Promises: Do You Know Where the Poison Toadstools Crow?

by Lori Beasley Bradley

  “This is home now, buddy. Momma promises not to drag you around anymore for a long time.” Ivy sat on the couch, and Cheshire joined her, nudging her hand with his nose for petting. The big yellow tabby purred when she obliged and curled up next to Ivy to fall asleep. She continued to run her hands through his thick fur. “I’m sorry, buddy. You must be exhausted after that trip.” She sat with him for a while before she finally rose to attend to all the things piled by the front door.

  Ivy carried her suitcases into her bedroom and threw them onto the bed. She would empty them after everything else was put away. Ivy emptied the totes of pots and pans into cabinets in the kitchen. She found a spot for her microwave and placed a decorative glass dish atop it, so it didn’t look so stark and modern in the country kitchen. Her blender and toaster she stored in the pantry to be taken out when needed. Ivy’s collection of heavy stoneware mixing bowls went atop the upper cabinets. She left her favorite one down for everyday use.

  Finishing the kitchen, the only items left were her two flat-screen televisions. After moving into the cabin, Ivy had called DirectTV and had a satellite dish installed and the living room and two bedrooms wired for the televisions. Dan had brought a small television over for them to use in their bedroom until she could bring her own back from Phoenix.

  Ivy could have simply bought new ones and left the others in storage with her things, but she feared the delicate electronics would get broken, and they weren’t that old. She put one on a table in the living room and the other in her bedroom. They’d already decided Dan’s little one would go into the guest room for her grandsons to use when visiting, so Ivy carried it in and sat it atop the dresser.

  With everything put away except her clothes, Ivy made a sandwich and dropped onto the couch to relax and watch some television. Cheshire rose and nudged her hand for a bite of turkey from her sandwich. Ivy jumped when a loud crack of thunder interrupted the silence. She leaped up from the couch to look outside to be sure she’d closed all the windows and shut the doors and trunk of the car. Rain began to spatter on the asphalt road in front of the cabin. The car was, indeed, shut up tight, and Ivy returned to her sandwich to find only bread on the plate and Cheshire licking mayo from his face and paws.

  “You’re a bad kitty,” Ivy scolded and took her plate back into the kitchen to replace the pilfered turkey slices. Thunder rattled the windows again, and Ivy could see the tops of the tall trees twisting in the wind as bright lightning shot across the darkened sky. Ivy enjoyed the sound of the rain on the cabin’s metal roof, but she hoped she wouldn’t hear hail as well. Dan had promised to build her a carport, but for now, her shiny new Lexus sat at the mercy of Mother Nature.

  Ivy returned to the couch with her reassembled sandwich to catch the blare of the severe weather warning. She was relieved to see only a severe thunderstorm advisory and not a tornado warning. One tornado that year had proven to be more than enough for Ivy Chandler. She could tell the wind was picking up and wondered if she should bring in her wicker from the porch. Not wanting to go searching for it tomorrow blown across the countryside, Ivy stepped out onto the porch. To her great relief, the wind blew from behind the cabin. She scooted the chairs away from the edge of the porch and collected the cushion from the swing so it wouldn’t get soaked by the blowing rain.

  As she dumped the cushion onto the floor in front of the fireplace, she wondered where Dan was tonight. He’d told her he would try to be home before the weekend when she’d called to let him know she was on her way back from Arizona. Cheshire pounced upon the cushion and looked up at Ivy as if to ask permission but curled up tightly on the thick, soft cushion before she could give it. Ivy shook her head and clicked through channels until she found something interesting.

  Her phone chimed, and Ivy answered. “Hello, Ivy Chandler.”

  “Hi, Ivy, it’s Dan.”

  “Hi,” she said, relieved to hear his voice. “Where are you, sweetie?”

  “Still in Georgia,” he huffed. “Dispatch was supposed to have a load for me today, but I’m here still waiting. It looks like I might be stuck here until after the damned weekend,” he said with a deep sigh. “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s alright. I have some revisions to get done for my editor.” Ivy jumped with another clap of thunder and almost dropped the phone. “How’s the weather there? It’s raining cats and dogs here.”

