Temporary Dad

by Laura Marie Altom

  Patti rolled her eyes. “Both of you lay off. I get it. Believe me, if anything like this ever happens again—which I pray it never does—I’ll hire singing telegrams if that’s what it takes to get word to you.”

  “Thank you,” Jed said, giving her an affectionate pat on the back. “That’s all I ask.” Glancing at the glass in his hand, he said, “Jeez, I came in here to get Annie a soda, but I was so mad at you, I forgot all about her. I’ll be right there with your drink!” he hollered.

  “She’s great,” Patti whispered. “Perfect for you. And here you are complaining about me running off, when you should be thanking me. The two of you never would’ve gotten together without me.”

  Jed gave Patti one of his famous big-brother frowns. Teetering on one crutch, Howie slipped his free arm around his wife, and said “Honey, I wouldn’t press your luck.”

  “Listen to your husband,” Jed said, Annie’s cola in hand as he headed back to the living room—only to find that she wasn’t there.

  Since the door to the downstairs bathroom was open and the light was off, he assumed she’d gone upstairs to check on the babies.

  Patti and Howie were making out in the kitchen so Jed left them, taking the stairs two at a time to see about getting some action of his own.

  “Annie?” She wasn’t in his room.

  Or the bathroom.

  Or the guest room where his niece and nephews were still asleep.

  Halfway down the stairs, he shouted, “Patti, is Annie with you?”

  Silence.

  Back in the kitchen, Jed walked in on a hot and heavy scene. “Dang, guys, get a room.”

  “Good idea,” Patti said with a giggle. “Howie, I’ll pack up the babies, you start hobbling to the van. By the time I’m done, maybe you’ll be there.”

  “Ha-ha. Is she always this mean to sick people?” Howie asked Jed.

  “Unfortunately, yes.” Jed flipped on the laundry-room light. “Where the hell could Annie be?”

  “Maybe she went to get something from her unit?” Patti headed upstairs. “Give me a hand. I’m sure she’ll be right back.”

  By the time Jed got his sister, brother-in-law and their triplets out the door, it was pushing ten o’clock. Not only was Annie not in her condo, but her car wasn’t in the lot. He searched his place for a note, thinking she might’ve gone to the store.

  No such luck.

  What would make her take off like that without saying a word? That was Patti’s style, but definitely not Annie’s. She was as responsible as they came.

  She probably hadn’t wanted to interrupt his reunion with his sister, and had just run to the store for milk and bread.

  He sighed. Hadn’t they played enough Find the Missing Loved One this week?

  No matter how impossible it seemed, that was what Annie had become. His loved one. His lucky charm. His everything. What would he do without her?

  Fighting an all-too-familiar mounting dread, Jed hoped he’d never have to find out.

  In the meantime, he picked up the TV remote, found an Atlanta Braves game, and sat down on the sofa to wait.

  “DON’T WORRY, Grandma! It’s just me.” Annie stood in her grandmother’s front hall and punched the code to stop the chirping alarm. She breathed in the cinnamon potpourri that had always given her a sense of calm and well-being. Yes, this was her true home, and Annie never wanted to leave it again.

  “Land’s sake, girl,” Grams called out. “What are you doing here at this time of night?”

  “I missed you,” Annie said, forcing a smile and an upbeat tone to her voice. “So I thought I’d come up for a visit.”

  Her grandmother turned on the hall light, ruining Annie’s cover of darkness. “You’ve been crying. Come on, let’s get you some cocoa, then tell me all about it.”

  “There’s nothing to tell.”

  Lips pursed, the white-haired woman said, “You’ve never successfully lied to me. Don’t think you’re going to start now. March.”

  Thankful to have someone else take charge of her disastrous life, even briefly, Annie did as she was told.

  AT MIDNIGHT, Jed called his friend Ferris down at the police station.

  After dispatch put him through, Ferris had the nerve to laugh at Jed. “You mean to tell me you’ve already lost another woman?”

