“Oh.” Caroline nodded. “You want me to go on home?”
“What?” Court asked. “No, hell no, it’s fine. It’s just I don’t think my dad is up to a barbecue just yet. Not the way Reese likes to barbecue.”
“Tell him he can’t invite anybody,” Caroline said. “Surely he’ll understand that your dad isn’t up to a party.”
“I told him.” Court stuck his phone back into his pocket. “He says he won’t bring nobody but himself.”
Caroline sunk back down into the rocking chair. Leave it to Reese to spoil a perfectly lazy day.
REESE STAYED TRUE to his word and didn’t bring anybody with him out to Court’s house. Instead, he brought a cooler full of beer and four thick, Kansas City strips. “My dad butchered beef last week,” he said, heaving the steaks onto the kitchen table in front of Court’s dad. “These were the best-lookin’ steaks.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. It was always about showing off. “They do look good.”
“You bet your sweet ass.” He winked at Caroline. “And if I’m cookin’ ’em, ain’t nobody gonna have ’em cooked clean through.”
“I prefer not to have my food bleeding,” Caroline replied. “If it’s all the same to you.”
“I’ll go get the charcoal started,” Court said.
Joe Brannan folded his paper and laid it neatly on top of the others. “I reckon I better go get washed up.”
Caroline and Reese were left alone in the kitchen. She took a beer out of his cooler and cracked it open. Now it really felt like high school. “You really have to bring KC strips out here?” she asked him. “Just to show off?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Reese Graham. I know you too well.”
Reese shrugged, pulling a beer of his own from the cooler. “I was just tryin’ to be nice. I thought Mr. Brannan could use him a nice steak.”
“The man just lost his wife and his house,” Caroline replied. “No steak is gonna make him forget that.”
“I’m not a complete asshole, you know,” Reese said, setting down his beer and looking at her. “I don’t know why you have such a low opinion of me. I was good to you when we were together.”
“It’s not about that,” Caroline said. “Just be gentle with Court and his daddy right now, okay?”
“You like that Cranwell?” Reese asked. “What’s his name? Noah?”
“It’s not about that, either.”
“You like him, though, don’t you?”
“So what if I do?”
“I ain’t gonna give you any shit for it, if that’s what you’re thinkin’.”
“Can we just go back to how it used to be?” Caroline asked. “You know, back before . . . everything?”
“Only if you can handle seein’ me out on the town with the ladies,” Reese replied, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
“I’ll try to control myself,” Caroline replied dryly. Besides, she thought, it won’t be me you’ll have to worry about.
“So what does Court think about this Cranwell?”
Caroline shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t really asked him.”
“Why not?”
“I doubt he cares too much.”
“You know, I figured that you and him’d be shacked up by now.”
Caroline glared over at Reese. Like hell you did. “Really? Is that what you thought?”
“Why not?”
“You know why not.”
“I don’t reckon I do,” Reese replied easily. He looked away from her and down at his beer.
Neither one of them said anything until Court emerged from the back deck, carrying a pair of tongs. “Come on, you two. I sure as hell hope you don’t expect me to do all of this cooking alone.”
CHAPTER 24
MISSOURI’S CASH CROP WAS ROCKS.
While some states had soil that grew cotton or tobacco or corn, Missouri had soil that grew rocks. A person didn’t have to dig too deep to find them—hell, there were even state parks named after them like Elephant Rocks in Belleview and Johnson’s Shut-Ins in Middle Brook.
Everywhere a person went, they’d find piles and piles of rocks in Missouri.
That was why working the land in Missouri meant owning a farm full of animals. Much of the time, especially in the Ozarks, the farm consisted of cattle—either beef or dairy. There were goat farms and pig farms and even a chicken farm or two. Some people had a mishmash of all of them, and the farmland stretched out for miles and miles as far as the eye could see throughout the hills of Cold River, Missouri.
