Baby, Drive South

by Stephanie Bond

  Nikki touched her hair self-consciously. “I don’t know.”

  “The perfect time for a new look is after a breakup,” Rachel insisted, then gestured to Nikki’s khaki pants. “Do you have anything a little more jazzy to wear on the trip?”

  She smoothed a hand over the sensible fabric that had become her work uniform. “Not really.”

  “I’m sure between all of us we could round up something. You should look your best when you go to Atlanta…to buy that equipment.”

  Her eyes twinkled and Nikki couldn’t help but laugh. She felt a rush of gratitude for this woman that she’d previously envied.

  “So what do you say. Are you up for a makeover?”

  Old habits pulled at Nikki. She didn’t want anyone to make a fuss and she was afraid she’d look silly. Plus, she didn’t know if she’d be able to maintain a new look. Her hair and scant makeup routine had been the same since her teen years.

  Since her teen years. Nikki let that admission sink in. Good grief, she was stuck in a rut the size of the Grand Canyon. She sighed and lifted her hands in submission. “Okay…what do I have to lose?”

  25

  Porter stopped talking midsentence just to see if Kendall would notice. His brother had offered to drive a work van to meet Nikki at the boardinghouse at the prescribed departure time. She would have to drive the van to Atlanta since Porter’s cast had him handicapped. They were parked and waiting, engine running. After almost a full minute of silence, Kendall looked over.

  “Sorry, what were you saying?”

  Porter shook his head. “What’s with you, man?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you’ve been in a fog for days.”

  Kendall ran a hand over his mouth. “I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

  “You’ve had a lot on your mind since you were ten years old, but you’ve never acted like this before. Well, except when Amy left town.”

  Kendall’s face went stony. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Marcus and I are worried about you.”

  “Don’t be.”

  “But—”

  “Here comes the doctor.” Then Kendall squinted. “She looks…different.”

  Porter turned his head and did a double-take. Nikki was dressed in a knee-length, pale, sleeveless dress and high heels. Her hair was lighter and cut in a new style—bangs, he realized as she walked closer, carrying an overnight case.

  “I’ll get her suitcase,” Porter murmured and almost fell out of the van before he caught himself and realized he couldn’t manage his crutches and her suitcase. Luckily, Kendall came to his rescue, meeting Nikki on the walkway to take her bag. Porter couldn’t take his eyes off her. The dress skimmed over her slight curves and the heels highlighted her shapely legs. The new hairstyle and color set off her eyes and her cheekbones. Her full lips were stained a berry color, emphasizing that smile she didn’t share often enough.

  It was Nikki, with a shine.

  “Good morning,” she said to him.

  Porter’s tongue was tied in knots. Kendall elbowed him, jarring him out of his trance. “Good morning. You look…nice,” he managed to get out.

  Her smile sent a sparkle to her gorgeous green eyes. “Thank you.”

  He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he just stared.

  “Don’t mind him, doc,” Kendall said. “He’s worried about what our mother is going to say when she sees his busted-up leg.”

  Nikki laughed. “Did you bring her wedding ring?”

  Porter patted his shirt pocket. “Got it right here. She doesn’t know we’ve got it. She just thinks I’m stopping by to say hello. She’ll be so excited to have it back again.”

  “Then maybe she’ll be distracted from your cast,” Nikki offered.

  He remembered Marcus’s comment that Nikki would be the distraction of the day…and wow, was that ever an understatement. He stood drinking her in, feeling like a schoolboy admiring his prom date. His heart thudded in his chest and he was transported back to the day when her mouth and hands had set him on fire. The color rose in her cheeks. Could she sense what he was thinking?

  Kendall cleared his throat indiscreetly, then put Nikki’s bag in the van.

  Porter couldn’t get his fill of her—her finely chiseled features were absolute perfection. She wore the tailored dress as elegantly as any model.

  Nikki gestured vaguely toward the horizon. “We should get on the road if we’re going to make your appointment.”