  “Dammit, Ferris, this isn’t funny. Annie wouldn’t just take off. I know her like I know myself.”

  “Yeah, but do you know her as well as you know your own sister? You kind of screwed the pooch on that one, pal. If you’d been patient like I asked, we would’ve found Patti probably before you and your new lady-friend had hit the state line. I left you at least a half-dozen messages. If you hadn’t forgotten your cell, we could’ve—”

  “I know, I know. Saved me an eight-hundred-mile useless trip.” Jed rubbed his forehead. He missed all those messages because, as it turned out, he’d used the wrong remote code. He’d take that one to the grave! “Believe me, I know better than anyone that I screwed up big-time.”

  “You said it.” His friend’s sarcastic tone undoubtedly matched his equally condescending expression, which Jed could picture all too easily.

  Jed was well aware that his friends thought he was an idiot, but he had to defend himself.

  “Annie’s different,” he argued, fully aware that he sounded insane. “I can’t explain it. It’s a gut feeling. She’s the only woman for me, man. But she’s gone. It’s been a few hours already, and—”

  “Right.” Ferris chuckled again. “We’ll keep an eye out for her car, but after what happened with Patti, your reputation’s mud around here, pal. If you find any signs that she might’ve been abducted or is in some other kind of trouble, call me back and I’ll be glad to help. Otherwise—”

  Jed hung up the phone, and convinced himself that he didn’t really have to throw up. The sudden waves of nausea he felt were all in his head. Just like the gnawing worry that he’d been wrong about Annie. That she wasn’t the woman he’d first thought her to be.

  If that turned out to be true—what then?

  How would he cope with her living right across from him?

  Every opening and closing of her door would remind him how foolish he’d been to so blindly trust her?

  The control freak in him knew better. The romantic in him needed to butt out.

  How can you even think that? What if she’s hurt? What if she needs you? Where’s your sense of loyalty? Compassion?

  Hoping to permanently squelch that damned romantic side of his, Jed searched his wallet for the slip of paper with a number he’d used once, then dialed it.

  Someone picked up on the third ring. A familiar voice said, “Jed?” His heart sank when he recognized Annie’s grandmother instead of the woman he loved. He’d spoken with Annie’s grandma once before—right before their trip. Call him old-fashioned, but he’d wanted to introduce himself. Ask permission.

  “Yes, Mrs. Harnesberry, it’s me. Sorry to call so late, I just—”

  “Annie’s here, and she’s crying. Did you hurt her?”

  He toyed with the buttons on the alarm clock next to the phone. God, Ferris and the other guys at the station were right to think he was an idiot. What was the matter with him?

  “If I did hurt her,” he said. “I honestly don’t know how. One minute I was chewing out my sister, then Patti and I were hugging. I apologized to her for getting all bent out of shape. She forgave me. So then I went to find Annie, to apologize to her for letting my frustration get the better of me, but she was gone.”

  Annie’s grandmother sighed. “Do you promise that’s all that happened? You didn’t hit her?”

  “Hit her? What kind of monster do you think I am? I might have some kinks to work out, but my idea of therapy isn’t hitting girls.”

  “That’s all I needed to know.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Do you love my granddaughter?”

  Was this a trick question?

  “Well?�
� she asked.

  “I’m not sure how it happened so fast, but yes,” Jed said, “I do love Annie.”

  “Did she tell you anything about her first marriage?”

  “She was married?”

  The older woman cleared her throat. “Do you like chicken and dumplings?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good. Me, too. Be here at six o’ clock tomorrow night, and I’ll make you and my granddaughter a big batch.” Click.

  She’d hung up, leaving Jed more confused than ever.

  “WHO CALLED?” Annie asked, towel-drying her hair.

  “What do you mean?” Grandma Rose didn’t look up from her nightly crossword puzzle.

  “I thought I heard the phone ring.”

  “Who would call at this hour?”

  Jed.

  To explain what there was no explanation for.

  But he didn’t even know where she was, let alone her grandmother’s phone number.

