Twisted Creek

Chapter 35

After Carla stormed through the door, almost taking the screen off its frame, I thought she’d left for good, but when I stepped onto the porch to sweep, I found her waiting for me. She looked out of place in the old green lawn chair, her high heels making her knees reach almost to her chin. She’d been staring at the shed and not at the lake.

I knew she had more to say, so I took a seat opposite hers. The sooner I heard her out the sooner she’d leave.

“What’s wrong with that woman?” She didn’t look at me, but her voice was raw, not with worry, but with rage.

“What woman?” I said just to aggravate her.

“Nana, you idiot.” She twisted to face me. “I thought something was strange yesterday, but I don’t think she knew who I was this morning and I’m pretty sure you two didn’t buy a milk cow.”

I shrugged. “You’ve been gone so long, maybe she forgot you.”

“A mother doesn’t forget her child.”

“You did.”

Carla’s face wrinkled, showing every age line. “Don’t be smart with me.” She stood and paced, her high heels tapping against the wood. “Something is not right. I never thought Nana too bright, but she seems to have slipped a notch even for her standard.”

“Nana’s getting old.” I almost felt sorry for my mother. The one person Carla could always twist around her finger wasn’t there to be twisted. Carla mentioned once that her father quit listening to her about the time she started school.

After two more laps through an obstacle course of chairs, she stopped in front of me. “You’re not saddling me with a crazy old woman. So don’t even think of leaving without her. I’m young. I’ve got my life. I…”

It crossed my mind to argue that she wasn’t the only one who was young, but Nana mattered too much. “She’s not crazy. She just forgets sometimes. I’ll watch over her.”

Carla relaxed a little. She straightened her suit. “Well, all right then, I’ll give you fifty percent of the sale of this place, but Nana stays with you.”

Before I could question who was crazy, Luke stepped onto the porch. He’d given up all signs of being a fishing bum. His hair was combed, he’d shaved, and his clothes fit perfectly. I couldn’t help but smile. I’d seen him nude, diving into the lake, and even in the shadows I’d swear there wasn’t an ounce of fat on him.

Though Carla frowned at his arrival, I didn’t miss the way her eyes ate up every detail of him.

He frowned back at her and gave me a wink.

I don’t think she saw the wink. If she had, I have a feeling she would not have handled it well. She was a woman used to being center stage around men.

“Before you start waiting on customers, Allie,” she began with a glare in Luke’s direction, “you should think over my offer.”

I turned from Luke to Carla. “I have thought about it. I’m not selling and we’re not partners.” Then, I added, “And Luke is not a customer, he’s a guest. Nana invites him to breakfast every morning.”

“You’ll never survive in business giving it away.”

I forced myself not to comment.

“I’ll be in Lubbock when you come to your senses. Walker will know where to find me.”

“I won’t be calling,” I whispered.

“Then it will be your loss, dear. I’ll give you a little time to think it over. You’ll wise up or suffer.” She said the last word as if it were a curse. Plopping down on one of the metal chairs, she stared at the lake, but I knew she wasn’t really seeing it. If I could paint my mother’s mood, it would be a black canvas.

Luke and I left her on the porch. A few minutes later, I heard her car drive away, but I knew we hadn’t seen the last of her. If she thought she could get something out of us, she’d be back. I thought of my early days when I’d waited for her, excited that she was coming home. I remembered she never brought presents and sometimes, after she was gone, Nana cried.

The memory shadowed my soul for only a moment, then I heard Luke saying good morning to Nana and bragging on how the kitchen smelled like heaven. Nana’s laughter made me smile. It was always so easy to brighten her day. I wondered why Carla never tried.

Luke found me in the little office counting out money for the cash drawer. Today would be busy. Mrs. Deals would be in for her cookies and Micki had said she was dropping off new stock within the hour. The shelves would be full, even though as the days cooled fewer people came out.

I looked up to find Luke watching me.

“I tossed the letter from Garrison D. Walker in the trash.” I guessed what he might be thinking.

“Your mother’s gone for good?”

I shook my head. “She’ll be back, but I’ll be surprised if the lawyer takes her case. If she thought she had a chance of getting this place she wouldn’t be out here trying to make a deal.”

He took a step closer. “You still mad at me?”

“Right. I forgot. I’m not talking to you.” He was three feet away and I swore I could feel the warmth of him.

“Good.” He smiled and closed the distance between us.

His kiss came hungry and wild. A midnight kiss of promise, not a good-morning kiss at all.

For a moment, I just stood there letting all the passion wash over me. His hands gripped my arms and held me tight, his body pressed hard against mine. The man who’d agreed to simply hold me last night was gone with the morning.

I reacted as I always did to Luke. I kissed him back. No. It was more than a kiss. Kisses are for people who are teasing, learning, preparing. This was none of that. This kiss was need-liquid and raw. The kind that makes you forget to breathe.

I wrapped my arms around his neck. He was wrong for me. Not the right kind of man for me. But deep down I needed him more than I had ever needed a man. In the core of me, where none of the layers of who I pretend to be matter, I was already his.

Luke seemed to read my mind. His hands moved over me with a boldness that I should have been shocked by. When I didn’t stop kissing him, he shoved his hand beneath my blouse and spread his fingers over my breast.

He groaned with pleasure, and passion washed over me like steaming water on a cold day. Every cell in my body came alive.

“You feel so good,” he whispered as his mouth moved down my throat.

The screen door slammed.

Luke caressed my flesh one last time, then pulled an inch away.

