by T M Morris
Miss Hazel snorted. “I wouldn’t have it. I don’t invite people to my table expecting them to bring something. Just bring yourself.” She looked at Lilly for several seconds with a faraway smile. “You look just like your grandmother Stella. She was so beautiful and kind. She was my best friend, and I miss her so much.”
“Aw. Thank you, Miss Hazel.”
Chapter Six
“How are you today, Miss Addie?” Dusty’s muffled voice carried into the hospital room where Addie Caldwell sat crocheting and watching television.
She smiled. “Why I’m finer than a cat hair split three ways.”
“Well, that’s mighty fine. Have you seen your doctor yet?”
She blew out a gusty sigh. “That man just doesn’t have any faith. I keep telling him that with prayer and with his medical degree we’ll have this thing licked in no time once the tests are back on Lilly’s DNA. I just know she’s the best possible candidate to donate bone marrow for the transplant.”
“Has Lilly been in today?”
Addie sighed. “No. Not yet.”
“I know she will, Miss Addie. Lilly’s a good woman.” He sat down in the chair by her bed.
“And you are a good man, Dusty. When are you going to settle down with my Lilly and give Otter and me some grandchildren to spoil?”
Dusty choked. “Whatever made you ask that?”
She chuckled. “I’ve seen the way you two are. Always with you two sneaking glances at each other, trying to act like you all don’t care. You remind me of Otter and me. The first time I saw him, I was in love.”
“Love at first sight? Did he feel the same?”
“I was thirteen, I think, maybe fourteen. Otter was your typical high school sports star. He did it all: football, basketball, and baseball. Like I said, I was thirteen or fourteen when we met. He had to have been seventeen. He came home one afternoon with my brother Cal to work on a school project. Cal still laughs about how I made lemonade for them and instead of using sugar I used salt.
“Can you imagine how lemon juice, water and salt mixed together taste? It must have been horrible, and Otter was so polite. He drank half of his glass before Cal took a sip of his and started fussing at me. I’ll never forget what Otter said. He said, ‘Cal, let her be. She’s just learning. Once she figures out cooking, and she still comes up with salty lemonade, then you fuss.’ And with that, he gulped down the rest of his glass. He smiled real big at me and asked if he could have another one. I nodded, and I’m sure my face was redder than Santa’s suit. I made sure I made next glass with sugar. I know it was a lot like that for you and Lilly back then. I watched you two.”
Dusty stared at Addie for several heartbeats with his mouth hanging open. “You have to be kidding me. That doesn’t sound like Otter at all. And I don’t think Lilly will be able to have a functional relationship with any man until she and Otter settle their differences. You and I both know he will never be happy with her. I just can’t figure out why.”
Addie studied him for several long moments. The only sound in the room came from the monitor’s rhythmic beeping. She sighed and nodded to herself. “I know why, Dusty, and it’s not pretty. I’m going to need your help with something if you are willing.”
“If I’m able to, I’ll do whatever I can to help you, Miss Addie. You know that.”
Addie finished explaining to Dusty what she needed when the door swung open, and Otter walked in. He looked at his wife then to Dusty and back at her. He frowned. “Miss Addie, is this scallywag bothering you? He’s not worn out his welcome here has he?”
Addie smiled broadly. “Oh no, Otter. We were just visiting together. I was telling about the first time I ever saw you and how you were so sweet to drink my salty lemonade. I’ll never forget it.”
Dusty rose from the only chair in the room. “Here, Mr. Otter, sit down. I’m fixing to leave now. I’m glad you got here before I did, though, so Miss Addie won’t have to be alone for a time.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be by again later on in the week. You rest up and don’t worry. I’ll do what I can.”
Dusty reached out and offered his hand to Otter. “Mr. Otter, it was good to see you.”
Reluctantly, Otter took his hand and shook it. He slowly growled, “Yeah, I’m sure you are. Why don’t you go and do some animal doctoring and stay away from my wife and Lilly? You’ve been doing a whole lot of sniffing around in my business. Better keep your nose out of it.”