  “You’re right,” Annie said, lowering herself onto the sofa, then raising her feet so she could rub her cold toes. What was her problem? Ever since leaving Jed’s, she couldn’t get warm.

  “Ready to tell me all about it?” her grandmother asked.

  Not until she’d figured it out for herself.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next morning, Annie sat in a wash of sunshine in her grandmother’s breakfast nook. Outside, it was probably already ninety, so why did the house feel as cold as the morning after Christmas?

  She felt let down.

  The presents were all unwrapped.

  She’d gotten socks and underwear instead of a Barbie Dream House and new art set.

  There’d been so much promise with Jed. All the glitter and potential for lifelong happiness. But Troy had looked pretty good in the beginning, too. She hadn’t married him knowing he’d turn out to be wife-beating scum.

  Annie slid her fingers into her hair, pulling hard.

  How could she have been so wrong about Jed?

  First, she’d believed he was like Conner, using her to watch Pia and Richard and Ronnie, only to find out that he was much worse. And the whole time they’d been together, he’d hidden his dark side from her. All along he’d pretended to be someone he wasn’t.

  He said he loved her, but even that was a lie.

  Everything. Every kiss, touch, glance.

  Every conversation that seemed to unite them had only led her that much closer to seeing—

  “That coffee sure smells good,” her grandmother said, ambling through the kitchen door. “Did you make enough for two?”

  “Try about two dozen.”

  “Rough night?” Grandma Rose asked.

  “Rough life,” Annie said.

  “Ready to talk?”

  Even though she wasn’t, Annie knew her grandmother would eventually get to the bottom of her morose mood. She might as well get started on the torture of explaining.

  She took a sip of coffee and fiddled with the sugar dispenser.

  “Well?” her grandmother probed.

  Sighing, Annie said, “I know you were probably expecting some big, hairy story, but the condensed version is that I met this guy, thought he was the one, and he turned out to be no different from Troy.”

  Lips pursed, her grandmother shook her head. “Is this Jed we’re talking about?”

  “Yeah. How many other guys do you think I could fall for in under a week? Wait a minute…I never told you about him. How could you—”

  “I have my ways,” her grandmother said, moving across the kitchen for one of the yellow mugs hanging from beneath the upper cabinets. “This is the same guy who yakked my ear off on the phone. He was getting my permission to take you traipsing off to Colorado.”

  “He what?” It was a good thing that Annie’s mug sat firmly on the table, or she would’ve dropped it.

  “I didn’t tell you?”

  “Uh, no.”

  Grandma Rose waved her hand as if the bomb she’d just dropped hadn’t just rocked her to the core.

  “Do you know what this means? He knows where I am. He’s done one of those lunatic Internet searches on me, and now he’ll probably turn into some stalker, and—”

  “Stop.” Her grandmother rested her gnarled hand atop Annie’s smooth one.

  When had her best friend gotten so old? What was she going to do when her grandmother was gone?

  “Annie, doll, your instincts were right about this one. At least I thought they were, since I got the same impression of him. He didn’t find my number on the Internet. He simply called information. When he phoned me, he explained who he was and how he’d asked you to go with him to find his sister. I was worried at first, so I asked if he’d meet me for a quick coffee, since I only live an hour away from Pecan. He even brought the babies with him. One look at the love and fear for his sister in that young man’s eyes, and I knew you were in good hands. I saw—”

  “Don’t you think it’s weird that he didn’t tell me about meeting you?”

  Shrugging, her grandmother said, “I thought it was weird that that you didn’t even take the time to tell me you were leaving the state with a stranger. Jed said he didn’t want you to know he’d been up here, because he was afraid you’d think he was being silly. And judging by your expression, he was right. But think about it, Anniebug. What kind of man in this day and age actually cares enough about a woman to ask her grandmother’s permission before he takes her on a road trip?”

  “Mind games.” Annie tapped her temple. “Don’t you see? He wanted you to believe he was all nice and polite and considerate. But that’s only on the surface. Inside, he’s a self-confessed control freak—just like Troy. Last night he was yelling. I know what comes next.”

