Finding Me (34 page)

Kenmore was back at work part time, so in just a week or so, she could stick to her original plan to invent an emergency back home and get out of here before things got any more complicated.
But that would have her bugging out on Beth before the summer was over. She would have to spend the rest of her life knowing she had not fulfilled her one and only promise to the one and only sister she’d ever have.

Her cell phone rang, and Kelli grabbed it. “Hello.”

“You wanna come over and hang out for a while? I can promise you lunch in the deal.”

“Beth?”

“Yes, of course it’s Beth, and Rand has gotten this burr in his saddle that he needs to stay home from church with me today, and he’s refusing to leave me home alone even though I told him I was fine for a couple of hours, and his men’s group is right in the middle of planning their retreat, and he’s supposed to be heading that all up and he’s being a complete ninny about the whole thing.”

“Beth, take a deep breath, you crazy woman. That was the longest sentence I’ve ever heard in my life. Are you always this feisty, even when you’re not pregnant?”

“Feisty all the time, fortunately for all you lucky folks around me.”

“Speaking of the lucky folks around you, how about letting me speak to Rand?”

“Rand? Why would you want to—” There was a scuffling sound, and then Beth’s voice, sounding faint and distant, demanded, “Give me back that phone.”

“Good morning, Kelli.” Rand’s voice was as pleasant and casual as if he’d just called to talk about the weather. “And how are you this fine morning?”

Kelli burst out laughing. “Better than you are, I’m guessing. What’s up?” The fact that he didn’t want to leave Beth home alone for even a couple of hours told Kelli that something was wrong.

“Beth has been sick to her stomach this morning, which isn’t
all that uncommon for her with this pregnancy, but I’m not going to leave her home and helpless in bed while she’s green around the gills.”

Another scuffling, then Beth’s voice back on the phone. “I have no need for a 24/7 babysitter. I told him to just leave me a bucket beside the bed and I’d be fine, but he’s just being so . . . so . . .”

“Considerate of his sick and pregnant wife?”

“You might call it that, but I call it being a bully. That’s what everyone tells me when I’m trying to be strongly helpful. Anyway, I told him to get out of here, that I would be fine, and he won’t, and now I’m kind of mad at him because he’s being such a . . . Well . . . so anyway, I wondered if you would come over and sit with me while he goes to church. Maybe he’ll learn something about being nicer to his wife while he’s there, and you and I can talk girl talk. Rumor has it, you might have some information to share.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” How could she possibly have found out?

“You can try selling that somewhere that’s buying. You’re in Shoal Creek, Tennessee, now, so you might as well accept the fact that I know we have things to talk about, like the extra fireworks exploding at the stadium last night.”

Wow. Word really did travel fast around here. Kelli was going to have to be extra careful—about everything. “Tell Rand I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Great, I’ll see you then.”

Kelli hung up, glad she wouldn’t feel the pressure to sing at church today. Unfortunately, though, she was missing her one and only chance of the week to see Alison.

Beth was glad she’d had the idea to invite Kelli over to “watch her.” If Kelli saw it as an act of being helpful, she would feel useful
and be happy to be here and never know that Beth had actually brought her over with something very different in mind. She reached out and took Kelli’s hand. “You are such a good friend to me. I feel like we’ve known each other forever—much longer than we have.”

“I feel that way, too.” Kelli squeezed her hand and smiled back.

Perfect
. “Do you really mean that? Because I know you were originally planning on leaving at the end of the summer, but I hope maybe you’ll stay for a while. I really want you to be here when the baby is born. I was hoping you would maybe be Sprout’s godmother.”

“Do Protestants do that?”

“Not officially, but still.” Beth shrugged in her way that let everyone know she didn’t care what was considered the normal way of doing things.

Something warm and soft seemed to curl around Kelli and hug tight. Such an amazing feeling of inclusion and love. How she had missed that feeling. “You have no idea how much I wish I could stay, but there’s the grand opening of our restaurant in a couple of months, and to tell you the truth, I know absolutely nothing about babies. I don’t think I’d be much help.”

“The two of us could figure out things together. Somehow I just feel stronger when you’re around. That sounds silly, doesn’t it?”

