Just Fine with Caroline

by Annie England Noblin

  “I ain’t had a drink since I started workin’ here,” he continued. “And I don’t reckon I plan on it. Old Jep said he’d throw me out into the river and let me drown if he caught me drunk on the job.” Smokey leaned in close to Caroline and whispered, “And you know what? I believe him.”

  “I believe him, too.” Caroline grinned. “You better get to work before one of them sees you slacking off.”

  “Too late.” Noah Cranwell stood with his fists dug into his hips, a look of mock anger spread across his face.

  “Don’t mind him,” Smokey replied, still whispering. “He’s been out of sorts for the last couple of weeks. Some girl broke his heart.”

  Caroline’s breath hitched in her throat. Noah was walking towards them, but he didn’t look heartbroken. He actually looked good . . . great, even. Maybe Smokey was wrong. “Everything is looking great,” she said, smiling up at him.

  “Grand opening is tomorrow night.”

  “I know.”

  Noah turned his attention to Smokey and said, “Would you mind to get a head start on those windows in the back? I’ll be over in just a few minutes to help.”

  “No problem, boss.” Smokey tipped his hat, and Caroline couldn’t help but giggle. “I’ll be seein’ ya, Carolina.”

  “Bye!”

  “I’ve never seen a man so happy about manual labor,” Noah said, shaking his head as Smokey ambled off.

  “It was nice of you to hire him,” Caroline replied. “He probably would have drank up all that roofing money by now.”

  “It’s got nothing to do with being nice,” Noah said. “He’s a hard worker, and I needed someone around full-time to help me out. He’s as good as anybody I’ve met in this town.”

  Caroline smiled. “Either way, thanks.”

  Behind Noah, Yara appeared. If a dog could be smiling, Caroline was sure that was just exactly what Yara was doing. “I had Yara groomed this morning,” Noah said. “For the grand opening.”

  Caroline bit back a laugh. He looked so proud. “She looks like a completely different dog!”

  “The groomers had one hell of a time with her coat, but she just sat there and let them fix her up, good as gold.”

  “It used to take three tranquilizers and a whole chicken just to trim her nails,” Caroline marveled. She gave Yara’s head a pat, and to Caroline’s surprise, Yara nuzzled right up to her. “She doesn’t look like a different dog, I think she is a different dog.”

  Noah looked down at her, his dark eyes searching hers. For a moment Caroline was certain he was going to lean down and kiss her. Instead, he jammed his hands down into his pockets and said, “Look, I want you to know that I’m sorry for trying to make this thing between us something it isn’t.”

  Caroline knitted her eyebrows together. “What do you mean?”

  “You made it pretty clear on more than one occasion that you didn’t want the same thing I did, and I’m sorry that I pushed you. I’m sorry about cornering you that night at Court’s house, and I’m sorry about what I did afterwards. I was acting like an idiot.”

  Caroline felt her heart beginning to pound in her chest. She did want the same thing he did. She did. She wanted to tell him she was sorry, too. She wanted to tell him that she had been the idiot. But instead she heard herself saying, “It’s okay.”

  “My grandfather told me you two had a good talk. He wouldn’t tell me what you talked about, but he said he hopes that one day you’ll be able to forgive your mother.”

  Caroline looked down at her bare feet. She studied an errant freckle on one of her big toes. “I guess that means the two of you patched things up?”

  “More or less.” Noah shrugged. “We’ll never see eye to eye on everything, but I reckon that’s the way it works. A wise woman once said to me that he’s family. I’m just now beginning to realize what that word really means.”

  “Sounds like a smart woman to me.”

  “One of the smartest.” Noah grinned down at her. “So what do you say, can we still be friends?”

  Friends. Caroline mulled it over. He seemed to have his mind made up. And who could blame him after the way she’d treated him? Being friends with him was better than nothing, she supposed. “Okay,” she said finally. “Friends it is.”

  COURT WAS SITTING on her front porch when Caroline arrived home. He was in his deputy uniform, and judging from the fact that it was still clean, she guessed his shift hadn’t even started. “Did you miss me already?” she called from the truck window.

