“Oh, Noah, hello.” Max O’Conner glanced from Caroline to Noah. “I didn’t know we were having company tonight.”
“Dinner’s ready,” Ava Dawn called from the dining room. She narrowed her eyes at Noah and Caroline when they came in behind Caroline’s father. “I thought you two were going to set the table.”
“I found them in Caroline’s bedroom,” her father said, raising an eyebrow. “Can you not keep your eyes on everyone at the same time, Ava Dawn?”
“Not while I’m slaving away in the kitchen,” Ava Dawn replied, grinning at Caroline’s obvious embarrassment. “Sit down, I’ll get you a place set. Everything else is ready.”
Maureen O’Conner was already at the table. She was looking at Noah, her mouth set in a hard line. Caroline sat down beside her. “Is everything okay, Mom?”
“Who invited him?” She nodded over at Noah, who had taken a seat across from them. He was chatting with Caroline’s father.
“I did, Mom.”
“They shouldn’t be sitting by each other,” her mother whispered, leaning over closer to Caroline.
“Why not?”
Her mother rolled her eyes. “Isn’t it obvious?”
In fact, it wasn’t obvious, but she thought it best not to agitate her mother further. Nobody else seemed to notice something was wrong, and she didn’t want to ruin the dinner. It was a relief that, at least, her mother hadn’t mentioned Jeremy. “Well, the tomatoes look great.”
“Don’t they?” Ava Dawn asked, sitting down at the end of the table. “I should have invited Court and his daddy. I bet they ain’t had a home-cooked meal in a while, either.”
“Court cooks pretty well,” Caroline said. “Not as well as Pam did, but he’ll be able to keep them alive.”
“I saw the house for sale,” Max O’Conner cut in. “Did Court get his father all moved into his place?”
“He did.” Caroline nodded. “Just after the funeral.”
“What funeral?” Maureen wanted to know. She stuffed a piece of tomato into her mouth.
Caroline looked helplessly at her father. She knew telling her mother that Pam was dead would upset her. She didn’t know why she’d said funeral, except that she hadn’t been thinking. All she could think about was Noah. She couldn’t stop thinking about him in her bedroom, and she couldn’t help but wonder why her mother was so annoyed at his presence in their house. Even though she knew there was often no rhyme or reason for the things her mother said, Caroline felt like she was missing a step. She made a mental note to ask her father about it later.
“Maureen, did you cook these?” her father asked. He held up a piece of fried green tomato on his fork.
“I did,” she replied. She looked down at her plate and began to eat again, while everyone else at the table let out a collective sigh of relief.
“They came from Court’s garden,” Caroline said, careful not to mention Pam or the funeral. “He always has the best tomatoes.”
Her father nodded. “He does. Remember when he had that pumpkin patch that fall you all were about twelve? I’m sure he made a mint!”
Caroline smiled at the memory. “Oh, I remember. I had to help him, and I didn’t even get paid!” Court could grow just about anything, and he could make money off of just about anything. It was this talent that kept his family afloat during some of the leaner times. She admired that about him.
“I really should have invited him and his daddy,” Ava Dawn said again. “Now I feel awful.”
“I just can’t figure out,” Caroline’s mother began, pointing her fork at Noah, “what on earth you’re doing here.”
Noah glanced around the table. His cheeks were tinged with pink. “Your daughter invited me, Maureen.”
Caroline placed her hand on her mother’s arm, lovingly but firmly. “Mom,” she began. Before she could finish her sentence, the lights in the house went out and the air conditioner quit whirring. The only sound left in the house was that of the rainstorm outside.
“I better check the breaker box,” Max O’Conner said. He pushed back his chair and gave Noah an encouraging pat on the back as he left the room.
Caroline stood up and looked out the window. “I don’t think you’ll have to do that, Dad. It looks like the power is out all over the neighborhood.”
“I’m just going to check it anyway,” he said.
