Marriage Seasons 03 - Falling for You Again (10 page)

Charlie woke to the sparkle of streetlights flickering through the windshield. It took a moment to realize he was in the car, and he glanced over at Esther. Head lolling and eyes closed, she was sound asleep.

A wash of disbelief poured through Charlie’s veins when it dawned on him that his wife was sitting on the driver’s side of the vehicle. Her hands held the steering wheel, and she snored softly as the highway became the main street of Camdenton.

“Esther!” Charlie jerked forward and grabbed the steering wheel. “What in blazes are you doing, woman? Wake up!”

Jolting to consciousness, Esther let out a shriek and began to fight Charlie for control of the wheel. “Let go,” she cried, slapping at his hands. “You’re going to run us off the road!”

“You were asleep!”

“Give me that steering wheel, you big ox! Can’t you see we’re nearly at the stoplight in Camdenton?”

“Are you awake now?” he demanded, still struggling to steer. “Pull over, Esther! Pull into that gas station. Right there—that one!”

“What on earth? Charlie, you are going to be the death of me!” She turned into the parking area of the gas station and stepped on the brake. “This is the craziest thing you’ve ever done, Charles Moore!” she snapped at him. “I was just coming into town when you woke up and started grabbing for the steering wheel. You nearly ran us off the road—do you realize that? We could have been hurt! We might have hit somebody!”

“You were asleep, Esther,” Charlie growled back at her. “I woke up, looked over, and you were snoring away as if you were home in bed.”

“I was not!”

“I saw you with my own two eyes. Now, put on the parking brake, and we’re going to swap places again.”

“I will do nothing of the sort. You must still be out of it yourself to be spouting such nonsense. Are you trying to tell me that we were
both
sleeping?”

“Yes, we were—rolling down the highway, the two of us sound asleep.”

“That’s ridiculous. Here we are in Camdenton, exactly where we were headed. Do you think I drove all the way from the rest stop in my sleep?”

“I have no idea when you drifted off, Esther, but I know for a fact that when I opened my eyes a minute ago, you were out like a light.”

Esther dropped her hands into her lap. “Well, that’s impossible.”

“I would have thought so too. But it’s true.”

“You heard me snoring?”

“Just like always.”

“How did I stay on the road?”

“Beats me.” He let out a breath.

If this wasn’t the craziest thing that had ever happened to Charlie, he didn’t know what was. Two people driving down the highway—who knew how far—and both of them sound asleep.

Esther adjusted the hem of her sweater. “It
is
awfully warm in this car. I don’t know why you always want the heat turned up so high. No wonder we got drowsy.”

Charlie stared at his wife. “Have you been hearing me at all? You were driving this car in your sleep.”

She glanced across at him. “I remember slowing down at Macks Creek. That little spot in the road has always been a speed trap.”

“And after Macks Creek?”

Esther shrugged. “Well, anyway …”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that maybe I did snooze for a little bit. But we stayed on the highway, and here we are safe and sound in Camdenton. So let’s trade seats again and get on home.”

Gritting his teeth, Charlie pushed open his door. A gust of nippy night air filled his lungs as he walked around the car, passing his wife in silence. He was awake now, for sure. They both settled into their seats and buckled up. Charlie let off the brake and drove back out onto the road.

At the intersection of the two highways that formed the center of Camdenton, he stopped at the red light. Turning finally from Highway 54 onto North Highway 5, Charlie thought of himself and Esther inside the car, rolling down the road, sound asleep. They so easily could have dropped a wheel onto the shoulder, run into a drainage ditch and flipped over, hit a deer, or smashed head-on into another car. The horrible possibilities were endless. God must have sent a host of extra-vigilant guardian angels to surround and watch over the slumbering pair.

The very idea of what had occurred tonight was downright crazy.

If he wasn’t still half scared out of his wits and half mad at Esther, Charlie might even find the event comical. Who ever would have thought such a thing possible?

In the silence of the car, Charlie heard Esther coughing softly. Or maybe she was crying. Hard to tell. The sound continued until Charlie decided he ought to comfort her. As he reached out toward his wife, he realized that the snuffling noise he’d been hearing was suppressed laughter.

“Esther?”

