A Sweethaven Summer

by Courtney Walsh

  “I did just wake up.”

  “That’s my point. Hurry it up. We’ve gotta beat the crowd. Especially Harriet Dillon. That woman had her eye on Old Man Marvin’s grandfather clock and I want it. If Harriet wants it, she’s gonna have to buy it from me.” Adele rushed out of the room.

  Campbell laughed, thankful the tension in the room had dissipated. “All right, I’ll hurry.” Before she could leave Luke grabbed her hand.

  “I’m sorry about that,” he said. “She and Meghan have been carrying this grudge for a long time. I think she makes herself busy by fixing everyone else. That way she doesn’t have to face up to her own issues.”

  Campbell’s shoulders slumped. “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. She doesn’t mean to be flip. I hope you know that. She just—she’s tried to make amends with Meghan, but my sister is even more stubborn than she is. She refused to speak to her. Said she couldn’t trust her anymore. ”

  Campbell knew she should be thinking about something other than the way his hand felt wrapped around hers, but she couldn’t concentrate. Questions about Meghan and Adele flittered around in her mind, and she couldn’t seem to lasso a single one in. “It’s fine, Luke, really. I’m fine.”

  He stood, still holding her hand. “Let me know if that changes, okay?”

  She nodded. Words escaped her.

  “All right, you should hurry. If I know Mom she’s probably already in the truck.”

  A horn sounded from outside.

  They laughed.

  “I told ya. She’s serious about these antiques.”

  Campbell hurried to get ready, and after a few short minutes, she met Luke and Adele in the driveway. Adele hopped down and let Campbell sit in the middle.

  She climbed up and inhaled the scent of Luke’s woodsy cologne.

  Not everything in Sweethaven confused her. Some things seemed straightforward. Like these budding feelings she couldn’t contain when she sat next to Luke.

  The truck bounced on the brick road as they headed out of town, toward what Adele described as the Estate Sale of the Century.

  “I teased Old Man Marvin I was gonna walk away with that clock when he wasn’t lookin’. It’s beautiful. It’s gonna be heavy. Luke, we’re going to need more than just you to move that thing.”

  “I figured,” Luke said. He seemed to be half-listening.

  “Are you payin’ attention? I need you to pay attention.” Adele leaned forward and glared at him.

  “I’m right here, Ma. Can’t hardly ignore you.” He grinned at Campbell.

  Campbell enjoyed the playful banter between Luke and his mom all the way through town, then out past Adele’s shop and finally down a winding road called Kennedy Hill. They turned on a long gravel driveway, passed through an open wrought-iron gate, and spotted several cars parked in the grass around the old house.

  “Is that Harriet’s old Buick?” Adele squinted in the morning sun. “If she beat me here, Luke, you are in trouble.”

  “What’d I do?” Luke looked surprised.

  “You drive slower than Me-maw.”

  Campbell laughed.

  “Okay, that’s not Harriet. You’re lucky, son,” Adele said. “Just drop me off here and go park.”

  “So bossy today, old lady.” Luke slowed the truck.

  Before he’d come to a complete stop, Adele opened the door and hopped down. Campbell watched her trot up to the front where a short line had begun to form.

  “Look at her. There’s no stopping her.” Luke leaned over the steering wheel. “She’s on a mission.”

  “How does this work? Does she have to beat everyone here in order to get what she wants?”

  “She gets first dibs if she’s first. There’s a whole set of rules to this stuff.”

  “I thought it was like a garage sale.”

  “Don’t let my mom hear you say that.” He laughed. “You’d get an earful.”

  She focused on the driveway as Luke pulled into a makeshift parking space alongside the outermost car.

  “We can hang out here for a few minutes. We probably should’ve driven separately—it’s going to be a long day,” Luke said. “I don’t think she’ll even need me for a couple of hours.”

  “We should go get that latte you promised,” Campbell said, in dire need of more caffeine. Sleeping on Adele’s couch had made for a fitful night.

