Lovebird Café Box Set

by Dylann Crush

  “No. He gave me ten bucks. Can you believe it? I’m through with this job. Who was it that wanted you to go on tour with them again? I’m ready to take on a gig like that.”

  “I thought you said you’d never leave LA.” Reva was from a huge family. I couldn’t remember how many siblings she had, but it was in the double digits. Her family was tight. They all gathered for Sunday dinner every week at her folks’ huge place in Bel-Air. There was no way she’d last out on tour for months at a time.

  “My mother would kill me, but it would be worth it to not have to pucker up and kiss ass anymore.”

  Liam glanced over at me before settling his attention back on the baby raccoons.

  “Hey, can I call you back later? Liam and I are about to pull in. We’ve got a box full of baby raccoons we need to do something with.”

  “Raccoons? What’s going on out there?”

  “Long story. I’ll fill you in later.” I cast a sideways glance at my son. He held one of the raccoons against his chest.

  “Sure. But look up that manager’s number, will you?”

  “Okay.”

  “And did you say baby raccoons? I thought you lived near a town.”

  “We do. I mean, kind of. We live about a half hour outside of town.”

  “So you’re in the country?”

  “Not really.”

  Liam gave me some major side eye.

  “Okay, so we’re kind of in the country. But not like deep woods or anything.” I put my hand over the microphone. “If she thinks we live in the middle of nowhere, she’ll never come visit.”

  He shook his head. “What is it you say to me? Always tell the truth?”

  “This is different,” I whispered.

  “Are you still there?” Reva asked.

  “Yeah, I’m here.” I pulled the truck into the gravel drive and stopped in front of the house.

  “How are things looking for starting your own place?” Reva was one of the only people who knew about my dream. With a license in massage therapy and my yoga teaching certificate, I’d confessed to her that my lifelong goal would be to open a wellness studio where I could offer a wide variety of health and healing options.

  Fortunately, when we moved to Swallow Springs, my purchasing power rose by about one-hundred-fifty percent. Rent on retail space here went for a fraction of the price it would be out west, even the seediest neighborhoods of Hollywood. If I could just get a handle on our living expenses, I might be able to swing a small studio space. All I needed was enough to get started.

  “The city has some reduced retail rent program going that I just found out about. I applied and should know more in a few weeks.” The passenger door creaked as Liam climbed out of the truck then turned to grab the box of raccoons. “The perfect place is available, right across the street from the diner downtown. But I don’t know if I have the bandwidth to commit to starting a new business while I’m still trying to get us settled.”

  “You’ll figure it out. You always do.” Reva’s faith in me provided me with the confidence boost I needed. Always had.

  “And maybe when I do, you’ll want to move to Missouri and come work with me.” This wasn’t the first time I’d broached the subject, but usually she shot me down with a quick refusal. Based on her willingness to talk about going on the road though, maybe she’d nibble on my offer this time.

  “We’ll see.”

  “Mom, come quick. It’s an emergency!” Liam rounded the front of the truck to where I still sat in the driver’s seat.

  “Now what, honey?”

  “Snap climbed out of the box. We’ve got to find him.”

  I put my hand over the mouthpiece. “Snap? You’ve named them? Since when?”

  “Since on the way home. Snap, Crackle, and Pop.”

  “You named the raccoons after a cereal?”

  He gestured toward the porch where I could see he’d set the box. “Can you come help me?”

  “I’ve got to go.” I wasn’t sure if Reva could hear me through her laughter. “I’ll call you later.”

  Then I disconnected. There was a famous breakfast treat to be saved.

  7

  Dustin

  Knock, knock, knock.

  I squinted against the afternoon light streaming through a gap in the shades. Rubbing a hand over the scruff on my chin, I stretched.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  “Coming!” I snagged the shirt I’d left at the foot of the bed and pulled it on. “What’s up?” I asked as I pushed open the door.

  A gangly kid stood on the metal steps. “Gran says it’s time to eat.”

