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“I’m sorry,” I say, feeling like a heel for criticizing my father when it could be worse. He could be dead.
“Daddy gambled and drank all our money away. Got into trouble with some bad people.”
“Like the mafia?”
“I don’t know if you’d call it that, but sorta like that. I guess the Appalachian version of that. The Coopers live at the mouth of the holler, and they are not what you would call gracious or honorable when it comes to collecting on loans. Those men we saw at Waffle House? That’s them. They like to behave like they own the entire mountain.”
“The creepy men,” I seethe. I catch my angry tone when I see Hailey squirm in her seat. The last thing I want is for her to feel uncomfortable.
“Right. Them. So, Mama eventually filed for divorce, which set her church people against her, though she had every reason to cut him loose. The widow’s club wouldn’t let her in their grief counseling group because of the technicality of her being divorced.
“Losing her friends, plus the guilt over Daddy dying after the divorce, made Mama so sad she stopped doing everything. Stopped eating and stopped sleeping. She lay there in bed, sometimes for days, and that’s what we know from when Memaw and Papaw would go in to check on her.
“So Toad and I moved in to take care of her. Both emotionally and to protect her from anyone who thinks Daddy owes them money. The Coopers, for one. But the rest of us up there, we look out for each other.”
When she finishes, I say, “I’d love to see this holler of yours.” I’d love to end the Cooper family bothering Hailey and her dear mother. But I don’t say that.
Hailey seems to shrink in on herself, and I do not understand why. “It’s not much to see. There are no fancy houses up there. Mostly trailers. Well, Mama and Toad and I live in a double-wide. It’s not much, like I said.”
I pause and study her beautiful face, intelligent eyes, and soft mouth.
“Hailey, may I ask you a personal question?”
“Have you not already?” She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Why do you insist on running yourself down? Why do you talk as if I’d look down my nose at the place you call home?”
Finally, she meets my gaze.
“I don’t think you’d look down your nose…but you have to look at it from my perspective. Telling a prince about my country bumpkin life is…bizarre.”
“A prince is just a title. We’re all flesh and blood. We all come from the same space dust, you know.”
She sighs. “I’ll have to remember to ask you to explain space dust someday.”
Someday. I like that word. It means she’s hoping we’ll still see each other long after this day. “Someday. Count on it,” I say.
A long silence hangs thickly between us, echoed by the mist rising from the trees on the hills beneath this perch. The scent of pine and earth intoxicates me almost as much as Hailey’s feminine scent during our hours together on the highway. Almost.
She doesn’t understand that my curiosity extends beyond learning about America or meeting a bride. I’m deeply interested in her.
“What is a double wide?”
She laughs. “It’s like a trailer but twice as big. And it’s not on wheels. It has a porch and a back deck, and Mama has a nice garden and everything. Would you really like to see it?”
My heart hammers in my chest. “Yes. When?”
“Uh…tomorrow?”
“Excellent.”
“Keep your expectations low,” she warns.
“Hailey.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m excited that I get to see you again tomorrow.”
