Hand-Me-Down Love (20 page)

Chapter
Twenty-Two

Sean followed
Crystal down the path. It was narrow and the trees were thick all
around him. He felt them more than he saw them. “Where are we
going?” he asked Crystal.

“
To a
surprise,” she said laughing. “Just follow me. You won’t be
sorry.”

Sean followed
her and kept his eye on the light from her flashlight. After a few
minutes of walking, Crystal said, “It’s right up ahead.”

Suddenly, they
were in a clearing. The forest circled all around them, except for
that one spot where you could see up to the stars and the moon. Sean
heard the sounds of water nearby and saw a small creek, its waters
running over large flat rocks, sparkling in the moonlight. He sure
wished Cody were with him because he knew the dog would appreciate
the scene as much as Sean did.

Crystal walked
over to a large tree and shone the flashlight on its trunk. “Yep,
it’s still here,” she said. Sean walked over and looked at the
spot on the trunk, illuminated by the flashlight. CB + LS was carved
into the trunk, surrounded by a crude heart shape.

“
My boyfriend
Liam carved that in there one night,” Crystal said. “It’s weird
to think it’s out here in the middle of nowhere, years later.”

“
That’s
nice,” Sean said. He didn’t really know what to say, but the
carved initials did seem like a nice memory.

“
Yeah?”
Crystal said. “Well, he turned out to be a real jerk in the end.
Screwed my best friend behind my back. When I found out, I lost my
boyfriend and my best friend all in the same day.”

She laughed and
Sean laughed with her. Crystal unstrapped the blanket and spread it
on the ground, on the bank of the sparkling creek. They sat down and
Sean realized it was more than a blanket, it was down-filled and
thick. They looked up at the open circle of sky above them. The full
moon shone down on them.

“
We picked
the perfect night,” Crystal said, hooking her arm through his. She
had touched Sean before, in the bar, when they were talking. His
hand, his arm. But this felt different and Sean didn’t know what it
meant or where it was going. Then Crystal moved her face to his and
kissed him on the lips. He kissed her back.

When she
finally pulled away from him, she said, “I know you’re sad, Sean.
I know that. I just want to make you feel better. Even if it’s just
a little.”

And then she
was kissing him again and they fell back onto the blanket. He was so
lonely. He hadn’t realized how lonely he was until that moment. If
he had been able to think about that, he wouldn’t have been able to
continue. But he didn’t dwell on anything, he just kissed Crystal
and his physical need was urgent. Urgent.

Afterward, they
lay back on the blanket staring at the hole in the universe. “Was
that okay?” Crystal asked.

“
That was
good,” Sean said touching her hand. They didn’t talk anymore.
They just sat and looked at the moon until it had moved past the
circle. They rolled the blanket up and walked back down the narrow
path to the car. He kissed her goodbye when she dropped him off at
his truck.

When he got
back to the cabin, Cody was waiting at the door, desperate to get
out. “I’m sorry, boy,” he said. Cody didn’t pay him any
attention, he just ran out the door and into the meadow where he
relieved himself. Sean felt bad that he had left Cody there for that
long. He wouldn’t do that again.

A few nights
later, Sean and Jesse went to Billy’s. That was usual. Crystal was
working and she talked to Sean just like she always did. But
something had changed between them since the night in the woods. She
touched him more and he touched her back. He couldn’t really stay
out late on weeknights, but the next Saturday, Crystal asked him if
he wanted to go out after she got off at midnight.

He went. And
they kept going every Saturday night, back to the hole in the
universe because they didn’t have anywhere else. He couldn’t let
her come to the cabin. Marty and Mrs. Rutherford probably wouldn’t
have liked that too much. He hated leaving Cody for that long, but
Jesse stepped in and said he’d let the dog out when he got back to
the cabins. That was a relief. It was obvious to Jesse and everyone
else who frequented the bar that Sean and Crystal were together,
whatever that meant. He really wasn’t sure what that meant. He
cared about Crystal, but he knew he didn’t love her.

On a Saturday
night in early August, Sean and Crystal got into her VW, as usual. He
had been thinking all week about Marla and how much he missed her.
Her sweet love. The time had come to come clean with Crystal and he
hated to do it. She had helped him more than she knew. She had been
his friend when he needed a friend.

“
Can we sit
here and talk?” Sean asked.

“
Of course,”
Crystal said, linking her arm through his. “You seem sort of
distant lately. I can listen.”

“
I know you
can,” he said squeezing her hand. “You’re a great listener. And
I’ve got to tell you something.”

“
Okay,” she
said. She waited for him to speak.

“
This is hard
and seems so unfair, but I’m in love with someone.”

Crystal’s arm
jerked when he said that. “Who?” she asked in an unsteady voice.
“I understand you still love your wife.”

“
Yes, I still
love Meredith. I’ll always love Meredith. But this is someone
else.”

“
How could
there be someone else? You haven’t been anywhere,” Crystal said,
a note of desperation creeping into her voice.

“
It’s
someone from before I came here,” Sean knew he had to bite the
bullet. “It’s my sister-in-law.” There, he had said the words
out loud to another human being. It was finally out.

“
Your
sister-in-law?” Crystal said, incredulous. “What do you mean?”

Sean explained
everything to her. How Marla had done everything for him, how he
moved in with her, how they fell in love with each other, and how
they broke apart.

Crystal didn’t
say anything for a while. Finally, she said, “I knew you loved your
wife and I accepted that. But I never dreamed there was anyone else,
especially your sister-in-law.” She turned her head and stared out
of her window. “But I know this much. I can’t make you love me.
You won’t be able to love me if you’re in love with someone
else.”

