Small Town Girl (7 page)

Jay wanted to put his arm around her, but thought better of it. Instead he reached over and gave her hand a sympathetic squeeze. Then he kept hold of her hand and scooted a little closer to let his shoulder touch hers. He wondered if she’d slap him if he tried for a kiss. His own lips tingled with the
thought, but she kept her head bent, looking down at his hand on hers. She didn’t pull away.

He leaned over to peek up into her face. “She’s not going to Oregon. She’ll be right here in Rosey Corner every weekend, driving you crazy like always. Being the preacher’s wife will give her the chance to be double bossy.”

A corner of her mouth twitched up in a smile.

“You’re right,” she said without looking up. “She’ll be unbearable.”

“Completely,” he agreed. He took a chance and reached with his other hand to tip her face toward his. That put her lips enticingly close, and he had to moisten his own lips before he could continue talking. “If you ask me, Mike picked the wrong sister. But I’m kind of glad he did.”

Her eyes popped open a little wider at that. Beautiful eyes sparkling with life. Her breath was coming faster, mingling with his.

“Can I kiss the sister of the bride?” he whispered.

She tilted her face up toward him, a truer yes than one spoken. But he wasn’t quick enough. There was a shout behind him. A rough hand on his shoulder jerked him back.

“What do you think you’re doing with my girl?” The farm boy balled up his fists and glared at Jay.

Jay scrambled to his feet and gave the farm boy what he hoped was a calming look. He didn’t want to ruin his new suit in a fight with the hayseed. Besides, it was his best friend’s wedding day. Not a good time to punch out one of his church members. Too bad Mike wasn’t around to soothe the guy’s ruffled feathers.

“Whoa, buddy.” Jay held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Take it easy. Nothing’s going on here that you need to get all worked up over. We were just having a little talk.”

“Looked like more than talking to me.” The farm boy put up his fists.

“Carl, for heaven’s sake, stop acting like an idiot.” Kate was on her feet glaring at the boy.

“Stay out of the way, Kate. This is between us men.” The farm boy’s face looked ready to burst into flames any second. His buddies, who had followed him around the house, were hanging back, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

“I’m not fighting you.” Jay searched through his mind for the guy’s name. “Carl. Why don’t you take a deep breath and we can talk this out?”

Jay thought he was sounding just like Mike. Peace loving. The stray thought popped into his mind then to ball up his fist and deck the guy before he knew what hit him. That was the way to do it when a man kept talking about fighting. Get it over with. But Kate was watching. He wasn’t going to make any points with the girl by smacking down the farm boy, and he wanted to tally up a few points with her.

“There’s nothing to talk out. Kate’s my girl, and I’m not about to let no fly-by-night slick talker mess with her.” The farm boy took a menacing step toward Jay. He wasn’t wanting to be talked down.

“Carl Noland, you leave him alone.” Kate grabbed for the hayseed’s arm, but her words only made the guy’s blood run that much hotter.

“Look, buddy, I’ll just back away and you and Kate can work things out.” Jay took a peek over at Kate and knew that wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t want it to happen, but the words sounded peacemaking. Again what he thought Mike might say.

When in Rome do as the Romans do and all that. Rosey Corner people probably didn’t engage in fisticuffs at wedding parties. At least not usually. However, this Carl fellow did seem determined to punch somebody. Well, not just somebody. Him. That wasn’t something Jay intended to let happen, but the top of the well was blocking his easy retreat.

“What’s the matter, pretty boy? You chicken to fight?”

Some of the farm boy’s friends started doing a little crowing behind him. Jay took a long, slow breath to keep from making fists. Instead he tried to step sideways away from the guy, but the guy moved over in front of him. Jay took another peek at Kate. She looked about as ready to explode as the poor, deluded farm boy who believed she was his girl. From the look on Kate’s face, the guy was going to have his illusions shattered, and soon.

Jay should have pushed past him and left the whole mess behind. Let Kate straighten the farm boy out. But ever since he was a kid, Jay had a way of poking at whatever sore place he could see on whomever he was up against.

“I don’t fight boys,” he said, and then he smiled. He knew better, but he did it anyway. He figured it was the smile that sent the farm boy over the edge.