The house was dark, but not so dark that Caroline couldn’t see. She wondered if maybe the storm was responsible for the power outage. Sometimes the older parts of Cold River lost power during storms, especially if there were high winds. She looked out the window again. Half of the trees in her yard were bowing so far down that their limbs practically dragged against the ground.
“You think it’s the storm?” Noah appeared behind her.
“Probably,” Caroline replied. She felt his hand on the small of her back.
“Well, it’s not the storm,” Max O’Conner said, stepping back inside the house. “The hospital just called. Bill Joyce ran into a damn light pole with his tractor down on Grace Avenue.”
“He did what?” Caroline asked. “What was he doing on his tractor in the middle of town?”
“Who knows,” her father replied. “And now of course he’s refusing to go to the hospital. I’m going down there to see if I can convince him otherwise.”
“In this weather?”
“He’s almost ninety years old.” Her father gave Caroline a kiss on her forehead. “Stay inside, and if the sirens go off, get down to the cellar, okay?”
“We will.”
“Don’t wait up,” he replied, heading back out the door.
“Do you think the sirens are going to go off?” Ava Dawn asked worriedly. “You know that cellar freaks me out.”
“I don’t think they are going to go off,” Caroline replied. “But I bet it’s going to be a while before the power comes back on. Maybe we should go find the candles and the lighter.”
“Okay, Noah and I will clear the plates, won’t we?” Ava Dawn winked at Noah.
Caroline looked over at her mother who was still sitting at the dinner table. She was alone, still eating her fried green tomatoes. She wondered if her mother had even noticed what happened—the lights, the storm, Caroline’s father leaving the house. She seemed to be continuing to focus upon Noah, watching him with Ava Dawn as she ate. “I’m heading up to the attic for a few minutes.”
Caroline found a flashlight in the hallway closet and pulled the stairway down. She never had understood why her parents kept the candles upstairs. It was pitch-dark in the attic when the sun was shining. She shone the flashlight around the room. The candles were in the box on the top shelf of the dresser at the opposite end of the attic. She sighed, stumbling through the boxes and knickknacks littering the attic floor. She was loading up on candles when her flashlight shone upon the picture of her mother and Jep Cranwell. She’d left the photo album lying open the last time she was up there. She kept the beam of the flashlight on the photo. Caroline reached down, grabbed the picture, and stuffed it into her back pocket before heading downstairs.
“It’s about time,” Ava Dawn said when she saw Caroline.
“Where’s Mom?” Caroline asked.
“She said she had a headache.” Ava Dawn shrugged. “She went to lie down in the bedroom.”
“Okay,” Caroline replied. She handed her cousin a few candles. “Let’s get some better light in here.” She set to work lighting the candles.
By the time they were finished, it was completely dark outside, eerily dark without the streetlights. The storm had settled some, but the rain was still coming down in sheets, and inside the O’Conner house was filled with flickering candles. “Well, what are we gonna do now?” Ava Dawn wanted to know. “The Wi-Fi is out, too.”
Caroline shrugged. She was sitting on the couch next to Noah, watching shadows dance across the walls. She was okay with sitting there and doing nothing, but her cousin looked like she was about to explode from boredom. �
�We could play cards or something.”
“Perfect!” Ava Dawn clapped her hands together. “I think there’s a deck in the spare bedroom.” She stood up.
A knock on the front door made all three of them jump. It swung open without prompting, and there stood Court Brannon. His face was barely visible through the yellow rain poncho he was wearing. “Everybody okay in here?”
“Well, we were,” Ava Dawn said, shaking rain off of her arms. “Until you brought in the damn monsoon.”
Court closed the door. “Sorry.”
“What are you doing here?” Caroline asked, standing up to help him out of his raincoat. “I figured you’d be out taking care of catastrophes tonight.”
“I was,” Court replied. He held out his hand to Noah who, realizing he was the only one left sitting down, stood up. “I’m on call the rest of the night. Thought I’d come by and check on ya, seein’ as how Doc is out workin’ the tractor crash.”
Noah let out a snort. “I’m sorry,” he said, biting down on his lip. “I just can’t believe the entire town’s lost power because of a tractor.”
