Jane Austen Girl (19 page)

The boy turned the corner of the counter just then with a brown bag that slipped from his hands, bagels hitting the floor and spinning off in four different directions. Priscilla looked at him, rolled her eyes, and he scurried to the back for more.

“I’m not interested in your love life, Ms. Randall,” Grier said, tucking Sebbie closer under her arm.

“But you are interested in Bobby Jack, though, aren’t you?”

And with that, she cat-walked out of the store, the doorbell dinging behind her.

“You forgot your bagels!” the cashier called out behind her.

“Apparently, she no longer wants them,” Grier said.

“Wow,” the boy said. “She’s usually so nice.”

“May I just have my coffee, please?” Grier asked, not wanting to hear another word about Priscilla Randall.

“Sure thing.” He grabbed the cup, snapped a lid on it, and handed it to her. “It’s on the house,” he said. “After that, you deserve it.”

“Thanks,” she said.

Two more days, she told herself, leaving the store. Surely anybody could handle anything for two days.

“Sometimes I wish we never had to grow up. You promise you’ll still like me when we do?”

Kyle to Andy – age eight

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Kyle was in line at McDonald’s, waiting for his breakfast order when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find Kari Bitner smiling at him.

“Hey,” she said, the sparkle in her green eyes somehow still surprising him. Kari had been making it clear for a couple of weeks now that she was interested in him. Given her family background, and the fact that her daddy owned half the real estate in Timbell Creek, he didn’t get it.

“Hey,” he said.

“I waited for you after school yesterday.”

 “Yeah, I ended up having to leave right after class.”

“Oh,” she said. Kari flashed him a wider smile. “I thought you might be avoiding me.”

He shook his head, keeping his gaze on her face, and trying not to notice the low scoop of her sleeveless tank top and the shadow of cleavage just above the neckline. “No,” he said. “Why would I do that?”

“Well, I don’t know,” she said. And it was clear to him that she really didn’t. But then with nearly every boy in the junior and senior classes hot after her, she probably really didn’t know.

“Come over and join us?” she said, tipping her head at a table full of kids.

“Gotta get going. I have a makeup test this morning.”

“Wanna try to meet up again after school today?”

He started to invent some excuse. Then he thought about Andy, and that stupid contest she’d entered, and he wondered what the heck he was waiting for. Andy was all but pushing him out the door of their friendship, relationship, whatever the heck a person was supposed to call it. And what was he going to do, stand around and wait for her to make up her mind?

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll be at your locker at three.”

“Well, okay,” she said, lifting her hair from her shoulder with two fingers. “I’ll see you then.”

KYLE PULLED INTO the high school parking lot, spotted Andy’s truck in one corner, and parked beside her. She was sitting behind the steering wheel, and in the second before she saw him, he could see that she’d been crying.

“Crap,” he said to himself. That was the thing about Andy. If he wasn’t nursing a hurricane of anger at her, he was trying to figure out how to keep her from breaking his heart. He got out, went around her truck to the driver’s door, and pecked on the window. She looked up with a start, her eyes wide and tear-filled.

“Go away, Kyle,” she said through the closed window.

He sighed, turned and leaned his back against the truck bed, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m not going away, Andy. Might as well tell me what’s wrong.”

She opened the door and slid out.

“What are you doing here anyway?” he asked. “I thought you had your duke thing this morning.”

“It’s not until this afternoon,” she said.

“So what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Andy, the bell’s gonna ring in ten minutes. What’s wrong?”

She let out a big sigh. “Everything?”

“We don’t have time to go over everything, so maybe you can just start with the basics.” This brought an actual smile to her face, and he remembered then how much he liked doing that, making her smile.

“Oh, it’s just nothing is working out the way I thought it would.”

“Nothing as in—”

“Daddy came home at one o’clock last night. He’d been out with Grier McAllister.”

“Who’s that?” he asked.

“She’s the lady running the contest. She’s also Darryl Lee’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Oh,” Kyle said.

