Footsteps could be heard clattering down the stairs, and a moment later Jessie came bounding into the room, her smile bright.
“Hi, Daddy,” she greeted her father, as she opened the refrigerator. “Oh, Daddy. Summer and I were going to go shopping Saturday for a dress for the Homecoming dance. Can you give me some money?”
Steve blew out a breath. The dance. Shit. He’d forgotten all about the damn dance. “How much?” he asked, wondering where the hell he was going to come up with it. His accounts were about tapped out. The ’56 Chevy wasn’t nearly ready to sell yet. He still had some work to do on it, and there was no way he’d get it done in time to get the money to her by Saturday.
“Well, Keri’s dress and shoes were about four hundred, but I’m sure I can find one that isn’t so much, and-”
“Four hundred dollars! Do you think I’m made of money?” He snapped, tossing the mail on the table.
Jessie stared at her father, her eyes welling with tears. Then her eyes darted to Summer, and she ran from the room. They could hear her footsteps pounding up the stairs, and then her door slammed shut. Summer just stared at Steve, afraid to say anything.
“Shit!” he grumbled, and swiped his hand across the table, sending the mail scattering all over the floor. He ran his hands through his hair and turned to follow her up the stairs.
Summer waited a moment, and then crept part way up the stairs to listen. Steve must have left Jessie’s door open when he went inside, because Summer could hear him talking softly to his daughter.
“I’m sorry sweetheart. I was just having a bad day. Of course I’ll give you the money, and you buy the most expensive dress you can find. I’ll have the money for you tomorrow when you get home from school.”
“No, that’s okay, Daddy. I don’t have to go. It’s just a stupid dance,” Jessie responded, and her muffled voice sounded to Summer like she was speaking face down into her pillow.
“Don’t you want to go?” Steve asked.
“Yes, but…”
“No buts, then.”
Summer could hear the bed creak and then, “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you, too, honey.”
Summer crept back down the stairs and went back into the kitchen. She gathered up the bills from the floor and put them on the table. Then she got down a big pot and started running water into it so she could start boiling spaghetti for dinner.
A few minutes later, she heard someone come into the kitchen, and she turned around to see Steve at the phone, dialing. Someone must have picked up on the other end. Without preamble, she heard Steve ask into the receiver, “You still want it?” And then, “You know what I’m talking about.”
There was silence a moment and then, “Fifteen? You know it’s worth twice that, easy. You son-of-a-bitch!”
And then, “Fine. Bring me a cashier’s check tomorrow, and it’s yours.” He slammed the phone down.
Summer watched as he grabbed his coat off the back of the chair and walked out the back door.
*****
The next afternoon, Summer carried a basket of laundry down into the mudroom and began filling the washing machine. She heard a loud engine start up, and she pulled the gingham curtains aside to look out into the yard to see what it was. “Oh, my God,” she murmured, her hand coming to her mouth.
She yanked the door open and ran down the steps. Cary was standing at the bottom and grabbed her arm to stop her when she would have run to Steve. He looked down at her and shook his head warning her silently to stay out of this.
They watched as Justin’s tow truck pulled away with Steve’s prize possession, his father’s 1970 Dodge Charger.
Steve turned, his eyes connecting with her, and she noticed the cashier’s check in his hand. Her mouth came open.
“It’s just a damn car.”
“Yes. But…it was your father’s, Steve.”
“Not another word,” he warned, as he walked past her to the house. He stopped short when he saw Pop, who had come out onto the back steps. A look of anguish came over Steve’s face. “I’m sorry, Pop,” he said, and brushed past him as he went inside.
Pop turned to Cary and Summer. “Give us a few minutes, okay?” They nodded, and Pop followed Steve inside.
He found Steve in the living room, sitting on the fireplace hearth, his head in his hands. When Steve heard him walk in, he looked up with tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Pop. I should have asked you first.”
“No, Steven. You were right out there. It’s just a car, just a hunk of metal.”
“It was more than that, Pop, and you know it. He was your son. It was all you had left of him.”
“Hogwash!”
“What?”
“Hogwash. What I have left of him is sitting in front of me, son. You’re his spit and image. I see him in everything you do. Like just now. That’s exactly what your father would have done.”
