Sugar Springs

by Kim Law

  After being bombarded, Lee Ann conceded defeat and ducked her head, arms outstretched over the dough. “Stop!” She laughed as powder landed on her head. “I’ve got to finish these and get them in the freezer so there are enough for the fund-raiser.”

  With one hand propped on a hip attached to too-long legs, Kendra raised a dark eyebrow and made a face of superiority. She looked very much like her biological mother in that pose. “Then don’t start what you can’t finish.”

  Lee Ann didn’t think of her sister often these days, but today seemed to be the day for a walk down memory lane. It had been almost thirteen years since Stephanie’s death. In fact, five weeks from today would make it exactly so. Five days after she’d given birth to the girls. Lee Ann flicked her fingers toward Kendra one last time. “What were ya’ll asking me?”

  Candy laid out their plans. “Sadie Evans...You remember, her father owns the good restaurant in town. Well, the diner is good, too,” she tacked on in a hurry, and Lee Ann guessed that had more to do with the fact her mother worked there during the weekday breakfast shift than any devoted love for the place. “She wants us to come over and have dinner at her house and then work on our school project.”

  “It’s a school night,” Lee Ann interjected.

  “I told her that.” Candy rolled her eyes in the exasperating way both she and her sister had picked up over the last six months. “Said you’d say no, too. Especially since we were out last night at the basketball game. But she has these really fab ideas, and they’re going to take forever to get done.” Thin shoulders lifted in a shrug. “We need to get started or we won’t be finished before the Christmas break.”

  There were four weeks before the Christmas break, so Lee Ann wasn’t buying that at all.

  “Kendra and I already did our homework,” Candy continued. “If we leave now, we’ll be home by nine o’clock.”

  When Candy finally took a breath, Lee Ann opened her mouth to get in a question, but Kendra took over.

  “Sadie’s mom will pick us up and bring us back.”

  Candy shot her sister a frustrated glare before continuing, with a slightly less accommodating tone. She liked to be in charge. “Sadie’s mom said she needs to get us before she starts dinner, though. And since there’s only one more school day this week, can’t you say okay just this once? Please.”

  Silence fell over the room as both girls stood perfectly straight—wide-eyed and unblinking—waiting for her answer. Lee Ann peered around them to see if her mother was taking this in. They were now going for sweet, but with all the preteen running through them, they had no idea they came up short. Reba hid a grin behind her hand.

  Lee Ann began rolling the dough up into a spiral as she pretended to contemplate the situation. What they didn’t know was that she could use the time to herself tonight. The thought of Cody coming back to town had thrown her for a loop, and she needed to figure out how best to handle it. Good idea or not, tonight was the perfect time to have the kids out of the house. Life wouldn’t end if she loosened her rules just this once.

  “What about helping me with these cinnamon rolls?” she asked Candy. “I still have to make several more batches tonight. The sale is to help your team get to basketball camp next summer, after all.”

  She held her breath, waiting to hear the counter to her argument. She actually enjoyed their ingenuity at times. She wasn’t disappointed. Kendra stepped up to answer before Candy could. “We thought about that already, too.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Lee Ann noted her mother look discreetly down at her lap.

  “We called Grandma after we talked to Sadie’s mom.”

  Candy jumped in to finish. “It was our idea, so don’t get mad at Grandma, but we called her to see if she could maybe help you tonight. Since she said yes, we’ll put out her Christmas lights for her this weekend without complaining.”

  “You—”

  “We can do it after the fund-raiser,” Kendra interrupted.

  Lee Ann once again cast a glance at her mother, only to witness a guilty gleam shining from her eyes. “You were in on this?”

  Wearing an innocent expression, Reba mimicked the girls’ tone. “It’s a really big project, and they do need extra time to finish.”

  Shaking her head, Lee Ann marveled at her total lack of control with any of them. She motioned to the back door. “Put your stuff away and call Mrs. Evans. She can pick you up as soon as you’ve emptied the dishwasher.”

