Dead Silence

by Brenda Novak

  “His youngest has been hanging out over here. It’s Teddy who wants me to go.”

  Clay gave a disbelieving chuckle. “Yeah, right. Call me as soon as you get back. I can’t wait to hear you eat your words.”

  “Just don’t tell anyone where I’m going,” she said. “We don’t need to connect my name with Kennedy’s and start a big fuss. It’ll be easier to get that Bible back if he can continue on as he’s always been.”

  “What are you going to say to Madeline, and Mom?”

  “I’ll tell them I have to go to Jackson to see George.”

  “Then that’s my story, too. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Wait.”

  “What is it?”

  “If Kennedy gives me the Bible and agrees to keep his mouth shut, don’t you think we should move the—” she cleared her throat “—item we talked about?”

  “No.”

  “But that way, even if it gets discovered, there’d be no evidentiary link to us.” She realized what she was saying and quickly amended it. “If we’re careful not to leave a link, that is.”

  “We can’t be careful enough. It’s not possible. We don’t want to start digging around.”

  “We’ll say you’re making a few improvements to the farm. No big deal.”

  “Just get hold of the Bible, okay?”

  Just get hold of the Bible? “You’re sure about—”

  “I’m positive.”

  She swallowed a sigh. “Okay.”

  A dial tone sounded in her ear. Frowning at the handset, she considered calling George again but changed her mind. She refused to panic. There could be a thousand different reasons he hadn’t returned her call.

  But, deep down, she didn’t believe any of them—except the one she feared most. He was giving up on her.

  Fortunately, when Kennedy arrived at his mother’s house, Teddy didn’t press him for details about his visit to Grace’s. As soon as he walked in, Teddy mumbled, “Did you do it?” and Kennedy nodded. Then Camille turned from peeling potatoes at the sink and started talking about how she’d known from the beginning that Grace wouldn’t be nice to Teddy for very long. At that point, Kennedy and Teddy exchanged a knowing look and clammed up.

  Although Kennedy refused to stay for dinner, it took him almost an hour to get his kids out of the house. First his mother needed help setting up a new printer. Then his father wanted to show him a biography on Jack Nicholson. By the time Kennedy drove away, the boys were starving and, despite his mother’s tacit disapproval, they’d left a hot meal. But Kennedy wanted to get ready for the camping trip.

  As they turned onto Main Street, he announced that Grace had agreed to go with them.

  The news immediately silenced both boys’ complaints about hunger pangs.

  “Really?” Teddy said with eager anticipation.

  “She said she’d go.” Kennedy grinned, feeling more boyish than he had in a long while.

  “No way! How’d you talk her into it, Dad?”

  He’d used a small bribe, but he didn’t give himself away. He had a good reason for wanting to get to know Grace. He needed to decide if he still stood with his mother and everyone else where she was concerned. Or if he stood alone.

  “So when are we leaving?” Heath asked.

  Kennedy pulled into Rudy’s Big Burger. He wasn’t planning to cook tonight. They had too much to do. “First thing in the morning.”

  “Yippee!” Teddy cried.

  Kennedy looked at his oldest son. “What about you, Heath? You glad she’s coming?”

  Heath hesitated. “Grandma won’t like it….”

  Kennedy parked the SUV. “Do we have to tell Grandma about everything we do?”

  “No.”

  “Great. Then I say we keep this to ourselves.”

  “Okay,” he said, that easily convinced, and climbed out.

  Kennedy started to follow the boys toward the entrance, but Buzz pulled into the parking lot before he could reach the restaurant door.

  His best friend rolled down his window. “Hey!”

  Kennedy checked to make sure Teddy and Heath got safely into Rudy’s, then walked over to say hello. As he drew nearer, he could see that Joe was in the truck with Buzz and felt his enthusiasm dim. Kennedy didn’t like Joe nearly as much as he used to. Maybe that was because Joe seemed more egocentric by the day.

  “You guys going to grab a burger?” Kennedy asked.

