Hot Southern Mess

by Gen Griffin

  She reached for her phone, which was resting in the center console. Cal had promised he would call her when he got done at David's, but her phone wasn't showing any missed calls. She frowned at the screen and then pressed the touchscreen to bring up her list of recent calls. Cal's name was at the top of the list. She'd already tried to call him twice today. She'd decided to bring him lunch while he was working on his truck as a peace offering, an apology of sorts, for what she had said to him last night. She'd called him to find out whether he would rather have turkey and Swiss cheese or roast beef sandwiches. His phone had sent her straight to voicemail both times.

  Now she dialed his number again. Obviously he was angrier with her than she had anticipated. Cal always answered his phone or called right back. This time the phone rang twice and then went to voicemail. Jo cursed under her breath and focused her attention on catching up to Cal's truck. He must not have noticed her car when he had passed her. A glance down at the speedometer revealed she was going nearly 80 miles per hour as she struggled to catch up with the truck. He had to be going at least 70 mph. The speed limit was only 45 mph.

  Jo Beth was rapidly closing the distance between her little Hyundai and the truck's thick back pipe bumper. She flashed her headlights at him and eased her foot off of the accelerator, expecting him to slow the truck down once he noticed her driving up his tailgate. Suddenly the big truck belched a large cloud of blue-black smoke out the exhaust pipe and took off, as if Cal had slammed his foot into the accelerator.

  “What the heck?” Jo Beth reacted instinctively by crushing her own accelerator onto the floorboards. What was Cal thinking? Better yet, what was he doing?

  Jo couldn't think of any reason in the world that would make Cal want avoid her like this. They'd had worse arguments than the one last night and they had talked the issues out like adults. She had been fully prepared to apologize again, complete with fully loaded deli-style sandwiches, homemade potato salad, and a 12 pack of Coors light.

  The truck suddenly jammed on the brakes and slid sideways onto a dirt road without the benefit of a blinker. Jo Beth slammed on her own brakes and cut her wheel as well. Her Hyundai slid neatly onto the dirt road, closing some of the distance between the truck and the car. The rear-wheel drive truck had fishtailed during the turn. Jo's car had not.

  Jo Beth could see the Chevy hesitating between pulling over and gunning it again. Jo didn't care which method he tried. He'd picked a bad road to try to lose her on. It dead-ended in a swamp six miles down the road.

  Apparently Cal was having the same thoughts because the truck snatched abruptly off the dirt and onto the grassy shoulder of the road with a puff of dust.

  Jo had to turn her wheel hard to the left to avoid rear-ending him. She pulled off the road behind the Chevy. She had the driver's side door open almost before she had the car in park.

  Temper flaring, Jo stormed towards the front of the Chevy. She rapidly wrote off any plans she'd had for being extra nice to Cal. The whole sweet girlfriend bringing sandwiches and beer routine didn't work when said girlfriend had to chase you down the road.

  “Why didn’t you pull over when I flashed you?” Jo demanded, marching towards the truck as the driver's side window rolled down.

  “I really didn't feel like talking to you,” Gracie replied. She was sitting in the driver's seat of the Chevy with a bottle of Coke between her thighs and a bag of potato chips lying on the seat beside her. The three hundred dollar sportsman sunglasses Jo had bought for Cal on his birthday were concealing her turquoise eyes.

  Jo cast a glance to the passenger seat and saw her own back-up toiletries bag had been raided. Her hairbrush was sitting on the seat next to Gracie's bag of chips. She squinted at Gracie's face. “Are you wearing my lip gloss?” she asked, stunned almost beyond belief.

  “Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” Gracie shrugged. She didn't look sorry. “You know, I wouldn't have thought I could pull off this shade of peach, but it really doesn't look too bad.” Gracie focused her attention on her own reflection in the side-view mirror.

  “You can keep it,” Jo Beth scowled at the other girl. “Where's Cal?”

  “With David,” Gracie answered the question little too quickly for Jo's tastes.

  “At the house?” Jo didn't know what was going on, but something definitely wasn't right.

