The Empty Nesters

by Brown, Carolyn

  “Me, too.” Diana sat down beside her.

  But her mind wasn’t on Joanie—it was on the way her lips still felt hot after that steamy little make-out session and how she had wanted to walk backward to the bed and pull Luke down on it with her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Luke awoke the next morning in the motor home but didn’t jump out of bed like usual. He pulled up the covers around his neck and thought about the kisses he and Diana had shared. He’d always heard that in order to really know a person, you should live with them for a little while or at least walk a mile in their shoes. He’d never be able to put his big size 12 foot in Diana’s shoes, but he had lived with her for eleven days now, and he liked her a lot. She was strong, independent, and beautiful, and if the little bit of age difference was the only thing between them, he’d convince her that it was nothing by the time he drove them all home to Sugar Run.

  He threw off the covers and padded naked to the bathroom. Sleeping in the raw was one of the benefits of living in the motor home alone. The downside was that he missed making breakfast over the open fire and listening to the ladies all brag on him about how good it was.

  For years, he’d worked alone, and when he hired a small staff to help with his business, he’d still spent most of his time in his office—alone. He’d thought that was what he liked, where he felt comfortable, but this trip had proved he’d been wrong. He liked being around people and didn’t even mind the drama.

  He made sure the right guard was on his electric razor and ran it over his face, then brushed his teeth and combed his mop of light-brown hair. Looking at his reflection in the small mirror above the sink, he made the decision that when he started his next company, he was doing it with help from the very beginning. He’d started on a shoestring before and had trouble delegating even when he hired an assistant. It drove them both insane. But this time he was going in fully staffed with an administrative team and a couple of IT specialists to help him. He didn’t intend to spend eighteen hours a day at work anymore.

  He dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and picked up a jacket but found out he didn’t need it when he stepped out of the motor home. The sun shone brightly in a cloudless, beautiful blue sky that morning. He slung the jacket over his shoulder and whistled from the motor home to the house, where he left his muddy shoes on the rug right inside the door.

  “Something smells wonderful in here,” he called out.

  “Bacon, coffee, and waffles with either syrup or canned peaches and whipped cream,” Carmen said. “It’ll all be on the table in about five minutes.”

  “Good morning,” Diana said from about halfway down the stairs.

  His heart threw in an extra beat when he saw her. She really did look like a goddess even though she was wearing a pair of jeans and a faded T-shirt. He nodded and said, “Good morning to you.”

  She’d said they’d talk later, but there hadn’t been an opportunity the day before. Hopefully today they’d find a few minutes alone. He was a patient man, so he didn’t mind waiting to actually date her until they were back in Sugar Run. Besides, she had a lot on her mind with the drama of Carmen’s divorce and the possibility of Joanie moving away.

  “So how do you like your waffles?” he asked when she reached the bottom step. “Syrup? Or fruit and whipped cream?”

  “Maple syrup, and lots of it.” Diana’s smile warmed his heart. “How about you?”

  “Same,” he said. “See there, we have lots in common. We both like to watch squirrels and like the same kind of waffles. I’d call that a foundation.”

  “Maybe,” she said softly, “but you can’t build it on sand. Remember your Sunday-school lessons about that?”

  “And that little song they taught us about how the rain came tumbling down?” Luke flashed a bright grin her way.

  “Don’t even say that word,” Tootsie yelled from the kitchen. “I’ve had enough rain to last me a year. I won’t even complain about the heat in Sugar Run next summer after this.”

  Luke crooked his little finger around Diana’s for just a moment; then he let go and headed toward the dining room. “I just hope the sun dries out the yard and road enough today that we don’t have trouble getting the motor home out onto it. What can I do to help?”

  “Bring the coffeepot in, and fill the cups,” Carmen said.

  “I’ll pour the juice,” Diana offered. “Looks like that’s all that’s left. You’re going to be a hard act to follow—but wait, I don’t have to follow you because tomorrow we go to the reunion. That means Joanie has Monday, right?”