Rand had said the same thing to Kelli just last week, making some remark about how Kelli’s friendship had been good for Beth. How could either of them possibly see anything good in her? She knew the answer—it was because they didn’t know the truth. “Not silly, of course not. But I do think you’re giving me credit when it’s your own strength that you’re truly seeing. Maybe the hormones of pregnancy helped bring them out.”

“No, they just make me mad, and sad, and happy, and crazy. There’s nothing confidence-boosting in any of that mix, trust me.”

“Just feisty.”

“Yes, feisty. And that feisty part of me says the whole restaurant thing sounds more like an excuse. If it came down to it, I’m sure your friends could find another manager to help them open the place, and you could just stay here. I overheard Kenmore telling my mother earlier in the week that you have really made some great changes at the store, and he wished you were planning to stick around.”

“Really?”

“Yep. He told her that yesterday evening when he dropped by to bring some tomatoes from his garden.”

“I’m sure he was just being nice. He’ll be able to replace me, no problem.”

“No he won’t. He told her he thinks he’ll shut down the store come November. He said it has just gotten to be too much work to keep up, and once you leave he doesn’t think he can keep doing it anymore.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. See, we need you here. Now, quit telling people things that aren’t true to make it easier for you to leave, when none of us want you to leave anyway.”

Beth had no idea how close her words hit to the heart of the matter. But she couldn’t stay. Between this small town that seemed to know everything everybody was doing, the time Kelli was spending with Beth, and her growing attraction to Shane, there were too many ways she could trip up and ruin everything.

Besides, Denice and Jones really were counting on her to open Homestead, and they were the only thing like family she had left. At least she’d thought so until now.

40

D
ad and I were unloading all our camping gear on the front lawn. Dad always liked to wash
things down and organize them before he stuffed them up in the garage rafters. We were exhausted and filthy, but
it had been so worth it. A three-day weekend
at the beach, just the two of us. We’d
hiked cliffs, played in the ocean, roasted marshmallows over a campfire, and met some really nice families, too.

Mimi came sauntering out the door, dressed in a short sundress and sandals, carrying a red drink in her hand. She smiled
at Daddy. “And how was your trip?”

“It was great,
great, great, great!” I jumped up and down. “Daddy says
we can start camping at least one weekend a month.
He says it’s his very favorite thing to do, and that we’re super campers. Right, Daddy?”

My father cast a quick glance toward Mimi before he grinned at me. “I do believe you’re right, Princess. We are
super campers.”

“The best in the whole world. All the
other kids were jealous because my dad was the most fun of any of them. He built a shelter out
of driftwood right there on the beach and everything. I
helped carry over the palm fronds for our roof. We
make a great team, the two of us. Don’t
we, Daddy?”

“Yes we do, hon, the very best.” He
picked me up and swung me in a circle.

When he set me down, I wobbled a little as I looked toward Mimi. She was blinking kind of fast, and
she took a big sip out of her cup. Then
she sort of smiled toward me. “Well, I’m just
so glad to hear it. So glad.” She took another
big swallow of her drink and walked back into the house.

Kenmore had arrived at the store extra early on Monday morning, so he was surprised when he heard the back door open only minutes after he’d entered. Kelli came walking up to the office. “Kenmore, I want to know what you know about my dad’s decision to leave.”

“Like I said, I didn’t really know anything for sure. I just had my suspicions.”

“What made you have your suspicions? Please tell me everything, no matter whether you think it will be painful for me to hear or not. I’m at the point now where I don’t believe anything good about Daddy anymore, and I’d rather just know the truth.”

“I really don’t think it’s going to do you any good to hear all this.”

“You may not, but I do. I’ve been reading through the old letters Mimi wrote to her mother. Believe me, there’s nothing that you thought might be happening that I haven’t read about in glorious detail.”

He looked at her evenly, then nodded. “If you’re sure you want to know.”

“Please.”

“All right, but this is against my better judgment.” Kenmore
made his mind travel back down the road it had gone down so many times over the past twenty-something years. He’d always had doubts about what really happened—until Kelli’s arrival had proven his suspicion correct. “I can still remember the look on David’s face when he came into the office and told me his mother’s money would run out by the end of the next year. He was a man defeated, overburdened, worn down. He told me he was going to have to move her out of Brighton Manor to somewhere more affordable.