  Court looked up and waved. The cut on his hand was almost completely healed. “I’ve been sitting here for almost an hour.”

  “Why didn’t you go inside?” Caroline padded up the drive and sat down next to him.

  “It’s a nice night,” he said. “Besides, I have something I need to tell you. I wanted you to be the first one I told. Well, except for my dad.”

  “What is it?”

  “You know how I’ve always wanted to be in the highway patrol, right?”

  “Of course,” Caroline replied. “You’ve been talking about that since middle school.”

  “Well, I applied last year and didn’t tell anybody.”

  Caroline punched him on the shoulder. “You did what?”

  “I applied, and for the last few months I’ve been going through the interview process, you know, taking the tests and stuff. I found out last week that I’ve been accepted. I’m going to be in the Missouri Highway Patrol Academy.”

  “SHUT UP!” Caroline squealed, reaching out to hug her friend. “That’s wonderful. I mean, that’s really amazing, Court. Congratulations!”

  “Thanks.” He blushed. “My dad was beyond excited. I figured he might be upset, you know, because now I’ll have to move.”

  “Oh.” Caroline hadn’t thought of that.

  “It won’t be for another couple of months,” Court hurried on. “But I’ll be in Jefferson City for training, and then who knows where after that. It could be anywhere in the state of Missouri.”

  “What will your dad do?”

  “I’m keeping the house,” Court said. “He can live there, and I’ll keep paying the note. Besides, I’ll need a place to come back to, won’t I?”

  Caroline grinned. “I’m going to miss you. I don’t know what I’ll do without you.”

  “I reckon you’ll survive.”

  “I reckon I’ll have to.”

  “Besides,” Court continued. “There’s always Reese.”

  “He’s nothin’ but a poor man’s Court,” Caroline replied, resting her head against Court’s shoulder.

  “I have to leave,” Court said, suddenly very serious. “You understand that don’t you? There’s nothing for me here. I’ll never . . .” He swallowed. “I’ll never be able to be myself here.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ve spent most of my life wishing for someone to love me, someone who will never, ever love me the way I want him to love me, and it’s . . .” Court trailed off. “Well, it’s just time that I start living instead of wishing.”

  Caroline reached over and took his hand in hers. “I understand completely. There is nothing I want more in this whole, wide world than for you to be happy.” She understood how he felt more than she wanted to let on. Being friends and only friends with Noah sounded excruciating at best. She didn’t know how Court lived with something like that for as long as he had.

  “Thanks, Carolina. You know I feel exactly the same way about you.”

  CHAPTER 40

  IT WAS FIVE O’CLOCK, AND THAT MEANT THE Wormhole was officially closed for business for the season. Caroline shut the door and locked it, turning over the sign that read, “Closed for business—See you in April!”

  Most of the time Caroline went fishing on the last evening, fishing well into the dark and heading home only when she knew her father would begin to worry. Tonight, however, was the grand opening of Cranwell Station, and there were people crawling all over the place, especially down at the riv
er. There were children splashing around, people having picnics, all there to get a load of the new and improved station.

  Caroline had already decided not to stay. She wasn’t going to go fishing, and she wasn’t going to wait around for the grand opening, either. Instead she was going to go home, sink into a bubble bath, drink an entire bottle of cheap wine, and read the book her father had given her over a month ago about Pretty Boy Floyd. It seemed like a perfectly uneventful evening, and Caroline was thrilled. She doubted Noah would even miss her.

  She was climbing into her truck when Ava Dawn’s car came barreling down the dirt road and squealed to a stop beside her. Ava Dawn got out, looking wild-eyed, her makeup smeared and the collar of her T-shirt ripped.

  “What in the hell happened to you?” Caroline asked when she saw her.

  “Roy happened.”

  “What did he do to you?”

