by Abby Tyler
Sergeant kept vigil, at one point nudging a pillow off the sofa to push to Savannah where she sat on the floor. She held on to the doggy and just wailed.
Luke was gone. Boone was worse. She had to do everything herself again. Her friends were all moving on with their lives, getting married and having careers or earning college degrees.
She was stuck in this house in the woods with an ever-changing rotation of dogs and cats that would leave her.
The animals. They needed feeding and letting out into the yard. She couldn’t just sit there crying all morning.
When all the big dogs were running around, she felt better. Sergeant kept an eye on her as she went about her chores. He really was a good dog.
She put Nero on his leash and walked him among the others. He was doing really well. Officer Stone hadn’t called her, but she knew when to nudge. She would send him a message and tell him that it looked like Nero might be ready for adoption, and she bet he’d be a fine dog for an officer.
When the outside dogs seemed settled, she came back for Tom and Jerry. Their listing needed to come down since Delilah had found a good home. They’d be leaving soon.
She opened the kennel, lifting one in each arm to take into the house.
The three of them sat on the living room floor. She was so out of sorts. She couldn’t remember feeling this distraught, other than maybe when Boone was first diagnosed. So much had been going on then. Losing the volunteers. His crazy mood swings.
She’d been too little to really remember the death of her mother. But sometimes when she sat on the living room floor like this, she would look up and swear she could see her mother in her rocking chair. The image must have been imprinted on some part of her brain even though she couldn’t bring the memory up by trying.
The puppies crawled up and down her crossed legs as if they were a mountain range. They tumbled together, biting each other on the ears until one of them yelped.
They helped. Savannah felt her grief slip into something more manageable.
Eventually, the puppies got sleepy, and she took them back into their kennel lined with soft towels. She checked on the dogs outside, and then went into the cat room to sit, immediately having her lap filled with Sweetie, the soft Persian, and a pair of identical black kittens about six months old.
This was why she ran the shelter. When everything else seemed to be falling apart, the animals soothed her. Even though Luke was gone, and one day, maybe not too far away, she would lose Boone, there would always be abandoned pets that would need her.
“Thank you, Mama,” she whispered into Sweetie’s ear. This is what her mother had always known. Everything could fall apart, but as long as you had a purpose, and a way to help, you could get by.
She had to get to chores. She hauled in feed bags, cleaned out litter, then glanced at the clock. Gracious, it was time to run into town. She lured all the dogs inside with bacon treats.
Then she cleaned herself up and ran a brush through her hair, because going into the pie shop meant being judged by Gertrude and Maude. She really didn’t want all old ladies on Town Square talking about pathetic little Savannah Perkins all alone out there in the animal shelter, not even keeping herself groomed. Maybe that was pride talking, but she just couldn’t help it.
A pretty bell tinkled as she walked into the bakery, and the smell of spices, sugar, and warm fruit made her want to swoon. She was looking forward to this lunch.
Maude stood behind the counter in her spotless white apron, a huge smile lighting up her face. “Well, there you are,” Maude said, coming out from behind the counter to envelop Savannah in a cinnamon-scented hug. “I have Boone’s pie all ready.”
She returned behind the counter and brought out a crisp white box. “Please say you’ll stay for a minute and have a slice of pie. I know this cherry one is for Boone, but I seem to recall that your favorite is lemon chess with blueberries.”
“I still have to pick up a pizza from Louisa.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” Maude said. She called back to the other room. “Gertie! Ring up Louisa and tell her to hold Savannah’s pizza for about ten minutes.”
“I’m not your secretary!” a voice replied.
Maude waved the comment away. “She’ll do it. She just likes to make a fuss.” She moved along the counter in smooth, practiced motions, pulling the pie from the case, cutting a perfect slice, and sliding it onto a plate.
Savannah perched on a stool, her belly rumbling. “Maude, you are too good to me.”
“We heard about Boone. You’ll have to let us know what the doctor says.”