  “You’re home then?” he asked, and Ivy could hear the relief in his voice.

  “Yes, just got in this afternoon. I even got the car unloaded and everything put away before the rain hit.”

  “That’s good. How’s the cat?” Dan hadn’t been thrilled about the prospect of having a cat inside the house, and Ivy appreciated his thoughtfulness in asking about him.

  “He’s curled up on the swing cushion in front of the fireplace.”

  “Making himself at home then? That’s good.” Dan chuckled. “There are storm warnings here, too. It seems a hurricane has kicked up in the Atlantic that might make landfall close to here sometime tonight.”

  “That’s just great,” Ivy sighed. “I went through a tornado and now you a hurricane. Do we attract bad weather or something?”

  “I called my dispatcher and told her that if things get hairy here, I’m headin’ home.” He sounded worried.

  “How bad is it?” she asked, worry now creeping into her voice.

  “Stormin’ pretty bad right now, and the weather station says they may evacuate the county. I’m parked on high ground here, but if it rains much more, the roads may flood in the lower-lying areas. I just don’t know how much longer I should wait it out.”

  “Just come on home then,” Ivy urged. “You can pick up a load from here. I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

  “It’s only been two weeks, and you were on the road, too.”

  “I know, but I miss you.” Ivy looked up to see the path of the hurricane being flashed on the weather channel. “That hurricane is making landfall now on the Georgia-Florida border according to what I’m seeing on the Weather Channel.”

  “Yeah, I’m out of here. They just announced that the county is being evacuated. I’m in the coffee shop at the truck stop, and they just blasted it on the PA system. I gotta go.”

  “OK, sweetie. Be safe and call or text me later. I’ll keep my phone close.”

  “I will. Ivy?”

  “Yes?”

  “I love you,” he said quickly. “I gotta fly, woman. Talk to ya later.” He disconnected before Ivy could reply to his announcement.

  Ivy sat with the phone in her hand, staring at the blank screen. His words repeated in her head. Ivy? I love you. Her heart fluttered in her chest, and her belly churned. Tears sprang to her eyes. No man had said those words to her and sounded like he meant it in years. Ivy closed her eyes tight.

  Why didn’t I say it back before he hung up? Was he waiting for me to say it back? I couldn’t say it back. He hung up too quickly. Should I call him back? No, he’s trying to get the truck ready to roll in a storm. I’ll wait.

  Self-doubt plagued Ivy for the next two hours. She tucked her phone in the pocket of her robe, and she willed it to ring, but it didn’t. She started to punch in his number a dozen times but didn’t want to bother him while he drove, especially in bad weather.

  Ivy sat on the couch, sipping hot chocolate and watching the Weather Channel. She tangled her fingers in her brunette bob and reached for her phone again. It chimed, and Ivy fumbled to open and answer it.

  “Hello,” she said anxiously.

  “Hi, baby,” Carl replied in a flippant tone, and Ivy wanted to end the call in frustration. “How are you doing out there in the sticks in this weather tonight?”

  “We’re fine,” Ivy replied flatly.

  “You and trucker boy?” Carl asked with a sneer.

  “No, Cheshire and I. Dan’s on the road.” Hearing his name, Cheshire uncurled from his cushion and stretched.

  “You went back to Phoenix already?” Carl asked with su
rprise.

  “Just got back this afternoon. You haven’t gone back yet?”

  “No, I’m still here. I wanted to get everything all set with the condos before I drove back.”

  “Judith’s not going to fly out and pick you up?” Ivy asked in a catty tone.

  “We talked about it,” Carl said with some hesitation, “but she’s got business out there until the end of the month.”

  “What is it between the two of you, really?” Ivy asked but didn’t know if she wanted him to be truthful or not.

  “Judith and I have been intimate friends since before the divorce from her last husband.”

  Finally, the truth. Much more than just friends and business associates.

  “She’s a beautiful woman,” Ivy admitted. “She looks good on your arm.”

