Magnolia Sky

by Susan Crandall

  He finally said, “I just felt we didn’t complete our last conversation. I don’t like to leave things unfinished. I’m in no rush”—he lifted a shoulder—“so I thought I’d come back and at least say good-bye.” He looked sharply at her. “Besides,” he added, looking at Olivia, “my knee is much better in the weather down here; maybe I’ll wait until spring reaches the North.”

  Olivia smiled her thanks and said, “I’ll get the guest room ready.”

  At the sound of Analise’s indrawn breath, Luke said, “That’s not necessary. I’ll stay at the motel.”

  Olivia wrinkled her nose. “I suppose you’ve been staying at the Stargazer.” She said the name like it was a house of ill repute. When Luke nodded, she made noise of disgust. “I wouldn’t put Rufus up in that place. It’d have gone under years ago if the married folk around here stayed true. No. I just can’t have it. If you’re staying on to help, you’re staying at Magnolia Mile. The least we can do. Right, Ana?”

  Suddenly there was only one image in Analise’s mind—and try as she might, she couldn’t banish it: Luke standing naked in the bathroom door. Her involuntary reaction to him told her all she had to know—spending too much time with him would weaken her defenses. The attraction she felt to him was dangerously strong. She reminded herself he was only here because Calvin, the husband she’d wished would never come home, had died. There was no way in hell she’d ever be able to reconcile that. His continued presence was going to be like stripping away her skin one square inch at a time. How was she going to undo this without betraying her feelings to Olivia?

  In the end, all she could do was agree that he should remain here. She said, “Of course,” with numb lips. She realized her voice sounded as if she’d just accepted a long jail sentence, so she followed it with a forced smile. Knowing her eyes would betray her, she kept her gaze on Rufus.

  For the second time in the past minutes, Luke inched closer to her heart by saying, “I left my things at the motel.” Analise knew this was a lie. She’d seen his duffel in the back seat when he drove her to the plantation. “I’ll just stay there for now—since you’ll probably find someone in the next day or so. No sense in moving everything out here.”

  Olivia hesitated.

  “It makes the most sense,” Analise was quick to say. “We don’t need to make him pack up and move for just a couple of days.”

  Luke nodded, but Analise couldn’t tell exactly what was going on in his mind. Maybe he was no more anxious to ensconce himself in their house than she was to have him there.

  “What if we don’t find someone right away?” Olivia asked.

  “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it,” Luke said as he walked toward his car. He stopped and looked back at them after two more steps. “And keep those doors locked tonight—just in case Roy has more nerve than he showed this afternoon.” He paused just before he got in. “Rufus sleeps inside, doesn’t he?”

  Analise nodded.

  “Good. Pay attention to him.”

  Olivia waved away his concern. “I’m sure we’ve seen the last of Roy—judging by his hasty exit.”

  Luke stared hard at her. “Just the same . . .”

  “Not to worry. Rufus is as good as a burglar alarm.” Olivia laid a hand on the hound’s head.

  Luke riveted his gaze on Analise as he walked away. “Later, you and I need to finish that discussion.”

  Her stomach twisted into a tight knot. She never should have stopped at the cemetery, never should have opened her mouth about her relationship with Calvin. It was both a betrayal of his memory and a disgrace to Olivia. Now she was going to have to explain herself and make things even worse.

  She watched Luke drive away, with a mass of confused feelings in her chest that nearly squeezed the breath out of her. How could she be afraid of Luke’s staying, yet so reluctant to let him go at the same time?

  “I’m going to call the paper and put in an ad for help.” Analise had no intention of letting Olivia stall on this; there was something in the older woman’s eye that said she liked having Luke around just a little too much. Maybe it was simply because of his connection to Calvin—Luke’s presence made her feel closer to her lost son. Which had a significant downside; when Luke left, as he most certainly would, Olivia would have to deal with yet another loss.

  “You do that, dear . . .” Olivia said. Analise was certain she heard Olivia whistling as she returned to the house.