  “No. Just saw your Explorer turn in and thought we’d say hello.”

  “Come in and sit down with us.”

  “We can’t. Sarah’s invited Joe to dinner.” Buzz winked. “She’s got her niece Melinda coming over.”

  “More matchmaking?” Kennedy wasn’t sure how he’d been lucky enough to escape Sarah’s eye as a partner for her recently divorced niece, but he was grateful. Melinda was too young. And he was tired of everyone in town wanting to set him up with someone.

  “She thinks I’m quite a catch.” Joe stretched his arm across the back of the seat.

  “Buzz is too loyal to tell her the truth, huh?” Kennedy and Joe always teased each other, but today Kennedy was at least partially serious.

  Joe flipped him off, but Kennedy merely laughed.

  “You and the kids can join us for dinner, too,” Buzz said. “You know Sarah. She’ll have enough to feed an army.”

  “Daddy!”

  Kennedy turned as Teddy came out of the restaurant. After making sure there were no cars, Kennedy waved him over, then put his hands on his son’s shoulders and returned to the conversation. “Thanks for the invitation, but I think we’ll eat here.”

  “Hey, Buzz, guess what?” Teddy said excitedly.

  “What’s that, kid?”

  “We’re going camping tomorrow.”

  Cursing silently, Kennedy tightened his grip on Teddy’s shoulders, hoping to relay the message to shut up.

  “You are?” Joe’s enthusiasm indicated his interest was immediately piqued. “Where?”

  “Pickwick Lake,” Kennedy said, knowing Joe typically liked to go farther.

  “Why Pickwick?” he asked. “You always camp there.”

  Kennedy shrugged. “This is sort of a last-minute trip.”

  “If you’re willing to go to Arkabutla instead, I’ll go with you.”

  Joe loved to hunt and fish more than anyone Kennedy knew. And since all the other guys were married, he was forever searching for ways to entertain himself. But Kennedy had no intention of inviting Joe. After the pizza parlor incident, he could only imagine how happy Grace would be if Joe tagged along. “Maybe next time.”

  Buzz glanced at his watch. “We’d better get going. Sarah will be mad if we’re late.”

  Kennedy thumped the door panel. “Have fun tonight. Tell Sarah and the kids I said hello.”

  “Will do.”

  “Don’t break Melinda’s heart, okay, Joe?” he added.

  “Me?” Joe’s smile hitched up on one side. “Come on, I’m too nice a guy for that.”

  Kennedy laughed as they drove off, but sighed in relief once they were gone. The last thing he needed was for Joe to find out that he and Grace were spending the weekend together and start running his big mouth.

  Waiting for Kennedy and his boys, Grace twirled her rings around and around her fingers. Madeline had called wanting to come by last night, but Grace had complained of a headache and said she was going to bed. She didn’t want to see her stepsister and pretend she didn’t find anything at Jed’s when she couldn’t say with certainty whether or not that Bible would reappear and reveal her for the liar she was. She didn’t want to talk to her mother, either. Feeling the way she did, she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t worried about the future, and knew she’d only upset Irene. With all that, and the whole town speculating as to why Madeline had broken into Jed’s shop, Grace was actually glad she’d be out of town for the next few days.

  Even if it was with Kennedy Archer.

  She rubbed her forehead, wonderin
g what the two of them would talk about. Back in high school, she’d stared longingly after him as he’d walked down the halls, or watched from the corner of the room as he’d slung an arm around Raelynn’s shoulders, wishing, dreaming, that it could be her. But he’d barely acknowledged her existence. And since she’d returned to town, he’d caught her throwing up in the bathroom of the pizza parlor and fleeing the scene of a crime. Not impressive—and not much on which to build a friendship.

  Teddy would be there, though. That boy had captured her heart. Maybe it was how sweet he was and how bright for someone so young. She’d never met a more loving child. As far as Grace was concerned, Kennedy didn’t deserve Teddy any more than he’d deserved Raelynn. But life was never fair. She’d learned that long ago.

