to find just exactly the one I wanted.”

  “It wasn’t destroyed. You could salvage it.”

  She looked at him and her eyes brimmed with tears. “I can’t. Someone came in here. Came into my house and touched my things. My underwear! My books and my pictures. I don’t even want to think about what makes up that mess all over my clothes in the bathtub.”

  He ached for her. This wasn’t something he could really make better.

  “All right. How about we go get some rubber gloves and garbage bags? We’ll throw the clothes away if you like.”

  “I don’t know about the ones in the tub. I just…” She looked at them with a shudder. “Yeah, no I can’t. I’ll always wonder so it needs to go. I have a bunch of stuff that I took to the cleaner on Wednesday. I’ll need to grab some underwear and stuff. I’ll order them online from my favorite place back in Seattle. They won’t arrive until the end of the week or so, but I’ve got enough for now at your place. Is it all right if I use your washer and dryer?”

  “Baby, I want you to know you’re welcome to use anything and everything I have.”

  She nodded again. “Yes, let’s get bags and then we can have throw-away bags, closer-examination bags and keep bags.”

  They locked up and headed down the street to the hardware store to grab gloves and bags. It was pretty clear the story about the fight the night before at the Pumphouse had spread around town. They received some dirty looks here and there. A thumbs-up several times. Most of it though was just sort of general nosiness and staring.

  When they returned after stopping at the Honey Bear and getting some provisions since they hadn’t eaten in hours, they began to do what they could to set things to rights again. The throw-away pile was larger than the keep pile. He ran loads down to her car and his truck, packing things that they could keep.

  At the end he handed her a pile of photographs. “This is everything. I think many of them can be saved. I know someone who can touch them up, clean up some of them. Others have been ripped.”

  She’d had three photo albums. One had been thrown in a sink full of water, but the other two had just been spilled all over the ground with the others.

  She looked through the stack of pictures. Some of them she had duplicates for at her office. All the important ones were in Atlanta at a shop that was making albums for her siblings.

  “Looks like several of the ones with the worst damage are of my mother like Shane had thought.” Which was creepy. Ugh. Caroline looked through again and once more. “This is everything you say?” she asked Royal.

  “Yes. I mean there were some that were torn, but in large pieces so you could tell which went where. Why? What’s wrong?”

  “There are two photographs missing. One of my mom taken about a year before she was killed. We’d been on a camping trip in Tennessee. The other is one taken when I was camping with my aunt, uncle and cousins. My aunt had it framed for me as a gift because I looked so much like my mom. Her hair had been up in a cap and mine was in a bandana.”

  “You need to call Shane right now with this.”

  She agreed, calling the number he’d given them before he’d left.

  Four hours later they’d done their best, and she was worn thin and needed a shower and a drink and to be away from there. She didn’t say anything out loud, but once all this was handled, she was going to find a new place. She couldn’t stay there. Not after the break-in. It didn’t feel safe or secure. It didn’t even feel like it was hers.

  “My grandmother has called and left four messages.” She looked at her phone and tucked it back into her pants.

  “We’re going to drive back to my place where you’re going to soak in my tub while I make us a drink and come join you. Don’t call her. Not without me around.”

  “I’ve been talking to that woman for thirty-one years now.”

  “Yeah and it cuts you up every time. You’re cut up enough for one day. Let me be there to give you some support when you talk to her.”

  She shouldn’t let him take over like this, but it felt good to just nod. “Okay.”

  She’d reached her car when Edward and Polly rolled up in their Caddy. Polly got out and rushed over, concern on her face. “Oh, honey! We just heard. Are you all right? Do you need a place to stay? Surely it’s not safe here now.”

  Edward had managed to get Polly’s door closed and their car parked before he came over.

  “Shane mentioned that you’d had a terrible break-in when we dropped Drew off at his and Cassie’s place.” Edward took her hands, examining her face carefully.

  She looked back and forth between Edward and Polly. “Royal has been here with me the whole time. Helped me clean up. The door is replaced and I have a new lock. The landlord
also put a new hall light in, this one is a lot brighter.”

  “This is just terrible.”

  “It is. But I’ll get over it.” She shrugged, and this time Royal put an arm around her shoulders. She shouldn’t have to get over it.