  Once the ad was placed, Analise went to the soccer field to pick up Cole from practice. He was smiling and sweaty—apparently the workout had been good for him. He seemed more like his old self on the way home. It was as if he’d hit the bottom with his drinking binge and realized he had to get himself together. Maybe this was the turning point, maybe the drama was over and they’d finally get their lives back on track.

  As she lay down to sleep that night, she basked in relief: Cole seemed better; she would find a replacement for Roy—who, in reality, she wouldn’t miss one bit; best of all, although she wasn’t able to prevent his continued presence, she’d avoided having Luke sleeping under the same roof. Falling into a blissful sleep, the weight of worry drifted away on her soft breaths.

  Analise’s relief lasted until two A.M., when she was jolted awake by a huge rock shattering her bedroom window.

  Chapter 8

  Cole was lying awake, worrying. That seemed to be all he’d been doing lately—worrying. The sheets chafed his skin. The darkness pressed on him like he’d been buried in tar. He couldn’t find a comfortable position. At first he was too hot, then too cold. He stared at the ceiling, avoiding the chance of seeing those green cat eyes staring at him from a corner of the room. He’d done his usual search for Pandora before he’d closed the door. Although he hadn’t found her, he knew she was there, curled up somewhere in the dark, just waiting for him to go to sleep so she could crawl into bed with him.

  His life had become so screwed up, he barely recognized it anymore. He tried to picture what his life used to be like—back before Pandora arrived with her black-cat bad luck and changed everything. Back when everything made sense. It seemed as unreachable as childhood Christmases.

  How could he look at things the same? Calvin had been strong, able to protect himself. And yet, a stupid accident took it all away—just like Cole’s dad. What was the point of standing for your country, trying to do what was right, if in a split second your life could be over?

  Losing his dad had been hard, but that was so long ago he had to work really hard to remember more than vague things about him—his cologne, that he liked to fish, the way he’d made Mom laugh. There weren’t promises that hadn’t been kept with his dad. But Calvin—Calvin was young. Calvin had lots of plans for Cole. He was going to take Cole places after he finished school, just the two of them—guy trips. They were going to go whitewater rafting and mountain climbing. He was going to teach Cole how to surf.

  Time after time, something would happen and Cole would catch himself thinking he’d have to ask Calvin about it—only to realize, seconds later, he wouldn’t be asking Calvin’s advice ever again.

  Lately, there just didn’t seem any reason to worry about a future that might very well not come. Especially since he had his own personal bad-luck charm that crawled into bed with him every night.

  Maybe if he drove that damn cat a hundred miles away and left her, things would shift back to the way they used to be. He wasn’t so stupid as to believe that it would bring Calvin back. But maybe soccer and Darcy and school would straighten up.

  Closing his eyes so he wouldn’t see the cat, he flopped onto his side and pounded his pillow into submission. He heard Rufus whine in the kitchen below like he was dreaming. Even the dog had been having nightmares since Pandora’s arrival.

  Everything just kept getting more and more complicated and off balance. He’d managed to get by Analise today; she had no idea that he hadn’t been at school or soccer practice. It sort of scared him, the fact that he was ge
tting so good at lying. He hardly even felt guilty about it anymore. Even worse, he hadn’t been able to bury the feeling of pride that had come when he’d thought to change his clothes, run long enough to work up a sweat and dirty himself up a little before she’d arrived to pick him up. He’d been surprised—and relieved—that the attendance office hadn’t called home and snitched on him. Maybe Mrs. Baker had a substitute; no way would she have let his absence go unreported. Old bag.

  Thank God tomorrow was Saturd—

  The sound of shattering glass mingled with Analise’s startled yelp. Cole was off the bed and down the hall in less than a heartbeat. He threw open the door and flipped on the overhead light in Ana’s room without a thought.

  She sat on the bed, a stunned look on her face. The hand over her heart had a trickle of blood on the back of it. A softball-sized rock lay on the floor in a shower of broken glass; her curtains fluttered out the gaping bottom window frame.

  “You okay?” he shouted, even as he started out into the hall.

  “Yeah.”