  “Now, don’t be that way, baby. You knew I was seeing other women. You saw other men. We were never exclusive.”

  “I know that, Carl,” Ivy paused, “and now we’re nothing at all.”

  “Oh come on, baby. Wouldn’t you like to have a warm body next to you in that atrocious bedroom on a stormy night like tonight?” Carl chuckled but sounded hopeful.

  “I’d love to have a warm body in my bed tonight,” Ivy sighed, “but not yours.” She gave that a second to sink in. “Why did Judith light out of here so quickly after seeing me?”

  “It wasn’t seeing you exactly.” He sounded like he wanted to say more.

  “Then what exactly was it?” Ivy prodded.

  “She said she didn’t like the way I reacted when I saw you leaving Powell’s office with that Dan guy hanging all over you.”

  “Dan said she had the look of a woman who thought she was more than just a business associate.”

  “Yeah, I guess she does,” Carl sighed. “She seemed to think that trip out here was going to be more than just business, and when she saw you here signing papers on the same day we were, she thought you and I had arranged it that way.” Ivy thought Carl sounded genuinely upset about Judith’s reaction.

  “So, she knew about me?”

  “She knew about our trip out here.” He paused. “She saw us on the news after the tornado.”

  “Like I saw you two in the paper in Phoenix?” Ivy couldn’t help rubbing salt into the wound.

  “Something like that,” he admitted.

  “And she never thought you two didn’t have an exclusive relationship?”

  “It’s different with Judith, baby. I need her for the business. Her development company underwrites most of my deals.”

  “Having a woman with money on the side is handy, I suppose.”

  “And trucker boy doesn’t see you as a big bank account now that your rolling in dough from your book deal? How does it feel to be the one being used for a change?” Carl sneered.

  “As a matter of fact,” Ivy fumed, “he does not see me as a cash-cow in any way. He makes a good living with his truck and has no need of my paltry funds. Carl, I never asked you for a damned thing in the entire year we saw one another.”

  “You may not have asked outright, but you certainly implied plenty.”

  “I’m really sorry you saw it that way, Carl. Good luck with the condos and with Judith.” Ivy hung up.

  18

  Like most of the locals, Ivy avoided the lake and the main drag in Branson over the Labor Day weekend. She spent her holiday on her porch swing with her laptop on her knees, making the revisions to her manuscript the editor wanted. She couldn’t understand why they were in such a big hurry for it. The contract said they had eighteen months to publish.

  Dan hadn’t made it back yet. He’d gotten away from the storm, but his dispatcher had found him a load to pick up in Texas to haul up to St. Louis. He took it, and Ivy expected him back soon.

  After her conversation with Carl, Ivy had driven by the condo with the boat slip and saw him tying a sporty go-fast boat to the dock. She wondered if Judith Merriman was underwriting that purchase too. It gave Ivy some satisfaction to hear Carl admit what she’d always suspected he thought of her. It broke her heart, but she was glad to know it. Her self-doubt hadn’t been unfounded after all.

  Dan had called a few minutes after she’d hung up with Carl, and when she’d answered, Ivy had thought it might be her ex-lover calling back.

  “What?” Ivy snapped.

  “Am I interrupting you or something?” Dan asked at her abrupt greeting.

  “Oh no, sweetie,” Ivy apologized. “I thought it was someone else.”

  “Now who’d be calling my woman this late and upsetting her?”

  “It was Carl,” she said with a sigh. “He finally admitted that he thought I was just after him for his money.”

  “I thought it was the blonde who has the money.”

  “Yes, but I couldn’t have known that when we met,” Ivy chirped, “and she left him here because she thought he and I had set something up behind her back.”

  “Not like he didn’t try.”

  “He was still trying tonight.” Ivy laughed. “Can you believe that?”

  “What did the son-of-a-bitch say?” Dan asked angrily. “He’s got a lot of nerve trying to bed my woman when he knows she’s already taken.”

  “Yes, and after he insulted my bedroom decor.”