  “You lucked out on that day, but you’ll have to cook on . . .” Luke counted days on his fingers. “Next Saturday, and we’ll expect gourmet.”

  “Oh, honey, I make a mean gourmet bologna sandwich with tomatoes, lettuce, mustard, pickles, and even black olives and peppers,” Diana teased.

  “Sounds like a great Saturday-night supper to me.” Tootsie went on to tell them all about the bologna nights she and Delores had shared. “But you’ve got kitchen duty all day. We can do the fancy sandwiches for supper, but we’ll expect to have something great for dinner.”

  “Like your enchiladas,” Carmen suggested. “The chicken ones with white sauce and your special rice and beans to go with them.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Luke finished with the coffee and took his place at the head of the table.

  “You’ll never want to go to a Mexican restaurant again after you’ve eaten her food,” Joanie said. “Her grandmother came up here from Mexico when she married Diana’s grandfather. Diana learned how to cook from her.”

  Surely they were kidding. Diana had that milk-and-honey complexion that usually went with the English or Swedish folk. And red hair! They were pulling his leg for sure.

  “My grandfather was Scottish and married a Mexican girl. My father married a blonde-haired girl he met while he was in the army and based in England,” Diana said. “My daughter, Rebecca, is dark haired and has brown eyes. Her skin is the color of coffee with lots and lots of cream. She’s a throwback to my grandmother and is even talented musically, like Grammy. I tell her all the time that as long as she’s alive, my grandmother Marie Sanchez McTavish lives on in this world.”

  Luke found himself wondering what kind of child he and Diana might have. It wasn’t even a remote possibility, but the thought wouldn’t leave his mind all through breakfast.

  The kitchen grew crowded and crazy that afternoon. Joanie just stood back and enjoyed the bickering among Diana, Luke, and Carmen for oven time or counter space to roll out pie dough or cut up vegetables. She’d miss days like this so much, and yet when she thought of Brett being home to have supper with her every night—words couldn’t describe the joy in her soul.

  Tootsie yawned. “There’s too damn many cooks in this little kitchen. I’m going to take a nap. If y’all get to fightin’, just keep it down, because if you wake me up, I’ll be an old bear the rest of the day.”

  “I’m going to strip down my bed and wash my sheets while we’re getting stuff ready for the reunion.” Joanie went to her bedroom, sat down on the bed, and sent a text to Brett: I’m all in.

  The phone rang immediately. “You sure about this? It hasn’t been a week. Did you tell Carmen and Diana?”

  “Yes, I did,” she said. “And Tootsie says we’ll meet halfway every couple of months and spend a couple of days together in her motor home, so it’s not like we’ll never see each other again, and if you want to go to a yearly reunion thing for the team, that’s up to you.”

  “Things aren’t the same here, darlin’, since Eli is . . . well, you know . . . and Gerald has encouraged that whole thing from the beginning. It’s not the team that it was when we first started, so I doubt that I’ll be going to any of the reunions,” Brett said. “I’m lookin’ forward to a brand-new start in a different place with you.”

  “Then let’s do it. Get the paperwork started, and call the people who offered you the job. When you get home in a few wee
ks, we’ll talk to a real estate agent and make a trip to Virginia to find us a place,” she said.

  “You are amazing,” Brett said. “I’m going to call the company and tell them I’ll take the job.”

  “Time is going to pass so slow between now and Zoe’s graduation,” Joanie sighed.

  “Hey, I went through a few channels and found out that the graduation is December seventh, on a Saturday. I’ll be getting in on December fourth. Think you could be in Lawton by then?” he asked. “I’ll have a hotel room all ready for us.”

  “I’ll be there with bells on my toes.” Everything seemed right now that it was settled.

  “I’d rather you be there in that cute little red lace teddy,” he whispered.

  “Your wish and all that.” She made a mental note to get somewhere between now and then to buy some sexy lingerie. That red thing had gotten eaten by the washing machine.

  “Love you,” he said.

