Pick Me (8 page)

“It’s fine,” she said. “I want to stay.”

“He ambushes people. He’s done it his whole life. People come in to the store for a few tomatoes, my dad sends them out with ten pounds.”

Thea laughed. “Then he’s a good salesman.”

“He used to be,” Calder said, the earlier edge of humor gone from his tone, his voice deepening soberly instead. Thea watched him study his father as the older man entered the house before them, then held the door for her as she stepped inside.

A man and a woman she faintly recognized stood at the sink, their faces drawn, as if they’d been in a heated conversation.

Calder made the introductions. “Pete and Marie, I don’t know if you remember Thea Dunn. Thea, this is my brother, Pete and his wife, Marie.”

Marie Clark. Thea knew she had recognized the woman’s soft, blue eyes and deep red hair. In high school, Marie had kept her hair straight. Now it hung around her face in remarkable coils, sections of it tethered back from either side of her face with barrettes.

“Of course I remember you,” Thea said. “It’s nice to see you, Marie.”

“You too,” Marie said, concealing her earlier tension with a welcoming smile. “Gosh, how long’s it been? Ten years?”

“At least,” said Thea.

“Pete.” Calder‘s brother stepped forward, his hand extended. “I’m not sure if you remember me. I was a senior when you and Calder were freshmen.”

Thea shook his hand. “No, I don’t think I do,” she said. “Nice to meet you.”

George Frye wandered over to the fridge, tugged it open and leaned in. “Pete was the best quarterback ever to throw at Magnolia Bay High,” he said, reappearing with a can of beer. “Got himself a free ride to play for USC.”

“That’s wonderful,” Thea said, wondering as she looked around why no one in the room looked even remotely happy at the announcement.

She sought Calder’s gaze, hoping for a clue but his interest remained trained on his father, like someone keeping their eye on a small child in a room full of antiques. George cursed low as he struggled to open his beer; Pete reached over to help but his father shooed his hand away.

A palpable tension filled the quiet, as detectable as the smell of cooling cornbread.

Marie smiled weakly; apologetically. “Food’s ready if y’all are.”

“Good,” said Calder. “Then let’s eat.”

* * *

They gathered around a long table in the dining room. George at one end, Pete at the other. Calder sat across from Thea and Marie, looking decidedly cautious as dishes were passed and plates filled. Despite the humid breeze that sailed in from a wall of screened windows, a chill circled the table. Several times throughout the meal, Marie tried to warm the mood with reminiscences of high school, but her attempts fell flat. Thea looked around the table, trying to decide where the source of the tension came from, but both Calder and Pete glared at their plates and stabbed their food with equal ferocity. Who knew which brother was to blame?

After the meal, Thea and Marie cleared the table while George Frye finished in his sons’ company.

“That was delicious,” Thea said, joining Marie in the kitchen. “Can I help you with anything?”

Marie smiled over her shoulder. “I’d love a hand drying, if you’re offering.”

Thea came beside Marie at the sink and picked up a dish towel. Growing up in the Bay, Thea had known there was a disparity between those who lived near town and those who lived across the tracks in Pineville. They may all have shared the same zip code, but that was the extent of their unity.

As adults, the differences between their worlds shouldn’t have mattered anymore—or at least, been undetectable. But standing in the Fryes’ kitchen, Thea felt the divide between their worlds even more profoundly than she had in high school, and it unsettled her.

“I heard through the grapevine that you’d gone to law school,” Marie said, handing Thea a washed serving tray. “Exciting.”

“It is—though some days I wish it were a little less exciting,” Thea said, wanting to diminish the luxury of her life, the glamour of it, but she feared she’d only insult Marie. They both knew the charms of Thea’s lifestyle were exceptional in comparison to what Marie enjoyed. “I know I’m very lucky.”

“It’s nice to see Calder here with someone.”

Again, Thea wondered if she shouldn’t clarify their relationship—or their lack of one—and again, she didn’t. “I’m surprised he’s not married after all this time.”

“I’m sure he’d say the same about you.” Marie smiled, her eyes flashing mischievously. “Makes you wonder if it isn’t all part of some plan, huh? You moving next door to him, both of you still single…”

Thea laughed. “You sound just like my sisters.”

“I don’t mean to meddle. I’d just like to see him settle down, that’s all. I think we all would.”

Thea didn’t want to pry but the opportunity was too ripe to pass up. “Surely he’s gotten close?” she asked.

“A few times,” Marie said. “We never met them, of course. They were girlfriends of his when he was working in California and Hawaii.”

“What about since he’s been back in Magnolia Bay?”

Marie shook her head. “He hasn’t really had much time for that. Things here have kept him busy—as you probably picked up on.” Marie glanced toward the dining room where Calder and his father were still at the table. Thea had been around alcoholics before—she knew of the toll their addiction had on the people around them. Had Calder been dealing with this stress back in high school? No wonder he’d claimed to have been so distracted in those days.

“What about you?” Marie asked. “I take it you and Patrick Hogan didn’t last, huh?”

“Thank God, no. Patrick and I made the mistake of ignoring the death rattles of our relationship for the first year of college. In other words, I pined dutifully and chastely for him while he slept his way through two floors of his dorm at Clemson.”

Marie laughed as she lowered a stack of plates into the sink. “It doesn’t seem that long ago, does it?”

No it didn’t, Thea thought as she dried a serving dish. She glanced at the doorway to the dining room and saw Calder helping his father out of his chair. She smiled, moved by the patient way he guided the weaving, mumbling man away from the table and toward the stairs, surely for bed.

No wonder he was such a gifted doctor.

