by P. C. Zick
“And to think I gave her so much power when I was a kid,” he said aloud.
He smiled, but quickly grimaced when he thought of Leah. He knew from looking in her eyes that she was a good person. He’d love to know how she got hooked up with Geraldine. With the closing of her kitchen, Leah might realize a few things, but it would be difficult to stand by and watch her dreams die. He shut his eyes. She appeared in front of him, and he felt her lips on his. His arousal was so immediate and fierce, he jumped up from the bed and headed into the shower. Why the hell did this woman make him feel things he’d buried for so long? As the water rushed over him, he vowed that no one, even someone as beautiful as Leah, would get in the way of the business he’d come back to settle.
He couldn’t lie on the bed in this motel thinking about her. He decided to take his chances on heading back to the Victory Tavern for one of Reggie’s self-proclaimed famous burgers with fried onion rings on top. Reggie was going to get a lot of business from him over the next few days. If Sally Jean was there, he’d sit at the other end of the bar and ignore the daggers she might throw his way. She’d made herself vulnerable to him, and most folks hated it when that happened. It’s why he kept others at a distance. No one would ever see his weak side.
When he entered the dimly lit tavern, he scanned the stools and saw that Sally Jean was nowhere in sight. Reggie was still behind the bar. Dean sat down a couple of stools away from a woman who looked vaguely familiar. Reggie was leaning over the bar talking to her.
“If it isn’t the prodigal son come home for the slaughter,” the woman said. “Hello, Dean. It’s been a long time. I’m Susie Williams.”
“Susie. I didn’t recognize you all grown up. I think you were in braces when I left town, but I’d recognize that red hair anywhere. You and your sister Lisa always were the best looking redheads in town.”
“I don’t know about that, but yep, I’m all grown up and still drooling over this guy.” She pointed to Reggie who grinned at Susie before looking at Dean.
“You’re back,” Reggie said. “Must be Sally Jean couldn’t hold your attention like those South Beach beauties.”
“I got hungry for one of those burgers you were bragging about.”
“You bet. Beer?”
“Sounds good.”
Dean moved a couple of stools closer to Susie. “So how long you two been together?”
“Almost five years,” Susie said. “Since I graduated from high school and convinced him I wasn’t jail bait any longer.”
“And you’re not married yet?” Dean asked.
“No, Reggie wants to make sure the bar and dry cleaners are going to support us first.”
Reggie set the beer down in front of Dean.
“Reggie, you bought the dry cleaners, too?” Dean asked.
“Last year. I figured someone better be paying my gal a decent wage. Susie manages it and keeps the books for both businesses.”
“You better make her an honest woman, then. She knows too much to let her go.”
“One of these days, I might just do that,” Reggie said. “But right now, I’m going to personally make that burger for my favorite tattoo artist.”
“That’s good; I’m real happy for you, man.” Dean raised his glass toward Reggie. “I’m glad you kept the grill going after you bought it. My folks used to bring us here once a week for the burgers when I was growing up.”
“Not only that, but Bessie comes in a couple times a week to make her famous meatloaf,” Susie said. “Remember Bessie the cook at the old tavern?”
“Sure do. She’s the best. I’ll have meatloaf next time,” Dean said. “Where’s your sister these days?”
“Lisa moved to New York after high school. She’s an actress.”
“I remember her in Our Town. She was a perfect Emily. She’s getting jobs?”
“I think she mostly waits tables near Broadway, but she goes on auditions. She’s determined.”
“That’s good,” Dean said. “I hope she makes it.”
“How long you here in town?” Susie asked. “I hear you didn’t get such a warm welcome from your family.”
“How’d you hear that so fast? I know news travels fast in a small town, but that’s quick.”
“I’m friends with Leah—Jacob’s fiancé. She stopped by the dry cleaners and told me about it.”
“Leah. Yes, I met her. I can’t figure out what a sweet girl like her sees in my brother.”
