“Have you kids seen that new movie about the singing pig?” Cody asked.
“Petunia Porky Superstar?” Jenny asked.
“That’s the one,” Cody said. “It looks pretty good, but I was hoping to get some more opinions before I go see it myself.”
Jenny lowered her eyes and shook her head. “Daddy doesn’t take us to the movies anymore.”
“He’s just really busy with work,” Kayla said.
“You’re lying,” Jenny said. “He hasn’t been going to work. He just sits around all day, doing nothing.”
Kayla glanced at me, her expression wary. “Well, he’s at work now,” she said. “He just had a couple of bad days.”
Jenny opened her mouth like she was going to argue, but Kayla gave her a stern look and she shut it again.
“You know,” I said. “Cody has a great climbing tree in his back yard. How about you three go back there and play and Cody and I will clean up the kitchen?”
“Yeah,” Simon said, jumping out of his seat and running for the back door. Jenny was right on his heels. Kayla got up more slowly. “Daddy didn’t do nothing,” Kaylee said. “He just wasn’t feeling good.”
“I understand,” I said. “It happens to all of us.”
Kayla nodded and followed her siblings out the back door.
“What do you think the story is there?” Cody asked after the door had closed behind her.
“I don’t know. He was in a bad car accident two years ago and their mother was killed. Maybe he’s having a hard time coping with her loss or it could be depression from losing his job.”
“It sounds like he’s getting back on track,” Cody said. “Why don’t you take the leftovers to him when you take the kids home?”
I cleaned up and Cody boxed up leftovers. The kids came in when it got too dark to play outside and we played a game of chutes and ladders I brought over from my house. It had been one of my favorites when I was a kid and I’d held onto it for the day I had children of my own.
Even Kayla was relaxed and smiling by the second round of the game and Cody kept Jenny and Simon in fits of giggles by pretending to be hugely disappointed every time he had to slide backwards and ecstatic when he got to climb ahead. For a little bit, even I forgot to be worried about the state of the kids’ home life and just enjoyed them.
Simon was quiet, but he had a competitive streak that lit him up while we were playing. His drive to win didn’t stop him from helping Jenny when he thought no one was looking. Jenny was entirely aware of her brother’s willingness to help her and she took full advantage. The mischievousness and intelligence in her eyes was adorable now, but I could see her being trouble when she got older. It was clear she had smart older siblings, too, her vocabulary was well beyond her years and, as I learned from our conversation about books after the game, Kayla read to both of them on a regular basis.
Jenny was asleep on Simon’s lap by the time ten o clock rolled around, and Simon was yawning and rubbing his eyes. I hated to keep them up so late, but I didn’t want to take the kids back to an empty house, so I’d made sure not to leave Cody’s house until Kayla assured me we’d find their dad at home.
This time, I was faster than Kayla when we got out of the car. I made it to the porch where her father was waiting before she did. Her father hadn’t attended any teacher/parent events, so I’d never had the chance to talk to him face to face. I didn’t have any way to compare the man I saw that evening to an earlier version of himself.
He was in sweats and a t-shirt, like a man who’d just gotten off work and had immediately changed into comfortable clothes. He was clean-shaven and his smile was warm, but he looked a bit dazed, probably tired from a long day. “Thank you for looking out for the kids while I was at work, Miss Harrison.” His smile was wide, if a bit cold. “I usually make sure Kayla has the spare key, but I forgot to check this morning before they left for school.”
Kayla was locked out again? Why didn’t she just tell me? “It was a pleasure to spend the evening with them,” I said. “They are wonderful children.”
His smile dropped just a bit as he looked past me at Kayla. “They are the best thing in my life.” He returned his gaze to me. “They are my whole world.”
He took a step toward the door. “It is way past your bed time, kids. Come on, inside.”
Jenny and Simon trudged past me and through the open door their father held open, but Kayla stayed where she was. Her quiet presence felt meaningful in a way, like a pressure behind me to do something more, to say something more, to find out what was really going on. “Kayla is a wonderful student,” I said. “I’m sure you’re very proud of her.”
He grinned past me at Kayla. “Her obsession with books has been good for something, then, I guess.”
“Mom loved books, too,” Kayla said, her voice soft.
Her father’s expression shuttered and he frowned. “Why don’t you get inside and see to the little ones?”
Kayla drifted past me and went inside. Her father started to follow but I stopped him, almost putting a hand on his arm, but stopping myself before I crossed a line. “My neighbor made a ton of food, and I brought leftovers for you all to share.”
He turned back to me, looking decidedly less cheery. “That’s awfully kind of you.”
“I’m happy to watch the kids any time,” I said. “I can help out—”
“We don’t need any help.” The hard edge to his tone and his expression was one I’d seen on the faces of other parents who were struggling financially and didn’t want to admit it or talk about it. “Thanks for the food.”
He took the boxes of leftovers from my arms, spun, and stomped inside, slamming the door hard before I could say anymore. The click of the lock signaled the end of our conversation.