Addie gasped. “Otter. You should be ashamed of yourself. Why Dusty’s just helping out. He practically grew up in our house, and here you are thinking evil of him. Shame on you.”
Dusty patted her hand as he acknowledged Otter’s words. “It’s all right, Miss Addie. I understand. I’ll leave you two love birds alone. Mr. Otter is right. I need to get back to work. I only wanted to stop by and see how you’re doing. I meant to ask you when they plan on releasing you.”
Addie shrugged. Otter sighed as he lowered himself into the chair. “I’m sure you’ll be one of the first two hundred and fifty people we tell.”
Dusty nodded and backed toward the door. “Yes, sir. Y’all take care.” Out in the hall, Dusty decided he was going to go out to the Caldwell’s to see if he could lend Lilly, a hand since Otter would probably be at the hospital with Miss Addie for the rest of the day. He wanted to make sure she finished early. He had plans for her for the evening.
Chapter Seven
Lilly was dumping a bag of feed into a trough when she heard the sound of a truck headed in her direction. She looked toward the sound as she wiped the dust from her hands on her bottom. Smiling she waved to Dusty as he pulled the truck to a stop and opened the door and said, “Fancy seeing you out here. What brings you out my way?”
Dusty dropped to the ground and closed the door. “I came out to check the new calves for the scours and to see if you planned to go to The Harvest Festival and Barn Dance this afternoon and evening.”
She rubbed an itch on her forehead with the back of her wrist. “I guess that all depends on if I get the list of chores my dad left for me done and if I have a good enough reason to go.”
“What do you consider a good enough reason?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Is the punch going to be worth the trip? Is there someone there to dance with me? You know, I don’t want to waste all my effort getting cleaned up just to stand against the wall.” She ripped the twine holding the top of the bag closed and pulled it open.
Dusty burst into a loud belly laugh that startled the calves in the small pasture causing a baby stampede that went nowhere. “You stand against the wall? You’ll be the one that makes all the other girls jealous because you’ll never get off the dance floor. Every guy in the county will want to dance with you. A famous model at our Podunk barn dance will not be standing against the wall.”
Looking up from the trough where she had poured the feed, her eyes were wide with alarm she said, “I don’t want to have that kind of attention. Besides, I’m not famous. I better not go.”
He gave her shoulder a little shove like when they were kids. “Come on Lilly. I was teasing. You won’t cause any more stir than you did at church Sunday.”
“Then I’m absolutely not going. People swarmed around me like honey by a congregation of bees at church last week. I’m not a celebrity by any stretch of the imagination. I never had the opportunity to represent any of the Italian designers or any other big name you can throw out there. As far as modeling goes, I was a mediocre success. I can’t go. They’ll think I’m more than I am and I’ll feel like a fraud.”
Taking her by the shoulders, he said, “Look at me. Look at me.” She lifted her face and looked him in the eyes. “That’s better. Lilly, you are more than you think. These people around here will be in awe of you but not because you’re famous, but because you went out there and became something. You had dream, you went chasing after it and caught it by the tail. There’s something to be admired in that.”
“I don’t like it when people stare at me. That was one of the good things about New York. No one knew who you were and if they did they didn’t care.”
He let his hands slide down her arms and caught her hands. “Come with me. It’ll be all right.”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ll be by to get you around three. You will be ready to go, okay?” At her reluctant nod, he continued, “Okay, good. Now let’s have a look at these calves.”
They were just finishing up with the calves when Otter drove up. He parked and strode toward them. “What in blazes are you doing out here, Dusty? I didn’t call for a vet.”
Dusty smiled blandly. “Just a friendly visit, sir. I stopped to see if Lilly was going to the Harvest Festival and Barn Dance. And, since I was here I thought I’d just give these calves a quick check for scours.”
Otter turned a florid red. “I ain’t paying for any vetting you do while sniffing around that girl’s skirts.”
Dusty straightened to his full height, a good five inches over Otter. “Sir, I have no intentions of charging you for this nor do I appreciate you insinuating that I have less than honorable intentions toward your daughter.”
“I don’t care what kind of intentions you have. Just don’t get the girl pregnant.”