“They told her you’d died, and she was upset about it,” Susie said.
“I guess she couldn’t believe they lied.”
“Leah takes everyone at face value,” Susie said. “She’s the kindest person I’ve ever met.”
“Then why in the hell is she marrying Jacob? He’s a jerk.”
“You and Jacob always were like oil and water,” Reggie said, as he returned from the kitchen with Dean’s burger. “I never understood how two brothers could hate one another so much.”
“You didn’t have Geraldine as a mother, and you don’t choose your family,” Dean said. “Sometimes even siblings don’t mix well together.”
“Jacob’s not as bad as you think, and Leah’s a good person,” Susie said. “But right now she’s really upset about the closing of Soup’s On. She wants to help those vets down by the river, but the church seems to have other ideas.”
“What’s in it for her?” Dean asked as he sipped his beer. “Most folks have an angle.”
“Not Leah,” Susie said. “Her mom died a few years back. Heroin addict with a heart of gold, but it left Leah on the streets of Tampa. That’s where Geraldine found her and brought her back here. Ever since, Leah’s been trying to find a way to give back.”
“Does she know what she’s going to do now?” Reggie asked. “Those folks depend on her.”
“I suggested she change the location and get some local funding,” Susie said. “I told her to ask Geraldine if she could use that old barn on the edge of the property that backs down toward the river.”
Dean whistled as Reggie went down to refill the mugs of two men sitting at the other end of the bar. Dean wondered what Geraldine would say to that. He’d love to hear her answer. Monday was going to be even more interesting than he thought.
“Geraldine might say no,” Dean said.
“If she does, then we’ll find someplace else,” Susie said. “I’m going to help her figure it out.”
“You’re a good friend,” Dean said. “I’m glad you and Reggie are together.”
“Reggie told me you and Sally Jean might be back together. Is it true?”
“That’s past history,” Dean said. “We’ve both moved on.”
CHAPTER NINE
Leah remembered her early childhood as one long kaleidoscope of fun. She spent much of her time on the beach and wore a golden brown tan all year round. Redington Shores near St. Pete Beach was a quiet place to live. Both her parents were around in those days, and they lived in a trailer park three blocks from the beach. Her dad worked in a bike shop, and her mother flitted from one job to another. Lots of friends with kids her age provided Leah with playmates while her parents partied with the other adults. Nothing much seemed out of place in those days, and she knew without a doubt, her mom and dad loved her more than they loved one another.
By the time Leah started school, the trouble had started. Sometimes they forgot to pick her up from school, and a teacher or a custodian would find her sitting on the swings. They’d call around until they found either her mother or father. At night, Leah spent more and more time in her room with a pillow over her head so she didn’t hear the awful things her parents said to one another. One night the police came, and they took her father away in handcuffs. When Leah saw all the flashing lights of the police car outside her bedroom window, she pulled off the pillow and ran into the small front yard where she cried for her father until the taillights on the cruiser turned the corner.
When he came home, the fights continued until one da
y her father wasn’t there. Her mother wouldn’t say where he went.
“He loves you, little girl,” her mother said. “He’ll be back when he can.”
Soon Leah stopped asking, and she never found out what happened to him. After he left, things calmed down at the trailer, but her mother no longer worked. She lay on the couch all day, and Leah learned to make spaghetti and macaroni and cheese, none of which her mother ate. A few friends still checked in on them and helped Leah with chores, even taking her to the grocery store. One day when Leah asked for some money to buy groceries, her mother told her there wasn’t any money.
Things only worsened after that, although one of the remaining friends saw to it that her mother went down and applied for food stamps. Since her mother wasn’t sick, there was no other assistance. The trailer park manager let them slide on the rent for almost a year, probably because of Leah. But eventually he had no choice but to kick them out.
As Leah continued to sit in the pew after Susie left, she remembered what it felt like the first day they were on the streets. A friend let them stay with her for a few months, but when the friend got a new boyfriend, the stoned mother and the sweet kid became expendable.
