Sweet Tea and Secrets

by Nancy Naigle

  “We’ll get him. Look, there’s nothing else I can do here. Need a ride to your place?”

  “No. I’ll catch a ride from here.” Garrett flipped his phone shut then reopened it to call Carolanne to tell her what had happened.

  “Garrett?”

  He turned to see Carolanne running toward him.

  “I heard the sirens. I went to Pearl’s when Jill didn’t answer. They said they’d just taken you both to the hospital. My God. Are you okay? Your arm?”

  He hugged Carolanne to his chest. “Yeah. I’m fine. Jill’s going to be in ICU all night. No visitors.”

  “But she’ll be okay?”

  “They said the burns weren’t severe, but the smoke...it’s bad, Carolanne. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

  “No,” Carolanne gasped.

  “The smoke got her real bad. It’s serious, but they’re doing everything they can.”

  Carolanne held her hand over her mouth then laced her fingers. “Oh...my...Garrett, if anything happened...”

  “Don’t even say the words.” Garrett lifted his hand in warning.

  “I can’t see her?”

  “Nope. Neither can I.” He shrugged.

  She tossed her keys to him. “Let’s go home and get some rest so we’ll be in shape to see her tomorrow when she really needs us.”

  “The doctor said he didn’t know how long they’d have to keep her. It could be a while,” Garrett explained as they walked toward the parking lot.

  Carolanne pointed out her rental car in the emergency room patient parking area.

  “How did the fire start?” Carolanne asked as they got in the car.

  He sighed and dropped the keys to his lap. “I’m not sure. I passed Kase on the road just before I saw the smoke. I know he set the fire, but I guess we won’t know the whole story until Jill can tell us more.”

  Carolanne leaned her elbow on the center console and rubbed the side of her face, shaking her head the whole time. Her hands trembled. “I never thought I’d be capable of hurting someone, but I swear if he were here right now...”

  “Get in line.” Garrett started the car and headed to his house. He knew exactly how Carolanne felt. They stopped at Garrett’s parent’s house on the way home to tell them the news and ease their concerns. Garrett’s mom would pass the information on to whoever else needed to know, and he could count on lots of prayers from the community for Jill.

  ***

  Garrett stayed right by Jill’s side as soon as they’d let him in the room. She’d slept the better part of the first couple of days in the hospital. Permanent internal scarring was still a possibility, but she was becoming more stable and that was a relief.

  The blue-haired nurse that had given him such a hard time had recognized him and it had become a running joke with the nurses on the floor about how much better a patient Jill was then he’d been. Other than some bruising, her only major injury, aside from the smoke inhalation, was her right shoulder. When the chair had tipped, she landed full-weight on her shoulder, dislocating it and causing a fracture.

  Garrett helped Jill through the breathing exercises. He held the contraption that monitored her progress for her. She swore it was torture, but until she reached a certain level, she wouldn’t be going home. That was incentive for her to follow the tiresome therapy.

  On day three, the doctor finally told Garrett that Jill could go home.

  “We’ll send her home with an inhaler and pain medication,” the doctor said. “You’ll want to be sure she doesn’t exert herself. She may notice shortness of breath for a while, even with light activity. We’ll want to monitor her closely for an extended period.” He handed Garrett a two-page checklist of precautions and conditions to watch for.

  Garrett scanned the list. “Anything special on the shoulder?”

  “I don’t think she’ll be overdoing that for a while. I’ve already talked to her primary care physician. He’s expecting a follow-up visit at the end of the week. I’ve got that information at the bottom of the page.” The doctor pointed out the instructions.

  “Great. Thank you.” Garrett shook hands with the doctor. After the doctor left, Garrett entered Jill’s room and stooped next to the chair where Jill was sitting. He handed the doctor’s instructions to Carolanne.

  “Hey, cutie,” Garrett said to Jill.

  “Hi, yourself.” Even whispering, her voice was hoarse.

  “Sexy,” he teased.