Caroline stared at the rocks littering the yard at Roy and Ava Dawn’s house. She couldn’t count how many childhood summers she’d been tricked by an older cousin into picking up rocks to sell only to find out nobody wants to buy rocks when any yard comes with hundreds of them for free.
“So you’re tellin’ me,” Ava Dawn said, rummaging through her purse for her keys, “that you went to Cranwell Corner for dinner and nothing interesting happened?”
Caroline pushed herself up from the porch steps. “No, what I’m telling you is that nobody offered me moonshine fresh from the stills or stabbed anybody in a knife fight.”
“Sounds pretty boring.”
“It was nice,” Caroline said. “Weird, but kind of nice.” She wanted to tell her cousin about what happened the day before—about the cave and about Noah—but she couldn’t. She’d promised Noah she wouldn’t tell anyone about the cave, and she figured that included everything that happened inside of it, at least until she could work through her own feelings about it.
“I still can’t believe you got invited over there,” Ava Dawn replied. She pushed her key into the lock. “My daddy used to tell me stories about how him and Uncle Max would go fishin’ and Jep and his brothers would be there, but none of ’em ever talked. Didn’t even look at each other. Kept to their own, ya know? Jep’s daddy made them all quit school after the eighth grade.”
“I remember those stories,” Caroline said. “The thing is, I don’t think Jep likes me very well.”
“Why would you say that?”
“I don’t know.” Caroline shrugged. “Just a feeling I get. Although he was really nice at supper.”
“He’s just a crotchety old man,” Ava Dawn replied.
“Maybe,” Caroline said. That could be it, of course. Noah didn’t seem to think it was anything to worry about. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that all of this was tied up with her mother somehow.
“You should have told me about this before. It happened a damn week ago,” Ava Dawn said, struggling with her keys in the lock. “This damn lock is so stubborn.”
“I would have told you sooner, but you haven’t even been home. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought you moved back in here with Roy.”
“I told you it’s over with me and him.” She pushed on the door with her shoulder. “I’ve been pullin’ doubles at the diner, and then Brother Crow has me at three Bible studies a week, and divorced women’s counseling on Tuesdays.”
“Why?”
“I need the money to save up for my own place.”
“Not about the diner.” Caroline rolled her eyes. “About all those Bible studies and the counseling.”
“He says I need to immerse myself in the word of God.” Ava Dawn shrugged. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“I didn’t realize there were enough divorced women at church that you’d need a whole night of counseling.”
“So far, it’s just me, but Brother Crow says that will change soon.”
“I think that’s pretty weird, Ava Dawn,” Caroline said.
“Shit!” Ava Dawn threw her key ring onto the porch. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“What’s wrong?”
“My key doesn’t work!”
“Are you sure it’s the right one?”
“Yes!”
Caroline peered down at the key, trying to push it into the lock. It didn’t work. “He must’
ve changed the locks.”
Ava Dawn kicked at the front door. “That bastard.”
“He knew you’d eventually try to get your stuff,” Caroline said. “And he knew you’d do it while he was at work.”
“I paid for everything in that dang house,” Ava Dawn fumed.
“I can pick a lock. I’ve done it before.” Caroline squinted into the lock.
“It was your parents’ door, Caroline,” Ava Dawn replied. “It ain’t breakin’ and enterin’ if it’s your own damn house.”
“Well, this is your own damn house,” Caroline said, except she knew that it wasn’t. It was now and always had been Roy’s house.
The Bean house was located in the oldest part of Cold River, close to the downtown. The little one-bedroom shotgun house was just a block from Caroline’s father’s office, but she had been there less than a dozen times in the seven years Ava Dawn and Roy had lived there. It was no secret that Roy didn’t like Caroline, and Caroline liked Roy even less than he liked her.
“It’s because you tried to run him over on our wedding day,” Ava Dawn said as if she was reading her cousin’s mind. “It’s hard to forgive a thing like that.”
“I didn’t try to run him over!” Caroline protested, rolling her eyes. “He was three sheets to the wind and wandering all over town in his tuxedo. You’re the one who asked me to go find him, remember?”
