He reached across the wet sand to touch her hand. “I know that. But right now, I’m trying to deal with feelings I didn’t even really know I had. Ten years ago, my hormones ruled my brain, and I was young and just plain stupid. Now, I hope I’m a little smarter. I want to get to know you again, Angel. And I’d want to know you even if we hadn’t been together back then.”
“Thanks.” She looked him in the eye, reassured that he wasn’t shooting her some practiced line.
“I believe we have wine to celebrate our first evening together again.” He lay back on the sandbar, reached as far back as he could, and grabbed the sack. “And wineglasses.” He pulled out two cut-crystal, stemmed glasses wrapped in white linen napkins. “One bottle of rare, vintage Asti from the vineyards of Italy, personally stomped just for us by purple-footed peasants.”
***
She giggled and a thousand stars lit up in Clancy’s soul. It didn’t matter if there were dark clouds hanging low in the sky, or that he didn’t know a thing about Italian vineyards; he could have just listened to her laughter all night. Maybe he’d send all her friends at Conrad Oil bouquets of roses tomorrow morning, just for giving him the chance to be near Angel again.
“To new beginnings.” Clancy poured for both of them, handed her a wineglass by its slender stem, and clinked his glass to hers. He downed the mouthful of sparkling wine in one gulp.
She swished the wine around until its fragrance wafted up to her nose, then sipped it delicately. “Mmm,” she said. “I intend to enjoy every single little bubble, not send it down my throat like a shot.”
“Well, that’s the only way I can get it down. I still don’t really like wine, or beer, or bourbon. I’ve never acquired a taste for any of it,” he admitted.
She tasted the sparkling wine again. “Suit yourself. But I think a glass of white wine on a sandbar on a moonless night is pure heaven.”
Warm seawater sloshed up to her hips, billowing the skirt of her dress, and then the wave receded, leaving ripples in the sand on which they sat. Clancy watched the tiny sand crabs pop up and try to bury themselves again in the soft, wet muck before the next splash washed over them.
Oh, to be able to sit forever in such peacefulness, he thought. No meddling friends, no interference. Just blissful solitude as he watched her sip from the crystal wineglass he’d provided.
“Are you going back to Oklahoma City to teach, or will you resign and work for Red since he’s moving his operation back to Texas?” She held the wineglass up to the faint light from the motel behind the dune. “You said he offered you a job, but you didn’t ever say if you would even consider it.”
“I don’t know. But I can’t keep Red dangling and feel right about it. I asked my mom for advice. She said to follow my heart just the way she’s following hers and let the rest of the world be damned,” he answered.
“Oh? What did Meredith mean by that?” Angel finished her wine and gently placed the crystal glass in the sand.
“My mother and Tom Lloyd are getting married today in San Antonio. They wanted it to be just the two of them for the wedding, but they plan on celebrating in style when we get back,” Clancy answered.
“Tom Lloyd? You mean the—” Her eyes grew wide. “Isn’t he the supervisor at the cemetery?”
“Yep, Tom Lloyd, and yes, he still takes care of the cemetery. Seems she met him while she was out there tending to Dad’s grave, and they got to talking. He lost his wife a while back and he was lonely too,” Clancy explained.
“But—” Angel cocked her head to one side. “Meredith has always been so…”
“I know.” Clancy nodded. “Shocked me too. Know what she told me? She said she didn’t need money, and she didn’t care what her friends thought of him. Tom makes her feel special, and Mama says everyone can get used to it or they can go to hell.”
Angel sighed. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
He laughed. “You know, I thought she’d die a thousand times if I ever told her about you and the baby. Guess I was wrong about that too! She’s as disappointed in what I did as I am, and I felt like a teenager getting in trouble when I told her.”
“Tom Lloyd’s wife was my granny’s friend. Sometimes she even helped clean houses when Granny got behind. I always thought that Tom was the tallest man in the whole world when I was a little girl, and the last time I saw him, he still seemed like a kindly giant. He never raised his voice. But he is still only the maintenance supervisor at the cemetery—and Clancy, your mother is probably one of the richest women in all of Johnston County!”