Jay feinted a little to the left so the blow didn’t hit him full in the face. Even so, the guy landed a pretty solid punch on his cheek. He could have kept his feet, but if he was going to get socked, he might as well play it to the full for Kate’s sympathy. There was more than one way to win a fight.

K
ate’s father broke up the fight. Not that it was much of a fight. The only punch was the one Carl threw to deck Jay Tanner. That surprised Kate. If anybody was going to deck anybody, she figured it would be Jay knocking Carl down. A man like him, who had bounced around a lot, had to know how to defend himself. But he claimed not to want to fight and he stuck to his words. After Carl punched him in the face, he just sat on the ground rubbing his cheek and working his jaw a little. It had to hurt, but the funny thing was he never completely stopped grinning. Like it was all some kind of joke.

Carl was smiling too, proud of himself. A complete idiot. It was a good thing her father came out the back door when he did to stop the foolishness or another punch might have been thrown. Her punching Carl. She was that mad.

“What’s going on here, Carl?” her father asked. At the sight of his frown, the friends who had been egging Carl on began muttering about needing to get home as they started back around the house. All the boys knew Victor Merritt was nobody to mess with when it came to his girls.

“Carl’s lost his mind. That’s what.” Kate gave Carl a hard look.

“He was bothering Kate, Mr. Merritt. I wasn’t about to let
him mess with my girl.” Carl kept his fists up like a fighter ready to go another round. He was acting like he thought Kate’s father might grab his arm, raise it up, and declare him the winner.

Kate’s father looked from Carl to Jay picking himself up off the ground.

“Sorry about this, sir,” Jay said with an apologetic shrug. “I wasn’t meaning to cause trouble. Kate and I were talking about the wedding. That’s all.”

“That’s all, like heck,” Carl shouted, his smile fading as Kate’s father looked back at him. “You had your hands on her. I saw you.”

Kate could feel the blood rising in her face. She hadn’t been even close to this angry since she’d caught one of the neighborhood kids making fun of Lorena’s name. And that was different. Just a silly little boy. Carl wasn’t a little boy. He was simply acting like one. Like a kid on the playground claiming more than he had.

How could he think she was his girl? Sure, she went to the movies with him, but she never let him kiss her. They didn’t even hold hands. She was going to have to tell him straight out how things were, but not here. Even as angry as she was, she didn’t want to humiliate him in front of Jay Tanner and her father. They’d been friends too long for that.

She stepped in front of Carl and stared him right in the face. She kept her voice tightly controlled. “Go home, Carl. I can’t talk to you right now.”

“You could talk to him.” Carl’s words were harsh, accusing.

“I can talk to anybody I want to, but right now, I don’t want to talk to you.”

“But you’re my girl, Kate. I had to take up for you.” He reached out to grab her arm, but she stepped away from him. He held his hand up in the air a moment before he dropped it to his side.

“I’m not your girl, Carl.” For a minute she almost felt sorry for him as his shoulders drooped and he got a whipped dog look. But then he brushed her words aside as though they didn’t mean a thing.

“Aw, Kate, everybody knows we’re getting married. That it’s just a matter of time.”

Kate shut her eyes and blew out a long breath. Without looking, she knew Jay would be watching them with that same grin, like he’d found the sideshow at the Rosey Corner circus. She was glad when her father stepped up to put his arm around Carl’s shoulders.

“Kate’s right, Carl. You better go on home. The two of you can talk this out after tempers settle down a little.” He had a sympathetic look on his face as he turned Carl away from Kate. Like he was feeling his disappointment instead of thinking the man was a complete idiot the way Kate did.

“But Mr. Merritt, you know it’s true. She’s been my girl forever.” Carl peeked over his shoulder toward Kate.

Kate’s father kept walking him toward the front yard. He sounded almost sad when he said, “Later, Carl. Now’s not the time or the place.”

They moved on around the house, her father’s voice calm and Carl’s voice taking on a whiny sound. That left her and Jay Tanner alone again. She waited for him to say something, but he was silent. The voices of the women in the kitchen drifted out to them. No words, just the easy sound of family.