  With a whoop of glee, they grabbed their bags and scrambled from the room.

  Lee Ann faced the kitchen table. “Mother...”

  Reba pushed her sleeves past her elbows and rose from the chair. “You know I can’t say no to those girls. Besides, it is for a school project.” She slid the rolled-up dough over in front of her. “Hand me the string and cookie sheet and I’ll cut this batch. You can start on the next.”

  At the sound of movement in the rooms overhead, Lee Ann returned to their earlier conversation in a whisper. “How did you find out he was coming back?”

  Reba concentrated on her task. “I saw Dr. Wright waddling up the steps to that apartment over her clinic. The building’s at the end of the street, so I can see it from my house, you know. Anyway, it seemed the perfect time for a walk.”

  “Hmmm...I’m sure it did.” And she could not see the vet’s office from her house, but old Ms. Grayson, who lived across from the office, would have started calling people the minute anything the slightest out of the ordinary happened.

  Ignoring the sarcasm, Reba continued. “Anyway, I went for a stroll and walked that direction—just to make sure Keri was okay, mind you. To see if she needed any help. She is due any day, you know.”

  “Of course.”

  “And there she was. Hauling cleaning supplies up and down that rickety set of stairs.”

  He really was coming. Pressure grew behind her rib cage. “And you’re sure he’s only here for six weeks?”

  “By the time I got there, Beatrice”—Ms. Grayson—“had already grilled Keri. She filled me in. He’ll be here through the end of the year. Keri wanted to take more time off, but he already had another job lined up starting the first Monday of January. She was lucky to get him last minute after the guy she had coming from Nashville canceled on her last week.” Her mother nodded, proud of her sleuthing skills. “Yep, six weeks. And he should be here any minute now.”

  That meant she would actually have to deal with figuring out whether to let him meet the girls or not. Assuming he wasn’t the boy he’d once been.

  Her mother seemed to guess where her mind had headed. “No matter what he did in the past, you need to introduce them.”

  Lee Ann shoved the mixing bowl into the sink of water simply to have something to do that would give her a moment of not facing her mother. “I need to figure out who he is these days before I even think about anything else.”

  “He’s their father,” she said quietly. “He deserves to know them.”

  “Then he should have stuck around.”

  The quiet, methodical sound of pinwheels being sliced and placed on the baking pan lulled Lee Ann into glancing over her shoulder.

  Her mother pinned her with a look. “What did he have to stick around for? Stephanie didn’t know she was pregnant when he left, and he knew he’d destroyed any chance with you. If Steph hadn’t gotten pregnant, would you have wanted him to stay?”

  “That’s not the point. We’re talking about the girls now. Not me and Cody almost fourteen years ago. Plus, he could have come back when the girls were born!” Lee Ann faced her mom, hands clasping the sink behind her. She only loosened her grip when the edge of the countertop bit into her fingers. “Aren’t you even still mad at him a little? He destroyed our lives, Mom.”

  Her mother nodded, weariness creeping in over her relatively unlined skin, and Lee Ann could tell that she wasn’t purely jumping at the idea of letting the man back into their lives. “The fact he’s back says something,” her
mother said. “And no, he doesn’t deserve to be forgiven freely, but those girls do deserve a father.”

  “They are happy. They have a great life. Why would I risk messing that up?”

  “What if he wants to be a part of it? How could you keep that from them?”

  Lee Ann’s heart thudded as she wondered if more than concern for the girls was holding her back. The mere mention of Cody’s name had made her yearn to run down the street to watch for his arrival herself. But she knew what would happen if she opened the door of their lives and let him in.

  Hopes would rise, excitement would grow, and dreams of having a father would eventually be lost forever. She curled her hands into fists to keep them from shaking. No. She wouldn’t allow that. Not in her daughters’ lives. Not in hers.

