Page 22

Chapter Twenty-One

When I woke up, I was alone in bed.

Strange .

I got up and went to find Michael. Coming down the hall, something smelled amazing. Was he cooking? I could hear the TV on, too.

Whoops! I took a step back into the shadow of the hallway when I saw Zarek sitting on the sofa watching a ballgame. I needed to be wearing more than Michael’s t-shirt before I faced Zarek.

“I see you,” Zarek called out.

“Well, I don’t want you to see too much. Hold on, I’m going to throw a few more clothes on.”

“Don’t feel like you have to on my account.” I could hear the humor in his voice.

When I came back out, the TV was off, and Zarek was in the kitchen pulling a lasagna out of the oven. So that’s what smelled heavenly.

“Did Michael invite you over to eat and watch the game? I didn’t know he had that in the freezer.”

“He didn’t. I made this from scratch and brought it over when Michael asked me to come stay with you when he went out for a while.”

“Out? Where did he go?”

“Out.”

“Is this the bro code? Not telling me, I mean.”

“Kind of. He asked me not to tell, so I’m not.”

Zarek put the lasagna down on a trivet, then took down two plates and cut out two large pieces for each of us. My mouth was watering. I picked up the two plates, walked over to the dining room table and set them down. Zarek came out with warm bread, grated Parmesan cheese, and a bowl of salad.

I went back in the kitchen to get napkins or paper towels. “What do you want to drink?” I asked him.

“Water’s fine.”

I brought out the paper towels, silverware and glasses of water. As we got down to the business of eating, I grilled him about being a firefighter. He entertained me with funny stories and I found out that he actually had rescued a cat out of a tree.

I started yawning before the dessert portion of the meal. “It’s chocolate mousse,” he tempted me.

“I can’t stay awake. I’ll have to pass.”

“Why didn’t you pester me to find out where he had gone?” Zarek finally asked.

“It was the bro code. I think you keeping his confidence is a good thing. I’ll find out from him tomorrow.”

Zarek gave me a gentle hug good night, and as I walked down the hall, I heard the TV turn back on. I crawled back into bed and fell immediately asleep.

Hours later, I felt Michael pull me into his arms. His front to my back. I snuggled closer, glorying in his embrace.

“How was your visit?” I asked him, knowing he had gone to see Sid.

“He’s evil. Hate isn’t a strong enough word for how I feel about him.” Michael gritted out the words.

I wiggled around so I could face him. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Just hold me,” he whispered.

I held him until dawn lit the sky.

It was two days after the alarm system had been installed and since then, Mom had set it off three times. Obviously, there were still some kinks that needed to be worked out.

My arm was no longer in a sling, and Dad was jonesing to get out of the house, so I was taking my parents downtown to the Down Home Café.

“Is Michael working?” Dad asked.

“No. I think he’s working on a project with his dad,” I answered. “Anyway, isn’t it nice just the three of us?” I asked.

“It sure is,” my Mom answered from the back seat of my SUV.

Ever since our gardening confrontation, Mom had been working hard to be more supportive of me, even on the silliest things. I mentioned that I liked the blue hand towels in the guest bathroom better than the yellow, and she’d tripped over herself to agree. It was an awkward, uncomfortable mess. Plus, Dad had been going stir crazy, so that was making it worse for Mom and me.

I was really hoping this lunch might mellow things out.

“I’ve missed having Michael around the last week and a half,” Dad said. “You should try harder to mend fences, Fallon. He didn’t deserve what you did. He’s a really good man.”

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up on end.

“Yes, he is,” I gritted out the words. There were no spots close to the diner, so I parked in the handicap zone.

“You can’t park here,” Dad said loudly.

Here we go again with the parking . I groaned inwardly.

“I’m just dropping you and Mom off so you can put our name in for a table, then I’ll park my car somewhere else, like I always do,” I assured him. “Why do you always think I’m going to break the law?”

“You ran off the night before your wedding, didn’t you? You slunk off like a thief in the night. That showed that you had no honor. Breaking the law, like parking in a handicap zone, is something people with no honor would do.”

Dad’s eyes glittered with anger as he glared at me.

“I’m not going to park illegally. My honor means a lot to me. I value it. Being trusted and respected is one of the ways I have done so well in business. Now, are you finally going to ask me why I left town, or are you just going to throw out firebombs?”

“What’s there to ask? You ran a way, like some damn cat burglar.”

“Fallon, honey. Start the car, and let’s head back home. We don’t want to be airing out our dirty laundry outside of the diner,” Mom said.

Dad turned in his seat to look at Mom. “Everybody in town knows what happened. There aren’t any secrets.”

“In that case, Dad. Why don’t you and Mom get out of the car and put our names in, and I’ll park. I’ll meet you inside.”

“Fallon, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” my mom whispered.

“It’s a great idea, Isla. My appetite is finally back, and I want some diner food. I’m not leaving.” He opened his door, got out, and then opened Mom’s door. I watched as they both headed into the restaurant. I could feel a headache rolling in, and it was going to be a doozy.

When I got inside the diner, there wasn’t anybody in line.

“Fallon, you’re looking pretty as a picture,” Little Grandma called out.

I loved this woman. She was who I aspired to be. She was kind and wise, and knew what was going on in this town, but never spread gossip.