Aunt Hattie laughed, and Kate wished she was inside with them instead of standing out in the middle of the backyard, wondering what to say to Jay Tanner. Because Carl was right. He had been holding her hand, and she hadn’t minded at all. She hadn’t even minded when he asked to kiss her.

How could her world get so totally turned upside down in one short day? And mixed up. Grieving over Mike promising his life and love to Evie one minute. Happy for Evie the next.
And now ready to let a man she’d just met kiss her when she’d never once turned her face up to invite a kiss from Carl. Carl, who thought she was his girl. Carl, her friend she’d let think she was his girl.

She bent her head and breathed out a whisper of a sigh. Maybe she was the one being the idiot instead of Carl.

“Are you all right?” Jay asked.

She glanced around at him. He’d picked up his coat, but he hadn’t moved any closer to her. The grin was gone. In its place was a different look. A wondering look. Like he was waiting to see what she was going to do next.

She pushed a smile out on her lips. “I think I should be asking you that. You’re the one with the shiner.”

He winced a little when he touched his cheek below his eye. “The boy packed a better punch than I expected.”

“Why’d you let him hit you?”

His lips turned up in a smile to match hers. “You did see how much he enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

“So you were simply doing your good deed of the day?”

“Something like that.” His grin traveled up to his eyes. “I guess my trouble was that I could see Mike standing behind him, shaking his head at me. Saying ‘Not on my wedding day.’ But somehow when Mike tries to keep the peace, it works. When I try it, I end up on my backside looking up. I was glad your father came out. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could be so peace loving.”

“I didn’t see much peace.”

“We can only keep our side of the peace. We can’t make the other side do the same. Or so Mike used to tell me when I was fighting my way through school. All that turn-the-other-cheek stuff. Nothing about that promises we’re not going to get smacked upside the head again, but I think there are limits to my peacekeeping.” He turned his face to the side. “How bad does it look?”

Kate stepped over to him and gingerly felt the swelling below his eye. “Looks like you could have a black eye.”

“Won’t be the first. And probably not the last.” He captured her hand before she could pull it away. “Not a bad price for holding a pretty girl’s hand.”

“You’re a charmer, aren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t mind charming you. You’re an interesting girl, Kate Merritt.”

He wasn’t smiling now as he stared straight into her eyes. Charming her without a doubt. She felt a little breathless again, the way she had earlier when he’d asked to kiss the sister of the bride. “Interesting? That’s not what I expected a charmer to say.”

“You’d rather I say you’re beautiful?”

“That’s a nice word to hear.” She told herself to pull her hand away and step back, but she liked it where she was standing.

“All right, you are beautiful, Kate Merritt, but interesting is better. Pretty girls are a dime a dozen, but an interesting girl, she just plants herself right in the middle of your mind and stays there.”

He was altogether too close to her. She moistened her lips before she said, “And what makes me so interesting?”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t mind finding out.”

“If you think I’m interesting, you must have a reason to think that.”

“You’re getting me mixed up with Mike. He’s the one always looking for answers. Finds them too. But me, I don’t need everything explained. Sometimes I just know.” He pulled her hand up to lightly brush the tops of her fingers with his lips while keeping his eyes on hers. “Like now.”

“What do you know?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“That you want to let me kiss you, but you think you shouldn’t.”

Behind them the screen door slammed and broke the spell. Kate jerked her hand away from his. “You’re the interesting one, Mr. Tanner. The way your imagination works overtime like that.” She laughed a little. “But if you knew me better, you’d know that if I wanted to do something I’d do it.”

“Interesting.” A smile lit up his brown eyes. “First you won’t elope with me and now you won’t let me kiss you. For no better reason than you don’t want to. You know how to hurt a man. Maybe I should go hunt up Carl so we can compare broken hearts.”

“I seriously doubt you’ve ever had a broken heart, Mr. Tanner.”

“You call me Mr. Tanner again, I might.” He laughed. “My name’s Jay. Look, I took a punch for you. That surely earns me the right to be on a first-name basis with you.” His voice softened a little as he added, “Kate.”

The sound of her name reached out and touched her. Made her heart start beating a little too fast again. She’d never heard her name spoken exactly like that. She laughed a little to cover up how unsettled she was feeling. “All right.” She hesitated a bare second, then said, “Jay.”