  “If you like girls that sound like frogs,” she answered. “Anything to turn you on, baby,” she flirted.

  “Let’s get you home. Carolanne is bursting at the seams to spend some time with you. I’ve been hogging all the visitation time.”

  “Hey, I’ve been a good sport,” Carolanne said from the doorway.

  “You sure have,” Garrett said. “If we’d been in opposite positions, I would’ve been complaining.”

  “Oh, yeah. You’d have been a whiner for sure,” Carolanne answered playfully.

  “Let’s go.” Jill started to get up out of her chair.

  “Oh no,” Garrett said. “If they made me go downstairs in a wheelchair, you’re going down the same way.”

  She flopped back in the chair with a pout. “Says who? You?”

  Right on cue, the blue-haired nurse walked in with the wheelchair. “Says me.”

  Jill smiled at the nurse’s familiar face.

  The nurse helped her into the wheelchair, adjusting the sling and leaning in to whisper loud enough for Garrett to hear. “You’re a much better patient than he was. I knew you wouldn’t give me a hassle.”

  Jill smiled angelically and poked her tongue out at Garrett as they headed for the hallway.

  “I’ve got some news to share with you,” Carolanne said from her side.

  Jill looked hopeful. “Good news?”

  “I think so.”

  “You’re still moving back, right?” She held her hand to her throat.

  Garrett hated to see her still suffering.

  The nurse stopped the wheelchair and reached over the nurse’s station countertop, grabbing a pen and legal pad. “Here, Missy. You don’t need to be straining those vocals after what you’ve been through.” She dropped the pen and paper in Jill’s lap, then pushed her towards the exit.

  Garrett listened as Carolanne told Jill her news. “Oh yeah. But there’s more, I’ll tell you the rest when we get home.”

  The blue-haired nurse helped Jill into the car.

  Jill breathed heavily from just the short few steps to the car. The doctor had told her she’d probably become winded easy but this was ridiculous. They rode home in silence, everyone relieved that life was finally going to get back to some kind of normalcy.

  “Can we go to Pearl’s?” Jill asked.

  “I’ll take you there tomorrow,” Garrett said. “The house is a complete loss, Jill. You don’t want to see it.” He tapped on the pad in her lap. “Use this.”

  “Fine.” She scribbled and held up the pad for him to read.

  “Everything is gone. There’s nothing to see.” Garrett noticed the determination on Jill’s face. He knew that look. She wouldn’t be satisfied until she got her way, but he knew how heartbreaking it would be for her to see the last thing she shared with Pearl, her childhood home, destroyed.

  Carolanne reached over the seat and squeezed Jill’s good shoulder. “Honey, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go over there until you get a little stronger.”

  Garrett pulled his truck up to the front steps of his house.

  Carolanne helped Jill inside while Garrett scrambled from room to room gathering pillows and blankets to prop Jill up on the couch so she might be comfortable for the day. He tucked a blanket around her legs and handed over remote control to the television.

  Jill scribbled on the pad. “Am I going to make it?”

  Garrett read the note and gave her an odd look.

  She held the remote up and pointed at it.

  “Don’t get u
sed to the royal treatment. I’m just feeling sorry for you right now,” he said.

  “COOL,” she wrote and flashed it in his direction before punching buttons and flipping through the satellite channels.

  Carolanne brought a big glass of water and placed it on the end table. “The doctor said we should give you lots of fluids. Drink up.”

  “This is service,” Jill croaked. “Where’s Clyde?” she wrote.

  “He’s at the kennel. Garrett didn’t want him to knock you around on your first day home.” Carolanne grabbed her laptop and sat in the floor in front of Jill. “Scooch over here. This is what I wanted to show you. I found out what the Pacini Pearls are.”

  “Little late now,” Jill whispered as she looked over Carolanne’s shoulder.

  “It’s still neat. Look.” Carolanne tilted her screen so Jill could see it.

  The computer screen showed a picture of an ornate box. Below that picture was another with the box open and filled with pearls. Pearls of orange, pink, violet and black. Below the picture was a caption. The Pacini Pearls.

