Some Day Somebody (54 page)

He’d tried to connect with her the first day, but seeing her pitiful attempt at holding it together affected him in a bad way.  So, he tried to act like he was okay with her decision, when he was far from it. But he’d take seeing her every day at work, even if they weren’t together, over not seeing her at all. Freaking weekends sucked...Big time.

***

By seven p.m. he’d been sitting in his recliner for two hours already. Sam powered off the television and dropped the remote on the couch. He went to the sink for a glass of water that he didn’t drink, picked up the weekly newspaper but didn’t read it. He paced the living room floor, pausing occasionally to check for lights at Carrie’s place. He’d spoken to Len already, and knew she’d asked to hang on to it until the fifteenth. But that was three days away, and he figured if she was going to move out, she’d have to do it by this weekend. He’d hoped to get her alone before then and try to talk some sense into her, but the more he thought about it, the less likely that seemed. When she did show up she’d probably be surrounded by family and friends, and he’d play hell to get her alone for a second, much less the time it would take him to throw himself on her mercy. 

“Son of a bitch,” he said, reaching for the phone. He punched a number into the keypad, a number he’d looked at so many times over the past
week,
he had the damn thing memorized. He heard it ring and took a deep breath, waiting to hear a familiar voice.

“Ha-
wo
.”

Sam grinned, despite his foul mood. “Hello Max.”

“Mommy
wanth
to know who
thith
ith
,” the toddler lisped.

“It’s Sam, Max. Remember me?”

“
Yeth
.
Aunt
Cawee-th
Tham
.”

“That’s right. Can I talk to her please?”

“
She’th
not he-ah.
Mommy can’t find her.”

It took a moment for Sam to process the child’s statement, but when he did, the breath left his lungs in a rush. “What?  Max, let me talk to your mama.”

“Okay,” he said, before dropping the phone and running off toward his mother, or at least Sam hoped that’s where he was going.  A second before he was about to hang up and drive over there, a breathless voice came on over the line.

“Hello, Sam?”

“Yeah, what’s going on, Christie?”

“Please tell me she’s with you.”

“No...No damn it, she’s not.”

“Crap! You were my last hope.  I don’t know where the hell she could be.  I called all her friends in Lake Erin, and even Dave’s family...I thought maybe she’d be visiting with Ruby.”

“Who?”

“Dave’s mom, she and Carrie are very close.”

“Okay, yeah, I remember now. Well, if you hear from her tell her to call me, and if she doesn’t want to talk to me you make the call.”

“I will, Sam, as soon as I finish chewing her ass out for making me worry.”

Sam hung up and paced his empty house for five minutes before pulling on his boots, and grabbing his coat and keys on the way out. His engine barely had time to turn over before he threw it into reverse and pulled out onto the rain dampened street. He threw it in drive, skidding on the wet street until the tires bit, trying to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

***

An hour and a half later, he knocked on Christie’s door, mumbling and cursing, because he could see she wasn’t home. Her car was gone and the house was dark. “Dumbass!” he said, thinking back to how he’d told Craig that very day that he had no use for a cell phone. Damn if he wouldn’t give his left nut for one right now.

Sam jumped inside his truck and peeled out, heading for Elaine’s place. He made it in less than five minutes and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her car in the drive.  He knocked on the door, and waited, praying all this worrying was for nothing.  He knocked again, and peeked through the window. No sign of life, no television, just the one light on over her kitchen sink.

“Aw come on!”  He took a step back and let his head drop back against his shoulders, wondering what else he could do, when he heard someone call his name. He left the porch and searched the darkness. “Hello?”

“Is that you, Sam?” Mack called from the house next door.

“Yeah!
What’s going on, Mack? I’m looking for Carrie.”

“She ran off the road and they brought her to the Jennings hospital to get checked out. Sharon drove Mom over to meet her and I think Christie went too.”

“How bad?”
Sam asked, as his stomach lurched at the thought of losing her.

“I don’t know, man. I’m waiting to get a call. But she fell asleep at the wheel.”

