‘Just get in here!’ he shouts back.
Suffice it to say, I can’t watch the water drip down Rod’s perfect pecs and abs and every other upper body muscle without feeling an invisible rope pull me to him. You can’t blame the girl who ran away from this guy back in May for trying to rectify her mistakes, which is exactly what I’m out to do. My sandals crunch in the short grass, and a laugh escapes me when I collide with Rod, his arms wrapped around my body, lifting my feet off the ground. The sprinklers absolutely blast us, and I’m fully roaring with laughter as Rod grins up at me, sunny-eyed, messy-haired. I don’t want to come down.
It’s a familiar, curt voice that does bring me down, though. ‘Would you go ahead and dry off, Rodney?’
Rod puts me down, looking so guilty for something he absolutely didn’t do. ‘Sorry,’ he mouths. My left eye twitches before I can calculate a reaction. Telltale sign ofthe twister has hit the trailer park.
Charlotte looks more upset than she did on Saturday, if that’s even possible. She’s still got her arms crossed, and instead of the sweater, she has on belted khaki slacks and a short-sleeved blouse. ‘I’d like to spend some time with you and your daughter,’she says pointedly, with a cut of her eyes my way. ‘If you don’t mind freshening up while I go pick her up, that would be wonderful.’
So is she herejust because? Real peachy. Benny and I both cough very awkwardly and in a suspicious synchrony, and decide to take our leave. We slip out of the sprinkler zone and over to our duffel bags. I feel like a real homewrecker, actually, even though I know I didn’t wreck any home. This Charlotte has quite a way with words. The two of us exchange a pained look.
As Rod retreats behind us, Benny chucks him a towel by way of a slap to his ass. I try extremely hard not to snort. Charlotte flinches, even though the towel is nowhere close to her.
‘I’ll see you at six,’ Charlotte says in the most clipped tone known to mankind, turning on her heel. ‘Just the three of us, please,’ she calls behind her.
I’m Team Rod in this, ride or die, but this chick is really, really testing me. My stupid eye twitches again. It doesn’t stop till I’m back at Rebecca’s place.
‘Complicated, ain’t he?’ Rebecca offers over an iced tea. I’m starting to really love these iced teas. I didn’t care much for them when I moved to New England, but this itty-bitty town has made me a fan. Particularly because iced teas here seem to come coupled with gossip.
‘How’d you know?’ I slump over in my chair, exasperated.
‘Whole town knows. That’s sort of how things work around Whittaker.’ She smiles warmly and tops my tea off with a helping from her shiny glass pitcher, slick with condensation. ‘It’s fortunate when people need a little extra love, and unfortunate when people are afraid word’ll get out.’
I push ice cubes around in the frosted glass with my straw as Rebecca goes on. ‘For what it’s worth, you can tell from the way Charlotte comes and goes. That man’s needed another fighter in his corner for ages. You’ve got that spirit. You’re a brave one. You’ll be alright.’
I turn to the TV for a moment and pretend I am very keenly interested in watchingI Love Lucyreruns, but I can only lie for so long. ‘Did they … they knew each other for a while, then?’
‘Before high school,’ confirms Rebecca. She stands up with her empty glass and heads over to the sink, talks as she washes. ‘They grew up a couple doors down from each other. The original Wilson house, belonging to Rod’s family, it was actually the house that Genny now lives in. She bought all the surrounding land for her farm, but she kept the house. If you take a left out of there and keep going a few minutes, you’ll find Charlotte and Declan’s. Small town magic.’
I nod matter-of-factly. Sounds a little too familiar. In my own town of Prosperity, everyone you could possibly care about is a few miles in either direction.
‘Rod and Char, the both of them were always swapping glances at the fair, always “running into” one another at the market. Even when he played ball, she’d watch him while she cheered. At least, that’s the lore. High-school sweethearts. Were supposed to go till the end.’
That’s a piece of information I probably shouldn’t have dug for. My throat feels dry.
‘Then college, and,’ she shrugs, ‘everything changed. As things tend to when you grow up. Adulthood can hit like a ton of bricks.’
Rebecca’s smile is tight. When I think about it, she probablyremembers when all of this went down. Like everybody else in Whittaker, she probably watched it happen from the front row. ‘Rodney, he took on a lot. You know it well enough. Parenting alone’s no easy task. And yet he kept holding out hope, at least at first, that things would work out, that there was still some hope of “till the end” between them.’
‘Oh,’ I manage. Idefinitelyshouldn’t have dug. I feel less and less sure of myself with every next word, but Rebecca glances back at me in between dishes.
‘But if you ask me … she wasn’t the warrior he needed.’ Rebecca turns off the faucet. She returns to the table, and in a gesture as tender as one of my own mother’s, one that immediately makes my eyes go all watery, she pats my hand softly. Same way my mom does. ‘You, darling, certainly are.’
Chapter Thirty-Seven
SOS
Rod
Glasses clink and chairs scrape against wooden floors, interspersed with the sharp sounds of boot heels hitting the ground with punctuated clops. It’s nothing I’ve ever been worth my salt at, but it looks like Genny is beyond glad to finally have a dancing partner.
Reese puts two fingers between his lips and lets out a piercing whistle. My sister turns back for just a second with a smile that reaches all the way up to her eyes. What the two of them have has always been something I couldn’t fathom. What kind of guy purchases a farm with a woman and stakes his life savings on starting a horse business? Day by day, I’ve found myself understanding it better. Today, that begins to scare me, though.
‘You got that thing this Saturday, don’t you?’ he quips, taking a sip of his Bud Light. ‘The fourth game? Genny was tellingme. We gotta prepare to be camped out in the sun for three hours. Again,’ he adds with a chuckle. ‘I can’t say the last few years have been any kinder to us.’
I manage a harsh laugh. The cross-camp is teetering somewhere between adrenaline-pounding excitement and bone-numbing terror, all rolled up in a predicted eighty-plus-degree climate. ‘Yeah. The kids are getting pretty close to ready. Last practice is Wednesday, team dinner is Friday, and then … the big game.’
‘Jeez.’ Reese sighs. ‘I’m tired enough having the two boys trying to pull out my hair every waking moment. Don’t know how you survive with thirty of those kids. Hats off to you, man.’