  Hearing a car in the drive, she grabbed the cookies she’d baked and the small bag in which she’d packed a few toiletries, two pairs of shorts, some T-shirts, tennis shoes, suntan oil and a bathing suit. She’d told everyone in her family except Clay that she was going to Jackson for the weekend to see George—even though he hadn’t returned her call—so she needed to slip away before someone spotted her getting into Kennedy’s Explorer.

  With that in mind, she opened the front door before Kennedy could knock.

  “Hi,” he said, disarming her with a smile so genuine she almost forgot she didn’t like him.

  “Wow,” she muttered. “No wonder I was such an idiot.”

  He blinked in surprise. “What did you say?”

  “Never mind.” She let him take her bag while she locked the door, but he didn’t walk off right away. He frowned at the flip-flops on her feet.

  “You brought some proper shoes, didn’t you?”

  She nodded and moved toward the SUV, then stopped. “This is crazy,” she said. “I shouldn’t be going.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t understand the point of it.”

  “Most people go camping to get away, have a good time.”

  She could relate to that; she definitely wanted to get away. But…“I know. It’s just that we—”

  “Will be fine,” he finished. “You’re not really going to disappoint them, are you?” He motioned to the car, where Teddy was hanging halfway out the window, waving at her. Another boy sat beside him, leaning up on his knees to get a better look at her.

  She sighed. “I guess not.”

  “Good.” Skirting her, he went to the back of the Explorer, where he loaded her bags. Then he brought the cookies around front.

  “Hi, Grace!” Teddy said as she climbed in.

  She smiled broadly at him. “Hi, Teddy.”

  “This is Heath.” Kennedy indicated his other son as he slid behind the wheel. “He’s ten.”

  “Another handsome boy,” she said, and was rewarded with a shy smile.

  They were all handsome, Grace realized. Especially Kennedy. If the boys grew up to resemble their father, they’d probably break more hearts than they could count.

  With a sudden frown, she turned to stare out her window.

  Kennedy must have sensed her change in mood because he squeezed her elbow. “Relax, okay?”

  When she glanced over at him, the smile he gave her was impossible to resist.

  Smiling in return, she buckled her seat belt and he handed her a coffee cup that had been in one of his cup holders. “It’s hot. Be careful.”

  “Thanks.”

  “There’s cream and sugar in that bag by your feet.”

  “We got doughnuts, too,” Teddy announced, brandishing a large white bag.

  “Sounds good,” she said.

  “We all guessed which kind would be your favorite,” Teddy explained.

  She could tell he thought he’d won. “So what made it into the bag?”

  “For you? One of each,” Kennedy said. “A chocolate doughnut with sprinkles, an apple fritter and a maple bar.”

  Teddy leaned forward. “Which is your favorite?”

  “Who chose the sprinkles?” She expected Teddy or his brother to pipe up. She couldn’t imagine Kennedy picking sprinkles, but he was the one who grinned at her.

  “I did.”

  She arched her eyebrows. “Oh. You like sprinkles?”

  “No, I was picking for you. That’s your favorite, right?”

  Clearing her throat, she turned her face away. “Actually, that’s the only kind I don’t like.”

  “Liar,” he muttered and she couldn’t help laughing.

  “You’d better be careful lying to Dad,” Teddy said. “Or it’ll be torture time.”

  “What’s torture time?” she asked.

  “That’s where he holds you down and tickles you till you beg for mercy,” Heath said.

  “Or he rubs his whiskers on your neck until you say ‘uncle,’” Teddy added.

  “I’d never say uncle,” she said. “Not to your father.”

  Kennedy turned right on Mulberry Street and headed toward the Tennessee state line. To the boys, Grace knew he seemed as calm as ever, but she could see the devilish glint in his eye. “Then I suggest you never lie to me,” he said softly. “Otherwise, I might have to prove you wrong.”

  “He can make you say it,” Teddy agreed, nodding with absolute conviction.

  Grace studied Kennedy for several long seconds. “No, he can’t. He’ll never get the best of me.”

