Page 30 of Reckoning

He’d been born here. This house and this little town were all he knew of the world, but the community had never really welcomed him. He wondered if this would continue when he left for greener pastures.

Inside the house, he could hear the muffled voices of a TV show his dad was watching, and through the darkened window he could see the silhouette of his mother with her head resting against his dad’s shoulder.

He knew this town had broken her heart. He knew she was being shunned again, but he was also aware they were already making plans for their future, and living here was just marking time. When he graduated, they were going home to Tennessee, and wherever he wound up, his one certainty was never coming back to this town again.

He looked up at the sky. The night was clear and still. A breeze off the river would have been welcome, but it hadn’t seen fit to bother with this little town tonight, and it was time to call his girl. He needed to hear her voice before sleep claimed the both of them.

* * *

Briar was already in her pajamas and lying on her bed watching TV with her foot elevated. The tension in her house was palpable. Even the air felt too heavy to breathe. Her door was shut, which was her signal to her dad that she was done talking for the night, and she was anxiously awaiting Tate’s call.

When her phone finally rang, she answered breathlessly. “Hello?”

“Hey, baby, it’s me, thinking about you.”

His deep, husky voice made her shiver. “I’ve been waiting to hear your voice. Seems like I can’t fall asleep without it,” she said, then heard him sigh.

“And I can’t seem to fall asleep after we talk, and when I do finally go to sleep, I dream about you…about us,” he said.

“Well, I hope we’re making love in that dream,” she said, and heard him laugh. “On another note, I went to the office with Dad most of last week because Rita was out sick. All I had to do was answer the phone and type stuff for him, but guess what? I loved doing that. I like being in charge of the office, and I think I’ve settled on a major. I want to get a degree in business administration. With that kind of background, I could work at a multitude of jobs, and almost anywhere we live.”

Tate could hear the excitement in her voice, and as much as he was dreading the day they parted, this made him happy for her. “Good for you, darlin’. You would be great in a job like that.”

“Thank you, Tate. Your opinion means the world to me.”

“Wherever your jobs take you, my job travels well. We’ll figure the rest of it out as we go, okay?” he said.

“Yes, okay, and we have a lot of life and living to cram into this last year together,” she said. “I know it’s late and you have to go to work tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you most,” he said. “When school starts again, we will make this last semester we have together to be one to remember. Now…go to sleep, darlin’. See you in my dreams.”

Chapter 6

There was much commotion at the Bandy house this morning.

Today was Abel and Lilith’s twenty-first wedding anniversary, and last week, at Tate’s insistence, he’d talked his dad into taking off at his job a couple of days and taking his mom out of this town to celebrate at someplace special.

Abel frowned at the idea. “I don’t know, son. The boss might not go for me being gone that long.”

“Then insist,” Tate said. “You never take off. Not even when you don’t feel good. Mama is sad, Daddy. Every day of her life here is like being in prison. I know. I feel it and it hurts my heart that I’m the reason this discord is even happening. And before you argue…I know it’s not my fault. It’s other people’s ignorance, but it hasn’t changed the level of hurt that she suffered, and is still suffering. I also know you didn’t leave years ago because of me and Briar. I know way more stuff than you imagine. And you owe this to Mama. I’ll be fine here. I’ll look after the house and myself just like I always do. You never have to doubt my word or my promise.”

Abel blinked. His son had outgrown him by two inches, and some days he felt like he was being guided by an elder, not a nineteen-year-old boy.

“Okay, I’ll talk to Curly. But don’t say anything to your mama in case this doesn’t fly.”

“It will fly, Dad. Remind Curly that he owes me a favor,” Tate said.

“I’d almost forgotten about that big mess when Curly came asking you about the lost will. If he balks, I will tell him what you said.” And then he winked. “Now go on with yourself, and quit worrying about us.”

* * *

As it turned out, Abel didn’t have to play that debt card. Curly readily agreed, and he even gave Abel a five-hundred-dollar bonus and called it an anniversary present to both of them. After that, Abel went home with the news.

He walked in that evening after work with a smile on his face, went straight to the kitchen where Lilith was making crust for a pie, put his arms around her, and danced her around the kitchen island until her cheeks were pink and she was laughing without restraint.

“What was all of that about?” she asked, when Abel finally stopped.

He cupped her face and kissed her soundly on the lips. “It’s about us going to St. Louis for two nights at the River City Casino, seeing a music show, and playing the slots, and celebrating our anniversary!”