At that, she tossed back her head and burst out in a gale of giggles. “Oh, I’m sorry for upsetting you, Charlie, but don’t you think it’s the funniest thing in the world? Driving along and both of us snoring away?”

“
You
were snoring,” he muttered.

“I’ll bet you were too.” She made a valiant effort to stifle her snickers, but in a moment she began hooting with hilarity all over again. “What if we passed someone, and they looked in the car and saw us?” she gasped out between chortles. “What must they have thought? A couple of old fogies taking naps! Oh my stars, I have no idea how I did it!”

Charlie wanted to stay angry and worried. Twice now, Esther had put her own life in grave danger. With this latest stunt, she might have killed them both. What if she was fading faster than he’d thought? Her arteries weren’t in the best shape. Her blood pressure was troublesome, and her bones were brittle. Could she be growing a little bit senile, too?

There was evidence pointing to that conclusion. Putting the electric can opener into the dishwasher. Wrecking her Lincoln in the backyard. Now he had to add this foolishness of his wife driving down the highway asleep. And that didn’t even take into account the disturbing sketch she had kept hidden in the bottom drawer of her dresser. What was going on with Esther? And what else lay ahead for Charlie?

“I’m going to have to write to one of those late-night talk shows and offer myself as a guest,” she said, tee-heeing as she spoke. “‘Meet Esther Moore—the Most Amazing Driver in the Universe! Watch as she sails her car through the air and then negotiates an obstacle course of birdhouses, sheds, and trees. See her drive while sound asleep, effortlessly missing potholes and eluding armadillos!’ Don’t you think it would be funny, Charlie? Honestly, it’s such a silly thing!”

Charlie tried to muster a grin. “I guess you could find some humor in it—seeing as it turned out okay in the end.”

“It was hilarious!” she said. “I can’t wait to tell Patsy Pringle when I go into the salon Friday for my set-and-style. She’ll get a big kick out of it, and then the story will be all over the place. I’ll be known as Esther the Wonder Driver. Maybe the newspaper will write me up; what do you think?”

Charlie harrumphed. Reaching out, he took his wife’s hand. “Esther, you’d better be glad it wasn’t a Highway Patrolman writing you up.”

Or the county coroner
, he thought.

As Charlie drove on toward home, Esther began warbling one of her favorite songs. She had told Charlie about learning the words in elementary school and singing them with her family every Thanksgiving.

“‘Over the river and through the wood, oh, how the wind does blow!’” she trilled. “‘It stings the toes and bites the nose, as over the ground we go. Over the river and through the wood, to have a first-rate play; oh, hear the bell ring, “ting-a-ling-ling!” Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!’”

The car pulled into the carport of the house in Deepwater Cove, and Charlie gratefully switched off the ignition. Esther elbowed him for the umpteenth time, and he finally joined in. “‘Over the river and through the wood,’” they sang together, “‘now Grandmother’s cap I spy! Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!’”

CHAPTER SIX

E
arly on in the history of the Tea Lovers’ Club, every member had agreed they would not elect a president. Neither would they have a meeting agenda, minutes, dues, or any of that folderol. But the following Wednesday when Esther Moore stood and began tapping a spoon on her teacup, Patsy was delighted to see the older woman assume her usual self-appointed role as club leader.

Having gotten the group’s attention, Esther opened her purse to take out the notebook of meeting minutes. At that, everyone in the room began to clap, and she looked up in surprise. Then her face broke into a radiant smile, and she clasped her hands together at her throat.

“My goodness, aren’t you all sweet to welcome me back to the TLC?” she said as the applause faded. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed visiting with everyone. There is nothing like a sick spell to make you appreciate your friends. In this case, TLC stands for Tender Loving Care. Charlie and I are grateful to each one of you who brought food to the house. If you can believe my husband, we’ve got enough in our freezer to feed the whole neighborhood twice over.”

“Do you have hot dogs?” Cody Goss spoke up. He was seated at Patsy’s table along with Brenda Hansen and her two daughters. Cody hooked his hands into his pockets. “I hope it isn’t bad social skills to say that I like hot dogs, and if you have some extra ones, Mrs. Moore, I would volunteer to eat them.”

“Hot dogs are just about the only thing we don’t have, Cody.” Esther gazed tenderly at the young man for a moment. “Oh, honey, I have missed you so much. You haven’t been to the house except the one time with the Hansen girls.”