  Hearing the thunder of feet pounding down the polished wood stairs, Lee Ann leaned in to face her mother square on. Her voice could barely be heard. “And what do I do when he decides the novelty of being a father has worn off and leaves?”

  Her mother began to shake her head, but Lee Ann cut the movement off. “He won’t stick, Mom. It’s not in his nature. He’s done nothing but run since he was old enough to move.”

  A handful of tiny snowflakes splatted on the front windshield of Cody Dalton’s SUV as he sat parked on the side of the two-lane road just outside the “Welcome to Sugar Springs” sign. What in the world did he think he was doing? He hadn’t seen this place since he’d taken his foster dad’s truck, tied a chain from it to the statue in the middle of the town square, then pulled the founding father over. He’d dragged a large chunk of the stone some twenty yards before the whole thing had ripped the twenty-year-old Chevy’s bumper to the ground. At that point, he’d gotten the hell out of dodge.

  And he’d never imagined coming back.

  One lone person had crossed his mind over the years, however, though he’d never dreamed he’d actually screw up the courage to come back and face her again. Not after what he’d done.

  Chances were good she would welcome neither him nor his apology with anything resembling open arms. And if he were being honest, he knew that Lee Ann wasn’t the only one who would not be in line to welcome him back. He imagined the whole darned town would be more than happy to run him back out on the same path he rode in on. Probably no more than a minute after he drove through the square for the first time. He’d done all of them wrong.

  He’d felt bad about it for years, but he had made amends. At least, as best he could. Whether anyone realized it or not.

  And now he was back. Voluntarily. He had lost his everl-oving mind.

  He reached over and patted Boss, his harlequin Great Dane, on the head and came away with a fistful of drool for his efforts. Chuckling, he wiped his hand on his faded jeans and bumped the side of his head against Boss’s as the dog leaned over for a bit more love. Rescuing Boss from his previous home three years earlier had been one of the best moves he’d ever made. Unlike what this temporary assignment was going to be.

  The idea of driving beyond the point where he currently sat made a spot in the middle of his shoulder blades itch, but he couldn’t back out now. He’d stay for the six weeks he’d agreed upon, do his best to make amends while he was there, then be on his way to his next assignment. Where he and Boss would spend three sunny months in the Florida Keys. There, they would enjoy the beach and sand and the gorgeous lack of cold.

  A few more flakes fell, these a bit fatter, and he flipped his wipers once to clear the glass. The precipitation wasn’t enough to amount to accumulation yet—it was too early in the season. It was simply enough to be annoying. With a sigh and shake of his head, he started the engine and pulled slowly back out onto the highway, pointing his car toward the little tourist town that sat at the base of the Smoky Mountains. Might as well quit dragging his feet and get to it.

  He would hopefully have plenty of work to keep him busy, but in his spare time he had to figure out a way to beg forgiveness for the shameful behavior he’d exhibited toward Lee Ann his last day there. He didn’t deserve a second chance, and he wasn’t asking for one, but he was man enough to admit that she deserved an apology. Even this many years later. Hell, the whole town deserved one for the stunt with the statue.

  A long overdue one.

  When he’d seen the request for a temp vet come across the listings, fitting in perfectly with his schedule and the direction he’d been headed, it had smacked of a higher power telling him it was time to grow a pair and act like the man he hoped to one day become. With a few clicks of his mouse, he’d verified that Lee Ann was still in town, then placed the call that would free him from the lingering guilt over the way he’d once treated one of the best people who’d ever happened across his path.

  He’d tuck tail and grovel, not only apologizing to Lee Ann, but doing his best to give back to the community that, if he were to be honest, had been the best one he’d lived in throughout his childhood. Then he’d move on with his life and leave them all alone for good.

  He only hoped they didn’t run him out of town before he’d had a chance to prove that he was not the kid he’d been when he’d left.

  “You should be named Sugar. You’re just as sweet as the water this town was named after.” Sam Jenkins, seventy if he was a day, smiled at Lee Ann over his topped-off cup of coffee the next morning, his eyes twinkling in the wrinkled face of a man who’d done a whole lot of living. He was one of the people Lee Ann looked forward to seeing the most every morning.

