Broken Road (35 page)

“I’m sorry, Riley.
 
I didn’t know.
 
Maybe if I explain. . .” Misty said and then turned, climbed the last of the steps and went in the house to make her call.

 
He turned to see what it was she had seen and felt his heart sink when he saw Renae standing in the gravel driveway staring at them. She ran.
 
She ran quickly.
 
He ran after her not even bothering to look back to see if Misty had finally made it into the house.
 
He caught up with her easily and even though it was raining he could tell she was crying.
 
He turned her toward him and tried to find words that wouldn’t come even though for once he was full of them.

“Why?” she yelled at him.
 
The rain was pouring down on her and she was soaked.
 
He stared at her.
 
All he had to do was start and then he could tell her everything.
 
But somehow he was frozen where he stood.
 
He realized almost as soon as she did that he wasn’t going to explain anything.

“You’re not even going to try are you?” she cried.
 
He said nothing.

“Why?” she sobbed.
 
He had no answers.

“You don’t trust me enough to tell me what’s happening with you but you can tell
her
?
 
She’s the one who hurt you ,Riley.
 
She’s the one who walked away.
 
I’m
here
.
 
I’ve
been here.
 
Why can’t you trust
me
?”

“It’s not that easy, Renae.”

“Isn’t it? You told me it was over between the two of you and I believed you! I told you what. . .what I did! You. . .you
refuse
to tell me
anything
! Does she know? Did you tell
her?
” she cried.
 
He couldn’t bring himself to look at her anymore so he just looked down at the gravel.
 

“You’re a coward, Riley.”

“Renae, wait!” he called out to her. She just shook her head and walked away in the pouring rain. Her words ran like ice in his veins and he stood there alone.
 
He didn’t go after her this time.
 
He stood in the middle of the road and realized that for better or worse he was letting her go.

She was a hypocrite and she knew it. She had demanded that Riley tell her the truth, that he
trust
her when she herself had been deceiving him and living a lie. But the moment she saw Riley and his former fiancée kissing on the porch steps something inside her broke. Brenda could deny it all she wanted and try to justify killing her feelings with the shame and guilt that came from her rocky marriage and subsequent affair, but the truth was that she
had
feelings for Riley Favreau. However, this time, unlike the last time with Jon, she resolved that her own feeling had to come second to the realities of her life. She had two sons who needed her and her life was too complicated to complicate it even further. In addition, if Meagan McGuinnis was right and there was a new investigation that would shed light on what really happened on that road outside of Baghdad and might implicate Riley in Shane’s death, she couldn’t allow herself to become further involved with him. She would get the answers she wanted after all, the difference was that given how she felt about Riley, they were bound to be more devastating than if she’d just stayed back in Tennessee. Hindsight was 20/20, isn’t that what they always said? So, she made the decision the night she saw Riley and Misty on those steps. The charade was over and it was time to go home. She didn’t see Riley again that night or most of the next two days. There wasn’t much to pack but the clothes she’d brought with her and a few other trinkets and possessions she’d picked up during her stay in Bess. The rest, including the furniture and old piano would remain with the house to be sold to the next owner. She had called Louis Montgomery and told him of her decision and asked him to tell Riley he could stay until the farmhouse was sold and the new owners moved in. She wasn’t about to make him homeless again, regardless of how she felt.
 
Now, there was nothing left but to close up the house and leave her key with Bill down at the bank. Owen Samson, the realtor, would be by later in the week to pick up the key. The rest of the work would be contracted out and then the farmhouse would be put up for sale. She felt bad for not being able to fulfill Shane’s final wish, but there was no way that she could bring the boys back to live there after the truth about who she was came out. This was the way it had to be.
 
It felt strange.
 
It felt final.
 
But it was the right thing to do. It was time to move forward, to make peace, in whatever way it could be made with everything that had happened. The lilac bushes in the northeast corner of the house swayed in the warm summer breeze and the large pines seemed to shimmy.
 
