You and Only You (8 page)

Lily’s eyes widened. “Wow! What does Faith’s husband do, anyway?”

“I have a dummied-down explanation about his company making something that is part of the guidance system on army jets.”

“Way to go, Faith,” Lily said, as she plopped down in the chair beside his bed.

He frowned. “Yeah, I guess every woman wants to marry a rich man.”

Lily frowned back. “No, Mike. Most of us just want to love the man we marry.”

His heart dropped. “Yeah, so at the rate you’re going in the love department, I assume you’ve taken yourself off the market?”

The tone of his voice was only slightly less shocking than what he’d said.

“What on earth made you say a thing like that?”

“I don’t see you dating. I don’t see you even interested in dating.”

Before she thought, she spouted off, “Maybe that’s because you aren’t paying attention.”

All of a sudden he felt light-headed as the blood drained from his face. Now the diet and wanting to change her life were beginning to make sense. Son of a bitch! It was happening again, and just like before, he was not part of the equation.

“I guess I wasn’t,” he said softly, then shoved the tray away, leaned back, and closed his eyes.

“You didn’t eat your Jell-O,” she said.

“I don’t want my Jell-O.”

She frowned. “Okay, I just thought—”

“I’m going to rest now. Stay if you want, but I don’t feel like talking.”

LilyAnn knew he was mad, but she didn’t know why.

“Okay. I’m here if you need me,” she said softly.

I
will
always
need
you, LilyAnn. You just don’t need me
. But the thought went unsaid.

* * *

Lily knew something was wrong—very wrong. Mike had turned off communicating. Every time she tried to get him in a better mood, he either looked right through her or wouldn’t look at her at all.

The entire afternoon passed with hardly a word spoken between them. His supper tray had come and gone, and he’d rejected it as blatantly as he was rejecting her. Her stomach was in knots. She couldn’t go home tonight without knowing what was wrong. After the shift changed and the new nurses came on the floor to do rounds, the room was finally quiet again. Lily took it as her chance to try and straighten things out.

“Hey, Mike?”

He glanced over at her. “What?”

“Are you mad at me for some reason…or am I reading too much into this, and it’s just because you’re in pain?”

His nostrils flared slightly. She could tell she’d struck a nerve.

When he didn’t answer, she persisted. “Have I done something wrong?”

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the pillow for so long that she thought he wasn’t going to answer, and then she realized he was staring at her.

“No, LilyAnn, you haven’t done anything wrong. I’m the one with some issues to face.”

She frowned. “Like what? Is there anything I can do?” She thought there were tears in his eyes but decided she was mistaken.

“No. This is all on me. You’ve been telling me something for eleven long years, but I didn’t want to hear it. Now I get it, and I’ve got to figure out what comes next.”

She stood up, her hands suddenly shaking. “I don’t understand. This sounds so final. If I’ve done something to ruin our friendship, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You’re my best friend.”

“You don’t need a friend, LilyAnn. You need to get a life. Obviously you’re moving on. I wish you all the happiness.”

“Moving on? I’m not moving—”

All of a sudden the door swung inward and Mike’s parents rushed in.

Carol was in tears, and Don looked anxious.

“Mike! Oh my goodness, honey! I’m so sorry. Are you okay? How do you feel?” Carol cried. Then she slid her arms around his neck and hugged him gently, but with fervor.

Mike winced as he managed a grin.

“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad. Great to see you. I’d have taken a header sooner if I knew that’s what it would take to get you to visit.”

Their laughter was one of relief as they turned to Lily. Carol came toward her with her arms outstretched.

“LilyAnn, sweetheart! I shudder to think what might have happened to Mike if you hadn’t been there for him. Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Lily suffered their hugs and kisses, somehow managing to react normally, but her heart was breaking. Something awful had happened between her and Mike, and she didn’t understand.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Lily said. “Mike needed you guys. Faith really came through for you, didn’t she?”

Carol rolled her eyes. “Faith’s husband is a jewel. We feel blessed to have him in the family.”

Lily smiled and looked at Mike, but he was, again, ignoring her and talking to his dad.

“So, Mrs. Dalton, how long can you stay?” she asked.