  Porter nodded. “I’m sorry you have to drive.”

  “It’s no problem, as long as you’ll navigate.”

  “Sounds like we make a good team,” he agreed.

  The silence stretched on.

  “Okay, team,” Kendall broke in, clapping his hands, “have a good trip, be safe, give Mother my love and don’t break the bank.”

  “Do you want a ride back to the office?” Porter asked.

  “I’ll walk back,” Kendall said drily, then tapped his temple. “Try to clear the fog.” He turned and strode off in the opposite direction, his body language tense. Porter watched his brother go, feeling helpless.

  “What was that all about?” Nikki asked.

  “I have no idea,” he murmured. “Kendall goes deep when something is bothering him. I guess he’ll come up for air when he’s ready.”

  At first the atmosphere in the van was strained. To keep from staring at Nikki’s profile, Porter rattled on about landmarks and boundaries they passed…until he realized she was only listening out of politeness. Because, of course, she wasn’t planning to stay, so why would she care where the mercantile had once stood? Or that the covered bridge over Timber Creek had been blown away and would likely be their next big endeavor to reconnect a huge chunk of remote farmland to the road leading to Sweetness?

  “That’s nice,” she remarked.

  He decided to give it a rest for the time being and turn on the radio. At this altitude, it picked up mostly static, but he finally found a country music station.

  “Is this okay?” he asked.

  “Fine as frog hair.”

  He laughed. “That sounds like something someone from Sweetness would say.”

  The look on Nikki’s face said she didn’t want to be categorized as “someone from Sweetness.” “It’s a saying a friend of mine back in Broadway uses. She’s from a small town.”

  Her eyes were glued to the rural road, her small hands positioned on the big steering wheel at ten and two o’clock. She looked so diminutive, yet so in control. Porter’s heart squeezed with confusing emotions—he respected her strength, yet he felt compelled to protect her. But since she’d arrived in Sweetness, she’d taken care of him. She wasn’t the kind of woman he was normally attracted to, yet she’d dominated his thoughts and kept his body on notice, especially since the encounter in her office. He shifted in his seat and vainly tried to think of something more mundane.

  “Does your leg hurt?” she asked.

  “Uh…some,” he lied.

  Her hands tightened on the wheel. “Do you have any painkillers left?”

  “I took one this morning,” he said. “I’m just feeling a little stiff…and itchy. I can’t wait to get this cast off.”

  “You still have a few weeks to go,” she said in her doctorly voice. “But I’m glad you’re getting X-rays today to see if the bones are healing properly. That was quite a fall you took.”

  “Uh…about that. I wasn’t planning to tell Mother I’d fallen off the water tower.”

  A small smile quirked her mouth. “What were you planning to tell her?”

  “I’ll think of something a little less…hair-raising.”

  “I would think with three sons, she’d be accustomed to hair-raising. But she’s your mother. Does she live alone?”

  “She moved in with her sister Elaine in Calhoun after the twister hit. They’re a lot of company to each other, but Mother makes no bones about the fact that she mi
sses Sweetness. Sometimes I think her wanting to come home puts more pressure on Marcus than the federal deadline.” He smiled. “You know how family can be.”

  When she bit into her lower lip, he regretted his careless choice of words—Nikki didn’t have family. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking—”

  “It’s okay,” she cut in. “You don’t have to walk on eggshells. I realize that most people have relatives.”

  “You don’t have aunts or uncles, cousins?”

  “My mother told me of a couple of distant female cousins in California who were descendants of my grandmother’s sister, but their mother remarried and changed her last name. I wouldn’t even know how to go about trying to find them.”

  “Maybe they’ll find you someday,” he said, then wet his lips. “Will you be in Broadway?”

  She hesitated. “I suppose.”

  Suddenly her phone, cradled in the console between them, began to chime in successions of threes, as if downloading messages. “I guess my phone has service now,” she said with a laugh.