I would have tumbled to the floor if I hadn’t been holding onto him.

He kissed my nose and smiled, but his eyes were still full of fire. “At this rate I never want to talk to you again. Stay mad at me, Allie. It allows us to communicate in other ways.”

I stared at him, wondering how he could make me feel so completely lost in lust. “I agree.” I had a hundred questions to ask him, about his job, his past, his future, but they could wait. “I don’t want to talk either.”

“Good,” he whispered. “I’ll meet you at the dock after midnight.”

“Great, a date.” I tried to act more sophisticated than I felt. “What should I wear?”

“I don’t care,” he said against my ear. “You won’t be wearing it long.”

I heard Micki banging through the door with this week’s orders. “Allie,” she yelled loud enough for half the lake to hear. “You up yet? I’m early this morning, but I got a double load to deliver down the road so I thought I’d start here.”

“Come on in,” Nana shouted from the kitchen. “The first batch of biscuits is cooling if you got time for one. I set out butter and honey.”

“I’ll be right there.” Micki must have let the dolly fall because the rattle echoed through the building.

I looked at Luke, who blocked my way out of the office. “I have to go.”

“I know. Me, too.”

We stood, neither wanting to look away. Both remembering what had just happened between us.

Then, with a groan, he turned and walked away. I stood, needing time to step back into my life. A life of forgetful Nana and hateful Carla and running a store hoping to make enough money to keep going.

A life of waiting until midnight so I could step into another world. A world with Luke.

Closing my eyes, I hid away the anticipation and walked out of the office.

“Brought the jerky you ordered,” Micki mumbled as she ate a biscuit. “And the wool socks and extra popcorn.”

“Good.” I tried to act normal, but I couldn’t help but wonder if she saw “been kissed recently” written all over my face. “Nana says she’s going to make popcorn balls and hand them out every Saturday in October as a pre-Halloween treat.”

“You won’t get many, if any, kids out until Christmas break.”

“I figured that, but the fishermen can eat them or use them as bait.”

Micki agreed, wiped her fingers on her trousers, and started counting out supplies. She was still there when Timothy came in.

“Got any coffee yet?”

Nana motioned him toward the kitchen and he followed.

Micki leaned over toward me. “Don’t get too close to that boy. He’s trouble. I hear he’s going to kill himself any day. That’s the way with kids who have too much. His dad owns a big CPA firm in town and he stays out here hiding so he doesn’t have to work for the old man.”

She waited for me to add to the story. I looked at her and saw her clearly for the first time. If I stayed long enough, she’d eventually tell me something bad about everyone. I’d allowed her to color my reactions to Willie, but not Timothy. Not a boy who’d risked his life to save someone he hardly knew.

“Thanks for making the delivery early,” I said, watching her flicker of disappointment when I didn’t add to her story.

She shifted. “Oh, you’re welcome. I know business gets bad in the winter. I hope you and Nana will be able to hold on to this place.”

Fishing, I thought. “We’ll be fine,” I said. No catch here. Micki will have to go somewhere else for her gossip.

She folded up and moved to the door. “Looks like we’re in for good weather for the next few days.”

I joined her as she moved onto the porch. “Yes, it does.”

She waved and climbed into her truck. I went back inside and joined Tim at the bar for breakfast. I was glad he’d been in the kitchen when Micki talked about him. “You’re up early, today,” I said as I pulled a biscuit open and watched steam lift out.

“I’m heading over to Mrs. Deals’s. She says I’ve got to teach her how to use her computer or she’s tossing it into the lake to confuse the fish.” He smiled. “She’s tough as an old boot, but I don’t mind. One good thing about growing up around my dad, I lost all fear of people. I used to think my dad would murder me in my sleep and eat me for breakfast if I didn’t do everything he said.”

Tim grinned. “He threw a fit when I moved out here, but he’s been out twice this month and hasn’t said a word about it.”

We ate for a few minutes in silence, then he added, “Mrs. Deals told me I reminded her of her son.”

“How many children does she have?”

“I don’t think she has any anymore. I think her only boy died. You know what else she said?”

“What?”

“She said I’d make a good teacher. Imagine that.” He ate the rest of his biscuit and mumbled between bites, “You know, I think I might like that. High school maybe. I liked talking to Dillon.”

I decided old Mrs. Deals had done something no one else seemed to be able to do. She’d given him a direction.

Willie banged in carrying two fishing poles he claimed washed up near his place during the last storm. He dropped the poles like he thought I ran the local Lost and Found. “Morning, Tim.” He sat down on the other side of Timothy at the bar. “You going out to the middle of the lake this morning?”

“No,” Tim answered. “I’m heading over to Mrs. Deals’s. I hoped I’d see you here. Any chance you could give me a ride? I won’t get another boat out before Monday.”

“Sure, be glad to.”

“Should you take her cookies over?”

Both men said no at once.

Willie spoke first. “Mrs. Deals doesn’t want to admit she has a sweet tooth. Jefferson always said she wanted to come in and be treated like a stranger when she was on her weekly cookie runs. Like he wouldn’t notice she bought the case one bag at a time.”

Nana handed Willie two biscuits wrapped in waxed paper. I didn’t miss the way he touched her shoulder in a silent thank you.

Willie thanked me for the coffee and followed Tim out.

I slipped my arm across Nana’s shoulders. “Willie’s a nice man.”

Nana put her arm about my waist. “That he is.”

I hadn’t been fair to the old man.