Finding Bluefield (25 page)

“Whose daughter?”

“Leroy. He came back to Bluefield and ended up buying the diner from Lucinda.”

“And you saw him last night?”

“No. He died last year, but his daughter runs the diner and she was there last night.”

“That’s wild,” Barbara said.

“She knew my name, Barbara. Knew who I was. His whole family knows that I drove him to Richmond.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“Leroy came back.” Nicky pushed her hands through her hair. Why had this dream, this nightmare come back? Why now and why here, knowing that Leroy had come back, had died happily?

“Are you planning to let this eat at you?” Barbara said. “Leroy got to return, but you didn’t? Or maybe you could, but you wouldn’t?”

“I’m thinking about letting it.”

“I’m driving down today with Paul. He’s catching a bus home and then we’re going to drive down together.”

“Let Paul drive.”

“We won’t be that late. Maybe around nine? That will give you all day to poke around on your own,” Barbara said. “I’m bringing you clothes.”

“That will be nice.”

“Get Paul his own room.”

“His own room?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” Nicky said. “Did you have something special in mind?”

“You know how I love hotels.”

“You hate hotels.”

“Please be there when we get there,” Barbara said. “We’re coming straight to the motel.”

“Where else would I be?”

“Do you need anything else?” Barbara said.

“I need everything.”

*

Nicky managed to fall back to sleep, and this time when she awoke, she felt rested. Outside, the day was clear and warm. Nicky was anxious to show Paul where she came from. She planned to spend the day scoping out what had changed and what remained the same. Paul’s roots went down to the earth here, and it was time for him to see the places and people he sprang from. It might help him in ways neither of them knew.

Nicky showered and dressed and stopped at the mall in search of clean clothes. She couldn’t start calling on people while wearing dirty clothes. She had no intention of strolling down Main Street looking like she thought it was fine to disappear for twenty years and then return without dressing for the occasion. A young woman helped her find some jeans and a sweater and Nicky picked out some underwear and socks. She felt awkward showing the cashier her New York driver’s license when paying with her credit card, and even more awkward when she asked to have all the tags taken off so she could return to the dressing room and change into everything she just bought. The sweater was looser than usual, but she didn’t want everyone she met to stare at her missing breasts. Not first thing anyway. At the drugstore, she had picked up a toothbrush, some hair ties, assorted makeup, and a hairbrush. Back in the mall parking lot, Nicky put her soiled clothes in the trunk and cleaned out her car and used the rearview mirror to freshen up her face. She put the Bel Air’s top down, tied back her hair, and slipped her sunglasses onto her nose. Before pulling out, she tuned her radio to the college radio station, which was playing John Cougar’s “Jack and Diane.” Who was I when I lived here? What was I going to be?

Nicky parked along Main Street, got a cup of coffee, and strolled along the sidewalk. The five-and-dime, the hardware store, the beauty salon, and the candy store were all gone. The Jeffers family seemed to have entered the real estate business. Nicky read the listings on their large storefront window. They were pushing condominiums, both commercial and residential. She recognized one of the new condo developments as a former farm. She was hoping that was not the fate of the Stewart farm. Back in her car, she drove to the hospital where she sat in the parking lot and finished her coffee. The place was not much to look at, but it had brought Barbara to Bluefield and Paul into the world. Not a bad résumé.

*

Route 147 was more disturbing by daylight. The successful invasion of fast food chains and superstores had stripped the road of its Southern character. Except for the Virginia license plates, this could be anywhere in the US, and, unlike Main Street, traffic on 147 was heavy. Nicky was glad when she reached Route 212 where she turned to head out of town toward Four Corners and Andy’s shop.

She pulled over almost immediately when she saw a condo development sign that read: Jeffers Place. Nicky remembered every farm that lined this road, remembered each clapboard house and shack and tobacco barn and smokehouse. She knew the Jeffers farm, yet couldn’t find any connection to it as she drove through the townhouses on their newly paved streets and manicured yards.