Must have been Flo talking. “He said his sister’s name today. His first word in days.”
“Well, that sounds promising. Maybe it was just a bad spell.” Maude placed the plate with the perfect creamy yellow pie dotted with blueberries before Savannah.
Gertrude walked in from the back. She was the opposite of Maude in every way. Big white hair, pale powdered skin, a surly expression, and an apron that looked like it had been through a food fight.
“Louisa is going to hold your pizza,” Gertrude said. “I see you got your favorite pie. Good thing we had one today.” She looked at Maude pointedly. “I told you we needed a lemon chess today.”
“You did, Gertie, you did.”
Gertrude leaned her elbow on the counter. “I knew you’d be by. We made that pie just for Boone. Extra cherries. Less sugar.”
Something flashed in Gertrude’s eyes that looked suspiciously like sadness. Savannah stared down at her pie. Gertrude was known for her no-nonsense, curmudgeonly attitude. But she was one of the town jewels of Applebottom and the pie shop was a central hub of the town.
“We saw T-bone this morning,” Maude said gently. “He said Luke sure has been torn up about your split. You want to talk about it?”
Savannah shook her head. She should’ve known that this pie would come with a price.
“Well, I’ll say it if nobody else will,” Gertrude said. “You told that poor boy you were getting back with Billy Ray Baxter. But we know for a fact that can’t be true, because one Billy Ray has moved to Charleston, and taken his paint-splattered Camaro with him.”
Savannah’s fork went still. Billy Ray had moved to Charleston? And Luke knew? What did he think of her now then? He knew she was a big ol’ liar.
Her voice was raspy when she asked, “Why?”
Gertrude seemed pleased as punch to spill the news. “Seems like he ticked off some thug from Springfield, and that little paint job was his doing. Billy Ray is on the run since the paint was just a warning of more to come.” Gertrude’s eyes flashed. “I don’t see the two of you having much of a long-distance relationship, not with Billy Ray’s predilections.”
“No, definitely not.” Savannah stared at her pie. “I hope Luke doesn’t think he did something wrong.”
“I’m sure he does. That boy is beating himself up like an old drum,” Gertrude said.
“Have a heart, Gertie,” Maude said. “I’m sure whatever happened between the two of them is their business.”
A tear slipped down Savannah’s cheek, and she tried to subtly wipe it away.
“Just a shame, that’s all,” Gertie said. “It was a good match.”
Savannah continued to eat her pie, even though she could scarcely taste it now. It had been a good match. But Luke had places to be. And who knows. Maybe when he was done he’d make his way back. His dad did live here, after all.
No doubt she’d still be here with her kennels and cat room, feeding and adopting out the little lost souls of Applebottom.
The door tinkled again. It was Louisa, holding a large pizza box.
“You’ve ventured out,” Maude said.
“The nurse is in with Mom,” Louisa said. “I thought I’d drop off the pizza and maybe grab me a slice while I had a few minutes.”
“I’m honored,” Maude said. “It isn’t often we see you about town.”
Gertrude fetched
a pie from the case. “Your usual, I assume?”
“Yes, if you have it,” Louisa said.
“It wouldn’t be Applebottom Pie Shoppe without an apple bottom pie.” Gertrude set the pie on the counter and examined it for the best place to make the cut.
Louisa looked over at Savannah. “How you holding up with Boone?”
Savannah tried to sit up a little straighter. “All right. We’ll see what the doc says today.”
“I know exactly where you are. Mom doesn’t have bad days, more like bad months.” Louisa smiled at Gertrude as the pie plate slid toward her. “This is one of my best things in life these days.”
And Louisa did know. Like Savannah, she’d spent years caring for an aging parent. She was quite a bit older than Savannah, though, and had dedicated her life to her family. Savannah mainly knew her by her pizzas, which she sold to make extra money while she cared for her mother. Her father had passed some years ago.
“Gertie’s pies could make anyone feel better about life,” Maude said, but Gertrude just rolled her eyes.
