by T. L. Haddix
She knew she should go greet them, but all she could seem to do was stand there and watch, a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her fear she was going to be sick.
When a black truck came up the road, easing to a stop in the wide spot beside the mailbox, she shook off her nerves and waved at the driver. Sawyer.
“How’d they rope you into this?” she called as he got out.
“I heard there was food.” He smiled up at her. “And I also heard I could boss several Campbells around. No way was I going to pass that up.”
Haley laughed. “Thanks for coming,” she said as she met him at the foot of the ramp.
Sawyer shrugged. “Glad to help, sorry it’s under these circumstances. Have you met Lee?” He gestured to Noah’s passenger, who was standing beside the truck.
“No, I haven’t.”
He introduced them. “Lee Harrison, this is Haley Buchanan. Lee’s dating Rachel. He’s also a state trooper. Once we heard about the situation you were in, we figured a little unofficial support might come in handy.”
“Thank you, and I hope we don’t need any legal support, unofficial or otherwise. And Rachel—Eli’s aunt?” she asked as she and Lee shook hands.
“One and the same,” he said with a smile. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“You, too.”
“Okay, boss lady. Where do you want us to start?” Noah asked as he and Eli came around the side of the truck.
“You tell me. Which is best to load first, big stuff or small? Aside from going to college, I’ve never really moved before.”
“Lee’s the expert at moving house—he’s moved several times,” Sawyer said. “He likes to buy houses and fix them up.”
“How much do you have?” Lee asked.
“I’ll show you.” She led the way inside and pointed to the small stack of boxes set to one side of the living room. “All these boxes. This sewing machine. Those cases of canned goods,” she said, pointing to another small stack in the kitchen. “And my mattress and box springs from the bedroom.”
Lee looked around, his lips pursed. “That’s it?”
She nodded. “That’s it.”
“Shoot, we’ll have you loaded in thirty minutes. Anything fragile we should take extra care with?”
“The boxes in the kitchen—they’re full of glass jars of food, for the most part. And the sewing machine. It was my grandmother’s.”
She’d debated on whether to take the food or not, but since she’d been the one who’d either paid for it or had raised it, then slaved over the stove to can it, she felt perfectly justified in taking it. If Damon and his wife were too lazy to go out and buy their own food, they could damned well starve.
In very short order, the trailer was loaded. There was plenty room for more belongings in front of the neatly stacked boxes, but they’d already loaded everything Haley owned.
“I’m going to make one more pass through the house, make sure I’m not forgetting anything.” Her mouth tightened as she realized it was probably the last time she’d set foot in the place.
“We’ll wait here,” Eli said. “Holler if you need us.”
She touched his hand, grateful he understood how difficult this would be for her and her need for privacy. “Thank you.”
Everything that was hers had been removed from the living room. The fridge had been cleaned out. She’d left most of the cookware, plates, and utensils, as she wasn’t terribly attached to them and since they’d belonged to her grandfather as much as her. She did take her expensive pressure canner, which she’d splurged on last year after the one her grandmother had used for decades finally gave up the ghost.
Stepping into Fred’s room hurt as much as she’d thought it would. She stood in the door for a long, long time looking around, trying to freeze an image in her memory of everything. She’d taken several of his favorite flannel shirts, a bottle of his cologne, and two of the quilts he’d loved, quilts her grandmother had made. She’d also taken his well-worn Bible. Strictly speaking, Dudley could probably press the issue and claim those items went with the house. Strictly speaking, he could also kiss her ass.
She’d just finished looking through her old room when Eli stepped into the house.
“Dudley’s on his way up the hill. He’s brought a sheriff’s deputy.”
Outraged, stunned, she stared at him, then started for the porch. “That son of a bitch. I’ll flay him alive for this.”
Eli grabbed her arm in a gentle hold, stopping her. “Slow down. That’s what he wants you to do. Don’t give him the satisfaction. I know it’s going to gall you, but let Lee handle this. Please?”
The look she sent him was full of angry hurt. “Eli…”
“I know, sweetheart. I know.”
She closed her eyes against the tears that rose up. “Let’s get this over with.”
When a car door slammed, Eli glanced over his shoulder. “Well, well. This is going to be fun,” he said, turning back to grin at Haley. “You’re going to want some popcorn for this.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, scowling as she followed him down the ramp.
“You don’t even think you’re going to get away without leaving like this,” Dudley told her angrily before Eli could answer. “Sneaking out like a damned thief. You’re supposed to let me know before you go. You could have half the house packed up in that trailer.”
“You watch your mouth, you bastard,” Eli snarled. “Who the hell do you think you are to call Haley a thief?”
Noah moved quickly, stepping in front of Eli before he could do anything rash. “Let Mark handle this.”
Haley didn’t know whether to be grateful for Noah’s fast response or not. She touched Eli’s arm, sliding her hands around the taut muscles as she grasped his hand with one of hers, and he nodded.
“Fine.”