“I remember,” Ava Dawn moaned. “He and his fool-headed groomsmen insisted on those camouflage tuxedos.”
“They were pretty awful,” Caroline admitted. Generally speaking, she didn’t mind camouflage. Folks in Cold River wore it year-round. However, there was just something tacky about using it in a wedding. It was like people forgot that camo was supposed to be for hunting. If you were getting married, well, the hunt was over.
Caroline walked around to the side of the house. She knew that Court had been to this house more times than she could count for disturbances of the peace, which reminded her about something he’d told her once. He’d been called out because one of the neighbors heard yelling. Court told her that he couldn’t get inside—Roy had barricaded the door so that Ava Dawn couldn’t get out. Ava Dawn was hollering and crying so loud he thought she was dying or something, so he ran around to the washroom window. It was missing the screen, and he was able to crawl inside.
“Some things never change,” Caroline muttered to herself.
“You need me to lift you up?” Ava Dawn appeared behind her.
Caroline jumped, knocking into her cousin. “Shit. You scared me.”
“Sorry.”
“Give me a boost.”
Ava Dawn squatted down and hooked her hands underneath one of Caroline’s feet. With a grunt, she hoisted her up until Caroline could pry the window open. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Caroline panted. “I think I’ve got it. You can let go.” She wiggled through the window and landed on the floor with a thunk. She picked herself up and leaned out the window to pull Ava Dawn inside.
Ava Dawn looked around the house. “This place is filthy.”
Caroline nodded in agreement. “Looks like he hasn’t done a load of laundry in a month.”
“Or the dishes.” Ava Dawn gestured towards the sink. “I didn’t even know we had this many plates.”
The dishes and laundry weren’t the only things overflowing. So was the trash can. There were discarded cigarette cartons and empty bags of potato chips scattered everywhere, along with the clothes that hadn’t quite made it to the clothes hamper.
“Roy was always messy, but I ain’t never seen him this messy,” Ava Dawn marveled. “I don’t even want to know what the bedroom looks like.”
Caroline wandered around the house while Ava Dawn collected her clothes, makeup, and knickknacks. Occasionally she looked out the front window for Roy. She knew that they needed to hurry. Roy had eyes everywhere, and she was sure one of the neighbors would call him. She walked back to the bedroom where Ava Dawn was hurriedly shoving clothes into her suitcase. “I can’t remember the last time I was inside this house,” she said. “Court’s been here more times than me.”
“Well, if it makes ya feel any better, Roy doesn’t like Court no better than you.”
“Roy doesn’t like anybody,” Caroline said.
“He really doesn’t like Court,” Ava Dawn replied.
“Because he’s the law?”
“Well, that doesn’t help.” Ava Dawn sat down on the bed. “But Roy always, you know, well, he said stuff about Court.”
Caroline knew what stuff Roy said. He wasn’t the only one to say it. “How would Roy even know?”
“Said he could just tell.” Ava Dawn looked down at the clothes in her hands. “He said that Court used to look at the boys in the locker room in high school.”
“How would Roy know unless he was lookin’, too?”
Ava Dawn giggled. “Roy always did need to make sure his was the biggest.”
“Gross!”
“I just feel bad,” Ava Dawn continued. “I never took up for Court when Roy was sayin’ those things.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you had.” Caroline sat down next to her. “Roy never listens to anyone.”
“You know, one time when Court was here after one of the neighbors called the cops, he practically had to bust down the door before he figured out he could get in through the window,” Ava Dawn said. “Roy caught him climbin’ in, and tried to shove him back out. They was both screamin’ and hollerin’ at each other. Roy said . . .” She paused, taking a breath. “He said he wasn’t gonna let no faggot into his house.”
Caroline felt her chest tighten. She’d felt the same way that night at the cabin when Daryl said Court was “fruitier than a fruitcake.” But that word, the word Roy used, made her want to punch something, and it made her wonder how many times Court had heard it come out of people’s mouths in his presence. “He never told me that.”