“Don’t flatter, me, Maude. We all know you made both those pies.”
“Based on your recipes,” Maude said. “And you do not know how to take a compliment.”
Savannah caught Louisa’s gaze and they both smiled. Maude and Gertrude’s sniping was legendary in their town.
“Has Luke left yet?” Louisa asked. “I saw him a couple nights ago when he picked up a meat pizza, no extras for you and Boone. He said he was headed to Montana. I take it you two split?”
Her voice was kind, but the question set Savannah into another tailspin.
“I don’t think he’s gone yet,” she said. “But I haven’t talked to him since we broke up.”
“Such a shame,” Louisa said. “He sure had your stars in his eyes.”
Had he? Savannah guessed so. Maybe if she were lucky, they wouldn’t totally burn out. Or get eclipsed by some other girl back in Montana.
It was a risk she had to take.
“Thank you for bringing me the pizza,” Savannah said. “How much do I owe you?”
Louisa waved her away. “Repay me by talking to him one more time before he leaves.”
Savannah pulled her slender wallet from her pocket. “I think I better just give you the money.”
Chapter 17
Luke tied down the last corner of the tarp covering the back of his pickup.
T-bone tucked the loose end of the cord underneath the canvas. “Looks to be about it,” he said. “You sure about this?”
“I am,” Luke said. “It was a good spell down here. And I’ll be back to visit.” He nudged T-bone with his elbow. “And you could always head up north, check out the landscape there.”
“Maybe so,” T-bone said, clapping Luke on the shoulder.
Luke thought he caught a glimmer in the tough man’s eye. Dang, this was harder than he expected.
Jeremy took a step toward him and extended his hand for a shake. “It’s been good knowing you while you were here, Luke,” he said.
“It was nice making some friends. And you don’t give up on Candace. She’ll come around.”
Jeremy let out a little laugh. “If she ever gives me the time of day again, then we’ll talk.”
“Have some faith. The ones that fight back are often the ones who have the most at stake.”
Jeremy’s eyebrows lifted. “I think I should tell you to follow your own advice.”
He had him there, but there was nothing to be done now. Luke had texted Savannah a couple of times, checking if she could use his help. But she just gave short one-word answers and left it.
Luke whistled for Luigi, who trotted up and jumped into the passenger seat of the open truck. At least that was one little part of Savannah he got to take with him.
He gave everyone a final wave and climbed up into the cab of the truck. The gravel crunched beneath his tires as he drove to the road past the convenience store.
He’d be back. He had to be. He had a dad now. Friends to come back to. And who knew. Maybe in two years, Savannah would have figured things out.
As the pine trees whizzed past him, and he approached the bridge over the lake, Luke thought about that whopper of a lie she had told him about Billy Ray.
He believed her at first, of course. Why wouldn’t he? Only later had he found out that Billy Ray wasn’t even in town anymore. He’d turned tail and run over whatever lowlife had poured paint on his Camaro.
What he couldn’t figure out was why Savannah had done it. She said herself that she was telling him about Billy Ray because it was the surest way to make him leave. Why did he have to leave?
It didn’t matter. He was back on track for school with only a semester delay. She’d made her decision. He’d made his. All that was left now was seeing it through.
The drive to Montana would take a good twenty hours. As he approached the Missouri state line, he realized he really did want to get out of the state as fast as possible. Missouri had broken his heart. Even if it had given him a family.
What he needed was to see the state in his rearview mirror.
Luigi started to whine and dance in his seat. Luke rolled his eyes and said, “Already? We’re never going to get there.”
He spotted a large corrugated metal building as the only break in the landscape. He pulled into their parking lot to find a quiet spot for the dog to relieve himself.
As he got out, he realized that this was a plant nursery. Missouri Blooms, a sign said.
Luke put a leash on Luigi. They found a nice bush on the roadside, and Luigi made quick work of his business.