  As the chiming continued, it was impossible to ignore. Five messages…ten…fifteen…

  “Someone really wants to get hold of you,” he observed. Her ex-fiancé?

  She shifted in her seat. “I’ll check messages when we stop. How long until we reach Calhoun?”

  “About three hours.”

  She nodded. “By the way, the women were lined up to take care of your deer while we’re gone.”

  “That’s nice, as long as they don’t make a pet out of it.”

  Nikki laughed. “Don’t be surprised if it’s wearing a collar and has a name by the time we return.”

  “Most of the women seem to be acclimating to rural life,” he remarked carefully.

  She nodded, but made no comment.

  “Sweetness will be a great place to raise kids,” he said, now officially feeling like an infomercial.

  “I can see that,” she said softly. “Obviously you and your brothers have fond memories of growing up there.”

  “Small-town living seems to have gone by the wayside in the past few decades. But I think deep down, people are eager to get back to simple values.”

  “Urban living has its advantages, too,” she countered.

  “I enjoy going to the city and taking in some culture now and then,” he conceded, “but I don’t think anything can replace growing up in a close-knit community that makes you feel safe. That kind of security instills confidence in a kid to be able to go out in the world and do whatever he or she wants to do.”

  “The newspaper ad specified no minors. When do you plan to start building a school?”

  “Before fall. I believe Marcus mentioned that some of the women are teachers?”

  She nodded. “A handful of the women left their children with relatives for the summer, but are hoping to bring them here in a few months.”

  “We’ll accommodate them,” he said, although his head spun from all the logistical complications having children living in the community would create. Still, it was inevitable. “Do you plan to have kids someday?”

  “No,” she said so matter-of-factly it pulled at his heart.

  “Mind if I ask why?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t think I’d be very good at it.”

  Porter frowned. “Why not?”

  “I’m not good with…people,” she said, keeping her gaze straight ahead.

  “That’s ridiculous. You’re a doctor, for heaven’s sake.”

  Her throat constricted. “Just because I’m good with bodies doesn’t mean I’m good with people.”

  He opened his mouth to argue, but from the console her phone rang and the screen lit up. With no particular intention of being nosy, Porter glanced down and couldn’t help but notice the name “Darren” on the screen.

  She noticed, too, and pressed her lips together, although she didn’t reach for the phone. The clanging continued to reverberate into the cab of the van.

  “Are you going to get that?” he asked lightly.

  “No,” she said quickly, then added, “not while I’m driving.”

  The phone finally stopped ringing, but then chimed three times a few seconds later, indicating the caller had left a message. Nikki’s distraction seemed to confirm the call had been from her ex. Porter’s mood soured, launching him back into his spiel about the virtues of Sweetness, including the proximity to Atlanta with its international airport.

  “Of course we intend to have our own airfield someday to go along with the helipad near the clinic. If the town grows enough, I don’t see why we couldn’t build our own hospital.”

  To his chagrin, Nikki didn’t respond. In fact, she seemed hundreds of miles away. Back in Broadway?

  “We might even build a spaceship,” he said to see if she was listening at all.

  “That’s nice,” she murmured.

  Porter pursed his mouth, then leaned forward to turn up the radio. Nikki still didn’t notice. She was obviously lost in thought, pining for that Darren guy. An unfamiliar sensation burned in his chest. Jealousy? He’d never been jealous in his life.

  Porter slumped in the seat and stared out the window. This was going to be a long ride.

  26

  Nikki’s heart pounded as they walked up on the porch of a darling little yellow bungalow. She had no reason to be nervous about meeting Porter’s mother, so she attributed her reaction to excitement over returning the found wedding ring.

  “I have to warn you,” Porter said as he lifted his hand to knock on the door. “She might cry…a lot.”

  Before Nikki had time to respond, the door flew open and a plump, angelic face wreathed in smiles appeared. “Porter, you’re here!” But when she caught sight of the cast on his leg, her smile turned to dismay. “What’s this?”