“Yeah, oh. He came in looking like they’d been rolling around in a hayloft somewhere.”

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, all right, Mr. Randall.”

Andy jabbed him with her elbow.

“Hey!” he said. His arm naturally found its way around her shoulders, and he pulled her to him, ruffling her hair. “So what’s wrong with any of that?”

“At first I thought it would be cool if they liked each other. But then after I sat up waiting on him for two hours, I don’t think I want him to fall in love.”

“You probably won’t have a whole lot to say about that.”

“What if he ends up loving her more than he loves me?”

The question came out as if it had been issued by a three-year-old, and if Kyle hadn’t known her the way he knew her, he might’ve been tempted to laugh again. But he didn’t. He just pulled her up close to him and said, “Andy, your daddy’s never gonna love anyone more than he loves you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve never known any father or mother so crazy about their kid.”

“You think I’m being unreasonable?”

“Uhh, yeah, a little.”

She pressed her cheek into the curve of his shoulder, breathed in, and tipped her head back to look up at him. “I miss you, Kyle.”

The honesty hit him in the back of the knees. He wanted, more than he wanted his next breath, to lean in and kiss her. “Andy, I—”

“Kyle!”

He looked up to see three of his football player buddies making their way through the parking lot, throwing their fists in the air and saying, “Yeah, Kyle! Go, man!”

Andy instantly pulled away, straightened her shirt, then opened the truck and grabbed her backpack. “Looks like your friends are calling you, Kyle.”

“Andy! Andy, wait!”

But she was running then for the door of the high school. And even as he called her name again, she didn’t look back.

Prince, duke or regular guy – he’s only worthy of you if he treats you like royalty.

Grier McAllister – Blog at Jane Austen Girl

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Grier’s phone vibrated on the table. She glanced at the number, saw KT network on the caller id, then excused herself from the table.

“Grier McAllister,” she said.

“Hey, Grier, this is Elizabeth Arbon. I’m the executive producer for
Dream Date
. I’ll be working with you on the Jane Austen Girl episode. I tried Gill’s number, but he didn’t pick up.”

“I think he just went out for a short break,” Grier said. “Would you like me to get him?”

“No, no, I can talk with you, that’s fine. We’ve had an interesting development, actually. George, the Duke, has decided he would like to participate in the last round of judging. He’ll be replacing the judge originally coming with me. So I’ll be flying down with him tomorrow to take part in the final twelve elimination round. I know this changes things a bit, but I’m thrilled that he made the suggestion. Having him take part in the process will make it all the more interesting.”

“I. . .of course,” Grier said tentatively.

“Our flight is scheduled to get in at ten a.m.”

“Will you need someone to pick you up?”

“The network hired a limousine to bring us in.”

“Great,” Grier said.

“Why don’t you ask everyone to be ready to meet the duke at eleven?”

“I can only imagine what they’re going to say,” Grier said.

Elizabeth laughed. “I almost wish I was one of them. He’s pretty cute.”

Grier smiled. “I know they think so.”

“See you in the morning then,” Elizabeth said.

Grier hung up and stood for a moment, realizing that her trip had just been extended, at least for another day. Leaving Timbell Creek as soon as possible would no doubt be the best thing for her, but it wasn’t like she had any choice. So she went back into the conference room and shared the news that George would be joining them tomorrow.

Twelve faces stared back at her in open-mouthed disbelief. And then the girls all exploded in a fit of squeals and giggles. Everyone, that was, except Andy.

When the furor settled a bit, it was Andy who spoke up. “So. . .will he actually be involved in choosing one of us?”

“Yes,” Grier said. “That’s the idea.”

“But it wasn’t set up that way,” Andy began.

“Apparently he decided he wanted to be a part of it.”

Andy slid back her chair and reached for her purse, the look on her face crestfallen. She left the room, the door clicking closed behind her while the other girls stared after her.

“What was that all about?” one of the girls asked.

