by Josie Kerr
“Was it okay for me to do that?” Tobias, now sitting with his back against the booth, was shredding a napkin and looking worried.
In answer, Liddie grinned at him and pounced, grabbing his collar and returning that kiss. When she’d finished, she grinned again and simply said, “Yes.”
“No.”
Liddie blinked. “N-no?” she stammered.
“No, I don’t have any children, with Candy or otherwise.” He shifted in the seat. “That’s actually how I found out she was being unfaithful and whom she was being unfaithful with.” Liddie cocked her head at him in question. “I thought we were trying to have a baby. She made a big deal about showing me that she’d finished her pill pack and said she wasn’t going to keep using them. One day, I was getting jumper cables out of her trunk because I’d left the interior light on in my car and the battery was dead, and I found a giant pack of lambskin condoms.” Tobias sucked in a deep breath through his teeth. “My old man was the only person I knew who still used lambskin condoms. I mean, I will say, that’s one of the only things he was adamant about. ‘Always use a rubber—you don’t want no squalling brat and some bitch taking all your money.’ ”
“Oh God, Toby. That’s horrible. How long had you been married?”
“Eighteen years. But when I served her with divorce papers, she took great glee in telling me she’d been screwing Chet since before we got married.” He clucked his tongue. “She’d essentially been fucking that old goat for thirty years, and she still didn’t get a damn dime. Sometimes there is a bit of justice.”
A bleat of laughter escaped from Liddie. “Oh my Lord, that’s awful. I mean, it’s fantastic, but it’s so awful.” She tried to school her face into something somber, but when Tobias’s lip twitched and he snorted, she couldn’t do it, and they both ended up laughing so hard they were in tears.
Liddie wiped her eyes and said, while still chortling, “I hate to say it, but I need to get home. I have that orientation meeting tomorrow. I probably need to pay at least a little attention to it.”
Tobias nodded. He went to the bar and took care of the bill, and then they headed out. They didn’t talk a lot on the way home, but Tobias held Liddie’s hand the entire time. Once again, she was reminded of that last day. But this day? This day was going to have a happy ending.
They got to the house, and Tobias walked her up to the door. He held the screen while she unlocked the heavy, carved door. He leaned into her space when she turned to say good night.
“Oh!”
“Good night, Liddie.”
“Good night, Toby.” Liddie stretched up onto her toes to give him a kiss, and he surprised her by wrapping one arm around her waist and giving her butt a little squeeze. She whooped even as she continued kissing him, soon dissolving into giggles.
“I’ll call you tomorrow or the next day, and we’ll make some plans. Okay?”
“Sounds good.” Liddie grinned at him again, and just as she stretched up for one last kiss, the porch light started flashing off and on.
“Looks like it’s getting ready to burn out,” Tobias remarked.
“No, more like some smart-ass is paying me back for all the times I did the same thing to her.”
“Tally’s spying?”
“Most likely.” Liddie shook her head. “Silly woman.”
“Well then, let’s give her an eyeful.” Tobias dramatically dipped Liddie, holding on to her hip, with his hand squeezing her ass, and kissed her until she was breathless.
“Oh!”
“That’s right, girl. You just remember that.” He stood her upright and pushed open the door. “Night, Liddie. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Liddie, still stunned by the display, wiggled her fingers in a wave before touching her mouth and walked dazedly inside the house.
“Lock the door, Liddie. I’m waiting until you do.”
Tobias heard the lock snick, and then he turned and jogged down the stairs to his car with a spring in his step and a brand-new melody in his head.
Liddie had a very hard time concentrating during the substitute orientation meeting. Her mind kept wandering back to the date with Tobias, their conversations during the date, and that kiss. Especially that kiss. Tobias had always been a great kisser. Rich, on the other hand, was not. Liddie always assumed she was simply misremembering due to sentimentality, but that kiss on the porch cemented her belief that, yes, Tobias Harper was a world-class kisser.