Lilly gasped. “That was uncalled for Dad. Dusty stop.” Before she could inhale for another sentence, Dusty had Otter’s collar wadded in his fist.
“Sir, I have too much respect for you to give you the thrashing you deserve for speaking that way about Lilly. She’s your daughter for crying out loud.”
“Take your hands off me, boy,” Otter growled. Adjusting his newly freed collar he continued, “That girl can do what she damn well pleases when she’s out from under my roof. But while she’s living here she will abide by my rules. You’re a decent young man. Don’t go getting tangled up with her.”
Otter spun around and marched back to his truck. He wasted no time firing it up and flooring it, spraying dirt clods for three hundred feet.
Dusty turned to see Lilly hugging herself tightly with her head hung. He lifted her chin to see the tears streaking down her face. Before the tears, he hadn’t noticed her face was dirty. He dug into his pocket and fished out a bandana. He carefully wiped at the wetness. “Don’t—“
“Why can’t he be nice to me? Why can’t he love me?’ Her voice broke, and she began to cry so hard you would have thought Otter had physically beaten her.
Dusty pulled her into his arms and sat down on the ground to rock her until she stopped wailing. He couldn’t fathom what was happening. He’d practically grew up in the Caldwell home, and he couldn’t recall Otter being as mean. Of course, he wasn’t around Lilly much so he couldn’t say if Otter’s behavior toward her had changed any. He stroked her hair. “Has he always been like this?”
“Pretty much. Dad’s never said anything so ugly before though.” She sniffed.
He handed her the bandana. “Here dry your face and blow your nose. Go on to the house and get ready for the festival. I’ll be back around three or I can come by earlier and we can go to the hospital and see your mom.”
“I’d like that.” She blew her nose. “I’ll wash this for you.”
“No keep it. I have a ton of the stupid things. Maeve McHenry seems to think I need one every time she brings her stupid Chihuahua into the office. I’m a large animal vet, not a pet vet and that flea trap of hers is perfectly healthy, yet she brings him by every time he farts.”
“But it has your initials on it.” She laughed at his grimace. “Maeve likes you, Dusty and she’s trying to get your attention.”
Dusty grimaced. “No thank you. She’s nice, and all, but—she’s got that wandering eye. It creeps me out.”
“It’s perfectly normal as long as she’s wearing her glasses. Maybe you should take her to the festival and behave like a perfect jerk. Then maybe she’ll leave you alone.”
“I’m not taking dating advice from my best friend’s kid sister. Get up. My leg’s asleep and you need to get on to the house and clean up and so do I.” He pushed her off his lap and tried to stand. “Argh. I have needles in my foot. To be so thin you sure weigh a lot. You’re like lead. It doesn’t look heavy but then when you try to pick it up, whew.” He smiled to dull the barb.
“I am not heavy, thank you very much.” She pretended to be insulted. She opened the door to her truck and climbed in. “I’ll see you in a little while.”
“Yeah.” Dusty watched her drive over the hill before he climbed into his and drove toward his house. He thought about Lilly and Otter and how awful it must be to be treated that way by your father. He was her friend, and he didn’t know what to do about it. If there were anything, he would do it in a heartbeat.
Chapter Eight
Dusty cut the engine. The pulsing sound seeping out of the building from every crack it could find accentuated the silence inside the truck. “I guess we should go on in.” Lilly sounded unsure.
“If you would rather not…I’d understand even if I told you earlier that you would be fine in there. I’m sure a barn dance is pretty lame after some of the doings you’ve been to in New York.” His knuckles were white against the black of the steering wheel belying the nonchalance of his words.
She sighed and opened the passenger door. “Come on. From the music, it doesn’t sound like the town hoe-downs we used to go to when I was in high school before I left.”
“A lot has changed around here. Hopefully, it’s not enough to chase you away again.” He smiled placing his arm possessively around her waist. He wanted to say more, but they were at the entrance, and she had opened the door effectively obliterating any possibility for further conversation as “Cotton-eyed Joe” blared from the electric fiddle.