  “Rodney?” This mix of limbs and angles couldn’t be my nephew. Granted, I hadn’t seen him in person since he was about four when Scarlett brought him to LA for a quick visit. But no way could this beanpole be Rodney.

  “Yeah, hey, Uncle Dustin.” He smirked, the same smug look my sister wore when we were kids. No doubt this was her kid.

  “Geez, you’re all grown up. Let me look at you.” I held the door so he could step up into the trailer. The top of his head ended at my nose. “How old are you now?”

  “Twelve”—he shuffled his feet together—“almost thirteen. Same age you were when you started riding the circuit, right?”

  Sleep fuzzed the edges of my brain. Thirteen. Damn that seemed like a lifetime ago. And it was. “Yeah, about that old.”

  “Mom says with you back, maybe you can teach me.”

  I chuckled. “She did, did she?” Over her dead body would his mother let him anywhere near a bike. She’d seen enough broken bones and heard about enough injuries that I was surprised she didn’t have poor Rodney packaged in bubble wrap.

  “Well, kind of.”

  “I can’t imagine your Mom or your Gran letting me take you anywhere near a bike.”

  “I bet if you talked to her though—”

  “Look, Rodney. I’m not even going to be here very long. A week or two max.” I felt for the kid, really I did. His own dad was a major fuck-up and had been out of the picture most of his life. But at least he had Mom looking after him. And as far as I could tell, Scarlett had come a long way from her wild teenage years.

  “Yeah, okay.” He turned, head down, and ambled toward the steps.

  I couldn’t play dad to my nephew any more than I could make up for the lost years for my mom. Coming home might have been a mistake. I slid my feet into my flip flops and followed Rodney to the house.

  The smell of homemade fried chicken slammed into me about halfway across the front yard. Mom didn’t say anything about what she’d planned for dinner, but she must have remembered it was my favorite. The smell grew stronger as I entered the front room.

  “Please tell me you made fried chicken,” I begged.

  “Well look who crawled home.” Scarlett hovered in the doorway, one hand on her hip. “I can’t believe after all the years we’ve been asking you to come home for a visit, you finally do when Rob Jordan summons you.” A smile teased the corners of her lips upward, but her eyes held no hint of humor.

  “I didn’t come home for Rob.”

  Her eyebrows lifted, making her green eyes even bigger. “Maybe it has something to do with you being the top-rated GIF on the internet then?”

  Folks used to say they could tell we were related because they’d never seen such big green eyes on a set of siblings before. As I passed her to enter the kitchen, I reached an arm out and slung it around her shoulders, trapping her in a headlock like I used to do when we were kids. She’d been small and scrappy then, easy to outmaneuver. Now, she grabbed hold of my arm and twisted it back, jamming it into my side.

  “Aw, shit.” My shoulder screamed in pain. I immediately let go of her—a childish prank gone awry. “Watch it.”

  “You got a big bad boo boo there, Dustin?” She let go. “When are you going to stop taunting death and come home for good?”

  “Y’all cut it out. Let’s just enjoy being together. Tomorrow’s soon enough fo
r questions.” Mom set a giant platter of homemade fried chicken on the table, right next to a bowl of creamed corn.

  My stomach growled in anticipation. With the exception of the steak and eggs this morning, I’d had nothing but greasy drive-thru food for the past few days. It was all there, spread out in front of me—the chicken, the corn, homemade biscuits, and even collard greens.

  “You’ve outdone yourself, Mom.” I kissed her on the top of her head before I slid into my seat at the table, eager to dig in.

  “The prodigal son returns,” Scarlett muttered under her breath.

  Mom shot Scarlett one of her trademark looks and Scarlett’s cheeks flushed. Chastised, she turned her attention to the platter of chicken. “Breast, wing, or thigh?”

  “One of each.” I picked a few pieces off the top of the heap and set them on my plate. “This looks delicious, Mom.”

  My mother beamed. Her smile erased the worry creases from her forehead, making her look the same as she did the last time we’d shared a meal under this roof.