She’d just gotten her third cup of terrible coffee, in hopes of making it through the last half of the afternoon session without falling asleep, when she heard someone call her name. Amazingly enough, she’d only run into two people from high school—Candy and Tobias—so she was fifty-fifty regarding not-so-pleasant versus pleasant interactions with people from her past. When she heard her name again, this time from right behind her, she took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, plastered what she hoped was a cordial expression on her face, and turned around.
“Liddie Hopewell?”
She instantly recognized Charlie Nutter. Of course, he’d grown about a foot—Charlie had been one of those unfortunate boys whom puberty had not visited until the summer before his senior year—and had a bit less hair, but he still had the same baby face and Coke-bottle glasses. He’d always made her a little uncomfortable, but she’d chalked it up to his social awkwardness.
“Charlie! How are you?” Liddie impulsively hugged him and then stepped back to look at him. She cringed when she realized he had a school ID clipped to his jacket, identifying him as the principal of the county high school. Great. I just manhandled my potential employer. Good job, Liddie.
“I’m good.” Charlie grinned at her. “I’d heard you were back in town. Wow, you look great!”
Liddie inclined her head in acknowledgment. “You do, too.”
They stood in awkward silence for a few moments until Charlie cleared his throat. “So, I take it you’re attending the county orientation for substitutes?”
“Yes, yes, I am. I have my elementary teaching certificate in California and reading specialist certification for all levels. I figured I would sub until I get my ducks in a row for Georgia certification.”
“Good plan. If you want to sub at the high school, drop by or give Mary Frances a call, and she’ll put you on the sub roster.”
“Mary Frances Callahan?”
“Well, it’s Mary Frances Garvey now, but yes. She’d be thrilled to see you.”
“Oh, it looks like the break is over.” Liddie smiled apologetically, hoping Charlie couldn’t sense her relief at extricating herself from the conversation. “I’ll drop by the school in the next day or so. It was good to see you, Charlie.”
“You, too, Liddie. I’ll make sure to leave a note for Mary Frances.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” Liddie threw her almost-full coffee away and went back to the auditorium for the last quarter of a very long day of presentations.
As she half listened to the human resources representative drone on about the moral turpitude clause, her thoughts lingered on her conversation with Charlie. She wondered who told him she was back, but really, her main thoughts were on Mary Frances. She and Mary Frances had always had a tentative relationship—she wouldn’t even call it a friendship—because of Candy Bristol. Mary Frances was a lot wilder than Liddie; she was the girl who had older friends and always knew where the parties were and, more importantly, could get into them. Mary Frances was a social-climbing high schooler’s dream, and therefore a perfect match for Candy, who was always looking for a rising star to hitch her wagon to. But Liddie had Tobias, and the potential proximity to a real celebrity won out over a starting quarterback from a tiny high school. So Candy would ditch Mary Frances time and time again to go somewhere with Liddie, and Mary Frances would have her feelings hurt, which Liddie completely understood, even to the point of not telling Candy about shows and visits from Tobias just so she wouldn’t horn in on their already-limited time together.
/> But surely Mary Frances wouldn’t let Candy’s bad behavior from three decades prior influence her current working relationship with Liddie? Hopefully? There was really only one way to find out. And when the orientation session ended abruptly and early, Liddie headed over to the county high school, figuring it was better to get this meeting out of the way as soon as possible.
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The school’s façade had changed, and there was a new gym and several modular buildings, but the Clear Creek County High School still looked essentially the same. Liddie pushed open the front door and walked through the front foyer to the office, where she found an empty desk and a noisy copier spitting out papers. She stood by the desk for a few moments, trying to decide if this was a sign that she should just turn around and leave.
Liddie, you’re being a big chicken.
“Hello?” Liddie leaned against the counter and called out to the back, though she didn’t think anyone would be able to hear anything above the rattle of the copier. “Hello?” she called again, louder.