  “Uh.” Gracie hesitated then shook her head no. “I don't know where they went.”

  “Cal told me that he and David were redoing the brakes on this truck today. Obviously, that's not happening if you're driving around in the truck they are supposed to be fixing.”

  “I guess not.” Gracie shrugged her slender shoulders. Jo Beth noted that Gracie was wearing a guy's button down shirt. She wondered briefly if either of the Malone siblings had considered wearing their own clothes. Or their own make-up. Yuck.

  Jo shot Gracie the nastiest look she could muster. “Let's try this again. Where's Cal?”

  Gracie shrugged again. “No idea. Why don't you call him?”

  “I have.” Jo felt increasingly embarrassed with every minute that passed. “It’s turned off. Every time I've called him my calls have gone straight to voicemail.”

  “I guess he doesn't want to talk to you.” Gracie crossed her arms over her chest. She hadn't cut the engine off when she had pulled over. The smell of the truck's exhaust was starting to give Jo Beth a headache. She really wished Cal would trade-in this damned truck.

  Of course, she had a pretty strong suspicion that Cal's truck wasn't going to be her problem very much longer. It probably wasn't even her problem right now. She narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend's first true love and ex-girlfriend. “I don't like being made a fool of, Gracie.”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  “I don't believe you when you say don't know where my boyfriend is,” Jo hated every word that was coming out of her own mouth. “You wouldn't be driving around in his truck if you didn't have some idea of where he was.”

  “I already told you, he's with David. They had to go do something. I didn't ask what.”

  “And you have the truck, why?”

  “I wanted a Coke. David doesn't have anything in the house but beer.”

  Jo Beth considered Gracie's story for a minute and then shook her own head. “Nice try, you're going the wrong direction for the store.”

  Gracie grimaced.

  Jo waited.

  The wind blew a giant puff of dusty dirt road all over them.

  “Oops,” Gracie put her hands back on the steering wheel. “Look Jo, Cal knows I have his truck. I didn't steal it, if that's what you're thinking.

  “Oh, I'm sure he does know.” Jo tried and failed to conceal the hurt in her own voice as she fought back her tears. Beneath her immediate anger, she was incredibly hurt. “I'm not an idiot, Gracie. I know how much Cal still cares about you, even though you broke up with him and broke his heart. I don't doubt for a minute that he'd take you back in an instant. I just think it’s bullshit that he didn't have the decency to be honest with me.”

  Gracie had the decency to shift uncomfortably in the worn out seat. “I don't know what you're talking about, Jo. Maybe you need to talk to Cal.”

  “I would, if I could find him.” Jo practically spat the words at her. “Do me a favor, tell him to call me. I'm sure you'll hear from him before I do.

  Jo turned her heel and walked back to her little truck with tears burning her eyelids. Cal had turned off his phone and Gracie had his truck. Clearly there wasn't too much more that Jo Beth needed to take up with Cal. The writing was already scratched in the dust on the side of a beat-up Chevy.

  Chapter 33

  “You could have at least had the decency to tell me the truth about where Cal was last night,” Jo's words were laced with hurt as she stood in the Gas-N-Go parking lot and glared at Addison.

  He frowned at her with complete and genuine confusion, taking in her flushed cheeks and dark sunglasses. She was wearing a cute little pink checked tank top
that gave a nice view of her cleavage. The shirt had wrinkled up on her stomach and was currently exposing part of her stomach as well.

  As usual, he had absolutely no idea why she was so pissed off at him. He'd thought they had actually parted on good terms the previous night following the demise of Amelia Baxter's pet raccoon.

  Of course, he'd known he was in for it when Jo had cut an illegal u-turn in the middle of the road as soon as she'd spotted his truck at the pumps. Now she had him blocked in with that little car of hers, and all he could think about was the little pink gun he now knew she was deadly accurate with.

  “I don't know what you're talking about.” He leaned back against the truck and flashed his bright, Uncle Sam enhanced pearly whites. Girls usually liked a nice smile.