“We’re definitely staying through Thanksgiving.”

Lily smiled. “Great. You’re having it at my house. My mom and Eddie are coming here for Thanksgiving before going on to his daughter’s house. She just made him a grandfather for the first time.”

Carol clapped her hands. “I am so excited to see Grace again and to meet her husband. It will almost be like old times.”

Lily looked at Mike again, but this time he was staring out the window, seemingly oblivious to the conversation.

“Yes, like old times,” she said. “So, I’m going to leave you guys to have private time with Mike. I’ll see you soon. Come for supper tomorrow night…around seven if you can make it.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

Lily wrote down her cell number. “Here’s my number. Call me if you need anything…anything at all. I still work at Phillips’ Pharmacy.”

Carol laughed. “Blessings is an amazing place. It’s very comforting to know things never change here.”

Lily felt like crying. She had to get out before she came undone.

“I’m leaving now. Mike, you know where I am. Call if you need something.”

“Now that Mom and Dad are here, I won’t bother you again,” he said.

She managed to smile as she made a smooth exit and held it together on the way home. But by the time she pulled up in her driveway, tears were running down her face. She got into the house, turning on lights as she went, and made it all the way to her bedroom before she collapsed on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably. Her heart hurt to the point that it was hard to breathe. Mike was on the mend. His parents were here. They were all having Thanksgiving together. She should be happy. So why did she feel like someone had just died?

* * *

One week later

“Lily! LilyAnn! How much are these cough drops? I don’t see a price on them anywhere.”

Lily glanced up from the cash register, at the woman waving to her from an aisle away.

“It’s on the shelf,” she said, and kept ringing up Willa Dean Miller’s purchases.

Willa Dean leaned over the counter in a conspiratorial manner.

“The reason Sue Beamon can’t see the price is because she’s too vain to wear her glasses,” Willa Dean muttered.

Lily managed a smile, but it was hard to find the joy in even the simplest of things.

“We all have our vanities,” Lily said.

Willa Dean frowned. “I guess.”

“That will be forty-two dollars and fifty cents,” Lily said, as she dropped the last item in the bag.

Willa Dean ran her credit card through the scanner, signed her name on the screen, and then glanced over her shoulder. Sue Beamon was her next-door neighbor, and she was heading this way. She’d been trying to corner Willa Dean for a solid week, and she wasn’t in the mood to be grilled about anything.

“Thanks a bunch, LilyAnn,” Willa Dean said. She grabbed the receipt Lily handed her and sailed out of the store before Sue could get to the checkout counter.

“Well, shoot,” Sue said, as she laid the bag of cough drops on the counter. “I wanted to talk to Willa Dean.”

“You guys live on the same street,” Lily said.

Sue shrugged. “I know. But these days she’s always working or gone. And when she leaves on her little shopping trips, she leaves Harold behind. Kinda weird, if you ask me. I think something is up.”

Lily frowned. “You shouldn’t say that. Someone could get the wrong idea and start a rumor about Willa Dean that wasn’t true.”

Sue blinked, taken aback by the not-so-subtle scolding.

“Well, yes, of course you’re right. I was just…uh, how much do I owe you?”

“It comes to three dollars and seventeen cents.”

Sue counted out even change, took the receipt and her cough drops, and hustled out of the store.

Lily sighed. It was Friday, almost noon, and where the heck was Mitchell? Her head hurt. Her neck hurt. She couldn’t wait to get to The Curl Up and Dye for that shampoo and head massage that Ruby gave her.

And just like that, Mitchell came hurrying in the front door, waving as he went to put up his things. He came back just as quickly. She dropped the register key in his hand.

“Go, girl. You look like you need a break,” Mitchell said.

“I need something,” Lily muttered.

She left the pharmacy with a less than hurried step. When she passed the fitness center, she couldn’t help but look in. Stewart was behind the counter, and she could see his wife in the back. She knew Mike wouldn’t be back to work this soon, but she couldn’t help but look.

Just thinking about Mike made the ache in her heart worse. Day before yesterday, he’d come home from the hospital, and when she’d gone over that evening after work to say hi, Carol had said he was asleep. Lily had tried again last night with the same result, and this time she knew Carol was as uncomfortable lying as she was getting the rejection. She wouldn’t go back. She knew when she wasn’t wanted. She just didn’t know why.

