A Promise Remembered

by Elizabeth Mowers

  “No. Actually I came back here to tell you...” She paused, admiring a sweetness behind his eyes that she hadn’t seen since before he’d returned to Chinoodin Falls. He had looked at her like that when they’d snuck out to Little Foot Mountain so many years ago, and she’d been in the topsy-turvy early stages of falling in love for the first time. She had been wearing a yellow sundress she’d bought specifically for their date, and he’d told her she had brightened his day. Lying beside him on an old afghan he’d had in his truck, he had run his fingers playfully down the front of that dress, delicately plucking at each tiny button in between peppering her lips with soft kisses. For years afterward, though it had fallen out of style, she’d hidden the dress at the back of her closet, unable to part with it or perhaps unable to part with him.

  “What?” he asked, taking a step closer.

  Annie bit her lip, trying to jar herself free of the memory. “Thank you for intervening with James.”

  “It was my pleasure.”

  “He shouldn’t have been sitting out there alone.”

  “No.”

  “He’s only a little boy, you know?” she whispered.

  William’s eyes squinted in seriousness. “Yes, I know.”

  Annie swallowed a lump in her throat. “When I think about it... I can’t stop thinking about it...”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Annie. He’s okay now.”

  “Sean just doesn’t...” She vigorously shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t know what to do sometimes.”

  “You mean with Sean?”

  Annie opened her eyes to a dark look falling over William’s face. “He’s difficult.”

  “Difficult?” William’s eyebrows shot up, and she knew it was no use dancing around her troubles with Sean.

  “Well...you saw.”

  He nodded. “I have a feeling I haven’t seen the half of it.”

  “You want to know why I married him, don’t you?”

  “Well...”

  “I know you do.”

  “The thought had crossed my mind.”

  “And what have you come up with so far?”

  “From what I know about you—”

  “What on earth do you know about me?” Annie sighed. “You’ve only been back a few days.”

  “I knew you once,” he replied, his voice a low drawl like the morning sun warming over her. She lifted her face, searching his for any explanation as to why he didn’t know her that way now.

  “And?” she mustered.

  “I know you wouldn’t marry him for his money.”

  Annie feigned a smile. “Is that what you’ve heard? And how do you know that? Women marry for money all the time.”

  “Not you.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I’ve seen you with Betsy. You’re such a good mom, I know you wouldn’t put her in a situation like that unless...”

  “What?” Her eyes glistened with hot tears she refused to shed. Not now and never in front of William. “Tell me.”

  He brushed her on the arm, his weathered skin gentle as her nerves rose. She teetered on her feet, and he seemed to sense her light-headedness, steadying her. “I didn’t mean to upset you, Annie.”

  She didn’t know if he meant by his words or his touch, and as her eyes fell to his perfect lips, slightly parted, she could only assume he wasn’t sure, either.

  “You didn’t,” she said. She knew as his furrowed brow softened, he didn’t believe her lie.

  “Annie, dear.” Joyce smiled, scooting past her into the office. “What are you doing here? Joe, Danny and Earl were asking about you. Apparently you are really goofin’ up their routine. How dare you miss two days in a row! The way they were talkin’, they were going to send a search party for you.”

  Annie slipped from William’s grasp, but she couldn’t draw her gaze from him and the spell he’d cast over her. Her arm cooled from where he’d touched it, eliciting yearnings she’d thought she’d buried long ago with that yellow sundress. “I should be back tomorrow. I wanted to say thank-you for the other day, William.”

  “You’re welcome, Annie,” he replied, straightening his stance as she edged farther from him.

  “Kiss the kiddos for me,” Joyce called, but Annie had already escaped to the safety of the parking lot, uncertain from what she was running or why.

  * * *

  WILLIAM PINCHED TWO hot dinner plates between his fingers and gave Miles a pleading look.

  “Table six,” the cook answered, sending William on his way.

  He had never served the public a day in his life, and it was with good reason: he hated it. Busing tables and working in the kitchen as a kid couldn’t be considered serving the public, because he’d been serving only one person back then—Dennis.

  William had tried to keep his head down as much as possible, toiling away the hours with the occasional insult from the old man. But as he worked the dining room now, he realized Dennis had done him a favor by banishing him to the kitchen. Only two hours on the job serving and it had felt like twenty. The rest of the afternoon stretched before him.

  He was a person who had always believed he knew what he was doing. Right or wrong, he was confident in his decisions and steamed straight ahead. But as he hustled between tables, scratching out orders and juggling plates, he hoped he could skate by for the day pretending he knew what he was doing.

  “How are you doing, Will?” Mia asked, zipping up beside him at the order window. “Miles! Give me a full house, whistle berries, burn one with yellow paint, frog sticks and a bowl of fire!”

  “What was all that nonsense?”

  Mia giggled with amusement. “I thought you used to work here, Will.”

  “The culture has changed dramatically,” he grumbled.

  Mia reached for the coffeepot. “That was a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato, baked beans, a burger with mustard, fries and a bowl of chili.”

