Some Day Somebody (53 page)

Sam frowned, confused until her meaning dawned on him. “She’s not here, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“She’s not?”

“No, ma’am.
I expect she’s back at her sister’s place.”

Another pause before she spoke again. “What the hell is going on with you two?”

“Not a thing, ma’am, and you’ll have to talk to her to find out why. This wasn’t my choice. If I read her right, she wasn’t thrilled about it, either.”

“Well, I’m confused as all get out.”

“Yes, ma’am, I imagine you are. All I can tell you is that thirty minutes after her kids got here yesterday morning she walked over and broke it off. She hauled butt before I could collect my thoughts to get her to reconsider. Something about a promise she made them.”

“What promise?”

Sam passed a hand over sleep-crusted eyes. “I can’t tell you anything about that, ma’am. You’ll have to ask her.”

“I’ll do that. Are you all right?”

“I’ll live, but I’m far from all right.”

“Well...you keep the faith, Sam.”

Elaine hit the button and dialed Christie’s number.

“Ha-
wo
.”

“Hey Max, my good boy.
It’s Maw
Maw
.”

She heard him turn and yell.
“Mommy,
it’th
Maw
Maw
Lain."

“
Maxie
, is Aunt Carrie there?” Elaine asked her grandson.

“Aunt
Cawee
thwept
in my bed.”

“She did? Is she still sleeping?”

“Yeah, Aunt
Cawee
cwied
.”

“Uh huh,” Elaine said, waiting for Christie to get to the phone.

“Mom?”

“What’s going on with her? Sam said she broke it off because of some promise she made the kids.”

“
Christ,
is that what happened?” Christie exclaimed. “I haven’t been able to get a word out of her about why. She goes to work, but when she comes in she goes straight to the bedroom and cries. All she said was that it was all her fault and she should have known better.”

“Oh my Lord, Sam’s as upset about this as she is.”

“I figured as much, but this is out of our hands, Mom.”

***

Carrie’s New Year’s Eve held all the excitement and promise of a yearly physical, with a pap smear thrown in for kicks. She and Christie spent the evening with Dick Clark to watch the ball drop, along with millions of other Americans. They’d splurged on a bottle of cheap wine and a quart of Blue Bell Heavenly Hash ice cream, and although Carrie drank her share of the wine, she was too depressed to eat anything.  She seriously missed talking to Sam, but couldn’t decide what she dreaded worse...not seeing him or seeing him. By the time she met her ride to work in early January, she’d dropped ten pounds and couldn’t seem to get more than four hours of sleep a night.

She stared out the window, hungry for the first sight of Sam as he waited at the designated pick up area. He looked just as good as she remembered, leaning casually against his truck with his arms crossed against his chest. Carrie lowered her head into her book as he settled into the passenger seat, directly in front of her.

“Good morning everybody!” he said, his voice an exuberant boom in the truck’s previously quiet interior.

She mumbled a like reply, hoping he wouldn’t speak directly to her.

“Did everyone have a good Christmas? Mine was great.”

“Oh, ours was fair, just not long enough,” Craig answered.

“No
kiddin
’,” Corey said. “I could have used another couple of days off. What’d you do for New Years, Langley? Did you go out?”

“Yeah, I did, as a matter of fact,” he said. “My daughter and son-in-law dragged me to the New Years Eve party at the K.C. hall. I have to admit I had a nice time.”

“Oh, yeah?
Did you cut a rug with the ladies, Big Boy?” Craig asked him.

Carrie waited for his answer, absolutely certain the thud of her heart could be heard by everyone in the double cab truck. She rolled her eyes upward to stare at the back of Sam’s head as he nodded and cleared his throat.

“I danced with a couple.”

“Oh yeah?
  Big Boy’s still got it, huh?” Craig exclaimed.

Sam nodded and gave a quiet grunt, then looked out the side window.

“What about you, Carrie?” Craig asked loudly. “Did you happen to be at the same party?”

“Nope,” she answered, hoping he’d drop it. He didn’t.

“No? What’d you do, then?”

“My sister and I watched Dick Clark at her place.” She turned to stare out the rear window.  “That’s it,” she said, as a movement in the passenger side mirror of the pickup caught her attention. She adjusted her gaze to the mirror and her breath caught as she saw Sam’s reflection staring back at her. Her gaze lingered there as she tried, unsuccessfully, to turn away. His casual act of turning away first stunned her, making her heart ache with equally humiliating feelings of hurt and betrayal. She couldn’t blame him for moving on, but did he have to do it so quickly? She turned back to her novel, determined not to let it bother her.

