Pamela Hearon - My Way Back to You

CHAPTER FIVE

“YOU HEARD ANY more from Maggie?” Eli doused his third cup of coffee with heavy cream and stirred it, changing the hue from black to tan.

Rosemary thought Eli’s color seemed slightly better this morning than yesterday. She finished off the remains in her own cup and set it down with a sigh and a shake of her head. “No. And I know she must be upset. Yesterday was the day they moved Russ into his dorm. That had to be hard on her.”

“You think being around the son of a bitch is hard on her, too?” The cream must have cooled Eli’s coffee quickly because he swallowed half the cup in one gulp.

“Don’t drink so fast.”

“Don’t tell me how to drink my coffee.” He picked up the cup and gulped down the rest, just out of spite, she was sure.

“I hope it’s not hard on her. She’s known for a couple of months she and Jeff would be up there together. That was plenty of time to get her head prepared.”

Eli stood, pulled the cap from the pocket of his overalls and flipped it onto his head to cover the mop of silver hair he still sported. He adjusted the bill so that it covered his heavy, still-black eyebrows. “Not her head I’m worried about,” he drawled.

Rosemary pushed back in her chair and directed a withering glare his direction. “Shame on you, Eli Crenshaw Russell! That’s your daughter we’re talking about.”

He stepped toward her and braced one arm on the table and one on the back of her chair. Then he leaned down until his twinkling blue-gray eyes were even with hers. “I was referring to her heart, you dirty old woman.”

“Oh.” She saw the twitch of a grin at the corner of his mouth right before he kissed her heated forehead.

“Gotta go.” He patted the top of her head as he straightened. “Those tractors aren’t going to fix themselves.”

Rosemary leaned her head back, stretching those darn neck muscles that always seemed so tight these days. “But somebody else could fix them. Let’s retire, Eli. Let’s take that money we’ve worked so hard for all these years and spend it seeing some of the world...like we always promised ourselves we’d do.”

Eli had started toward the door—her words didn’t even slow his stride. They never did. “We’ll do that, Rosie. Someday.”

“Someday,” she muttered as she cleared away the breakfast dishes. “Always someday.”

Maggie was so much like her dad. She used to say the same thing to Zeke when he wanted to travel, which he did often. He’d usually end up going by himself while she stayed home and ran the salon. Look where it got her. The money she made and saved? What good was it now? He was gone and their chance of doing things together ripped away in the blink of an eye.

Maggie was too much in her thoughts, and Rosemary wasn’t going to get anything done until she talked to her daughter. She chose the wall phone, preferring to use it rather than the cell phone, which she was sure was causing all these tumors in the mouth and brain she’d heard about recently.

“Hey, Mom.” Maggie sounded more chipper than Rosemary had expected. Not a good sign. That meant she was forcing it, which inferred she was really upset.

“Hey, darlin’. Just wanted to see if things were going okay.”

Maggie’s sigh reduced the pretense a smidgen. “Things went all right yesterday. But I’m not much looking forward to today.”

“I knew you wouldn’t be. That’s why I called. To let you know we love you and are thinking about you.”

“Thanks. That’s sweet.”

There was that uncharacteristic silence Rosemary detested.

“And how are you and Jeff getting along?”

“Fine. No problems.” Back to forced chipper, which set off alarms in Rosemary’s head.

“Well...glad to hear that.”

Silence again.

“Russ and Jeff are playing in the golf scramble today. Each team member was allowed to choose a partner. I backed off, figuring Russ would rather have his dad on his team.”

“What a shame you can’t play, too.” Rosemary tried to encourage the conversation by showing sympathy. “You enjoy the game. And you’re good.”

“Yeah, but this is a competition Russ wants to win. Jeff will give him the best chance. There’s this guy Spike—his son’s on the team. He’s always bragging about how great he is at everything. I think our guys are out for his blood, so I hope they draw a good pair to team up with.”

Maggie’s short laugh sounded more relaxed, but our guys was an interesting word choice.

“So what are you going to do while they’re playing?”

“Oh, I’ll follow along. I guess that’s what all the extra parents will do.” Now her voice sounded normal—maybe the mom-call had worked its magic, after all.

Rosemary spied Eli’s cash box sitting on the kitchen counter where he’d forgotten it. “Well, I won’t keep you. I know you have a busy day ahead.”

“Yeah. I need to get moving.”

“Me, too. Your dad forgot his cash box. Love you. Give Russ hugs.”

“Okay. Love you, too. Hugs to Dad.”

They hung up and Rosemary realized she didn’t know any more about how Maggie was handling being around Jeff than she had yesterday. Her daughter was being very tight-lipped about her ex, which didn’t bode well by Rosemary’s way of thinking.

She snatched up the cash box and headed into the August morning air, already heated and damp with humidity. The pole barn Eli used as his machine shop sat at the back of their large piece of property. She was in no hurry as she followed the gravel lane back to it. A chicken snake slithered across the path, several yards ahead, leaving a weaving trail in its path.

“Snake in the grass.” She chuckled, remembering the epithet Eli had first used in reference to Jeff before he’d settled on son of a bitch.

She’d been fond of Jeff when he and Maggie were dating, and once they’d gotten married, he’d tried hard to man up. They’d just been too young and had too many things stacked against them. But he’d broken her daughter’s heart— that she couldn’t forgive.

Chicken snakes were easy to piss off and quick to bite.

Yeah, that pretty much summed up the Jeff she remembered.

The shadow of the pole barn brought instant cool to her sweaty back, and she stopped a moment to enjoy the sensation. No sound came from the barn. The eerie silence sent her into a near-jog.

The sight that met her eyes when she passed through the oversize garage door brought her to a complete stop.

“Eli? What are you doing?”

Eli’s jumping jacks came to a halt, and he swung around toward her, surprise giving way to sheepish in a flash. “What do you mean, what am I doing?” He was winded and gasping for breath, face red from exertion. “Can’t a man exercise without being chastised for it?”

She made no attempt to keep the suspicion out of her voice. “You work hard. And except for walking, you’ve never exercised a day in your life.”

“Well...I decided to add jumping jacks to today’s regimen. Now get on back to the house and leave me alone.” He took the cash box from her and turned his back in dismissal.

“Jumping jackass, if you ask me.” She sneered and headed back to the house.

His low chuckle followed her retreating backside, and she allowed a smile since he couldn’t see her face.

Eli partaking in calisthenics?

That dog didn’t hunt.

Something was amiss.

* * *

MAGGIE’S BODY HAD become a battle zone...courtesy of Jeff’s kiss last night. Okay, it wasn’t only his kiss. She’d been a more-than-willing participant. In fact, she may’ve been the instigator, Lord help her.

Had she lost her freaking mind?

Maybe so. It kept wandering off of its own accord, breaking free of the reins she’d held so tightly for years.