  He grinned. “Good idea. That’ll give me a chance to check in on Delcy. I scheduled extra help, but I’d feel better knowing things are okay. Let’s go tell Ma so she doesn’t freak out if she sees the truck leaving.” He popped open the door and hopped out.

  Luke offered her a hand to help her out of the truck. She took it, setting off unfamiliar sparks inside. Her simple feelings threatened to become more complicated the more time she spent with him.

  She reached the ground safely, and he squeezed her hand twice before letting it go. She pretended she didn’t miss his touch as soon as they disconnected.

  “Do you come to a lot of these things?” Campbell asked as they walked toward the line of people.

  “I’ve been to my fair share. When I moved back here it was one of my tactics to get back on Mom’s good side. You think she’s sweet, but you don’t want to cross her.” He smirked.

  “Why were you on her bad side? Don’t all moms want their kids to stay close? My mom was thrilled that I stayed close. She used to beg me to move back in with her after I got my own place.” Her voice wavered, and she decided not to replay that conversation with her mom.

  He ran his hand over the stubble on his chin. “It’s complicated,” he said. He glanced down at her as a slow smile spread across his face. “Just kidding.” He bumped into her with his shoulder.

  “Very funny.” She returned the smile.

  “I went to school and got a great job in the city.”

  “You? A city boy?”

  He shrugged. “I know, hard to believe, right?”

  “What kind of job?”

  “I was an architect. Worked for a great firm.”

  “And?”

  He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Long story short? I couldn’t cut it.”

  She quieted. “I don’t believe that.”

  “It’s true. I hated that lifestyle. Hated the fast pace. Hated working such long hours. Hated all of it.”

  “So, you wanted a simpler life. Doesn’t mean you couldn’t cut it.”

  “Same thing, really.”

  “No, it’s not. You made the choice to come back.”

  “And my mom thought I was throwing everything away. All that school—all that supposed talent I had.”

  “Ah. Well, I can see why she felt that way.” Campbell glanced at Adele. She’d secured a good spot in the line and now chatted with some of the other poor saps waiting for the sale to start. “She wants you to have more than she had.”

  Luke laughed. “Not exactly. My mom had a pretty good life. She gave it up—decided to move here. I guess I thought she’d understand.”

  “She moved here for you guys?”

  “For Meghan. I wasn’t born yet.”

  “But she didn’t want you to stay here?”

  “There’s not a lot of opportunity in such a small town. She didn’t realize she’d raised me to be the kind of person who loves the simple life. That’s the price of growing up in Sweethaven.” He looked at his mom. “But I wouldn’t be happy anywhere else.”

  What did it feel like to be so tied to a place? To have roots and history? She didn’t have that with a town. With her mom’s house, maybe, but not the suburbs. Or the city.

  She liked the idea.

  They’d almost reached Adele when Luke grabbed her hand. “You know what, on second thought, we don’t need to tell her what we’re doing. She knew I owed you a latte.”

  “What? We’re almost there.” Campbell laughed, but then she faced the house and saw Adele talking to an older man. A familiar man. Her grandfather.

  Like character
s in a slow-motion replay, the two of them turned toward her.

  There was no turning back.

  Had Adele lured her here on purpose? Or called him to tell him to come?

  Luke fidgeted and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We can go,” he said quietly. “Let’s go.”

  She stood still. Shock prevented her from moving or speaking.

  Adele took a step toward her, but she held up a hand to stop her.

  “You did this on purpose,” Campbell said, hurt crushing her.

  The old man turned away, as if it was too painful to look at her. As if he was ashamed of her.

  “I didn’t. I promise, Campbell. I didn’t know your grandfather would be here, but here we all are, so why don’t I introduce you?” Adele stood only a foot away now, and Campbell could feel anger bubbling inside.

  “I should go,” the old man said, still not looking at her.

  “Or I should. Wouldn’t that be better for you? For me to just disappear?” Campbell glared at the man.

  “Campbell, don’t.” Adele took a step closer.