“Do a walk-through. Nothing’s gone that shouldn’t be,” she told them. The deputy, Browning by his nametag, winked at her. Startled, Haley looked at Eli, but he was focused on Dudley.
“I want that trailer opened,” Dudley demanded instead. “Now!”
“Mr. Muncy, that trailer is private property,” the deputy told him. “At this juncture, I don’t have any probable cause for opening it. Why don’t you do as the lady suggested and inspect the house? I’ll go with you.”
Dudley turned to him, glaring. “You won’t make them open this trailer?”
“I legally cannot open that trailer without probable cause. The house?” He inclined his head toward the front door.
Grumbling the whole way, Dudley led him up the ramp. When Haley started after them, Eli shook his head.
“Let Mark do this. That way, you won’t be involved in anything if the question comes up later.”
She looked from him to the other men, who were nodding. “You know him, obviously.”
“Mark’s our cousin,” Noah said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the trailer with a negligent shrug. To look at him casually, he was the picture of a man who was bored with the situation. But there was coiled tension in his muscles, and for all his laidback attitude, Haley could tell that he was ready to spring if need be. “His grandfather Jack and Grandma are brother and sister. The next house up the holler from your trailer? That’s Jack’s house.”
Eli rubbed his hand over her tense shoulders. “Jack’s son Rick is a retired deputy, and his son-in-law Burke is a state trooper. Between them, Mark, Sawyer, and Lee? We’ve got the upper hand here. Dudley just doesn’t know it. Let him hang himself if it comes to that.”
The calm certainty in Eli’s voice reassured her, as did the determination she could read on his face.
“Okay. I’m sorry, guys. I was afraid something like this would happen.”
�
�It isn’t your fault,” Sawyer told her. “Don’t apologize. I think we’ve all had experiences with family members who were less than… shall we say less than on their best behavior?”
“Amen,” Noah said, his smile gently teasing.
Eli huffed, but he was smiling a little, too. “I’m sure I don’t know anyone like that. Look sharp. Here they come.”
A grim-faced Dudley had stepped onto the porch. “Are you done in here?” he hollered down as Mark joined him.
“I am.”
“Good. I’m locking it up. I want your key.”
“I already laid it on the counter by the stove,” she told him as he and Mark came down the ramp. “Well? Find anything you need to have me arrested for?”
Dudley narrowed his eyes. “Just get on out of here. I knew you’d cause trouble about this.”
This time, Eli was the one holding Haley back as she cursed her uncle up one side and down the other. “How dare you say that to me?” she hissed as her voice cracked. “I’ve not said a damned thing to you, haven’t seen you or even talked to you since the day of the funeral. You’re a pitiful excuse for a man, Dudley, and I’m ashamed to be related to you.”
She turned her back on him, stalking to the back of the trailer to stare at the bare spot where her garden had been. In all her life, she’d never felt more alone or abandoned, and for a girl whose mother had walked out on her practically before she was brought home from the hospital, that was saying something.
“Mr. Muncy, did you see anything out of place in there? Was there anything missing?” Mark asked. “I need to know so I can put it in my report.”
When Haley glanced over her shoulder, she saw that Dudley’s face was flushed. She laughed humorlessly, guessing then that he’d planned to file a claim or have her investigated after she’d gone. It would have been her word against his if that had come to pass.
“No, there’s nothing out of place. Nothing’s missing that I can see,” he admitted grudgingly.
“Good. Now that’s out of the way, if you folks are ready to head out, I’m going to advise that you do it.” When Mark’s fingers moved on his belt, tapping his cellphone, Haley saw Lee give a subtle nod. Dudley hadn’t noticed the movement, as he was too fixated on her.
Eli touched her arm. “Let’s go. Noah, Sawyer, see you at the house.”
“Yep,” Noah responded.
Without a backward glance, Haley followed Eli to his SUV. They’d taken her car up yesterday afternoon and parked it at the trailer since they wouldn’t need both vehicles today.
In no time, they were following the trailer down the holler. When they reached the secondary road at its mouth, Noah signaled and pulled over into a wide spot. Sawyer’s truck was already there, waiting.
Eli pulled in beside Noah and rolled the window down. “What’s up?” he asked Lee.
“Mark’s on his way out. He wanted us to stop.”
A couple of minutes later, the sheriff’s department cruiser eased off the road, and Mark got out and walked back to where they had all gathered to stand.
“Well, hell, kids. I wasn’t expecting to see you all when I pulled up. I’m sorry about that,” he said to Haley. “I guess you’re Eli’s miracle-working therapist that I’ve heard so much about?”
Haley laughed, even though she was still feeling the sting of the encounter with Dudley. “I don’t know about miracle working, but yeah. I was his therapist.”
“She’s going to be Jack and Gilly’s neighbor,” Eli said. “She’s renting the trailer from Mom and Dad.”
“That’s what I heard,” Mark said with a smile. When Haley blinked at him in astonishment, he shrugged. “Family grapevine. We’re as bad as a small town. And Grandpa and Grandma are thinking about moving to Georgia, so I don’t know how long you’ll have them for neighbors. But it’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too.”