“She’s weird,” another girl chimed in.

“All right, that’s enough,” Grier said, starting to feel like a schoolteacher. “We’re done for the day anyhow. You girls be back here tomorrow and ready to meet the duke at eleven a.m.”

They floated out of the room on a nearly visible cloud of euphoria.

Gill came back into the room, glancing over his shoulder at the departing group. “I’d say they’re happy.”

“Elizabeth got in touch with you?”

“Yeah. I wonder why he decided to come down,” Gill asked.

“I don’t know,” Grier said.

“Maybe he got a little afraid he would end up going out with somebody he didn’t want to go out with.”

“Maybe,” Grier said.

Gill set about packing up his equipment. Looking over at her, he said, “Hey, you wanna grab a drink or a bite to eat or something?”

Grier heard the interest in his voice and said carefully, “I have some personal stuff to take care of. But thanks, Gill.”

“Sure, no problem. Kind of hard to believe you grew up here.”

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe, too,” she said, hearing the irony in her own voice.

“You got family to visit with?”

“Not really,” she said. And for the first time since she’d returned to Timbell Creek, the answer somehow felt wrong to her.

“I’ve heard it said that we are the sum total of every choice we’ve ever made. I don’t think anyone could be a better example of that than I am.”

Maxine McAllister at her first AA meeting

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Maxine had slept through the night. She’d finally conceded to the next level of pain medicine. But she wasn’t sure if it was that or Grier’s visit that had allowed her to sleep so deeply.

The visit could hardly be called successful, but for Maxine it had at least created an opening through which she could begin to see letting go. She had been sick for a while now, and she didn’t need the doctors to tell her that her body was losing its battle. Maybe it was her mind alone that had held the line these past couple of years.

Aware as she was of things left unresolved with Grier, she wasn’t delusional enough to think that the two of them had resolved anything at this point. It did feel, at least, as if a door had been opened. And while she wouldn’t expect anything as complete as forgiveness from her daughter, it would be nice to die knowing that Grier no longer saw her as the woman she had once been.

Hatcher appeared in the doorway, the county newspaper in his hand. “Share it with you?”

Maxine nodded and said, “Come on in.”

Hatcher sat down in the chair next to the bed. “That medicine work last night?” he asked.

“Must have,” Maxine said. “I slept like a baby.”

Hatcher nodded, looking pleased. “Glad to hear it. You deserve a good night’s rest. Seeing Grier have anything to do with it?”

“Maybe,” she said, quiet for a few moments. “You ever find yourself hoping your children might one day forgive you for the things you did?”

Hatcher folded the paper on his lap, glanced off out the window, and then looked back at Maxine. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. But I also know that it ain’t too likely. I guess I decided some time ago that the first thing we have to do is forgive ourselves. If we don’t do that, how can we expect anyone else to?”

Maxine thought about Hatcher’s words when he left her alone again to go back to his room for his midday medication. She wondered then if she had ever actually done that, forgiven herself. And she knew that the answer was no, she hadn’t. How could she? She’d messed up beyond redemption as far as she was concerned. Made choices that pretty much ruined Grier’s childhood. And yet she knew she couldn’t go back and change any of that. Was there a point at which forgiveness wasn’t even a possibility? It occurred to her then that she had never asked Grier for forgiveness. She wondered what forgiveness would even feel like. If it might finally free the burden of guilt lodged inside her. What if she could leave this world without the awful weight of regret?

Did she deserve to ask for such a thing?

No.

But did she want to?

Yes.

“What’s the difference between

beauty you’re born with and the kind you

get in a beauty parlor, Mama?”

Andy to Priscilla – age five

CHAPTER THIRTY

Andy parked her truck in front of her mama’s salon. Sitting with her arms draped across the steering wheel, she tried to decide whether to go in or not.

Ever since Grier had announced that George was actually coming to Timbell Creek tomorrow, Andy felt as if her heart might explode right out of her chest with anxious anticipation.