  He sprinted off, meeting a baying Rufus on the stairs. The dog did an about face, the two of them fighting to get through the front door first.

  “Cole! Wait!”

  He barely heard Ana yelling. His blood pumped hot. His body burned to punish whoever had hurt her. His bare feet pounded across the front porch and out into the yard. He tore around to the side of the house, where Analise’s window was, with Rufus just ahead of him.

  Not surprisingly, there wasn’t anybody there. Rufus sniffed the ground, following a trail into the woods. Cole checked the edge of the woods, but didn’t find anyone hiding in the overgrowth. Then he ran down the drive, the rocks and stones cutting into his feet. When he reached the road, he caught a glimpse of taillights fading in the darkness to the left.

  He trotted back toward the house that was now ablaze with light. Analise and his mom stood on the front porch in their pajamas.

  He said, “Whoever it was is long gone.” He whistled for Rufus to come back.

  Analise grabbed him by the upper arm. “What on earth did you think you were doing, running out here like that? Who knows—”

  “Your hand is bleeding,” he said, taking her hand in his.

  “It’s nothing. Just a scratch from flying glass.” She pulled her hand away and Cole had to overcome the urge to grab it back.

  Olivia said, “It must have been Roy.” She shook her head and sighed sadly.

  Analise said, “Seems like we would have heard that truck of his, as still as it is tonight.”

  “Rufus was making enough racket to drown out a NASCAR race,” Olivia said.

  Cole’s gaze cut to his mother. “Wait a minute! What happened with Roy?” He knew that guy was creepy.

  “He went after Ana. We had to fire him.”

  “What do you mean, went after her?” His stomach knotted further. The rock was bad enough, but if he put a hand on Ana . . .

  Analise said, “He was mad because he wanted to meet with Reverend Hammond, but he left before Roy saw him. He was just yelling. . . .”

  “Let’s get back inside,” Olivia said. “A warm day here and there and already the mosquitoes are eating me alive.”

  “With any luck at all, Roy’ll be sucked dry before he gets out of the woods,” Cole said, swatting a mosquito himself. Both he and Rufus cast menacing looks toward the woods before entering the house—just in case someone was hiding out there, watching.

  “We didn’t expect you until Monday,” Analise said, the inhospitable tone stronger in her voice than she’d intended. She finished arranging a large pot of pansies beside the front door of the shop and only glanced at Luke.

  He didn’t seem to notice her ungrateful attitude. “I assume Roy works on Saturday. Since I’m Roy for the next few days, I’ll carry his load. Where do I start?”

  Analise was about to say he could start by going away until Monday, but Olivia’s voice carried across the yard.

  “Luke!” She came closer. “Good gracious! You’re just in time.”

  He turned to Olivia. “In time for what?”

  Analise didn’t miss the warm smile the two of them exchanged.

  “I need you to drive Cole to the hardware store to pick up a new glass pane for Ana’s window.”

  “I said I would take him after lunch,” Analise said. She still didn’t see the need to keep Cole from driving the Jeep. He’d learned his lesson.

  “No sense in waiting, now that Luke’s here.”

  “But he was just leaving.”

  “He just got here.”

  “We don’t need him until Monday.”

  “Well, as long as he’s already here . . . he has to stay for lunch anyway.”

  “I really don’t think we should expect him to—”

  “Wait a minute!” He gave them both a pointed look. “I’ll be happy to take Cole into town.”

  “Oh, good.” Olivia grinned at Analise in an uncharacteristically victorious way. “And maybe you can give him a hand replacing the glass in the window when y’all get back?”

  “Of course.”

  Analise inched back toward the shop, hoping to remove herself as inconspicuously as possible.

  “There he is now,” Olivia said, as Cole came out of the house. She held a finger in the air. “Excuse me a minute.” She met him halfway across the yard. After a few brief words, they both came back toward Luke. Analise had successfully disappeared.

  Luke studied the boy as he approached. This was the first time he’d seen him sober. It was clear Cole shared Calvin’s good looks. But there was something different in Cole’s carriage, something missing—Calvin’s devil-may-care confidence.