  “There’s plenty more where that came from. You take as much as you want.”

  I stuck my tongue out at Scarlett, a throwback gesture to our youth. Rodney let a snort escape. Mom swiped a hand at my arm. Scarlett glared before breaking into a grin.

  “Some things never change.” My sister shook her head before biting into a giant piece of chicken.

  “Speaking of change,” Mom started, “tell me about this baseball field dedication.”

  I chewed, savoring the taste of Mom’s home cooking before I swallowed. “I don’t know much more than you. They sent an email invite out to anyone who ever played on the team. Since I’m between jobs right now, I figured it was as good a time as any to come back for a quick visit.”

  “It’s been the talk of the town for the past month or so.” Scarlett wiped her chin with her napkin. “Did you check it out on your way into town?”

  I pictured the waitress from the café. “No. I did stop by the Lovebird for steak and eggs though. I heard Rob re-opened it recently.”

  Ma nodded. “Thank goodness. He and Cassie started it back up again. Everyone was so sad when it shut down. The Lovebird Café has been a staple in this town.”

  I lifted a glass of sweet tea. “The service wasn’t exactly stellar.”

  “What happened?” Mom asked.

  “Got a bit of a coffee bath.”

  Rodney snickered.

  Mom scooped up a spoonful of corn then passed the bowl to me. “I heard they hired a new gal. She’s Robbie’s cousin from California. Moved here just about a month ago.”

  “With her stupid son,” Rodney added.

  “Hey, now.” Scarlett cocked her head and glared at him.

  “What?” Rodney pushed back from the table. “It’s true.”

  “From what I hear, she’s had a rough time of it. Wouldn’t kill you to try to be nice to the boy.” Always the voice of temperance and reason, Mom nodded to herself. “He’s probably having a hard time settling in and making friends, especially with school almost out.”

  “He can go back to California for all I care. He’s always bragging about how great it is there,” Rodney said.

  “Well, it is pretty great…” I grinned. “But Swallow Springs has one thing that California never will.”

  “Oh, yeah? What’s that?” Rodney asked.

  “Y’all.” I bit into another heavenly bite of chicken.

  “Mom’s cooking has gone to your head. I think it’s made you loopy.” Scarlett nudged my shoulder—the one that hadn’t been shredded during the stupid television stunt.

  Mom smiled, obviously pleased at the compliment. “There’s strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert.”

  “You’re killing me, Mom.” I put a palm on my stomach, already wishing I hadn’t eaten so much. “I’m going to gain fifty pounds if I stick around here for too long.”

  “You keep eating steak and eggs at the café and you sure will.” Scarlett waggled her eyebrows at me.

  “It would be worth it.” I smiled around the table, glad to be among family. Happy to be home. It had been too long.

  An hour later, I eased into the swing on the front porch. Dishes had been washed, dried, and put away. The pie had been polished off. I’d had a quick shower, and had just about surrendered to the sheer exhaustion that had been trying to claim me for the past few days.

  The screen door squeaked as Scarlett came through.

  “How are you doing?” she asked, handing me a beer.

  “Thanks. Things are great. My career has never been better, bank account has never been so full…everything’s friggin’ fantastic.”

  She settled next to me on the swing. “I’m not going to sell you out to some tabloid. I want to know, how are you really doing? Looks like you’ve had a pretty rough week.”

  We might antagonize each other and revert to our pre-teen selves when we got together, but Scarlett was the one person who I’d confided in over the years. She was the closest thing I had to a best friend, despite our differences. I lifted the beer to my lips and took a deep swig.

  “Things were going good, at least until I biffed it in front of millions of people.”

  “Rodney’s been defending your honor at the middle school.” She smiled.

  “Great. I was hoping that might have passed right over Swallow Springs.”

  Scarlett clinked her bottle against mine. “Fat chance. You’re a celebrity around here. People have kept up with your career, especially your nephew. How bad was it?”