I drove home, feeling like a boulder had settled in my stomach. I parked in my driveway. Cody’s house was dark and I figured it best if I didn’t disturb him. I was in no mood to be fit for company.
I let myself into my own house and flicked on the living room light to find a dark figure on my couch. I jumped and let out a little squeak and Cody’s warm rumble of a laugh washed over me.
“You left your door unlocked,” he said. “Again.”
“And you decided you wanted to hang out in a different house tonight?”
“I figured you’d try to avoid me because you’re upset. I wasn’t in the mood to be avoided.”
I sighed and dropped down on the couch next to him. He pulled me in for a tight hug that made tears well in my eyes. “I’m really not the best company right now.”
“I’m not asking you to be good company,” he said. “Tell me about their dad.”
So, I told him about their dad and I shared my concerns with him. He didn’t suggest I was being over dramatic or worrying about nothing. He just held me and listened. Then we went to bed and broke our rule, because he held me all night. While I slept.
***
“Ready to go?” Cody asked. He was leaning in my doorway, the setting sun behind him, his face in shadow.
“I’d be more ready to go if you’d given me at least a hint about what we’d be doing and what clothes would be most appropriate.” I picked up my overnight bag, packed with jeans and cute tops, one pair of slacks, a sweater, and one dress.
He shrugged. “I’ve got no idea. My momma makes her own agenda. We’ll find out what we’re doing when we get there.”
I followed him out the front door. “It never occurred to you to ask your mother the plan for the weekend?”
He took my bag and threw it behind the seats of his truck. He opened my door and I stepped up and inside the behemoth of a vehicle. “My momma is not prone to openness with me.” He shut my door and jogged around to his own.
“Why not?” I asked.
He started the truck. “I haven’t been so good about keeping in touch or being the doting son she’d like me to be. And she has good reason to be angry with me.”
“What did yo
u do?”
He shrugged and backed out of the driveway. “Disgraced the family, drove my father into an early grave, and then walked away without a look back. All the sort of stuff a no-good, unemployed party boy would do.”
If I thought he was trying to make me feel guilty for all the mean things I’d said about him, I might have agreed with him or told him to shut his face, but he seemed sincere. Was this really what he thought of himself? And when had I started to suspect it wasn’t who he was at all?
“Passenger gets to pick the music, right?” I said, to distract myself from both questions.
“Music is the driver’s prerogative.” He hit a button on the radio and AC/DC’s Back in Black blared from the speakers.
I reached over and tried to find the volume control, but his dashboard was confusing and I wasn’t sure if I was turning down the music or turning down the heat. Finally, I managed to get the music to a reasonable level. “I’m not going to listen to this all the way to Atlanta.”
He reached over and turned it back up. “It would do you good to expand your musical appreciation.”
I turned it back down. “Then let’s take turns. I pick a station, then you pick a station.”
“I’m not one of your students. You can’t convince me to share and be fair by using that sweet, reasonable tone of yours.”
If he hadn’t been driving, I very well may have punched him. Instead, I put my feet up on his dash and pulled my snack bag out of my purse. I never went anywhere without my snack bag. Harrison made fun of me and suggested it was just one more example of me being an old lady before my time. I thought a snack bag just made good sense. I never knew when I might get stuck somewhere without food and I didn’t respond well to hunger. If I was ever on one of those reality television survival shows, I’d quit after the first hour just out of fear of starvation.
I pulled a donut out of my snack bag and held it up to my lips. “Agree to my deal or I’ll eat this powdery white donut in your beloved truck.”
He laughed. “Do you have any idea what’s in those things, because I’m almost certain none of the ingredients are actual food. I can clean my truck, but you can’t ever undo the damage to your body caused by eating junk like that.”
I took a big bite, which was half the donut, and moaned to demonstrate just how good it was. I wasn’t actually hungry, but hunger had nothing to do with the point I was trying to make.
“Not to mention the sugar content. Do you know what sugar does to your body?”
I stuffed the rest of the donut in my mouth and spoke around it. “It makes me happy.”
He couldn’t manage to hold onto his disdain or his superiority any longer. He laughed, his head thrown back so far I was a little worried he was going to drive us into oncoming traffic. I chewed, trying to not notice how good a laugh and a smile looked on him. “Do you carry donuts with you everywhere you go?”
“They’re my special starvation treats.”
“Your what?”
“In case I get stuck somewhere without food, like if I accidentally lock myself in my car or get lost in the woods or stuck at the DMV. These little donuts are a power house of fat and energy to keep me going, and they never go bad.”
He shook his head, his smile huge. “What caused this fear of starvation?”
“I wouldn’t call it a fear. I just get a little moody when I’m over-hungry. I like to avoid it.”
“I’ll make sure to feed you every three hours.”
“I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself. If you agree to keep your music turned down low, I’ll just read my book.”
“What are you reading?”
“One of those fun hybrids,” I said. “Part suspense, part thriller, part romance, part science fiction.”
“That sounds oddly intriguing. I’ll turn the music off altogether if you read it to me.”
“I’m already a quarter of the way through.”