  “It’s not your place, Adele.” She turned back to her grandfather. “Tell me it’s not true. Tell me you didn’t punish my mom for having me. You hung her out to dry, and she was just a kid.”

  The man turned away, still avoiding her eyes.

  Campbell looked at Adele. “I told you this wasn’t what I wanted.” She rushed toward the truck on numb legs.

  “Ma, how could you do this?” Luke’s voice verged on angry.

  “Hon, I swear, I didn’t know…” Adele’s voice faded into the background as Campbell got farther and farther away.

  The sound of footsteps behind her told her Luke was following her. Before long he fell into step beside her.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I had no idea he would be here. I’ve never seen him at one of these things before.”

  “Maybe your mom invited him.”

  “She likes to meddle, but I really don’t think she’d do that to you.”

  Campbell hated the tears that welled in her eyes and the unwanted baseball that had plopped itself squarely at the center of her throat. She tromped toward the truck, wishing she could run into the open field until it met the water and then swim somewhere far away.

  She reached the truck and pulled the door open. Luke climbed in the opposite side but didn’t turn the engine on.

  She stared out the window.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Just take me back to your mom’s so I can get my stuff. I should leave for real this time.”

  Silence filled the cab of the truck.

  Finally, she risked a look at him. His worried eyes stared intently at her.

  The weight of his concern nearly paralyzed her. She had experienced nothing but rejection when it came to the men in her life. Why should she expect anything different from Luke? She mentally chastised herself for even thinking about a guy so soon after her mom’s death.

  “Campbell, you can’t run away.”

  She didn’t respond. He couldn’t possibly understand.

  “I admit, that was uncomfortable, but he does have answers to some of your questions. Maybe he’s sorry for the way things have turned out.”

  “He didn’t look sorry to me.” Her voice cracked, and she swallowed her pain. “This is too hard, Luke. If seeing that man makes me feel like this, I’m not sure I can handle seeing my father. I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore.”

  He stared at her for a minute. “Look, I promised you a latte. And I’m not going back on my promise. After that, if you want to leave, I’ll drive you back to my mom’s myself.” He reached across the seat back and let a hand rest on her shoulder. “Sound fair?”

  No. None of this sounded fair. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t have two parents to love her. It wasn’t fair that her mom had died. It wasn’t fair that the man responsible for Mom’s misery stood only yards away, and it wasn’t fair to know he never loved her.

  But she didn’t say so. Instead, she nodded and continued staring outside, away from the crowd gathering at Old Man Marvin’s Estate Sale.

  * * * * *

  “The table in the back is the best one. Go ahead and sit down and I’ll get the coffee.”

  Campbell sat in the corner and looked around The Main Street Café.

  Only a few minutes passed before Luke returned. “Delcy’s making the drinks. How are you doing?”

  She didn’t answer.

  “You haven’t said a word since we left.”

  “I’m just processing, that’s all.”

  “It’s a lot to process.”

  She sighed. “You can say that again.” She ran a hand through her hair, smoothing out the back, wishing she could disappear, curl up into a ball, and go to sleep until all of this went away. Wake up with a new life.

  “The way I see it, you have two options. You can run away and never know the answers to any of your questions. Or you can face him. You’ve done nothing wrong.” He stopped and looked at her. “Maybe there’s a reason you’ve run into him twice now. Maybe Reverend Carter knows who your dad is.”

  At that, she met Luke’s eyes. She’d considered that, but if her mom’s friends didn’t know, why would her grandfather? Unless he’d forced it out of her mom. Would Mom have buckled under that kind of pressure?

  “Maybe you should talk to him. Find out what you need to know, then close that chapter for good. No law says you have to have a relationship with the man.”

  A young girl with crazy, cute curls and mocha-colored skin walked over to the table and set two huge mugs of coffee in front of them.

  “Campbell, this is Delcy; Delcy, Campbell.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Delcy smiled. “Don’t let this guy talk your ear off. He likes to hear the sound of his own voice.”