  “You can’t stop him,” Heath insisted. “He’s too strong.”

  “The trick is not to fight. The trick is to play dead,” she said simply.

  Kennedy looked over at her. “Play dead?”

  She settled back in her seat. “What fun is torturing someone who doesn’t care?”

  “Is it that easy not to care?”

  “It can become a habit,” she said.

  “You have to let your guard down sometime, Grace.”

  The boys had lost the gist of the conversation but were still watching them curiously. “Why?” she asked.

  “Protecting yourself that well means you risk missing out on something spectacular.”

  “Oh, well.” She folded her arms. “At least I’ll survive.”

  Some kind of emotion entered his eyes, but she had no idea what it signified. “That’s no way to live.”

  She tossed him an empty smile. “Some people just do what they have to.”

  Grace reminded Kennedy of a cactus. She could be prickly, of course. But in his mind, the comparison had more to do with the arid emotional environment she’d experienced in the past, the way she seemed to store what she absolutely needed inside her, and how she tried so hard to take very little from those around her. He wasn’t sure he’d ever met anyone who demanded less from others or worked harder to maintain a tough exterior.

  “What would happen if you agreed to pretend we just met?” he asked as they took the turnoff that would lead them, in only fifteen more minutes, to the lake.

  She’d been dozing, but when he spoke, she sat up. He could almost hear her defenses snapping back into place. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m asking what terrible thing you think might happen.”

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  “I don’t think anything terrible would happen.”

  “Because nothing terrible ever happens to you,” she pointed out. “You seem to have been born under a lucky sign.”

  He lowered his voice, even though the boys were so busy with their Game Boys he knew they weren’t listening. “I’ve already agreed not to press you for anything physical. What else do you have to worry about? That you might enjoy yourself? That you might actually let someone get to know you?”

  “You already know me.”

  He thought of the rumors that had always circulated about her and her family, the Bible she’d dropped in the woods, her guarded manner. “No, I don’t.”

  “That’s funny,” she said. “Because I know you.”

  “Not really. We never—”

  She cut him off. “I remember the presentation you gave in fifth grade
on the bottle-nosed dolphin. You made a mosaic out of broken glass. You threw it away after you got your A, but I stole it out of the trash and took it home.” She laughed softly at herself. “To me, it was the most beautiful thing in the world. I hung it on the wall of my room for four years.”

  She pulled on her seat belt, obviously lost in thought. “And I remember when you broke your arm playing basketball in seventh grade. I knew you must really be hurt when you started to cry.” Her voice trailed off as though it had affected her deeply. “I watched your mother pick you up from school in her new Cadillac that day.”

  “That injury was Joe’s fault,” he said, feeling uncomfortable because he couldn’t remember anything about her except the nasty things his friends used to say. “He fouled me hard when I drove to the basket.”

  She didn’t respond to his comment. She was too busy recalling incident after incident. “I can still picture you riding in your father’s convertible T-Bird when you were nominated for royalty in high school,” she said. “I knew you’d win.” She laughed again. “And so did you.”

  He wished she’d stop….

  “Then there was the time you shaved your head, along with the rest of the football team. Not your best look, for sure, but you pulled it off better than most. And the winning touchdown pass against Cambridge Heights our senior year that put us in the play-offs. And your speech on graduation night—”

  “That’s enough,” he said softly. Even he remembered graduation night. She’d come up and offered him a tentative smile as though she wanted to wish him well—and he’d turned away from her as if she hadn’t been standing there.

  She didn’t say anything else, and they rode in silence until they reached the campground. When he’d paid the fees and backed into the space he’d reserved, the boys piled out, talking excitedly about the s’mores they had planned for later. But Kennedy caught Grace’s hand before she could open her door. He felt guilty for treating her so carelessly when they were kids, wanted to say something that would somehow erase what he’d done. But he couldn’t find the right words.

  Turning her hand over, he traced one of the lines on her palm. “I guess you know me better than I thought,” he said simply and got out.