“Believe it,” Court replied. “Last winter one of Old Man McGuiness’s cows slipped on a patch of ice, slid through the fence, and out into the road. Poor cow couldn’t get herself turned right aways. Held up traffic for two hours.”
Noah looked to Caroline for an explanation, but all she said was, “That really happened.”
“You gonna stay?” Ava Dawn asked. “We were about to play some Spades.”
“Beats goin’ back out into the rain,” Court said.
Ava Dawn disappeared into one of the dimly lit bedrooms and appeared a few minutes later with a pack of cards in one hand and a glass bottle in the other. She sat them both down on the dining room table. “Look what I found.” She pointed to the bottle. “It ain’t shine, but it’ll do in a pinch.”
“It’s rye whiskey,” Caroline said. “Dad keeps it hidden in the spare bedroom. I’m not even sure why anymore. Used to be because Mom hated the stuff.”
“I can’t drink tonight,” Court said. “But you three can have at it.”
“None for me, thanks,” Noah said.
“Fine, more for us,” Ava Dawn replied. She placed two glasses on the table and then slid one across to Caroline.
“You boys know how to play Spades?” Caroline asked. She nodded to Ava Dawn, silently telling her to continue filling her glass.
Court shot her a look across the table. “Really? You don’t remember the last time I kicked your ass at Spades?”
“That never happened.”
“Sure did,” Court replied. “Senior year at Reese’s graduation party.”
“You didn’t go to Reese’s graduation party.” Caroline began shuffling the deck.
“I was there just long enough to beat you at Spades.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. She hadn’t remembered ever playing Court in a game of Spades. Of course, the night of Reese’s graduation party was a hazy memory at best. She remembered drinking too much and being afraid to call her father to come and get her from a party he had expressly forbidden her to attend. She remembered fighting with Reese when she’d told him she wanted to go home. “We playin’ in pairs or single?”
“Single,” Court said. “I’m gonna beat you on my own.”
“Oh, big man,” Caroline replied. She took a sip of the whiskey and winced. “This is going to be a rough night.”
CHAPTER 27
CAROLINE SQUINTED INTO THE DARKNESS AT her mother’s sleeping form. She hovered above her just long enough to make sure she was still breathing. She wasn’t sure why, but lately she’d taken to checking on her mother while she slept, especially in the middle of the night. Caroline’s father was almost always snoring away next to his wife, but some nights Caroline woke up in a sheer panic, and the only way to make herself feel better was to wander into her parents’ room and check on her mother.
It was almost midnight, and her father still wasn’t home. Caroline knew better than to be worried, but she also knew enough to know he probably wouldn’t be home for hours. The hospital would need all hands on deck. “Mom’s fine,” she said as she sat back down at the table. She looked at Court, who was pulling on his rain poncho. “Where are you going?”
“You mean where am I going after I kicked your ass four times in Spades?”
Caroline sighed. “That’s what I mean.”
“Headed out to the county. Got a call that there may be a low water bridge out and a car washed off the road,” Court replied. “I’m bettin’ all the low water bridges are out, ’specially the one out by the bait shop.”
“That’s alright,” Ava Dawn chirped, twirling her half-empty glass. “Tall, dark, and handsome can stay in my room.”
“Well, on that note,” Court said, reaching out to give Caroline a playful punch on the arm, “I’m out of here.”
“He’s a nice guy,” Noah said once Court was out of the house. “You’ve been friends for a long time?”
Caroline nodded. “The three of us have been friends since we were kids.”
“I think he went into the sheriff’s academy to make sure me ’n’ Caroline stayed outta trouble,” Ava Dawn said.
“But neither of you ever . . .” Noah trailed off.
“Dated him?” Caroline finished.
Noah nodded.
“Lord no!” Ava Dawn exclaimed.
“Why not?”
Caroline and Ava Dawn shared a look.
“Well, Caroline over here ain’t ever had more than one boyfriend,” Ava Dawn said. She winked at her cousin.