“He pretended not to hear it,” Ava Dawn said. “But I know he did. I saw it on his face.” She stood up and resumed throwing clothes into her suitcase.
“You need me to help you with something?” Caroline asked finally. She knew there was nothing she could say that could make Ava Dawn feel better . . . or worse. “I think we’ve about finished with the bedroom.”
“Thanks for helping me today,” Ava Dawn said.
“Are you kidding?” Caroline asked.
Ava Dawn looked up at Caroline and said, “I bought that TV, ya know.” She pointed to the dresser where a sixty-inch television sat. “Not even a year old.”
“Let’s take it then.”
“Just a sec. Let me throw these suitcases in the back and run and get a blanket to put over the TV.”
Caroline pulled back the dresser to unplug the television. As she pulled it back, she heard a rustling from within the dresser. It sounded like glass clinking together. She opened one of the drawers. There were dozens of beer and bourbon bottles amongst Roy’s socks and underwear, all of them empty. Caroline frowned into the drawer. She considered telling Ava Dawn but decided against it. Her cousin left and got back together with Roy as often as some women bought new pairs of shoes. Something told her that this time was different. She didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize that.
“I found a sheet,” Ava Dawn said jubilantly as she reentered the room with a blanket.
Caroline shoved the drawer shut. “Let me unplug the cords.”
“I thought you already did that.”
“I’m working on it.” She bent down and pulled the cord, sliding herself behind the dresser.
Ava Dawn plopped back down on the bed. “I wish it hadn’t come to this, you know?” she said, glancing around the ramshackle room. “This wasn’t how I thought it would turn out.”
“I know.”
“It wasn’t all bad.”
“I know it wasn’t.”
“I really did love him.”
“I know you did.” Caroline did know. Ava Da
wn had loved Roy since they were freshman in high school and he was a senior. She’d married him the summer that she graduated. While Caroline was going to college orientation and meeting her dorm roommate, Ava Dawn was picking out china patterns and buying a wedding dress. Caroline always said that the only thing they had in common was that they were related, and even though Ava Dawn’s daddy and Caroline’s daddy were brothers, that’s where the similarities ended.
Rory O’Conner was Max’s baby brother, nearly twelve years his junior. Maureen O’Conner liked to say that Rory was spoiled rotten, born after the O’Conners had built their successful business and made smart investments—he never wanted for anything. He never did marry Ava Dawn’s mother, and she left town before Ava Dawn’s first birthday. When Rory married a woman from Arkansas when Ava Dawn was in high school, he’d lit out of town without so much as a second glance at his only child.
It made sense to Caroline that she picked Roy. He was older. He had a job at his family’s tire shop. He had a house that had been given to him by his grandparents. In short, he had everything Ava Dawn had ever wanted. Yes, Ava Dawn loved Roy, but more than anything, Ava Dawn just wanted to belong to someone—to anyone, even if that meant belonging to Roy Bean.
Ava Dawn stood up and took one last look around the room. “This place always was a dump.” She threw the sheet over the top of the TV. “You get that side, and I’ll get the other.”
The two women carried the TV through the front door and out onto the porch. “Is this the only TV you two had?” Caroline wanted to know.
“Yep.” Ava Dawn grunted. “We had one in the living room, but Roy threw a beer bottle at it when the Cards lost to the Cubs last summer.” She set her side down on the porch.
In the distance, there was a rumble from an exhaust pipe.
“Shit!” Ava Dawn was panicked. “It’s Roy!”
“Shhhhh!” Caroline hissed, moving backwards as fast as she could to the back of the truck. She yanked the tailgate down and lifted her end of the television into the back, climbing in and positioning herself behind it. “Help me get this thing up here.”
“What are we going to do?” Ava Dawn shoved her end of the TV into the truck so hard that Caroline lost her footing and tumbled down on top of Ava Dawn’s suitcases.
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