“Your folks are in the corner pocket near the window,” she told me. “Here, take a menu. Lettie will be by to tell you the lunch specials, but you don’t need to listen to them. Have the country ham with red-eye gravy. You can’t go wrong with that.”

I mustered up a smile. “Thanks for the tip. That’s what I’ll order.”

“What’s wrong, Honey?”

“Nothing, ma’am.”

“You look like you’re experiencing some heartbreak. I thought things were looking up between you and Michael. Maybe not quite smooth sailing yet, but looking up.”

This time she shocked a smile out of me. “How did you know that?”

“Everybody loves our food, so we have a lot of guests. People like spending some time with me here at the hostess stand.”

“Well, your sources are right, things are improving,” I admitted.

“Has he grovelled?”

I frowned. “Little Grandma, what are you talking about?”

“When men really make a mess of things and come close to breaking their woman’s heart, the only way they can get back into their good graces is to grovel. Has he grovelled?”

“It’s not that way,” I whispered. “He has some issues he’s working through.”

“Issues, pishoos. Don’t psycho-mumble-jumble me. The man was a jackass. Broke your heart. He needs to grovel. Without the grovelling you’re never going to feel comfortable taking him back, even if you understand his issues .”

Little Grandma said the last word like it left a sour taste in her mouth. I laughed. I’d have to think on what she had to say. Maybe talk it over with Maddie.

“Now, if it isn’t Michael that has you looking so down in the mouth, is it your folks?”

I looked across the restaurant to where they were sitting. They were both just sitting at the table, looking out the window, not talking to each other.

“Yeah, it’s my folks.”

“Seems to me, your folks are pretty darned lucky to have a daughter who shut down her office in Chicago so she could come take care of her Daddy.”

I shrugged.

She hopped off her stool and took my arm. “Let’s get you over to your table. I haven’t had a chance to talk to your Daddy much since he got sick.”

I followed Little Grandma to the table and watched with surprise as she sat down in the fourth chair. Lettie, her granddaughter and head waitress, hustled over to our table. “What can I get you all?”

“I’ll have hot tea and a biscuit,” Little Grandma said. “Fallon will have the country ham and red-eye gravy.” The little dynamo turned to me. “What do you want to drink to go with it?” she asked me.

“Sweet tea would be great.”

“And a sweet tea for Fallon,” Little Grandma said.

“I didn’t see country ham and red-eye gravy on the menu,” my dad complained.

“It’s one of today’s specials. I was getting ready to tell you about them,” Lettie explained. “Besides the ham, we also have shrimp and grits.”

“I’ll take the shrimp and grits and a sweet tea,” Dad told Lettie.

“What about you, Miz Vickers?” she asked Mom.

“I’ll take a turkey sandwich with sweet potato fries and a glass of sweet tea.”

“Got it. Your orders will be out soon.” She pushed her pencil back behind her ear and hustled over to the kitchen window.

I watched as Little Grandma placed her hand on my dad’s. “Tell me Bob, how are you doing really? There’s a lot of different stories flying around, but what is the real truth?”

“I think the reason there were so many rumors is because Isla and I didn’t know day-to-day what was going on. It seemed like the doctors were constantly e-mailing us information that we couldn’t decipher, and we would have to wait forever to get a hold of a doctor to have them tell us what everything meant.”

“Is that still going on?” Little Grandma asked gently.

My Dad grinned big as he focused his attention on me. “Not recently. Fallon’s been a Godsend. She did something that puts everything into words that Isla and I can understand. After all of Fallon’s help with Isla’s arthritis doctor, I’m thinking about having her come in on my next follow-up appointment for me.”

Damn! I sagged back into my chair. Did my dad just compliment me?

“Bob, I don’t understand why you’re so surprised. Your daughter graduated Summa Cum Laude. She’s always been a marvel.”

“Yes, well. That was with all that math and computer stuff. It wasn’t like she got a degree to become a doctor or a lawyer.”

“Robert Vickers,” Little Grandma said harshly. “I can’t believe you just said that about your own daughter. She is a prize, and you should value her. Seems to me that you never did realize how lucky you were, to have such a wonderful daughter.”

My dad was turning all kinds of shades of red. If it had been anyone else in the town saying this to him, he would have shouted them down. But Little Grandma was the town matriarch. And she had home field advantage and Dad knew it. He was stuck sucking it up, and I thought he might actually explode right there in the corner of the diner.

“Begging your pardon, Mrs. Magill,” my mom started. “But we love our daughter. And we surely do appreciate her coming home and helping us out.”

Lettie sniffed as she set down a biscuit and a cup of tea in front of Little Grandma. “I’ll be back with your teas in just a moment.”

“My wife is correct, Mrs. Magill. We love Fallon.”

This time it was Little Grandma who gave the disbelieving sniff.

Lettie came and passed out the teas.

“Little Grandma,” I said. “Didn’t I hear that you recently had another great-great grandchild?” I asked. I was desperate to change the topic of conversation.

She turned to my dad. “Like I said, Bob. She’s a prize.” She turned back to me. “Yes, I did. His name is James Oliver Rafferty.” She put her hand into her voluminous sweater pocket and pulled out a flip style cell phone. “Let me show you some pictures. He was just born two weeks ago. He was over eight pounds when he was born.”

Mom squeezed my hand, and I looked over at her. She mouthed the words, ‘Thank you’.