  “The truth, Addison. I'd like the truth from you. Just once.”

  “I don't normally lie to you,” he admitted without enthusiasm. “There's no point in it. I'm a lousy liar and you'd talk to whoever it was you needed to talk to and find out the truth of it anyways.” Addison ripped the cellophane off of the new package of ever-present cigarettes he had just bought, pulled one out, and lit it. He full well knew that it would only make Jo madder. “Now why don't you try telling me what you're talking about?”

  She glared at him for a moment and then snatched the pack of cigarettes out of his hand.

  “Hey-!”

  “You can have them back when you admit that you knew damn well why Cal ditched me last night after dinner.” Jo dangled the cigarettes above the gas station trash can.

  “Do what?” Addison considered snatching the cigarettes back from her and then decided his odds of managing it without being kicked in the balls with one of her sparkly, sequined flip-flops were pretty much slim to none.

  “The truth, Addison.” She crossed her arms over her generously endowed chest. Addison wondered why he'd never noticed that Jo had a really nice rack before today.

  “Oh, and stop staring at my boobs.”

  Addison blinked and looked away quickly. It was unnatural how quickly she could read him.

  “I have no idea what you're talking about,” he told her after gathering his thoughts for a minute. It was the truth. He just didn't know how to make her believe him. Addison had never admitted it out loud but Jo's tendency to always automatically assume the worst when he was involved was the real reason he wanted Cal to break up with her.

  “Bullshit, Addy.”

  “Jo, I was up all night. You know that because you were with me.” Addison rubbed his eyes and leaned back against his county-issue Ford. He jerked his thumb towards the bed of the truck. “Our friend is still back there in a cooler because I haven't even gotten the chance to take him to Doc Morrison's place for his state-mandated rabies check. After you left last night I went home, slept for three hours and then got called back out for a possum in Arnie Hobb's bathroom followed by Reggie Gunther getting his wife's truck stuck out in Boggy Bayou. It took me two hours to get the truck out.

  I just left a meeting down at the Sheriff's office and right now all I want is to finish this cigarette and then maybe get some sleep in the cab of my truck before the sun sets and the damn alien poaching calls start up again. I haven't seen Cal since I left y'all last night. I haven't seen my phone in almost 24 hours. I don't have the slightest fucking clue what you're talking about right now.”

  Jo fingered his pack of cigarettes thoughtfully and then sighed. He could see the majority of the anger fading as they stood facing one another. “Okay. Fine. If I have to break it down to you, so be it. Last night, you came and interrupted our date night and you and Cal stood outside talking by your truck for almost 45 minutes before you took the engagement ring he'd bought for me out of his glove box and left.”

  “Right.”

  “What were y'all talking about?”

  Addison frowned at her, baffled as to where she was going with this. “You really want to know?”

  “Would I be asking if I didn't?”

  Addison considered for a moment then decided he didn't see any real harm in telling her. “You remember a guy named Kerry from high school?”

  “What?”

  “Kerry Long-something?”

  She nodded. “Longwood.”

  “He wants to be a Sheriff’s Deputy. Me and Ian don't want him to be. Well, actually I don't think Ian cares if Kerry gets hired. It’s just that if Kerry gets hired then Ian won't be hired. We don't want Kerry to get hired. I was asking Cal if he'd help me figure out a way to screw up Kerry's trial period so that we can make sure Uncle Frank gives the job to Ian for sure.”

  Jo shot him a reproachful look. “Y'all are seriously planning on sabotaging Kerry?”

  “Well, I probably shouldn't admit that but, yeah.” Addison shrugged.

  “You just told me the same thing Cal told me when I asked him.” Jo stared down at the pavement with a troubled expression on her face.

  “If you already asked Cal what we were talking about, then why are you asking me?” He wished she would get to the point already. He was dying for a nap.

  “Because I'm pretty sure that somewhere in that conversation, you told Cal that Gracie was back in town.”

  “What?” Addison wondered if sleep deprivation could affect his hearing.