Steve shook his head. “He’d never have been in this mess.”
“Do you think for one minute that if his son or granddaughter needed or wanted for something, that he wouldn’t have done everything he could to get it? The day you and your mom drove up that driveway,” Pop pointed toward the front of the house, “was one of the happiest days of my life.”
“Pop, I’m running your farm into the ground,” Steve choked out.
“Bull crap. You work your butt off for this farm. If it weren’t for you, do you honestly think I could have kept this place, worked it all by myself? Why, this place would have been sold ten years ago if I didn’t have you here. It’s your farm now, Steven.”
“I’m afraid I’m going to lose it all, Pop,” he admitted quietly.
“Son, you’re doing the best you can. Whatever the future brings, we’ll face it together.”
Steve didn’t say anything.
Pop continued, “You know Steven, I know this wasn’t your dream, working on a farm the rest of your life, scrapping by. It’s a hard life. I know you wanted to open that repair shop you dreamed about and restore old cars full time. But you gave it up to help me with this place.”
“No, Pop,” Steve protested, shaking his head. “That dream was a long time ago. This farm is my life now. I love this place.”
“I know you do, son, and someday maybe you’ll pass it on to your sons.”
“Pop, I don’t have any sons,” Steve pointed out the obvious, wondering what crazy talk this was.
“Well, there’s still hope yet. You’re still a young man.”
“Pop-”
“Steven, you know I’ve kept my mouth shut all this time, but…Rita’s gone. You need to let go, and get on with your life. Look at what’s right in front of you.”
Steve could only stare at him.
“I see the way you look at her, son, and I see the way she looks at you.”
“Pop-”
“A woman like her, she just falls in your lap? That doesn’t happen every day, boy.”
“Pop, when she gets her memory back she’s going to go back to her life.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you could make her want to stay.”
Steve looked at the floor, shaking his head. Then he stood up. “Well, I’m going into town and pay some bills.” He gave his grandfather a quick hug, and then he left.
That night after supper, Steve went up and gave Jessie several hundred-dollar bills to buy a dress, shoes, and anything else she would need for the dance. Summer was planning to drive her into Atlanta tomorrow and check out the malls.
He then crossed the hall and went into the little spare room that he had long ago converted into an office. There was an old wooden desk, but no computer. Steve still managed the business the old fashioned way. The way his grandfather had for years. He used ledgers.
Steve sorted through the fistful of receipts for the payments he had made that day. Then he took out the expenditure ledger, wrote in the payments made, and filed away the receipts.
After paying off all the bills he owed, his bank account was flush with close to eight thousand dollars, but he knew it wouldn’t last long, especially when he was only expecting to break even on the crop this year. Still, it gave him some breathing room. He decided that maybe he would treat Summer to a dinner out and maybe buy her something nice.
Chapter Twelve
Summer finished cleaning up the kitchen after having fed Pop, Steve, and Cary. She fixed a small plate for Jessie and carried it upstairs. She knew Jessie wasn’t hungry and wanted to make sure she fit into her dress, but the girl had to eat something.
She knocked softly on the door. “Jessie, it’s me.”
“Come in.”
Summer walked in, set the plate down on the dresser, then she turned and saw Jessie. “Oh, sweetheart! You look beautiful.”
Jessie smiled shyly. “Really?”
“Oh, yes. Oh, honey, you’ll be the prettiest girl there.”
“Well, I doubt that.”
They had finally found the perfect dress after looking in every store in two malls. It was a silver grey silk with tiny spaghetti straps and rhinestone bugle beading all along the neckline. It was floor length, and the bottom flared out when she twirled. More beading scalloped the bottom edging.
Jessie twirled around for Summer, and the rhinestones flashed. Her hair was pulled up in a French twist with a comb of rhinestones tucked in and matching rhinestone chandelier earrings. She had high-heeled silver sandals and a matching evening bag. A silver voile shawl that was as sheer as a cloud completed the look.
“I’m so nervous, I couldn’t eat a bite, Summer.”
“I understand. I wouldn’t want you to spill anything on that beautiful dress anyway.”