“Just a moment—be right there!” a muffled voice responded.
Liddie waited by the desk, fidgeting and getting mad at herself for being nervous.
“I’m so sorry about that. Can I help—why, Liddie Hopewell, you’re still the eager beaver you always were, aren’t you? Charlie literally told me twenty minutes ago that you’d be by sometime this week to get put on the sub list.”
Liddie flinched at the “eager beaver” remark. She hadn’t thought she was that much of a Goody Two-shoes, but between this and Tobias’s “teacher’s pet” comment, she was beginning to think she was more of a rebel in her own mind than she actually was.
“Hi, Mary Frances. Yes, Charlie told me to call or come by, but since we got out early and I was right up the street, I figured I’d go ahead and get all the paperwork or whatever out of the way.”
“Efficient as usual, Liddie. Let me run and get the sub list, and you can fill out your information.” Mary Frances disappeared into the back again, and Liddie blew out the breath she had been holding. Liddie could feel her phone buzz in her bag, and just when she was going to check it, Mary Frances reappeared with a clipboard.
“Sorry about that. Things are still kind of haphazard around here with school starting. Just fill this out and you’ll be set.”
“Thanks, Mary Frances.” Liddie dropped her phone back into her bag and began filling out the short form.
She’d just finished writing her phone number on the form when Mary Frances asked, “So, have you seen Tobias? You know he lives in Owltown now, right?”
Liddie paused for a moment and then answered, “Yes, I saw him at the Hemlock Creek Tavern opening.” She didn’t feel the need to say anything more, especially to satisfy Mary Frances’s nosiness.
“Oh, we missed that show. We were at the lake house that weekend.”
“It was good, as always.”
“Oh, you’ve seen him perform lately? I mean, before that?”
Liddie pushed the clipboard across the counter, maybe a little more forcefully than she needed to. “Oh, no. I’m just recalling shows I’d seen way back when.”
“Oh, I’d forgotten that you and Candy used to sneak out and go Lord knows where to see him play. I still don’t know how y’all didn’t get caught.” Mary Frances looked over the filled-in form. “Oh, you’re living with your uncles?”
“Yes, I am for the time being. Just one less thing I have to deal with while I get settled.”
“So you are staying . . .” Mary Frances’s voice drifted off.
“Yes, I am.” She stopped herself from justifying her return to Hemlock Creek. Mary Frances didn’t need to know any details.
“Well, welcome back to the fold, Liddie. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you real soon.”
“Hopefully so. Goodbye, Mary Frances. Tell your mama and Billy Ray ‘hello.’ ”
She patted the desk and fled the office after noting the way Mary Frances’s lips flattened when Liddie mentioned her husband’s name. Dammit. So much for treading carefully around Mary Frances.
“Liddie, there’s a boy on the phone.” Ace said with a straight face as he handed the receiver over to her.
She could hear Tobias laughing on the other end of the line before she even brought the receiver to her ear.
“You should be glad you live alone,” she said.
“Oh, believe me, I am. I get enough ribbing without sharing a house with those two jokers,” he replied, still chuckling. “Hey, darlin’. How was your meeting? Did you get through it okay?”
“Yeah, I did. Can you hold on just a sec?” Liddie hauled the heavy black phone off the phone stand and pulled it into the coat closet snugged under the stairs. “Okay, I’m good. Hey, Toby.”
“What were you doing?”
“I figure, since I’ve obviously reverted back to junior high, I might as well do what I did when I was fourteen. I’m in the coat closet.” Tobias was quiet for so long that she thought he hung up. “Toby? You still there?”
“You are nuts, lady. Absolutely crazy.” Tobias cackled. “You’re really in the closet?”
“Yessir, I am.” Liddie couldn’t help but grin. “Where are you? Are you outside?”
“Well, I’m sure as hell not in a closet. I’m actually on the porch, enjoying the weather.”
“That sounds nice.”