  Cole kept his gaze on the ground as he walked nearer. Not until he stopped directly in front of Luke did he make eye contact. He said, “I apologize for puking all ove—”

  “Cole!” Olivia’s sharp tone cut off his words.

  “For my behavior the other day.”

  Luke nodded his acceptance. “Let’s go get that glass.”

  Some of the tension left Cole’s posture. Luke decided to let the subject go altogether; he hoped to make inroads toward helping the boy out of his troubles, and it would be difficult to accomplish from opposite sides of enemy lines. He was going to be around here for a while; no sense in scaring the kid off with probing questions and sermons.

  They got into the Taurus and headed toward town. Once out of the drive, Luke said, “Calvin told me you’re the best goalie Grover’s soccer team has ever had.”

  “He did?” Cole quickly negated the little-boy wonder with a dose of sixteen-year-old bravado. “I haven’t been scored on in the past seven games. I play a little offense, too. Calvin started training me when I was just a little kid. He’s a good teacher.” He paused and a shadow crossed his face. “Was a good teacher.”

  “He was a good soldier, too. I could always count on him.” He paused. “Always.” Then Luke added, “That’s what makes the difference, you know. You can talk all you want, but if the people who depend on you know you’ll come through—well, that’s the test of a true man.”

  When his comment was met with silence, Luke feared he’d gotten too preachy. He glanced over and saw Cole was looking steadily out the passenger window.

  They traveled without conversation for a couple of minutes, then Cole said, “I’ve been thinking of joining the army when I graduate. I’d want to be special ops.”

  Luke nodded. “The army has a lot to offer. What do you like in school?”

  “Nothin’.”

  Glancing at Cole with an understanding smile, Luke said, “Okay, what interests you? Computers? Airplanes? Telecommunications? Mechanics? Engineering? Foreign language?”

  “I wanna do the secret stuff, the dangerous things that nobody ever hears about. Sneak around hostile countries. Carry out secret missions. Recover hostages. Like Calvin did.”

  Luke flinched. “There are lots of avenues that’ll give you a better career,
more training that’ll transfer to civilian occupations.”

  “Yeah, but they’re not as exciting.”

  Luke shook his head and gave a short chuckle. “The reality is, special ops is about ninety-nine percent mundane activity, one percent excitement.” When he looked over, Cole was staring at the scar on his neck. Luke flashed hot. “Accidents happen everywhere. Scars aren’t a badge of honor in the military any more than anyplace else.”

  Cole looked away and rolled his lips inward.

  Luke felt bad for snapping at the kid. “All I’m saying is that you should look at the long term. Pick something with high interest, that’ll carry over for the rest of your life.” He knew firsthand, as he was being faced with deciding what to do with the rest of his life, just how painfully true that statement was. If he could no longer do special ops, the only other thing he figured he was fit for was to train and command special ops. And that didn’t hold a single iota of appeal. “If you want, I can have some information sent to you, so you can see what kinds of things are offered.”

  “Okay.”

  Luke couldn’t tell if there was any enthusiasm behind the agreement, or if Cole was just ready to stop arguing about it.

  He reduced his speed as they entered the city limits. “Where’s the hardware?”

  “On Commerce, south of the courthouse.”

  They parked in an angled spot right in front of the Grover Western-Auto. Luke dropped a couple of coins in the meter and climbed the two steps up to the sidewalk. They went inside, past the bicycles, past the pots and pans, beyond the power tools, to the glass cutting in the rear.

  An elderly man with about a half-set of teeth left in his head smiled at Cole. “Say, there, young Master Lejeune.” With the missing teeth there was a lot of lisping involved.

  “Hey, Mr. Graves. Mom said she called in the order for a piece of glass.”

  “Yup. Got it right here.” He pulled a brown-paper-wrapped sheet of glass from the workbench. “Course you’ll be needin’ some glazing, too.” He added a tube to the order. “Remember, now, gotta chip away all of the old before you replace the glass.” As he wrote down the price on a little scrap of paper, he said, “Miss Livvie said y’all got a rock through the old one.”