  Campbell laughed. “Nice to meet you too.”

  Delcy left Luke with a sheepish expression on his face.

  “She’s my best friend’s little sister. Might as well be my little sister. She graduated from college last year—needed some time to figure things out.”

  “We have that in common.”

  “That and you’re both full of attitude.” He laughed and took a drink of the frothy latte.

  “You really think I could just ask him my questions and that’d be it? What if he doesn’t want to talk to me?”

  “We’re back to that, are we?” He grinned. “Yes, I think so, but would it be so bad to hear him out? Maybe even forgive him for being stupid?”

  “Be pretty hard. You saw him back there. He wasn’t exactly excited to see me.”

  “I think he was just surprised.” He sighed. “And probably embarrassed.”

  The fear of being rejected by him reared its ugly head, clamoring to be entertained, but she forced it away, replacing it with a new thought. Choose, for once, to believe the best about someone.

  It took all she had.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Lila

  The tangy scent of barbecue struck Lila’s nostrils as soon as she opened Adele’s back door. “Hello? Adele?” The screen door slammed behind her.

  “I’m in the kitchen, darlin’.” Adele stood at the counter, a floral apron tied around her midsection and a wooden spoon in her hand. “Makin’ the barbecue for tonight. Figured I needed to do one thing today that wasn’t a total disaster.”

  Lila frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Come in, hon, you don’t need to hear about my troubles.”

  “Don’t be silly. Pour me a glass of sweet tea and we’ll have a chat.” Lila scooted one of the kitchen chairs out and took a seat.

  Adele looked surprised.

  “I’m turning over a new leaf,” Lila said. “Trying to be more sympathetic.”

  “Sweethaven has bewitched you, darlin’.” Adele poured two glasses of tea and sat across from Lila. “I’m so mad at myself. Campbell ended up coming back late last night.”

  “She did?” Lila hadn’t expected that.
She figured they’d run the poor girl off for good.

  “She did. And then she came with me and Luke to an estate sale this morning and ran into her grandfather.” Adele’s face fell. “I think Campbell thought I set her up, you know, brought her there on purpose because I knew Michael would be there.”

  Lila watched the older woman. “Did you?”

  “Of course not,” Adele said. “But just knowin’ she’s out there thinkin’ I did, it’s just tearin’ me up. I was so off my game I didn’t get anything at the sale. That wretched Harriet Dillon even snagged the most beautiful grandfather clock right out from under my nose.”

  “I’m sure Campbell will be fine once you explain things to her,” Lila said. “Where is she now?”

  “With Luke, I think.”

  “Oooh.” Lila flashed a smile. “What cute babies those two would make.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up. Luke falls hard, but it never seems to take.”

  “He just hasn’t found the one.”

  “Aren’t you romantic?” Adele set her tea down and stared at her.

  Lila’s attempt to laugh came across as more of a scoff. “Not really,” she admitted. “Probably part of my problem.”

  Adele stared at her for a few seconds and then smiled. “Well, at least you’re honest. Every now and then, a true confession’s good for the soul.”

  Lila stopped. “Adele, you’re brilliant.”

  “Why, thank you.” She looked puzzled. “What’d I do?”

  “Can I look through the scrapbook pages?”

  Adele looked down at the artwork stacked in a neat pile in front of her.

  “I just remembered this goofy thing we used to do. ‘True Confessions.’ We’d write our deepest, darkest secrets in really small letters on the other pages so no one would ever find them unless they knew they were there.”

  “Clever.” Adele pushed the stack toward Lila and leaned in closer.

  “You put them back in order?” Lila started flipping the pages.

  “I started to—was that wrong?”

  Lila smiled. “No, it was really thoughtful of you. And it’ll make this so much easier.” She started at the back and scoured the pages for hidden messages.

  Lila sifted through the pages carefully. If only she could remember where they’d inserted those hidden messages. Finally, after combing through several pages, she spotted it. “I think I found something.” Lila stuck her index finger on the scrapbook. “Look.”