“I’m too scared. I don’t want Mr. Moore to get mad at me again. You told him that I tinkered with your car the day you drove off your carport, even though I didn’t.”

As always, Cody spoke his true thoughts without considering how they might be taken. Patsy loved that about Cody. It was hard to find a person who never lied. It was even harder to find someone who didn’t bother to put on a mask or twist words around to protect feelings. But that was Cody Goss. Other than Jesus Himself, there probably had never been a more honest man in the history of the world.

Esther was brushing him off with a wave of her hand. “Don’t be silly, Cody. Charlie and I both know you didn’t touch my car—and we’re not upset with you. Somehow I just drove in the wrong direction. After what happened the other day, I’ve decided to call myself Esther the Wonder Driver
.
” Grinning, she glanced around at the group. “If you can believe this, I drove part of the way home from Springfield in my sleep! Charlie was snoozing right beside me in the passenger seat—both of us snoring to beat the band.”

When she laughed, a titter of giggles from around the tea area joined in. Patsy found the story amusing, but it worried her that Esther and Charlie had done such a thing. It was a wonder they didn’t have an awful accident.

“I don’t think that’s funny,” Cody spoke up. “I’m studying for my driver’s license test, and you’re not supposed to sleep while you drive a car. You have to be alert at all times.”

“Of course you do,” Esther said. “Unless you’re Esther the Wonder Driver! Anyway, all that’s behind us now, and it’s time to focus on our meeting. Since I haven’t been here for a while and no one took minutes …”

Here she paused and glanced at Ashley Hanes, who flipped a hank of long red hair over her shoulder, obviously unconcerned about falling short in her duties as club president pro tem.

“Does anyone have old business to report?” Esther asked, holding a pen poised over her notebook.

“Old business,” Cody said, standing. “Last Saturday, the men got together to repair Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s carport. The two Mrs. Finleys organized the ladies to fix up Mr. Moore’s broken garden fence and repair the flower bed. All these things were knocked down by Mrs. Moore when she drove off the back of her carport. Also, Mrs. Finley—the older one—helped Ashley Hanes by separating beads because Mrs. Moore was laid up in bed and Mr. Moore couldn’t do it all by himself while taking care of his wife. Ashley is getting lots of Christmas orders from rich ladies in St. Louis. They want necklaces, earrings, and bracelets made out of Ashley’s beads. Mr. and Mrs. Moore went to Springfield to get their veins checked; young ladies need to drink milk or they’ll become hunchbacks; and Mrs. Jones has thumbtacks if anybody needs to borrow one. That’s all.”

Cody sat down to a second burst of applause from the roomful of women. Registering pride, he looked across the table at Jennifer Hansen. Immediately, she leaned over to whisper something to her sister.

Patsy had heard a disturbing rumor that Jessica was thinking of dropping out of college after her wedding. Maybe even before the big event. This would be a blow to the young woman’s parents. Steve Hansen had worked his tail off to sell enough real estate so all three kids could go to college debt-free. Neither he nor Brenda were graduates, and they had big dreams for their offspring.

“Cody, you have amazed us all,” Esther was saying now. “What an excellent recitation. I may have to put you in charge of old business from now on. And though I haven’t been out and about much, Charlie tells me the carport and the backyard are in tip-top shape thanks to our dear neighbors. Such gifts you’ve given us! I don’t know when I’ve ever felt more loved.”

Patsy drank the last sip of her tea and hoped the official part of the meeting wouldn’t last much longer. She wanted to enjoy another cup of Earl Grey and a chat with her friends before returning to a long lineup of clients in the salon area.

“New business,” Esther announced. She looked around and then swallowed. “Well, I don’t believe I can think of a thing. Does anyone know of a plan in the works?”

“Patsy Pringle is going to the movies with Pete Roberts on Saturday night,” Cody announced. “He already shaved.”

Struggling to keep her cool, Patsy glared at Cody. Point-blank honesty could have its disadvantages, after all. To keep from chewing out the young man, she excused herself from the table and headed for the hot water urn. Though she focused on listening to the uplifting Color of Mercy CD playing in the background, Patsy could hear the women conversing. She hoped they weren’t talking about her and Pete.