Sisters, Ink

by Rebeca Seitz

  It was a moment, that’s all. One moment.

  She didn’t look back.

  Eight

  Morning, sunshine.” Meg’s voice pulled Tandy from a hazy dream about beaches and diners.

  “Morning.” She rubbed sleep from her eyes and stood up, watching Meg open the blinds. Sunlight poured in through the windows. “What time is it?”

  “About nine, lazy bones. Daddy thought it was time you got up.”

  “Nine in the morning? Wow. I must have been tired.” She checked the clock on the nightstand. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “James woke up wanting his Aunt Tandy. He wouldn’t hush about it all through breakfast. The only way I could get him to eat his pancakes was to promise a trip over here.”

  “Pushover.” Tandy grinned.

  “Only when what they want is good for them. You up for some niece-and-nephew time today?”

  “You bet! Any plans made yet?”

  “Well, Savannah wants the playground and James wants a ride into Nashville for Chuck E. Cheese.” Finished with the windows, she turned and threw her hands in the air. “Your call.”

  Images of last night, the barn, and Clay rushed in on her. Nashville was a good idea.

  “Chuck E. Cheese it is.”

  “Seriously? You want to drive all the way in to Nashville?”

  “You say that like it’s fourteen hours away. It’s a little over an hour, Meg.”

  “Says the woman who doesn’t routinely spend time in a van with three small children.”

  “How bad can it be?”

  Two hours and fifteen miles from Nashville later, Tandy was eating crow. “I don’t know how you do this and stay sane.”

  “Do what?” Meg filled a sippy cup for the second time with white grape juice while steering with her knee.

  “This!” Tandy waved her hand to encompass the three children laughing hysterically at a DVD playing on the flip-down screen installed in the ceiling. Someone was singing about a lost hairbrush. “They’re beautiful, but they’re so full of energy I’m exhausted before we even get out of the vehicle. And why are they singing about a lost hairbrush?”

  Meg laughed. “VeggieTales. It’s the silly song on that video, ‘O, Where Is My Hairbrush?’”

  “That’s an actual song?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Meg nodded, smiling. “You should listen to the Silly Song Countdown. Jamison and I laugh our heads off when we watch it.”

  “You are one strange woman.”

  “Probably. But you wait until you have kids, and we’ll see how many lyrics you learn.”

  “What makes you so sure I’m going to have kids?”

  Meg glanced from the road to Tandy. “You’re not?”

  “I don’t know. But dating someone and getting married might come in handy before I do.”

  “No prospects in Orlando? I’d think there it would be ‘raining men! Hallelujah! It’s raining men!’”

  “None for me, thanks. Nice song, though.”

  “Thanks. You’re not seeing anyone? Even casually?”

  “Formally, casually, pin-striped, or button-down. Not a soul.”

  “On purpose?”

  “Of course not on purpose, Meg. I’m busy at work. I don’t have time to meet someone, let alone put time into building a relationship.” The echo of her conversation with Clay made her squirm.

  “That sounds like ‘on purpose’ to me.”

  “It should sound like focusing on my career to you.”

  “That, too. I’m not sure those are mutually exclusive, though.”

  “Right now, they are.”

  “What about seeing someone while you’re in Stars Hill?”

  They neared the exit for Cool Springs, and Meg veered onto the off-ramp.

  “Is there a cadre of new men in town? Because I remember a Stars Hill devoid of possibilities.”

  “Only when your sole possibility is Clay Kelner.”

  “I’m not dating Clay.” Her voice was louder than she intended.

  Meg’s puzzlement was that of a cat catching the scent of a mouse while on a leisurely stroll through the field. “I didn’t say you were. I was talking about high school.”

  “Oh, well, that was then.” Tandy pulled down the visor and checked her makeup in the mirror. The scent of deception hung in the air.

  “Tandy Sinclair, are you seeing Clay again?”

  Tandy snapped the visor shut and turned in her seat. “When would I have had time to see Clay? I was with you and the sisters all day yesterday and am now on my way to Nashville with you.”