  She set the coffeepot on the diner’s blockwood tabletop, then slid onto the chair opposite him. Leaning in, she lifted an eyebrow and gave him her best haughtier-than-thou look. The one she’d picked up from her daughters. “I’m not quite sure how to take that, Sam. It sounds like a compliment, yet you and I both know the studies showed there’s nothing sweet in the water coming from our springs. I think you just told me I’m as plain as water.”

  One of the best parts of her part-time job was interacting with the customers, including chatting with the many tourists, whose number ebbed and flowed with the seasons. Lee Ann knew every resident in town. A large percentage of them started their mornings off there in the diner. Seeing so many friends on a regular basis made having to carry a second job easier to handle. Her dreams of being a full-time photographer could wait. Right now, she had her daughters’ college funds to save for.

  It was nine o’clock and the rush was over. Only retirees remained, lingering over coffee and chatting with longtime friends. Many of their conversations were about the temporary vet who’d made it into town late the night before. He’d apparently been spotted lugging two duffels and a bag they’d described as “looking like a vet kind of thing” up the apartment stairs, along with what they all referred to as a horse-sized black-and-white dog. How Cody and a dog the size of him were going to fit in the small one-bedroom above Keri’s office was beyond Lee Ann’s imagination, but luckily it was no concern of hers.

  Same as the fact she’d caught sight of him and that monstrous dog out running in the predawn light as she’d walked to work that morning. None of it was any concern of hers. And she could simply forget that she’d had the urge to get closer purely for the reason of seeing what he looked like after all these years.

  From a distance, he’d been just a man with a dog. A nicely built, very large man with a dog.

  And that had pissed her off.

  She’d wanted him to be fat and balding, though at thirty-two that was improbable. Especially when he’d started with the raw material he had. Still, a girl could dream.

  No, the only concern of hers was to keep in mind that he was in town temporarily to handle a job that needed to be handled. Someone that—given the town’s small size—she would eventually be required to have a conversation with, no matter whether she brought the girls in on the fact he was their father or not.

  Ugh.

  “Now, Lee Ann,” Sam said, winking at her, unaware of the mental anguish she was currently slogging through
as she perched in the chair across from him. “You know I paid you a compliment. This place wouldn’t be the same without you.” He slurped the hot liquid. “Half the people in town come in here just to start the morning off with you. When are you going to quit playing hard to get and settle down with one of them?”

  She smiled. They had this conversation at least once a week. If only there was someone around worth settling down with. “None of them move fast enough to catch me, Sam. You know I’m a busy woman.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe if you let one catch you, you could slow down.”

  “Nah.” Hearing the tinkle of the bell, she stood, preparing to greet the latest arrival. “I’d get bored if I did that. Then where would I be?”

  Before she turned, a hush fell over the remaining patrons as every single one of them stared toward the door. Lee Ann’s stomach crawled to her knees. Only one person in town could create that reaction on this particular morning. With tons of dread—and more curiosity than was healthy—she took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. She then turned to face Cody.

  And crap. It might have been better not to see him up close.

  Just as she remembered, his dark hair was still too long, curling a bit at the ends, and at the moment it was poking out from beneath a dark green skullcap pulled snugly over the locks. He hadn’t shaved that morning. This fact highlighted the strong facial structure he’d had as an eighteen-year-old, now in its maturity making quite the impression, covered with day-old whiskers. The tension flexing that very jaw implied he was as uncertain about his being there as was every single person sitting around staring at him.

  As his vision adjusted to the dimmer inside lighting, he blinked his dark eyes, and she got busy scanning over the rest of him. She shouldn’t—she knew that. She was an idiot for even wanting a glance. After all, he’d not only broken off a chunk of her heart when he’d slept with Stephanie, he’d disappeared before giving her the opportunity to reclaim it.