  “Love you.” The call ended, and she held the phone to her heart. “Please come home to me safe. We’re so close to the finish line. Don’t get hurt or killed now.”

  Carmen poked her head into the door. “Are you okay?”

  “Just sending up a prayer that Brett comes home in one piece,” Joanie answered honestly. “I’ll worry until he’s here.”

  “Even more than before?” Carmen asked.

  Joanie laid the phone on the vanity. “More than ever, because when he comes home, he’ll be here forever. We all live in fear of a black government car driving up to the curb and two uniformed soldiers bringing the news that our husbands were killed in action. But now that the time when he retires is only weeks away, I’m scared out of my mind that something bad will happen.”

  “If anyone understands, Diana and I do.” Carmen slipped an arm around Joanie’s shoulders. “Just think, though. You get to tell Zoe good news, and I have to tell Natalie bad news.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Joanie’s voice cracked. “But this isn’t on you to tell her. It’s Eli’s job.”

  “No, it’s mine, because she needs to hear it from me. I’m the one who stayed home and raised her. I’m the one who sat up with her at night when she was sick, the one who held her when her first boyfriend broke up with her. Eli has been a good father, but I need to tell her, because she’ll need comforting,” Carmen said.

  “Are you going to tell her before basic is done?”

  Carmen shrugged. “I don’t think so. It might hinder her, and then that would be my fault. I’ll tell her to her face so I can hold her when she cries.”

  “What if Eli tells her first?”

  “I’m going to tell him that the only way I’ll sign the papers is if he keeps his mouth shut. If he goes against his word, I’ll shoot him.”

  “If you do, Diana and I’ll borrow Tootsie’s shovels and bury him so far back in the woods that the coyotes can’t even find him.” Joanie meant every word. That Gerald’s and Eli’s actions could cause her to have doubts about Brett made her twice as angry as she might have been.

  “Our worlds are sure changing, aren’t they?” Carmen started out of the room.

  “In a couple of years we’re going to look back and see that everything that happened was for the best.”

  Carmen stopped at the door. “I hope so.”

  So do I, Joanie thought as she started taking the sheets off her bed.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tootsie had always loved the Colbert family reunion, but that morning she awoke dreading it. Even though she’d been a part of the family for sixty years, Smokey wouldn’t be by her side when she walked into the church fellowship hall.

  But I left you with four kids to take to the reunion, Smokey’s voice reminded her.

  “Yes, but I miss you. I can get by in the day, even when they’re arguing over who gets the oven next or who has rights to the washing machine first, but it’s not you, Smokey,” she whispered.

  My body is gone, but you’ve still got my heart and my spirit. Take those with you today.

  “Oh, I will. Without those I’d refuse to go at all.” She threw back the covers when she got a whiff of bacon and coffee. “This reminds me of you so much. You’d sneak out of bed and get breakfast going before I ever woke up.”

  She waited for a long time, but Smokey didn’t have anything else to say. Finally, with a long sigh, she slung her legs over the side of the bed, put on her slippers and a robe, and made her way to the kitchen.

  “Good mornin’,” Diana said. “You’re the first one up today. Coffee is ready.”

  Tootsie went to the pot and filled a mug, then added two spoons of sugar and enough cream to turn it light brown. “I thought you weren’t cookin’ until next week sometime.”

  “I woke up early, so I thought I’d do breakfast this morning. What time do we leave for the reunion?” Diana brought an omelet out of the oven and put in a pan of biscuits.

  “Ten o’clock. That’ll get us there in time to get our food on the tables and do a little visiting. Grace is said at twelve o’clock sharp. Then we eat and visit all afternoon. We usually gather up our dirty plates and start home around four,” Tootsie answered between sips of coffee.

  The front door opened, and the sound of Luke’s whistling preceded him into the kitchen. “What is that delicious-looking thing on the top of the stove?”

  “That would be one of Diana’s oven omelets.” Tootsie could actually feel the vibes bouncing off the two of them. Why, oh why, hadn’t she thought to introduce them a year or even two years ago?