Remarkably, she survived the day without exchanging one word with Sam. Then another, as his survey crew hit the road early in the morning and didn’t return until fifteen minutes before it was time to leave. The third day she wasn’t so lucky.

She turned from stirring sugar and cream into her coffee to find him leaning against the doorway of the kitchen. She stopped suddenly, jerking her mug so that coffee sloshed over the edge onto the floor.  She stared into blue eyes that, at the moment, weren’t sparkling with humor.

“You look tired, Carrie.”

“I’m fine,” she said, setting her mug on the table. She turned to pull two sheets from the paper towel dispenser, hoping he’d use that opportunity to leave. No such luck. When she turned back, he was still there. She dropped the towels on the floor and bent over to wipe up the liquid. Maybe if she ignored him long enough, he’d leave. She straightened and threw the towels in the trash and rinsed her hands. When she turned around, he was still there.

“Uh huh,” he said. “I’m still here.”

She picked up her mug from the counter, used a dampened towel to wipe the coffee ring and threw that towel away as she walked to the door and stopped. She stood there, for a moment, feeling his eyes on her.

“I need to get by,” she said.

“Looks like that’s all you’re doing, is getting by,” he said.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head away from him. A slight shift in the air told her he’d moved, and she looked up to find he’d walked away from her.  She knew he was angry and disappointed in her decision to end their budding relationship.

Carrie walked to her desk, and set her coffee carefully down. She picked up the photo frame from her desk, studying the trio of hinged school photos of her kids. Each one was posed before a different fall background. She wiped a fine layer of dust from the glass with the cuff of her sleeve and placed the frame back on her desk. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. It was easy for him, but who could she be angry with? She loved her kids and they had a right to be happy, too. Her phone rang and she reached over to pick it up.

“B & L Engineering.
Carrie speaking.”

“Is this the only way I can get you to speak directly to me?”

She looked toward Sam’s office, but couldn’t see him seated at his desk. Jeff had called in sick, so she knew he was alone.

“I’m worried about you,” he said.

“Don’t be,” she said, biting down on her lower lip to keep from crying. She wouldn’t be able to take it if he turned all sweet and understanding on her. She needn’t have worried.

“All right, then,” he said, then hung up. She set the phone softly in its cradle and stared at it. Was he
trying
to make her miserable?  She was barely hanging on as it was. Who needed it?

Her head fell forward, cradled in one hand as she covered a yawn with her other. What she needed was a good night’s sleep, minus the nightmares she’d been plagued with. Every night she closed her eyes, praying she wouldn’t see Tim Hardin looming over her, reaching out to touch her as she slept. Every night she woke up terrified, and twisting away from his grasp. Christie told her she may need to see someone, a doctor who could prescribe something just to get her through her rough patch. Carrie knew there was no pill invented that could take the place of having Sam in her life.

Every day, Carrie dissolved into tears as soon as she was alone in her car. Every day, she walked into Christie’s, eyes puffy and red-rimmed from crying. Every day, she told Christie she didn’t want to talk about it.

By the end of the week she decided to look for another job. Jennings was only a thirty minute drive from Gardiner, and it was a good sized city. She scoured the paper every afternoon, searched the internet, made calls, and asked around. Problem was no company in Jennings had a need for anyone with a degree in drafting technology. She’d have to concentrate on something in Lake Coburn or Lafayette if she was going to stay in her field. There again, hanging over her like a twenty pound weight swinging by a thread, was the same problem of high mileage and low starting salary. She was frustrated, sad, and running out of time.

Thankfully, Len had agreed to let her keep everything in the rent house in Kenton until January fifteenth, when she could move into the place in Gardiner. But the fifteenth was just a few days away, and Carrie had to make a decision.

Sam stepped out of Craig’s truck on Friday afternoon, dreading the weekend. He waved his co-workers off, noticing that Carrie didn’t look up from the book she was pretending to read. He knew that, because he sneaked a peek at it every chance he got and her marker stayed in the same spot. She looked exhausted so he doubted she was getting much sleep, she barely ate anything at the office, and drank coffee all day to keep from falling asleep at her desk. Roxie and J.C. said she’d been too quiet, and wasn’t talking about anything. Damn it all, he was worried sick about her.