  “Just a little bump, Mom,” he said, leaning forward to capture her in a hug.

  “How did it happen?” she demanded, squeezing him long and hard around the middle. “And why haven’t I heard about it until now?”

  “Because it wasn’t worth worrying your pretty head about.”

  Nikki watched the exchange with amusement, noting the way Porter’s voice softened to a tone she’d never heard him use before. It was…nice.

  When he pulled back, his mother drank him in like she couldn’t get enough of her youngest son, then she turned toward Nikki. “Where are your manners, Porter? Who is your lovely friend?”

  Nikki’s cheeks warmed as she speculated what might be going through the woman’s head.

  “Mom, meet Dr. Nikki Salinger, Sweetness’s new doctor. Nikki, this is Emily Armstrong.”

  Nikki extended her hand, but the gesture was lost as Emily stepped forward to envelop her in a warm hug. Surprised, Nikki made eye contact with Porter over the woman’s shoulder to find him looking as amused as she’d felt earlier. When Emily ended the embrace, she smiled at Nikki with open affection. In that instant, Nikki felt the absence of her own mother’s love so acutely, she could scarcely breathe.

  “Aren’t you the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen?” Emily gushed. “And a doctor, too? My, my, your mother must be so proud.”

  “Mom—” Porter started to break in.

  “Yes,” Nikki said on an exhale, then smiled at the woman. “She’s very proud.”

  “Well, we’re letting in the flies. Come in, come in and have a glass of tea. Wipe your feet, Porter.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, then grinned at Nikki as his mother bustled inside the house. Nikki followed, swept along by the woman’s effervescence. Porter brought up the rear on his crutches.

  “My sister Elaine is volunteering at the library today,” Emily said to Nikki, “so we have the house to ourselves. How do you like your tea, dear?”

  “Unsweetened, please.”

  “Unsweetened? Where up north are you from?”

  “I’m from Michigan.”

  Emily nodded. “I thought I detected an accent.”

  Nikki smiled. South
erners thought everyone else in the country had an accent.

  “Have a seat in the living room,” his mother said, shooing them in the direction of a small but comfortable room with two overstuffed loveseats facing each other over a low wood coffee table. Lining the walls were white built-in shelves crowded with books and picture frames.

  One picture in particular caught Nikki’s eye—three strapping teenage boys with wide grins and piercing blue eyes. The youngest had a familiar cleft in his chin. She felt compelled to touch the edge of the silver frame.

  “You and your brothers?” she asked, lifting her gaze to Porter.

  He smiled and nodded, leaning on his crutches. “One of the few pictures we found after the twister.”

  Seeing him as a boy sent unwanted emotions rising in her chest. She didn’t want to know this much about him, didn’t want to fall in love with his mother, didn’t want to fall in love with—

  She dropped her hand abruptly and turned her back on the photograph. “Are you sure we have time for tea? I don’t want you to miss your appointment.”

  “What appointment?” Emily asked, walking in carrying a tray with three glasses.

  Porter shifted on his crutches. “With a specialist in Atlanta. Just an X-ray to make sure my leg is healing okay.”

  Emily set the tray on the coffee table, then glanced at Nikki. “Was that your idea, my dear?”

  Nikki nodded.

  “So you’ve been taking care of him?”

  She balked at the intimate implication and looked to Porter for help.

  “Yes, Dr. Salinger has been taking care of me,” he said happily.

  Nikki gave him a withering look, which he ignored.

  “Thank you for nursing my baby boy,” Emily said to Nikki earnestly.

  “You’re…welcome,” Nikki murmured, at a loss.

  “I don’t want you to miss your appointment,” Mrs. Armstrong said, her voice fretful, “but surely you have time to sit with your mama and have a glass of tea?”

  Porter looked to Nikki with an arched eyebrow. She nodded mutely and sat on the edge of one of the loveseats. They still needed to give the ring to his mother, after all. But Nikki was already feeling so…raw, she wasn’t sure she wanted to witness such a personal event.