“I reckon there’ll be talk in Tishomingo,” he said. “But neither of us cares about that.”
“Yep, I imagine there will be.” Angel lay back on the sandbar to look up at the sky.
“Hello, Clancy,” a familiar voice said.
“Melissa. What are you doing here?” He jerked his head around.
“Who’s your little friend?” Melissa said sarcastically.
Angel didn’t turn around. Of all the times for Clancy’s ex to show up, she thought bitterly.
“I said, what in the hell are you doing here?” Clancy asked again with a cutting edginess in his voice.
“Don’t use profanity with me,” Melissa replied prissily.
How on earth had she even known where he was? In less than a month, she’d shown up on two sandbars just to torment him. “Folks back home said you’d come down here for a little vacation, and I just thought you might like some company. I had a hunch that you’d come down here to drink in secret. If your little habit is getting out of control, I’d really like to help you. It breaks my heart to know that I can still make you so unhappy after all these years.” She fidgeted with the silver bracelets on her wrist, sliding them up and down with a clatter that annoyed Angel no end.
Melissa sighed loudly. “But I see you’ve picked up a bottle to drown your sorrows and talked a beach bunny into joining you. Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
“Why?” Angel stood up, her soggy dress clinging to every curve of her body. “He shouldn’t have to introduce us, Melissa. After all, you and I were in school together for thirteen years. I remember you very well. But maybe you don’t remember me. I’m Angela Conrad.”
Chapter 10
“Of course I remember you.” Melissa’s tone turned to ice. “He told me that you blamed him for getting you pregnant. Everyone knows he wouldn’t have anything to do with you.”
“I loved him when all you saw was a handsome groom to stand beside you at your picture-perfect little wedding,” Angela told her.
“Melissa, what are you doing here? If you’re stalking me, I’m asking you to stop and forget all about me.” Clancy slowly got to his feet.
“Of course you didn’t ask me to come down here, darling.” Melissa turned away from Angel as if she were beneath consideration. “But I figured you should be the first one to know some very special news. Our news will change your mind about things.”
“Don’t tell me you flew all the way down here to tell me you’re getting a divorce from Daniel. The scuttlebutt around Tishomingo has already let that news out into the public,” Clancy said disbelievingly. “I remember when you divorced me for him, and I didn’t care anymore by that point. What makes you think I’d care now?”
“Oh, hush.” Melissa took a step forward and put her palms on his chest. “Did you know that Tishomingo is buzzing right now about your mother? My mama is horrified that Meredith Morgan is off somewhere in Texas marrying old Tom Lloyd. Your dear daddy’s only been gone four years and she’s taken up with a man like that, but I’m not here to pass judgment on Meredith.” Melissa’s smirky tone of voice hadn’t changed.
“Then why are you here? State your business and then please, please, go away and leave me alone,” Clancy said. “How did you even find me here?”
Angel watched the scene between them,
transfixed, as if it were from one of those soap operas her granny had felt compelled to watch every day of the week.
Melissa stuck out her lower lip in a childish pout. “Oh, all right. Meredith has my friend Christy house-sitting for her while she and Tom are off on their honeymoon.” She dragged out the last word as if she were a kid with a new dirty term that she was showing off in front of the whole playground. “Christy found a note that had the name of your motel and the phone number here in case of an emergency, and she told my mama. And I caught the next flight out, right behind you, to tell you the wonderful news I just mentioned.”
“I don’t give a damn if you bought me the winning ticket in the Texas lottery. You can have the zillion-dollar jackpot all to yourself. Just so long as you leave me alone.” Clancy picked up the bottle of Asti and the two wineglasses. “You can just trot back to the airport and catch the next flight home. Come on, Angel. I’ll walk you to your door.”