As she waited at the corner for traffic to pass, she heard the rumble of T. J. Lachlan’s hot-rod engine and turned to look. The lure of new territory was still there, but not as appealing as it had been. She needed to be okay with Mike more than she wanted to see if she could attract a man. But she couldn’t fix anything when she didn’t know what was broken, and Mike wouldn’t talk to her. All she could do was focus on changing her attitude, and hopefully her social life would change with it.

When the shiny black truck passed by the corner, she looked away. She didn’t want anyone’s attention. She just wanted her headache to go away, and the beauty shop was the best place to make that happen.

The bell jingled as she walked in the door.

Ruby waved at her from the shampoo station.

“Come on back, girl! I’m ready for you.”

Lily hung up her coat, dropped her purse by Ruby’s styling chair, and sat down in front of the shampoo bowl.

Ruby fastened a cape over her clothes and patted her shoulder.

“Lean back, honey, and we’ll get this pretty hair washed in nothing flat.”

Lily sank backward like she was sliding into an old footed tub full of bubbles, took a deep breath, and then closed her eyes. The water was warm on her scalp. Ruby’s chatter was going in one ear and out the other, which was fine. Most of what she said was information and didn’t require a comment.

When she squirted shampoo on Lily’s head and began to work it into her hair, using long, steady strokes to scrub it clean, Lily felt like crying. Logically, she knew it was because the tension was releasing in her neck and shoulders. But when Ruby actually began massaging her scalp, tears welled. She sniffed as she fumbled for a tissue to wipe her nose, unaware that the tears were already rolling down her face.

Ruby was shocked. Not once in all the years she’d been doing LilyAnn’s hair had she seen her exhibit real emotion of any kind. Then she remembered how rattled Lily had been at the hospital after Mike’s accident and immediately thought something must have happened to him. She leaned down.

“Honey, what’s wrong? Is Mike okay?”

Lily began swiping at her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Sister,” she mumbled. “I don’t know what’s come over me. I guess I’m just tired.”

Ruby didn’t push the issue, but she didn’t think that was it at all. She finished the shampoo and rinse, then moved Lily back to the styling chair and worked some setting gel into the long, silky strands. Without saying another word, she grabbed the blow-dryer and brush and got down to business.

LilyAnn felt numb. She was only vaguely aware that the last customer was gone and that Mabel Jean had followed Vera and Vesta to the back room to grab a little lunch before their next appointments showed up. She wouldn’t look at herself—couldn’t look at herself without wailing, so she stared down at the toes of her shoes instead.

Ruby noticed the tears hanging on LilyAnn’s lashes. She could almost feel her sadness. She liked her a lot, and when something was wrong in Ruby’s world, she had an overwhelming urge to fix it.

“Listen up, girl. We’re alone, so talk to me. Is something wrong with Mike?”

It was the word “Mike” that did it. Lily covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

Ruby’s heart skipped a beat. “Honey. Is it Mike? Did he get worse? What’s happened?”

“No, he’s not worse. He’s mad at me, and I don’t know why.”

Ruby stifled a huge sigh of relief. “Well, bless your heart. What happened?”

Lily was sobbing loud enough that it brought the other three women out of the back room.

“I don’t know what happened. That’s what’s so awful. One minute we were fine, and the next thing he just shut down. I asked him if it was something I said, but he got all weird and said something about me getting on with my life and…and… I don’t know. I just can’t get him to talk to me anymore.”

The women looked at each other, then at Lily, then back at each other again. They’d already discussed the fact that they thought Mike was sweet on her.

The twins came closer. One handed Lily a handful of tissues, while the other one went to get a wet hand towel to wipe the mascara running down her cheeks.

Lily wiped her eyes, unaware she was smearing the mascara even more, and then blew her nose.

Ruby laid down the blow-dryer and spun the chair around so that Lily was facing her.

“You and Mike have been friends too long to let something like this get out of hand. Let’s see if we can figure out what might have set him off. Sometimes it takes a disinterested party to get the gist of misunderstandings.”