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense. You told Cal that Gracie was back in town and wanted him back. That's why he told you to take the ring.” She was obviously upset. “He took me home and ditched me so he could go be with your little sister.”

  “Are you feeling okay?” Addison decided he had heard her right, but wondered if she was having a mental breakdown of some sort. “Because you totally just hallucinated everything past the part where I came to the diner.”

  “You're saying you had nothing to do with it?”

  “I'm saying that I don't even know what you're talking about.” Addison gestured for her to hand him the cigarettes. “Gracie is still at college. She hasn't said a damn word to me about Cal in months, other than asking me if he's okay.”

  “Why is she driving around in his truck this morning?” Jo held the cigarettes just out of reach.

  “Do what?” Addison was completely confused at this point.

  “Gracie is driving around in Cal's truck.” Jo couldn't keep the hurt from showing in her eyes. “I just saw her half an hour ago.”

  “Gracie's not supposed to be in town,” Addison said after a pause. “If she is, Mom and Dad don't know about it. They would have said something to me if she were driving down from school for the weekend. Dad doesn't think the Camaro's transmission is going to make another 200-mile trip.”

  “You're trying to tell me you had absolutely no idea Gracie was in Possum Creek today?”

  “You sure you're not seeing shit?” Addy asked.

  “I talked to her.” Jo unconsciously tightened her grip on the cigarettes. Addison reached out and pulled the box out of her hand before she crushed them flat. She didn't resist.

  “Everything you are saying is news to me, Jo. I don't have any idea why Gracie would be back in town this weekend. Dad told her not to drive the Camaro back down unless it was a major holiday because he doesn't trust it. Our folks didn't have the money to buy her a new car and pay for her tuition.”

  “I didn't see her car when I went to David's. Who knows, maybe Cal went to pick her up last night? I don't know. All I can tell you is he wasn't where he was supposed to be last night and he's not where he's supposed to be right now either.” Jo threw up her hands in exasperation. “Cal told me the whole reason he was going to David's this morning was to fix the brakes on the Chevy. Even that was a lie, because Gracie's driving around in the Chevy and there is no one at David's.”

  “Maybe they finished with it and took Gracie's car over to David's shop for something.” Addy was grasping at straws, because none of what Jo was saying made any sense to him either.

  “Locked up tight.” Jo scowled at him.

  “You already checked?” Addy blinke
d and wished briefly that his fellow law enforcement officers had Jo Beth's investigative skills. Maybe he wouldn't be on month four of chasing ghosts through the woods at all hours of the night.

  She nodded. “I don't deserve this crap, Addison. I've been a good girlfriend to Cal. The least he could do is break up with me to my face before he took off with Gracie. If you happen to see him, you can tell him I said that.” Addison thought he saw tears start to spill down her cheeks as she turned away from him and began walking towards her car.

  Addison was at a real loss for words as she climbed into her car and drove away. She squealed the tires as she turned out of the parking lot.

  “Women...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em,” a voice came from behind him.

  He turned and found himself facing his Dad's best friend, Burt Simmons.

  “What'd you do to get her panties all in a wad this time?” Burt asked him, smirking.

  Addison sighed and shrugged. “I wish I knew,” he said. “But I'm about to go find out.”

  He got in his truck and headed towards David's.

  Chapter 34

  The look in Cal's eyes had told Gracie a lot of things as he got behind the wheel of his truck. He was covered head to toe in black swamp mud and in a foul mood. None of the unspoken words that passed between them were friendly.

  Gracie pressed her head against the glass of the passenger's side window and closed her eyes. She felt Cal manually put the Chevy into first gear. The Chevy didn't budge and neither did the wrecker it was tied to. The back tires started to spin when Cal pressed down on the accelerator.

  Cal muttered something nasty under his breath and engaged the four-wheel drive. The big truck started to inch forward in the thick mud, moving painfully slowly. Gracie stared hard at the pine trees outside the window. She knew from previous experience that the Chevy wasn't capable of going much faster than 35 miles per hour when the 3-ton wrecker was chained to it.