Melissa took a step back and stomped her foot in the sand, practically falling off her high-heeled sandal when she did it. She put her hands on her waist and glared at him, as if a look could change the way he felt about her.
Angel glared at her. Damn the woman for having the nerve to follow Clancy down here!
“See you later, Melissa,” she said hatefully. “You, too, Clancy. I don’t need a love triangle in my life.” She picked up her sandals and started to walk away.
“Don’t go,” he said just above a whisper. “Please, don’t go.”
“Why not?” Melissa turned and lifted her shoulders like an offended female feline. “She might be rich now, but she’ll always be white trash.”
“Shut up, Melissa!” Clancy said furiously. “Don’t you know it’s over for us? Has been for years. Whether Angela stays or goes is her business, but nothing you can say would make me love you again…if I ever did.”
Angel doubled up her fists, but she kept them down and fought the white-hot rage boiling up inside her. One good solid right hook and this useless woman would be sporting a crooked nose until she could see a plastic surgeon. But she fought back the urge to sock Melissa hard enough to send her about halfway to the horizon.
“You will love me when I tell you our good news,” she smiled.
Angel fumed silently.
“I know you wanted to have a child when we were married, and things just never seemed to work out. I’m real sorry about that. I’m pregnant, Clancy. And the baby is yours.” Melissa’s tone was unbearably smug, and her expression seemed to dare either of her listeners to doubt her announcement.
“You’re what?” Clancy asked incredulously.
“You heard me. Preg. Nant. Pregnant. Only by a couple of weeks, but you know how good these early tests are now. Must have happened that night at Pennington Creek when you were so drunk you didn’t know what you were doing. Don’t you remember any of it, darling?” Melissa shot a fake smile toward Angel.
That funny feeling Angel called “the hunch” came over her. It started down deep where the anger had come from just moments before.
She mentally picked up the pieces of this particular puzzle and put them together. Her intuition had never yet disappointed her. Angela had founded a multimillion-dollar business based on it—and she’d be a fool to let this brazen bitch control her emotions or her life when she suddenly felt a hunch as strongly as she did right then.
“You might be pregnant”—Clancy shook his head in bewilderment—“but it’s not mine and you know it. Nothing happened, except that you slapped me when I told you about the stillborn baby Angela had. That baby was mine. I might have had a few beers when you showed up again, but I remember when I’ve had sex, and I didn’t.”
“You were so drunk you wouldn’t remember anything,” Melissa smoothed the front of her skirt over her flat stomach. “You offered me bourbon, and then you called me Angel. Then I sat down on the sand beside you, and that’s when you started kissing me, and one thing led to another.”
Angela stifled a laugh. This would make Granny’s soap operas as tame as a declawed house kitten. Melissa was lying, and Angela knew it as surely as she knew Clancy was telling the truth. So, Melissa needed a husband. That meant the baby wasn’t Daniel’s or she would still be with him. This would definitely set the old Tishomingo tongues to wagging! The social cream of the crop had gotten caught with her lacy underbritches down around her ankles.
“What are you laughing at, Angela? You had your turn to have a baby with him. Now it’s mine,” Melissa sneered.
“Don’t take that tone with me, Melissa. I’m not beneath you and I’m not the shy kid in the classroom you used to pick on. I’m a grown woman who’s smart enough to know when another woman is making a fool of herself. If you’re pregnant, congratulations. When the baby’s born, Clancy can go to the hospital for DNA testing.” Angel moved over next to him and slipped her arm through his. “If it’s Clancy’s baby, then he’ll be more than happy to write you a support check, but you and I both know that the baby isn’t his. Get back in your car, wherever it is, and get the hell out of here. Because this beach ain’t big enough for us both, and I’m staying.”
***
Clancy didn’t know whether to spit or go blind. He expected Angel to walk away from him and never look back, and he wouldn’t have blamed her if she did. What in the world had happened in the middle of this argument to change her mind? Here she was plastered to his wet side as if she belonged there, and Melissa just stood in front of them with her mouth hanging open.