  William slapped his ticket down. “Give me two hot dogs with fries and onion rings.”

  “Two bow-wows, frog sticks—”

  “Whatever!” William howled.

  Mia dissolved into giggles as he lumbered back to tables. Mia and Miles could keep their shoptalk to themselves. He had no desire to learn the lingo or work any longer in this place. He had to get out of here.

  “Someone to see you, Will,” Karrin called, motioning to the front. “Something about your truck?”

  “Perfect,” Will breathed, meeting a lanky kid at the entrance.

  “Is that your truck out there?” he asked, smoothing too-long hair out of his eyes.

  “Interested?”

  “Maybe. Does it run?”

  “Of course.”

  “Can we take it for a spin?” the kid asked, his eyes glued on the truck.

  “Yes,” William replied, eager to leave the diner and make some fast cash.

  Unfortunately, there was nothing fast about it.

  Carter turned out to be a college student, hoping to upgrade his Mazda for something with traction and haul. But after pining over William’s truck for a half hour, he admitted to not having his finances completely in line to make the purchase.

  “Let me know if you come up with the cash,” William muttered. He returned to the diner in a huff only to be confronted by Karrin and Mia. They nearly had smoke billowing from their ears, and he squared his shoulders at the sight of them.

  “What?”

  “Excuse me?” Karrin fired back. “You can’t walk out midshift, Will.”

  “I don’t work here,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “News to us. You were serving those tables and then disappeared.”

  “I don’t answer to you, Karrin. Now step aside.”

  “We took flack for you while busting our butts double
time, Will. The least you can do when you duck out is tell someone.”

  “You knew that kid was asking for me.”

  “I didn’t know you were going to disappear for half an hour!”

  “That’s because it’s none of your business!”

  “Office,” Joyce interrupted, yanking William by the elbow and pulling him into the back.

  “William, Karrin is right. You can’t walk out in the middle of a shift.”

  “I had someone interested in my truck.”

  “You have customers.”

  William pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m trying to help you out, but I have to sell that truck.”

  “What’s the big hurry? Are you short on cash?” Joyce asked.

  “Listen, I don’t mind pitching in a little today, but I didn’t come back to Chinoodin to work here. You of all people should know how I feel about this place for heaven’s sake.”

  Joyce’s eyes welled with tears. “I thought you came back to...” She shook her head, pressing her hands to her lips, composing herself.

  “What do you want from me?” William asked.

  “If you don’t want to be here, I don’t want to guilt you, but...”

  “But?”

  Joyce dotted the corners of her eyes with her fingertips and returned to the dining room, passing Mia on the way.

  “You’ve missed a lot, you know.” Mia didn’t look at him. “The last few years have been hard on her.”

  “News flash, Mia. They were hard on everybody.” William sent the back door banging open and gulped the early-evening breeze.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ANNIE STARTLED AWAKE, the glow of the television casting shadows and adding to the fear she was all too familiar with. She silently eased up off the couch, tucking her blanket over James, who was snoring beside her. Straining to hear a repeat of whatever had woken her, she tiptoed to the front window to catch a sliver of who or what was lurking on her front walk. She didn’t need to check the locks. She meticulously bolted the doors whenever she entered the house, a habit she could rely on in moments like this.

  A shadow moved past the window. But as her heart lurched, each quickened heartbeat thudding progressively harder against her chest, the light rap on the door puzzled her. Hesitantly, she glided up against the frame, pressing her cheek to the wood to peer out the peephole.

  “Annie?” William called. “It’s me.”

  Annie flipped on the porch light and paused to study William through the tiny bit of glass. There had been a time when she had anticipated his visits, watching from her bedroom window with her hair done and lipstick at the ready.

  The first time he’d appeared in her bedroom window, she hadn’t been prepared to see him. He had crouched on the windowsill, a proud grin stretched over his boyish lips. For her, he had always been a mix of fear and excitement as he had quietly entered and then wrapped her in his arms, kissing her wildly while her mother moved about the house a floor below them.

  Annie cracked open the door, meeting his gaze.

  “May I come in?” he asked. His voice sounded as disheveled as his appearance. Sporting a hooded sweatshirt that was smeared with grease stains and dirt; his blue jeans looked as if they had spent the week crumpled in a ball on the floor.

  She shook her head. Slipping outside onto the porch, she shivered, her T-shirt and pajama pants a thin barrier between her and the night chill. His eyes fell over her body, and she clasped her arms around herself firmly. After a moment he unzipped his hoodie and offered it to her.

  “I’m okay,” she said, although her skin prickled with goose bumps. William disregarded her words and swung the hoodie over her shoulders, apparently oblivious to how dirty it might seem to anyone else. But she couldn’t balk at the stained garment as his familiar scent enveloped her in a warm hug.

  “I can’t talk to you if you’re shivering like that.”

  “Why are you here, William? Is something wrong?”