  My face heated, thinking about how it had felt to flub a move I’d mastered years ago. “It was awful. I don’t know what happened. One minute the bike was burning rubber and the next I’d taken out the entire percussion section.”

  She bit back a laugh. “Have you watched the replay? It’s pretty spectacular.”

  “Not you, too? Really?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  I waited while Scarlett took a sip of beer. “My rotator cuff got busted up. Mav thinks I need to wait it out, away from the spotlight. I’ve finally reached a place in my career where I was starting to call my own shots. Now I’ve gone and fucked it up.”

  “You might be calling your own shots, but at what price?” Her foot pushed off on the worn floorboard of the porch, sending the swing backward.

  “I’m not sure what you mean, Sis.”

  “Look at you.” She gestured to my shoulder. “How many times have you messed up your shoulder? I’ve been keeping tabs on you. Seems like you can’t go more than a month or two between breaking a bone.”

  “Hazard of the job.” I grinned, leaning back against the cushion. “I always bounce back.”

  She didn’t return the smile. “You’re not getting any younger.”

  “You’re right. That’s why I’ve got to make my mark now. I’m pushing thirty-two. Now’s my time. I can’t go out like that. Once I heal up from this”—I ran a light hand over my shoulder—“I’ll be stronger than ever.”

  Scarlett blew a raspberry at me. “You’re no good to Mom if you’re dead.”

  “I have absolutely no intention of dying.”

  “Or stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. Can you imagine? That fall you took after the Extreme Games last year…I read an article that said had you fallen a few degrees the other way, you could have been permanently paralyzed.”

  I put my hand over hers where it rested on her knee. “But I didn’t. I’ve been doing this a long time. I know how to ride, and I know how to fall.”

  “What do you think Mom would do if you found yourself in a wheelchair for the rest of your life?” She slid her hand out from under mine. “She’d take care of you. Don’t you think she deserves to live a little? She’s done nothing but serve everyone else around her. Quit while you’re ahead. Don’t wait until you have no choice.”

  I wanted to dismiss her fears. To tell her that I’d be fine. But the truth was, I had been lucky. Yes, I’d broken bones and had a couple
of concussions. But I’d managed to avoid any permanent injuries.

  She continued to rock us back and forth, her foot pushing off the floorboards when the swing slowed. Mom had spent her life in the service of others, and I’d damn well make sure she didn’t end up having to take care of me for the rest of mine.

  Maybe Scarlett was right. Maybe it was time to think about the future. Maybe I’d start after I climbed back out of this giant hole I’d dug for myself.

  8

  Harmony

  I followed the flags directing traffic and parked in the grassy field. Looked like the whole town had turned out for the baseball field dedication. Robbie and Cassie would be pleased. They’d shut down the café so everyone could attend, although I’d be cutting out early to make it back in time for the reception they were hosting after.

  Liam climbed out of the truck and slammed the door. He wasn’t happy I’d made him come along. I wasn’t too thrilled to be there either. Both of us had been up all night, feeding Snap, Crackle, and Pop every two hours. We joined the small crowd of people making their way to the field. Robbie couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun shone high in the sky with not a cloud in sight. A gentle breeze carried the smell of fresh cut grass, and the song of what I’d recently learned was cicadas swelled around us.

  I glanced at the people joining us on the trek to the field. A couple of boys I recognized from the middle school walked past. Liam didn’t even look at them. I wish he’d make a friend or two, but so far that hadn’t happened. He said everyone was a redneck or a bumpkin. I suppose it would take some time for him to accept the fact that we were here to stay.

  The long grass turned to gravel as we neared the field. A brand new chain link fence encircled the area. Tall metal posts stretched into the air, holding huge rows of lights. Robbie hadn’t spared any expense. I’d heard talk at the café. Some people called him nuts for spending so much money on something so crazy. Others talked about how selfless he was. I’d known him long enough to appreciate this wasn’t some crazy idea or selfless act. He blamed himself for his brother’s death all those years ago. This field was his way of honoring Jeffy’s memory—of making sure he wasn’t forgotten.