  “Wow,” Jill mouthed in utter amazement.

  “The article said there were nearly fifty pearls believed to have been in the box, some as large as grapes, or bigger.” Carolanne turned to look at her friend. “That’s a big ass pearl.”

  Jill nodded in agreement, and gestured for her to continue.

  “The article reiterated what you saw in that original clipping. That John Carlo had been accused of heisting them, but he was later cleared and deemed the rightful owner of the treasure.”

  “Treasure?” Jill asked.

  “Yep, and you won’t believe what they say they were worth.”

  Jill raised a brow.

  “Yeah, how much,” asked Garrett as he leaned in the door jamb with a soda in his hand.

  Carolanne closed her computer and smiled wide. “Over a million dollars.”

  “How could Pearl have kept this a secret all these years?”

  Garrett shook his head. “I don’t believe they were at the house. We searched everywhere. Even now, knowing what we were looking for, I don’t know of anywhere else we could have searched.”

  Jill held up her hand, flashing Pearl’s ring. “At least I still have this.”

  “And everyone is okay,” Carolanne said, lifting her hand to Jill’s.

  Garrett knelt next to them. “That’s the most important gift of all.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  After breakfast, Garrett drove Jill over to Pearl’s, as promised. They parked in the driveway and Jill surveyed the scene. All the descriptions hadn’t prepared her for what she saw. A messy pile of ash, skeletons of furniture and appliances, was all that was left of what used to be her home. The plants and flowers that used to thrive brightly around its base were all gone, too. Charred, soppy ground spidered out for close to fifty feet in each direction from the footprint where the house once stood.

  The blood seemed to rush from her head, leaving her feeling clammy and unsteady. Devastation like this happens to other people. Not here. Not to the only home I’ve ever known. Jill grabbed Garrett’s arm. She was overwhelmed to know that she’d been trapped in the middle of the devastating fire. She swallowed hard.

  “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.” Garrett laid his hand on her knee.

  “No. I want to be here.” Her hand went to her heart. How much could one person lose in a month? This was the first moment that she fully understood how close to death she’d been and how quickly her life could change. Jill grabbed the door handle, intending to get out of the truck.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Getting out. I want to see.” She pushed the door open.

  Garrett hopped out and ran to her side. “Jill. I don’t think you should. There’s still so much dust and ash flying around. Breathing that stuff can’t be good for your lungs.”

  Her mouth settled into a tight line. “It wouldn’t be good for my heart not to be here. I need to do this,” she whispered.

  He raised his hands. “Fine. Let’s take it easy though.” He helped her from the truck and steadied her as she gained her balance.

  Jill glanced his way, hoping he didn’t notice how unsteady she was. She was much weaker than she realized. If he noticed, he wasn’t letting on. He wrapped his arm around her waist and walked with her, closer to the ruin. “Wow. It’s hard to take in.”

  Garrett nodded.

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Rebuild?”

  “How do you rebuild memories?” She didn’t expect an answer, there wasn’t one, and she knew it. The dark mess seemed as deep as it was wide. She stepped closer to the debris.

  “Jill. The Fire Chief said there could still be hot spots.”

  She wandered into the mess, drawn to the memories and what it used to be. So many memories, up in smoke. “I want to see if anything is salvageable.”

  “We’ll come back tomorrow better prepared. Those canvas tennis shoes will just melt if you step into something hot,” he warned.

  Jill hated to admit that he was right, but he was. She took a step back and nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s come back tomorrow.”

  “We will.” They turned and walked back to the truck.

  Garrett helped Jill buckle her seatbelt. “Are you okay?”

  “Just give me one more minute,” she said quietly. Her voice sounded raw. Losing Pearl, and now the house. How do I start over from this? A moment later she leaned back in the seat. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  Back at Garrett’s house, Jill called it an early night.

  “Good night,” she kissed Garrett goodnight.