  “And yet, not an answer to my question. Are you seeing Clay?”

  She’d seen gray fur and was pouncing. “No.”

  “Have you seen Clay?”

  “You know I ran into him in front of the diner. Speaking of which, you didn’t tell me which townsperson clued you in. Was it Mrs. McMurty?”

  “No, Petra was eating in the diner and called me. Stop trying to change the subject. Have you seen him other than that time?”

  She could lie, but Meg would know. Tandy’s lies were about as good as Bill Clinton’s, but she lacked his Teflon exterior. “Maybe.”

  Meg pulled into the Chuck E. Cheese parking lot and threw the van in park. James and Savannah squealed when they saw the big, bright mouse on the building. Hannah, not yet old enough at eight months to be excited about the mouse, threw her hands up and chortled her own glee for her siblings.

  “Mom! Let’s go get some coins! I just want to ride everything!” James was out of his booster seat and pushing the button to open the door.

  Tandy unbuckled her own seat belt and made a swift exit. She opened the sliding door on her side to get Hannah out of her car seat as Meg poked her head in from the other side to release Savannah.

  “Don’t think this conversation is over.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.” Tandy pulled Hannah out and propped her on a hip, formulating a plan for how to spend the day with the kids instead of being grilled by her sister. She’d been back in town for less than three days and already Clay was causing trouble in her life again. It was no good. Even if he’d changed, and that was open for as much debate as the reason for the war in Iraq, he was Stars Hill. And her life was Orlando.

  Stars Hill was great, it was Daddy and the sisters and memories of Momma. But she couldn’t prove her worth there or attain the dreams she and Momma discussed.

  For the next three hours Tandy chased James and Savannah all over the popcorn-strewn carpet of the gaming area, stuffing their tickets into her bulging pockets. Whack-a-Moles fell beneath their bopping sticks. Plastic frogs climbed walls as their water-gun spray hit the go button. Pac-Man ate thousands of pellets, gobbling up ghosts and extra points, then spitting out the coveted paper proof of a game well played.

  No matter how Meg tried to restart their conversation, Tandy found a new game for James or Savannah to try. Hannah fell asleep an hour into it, forcing Meg to either walk around carrying her sleeping form or hang out in the booth guarding the pizza while Tandy, James, and Savannah played.

  Tandy hadn’t had this much fun in way too long. Though a resident of the East Coast home of the Magic Kingdom, she was realizing how very little of the magic bled over into her everyday life. This place was a drop in the bucket compared to what they would see at Disney and Epcot, but James and Savannah didn’t seem to be lacking an ounce of enthusiasm or excitement. They pulled her across the floor, two tiny engines tugging an adult object growing slower and more immovable as the day progressed.

  Fun was exhausting. Tandy sat down on the ski-ball alley beside where James attempted shot after shot at the ten-thousand-point ring. “Having fun, buddy?” She smiled at the screwed up concentration on the six-year-old’s face.

  He rolled the ball hard down the alley. Tandy watched it bounce hard at the end, glance off the ten-thousand-point ring, and land in the five-thousand-point hole instead.

  “I was just so close, Aunt Tandy! Did you
see? Did you see?” He hopped up and down, blond hair bouncing.

  “I did! Good job!” She picked a scarred wooden ball up out of his stash and offered it to him. “Try again.”

  James’s face pinched together, and he took a few practice swings with his arm. With that kind of focus, the little guy would have no problem making it in life.

  “Oof!” The breath went out of her as Savannah jumped into her lap.

  “See me!” Savannah said in her tinny three-year-old voice. “See me!”

  “I see you, sweetheart.”

  “No, swing her,” James said, rolling the ball down the alley.

  “Oh! Swing you! Okay. But only for a minute. Aunt Tandy is old and tired.”

  Both kids giggled. “You’re not old, Aunt Tandy,” James said.

  “I’m not? Are you sure about that?”

  He bobbed his head in confidence. “Yep. ’Cause if you was old, you’d have kids like us.”