* * *

Once his father’s snores had finally fallen into the even rhythm of sleep, Calder closed the door to the bedroom, walked downstairs and out to the porch to search for his brother. The night was waning but he didn’t want to leave without mending whatever fence had been broken. He didn’t want to leave things unsettled.

He saw the light on in the store and crossed the driveway to the barn. Inside, he found Pete taking inventory of the store’s shelves of canned goods.

His brother’s eyes were feverishly wide, like someone who’d gone too long without sleep and had far too much coffee. “We need to call Pearson’s about getting another shipment of salsas. This will never be enough for the Festival crowd. I only hope they can deliver tomorrow.”

Calder stared at him, stunned. Was he honestly still planning on having their annual Strawberry Festival?

“You can’t be serious, Pete,” he said. “You can’t let people in here with Pop like this.”

“What are you talking about? Pop’s fine.”

“Marie said that he got into a fight with a customer the other day. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Marie exaggerates.”

Calder sighed. “Do you really think if you pretend this isn’t happening, it will all go away?”

“Don’t pschyo-analzye me,” Pete warned, pointing a finger at Calder and stabbing the air with it. “You don’t know the first thing about what I’ve been dealing with here. You left, remember?”

“Jesus, Pete. You make it sound like I ran off to join the circus. I left to go to med school. To become a doctor, to heal people.”

“Yeah.” Pete snorted, turning back to the shelves. “Everybody except the people in your own family, right?”

Calder shoved both hands through his hair and blew out a hard breath, determined not to take the bait. He didn’t have time for this. He’d come to make sure his father was okay, and ended up giving up his whole damn night to calm the waters, time he’d meant to spend with Thea traveling up and down the coast. No, he’d done enough.

“I’m not getting into this with you, Pete. I came in to say that whatever bullshit you want to hash out with me, you need to put aside so we can figure out what to do about Pop.”

“What to do about him? What do you think I’ve been doing for the last two years since Mom died and you’ve been gallivanting all over the country while Pop withers like some old corn stalk?”

“
Gallivanting
? Is that what you think I’ve been doing?”

“I think it’s pretty damn convenient that you found a job that keeps you as far away from this place as possible.”

“And I think I’m done talking about this,” Calder said, moving for the door. “Go to bed, Pete.”

“Must be nice, huh?” Pete called behind him. “Breezing in and out of people’s lives. Never having to commit, to worry about the long haul?”

Calder whipped around, his resolve to walk away waning with the daylight. “You didn’t have to stay here.”

“Somebody did,” Pete spat back. “And it sure as shit wasn’t going to be the brilliant doctor, was it?”

The hell with this
. Calder put his hands out and resumed his path to the door, letting the screen slam behind him. He was out, he was done. Whatever hope he had of smoothing the churned waters of his brother’s mood tonight was gone. Pete was determined to stew in his bitter juices and Calder wanted no part of that meal. He thought of Thea back at the house, waiting for him. He thought of the way she’d looked at him at dinner, the way she’d slid her arms around him on the bike, the heat of her thighs pressing against him, the sweet smell of her shampoo. He thought of that night fourteen years earlier when they’d both helped each other to escape their lives for one perfect night. Hell, maybe they could do that again tonight.

And maybe tonight, they could do more than just watch the stars and choke down burgers.

* * *

From the kitchen window, Thea watched Calder cross the field toward the house, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, his gait quick and hard.

“I’m guessing he and Pete didn’t make up,” Marie said, coming beside her and offering a weary sigh.

“Were they ever close?” Thea asked.

“Oh sure, when they were younger. But then all that happened with Pete losing the football scholarship to USC and it was never the same between them. Their father’s drinking didn’t exactly help.”

Why had Pete lost his scholarship, Thea wondered? She watched Marie, waiting for her to say more, but then the door swung open and Calder stepped in.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

Thea nodded, noting the strain in his expression even as he tried to cover it with a smile.

“Thanks for dinner, Marie,” he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek. “It was incredible, as always.”

“Yes, thank you,” said Thea.

“It was my pleasure,” Marie said, moving to hug Thea. “It’s always fun catching up on old times, isn’t it?”

Outside on the porch, Thea looked up at the barn, seeing the shape of Calder’s brother silhouetted in the light. “I didn’t say goodbye to Pete.”

“It’s okay,” Calder said, casting a wary look in the same direction. “We should get going.”

When they reached the bike, Calder handed her a helmet and reached out to help her snap the straps, just as he’d done that first time she’d worn his helmet. Though she’d mastered the closure since, she relished the nearness of him, the chance to feel his hands on the skin of her neck.

The clip clicked. “Tight enough?” he asked.

“Perfect.” Thea searched his eyes, Marie’s comments in the kitchen still ringing in her thoughts. She wanted so much to ask him how long his father had been this way, how hard it must have been for them all. She wanted to let him know that he didn’t have to be the great healer around her.

But maybe it was enough that she was here.

Calder reached for his own helmet and scanned the sky, searching the streaks of pink and orange. “Seems a shame to call it a night when we’ve got a sunset like that coming our way,” he said.

“It does,” she murmured. The truth was she didn’t want this night to end either.

Maybe it didn’t have to.

“What did you have in mind?” she asked.

“You like live music? Barn Jam in Awendaw has outdoor concerts. I don’t know who’s playing tonight but it’s usually good. And you can’t beat the acoustics.”

Thea’s head spun at the thought. The Awendaw Green’s Barn Jams were a notoriously hip and edgy venue. They’d be surrounded by carefree twenty-somethings. She’d feel older than dirt!

“Are you sure they let people our age in?” she asked.

He laughed—she was grateful to see his easy smile returned. “How old
are
we, exactly? Because I’m pretty sure I haven’t been getting any senior citizen discounts lately, have you?”