  “You feeling okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just tired,” Jill said. She turned and headed to bed, anxious to go to sleep and get to morning sooner.

  ***

  As soon as the sun broke the horizon, Jill had dressed in heavy denim jeans and a pair of Carolanne’s hiking boots before Garrett had finished his second cup of coffee. Unable to tie her boots with her arm in a sling, she crossed the room with her shoestrings flapping. She propped each boot on Garrett’s leg for a little help. He was happy to accommodate, taking advantage of the chance to caress her knee, tickling it softly, while she was at his mercy.

  “How much longer before you’re ready?” She giggled and twisted her knee away from him.

  “In a hurry?”

  “Anxious.”

  “I’ll get dressed now.” He picked up his coffee and headed to the bedroom.

  When he came out, Jill stood next to the door, clutching her purse.

  “You are anxious.” They walked outside and Garrett closed the door behind them and followed her out to the truck to take the short ride to Pearl’s place.

  As they drove up to Pearl’s house, a vehicle was driving out. Garrett pulled his truck up next to the red-and-white fire department Yukon and rolled down his window. “Hey.”

  “Hi. I just wrapped up the final pieces of the investigation,” the man said.

  “Investigation?”

  “We have to investigate all possible arson cases.”

  Garrett nodded. “We have a witness to this one, you know.”

  “I heard.” The man leaned forward and waved to Jill. “You’re a lucky lady.” He then leaned back in his seat and hung his arm out the window. “And you, sir, were a hero.”

  Garrett’s jaw tightened.

  “We were able to resolve the point of origination and source,” the fire investigator explained.

  Jill leaned forward. “He lit the drapes in the living room on fire.”

  “With a lighter,” the man added. “We found the lighter just outside the front door. He must have dropped it when he fled the scene.”

  “Now they just have to find the son-of-a-bitch.” Garrett’s jaw pulsed.

  The man put the Yukon in gear. “Y’all take care, and be careful of hotspots if you’re going to poke around.” He waved as he headed out the driveway.

&nbs
p; “Kase is going to pay for this,” Garrett said. “I know it’s not Christian to wish ill on someone, but he earned some real punishment.” The truck idled alongside the edge of what little was left of her childhood home.

  Garrett shut down the motor then Jill climbed out of the truck. The two of them moved among the rubble, sifting through the debris for any memento that may have escaped ruin.

  Jill leaned over and picked up a charred silver picture frame. She stood in the ash of what used to be the living room. Only a few pieces were preserved enough to figure out what they’d once been.

  She had difficulty imagining that, just days ago, this had been a house that had withstood time. A house that had held strong against the worst hurricanes the coast had seen. Floyd, Andrew, Isabelle—all had given these counties a fit but this house had never shirked its duty to keep them safe.

  Jill swatted her hand against her jeans, sending dust flying in all directions. The sun had dried most of the deep ashy mess. She stepped carefully into new territory, wary of finding hot cinders.

  Springs from Pearl’s favorite chair still sat in front of the brick hearth. The blanket she’d been working on was nothing but a memory now, along with so many other personal things.

  Garrett stood in the middle of the kitchen among the charred appliances. They were black with soot and most of the boards that once held the structure strong, were scorched and unstable. Garrett leaned against the stove, crossing one boot over the other, his arms folded across his chest.

  Jill walked over to him and wrapped her good arm around his neck. His palms rested on the small of her back. She felt safe in his arms, even in the middle of the disastrous mess.

  He rested his chin on the top of her head, and kissed her hair.

  “We probably should get going,” he said.

  “I know. Can we stay just a little while longer?”

  “Don’t push yourself. We can come back every day if you want,” Garrett said. “If you’re up to it.”

  Jill gave him thumbs-up and smiled. She swept her foot through the deep mess, squatting occasionally to pick up something.

  It was late in the afternoon, and the air was starting to cool a little. The sun dipped lower in the sky, casting orange and pink swirls along the bottom of the skyline. Jill continued to kick through the ashes while Garrett walked the perimeter.