“Reese?” Noah asked.
“Reese,” Caroline and Ava Dawn said at the same time.
“Right.”
“Well,” Ava Dawn said, standing up and stretching her arms out as far as they would go, “I’m headed to bed.”
“I guess we all better do that,” Noah said. He was staring a hole through Caroline.
“Carolina, I’ll stay with Aunt Maureen tonight. I know you ain’t gonna let her stay all night in there alone,” Ava Dawn continued.
“You don’t have to do that,” Caroline said.
“I don’t mind,” Ava Dawn replied. “The sheets in the spare room are clean. I just changed ’em yesterday. It’ll be more comfortable than the couch.”
Caroline followed Ava Dawn into the hallway bathroom. “You don’t have to stay in the bedroom with Mom,” she said. “My dad will be home soon.”
“You gonna let her stay in there alone ’till he gets here?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought,” Ava Dawn replied. “Look, clearly Noah likes you. He’s endured a whole night of crazy with our family, and I don’t care what Court says, you and I both know that bridge ain’t full of water.”
“Well, then maybe I should just take him home,” Caroline said, crossing her arms across her chest.
“Suit yourself.” Ava Dawn grinned at her cousin. “But I’m going to bed.”
Caroline waited a few minutes before she went back out into the living room. Noah was still sitting at the table, shuffling the cards. “I can probably get you back to the station if you want to go home,” she said.
“Sit down,” Noah replied. “Let’s play a few rounds of blackjack.”
“Aren’t you tired?” Caroline asked. She sat down across from him.
“Not really,” he replied. “Are you?”
Caroline poured what was left of the whiskey into the two glasses on the table, pushing one of them over to Noah. “Deal.”
Noah laid two cards in front of her.
Caroline looked at her cards—a ten of spades and a two of hearts. “Hit me.”
He gave her another card.
The queen of hearts. “Bust,” Caroline said.
“Is Court gay?” Noah asked. He collected the cards.
Caroline narrowed her eyes at him. “Does it matter?”
“Not to me,” Noah replied. “But I know it might t
o a lot of people around here.”
“It would matter a lot to a lot of people.”
“Then why does he stay here?”
“Where else is he going to go?” Caroline asked. “He’s lived here his whole life. Everyone he knows is here. His job is here.”
“He could make a life somewhere else.”
“I suppose he could,” Caroline agreed. “But he’ll never leave his dad.”
Noah dealt two cards.
An eight of hearts and an ace of spades. “I’ll stay,” Caroline said. She laid out her cards. “I have nineteen.”
“Let’s see what I get,” Noah replied. “A three of hearts and the suicide king. I think I’ll take another.” He dealt another card. “King of hearts. I bust.”
Caroline pulled the picture out of her back pocket and laid it on the table. “I found this when I was up in the attic the other day,” she said. “It’s my mother and your grandfather.”
“I see that,” Noah said. He squinted down at it. The candles on the table flickered as he leaned in to get a better look.
“I think they were better friends than they let on, maybe even more than that,” Caroline said. “What do you think?”
“I think it doesn’t matter,” Noah replied.
“It matters to me.”
“Why?”
Caroline shifted in her seat. She wasn’t sure why it mattered to her so much, but at that moment, it was all she could think about. “Because I’m pretty sure my mom thinks you’re him. I think when she looks at you, she sees Jep.”
“I think you’re borrowing trouble.” Noah dealt her two cards.
“Would you tell me if you knew?”
Noah looked back down at his deck. “Sure I would.”
Caroline nodded. “Hit me.”
Noah slid a card over to her.
“Bust.”
“Was that Reese guy really the only boyfriend you’ve ever had?”
Caroline sat back in her chair. Damn Ava Dawn and her big mouth. “He’s the only serious boyfriend I’ve ever had.”
“So you’ve had others?”
“Other what?”
“Boyfriends.”
“No.”
Noah collected the cards. “Did you love him?”
Just Fine with Caroline Page 20