The Jeffers had the biggest farm in the county, and they had allowed the circus to set up on their land every Labor Day weekend. Seemed like the whole town came to see it. Nicky’s father would drop her and Carol-Ann at the farm where they watched the circus unpack and set up while he ran errands. On the day of the circus, they woke early and waited for their father to get up. During the ride, they rethought their strategy, reconsidered the merits of each ride, each show, and recounted their money, money earned from summer chores, money tied tightly in their handkerchiefs. Before getting out, their father pressed a few extra coins into each of their palms.

Once inside the gates, Carol-Ann and Nicky were allowed to wander by themselves; after all, they were among their own. With the long growing season and all those solitary months of tending to the crops drawing to an end, no one minded standing in line for hours with their neighbors. The wait was part of the attraction, a yearly social event for normally reticent folk. Now the condo’s fitness center stood where the main tent used to set up.

She continued on her way till the traffic light that had been installed at Four Corners stopped her. Nicky smiled as she waited for the light to change. The garage was still there, though it didn’t have gas pumps anymore and its sign now said: Andy’s Auto Infirmary, quality maintenance and repairs for your vehicle. Across from the garage, the Four Corner’s Restaurant was still there. But a general store and a used car lot stood on what had been the empty third and fourth corners. The general store sold self-serve gas, groceries, and it also rented videos. The used car lot was called Andy’s Autos. When the light turned green, Nicky pulled up to a bay and shut her engine.

A young man approached her car. “Don’t see many of those around anymore,” he said. He walked around the car. “You drove it all the way from New York?”

“I heard this place had the best Bel Air mechanic on the East Coast.”

“We used to,” he said. “But he retired.”

Nicky leaned against the fender. No one was still around. Was she too late? Was this trip a mistake? “Really? You’re saying I drove all the way here for nothing? We’ll just have to un-retire him.”

“Good luck with that. I’ll want to watch this,” he said.

“He’s here?”

“Out back. Wait here and I’ll go get him.”

“You do that,” Nicky said.

“Sure, ma’am,” he said, and went inside the building.

Nicky saw Andy. His hair had grayed, but he still had most of it and he looked fit. He was wiping his hands on a clean rag and smiling. He looked good.

“What seems to be the problem?” Andy said, looking first at the car.

“You don’t recognize one of your own cars?”

Andy looked up at Nicky. She stared back.

“Nicky?” he finally said. “Wow. Nicky Stewart?”

“How are you, Andy?” she said, extending her hand.

“I never thought I’d ever see you again.” Andy pushed her hand away and gave her a big hug. Her stepped back and looked at her. “How long has it been?”

“Too long,” Nicky said. “Eighteen years.”

“Too long is right,” Andy said. “What brings you back?”

“A visit. Figured it was time.”

“It’s about time is what it is,” Andy said. “Are you here for a while? Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”

“I’d like that.”

Nicky followed Andy across the road to the Four Corners Restaurant where he led her to a booth.

“Did you come alone?” Andy said.

“I’m still with Barbara if that is what you’re asking.”

“Sort of.”

“She’s coming down tonight with Paul. Paul started college this year.”

“You must promise to bring them by.”

“I would love for Paul to meet you.” Nicky took a bite of pecan pie.

“You don’t smoke anymore.”

“Not by choice.” Nicky crossed her arms on the table in front of her. “How about you, Andy? How did things turn out for you?”

“I married Elizabeth Sector and we have a boy and a girl. Aaron’s fifteen and Emily is twelve. They’re great.”

“I don’t remember Elizabeth.”

“She was a couple of years behind us in school. She went away to college and I met her after she came back.”

“The Sector name sounds familiar.”

“Her father used to have a feed store in town,” Andy said.

“That’s right.”

“She’s great. You’ll like her. Full of spunk. She teaches math at the junior high.”