  Because Luke always visited us here in Scrap, not in Sugar Run, Smokey reminded her.

  He was at your funeral. I could have made them acquainted then, she argued.

  Too many people were there, and you weren’t really thinking about playing matchmaker. She could imagine Smokey’s deep chuckle, and it warmed her heart.

  She opened her mouth to fuss at him but then snapped it shut. The kids would think she’d done lost her marbles if they knew how often she talked out loud to Smokey.

  “Good mornin’, all y’all.” Joanie waved as she headed to the coffeepot.

  Carmen arrived right behind her. “You take forever to get your coffee dosed up just right. Let me go before you—I drink it black.”

  “Get up earlier than me if you want to be first in line,” Joanie said.

  “No bickering on reunion day. Today you’ll be good.” Tootsie waggled a finger at all of them and giggled. “I always wanted kids so I could say that kind of thing to them.”

  “Why didn’t you have a houseful?” Carmen asked. “You are such a good mama to all of us and a grandmother to our girls.”

  “God didn’t see fit to give us our own children. Smokey and I both had problems, but He did give us y’all in our old age, so we felt blessed,” Tootsie said.

  “That is so sweet.” Diana bent to hug her. “We feel that God blessed us by letting us all move in on your block so you and Smokey could be part of our lives.”

  Joanie finally finished adding sugar and hazelnut-flavored creamer to her coffee and carried it to the dining room. “Well, somebody got up early. The table is already set and ready.”

  “Couldn’t sleep,” Diana admitted.

  “Me, either.” Luke covered a yawn with his free hand.

  What’s happened between them that’s kept them both awake? Tootsie stole sideways glances at each of them. Something sure has, because they’re fidgety this morning.

  “So you haven’t backed out, have you?” Luke nudged Diana.

  “Nope, I’m your date from right before noon until four o’clock.” The blush that turned her cheeks a faint shade of pink didn’t escape Tootsie’s all-seeing eyes.

  “Why those hours?” Joanie called out from the dining room.

  “That’s when we get there and when we leave.” Diana took the biscuits from the oven and carried them straight to the table.

  “Does it involve a good-afternoon kiss?” Carmen teased.

  “It does not,
” Diana declared.

  “How about some hand holding or long gazing looks into each other’s eyes?” Joanie asked.

  “Maybe, since we’ve got to sell it to Aunt Mary Lou.” Luke followed her to the table with the casserole pan in his hands.

  Now Tootsie couldn’t wait to get to the reunion. Watching Mary Lou’s expression when she saw that Luke had brought a tall red-haired beauty to introduce to the family would be a hoot.

  Diana could put on a fantastic front, but down deep she had a case of nerves going on that morning as they drove the motor home from Scrap to Paris. Acting had never been something she was good at, and now she had to be a pretend girlfriend. She wanted to sell it, as Luke had said. When Luke parked the motor home out on the edge of the church parking lot, she shut her eyes and sent up a silent prayer that she wouldn’t blow the whole thing and make a laughingstock out of Luke.

  Don’t pretend. Just go with your heart, and make it real, the pesky voice in her head said. You like him. He likes you. For one afternoon, don’t fight it.

  She looked up at the ceiling and mouthed, “Thank you.”

  All five of them carried a dish of some kind through the side door of the kitchen. Once they were inside, several people rushed to give Tootsie hugs and ask how she was holding up. It wasn’t Carmen’s, Diana’s, or Joanie’s first rodeo when it came to potluck dinners, and the tables weren’t set up any different from when they’d had dinners for army wives who’d lost their husbands on the battlefields. Meat dishes first, vegetables and fruits next, breads beyond that, and desserts last. Iced tea, lemonade, coffee, and water were on a separate table.

  A short gray-haired lady with a face like a shrunken potato pushed her walker over to Luke and tapped her wrinkled cheek with a forefinger. He bent down and gave her a quick kiss, then motioned for Diana.

  “Aunt Mary Lou, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Diana McTavish.” Luke draped an arm around Diana’s shoulders and pulled her close to his side.