It would be hard to leave this place.
 
There was no doubt about that. How could anyone say goodbye to a place like this? How could she say goodbye to Riley? She tried not to think back to what had happened the night Meagan McGuinnis had shown up at the farmhouse. Brenda had been ready to tell Riley the truth-the truth about who she really was and why she had come to Bess. She had hoped that together they could come up with a way to thwart the reporter’s plan to expose them both. How naive she had been! But when she went looking for him only to circle back to the house and see him standing on the steps of the farmhouse
kissing
his ex-fiancée her heart felt as if it had been broken all over again. She couldn’t bear to go through that so she ran off, got into the car and drove into town. She had parked in front of the cafe but the place was dark and all of Main Street was empty. People had gone home for the night and Bess never seemed so eerily quiet and still as it did that night. When she came back a few hours later Riley wasn’t at the farmhouse and as she packed up the little she had brought with her, she didn’t see him return. Part of her was in a panic but the other part of her was tired and worn down from everything that had happened. It was time to go home.
Home
. Back to Callan and Taylor in an empty two-story house on a cul-de-sac off of a busy street only 30 miles from the base. Back to a life without Shane. . .without Riley. Brenda sighed and resolved to put any more of these thoughts behind her. It didn’t do any good to dwell on the past. Not any more. She picked up another box, taped up the flaps and carried it out the front door to her car. She was heading back inside when she saw Louis Montgomery pull up in his truck and get out.
 
He walked up the driveway and stepped onto the porch.

“I see you’re packed.”

“Yeah.” She said and tried unsuccessfully to avoid asking the question that kept bothering her. “Did Riley call you?” Louis chuckled.

“Now you know better than to ask something like that. ‘Course he didn’t call me. Doreen did, late last night. Guess word got around that something happened over here.”

“Louis. . .I wish I could explain. . .” Brenda started but Louis put up a hand to stop her.
 

“No need. Doreen filled me in and I understand. I don’t like it but I think I understand.”

“Have you talked to him?”

“Not yet. Doreen’s pretty sure he’ll show up sooner or later at the cafe so I guess I’ll go over there and wait.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I don’t think it’ll be the same as the last time.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I can’t. I’m going on faith and a lot of prayer.”

“I wish I could do the same.” She said. Louis held out his hand and she took it.

“Is there anything else you’d like me to do for you before you go?”

“I’d appreciate it if you could drop the key for me over at the bank.”

“I can do that.”
 

“Thanks.”

“So. . .” Louis began, “you’re really going.”

“I’m really going.”

Louis looked down at his boots and grinded a few bits of gravel into the concrete.

“I’m not saying that it’s any of my business.
 
It’s not.
 
But I’m going to ask anyway.”

“Okay.”

“You sure you’re doing the right thing?”

“I’m sure. Besides, you’re the one who said Riley needed the time and the space to heal. You said I needed to go back home and do the same. Remember?” Louis smiled.
 

“I know I did. I got thinking that you’ll be leaving a lot behind, you know. Not just this old farmhouse. Lot’s of people are going to miss you. I’ll be one of them.”

“I appreciate it, Louis.”

“Nothing I can say to change your mind?”

“I don’t think so.”

“All right then, I guess it’s goodbye.” Louis said, emotion filling his voice. He stuck out a hand.
 

“I think we’ve been through enough in the last couple of months to warrant more than a handshake, don’t you think?”
 

The older man smiled.
 
There were tears in his eyes.

“I guess we have.” Louis said and reached over to give Brenda a big bear hug.

“You take care of yourself. You hear me?”

“Yes I do.”

“I know you’ve already been over to see everyone at the cafe, but they send their regards anyhow.”

“Tell them I’ll call later on in the week, okay?”

“Sure thing.”

Brenda hesitated for a moment unsure whether she should ask the question that had been on her mind all day.
 

“About Riley. . .” Brenda began and then stopped.

“He’ll be okay.”

“Will you tell him I said good bye and Louis, thank you again, for everything.” She said and felt a lump in her throat.
 