As they walked back toward the truck, they faced a large marquee, the sort where you use individual letters to form whatever message you had to say.
Today it read, Last chance to plant spring bulbs before the first freeze.
Luke should’ve gotten in his truck. He should’ve opened the door and loaded up his dog and hightailed it over the state line that was only a few miles away.
But he didn’t. He shortened the leash up and headed toward the nursery. Giant walls of mulch and dirt were piled outside the building. People milled through rows of container plants, small trees, and bushes.
A young man, barely seventeen, in a Missouri Blooms T-shirt approached. “Can I help you find something, sir?”
“Tell me about the bulbs that you need to plant now to bloom in the spring.”
“Well, you got your crocus, and your tulips, lilies, and anemones,” he said. “They’re predicting the first freeze in about four days. Once the ground is frozen, the bulbs won’t make it. You’ve got to do it now.”
“Did you say anemones?” Luke flashed with the memory of Savannah standing in front of the planter of flowers at Anna’s wedding, saying anemones were her favorite.
“I did. You can get a mix of colors, or all red, white, or purple.”
“And these plants will come up all on their own in the spring?”
The teen led him over to a wall lined with hooks, each of them sporting little mesh bags holding different-sized bulbs.
“You can’t go wrong with this type of anemone,” he said pulling a bag down. “If you wanted a sure thing, I would plant a good amount of these, in a big cluster so it’ll really show up. Then I would take some of these others.” He pulled two or three bags off their hooks. “These I would mix up a little bit, that way if some come up and some don’t, you don’t have a big empty hole. That’ll be mighty pretty come mid-March.”
March. That seemed so far away. But what was he thinking, buying bulbs? He wasn’t going to be in Missouri. Not now, not in the spring, and certainly not four days from now when the first freeze hit.
Despite all that, he said, “I’ll take them all.”
“Very good. Do you need mulch? Fertilizer? Bone meal is good to mix in the soil.”
“I’ll take whatever I need to make sure they’ll sprout up pretty come March,” he said.
“I’ll put everything
together for you on a cart.” He pulled several tags off bulb sacks, and the stickers off several other jugs and bags and handed them to Luke. “You can take these up to the cashier and pay and then bring your car around to the loading zone.”
Luke headed to the register, Luigi trotting obediently beside him. As he got his truck and backed it up to where the boy was waiting with the cart, his mind raced.
What now? Leave the flowers and supplies for her? No, he couldn’t do that. Savannah didn’t have time to plant flowers.
He’d have to plant them himself.
Then what? Sneak away?
As he and the boy rearranged the back of his truck to fit in his purchases, he realized the whole thing was crazy. And pointless. Savannah had pushed him away.
When he pulled out on the highway, he headed for the Missouri state line once more. He would just forget it. He could donate the stuff he’d bought somewhere along the way. What a ridiculous impulse he’d just had.
But as he got closer and closer to the edge of the state, he felt more and more sure he was doing the wrong thing. His head began to clang with alarm.
Leaving was wrong.
Yes, he was going to lose twenty grand in tuition and a couple years of his life in a program that couldn’t be transferred anywhere else.
But that was just school. Just classes. In all his days, he’d never met anyone like Savannah. No one as devoted. As kind. As hard-working.
That was the thing that couldn’t be replaced. Not the school hours. Not the money or the time.
But her.
Right as they headed toward the sign that read Leaving Missouri, he slammed on his brakes and did a crazy U-turn to head back the other direction.
“Were headed home, Luigi,” he said. “I’m going to call that college and figure out how to start over. Then we’re gonna plants some flowers. You want to see Savannah? Yes? Yes?”
Luigi gave a happy bark and rolled on his back. Luke reached over to scratch his belly. “Exactly, puppy dog. We both know what we want.”
Chapter 18
Savannah woke up the next day to a crying jag hangover. Luke was gone. She knew this. Jeremy had told Anna, who called her. His truck had left midafternoon yesterday.