  Ava Dawn wiped at her eyes. “He was waitin’ for me when I came out of Second Coming. He pulled me into his truck in the parking lot, and we had a big fight.”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  “I got out before he . . .” Ava Dawn choked back a sob. “Before he could do much besides rip my shirt, but Caroline, I’m scared. He looked at me like he wanted to kill me.”

  “Come on,” Caroline said, grabbing her cousin’s hand. “Let’s get out of here and back to town. We’re going straight to the police station.”

  Ava Dawn recoiled from her. “There’s somethin’ I should tell you first.”

  “Tell me on the way.” Caroline motioned for her cousin to get into the truck. “Just leave your car here for the night. It’ll be fine.”

  Ava Dawn did as she was told and jumped into the passenger’s side of the truck. “I’ve seen him mad, but this time it was different.”

  “I saw him at the races,” Caroline said. “He saw me talking to Brother Crow. He thinks there’s something going on between you two. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to scare you, but he told me he’d kill you if he found out it was true.”

  “Oh my God,” Ava Dawn whispered.

  “What were you doing at the church at this time, anyway?” Caroline continued. “You don’t have a Bible study on Fridays, do you?”

  “Caroline, listen to me for a second,” Ava Dawn said. “I haven’t been going to Bible study.”

  “What do you mean?” Caroline shifted her gaze from the road to her cousin. “You haven’t been going to Bible study on Friday?”

  “I haven’t been going to Bible study at all.”

  Caroline brought the truck to a stop on the gravel road. “Ava Dawn, what have you been doing at the church?”

  “It’s more like who.”

  “Ava Dawn!”

  “I’m sorry!” Ava Dawn squeaked. “I wanted to tell you. I swear, I wanted to tell you. But Haiden made me promise. He made me promise not to tell anybody.”

  “I knew it!” Caroline closed her eyes, counting to ten inside her head. “I knew you two were up to something.”

  “It’s not what you think!” Ava Dawn protested. “We love each other!”

  “He’s married!” Caroline exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air. “YOU’RE MARRIED!”

  “I know that!”

  “How long has it been going on?”

  “Not long.”

  “How long?”

  “The night of the storm, you know the one where your mom wandered off?”

  “Ava Dawn, you didn’t.”

  “I was only gone for a couple of hours! By the time I got back, she was gone.”

  Caroline gripped the steering wheel, fighting the urge to shove her cousin out of the truck and carry on home. “You left her alone while you went off with Haiden Crow?”

  “I thought she’d be okay,” Ava Dawn pleaded. “I swear, I thought she’d be okay.”

  “Well, she wasn’t okay,” Caroline muttered.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “What if this doesn’t end the way you want it to, Ava Dawn?” Caroline wanted to know. “What if this ends, and he stays with his wife?”

  “He’s not gonna stay with her,” Ava Dawn replied stubbornly. “He loves me.”

  “That doesn’t mean he’s going to leave his wife for you.” Caroline thought about what Jep told her that day at his house. She thought about the look in his eyes when he talked about her mother. “Loving someone isn’t any guarantee.”

  “It’s all the guarantee I need.”

  “And what about his kids?” Caroline continued. “What will they think when they find out?”

  Ava Dawn looked down at her hands. Clearly she hadn’t thought about it. “They’re sweet, but they’re youngins. They’ll understand. He’ll make them understand.”

  “They might not.”

  “What’s gotten into you?” Ava Dawn asked. “I knew you’d be pissed when you found out, but I didn’t think you’d be givin’ me the damn third degree about his damn kids.” She sat back against the seat of the truck and sighed.

  Caroline gripped the steering wheel. “You just need to think about how it might feel . . . for everyone else involved. What if those kids find out years from now, and it tears their world apart?”

  “I don’t understand what you’re gettin’ at.”

  “That’s because you don’t understand how it feels.”

  Ava Dawn twisted herself around so that she was staring at Caroline. “Oh, and you do?”

  This was it. Caroline was going to have to tell her. If she wanted her cousin to understand the consequences of what she was doing with Haiden Crow, she was going to have to tell her the truth. “I know exactly how it feels,” she said at last. “My mom and Jep Cranwell had an affair thirty years ago. I found out the day you snuck off and left her alone to see Brother Crow.”