  “She’s staying with me for the next weeks.”

  Polly beamed at him, and Edward’s brows went up but settled just as quickly. “We were heading back now. I need to wash a lot of clothes, but at least I have them. I was lucky in a lot of ways.”

  Edward leaned in and kissed her forehead. He spoke quietly to her for a bit until she nodded, mute, and he took Polly’s hand and stepped back. “We’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Be careful and let us know if there is one single thing we can do, big or small.” Polly winked at Royal and then turned her attention to Caroline again. “I mean it.”

  Caroline nodded. “Of course.” Caro had regained a little color, and for that, he’d be grateful for Polly and Edward coming along right when they did.

  Polly’s perceptive gaze took Caroline in from head to toe, and she gave Royal a discreet eyebrow raise that said, take care of this woman. He nodded back.

  Bright smile back in place, Polly looked to Edward, who picked up several tote bags and gestured them in Royal’s direction.

  “Before you go, I made a little something. Figured you’d appreciate the break from having to cook or go out.”

  As heavy as they all were—all four of them—he figured they had enough food to last at least three days.

  Caroline hugged Polly one more time, thanking her. They all walked back to Royal’s truck and Caroline’s car and after more hugs and admonishments to rest, they were finally back on the road to Royal’s place.

  A little something—Royal discovered as he began to unload all the stuff Polly had brought—meant what appeared to be a meatloaf and also fried chicken along with mac and cheese, roasted potatoes, corn, fresh bread and two pies.

  All sorts of comfort food he could hopefully tempt his woman into eating. She’d retreated a little, saying she had to put some boxes away and take her shoes off, but he knew she also needed some time and space to get herself under control again.

  Caroline wandered in with bare feet. She looked at the fridge, jammed with food. “Plenty of food for dinner tonight. Who keeps spare fried chicken around?” She shook her head. “I bet she just handed over their dinner. Edward said they’d been to Cassie and Shane’s and that’s where she found out about the break-in. What they didn’t say was that they went back home, she finished up the chicken and potatoes and then brought them over.”

  “Probably. She’s sneaky. Come on. You need a bath.” He picked up a bottle of red wine and two glasses, following her to the bathroom where he put it all down and got the bath filling.

  She allowed it, even when he pulled her clothes off she was a little withdrawn. Which he had every intention of dealing with once they were a little more relaxed.

  “No one is expected here for two hours. We will bathe. We will drink some wine and talk about today. Later, I’ll watch while you put makeup on and do your hair, and then friends will arrive and we’ll have a nice dinner.”

  She looked dubious but she got in with a hiss and a groan. She sipped her wine while he got his clothes off and then into the bath, settling behind her with her body between his legs.

  “I’m really glad I chose the biggest tub they had in this style.”

  “It’s a great tub,” she agreed sleepily.

  “So, some fucking crappy day, huh?”

  She was quiet a long time, gathering herself. “Most people didn’t know about my father right away. The older I got and the older the people I met got, the less incidents I’d have with people who were hostile and never spoke to me again, or more commonly, distanced themselves slowly but surely after they found out and just disappeared from my life.”

  Her gaze sharpened as she came back from her memories.

  “It’s a hot button for me. I’m defensive about it.”

  He scoffed. “I’m consistently amazed at how well you keep your temper. I’d be flipping tables and punching people. But you manage to say fuck you by just doing whatever you want anyway.”

  Pleased at the compliment, she continued. “I’ve met a lot of different types of people over the last fifteen years or so that this has been in my life. Sometimes it’s hostile. Usually it’s curious. Open. I’ve had people yell over me when I was speaking at an event and that sort of thing. But you know before I moved back here, I had a pretty normal life. I had a great job. My coworkers are some of the smartest people I know. I had a fantastic house with a view of downtown Seattle. I had friends. I went out and did stuff.

  “This business with Benji and Garrett is distressing. In my life before now, I’d have handled them both. I’d have ignored most of it, but I most definitely would have pressed charges against Benji for nearly hitting me. I’d have told Garrett off so hard his ears would have bled. But this is different. Everything is different, and I’m off balance and freaked.”

  He tightened his arms around her. “I’m here with you.”