“What the hell?”

“Apparently, she hasn’t been sleeping. Christie said Carrie’s been having nightmares since she’s been back at her place. She said she wakes up damn near screaming.”

Sam nodded while backing away. “Thanks Mack.
Jennings hospital...That’s where I’m headed.”

***

Sam was running on pure adrenaline by the time he pulled up into his drive. He’d hauled ass all the way to the hospital, only to hear she’d been released already.  He’d missed her by fifteen minutes. Relieved, but no less frustrated as hell, Sam cussed his way back to his truck then stood there, debating on whether to go home or head back to Christie’s.  Consideration for Carrie’s injuries, even though the nurse had assured him they were minor, convinced him to head back towards Kenton. He drove by Carrie’s, hoping to see some sign of life, but got only darkened windows.

CHAPTER 25

Sam’s ringing
telephone woke him from a fitful sleep, jarring him so bad, that it fell from his lap to the floor with a loud clatter. He sat up, blinking, and wiped the drool off of his face. He reached for the phone while squinting at the walk clock. How the hell had he managed to sleep for an hour?  He finally caught the phone and hit the talk button. “Hello?”

“I’d about given up on you answering. I thought maybe you’d gone to bed already.”

He sat up straight as Carrie’s voice washed over him like a soothing balm. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I got a bump on my head when my car slipped in the ditch, but that’s it. I was embarrassed to go to the hospital, but Mom insisted.”

“It was the right thing to do.”

“I guess.”  She paused, and he could tell she was choosing her words carefully. “Christie said you called, and Mack said you came by.”

“Yeah, I uh...I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?” she asked.

Again, he thought how sore she probably was and decided not to push her into an argument tonight. “Aw, it was nothing, just wanted to check up on you. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Well...If you’re that worried, you could come on over here and check me out for yourself,” she drawled.

“You want me to drive back to Gardiner tonight to see if you’re okay?” he asked, on the brink of being annoyed.

“I didn’t say anything about driving.”

“What?”

She chuckled seductively into the phone.  “I’m here, Sam, in my house.  Are you coming, or what?”

He leaned over to pull the curtain aside and saw a soft glow coming from her house on the corner. “Are you packing up?”

Carrie lit another candle and placed it on the end table. “
Nah,
decided I’d stay for awhile.”

“Oh yeah?
  What brought that on?”

“More like who...My mom. It seems she met my kids at the hospital and gave them a talking to.”

“Oh yeah?
  What’d she say to them?”

“Don’t know, exactly. No one’s talking. All I heard was that she wasn’t too happy with them.”

“I bet she wasn’t.”

“Whatever she said, it worked, because my kids walked into the emergency room and told me they were wrong.”

“No...
Really?”

“Yep...Said, they were willing to give Kenton a chance, as well as you.”

“I knew I liked your Mom.”

Carrie grinned at his comment. “Yeah, I guess I’ll keep her.”

“Uh huh, I like you too.”

She smoothed down her red and black silk blouse, and spun around in her living room, causing the matching skirt to twirl gracefully and settle against her legs. “So, are you going to get your six foot three butt over here, Langley, or do I have to go meet you?”  She heard a knock on the door and walked warily over to it, for a moment forgetting that Tim Hardin was no longer a threat.

“Hey Carrie?”
Sam whispered.

“Yeah,” she said reaching for the light switch to the front porch.

“Open the damn door.”

Carrie flipped the switch and sucked in her breath at the more than welcome sight of him standing there with a cordless phone to his ear. She dropped her hand to her side and pulled open the door. “Hey.”

He lowered his hand, hitting the end call button, and then stepped slowly across the threshold to meet her. He closed the door behind him and took one deliberate step closer. “Look, lady. We’re
gonna
get something straight here and now.”

She nodded, keeping her silence.

“Don’t ask me to stay unless you want more than friendship from me. I mean it...I can’t take anymore goodbyes.”

She shook her head. “I won’t.”

Sam’s brow rose ominously. “You won’t what?”