“I can’t let anyone else suffer like we did,” Leah said as she prayed. “Mother, please help me find the way to continue to help those folks down at the river. They’re good people just like you; they’ve just lost their path right now. Let me find a way like Geraldine helped me. Some of them helped me after you died; it’s my turn to take care of them.”
“What are you doing in here?” Geraldine asked from the back of the sanctuary. “I just came from the parsonage, and there isn’t any dinner started. You know tonight is prayer group, and we need to eat by 6:30.”
Leah lifted her head and turned around to see Geraldine walking up the aisle toward her.
“I’m sorry, Geraldine,” Leah said. “I needed to pray and ask God for guidance. I’ll heat up some of the leftovers from last night and make a salad. Dinner will be ready in half an hour.”
“You know we don’t like leftovers, so don’t let this happen again.” She clicked by Leah, crossed over behind the pulpit, and entered the hallway where her office was.
When did Geraldine go from her savior to her warden, Leah wondered as she stood and headed down the aisle and out the door. She walked across the asphalt parking lot in front of the church to the sidewalk that led up to the brick ranch-style house with the broad wide front porch. The house may have been only one story, but its floor plan included more than 3,500 feet of living space, more than enough for the three of them.
After a dinner of leftover lasagna, Leah cleared the dishes from the dining room table. Jacob and Geraldine continued to sit, waiting for Leah to bring them coffee and dessert. When she brought back two plates of chocolate cake, she cleared her throat and said she had something she wanted to discuss with them.
“Where’s the coffee?” Jacob asked.
“Almost done, I’ll be right back,” Leah said.
She brought a carafe of coffee with cream and sugar into the dining room where Geraldine sat licking her lips.
“Good cake,” she said. “When did you find time to bake this?”
“I did it yesterday for today’s lunch. I never got a chance to serve it,” Leah said. “That’s what I want to talk to you both about.”
“About cake?” Jacob said as he grinned. His mother laughed at his joke.
“I want to talk about Soup’s On,” Leah said ignoring the amusement passing between the two. “You both know how important the kitchen is to me and why.”
“Sometimes you have to give up your dreams in the face of reality,” Jacob said. “Right now Soup’s On is off.” He stopped to grin at his joke. “God is telling you it’s time to start planning our wedding.”
“God is telling me I need to continue Soup’s On,” Leah said.
“It’s impossible,” Geraldine said. “Jacob’s right. It’s time you got onto the real business of your life. First, I want to take you to Tampa to buy new clothes more fitting for the minister’s wife. We can shop for your wedding dress as well.”
“I don’t need new clothes,” Leah said. “I’m fine with everything I have now. But that’s not what I want to discuss this evening.”
Jacob and Geraldine continued to eat their cake and drink their coffee. Leah cleared her throat.
“I’m going to open Soup’s On in a different location with funding from the community,” Leah said.
Jacob put down his fork and stared at her. Geraldine continued to sip her coffee while she watched her son.
“What do you mean?” Jacob asked.
“I’m looking for a location to open the kitchen,” she said. “And I have an idea for that.”
“Where could you possibly find a place that would allow you to feed the homeless?” Geraldine asked.
“Right here on the acreage that backs up to the river,” Leah said. “That old storage barn is just sitting there not being used. With a little renovation, it would make a fine location for Soup’s On.”
No one said a word. Geraldine took the last bite of her cake as if she hadn’t heard. She scraped the last of the chocolate frosting from the plate.
Jacob sipped his coffee before looking to his mother. “What do you think, Mother? Could Leah use the old barn?”
“Absolutely not,” Geraldine said as she brought a cloth napkin to her mouth to wipe the bits of chocolate frosting from her lips. “I’ve been thinking about having the thing torn down. I don’t want those people camping on the river to get any ideas about using it. Now I have even more reason to destroy it.”