  “I know and I’m really glad. I gave up all that other stuff, a community, my own firm, a great house, and I came here. Here where people are hostile to me all the time. Here where my family—the ones I moved back here for—are hostile but for one. My apartment got broken into. My panties were handled by some creep! Damn it, that bra I threw away was perfect. Someone broke into my home and touched my stuff and destroyed my things. My memories. My perfume bottles.”

  She hadn’t noticed at first, but survival was over and the tears were coming hard and fast.

  “I don’t cry in bathtubs! I don’t have to deal with the police about anything I ever did. People don’t ransack my house. I don’t have men trying to punch me in restaurants. This isn’t my fucking life.”

  She’d gotten to that gaspy, hiccuppy crying point where he couldn’t understand a word she said, but held her tight and murmured various comforting things anyway.

  Finally she ducked under the water completely until the noise died away and then she resurfaced. He held up a bar of soap and a washcloth. “You’re dirty.”

  He started to scrub her back, around each shoulder and down each arm to her hands.

  “But I find I like my job. It’s not Seattle, I don’t have a view and lunch at five-star restaurants weekly, no. But I make a difference. For the most part I like my clients. I really like the people I work with.”

  She forged ahead, needing him to know how he made her feel.

  “And I have you. Which is the biggest and best thing about being in Petal. Everything else I could take or leave, or manage from far away. But you? You’re here with your hands in the dirt. And what you do changes lives. I love that. I love that you’re doing something so amazing with your land and your life.”

  Surprised pleasure lit his face. “I’m a simple guy. A farmer.”

  “Sometimes it’s the most simple things that make the biggest difference. Your successful farm is good not only for you and for all the places you sell your produce to, but to the community as a whole. Not just in health benefits, but it brings money to the area. And you’ve done something to me. To my life. You make me see things differently. And I like your house on this rise with the land spread out like a blanket all around. I feel safe here. With you. I like life when you’re in it. When your cat is riding me like I’m his horse and cleaning my head as he does it. I feel very much under siege right now, but less so because of you.”

  He started to clean some of her better parts, and she gave him one raised brow. He showed her where he thought his dirtiest part was and urged her to get it nice and soapy.

  After an hour they hopped in the shower, cleared up and then got out so they could get ready for dinner. As she walked past him, he stopped her by taking her hand. “You make my life better when you’re in it too. I know how much you gave up, but I’m sure glad you’ve found some of the things here worth the trip.�
��

  She kissed him. “Yeah, you’ll do.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Melissa held a bottle of beer Clint’s way. “So do you think the guy heard you on the first broadcast or later on one of the syndicated spots?”

  Both Royal and Caroline narrowed their gazes as they leaned toward Melissa. “What? Syndicated?” Caroline asked.

  “Oh my God, you didn’t know?”

  “No! I had no idea. I mean the host guy said they sometimes used the shorter spots to fill out empty air but since my story was more local he wasn’t sure.”

  Clint spoke. “I heard it on my satellite radio when I was working in my office last night at like midnight I think. Melissa heard it during drive time on the local affiliate. The satellite station it was on was one that’s sort of statewide legal issues. I bet if you got hold of the guy he’d be able to get you that info. Shane probably needs it for the case.”

  “Meh, it’s a burglary. It’s not like anyone is going to make a big deal out of it. People’s houses get broken into every day.”

  “Clint is right, Caro. There’s a threat here. The vandalism and theft of the pictures say this is personal. They’re going to act to protect you if for no other reason.” Royal paused as he ate the rest of the chocolate cream pie Polly Chase had given them earlier. He’d protect her either way.

  “I have a friend who produces Good Day Atlanta, and I told her about you and your story.”

  Caroline looked to Melissa and then Clint. “You’re full of surprises.”

  Clint laughed. “She wants to talk with you about maybe doing a spot. A local if you have any information call this number sort of segment. She said it’s like a three or four minute spot so not huge, but you’d be expanding your audience.”

  “Wow, that would be incredible.”

  “I’ll get your contact info to her then.”

  “I really appreciate it. Media is so big and it has the chance of helping. But also, well it’s so big I don’t know how to get attention focused on it. We made a video and uploaded it to the internet too. Ron, the investigator, he’s on the ground doing all this stuff. He’s checking the tip line and forwarding relevant things my way. Nothing major so far.”