  “Pretty ballsy guy. You might get by with snakin’ another man’s woman, but you’ll never get lucky insulting her decorating.” Dan laughed, and Ivy joined him.

  “I am. You know.” Ivy told him.

  “You are what?”

  “I am your woman.” Ivy took a deep breath before finishing. “I love you too, Dan Wingate, and I’m happy to call myself your woman.”

  “I know that,” he said softly through the phone into her ear. “I’ve known it since our first night together. A woman doesn’t do a man like you done me unless there’s the possibility of some love there. And I love you. I never thought there’d be another woman for me after my Cindy.” He paused, and Ivy checked to see if she’d lost the connection. “I screwed a few but I could never love any of ‘em. You’re a special woman, Ivy Chandler, and I’m proud to say I love you.”

  “And I’m proud to say I love you, too, Danny.” Ivy sighed a mental sigh of relief. “How’s the weather where you are now?”

  “I ran out of the storm about an hour ago, and I’m gonna pull into the next stop for the night and let my dispatcher know what’s up in the morning.”

  “That’s good. Call me in the morning too. The worst of the storm’s passed through here, too, and it’s just a light rain now.”

  “Maybe the town will get its last hurrah for the summer after all. Goodnight, Ivy. I love you, and I’ll call you in the mornin’.” Again, he cut her off before she could respond. She was going to have to talk to him about that.

  Ivy got a warm feeling all over every time she reran that conversation in her head.

  He loves me. He’s handsome, he respects me, and he loves me. What more could a woman possibly want?

  The next day, as Ivy sat in her swing, pondering that, Peggy drove by. Children in swimming suits, holding inflated beach toys, filled the rear of her slightly crumpled pick up. Ivy waved. The laughing children waved back and yelled greetings, but Peggy turned her head away. Ivy shook hers and went back to the work on her laptop.

  Dusk fell, and Dan still had not returned. Ivy blamed it on the holiday traffic and wondered if his delivery point would even be manned over the holiday weekend. She hoped he wouldn’t be stuck in St. Louis until Tuesday when businesses reopened. The mosquitoes were still active and had begun to plague her. She rousted Cheshire from the cushion beside her, and they went inside.

  Ivy had begun taking the cat outside with her the day after their return. She wanted Cheshire to become familiar with his new home. The first few forays, he’d stayed close to her side, but after a few days, he’d jumped from the porch to explore the yard and chase butterflies and bumblebees in the clover.

  Ivy enjoyed watching the cat discover things for
the first time. She watched him closely, though, because she’d seen several giant black snakes out on the road and didn’t want him to try playing with one of those. He would never be allowed outside at night as Ivy had heard coyotes yipping in the distance many nights since moving into the rural cabin.

  The rattling engine of Dan’s big rig woke Ivy around three as he parked in the gravel area he’d made for the big truck beside the cabin after making certain Ivy welcomed his company there. She rose and met him at the door with open arms.

  “I’m glad you’re home.” She let him wrap her in a tight bear hug.

  “That sounds nice, you know,” he whisper into her ear.

  “What?” She tilted her head back to look his big hazel eyes.

  “Home,” he sighed. “It’s nice to hear you call this my home.”

  “Our home.” Ivy kissed him and melted into his strong embrace.

  Dan flipped the switch to turn off the porch light, took Ivy’s hand, and led her into the bedroom.

  “What exactly does that ballsy old bastard think is wrong with this bedroom?” Dan asked as he reached in and turned on the light in the bathroom. The blue glow from the television screen illuminated the brass bed and the soft, girly room.

  “It’s all the shabby chic painted furniture,” Ivy explained. “People who are really into antiques think it ruins the value of a piece of furniture to paint it and decorate it with stencils and such.”

  “Well, that’s just bullshit,” Dan huffed. “Cindy did it with pieces that were junk otherwise with stained or ruined finishes. She picked up pieces at yard sales and second-hand stores all the time. She’d paint ‘em up and sell ‘em to that old reprobate Humphry for a good profit. People like it, and this room looks really pretty the way you have it fixed it up.”