“Why are you so against those ‘people’?” Leah asked. “They’re good folks who’ve hit bad times. We need to help them just like you helped me.”
“I’m sick to death of folks like them taking advantage of the system and of good folks like us who’ve worked hard to earn every cent of what we have,” Geraldine said. “You were different. You were a kid put in circumstances beyond your control. If it had been your mother, with a needle hanging out of her arm, and a hand extended for help, I’d have left her on the street. She had a choice, and she chose wrong. God punishes those who squander what this world offers us.”
Leah sat quiet for a minute. She stared at Geraldine. Then she turned to Jacob who she was sure would stand up to her mother and tell her she was all wrong. Geraldine had it all wrong, and Leah never realized it until that very moment.
“Jacob, do you agree with your mother?” Leah asked.
“I think she makes a valid point,” Jacob said. “God helps those who ask, and some people don’t ask or even make an attempt to help themselves. If they prayed more, they’d have more.”
“The majority of those folks I serve meals to served our country,” Leah said. “When they came back as broken men and women, there was no place for them to go and no jobs they could do because of the trauma they’d endured. They made a choice to fight for us, and now you want to punish them.”
“It’s not my job to punish them,” Geraldine said. “God is handling that part. I don’t believe it when you say there was nothing for them when they returned from the Middle East. The VA is available to help all of them.”
“Maybe for physical issues, but not for the mental side,” Leah said. “Most of them are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which the VA has been lax in treating.”
“That’s because it’s a made up disease so folks can take advantage of the system,” Geraldine said. “Look at my father and my husband. Both of them served in wars, and both of them came home just fine.”
“I can’t argue with your logic,” Leah said. “So you’re telling me the barn is off limits for me to use.”
“That’s right. I won’t allow it,” Geraldine said. “And furthermore, Jacob and I forbid you to continue pursuing this idea of opening the kitchen in another location. It doesn’t fit with your status as his future wife.”
“
Jacob, is that how you feel?” Leah asked as a hard pit grew in her stomach.
“I think Mother makes a valid point,” Jacob said. “I’d prefer it if you’d drop the idea.”
“I see,” Leah said as she stood up from the table. “I didn’t realize you felt this way; perhaps that’s why you didn’t fight harder for Soup’s On with the board.”
“I’d like it if you’d start planning our wedding,” Jacob said. “Then afterwards, we can talk about how we can help others.”
CHAPTER TEN
Leah spent a restless night, tossing and turning. She felt trapped by both Jacob and Geraldine. And now, they’d practically forbidden her from doing the thing that kept her going each day. She needed to sleep because the day ahead would be a busy one. First, she would go down to the river and talk to the folks there. She’d somehow assure them she hadn’t abandoned them. Then she’d see if Susie had any more ideas.
It was difficult to process everything that happened during one day of her life, including meeting and kissing Dean. His kiss reminded her of what was lacking in the relationship with Jacob. There was no passion, and not just because they’d—or rather Jacob—decided to wait before becoming intimate until after the wedding. Jacob said that would make it more sacred. However, intimacy and passion didn’t have to include the actual sexual act, Leah realized. Her experiences with the opposite sex involved a few kisses from boys on the beach, but she’d never allowed that to go any further. She was certain they wouldn’t have understood her living arrangements. Those kisses were exciting because the feelings were so new. When she finally got the job at the mall, her boss had tried to kiss her once in the back room, but she’d managed to get away from him. Fortunately, Geraldine walked up to her counter soon afterwards.
When Jacob and she kissed, she knew there wasn’t any passion. She decided that Jacob kept those kisses chaste so they didn’t become too aroused before they were married. After kissing Dean, she knew the difference. There wasn’t any passion between Jacob and her. She rolled over onto her back, and closed her eyes. She tried to imagine that it was Jacob she was kissing in the back lot of the church as he sat on a Harley. Dean’s eyes appeared in her head. She drifted off to an uneasy sleep.