He motioned a dance movement with his hands, and when she nodded, Dusty pulled her toward the edge of the dance floor. In no time they were in the center of the crush dancing slowly since the tune had changed to a love song. He was enjoying himself. He hoped she was too.
The song ended. Reluctantly Dusty released her. Lilly looked up into his eyes and smiled. “Thanks for insisting I come.”
Smiling, he asked, “Thirsty?” At her nod, he began to pull her toward the refreshment tables. Dusty didn’t think they were ever going to get a drink because all along the way they were stopped by people wanting to be sure Lilly knew they were glad she was home. Just as they broke free of the crowd, he managed to whisper in her ear, “You sure are popular, Filly Lilly.”
She glared futilely at him. “Don’t call me that.”
“What am I supposed to call you?”
“Well if it ain’t Lilly Caldwell. New York so dull you had to come here to a barn dance.” Maeve McHenry pushed past a man standing in line to press against Dusty. She waved a small plastic punch glass in front of him. “Hi, Dusty. Do you want some punch?”
“Thanks, Maeve but I was going to get some for Lilly. Are you drunk? What’s in that punch?”
Maeve giggled. “Hush. I made it special.”
Dusty sighed. “Maeve, you go on over to that table and sit down before you fall over. I’ll find your brother and have him take you home.”
Maeve pushed Lilly aside and swayed against him suggestively. “I was hoping you would take me home with you.”
Incredulous he grasped her shoulders and held her in place as he stepped back. “I’ll take you over to that table and go find your brother. Maeve you’re out of your head drunk and will be mortified in the morning by your behavior tonight if you remember any of it.”
Maeve glared at Lilly. “If I had a chance to leave Rebel Creek like you I never would have come back. And here you are. Back.”
Lilly took one of Maeve’s arms and helped Dusty lead her to the table. “Maeve, you can leave anytime you want. You’re not a prisoner here.”
“We can’t all be models, Lillian.” She slurred.
“You can do anything Maeve. Whatever you dream you can achieve if you just de
cide to stop dreaming and start doing.”
By this time they had Maeve in a chair and Dusty was looking around the crowded room for her brother. Maeve slurped the dregs of her spiked punch before muttering, “It’s a whole lot easier to say than to do. We don’t all get lucky like you.”
“Maeve, you make your own luck. What is it you want to do? If you could do whatever it is would you do it?”
Maeve didn’t answer. She just looked at Lilly as if she were a hydra. Lilly sighed. “Maeve, think about it. Nothing is holding you back but you.”
Dusty walked off with purpose. Lilly assumed he’d found Danny, Maeve’s brother. Maeve belched and sighed with apparent satisfaction.
When Dusty and Danny walked up Danny hugged Lilly and looking at his sister he said, “It sure is good to see you, Lilly. I was surprised to hear you’d come back. Let me get her home.” He helped Maeve to her feet. “Come on, sis.”
Dusty and Lilly stood watching the pair head for the door. “That was interesting.”
Lilly smiled. “You’re telling me?”
Scratching his cheek, Dusty asked, “So, you want to dance some more?”
“Well if it ain’t Lilly Caldwell. When did you get back? Your dad didn’t say anything down at the Co-Op about you being back.” Willy Pruitt spun Lilly around and started pulling her toward the dance floor. “You don’t mind going around the floor once with me, do you?”
“Well, actually I was going to dance with Dusty.” She pulled back her hand and tossed Dusty a pleading glance. She was always disgusted by Willy. He had a slimy feel to his personality, and he made her uneasy.
“Dusty can wait, can’t you?” Willy began pulling her by the elbow.
Dusty put his hand on Willy’s. “If Lilly said she’s going to dance with me then she’s going to dance with me.”
Willy stopped pulling to glare at Dusty’s hand on his. He looked up to meet Dusty’s challenging stare. “Well, now. I would think you could wait five minutes. It’s not like I’m going to carry her off to behind the barn or anything.” He leered at Lilly. “Come to think of it; that’s a much better idea. Come on Lilly. Let’s go on out behind the barn and see what we can find.”