  William folded his arms across his chest and shifted his weight to the back of his heels. “Will you be back at work tomorrow?”

  “What?”

  “Your shift? Will you be there?”

  “I told Joyce I would be,” she replied, eyeing him. “Is that why you came here tonight? You couldn’t text me that question?” Her eyes narrowed.

  “What’s the big deal?”

  “I don’t like people coming to my house in the middle of the night. That’s the big deal.”

  William pulled his cell phone from his pocket and chuckled at the sight. “It’s only nine o’clock.”

  “So? It’s dark.”

  “And?”

  “I thought you were...I don’t know...an intruder.”

  William glanced from side to side. “Do intruders usually knock on the door and announce themselves first?”

  “Don’t you laugh at me.” Annie scowled, peeling his sweatshirt off in a frenzy. “Take this back and get off my porch.”

  “Hey, hey, hey,” William replied, gently coaxing her to stop. “Wait a minute here.” He slowly eased the sweatshirt back up and over her shoulders, cinching it under her chin. She stared up at him, her pulse racing. “What did I do wrong? Did I scare you?”

  “No.”

  “But you don’t like me coming here at night?”

  It wasn’t him coming here at night that bothered her. Annie retreated to the end of the porch. “Why are you here, William?”

  “I can’t cover another shift at the diner.”

  “No. What are you doing back? In Chinoodin.”

  William tucked his fists into his front pockets. “Why?”

  “I need to know.”

  “Why?”

  “William,” she snapped. “Can’t you answer a question straight, just once?”

  “This is my hometown, Annie. I didn’t know I had to register with you when returning.”

  “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  “Isn’t it? You’ve been giving me the third degree since I arrived.”

  “Can you blame me?” she cried. “I haven’t seen you in more than a decade and when I do, you act as if...” She searched his eyes for any understanding of what she yearned to say. She needed to know if she had meant anything to him. Had he thought about her over the years? Did he miss her? Did he want her the way she had wanted him? “Forget it. Take this back,” she said, shoving his sweatshirt into his hands on her way to the front door.

  “A lot of time has passed, Annie. I’m not the same person I once was.”

  “Neither am I. You apparently don’t think about what it was like twelve years ago, so forget I mentioned it.”

  “Do you?”

  “What?”

  “Think about life back then?”

  “Why would I?”

  “Come on, Annie.”

  “I’ll be at work tomorrow. That’s what you came to ask, isn’t it?”

  William twisted his sweatshirt in his hands. “I’ve got someone interested in my truck. Once I sell it, I’m heading out of town.”

  Annie felt a chill crawl down her spine as his words hung over her. “What about your mother?”

  “What about her?”

  “Didn’t you come back to help her?”

  “Help her do what?”

  “Run Pop’s Place.”

  “Jeez. Everyone has a lot of plans for me.”

  “Well?”

  “I never said that.”

  “She did.”

  “When?”

  “Well, maybe she assumed that’s what you were going to do.”

  “Yeah, there’s been a lot of that going on lately.”

  “You can’t take off again, William. Not yet.”

  “Annie,” he said on a sigh. “There’s nothing for me here any
more.”

  “Why did you come here tonight?”

  “I didn’t want mom stuck in the lurch tomorrow if you didn’t show.”

  Annie scoffed at his words, shaking her head in disgust. “Well, at least you said something this time instead of running off into the night without a word.” William worked his jaw as Annie stepped inside her house. “You’ve made me hate front porches, you know that?” she loud-whispered before shutting the door on him.

  * * *

  WILLIAM ROLLED OLD RED out of the shed and down the driveway to the street before firing it up. He thought he had heard his mother up as he’d crept out the back door, the early-morning cold a reminder that the hot days of summer were still a ways off. Chinoodin Falls typically only had two seasons, winter and July, so for early June it was still quite cool by early afternoon and brisk in the morning.

  After watching the hours tick by all night, tossing and turning in fitful sleep, the promise of dawn lurking over the horizon was bait enough to get him up and out for the day. A cup of coffee and the cold lake breeze pelting his face would perk his senses and snap him out of the funk Annie Curtis had sent him tailspinning into the night before.

  Tugging his knit hat over his ears and wrapping a bandana over his nose and mouth, the only sliver of unexposed face, subject to the wind whipping off Lake Superior, were his eyes, which he covered with the clear goggles he’d picked up the day before. Once the sun had risen, he’d switch them out for sunglasses. Right now he needed a ride around town to confirm Old Red was ready for the long haul with him. Then he’d pick up some chaps and new boots at Miner’s Leather Goods and be on his way before dinner. That is, if he could sell his truck. Luckily he had lined up a new buyer.

  Over the rumble of the engine, he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He stopped and dug it out, knowing he’d regret even glancing at it.

  William held the phone away from him as if it were a rattlesnake gearing to lunge and sink its fangs. His eyes immediately registered the phone number.

  Denver Corrigan.

  He gripped the phone, willing it to silence itself. The seconds ticked by with each vibration... Three...four...five...