  After pouring herself a cup of coffee, Annie’s grandmother joined her at table. Eyes shiny with unshed tears. “They should have locked Troy up and thrown away the key for what he did to you.”

  “Finally, something we agree on.”

  “Not really,” her grandmother said. “At least, not for the reasons you think.”

  “What? He’s a monster. That’s a given.”

  Grandma Rose took a napkin from the holder in the center of the table and pressed it to her eyes. “Yes,” she said after blowing her nose. “He’s sick because of what he did to you physically, but what he’s done to your heart, Annie—that’s the true crime. You’ve given him such power. Your every thought and action is so tainted by what he did that you can’t even trust your own innate sense of right and wrong. Yes, your Jed likes to be in control, but unlike Troy, who needed to be in control to raise his own pitiful self-worth, Jed’s needs center around ensuring the well-being of the people he loves. Like his sister. And you, Annie. You.”

  Slowly shaking her head, swallowing the lump at the back of her throat, Annie said, “But you weren’t there last night. You didn’t hear him yelling at Patti.”

  “And you didn’t, either. Because if you had, you’d have known that he apologized to Patti, then gave her a big hug.”

  Eyeing her grandmother, Annie asked, “And you know this how?”

  “Remember how you thought you heard the phone last night? You did. He called, and—”

  “Jeez, Grandma, whose side are you on? Have you listened to a word I’ve said? He yelled.”

  “Just like I’m yelling, Annie! People argue. Get over it. Now who’s the control freak? You can’t cocoon yourself into a little sterilized box where there won’t ever be any pain, baby. Yes, it’d be nice, but it’s unrealistic. That’s mostly why I’m angry at Troy—for destroying your view of the world and making you believe all men are bad. Sweetheart, please, open your heart. Trust yourself to believe in goodness again. At least where Jed’s concerned, consider giving him a second chance. I’m not saying you should run out and marry him tomorrow, but just talk to him. Explain about Troy and what you went through.”

  “What if I can’t?”

  “Can’t what?” Grams asked. “Talk to
him?”

  Annie nodded.

  “That’s your choice. I’m not going to force you to talk. Neither will he. But so you know, I invited him for dinner. Tonight at six. Chicken and dumplings. Your favorite.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Good.” Dabbing at the corners of her eyes, her grandmother pushed back her chair and stood. “That just means more for the rest of us.”

  BEHIND THE WHEEL of his truck, hot wind ruffling his hair, Jed should have felt better.

  All he really felt was tense.

  How could Annie have kept her marriage a secret? And even worse, the fact that she’d been hitched to a wife beating jerk?

  Where was the guy now?

  Jed had never considered himself the violent type, but right about now he wouldn’t mind introducing that bastard to his fist.

  He steeled his jaw.

  Tightened his grip on the wheel.

  If Annie wanted to talk about it, what would he say? Was he strong enough to help her through that kind of pain?

  A sad smile raised the corners of Jed’s lips, as he thought, yes. For her, he’d take on the world—even if that world happened to be inside her head.

  “DON’T YOU LOOK PRETTY,” Grandma Rose said when Annie walked into the kitchen, which smelled divine with supper simmering on the stove.

  “Thank you.” She’d changed from shorts and the corn T-shirt Jed had bought her into a pale pink sundress.

  I Hope To Be Earring From You Soon.

  While changing, she’d closed her eyes and ran her fingers over the cob’s nubby surface. She remembered that day. That first kiss.

  She’d been so happy with Jed before finding out the dark truth. So then why, if he was as awful as she’d started to believe, had Annie still been wearing the shirt? She should give it to charity. That was what she’d done with everything Troy had ever touched.

  Her grandmother’s words came back to haunt her.

  Was the reason she hadn’t thrown the shirt away more complex than she’d imagined? Deep down, did she already know her hasty assumptions about Jed’s character were false? Could she have been wrong? Was he the opposite of Troy? Was Jed’s yelling an isolated incident?