“You look good, Andy. I missed you.”

“I was mad at you when you just left. Gone with the wind and never looked back. I was mad at you for not writing, not letting me know where you were, or even if you were all right. After a while, I stopped wondering, but I never understood why there was so much mystery.”

“I’m not sure I understand anymore,” Nicky said.

“Your sister came by a few times to see if I had heard from you.” Andy speared a piece of apple pie with his fork and moved it around his plate. “I told her to let me know if she found you.”

“Carol-Ann died last month.”

“That’s a shame.” Andy looked up at Nicky. “Is that what brought you back?”

“No. Not exactly. The thing is though, Carol-Ann was trying to take Paul away from me,” Nicky said. “That’s why I left. I was too frightened to let anyone know where I was. After a while, covering my tracks became a habit.”

“Where’d you end up?” Andy asked.

“Medford, New York. The Finger Lakes. Nice place, nice life for me and Barbara, but it’s not here. It’s not Bluefield. Carol-Ann took that away.”

“The truth is, it was more than Carol-Ann who would have made things hard for you and Barbara around here back then. Things have changed now, but it would have been rough. People were talking. I’m not saying you didn’t have friends who would have stood by you. I’m just saying it might have turned out easier up north. Especially for Paul.”

“Anyway, that’s all over. I missed this place. Didn’t know how much till I got back, but I did. And I missed you. I never had another friend like you. I made friends, good friends, but they never knew who I was and where I came from.”

“Seems like things worked out for you. Don’t feel bad. We all do what we need to do, and you needed to move. Regrets are a waste of time.”

“Show me your shop,” Nicky said.

Andy paid for the food and they crossed the road back to the station. “Did you see the new name? The Auto Infirmary. Your idea.”

“That’s right!” Nicky said. “I completely forgot.”

“Well, I thank you for that one. I own the general store across the street. Opened it before some chain decided to put me out of business. Liz’s brother runs it with me. That’s why I moved the pumps. And I sell used cars out of the fourth lot. It’s a family corner here. I’ve become a manager.”

“Town has certainly changed a lot,” Nicky said.

“Been out to your old house yet?”

“That’s next.”

“Mr. Jamison died in seventy-four. He made a lot of money selling pork to the army during Vietnam. His grandson, Emmett, took over the farm and is making a go of it. Emmett’s living in your old house. He’s a good kid. It’s tougher on farmers these days with all the real estate crap going on, but he’s sticking with it. The Jeffers are into real estate big time. Old Man Jeffers talked me into buying up the other corners back in seventy-two before the boom. It protected me from the developers. He looked out for me. But his kids don’t give a damn about the town. They don’t care what goes up or where. It’s all money to them.”

“You getting political in your old age, Andy?”

“It’s just that I got kids and I’d like it if they got to stay around here when they get older. I’d hope they could afford to buy a house in the town they grew up in.”

“It’s really good to see you again.”

“You want company out to your old house?”

“I better do this one myself.”

“Where are you staying?” he asked.

“Bluefield Motel.”

“You’ve got to come for dinner while you’re here. Meet Liz and the kids. Tomorrow night, when Paul and Barbara are here. Don’t even think about it, because I won’t take no,” Andy said. He wrote down his home phone number. “I’ll call you over at the motel.”

*

The road narrowed to two lanes and then the yellow lines disappeared. Fewer and fewer houses interrupted the landscape, and the dirt became visible again. Along this part of the road, the old houses had been kept up and few new ones had been built. Nicky eased up on the gas and drifted onto the shoulder where she sat and looked across the road at her old house. A woman was on the front porch holding a baby in her arms. At the same time, she was watching a small child ride his three-wheeler. Around the house, swings, bikes, an assortment of brightly colored plastic toys stood side-by-side with farming equipment. There was still a garden in the same spot that Nicky had worked. Someone, probably Emmett, was out in the fields turning the corn under. He would be just a few years older than Paul.