  Tandy ignored the tiny stab of pain. “Maybe not, James. Some people end up not having any kiddos, you know. And some people don’t ever get married, either.”

  James and Savannah both looked at her in confusion. “Why not?” James said.

  “Well …” Oh, how to explain life to someone whose frame of reference was a singing cucumber and a talking tomato? “Some people don’t want to get married and have kids.”

  James forgot the wooden balls and climbed up in her lap beside Savannah. “But why?”

  She thought hard, shifting on the uncomfortable lane. Truthfully, she wanted to get married one day and have kids, but there were people who chose to live a single life or a life with no children. Tandy knew that, even applauded it. But her reality didn’t fall into that category. And, not having the desire, she sat helpless to come up with a justification for it.

  “I don’t know, James.”

  A flash went off to her right, and they jumped. “And thank goodness for that,” Meg said rising from her kneeling position, camera in one hand and a sleeping Hannah on the other arm.

  “Oh, hey, didn’t see you there,” Tandy said. “You could have jumped in, you know.”

  “I wanted that shot for my scrapbook. And, besides, I wondered about your answer, too.” Meg held out her hand and James took it. “Come on, munchkins. Time to head back home. Daddy will be back and looking for dinner soon.”

  “But I don’t want to!” James planted his feet and pulled back against Meg’s hand. “I just want one more game.”

  Meg turned and knelt down in front of him. “James, Mommy said it’s time to go.” Her voice reminded Tandy of Momma’s. When had that happened? “Now we can either spend five minutes playing more games or five minutes cashing in your tickets for some prizes over at that counter.” She pointed with the hand that wasn’t holding Hannah toward a glass case filled with plastic trinkets.

  “Ooh! Prizes!” James bounced up and down again, taking Meg’s hand and pulling her over to the display. “I just love prizes!”

  “Nicely done, sister.”

  Meg threw a smile over her shoulder at Tandy. “You learn what works.”

  Nine

  Halfway back to Stars Hill, with lime-green whistles and plastic red harmonicas nestled in the crooks of sleeping children’s arms, Meg turned down the radio and went back on the hunt. “Did you see Clay last night, Tandy?”

  “Yes.” No sense running. Tandy winced when she even thought the word. No wonder they called her a runner.

  “When? Where?”

  “He threw rocks at my window at two a.m. I had to go outside or he was going to wake up Daddy.”

  “Yeah, right.” Meg divided glances between the road and Tandy’s face. “What happened?”

  “Nothing much. We talked. He asked me why I was in Stars Hill. I told him I was taking a break from work and coming home to see everybody.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Isn’t that enough?”

  “I don’t know.” Meg leaned back in her seat and focused on the road again. “Did he say anything about, you know, you two?”

  “As in, did he ask me to get back together? Come on, Meg. I know you’re a romantic, but it’s been ten years. We’re different people now.”

  “Just because you’re different doesn’t mean you aren’t still right for each other.”

  “We weren’t right for each other then.”

  “Are you kidding me? The whole town knew it. Momma got calls daily. Mrs. McMurty had picked out your china.”

  “Except for Clay. And I’m pretty sure he would need to be in on the secret.”

  “Oh, he knew it, too. He was just young and dumb and thought you’d follow him anywhere.”

  “No, he wasn’t dumb enough to think I’d give up my own dreams and goals to traipse all over the world with a soldier and his glorified death wish.”

  “He didn’t have a death wish, Tandy.”

  “Yes, he did!” She took a breath and calmed down. “Yes. He did,” she said in a softer voice. “He was determined to join the service and take the most dangerous job he could find.”

  “I think he’d tell you the word was adventurous, not dangerous.”

  “In the military it might as well be the same thing. And how was I going to go to college? Then law school? Have a career? Have my dreams?”

  “He gambled on those things meaning less to you than being with him.”

  “Then he only loved the version of me in his head.”

  “That may be. But it wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.”

  Tandy turned in her seat, eyes wide. “Hel-lo? Remember me? Tandy? The one with a mission?”

  Meg sighed. “I know who I’m talking to.”