“It is. And speaking of nice and porches, what do you say about coming to see me play on Friday night, down in Cabbagetown?”
“Um . . .”
“You’re nice, and the bar that I’m performing at has a porch, so . . .”
“I’d love to, but Cabbagetown is in Atlanta proper, right?”
He cleared his throat. “Um, yeah, and I usually stay at Nolan’s apartment when I play down there, because the shows tend to run late and it’s a long trip back. So . . . yeah.”
Liddie considered her options. On one hand, she wanted to see Tobias play again. At the Hemlock Creek Tavern show, she was so stunned from being in close proximity to him that she really didn’t even hear the music. But on the other hand, staying with him in Atlanta? She wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
“I would get you a hotel room if you felt more comfortable with that. Or we could come back after. Regardless, I would really like for you to come with me, Liddie.”
“It’s Monday, so . . . can I think on it a few days? Like, until Wednesday?”
“Sure thing, darlin’. Ever what you want.”
“God, I haven’t heard that in years,” she said with a sigh. “You know what? Yes. I don’t need to think about it. Yes. I’ll go with you, and we can stay in Nolan’s apartment. And we can . . . just play it by ear regarding . . . other stuff.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Liddie took a deep breath. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
“If you change your mind, that’s fine, okay? But I’m glad you’re going. And . . . and staying, too.” Liddie heard him blow out a shaky breath. “Yeah, okay.”
“Tobias Harper, were you nervous?”
“Fuck yeah, I was nervous. I still am.” He laughed quietly. “You make me feel like I’m fifteen again.”
“Me, too. Lord, me too, Toby.”
“I guess that’s not too terrible, then. Right?”
“Right.”
Just then, the door of the closet flew open, and Liddie was blinded by the bright overhead light in the hallway. “Good Lord, shut the door.”
“Mom, what in the world? Do you think you’re a boy wizard?”
Tobias cackled. “Okay, you’re busted. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, darlin’. Have a good night, and tell your family ‘hey.’ ”
“You have a good night, too, Tobias.” Liddie shot Tally a death glare and tried to grab the door to shut it. “I’ll tell everyone ‘hello’ except for my brat of a daughter, whom I am going to snatch bald-headed.”
“Rude!” Tally shut the door in Liddie’s face.
Tobias snickered. “I am not even responding to that. I’ll talk to you soon, Liddie. Night, hon.”
“Night, Tobias.”
“You hang up first.”
“Okay, bossy.” Liddie laughed again. “Night.”
She hung up the phone because she knew he was serious about his demand that she end the call first. Liddie sat in the cool, dark closet for a few more minutes until the doorknob rattled.
“Harry! Stop playing with your wand!” Tally was laughing so hard Liddie could barely understand her because of the chortling.
Sweet Jesus, I really am too old for this.
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Tobias laughed and laughed as he heard the phone click off. Still chuckling, he walked around the house, turning off the lights, straightening things up, and letting the melody in his head percolate a little. The click-click-click of the girls’ toenails on the hardwood floor provided a counterpoint to the tune that was fermenting. He went out to the covered porch, parked his butt on the couch, and the two dachshunds joined him, each curling up on opposite sides of him.
He loved this view, and the house was secluded enough that all he could hear was the river and the occasional train. It reminded him of a simpler time when he was small and his mother wasn’t as ill. Tobias was just learning to play the organ and the guitar, and he’d savored the attention his father had bestowed on him. Of course, that changed as Tobias got older, and for some reason, he ended up a rival instead of a partner.
He shook his head, determined to not get bogged down in the bullshit and to relish this second chance at a something with Liddie. He wasn’t kidding when he’d told her she made him feel fifteen again. All those jumbled feelings—equal parts excitement, trepidation, and lust—put him right back where he was all those years ago when Liddie skipped out of the church lock-in on graduation night. He’d asked her to run away with him, and he’d been serious. He’d had a plan, and actually a decent one, but things hadn’t worked out. Not by a long shot.