“Thank you for helping me with everything.”
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t have missed it. I just hope your father doesn’t kill me when he sees this dress.”
“What’s wrong with it? You don’t think the v-neckline is too low, do you?”
“No. It’s not that. It’s just, well let’s just say it shows off all the right curves, honey.”
They both giggled.
“Well, let me go down and try to prepare your father that he’s about to see his little girl all grown up.” Summer smiled and hugged Jessie.
“Thanks, Summer.”
Summer went downstairs and found Steve and Cary sitting out on the front porch smoking.
“Is this the boy’s welcoming committee?” she asked.
“Yup,” Steve replied, taking a drag off his cigarette and looking at her.
“Well, at least you’re not polishing your shotguns.”
“Don’t give him any ideas,” Cary warned.
“Um, Steve. You do realize that when she comes down those stairs…”
“Yes?”
“I mean, she’s all dressed up, and she looks beautiful, but…”
“But, what?”
“Well, she isn’t a child anymore.”
“I know that.”
“What I’m trying to say is, I just want you to be prepared for how grown-up she’s going to look in that dress.”
“You didn’t let her get anything sleazy did you?” Steve said, bringing the rocking of his chair to a stop.
“No! The dress is lovely, and don’t you dare say anything other than that she looks beautiful or I swear she’ll burst into tears, and I’ll…I’ll…”
“You’ll what?”
“I’ll kick you where it hurts.”
Cary snorted back a laugh, and Steve glared at him.
“I’ll be nice. For Christ sakes, she is my daughter.”
“And you’d better be nice to her date, too. I mean it.”
“Yes, ma’am. Damn, you sure are feisty tonight.”
“I just want this night to be perfect for her.”
“Here he comes now,” Cary observed, nodding toward a car slowing down to make the turn into the driveway.
A black Camaro pulled in, stopping in the drive. The door opened, and a boy in a tux got out and walked up the drive. He was carrying a single red rose.
He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the two men, not sure which was the father.
Steve stared him up and down until Summer kicked the runner on his rocking chair. He glared at her, but got up and extended his hand. “You must be Doug. I’m Jessie’s father.”
The boy smiled and relaxed some. He came up the three steps and shook Steve’s hand. “Yes, sir. Nice to meet you, Mr. Garrett.”
“I’ll tell Jessie that you’re here, Doug. Have a seat.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Summer turned, and went to get Jessie as well as the disposable camera she had gotten to commemorate this night.
A few minutes later she held the screen door open, as Jessie stepped out onto the porch. She would have loved to get a picture of Steve’s face when he saw his daughter.
“Good Lord,” Summer heard Cary murmur under his breath.
Doug stood up and gave Jessie the rose. “You look beautiful, Jessie.”
She blushed and thanked him for the rose.
Summer embarrassed them by making them pose for a couple of pictures. She even made Jessie take one with Steve.
Soon they were driving off.
Summer turned and smiled at Steve. “Well?”
“I was nice, wasn’t I?”
“Yes, you were nice. Didn’t you think she looked beautiful?”
“I can’t believe you let her buy that dress,” Steve turned to Summer, his hands on his hips, one hip canted out.
“Her? I can’t believe you let her go out in that dress,” Cary glared at Steve.
Summer looked from one to the other, then just shook her head and went inside.
Cary looked to Steve. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Nothing. I’m going to town.” And he stomped off the porch and drove off in his pickup.
Cary pulled out onto the highway and headed toward town. He was about a half a mile behind the Camaro, and he kept his eyes on it as he drove. There were no other cars on the country road. About five miles down the road, he noticed the car turned off on a dirt road to the right. “What the hell? Where’s he going?”
Cary slowed up as he came up to the turn off. The road was between two cornfields, and he never would have noticed the car, if he hadn’t see it turn off, but there it was about a hundred yards off the highway. Cary watched as the kid pulled off the road and flipped the headlights off.
Cary continued on past the turnoff. He had two thoughts. Either the kid was having car trouble or he was taking Jessie off somewhere to neck. But if he were having car trouble, he would have pulled off on the highway, not down some deserted farm road that led who knew where.