Eli was frowning. “Does she have anything to worry about with this jackass?”
Mark ran a hand over his closely cropped dark hair. “No, I don’t think so. I think he was just blowing smoke. That’s my personal opinion, not my professional one. Regardless, I’ll make it very clear in the report that there was no damage or theft from what I could see and from what he stated. And I’ll get you a copy of that so you can have it on hand in case you need it,” he told Haley.
“Thank you. I really am ashamed to say I’m related to him. And I shouldn’t have lost my temper the way I did,” she said, her cheeks heating as she thought about all the names she’d called Dudley. “My grandfather would have washed my mouth out with soap.”
Eli shook his head. “I think he’d have approved in this one instance. If what he said to me a few weeks ago is any indication, Dudley might find himself… well, never mind.”
She glanced at him curiously, wondering what he’d been getting ready to say. “Regardless, I’m sorry, guys. And I’m glad it’s over.”
They got back on the road a short time after that. Haley didn’t know what to say, what to do, what to feel, as she sat in the passenger seat and stared out the window.
“Everything will come together,” Eli said softly. “The pieces of your life, they’ll settle back into place eventually. They won’t be in the same configuration, but they will settle down. And you’ll be able to breathe. The calm will come. Normal will come. It’s just going to take time.”
She swallowed and tightened her arms around her middle. “But will I know myself, my life, when they do?”
“I think so.”
Silence built for a couple of miles, and then she sighed. “Is that what you went through when you lost her?”
“Erica?” he asked. When she nodded, he shrugged. “Yeah, it was. I’d never known myself as an adult without her. I had to figure out who Eli Campbell was. What he was, what he wanted. It wasn’t easy, but I like the guy who finally came out on the other side of things. He’s a hell of a lot better person than Erica’s husband was.”
“You’ll forgive me if I say I can’t imagine you not being a good person,” she told him softly. “Even though the things you’ve told me are pretty awful.”
He glanced at her. “I had a lot of anger I had to work through. And Erica brought that out in me, along with an entitled piss-poor attitude. She played on that. I know I was wrong. I knew it then, but I didn’t want to admit it. Regardless, I got through it. Got through losing her, finding out how deeply she’d betrayed me and the people I cared about. And you’ll get through this. You’re strong, Haley, and you’re not alone, even though it probably feels like you are right about now. I’m sorry about that.”
She studied him. “One of these days, I’m going to ask you about those betrayals.”
He nodded. “But not today?”
“No. Not today.”
As to his statement about her not being alone, she thought back to how they’d rallied around her at the house, quietly supporting her. She still felt abandoned and yes, betrayed by her grandfather somewhat. But thinking about all the help and support the Campbells had given her thus far, she realized that she wasn’t actually alone, and she nearly wept from the relief of it.
Chapter Forty-Two
Eli was not looking forward to telling Haley the bald truth about how badly he’d screwed up as a teenager or about Erica’s duplicitousness. Fortunately, there were much more pressing things to deal with at the moment.
“So, you know Mom and everyone went through basements and attics and found some furniture for you,” he said. He’d told her about that last night after talking to Zanny, but he’d left part of the surprise out, too.
“Yes. I still don’t know what to think about that. I’m so grateful, but I feel like such a leech.”
He grinned at her. “Would you feel better if I told you that Mom is planning to use the excuse o
f moving the couch from the basement so she can get a new one for the living room and move the old one downstairs? Tables and love seat, too?”
She eyed him with speculation. “Really?”
“Swear to God. She’s been wanting to do it for a couple of years, apparently. Just never had a good enough excuse before this.”
“In that case, yes. I do feel a little better about it now.”
“Good. Well, she and Sydney and Grandma and Rachel are putting some food together at the farm for after we get you unloaded. They wanted to do something to welcome you to the neighborhood.”
Haley was shaking her head. “You people,” she said, her voice rough as she dabbed at her eyes.
“We’re incorrigible. I know. You note I didn’t say Emma was cooking. Like I said, we wanted this to be a welcome. You’ve had a hell of a few weeks, and at least part of this… well, part of it shouldn’t be bad.”
She didn’t say anything else, just reached over and touched his hand.
By the time they had her unloaded and all the furniture where she wanted it, it was eleven. And Noah was still laughing every time he walked past Eli.
“It’s not that funny,” Eli finally said, exasperated, as they passed each other in the driveway.
Noah stopped, a lazy grin spreading across his face. “Hell, yes, it is. Mom gave her your bedroom furniture. I think that’s hilarious. She’s gonna be sleeping in your bed.”
“Haley might not think it’s so funny.” Eli shook his head. “Do you think that means anything? That Mom did that?”
“Do you mean, does Haley have her approval?” Noah shrugged. “Probably. And she probably did it to irk you a bit, pull your chain in a good way. Does it matter, what they think?”