“I will and you’re more than welcome.” He said and Brenda heard the sound of someone walking up the drive. As she turned around she saw Doreen standing behind them.

“Doreen!” Brenda exclaimed.

“You come here now, honey.” Doreen said with her arms wide open and tears in her eyes.

“We didn’t hear you drive up.” Louis said.

“You wouldn’t have.
 
I parked down the road a ways.
 
I wasn’t sure if I was coming here or not. I hate goodbyes.”

“I’ll let you two talk for a moment.” Louis said looking at Brenda. He smiled at both women before he stepped off the porch and went to stand by his truck.
 

“I’m glad you came.” Brenda said stepping into Doreen’s motherly bear hug.

“You don’t have to go, honey. ” Doreen whispered into her ear.

“I do.” Brenda tried to keep the tears from coming.
 

“That boy’s just having a tough time of it. Won’t you reconsider? Give him a little more time?” Doreen said stepping back to look at Brenda. Did she know about them? Know how they felt about each other? Did the whole town know? Doreen must have guessed from the look on Brenda’s face that she was surprised that anyone knew about her and Riley.

“It’s plain as the nose on your face, honey. I see the way he looks at you, the way he smiles and even laughs sometimes when you’re both down at my place eating lunch or having breakfast. I haven’t seen that much life in him since before he left for the war.”

“It was that obvious?” Brenda asked somewhat embarrassed. Doreen let out her big hearty laugh.
 

“Maybe not to everyone but it is to me. Riley’s always been like a son to me. He’s my boy. I know when he’s hurting and he’s hurting all the time.” Another set of tears fell down her large ruddy cheeks. “But when he’s with you. . .” She paused and gave Brenda a maternal smile. “Well, the hurt doesn’t seem as hard for him to bear.”

“I don’t know about that.” Brenda felt herself blush.

“I do. That’s why I want you to think hard about what you’re doing. I know he’s pig-headed. He gets that from his grandpa.” Doreen chuckled. “I also know that since he’s been back he’s been different. Life hasn’t been kind what with Misty running off with Brandon and the accident. I know he wanders around town when he can’t sleep and that he thinks none of us here can understand what he’s going through. Maybe he’s right. We weren’t all raised to talk about our hurts. We pray about our hardships, honey. We work at them and we pray about them. I think we might of made a mistake where Riley is concerned. Pastor tried to help him but being the daddy of the girl who broke Riley’s heart didn’t help him any. None of the rest of us knew how to help him and by the time he. . .” She let out a sob. “By the time he tried to hurt himself it was too late. They took him back east and none of us knew where or how to find him. There were a lot of regrets around here. Then the house got taken and we couldn’t do anything about it. It broke my heart. It broke all of our hearts. Riley didn’t deserve what happened to him. But God is good! He giveth and taketh away but he also restores. When I saw Riley sitting in my cafe it was the answer to my prayers. Praise Jesus! That’s all I could think.” Doreen wiped at her eyes.

“It was a miracle. . .” Brenda said thinking back to her own shock at seeing Riley sitting at the table with Louis.

“Yes!” Doreen exclaimed. “That’s exactly what it was-a miracle!” Doreen took Brenda’s hands in her own and squeezed.

“I remember that day.” Brenda squeezed back.

“But miracles don’t mean the path is gonna be easy, does it? Life doesn’t seem to go that way. I have a feeling you know that don’t you, honey?” Brenda nodded.
 

“Sometimes I do.”

“Thing is I see miracles as sort of a sign. More of a beginning than as the end. It’ a starting point and that’s what happened when Riley showed up at the cafe. Then when you offered him a place to stay I’ll admit I was confused-angry even. I knew you were a good girl no doubt but I’d known him almost all his life. I didn’t understand why he didn’t want to stay with me. But now-now I see what good it did for him to be near you. It started to heal his heart and to me, honey, that’s the biggest miracle of all.” Doreen started to cry.