Kate had almost forgotten the slammed door until Aunt Hattie called to her. “Katherine Reece.”

The little black woman, hands planted on her hips, was standing on the back porch, staring out at them. Kate could see her frown all the way across the yard. “What you let happenin’ out here? Your daddy tells me somebody might be needing some doctoring.”

“Tell her I’m fine,” Jay said.

Aunt Hattie moved a few steps closer and motioned toward them. “You must not be too fine if you have to tell somebody to do your talking for you. Now get yo’self on over here and let me see to that face. Least we can do for Pastor Mike’s friend.”

“No sense arguing,” Kate said. “When Aunt Hattie sets
her mind to doctoring, you’re going to get doctored. Like it or not.” She put her hand through Jay’s arm and turned him toward the porch. “She’s gentler than she looks.”

“Ain’t a thing gentle about me.” Aunt Hattie went back up on the porch to wait for them. “’Cepting my hands. The good Lord give me healing hands. I’s the first hands to hold this one here.” She pointed at Kate.

“And my daddy too.” Kate grinned as she stepped up on the porch beside Aunt Hattie. “A lot of people in Rosey Corner owe their first breath to a smack from Aunt Hattie.”

“I never smacked none of my babies. Better ways to get things done than smacking somebody.” Aunt Hattie turned her frown from Kate to Jay’s shiner. “But looks as how somebody’s been doing some smacking.”

“I think it was more like punching.” Jay sat down obediently on the porch bench Aunt Hattie pointed him toward. “I’m fine. Really, Mrs.—” He hesitated. “If anybody told me your name, I’ve let it get away from me.”

“Johnson. Hattie Johnson, but nobody calls me Missus nothing. I’m Aunt Hattie to one and all in Rosey Corner.” Aunt Hattie leaned closer to peer at Jay’s cheek. “My eyes ain’t as good as they used to be, but it ain’t hard to see you got some lump there.”

“Yeah, I didn’t dodge quick enough.” Jay laughed, then winced. “But it only hurts when I smile.”

She touched his cheek and looked around at Kate. “Run fetch me a pan of cold water and a rag. And bring a chunk of ice out of the icebox if we didn’t use it all for that funny-tasting concoction your sister had us make. Strangest stuff I ever put in my mouth. I tol’ her she oughta let me make my lemonade, but ain’t no tellin’ that one nothing. Not one thing.”

By the time Kate got back with the water, Jay had worked his charms on Aunt Hattie. Her every wrinkle was smiling. She wrung the rag out in the cold water and dabbed Jay’s
cheek. “You done remind me of my boy, Bo. He was always making people laugh too. And your eyes, they set me to remembering his.”

“Not a black eye like this, I’m hoping. He wasn’t a fighter, was he?”

“No, indeed. My Bo was a baseball player. The best shortstop the Negro League ever saw, and he could swing that bat. Could hit the ball out of the park easy as pie.” Aunt Hattie straightened up to her full four feet and ten inches and looked out toward the back fence as though watching one of those balls fly into the sky.

Jay followed Aunt Hattie’s gaze, so he didn’t see the look Kate shot at him or the little shake of her head. He asked, “He still hitting the long balls now?”

“Could be up in paradise. The Good Book says things will be finer than we can imagine when we get up to them other shores. I figure that means we’s gonna get to do things we enjoys, don’t you?” Aunt Hattie turned back to her doctoring. “And you don’t have to be worrying, Kate, I ain’t mindin’ talking about my Bo. It’s a good thing, not a bad thing to be able to say my boy’s name and to brag on him some. He’s done been gone these many years. Lost him in France in the war.”

“I’m sorry, Aunt Hattie.” Jay looked genuinely sorry as he put his hand overtop the wrinkled hand probing his cheek.

The man was good at grabbing hands, but Aunt Hattie didn’t look as if she minded. Kate couldn’t honestly say she had minded either. But she should have minded. She shouldn’t have let him think he could charm her as easily as a little girl or an old woman. Then again, she wouldn’t have thought Aunt Hattie would be easy to charm. She generally saw through anybody’s pretenses. She never let Kate get away with the first thing around her.