  “Then you should know how unreasonable his assumption was. How could you say that? Do you really think I’d let Momma down like that?”

  “Let Momma down?”

  “Let everybody down. You know what I mean.”

  “I’m not sure I do.” Silence reigned for a few seconds. “T, did you want to become a lawyer, move to Orlando, rise to the top of the legal food chain, live on your own, make a name for yourself, and all that jazz because of yourself … or Mom?”

  “That’s a ridiculous question.”

  “But still a question.”

  “Not one worthy of an answer.” Tandy leaned over and turned up the radio.

  Meg turned it back down. “Humor me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if you think you’re fulfilling some dying wish of Momma’s, then I’ve got a sermon for you.”

  Tandy sighed. “Of course I want those things, Meg. You think I’d let somebody like Clay Kelner go if I didn’t want something more? Is that how little you think of me?”

  “You know I have all kinds of respect for you, T. I’ve got enough respect to know you’d sacrifice your own desires if you thought it would honor Momma. You’ve always been that way. Heck, it’s why you’re here in Stars Hill, right? You sacrificed your job for a homeless man. You’re an amazing woman and everybody knows it. Except, sometimes, maybe you.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m just fabulous.” Tandy waved a hand in the air. “Belle of the ball. Talk of the town. The city can’t get enough of me, I’m just so wonderful.”

  “In a lot of ways, you are.”

  “Yet you’re the one with a husband and three kids. Joy’s the one with a husband and the perfect Martha Stewart home. And don’t even mention Kendra because I don’t think she wants to be married, so she’s happy, too.”

  “Are you not happy?”

  “I don’t know!” Tandy put her hand over her mouth. Where had that come from? Of course she was happy! She had a great career, an apartment, a dog, a life. What was there to be unhappy about?

  Clay’s voice swept through her memory like a summer breeze heavy with sunshine. Until she’d seen his name swing from that sign on Lindell, contentedness existed, if not happiness. And it would come back as soon as her eyes saw the “Welcome to the Sunshine State” sign in ten days.
Ten short, awfully long, days.

  “I’m happy, Meg. I may not have everything you or Joy or Kendra has, but I’ve got a whole lot more than a homeless girl from the streets of Orlando can hope for.”

  “Do you have more than the daughter of Marian and Jack Sinclair could hope for? Because that’s you, too, Tandy.”

  “Momma and Daddy were more than I deserved. They gave me the chance to do something with my life. And I’m not going to let them down.”

  “They also gave us love, Tandy. And Momma would want you to share that with someone else.”

  Tandy reached over and turned the radio back up.

  This time Meg let it go.

  Ten

  As they drove down Lindell, Tandy looked out the window. “Hey, when did Emmy put in scrapbooking supplies?”

  “Oh! That reminds me!” Meg swung the van into a parking space in front of the store. “I’ve got to see if they have the new Cricut cartridges yet.”

  “I’ll stay here with the kids.”

  Meg nodded and dashed toward the glass door bearing the name Emmy’s Attic.

  Seconds later Kendra popped out of the store. Tandy opened the van door. “Hey! What are you doing down here?”

  “Ran out of clay ingredients.” Kendra stuck her head in the door and peeked toward the back. “Meg said y’all went to Nashville?”

  “Yeah, James wanted Chuck E. Cheese.”

  “Sucker.” Kendra grinned.

  “Have you looked at him when he begs? That child will break hearts in a few years.”

  “I know. I feel bad for Meg and Jamison. Can you imagine how many girls will be calling their house at all hours?”

  They laughed. “So did you get your supplies?”

  “Yeah. I’m trying to finish a sculpture in time for the Iris Festival competition. Ran out just as I was making some progress.”

  “Isn’t that always how it goes?”

  “In our lives, yeah.” Kendra winked. “What are you doing for dinner?”

  “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I haven’t talked to Daddy since this morning, though. He may have something planned.”

  “Oh, he’s got something planned, all right.” Kendra’s smile rivaled the Cheshire cat’s.