  “Oh my God,” Ava Dawn whispered. “Does Uncle Max know?”

  Caroline nodded. “We got into a fight about it. That’s why I left.” She was about to say something else when she saw a truck heading in their direction. It was speeding down the road at a much faster pace than anyone should be driving, especially on gravel.

  “Shit, it’s Roy!” Ava Dawn was panicked. “I shoulda known. I shoulda known he’d find me! He knows I always go runnin’ to you!”

  Roy was driving smack down the middle of the road. Caroline knew there was no way he’d let them pass, and there was no way she could get the truck turned around on the narrow road before he reached them. “Ava Dawn, get out of the truck,” she said. “We’re going to have to run for it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have an idea,” Caroline said, her heart racing. “I know where we can hide.”

  Ava Dawn nodded. “Just tell me where to go.”

  Caroline opened up her door and said, “Follow me.”

  Both women slid out of the truck and ran across the road and into the pasture beside it. They hadn’t gotten far from the river, and the pastureland still belonged to the Cranwells. If they could just get back about half a mile, they would run smack dab into the entrance of the cave. Roy would never be able to find them. They could wait it out until he’d given up, and sneak back to Cranwell Station and call for help.

  What Caroline hadn’t anticipated was that when Roy saw Caroline’s truck abandoned in the middle of the road, he, too, would abandon his truck and take off after them on foot, his shotgun slung over his back.

  “Run!” Caroline hissed, grabbing her cousin’s hand.

  “He’s going to catch us!” Ava Dawn screamed, gasping for air. “He’s going to kill us both!”

  Caroline heard Roy fire two shots in their direction, hollering at them to stop. She kept running, pulling Ava Dawn along with her. By the time they reached the entrance of the cave, she’d lost both of her flip-flops. “Get inside,” Caroline whispered. “Hurry.”

  “What is this?”

  “It’s a cave. Now shut up and take my hand. It’s going to be dark.”

  “Do you think he knows w
here we are?” Ava Dawn asked, no longer able to keep from sobbing.

  “I don’t know,” Caroline replied.

  Caroline was afraid to pull out her cell phone. She didn’t want Roy to see a light from the cave, just in case he’d seen them go inside. She led her cousin blindly through the entrance and tried to feel her way through the darkness. She held out one hand in front of her as she walked. When her hand grasped a forming stalactite, she realized where she was. They could hide inside a little opening just beyond the stalactite. They could crawl inside it, she knew they could, if they could just find it.

  From the front of the cave, they heard a voice. It was Roy, and he was still yelling. “Get out here, Ava Dawn! Come on now, I ain’t gonna hurt ya none!” He laughed, and it echoed menacingly, bouncing off of the walls of the cave and filling their ears.

  “Come on,” Caroline whispered, pulling her cousin down with her. She winced as the bottom of the cave scraped her bare knees. She felt for the small opening as she crawled, and when she felt one on either side of the cave wall, she pushed Ava Dawn in first and crawled in behind her, making herself as small as possible, breathing as little as possible. She was just sure that Roy could hear their hearts beating in their chests.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Roy said, his voice dripping with saccharine sweetness.

  Caroline closed her eyes. He wasn’t going to find them. He wasn’t going to find them. He wasn’t going to find them.

  “I’m going to find you,” Roy continued, as if reading Caroline’s thoughts. “Ain’t no preacher man here to save you now. Ain’t no lawman here to save you now. It’s just you two an’ me. Well,” he laughed again, “me and my gun.”

  Caroline could hear Roy’s boots crunching closer and closer. Just when she thought he was for sure going to discover them, a light shone in from the front of the cave. “Roy Bean!” a voice hollered. “You get out here and leave them girls alone!”

  Roy’s boots stopped. He was silent.

  “We know yer in there!” came another voice. Caroline recognized that voice. It was Jep Cranwell. “I know that cave like the back of my hand. I’ll find ya before you find them.”