“Well, I get bored driving, so I either need loud music or an audio book. Since I don’t have any audio books, I’d hoped your scintillating conversation would entertain me. Seeing as how you only want to argue, you should read to me to make up for it.”
I didn’t react as I expect he wanted me to. I was on to him, he was picking a fight as a way to entertain himself and I wasn’t going to play. I would read to him, because I enjoyed reading aloud, it was something I did often as a teacher. I pulled out my Kindle and clicked back to the start of the book. I read to him, but I looked up every two pages or so to admire the scenery as we drove through North Carolina and South Carolina and into Georgia. I read to him until my throat was dry and my jaw hurt. I closed the Kindle and rested my head against the seat back. “Are we there yet?”
“Three more hours,” he said. “You’ve got a nice voice. Not sure about the book, though.”
“She’s not the most likable character, but give it a chance. It gets better.”
“There’s a rest stop ahead,” he said. “Want to get out and stretch a bit?”
“Sounds good.”
There were only a couple other cars in the parking lot of the rest stop. Cody met me at the front of the truck, grabbed me and pulled me against him in a hard kiss. I froze in shock for a moment, but caught on and kissed him back after just a few seconds. I forgot where we were, my whole world became the feel of him against me, and I just wanted more, more, more. I’d never been so greedy for something in my life.
“Listening to you read for the last hour and a half has been the weirdest sort of foreplay I’ve ever experienced,” he said. “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to wait until we get to the house to ravish you again.”
“Well, you’re going to have to wait longer than that,” I said. “Because I am not doing anything with you in your mother’s house.”
His eyes widened and his grip on my hips tightened. “Why the hell not?”
“Um, because she knows our engagement is a big, fat fake and, even if it was real, I wouldn’t have sex with my fiancé under his mother’s roof. What if she heard us?”
His smile widened. “You know what this sounds like,” he said. “It sounds like a challenge. I love a good challenge.”
A moment ago, he’d been making my blood heat with lust, now it was heating with irritation. “It’s not a challenge. It’s a fact.”
“Sure,” he said. “Whatever you say, boss.”
“Uh-huh. I’m going to use a bathroom.”
“Look around while you’re in there. See if you can find a good place for me to make you forget your name.”
“Right, because sex in a filthy, smelly rest stop bathroom is every woman’s fantasy.” Despite my words, I couldn’t help looking around as I walked through the building. Everything was slightly grimy and wide open to anyone who walked by. Not an option.
I shook my head as I walked back to Cody, who was leaning against the front of his truck. His shoulders slumped and he shook his head. “Guess you’ll just have to give me road head.”
“Road head?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I understood exactly what he meant. I slapped his stomach hard with the back of my hand. “In your dreams.”
He doubled over in mock pain and grunted. Then he hobbled to get into the truck. “Sounds like you’ve just given me my second challenge.” He sat and started the engine.
“You’re setting yourself up for failure on every level.” I wasn’t sure if he’d convince me to sleep with him in his mother’s house, but I was certain he’d never convince me to give him “road head.” I was a cautious person by nature and nurture. I wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about the potential consequences. What if he closed his eyes or lost control of the car? It was way too risky.
He smirked. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“And I’m sure it won’t be the last,” I said. “My throat is sore. Tell me a story.”
“A story? Like Cinderella? You want a bedtime story?”
“No. Tell me a story about you and your fami
ly. Prepare me for the people I’m about to meet.”
He was quiet for so long, I was certain he was going to ignore my request. “We didn’t have much money when I was a kid,” he said at last. “We lived in this tiny house, in the middle of the woods, that my dad had grown up in. Three bedrooms and one bathroom for a family of eight people was a bit crowded. So, we spent a good deal of time outside, exploring the woods and learning about nature. My dad loved the outdoors and he’d give us these long lectures on the life cycle of the pine tree or why having black snakes around your house was a good thing or how forest fires made forests healthier or the mating habits of squirrels. Us kids always pretended to be bored and rolled our eyes, but I never got tired of hearing those lectures. I think that’s part of the reason I fell in love with growing grapes and making wine. How the natural world works and the way it can provide the sweetest things for us fascinates me.”
I waited, but it seemed he wasn’t going to say anything else. “And?”
He jolted like he’d forgotten I was there. “And what?”
“That’s not a story. That’s a little bit of information about you and your dad. I asked for a story.”
He scowled. “You’re a very demanding woman, Carrie Harrison.”
“I know what I want,” I said. “And I want a story.”
He smiled. “Alright. As we all got older, I was the only one who continued to spend time in the forest. My little sister May would try to tag along, but I was a jerk of an older brother and usually sent her home. Dad would include her if he went with me, but he wasn’t around much at that point. Right before we moved out of that tiny house, we all got together one last time and went for a walk through the woods with my dad. We walked and laughed and Dad lectured us like it was his last chance to teach us all something. It’s one of my best memories of him.”
“Were the two of you close?”
“Yeah, in our own way, I guess. We fought a lot, because I wanted different things than he did. Our love of the outdoors, of being outside, was one of the only things we had in common.”
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