“
I’m sorry,
Crystal,” Sean said. “Really sorry. I shouldn’t have let things
go so far with us. I’ve been mixed up for a while, but now I’m
not.”

“
I don’t
regret it,” she said. “I think you’re an amazing person and I’m
glad that we had some time together. It gives me hope.”

“
You’re an
amazing person yourself,” Sean said gratefully. “I know that if
circumstances had been different in our lives, then we might have
been together.”

“
You don’t
have to say that,” she said. “But thanks anyway.”

She started the
VW and headed down the road that would eventually lead to Sean’s
cabin. “Are you going to leave?” Crystal asked on the drive back.

“
Yes. I have to
leave. I have to go back to Bay Point and see if there’s anything
left for me there.”

They didn’t talk
the rest of the drive. Crystal drove past Marty’s house and dropped
Sean at the entrance to the path through the meadow.

“
Will it be all
right if I come to Billy’s again?” Sean said as he got out of the
car. “I need to say goodbye to Pete, but I don’t want to make it
harder on either one of us.”

“
I know you need
to say goodbye to Pete,” she said. “I’m off on Tuesday. That
might be a good night to come.”

“
I’m going to
miss you, Crystal. Thank you.” He closed the door and started down
the grassy path to his cabin. Cody was waiting by the door for him
when he stepped inside. Sean let him out for a few minutes, then
called him back inside. Cody lay down in his usual spot by the bed.
Sean thought about Crystal as he was going to sleep. He knew she was
hurt and he felt terrible about it. But the truth was the truth, and
they both knew it.

Jesse was waiting
for him when he stepped out of the cabin on Sunday. Together, they
walked up to the farmhouse for lunch. On the way, Sean told Jesse he
had decided to leave.

“
Aww, man,”
Jesse said. “It’s not going to be the same around here.”

At lunch, Sean told
Marty and Mrs. Rutherford about his plans to leave.

“
I’ve been
expecting it,” Marty said. “Can you work out next week or do you
need to leave right away?”

“
I can work out
next week. I want to do that. Thank you. For everything.”

When he left, he
gave Mrs. Rutherford a hug. “I’m going to miss your good
cooking,” he said. She seemed a little teary eyed when he waved
goodbye at the door.

On Tuesday, Sean
went to Billy’s and Pete was already there. That was good, because
if he hadn’t been, Sean was going to have to leave without saying
goodbye in person. He sat beside the old man and Billy brought him a
draft.

“
I’ve decided to
leave, Pete,” he told him.

“
Oh, yeah?” Pete
said. “What brought this on?”

“
I finally got my
head together,” Sean said simply. “I couldn’t have done it if I
hadn’t come here.”

“
You’ve been on
a journey, that’s for sure,” Pete said.

They talked for a
couple of hours. They clinked their mugs on the last drink. Sean got
up and shook Pete’s hand. “It’s been good to know you,” he
said.

That Friday
afternoon, Marty drove Sean and Cody to a larger town down the road
where Sean bought a used Chevy truck outright, using part of his
money from the sale of the house. He shook Marty’s hand and said
goodbye. “Come on, boy,” he said to Cody, who jumped into the
truck and sat on the passenger seat. “We’re going on a trip.”

Chapter
Twenty-Three

By early August,
Marla was seeing Michael several times a week. He had opened Mojo
Mike’s in Gulf Shores on time—just barely. There was still work
to do on the Mobile bar, so Michael drove from Gulf Shores to Mobile
frequently, stopping to get Marla on his way back to Gulf Shores.
Michael had rented a cottage, but was talking about buying a place
down there. “It’s a good location,” he said. “I can get to
all my bars pretty easily from there. Not to mention getting to you.”

She had smiled
at him then.

“
I’ve got
to go to my bar in the Keys next week,” he told her one Sunday on
the way back to Bay Point. “Can you come with me?”

“
I wish I
could. But Jada’s off several days next week and I can’t leave
the shop.”

“
That’s too
bad,” Michael said sounding disappointed. “I’d put it off for
when you could go, but I really can’t this time. There’s a
problem there with the manager and I’ve got to take care of it. I
might be gone a week or longer.”

“
I’m
sorry,” she said. “We’ll do it next time, okay?”

“
Since you
can’t go, I think I’ll leave tomorrow morning. The sooner I go
the sooner I can get back.”

She kissed him
goodbye. She checked the courtyard and saw Lucy sitting on one of the
patio chairs. “Come on, girl,” she called. Lucy followed her up
the steps to her apartment. It was good to be home in her familiar
surroundings. Michael’s cottage on the beach was nice, but she
didn’t want to live there. Bay Point was her home.

Marla poured a
glass of wine and sat on the couch. With all of the channels she got
on cable, she couldn’t find a thing that interested her. She
glanced at the diary, which sat on the table, untouched for weeks.
She picked it up.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

Meredith’s
Diary

June 17,
2010

Dear Diary,

I couldn’t
believe when I found you again today. You got lost in the move but
when I opened the box in the closet, there you were. Sorry it’s
been so long.

Things are
about as bad as they’ve ever been in my whole life. I found out the
other day that I have a brain tumor. That hit me like a ton of
bricks. It’s still hitting me hard. The worst part, though, was
having to tell Sean and my family about it. Marla tried to hold it
together and she told Mom and Dad for me. I was chicken on that. But
she did it for me.