“Just remember, if I couldn’t keep him, you don’t have a chance,” Melissa said. “He’s never been faithful and never will be. I’m the only person in the whole world who ever understood him.”
“Honey, you couldn’t keep him because I had him first.” Angel couldn’t resist the barb. “Clancy, I do believe you said something about walking me to my door. Maybe you’d like to come in for a soda while I have another glass of this wonderful wine. I heard there was a storm rolling in tonight, Melissa. I hope you don’t have trouble on your return flight. Come on, Clancy. These wet clothes are beginning to get sandy and I need a shower.” She pulled him away.
“Clancy, if you walk away with that bitch, you’ll never see this baby.” Melissa raised her voice, and Angel’s flat-palmed slap answered her.
“Don’t call me names,” Angel ground out. “Clancy won’t have to see this baby of yours, because when the tests come back, it won’t be his. I’d be willing to stake Conrad Oil on it, Melissa, and you know I’m right, so go find some other sucker to pin your mistake on.”
“Are you going to let Angel run your life and treat me, the mother of your child, like this?” Melissa held her red cheek and let a few well-trained tears run down to her quivering jawbone.
“She can run my life like a toy train.” Clancy smiled.
“Then both of you can go straight to hell, and, Clancy, you can just wonder until this child is born if this baby belongs to you.” Melissa stomped silently through the sand and back to her car, where she slammed the door and peeled out.
Angel sat right back down in the water and poured herself another glass of wine. “And now, what have you got to say for yourself?”
Clancy’s heart fell again. She would never believe that he had told the truth. She’d certainly never trust him again, and they hadn’t even begun to renew their romance. In fact, they were back where they started, and he was sure he’d never see the day when he’d take her to dinner again.
“This is what happened. I left you at the cemetery, stopped by the liquor store, got some beer and bourbon, and decided I’d get drunk and give myself a hellacious headache. I wanted to hurt so much that I couldn’t think of you and I wouldn’t see that tombstone with my son’s name on it. I wanted to forget what a jerk I’d been to you, and a good old-fashioned hangover seemed like an appropriate punishment.” Clancy sat down beside her.
&nbs
p; The pieces were tumbling into place in her hunch factory again. Clancy was telling the truth. “I see. And where did you go to create this humongous headache?”
“To the dam,” Clancy answered. “I took an old blanket and spread it out in our spot, and I sat down on the sandbar and put my feet in the water and started drinking beers. One minute I was all by myself. The next minute, Melissa was there beside me. At first, I thought it was you. I guess I hoped it was you. Melissa thought she’d ruined my life by divorcing me, so I told her the truth about why I was getting drunk. She slapped my face and stormed off, saying if I didn’t tell my mother the whole story, she would the next day.”
“And did you?” Angel held her breath.
“Yep, I did,” he answered. “I thought she was going to take a hickory switch to me even though I’m twenty-eight years old and survived a marriage to that witch and then the divorce. Then she told me about Tom, and I told her I realized what a big mistake I made all those years ago.”
“Then your mother knows about me?” Angel whispered.
He nodded. “When I told her about your friends giving you this vacation, she said it was good that I was flying down here. She said that to face the future, I had to bury the past and learn to appreciate the present, or some philosophical thing like that. Seemed smart to me at the time. I sure never expected to look up and see Melissa on the beach tonight. Whatever possessed her to fly down here is a mystery to me, Angel. That baby is not mine, I promise.”
Angel thought for a long moment. “It’s all pretty plain to me. She and her husband, Daniel, are getting a divorce. Being alone and pregnant is scary, Clancy. She moved out of her parents’ house into the dorms and a secure relationship with you, then into marriage with you, and then into marriage with him as soon as possible. The divorce isn’t final, and she’s losing her security blanket. She doesn’t care if her old blanket is a bit worn around the edges and tattered, it’s better than nothing.”
Secrets in the Sand Page 9