Secrets over Sweet Tea (13 page)

She started for the door and then turned around. “When you get back, you’ll need to find a new place to live. I’ll e-mail you what I feel is an agreeable separation of property, and we can discuss it after your trip. And, Tyler . . .” Her voice wavered. She swallowed hard at the lump that had all but stopped her airflow. “I hope that at some point, healing can come for both of us. Because God knows I am just as broken as you are in so
many ways. And my ultimate prayer is that one day we can try again, even have the marriage we were created to have.”

He looked at her, the lines on his face as hard as the steel of her resolve. “If we divorce, I can assure you I will never be back. There will be no remarriage. No anything. We will be done.”

He wanted her to react. She could tell by the look on his face. He knew how much she loved him. He knew that was his ultimate card. Grace imagined what was going through his head:
Tell her you will never be back and she’ll quit this madness. Tell her that if she leaves it this way, whatever she is wishing for, praying for, believing for is nothing but a cruel joke and a wasted effort.

She finally spoke. “I have no other choice. This has to end. This marriage, what it has become—
this
marriage is over.” With that, she walked from the house and closed the door behind her. Rachel stood quickly. Side by side, their steps unhurried, they made their way to the cars.

Rachel stretched an arm around Grace’s shoulder. “You did good, baby girl.”

Grace let out a long exhale.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Want to come back to the house?”

Grace tucked her fingers underneath the car door handle and pulled. The door opened quietly. She turned toward Rachel. Her friend’s dark eyes held all the compassion and depth that thirteen years of friendship brought. Grace shook her head. “No, I think I’m going to spend a little time alone.”

Rachel studied her. “You sure? We can go get ice cream. Chocolate. And sweet tea. Do whatever it is people do after giving their spouse divorce papers. We can go do that.”

A soft laugh escaped Grace’s lips. “Thank you. No, I just need to be by myself for a while. I’ll let him catch his plane. Then I’ll come over to your place and grab Miss Daisy, and I’ll spend the night here.”

She could tell Rachel’s resignation was hard to offer. “Okay. But call me. I mean it. If he says one word to you. Or if you have a breakdown. Or need ice cream. Please promise you’ll call.”

“I promise. But I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t need to sleep here alone.”

“I
want
to sleep here alone. This is my life now. I have to go in there alone eventually. Might as well start tonight.”

Tears glittered on Rachel’s long black eyelashes. “You’re a stronger woman than I am, Grace. In every way.”

Grace shook her head rapidly. “No. I’m just doing what I have to do.”

Rachel grabbed her and squeezed tightly, the embrace communicating unquestionable loyalty and love. When she let go, Grace climbed into her car and closed the door.

A few blocks down, she pulled into the parking lot of Landmark Booksellers, Franklin’s quaint downtown bookstore. She watched as Tyler’s Mercedes passed by in the direction of the airport. And what came out of her after that shocked her. The wails were as loud as the thirteen-year cicadas that screamed from the trees. Her body doubled over the steering wheel.

For the last four days, only she had lived with the knowledge that their ten-year marriage was over. Now they both knew. And if pain could break hearts, she was certain hers had just ripped in two.

Scarlett Jo stood by the front counter of Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant. She’d been looking forward to her lunch with Elise, partly because she hadn’t been to Puckett’s in a while—and she loved Puckett’s. What started out as a little country store back in the fifties had turned into a local favorite. Some of the South’s best songwriters and musicians used it as a showcase in the evenings. But even when there was no live music, people came for the relaxed atmosphere and the wonderful food—Southern cuisine at its finest.

And oh, that cobbler. Puckett’s had the best blueberry cobbler in town. Scarlett Jo knew that for a fact. She knew where the best food was all over the Nashville area. Especially desserts—Scarlett Jo specialized in those. Dotson’s made the best
chocolate pies. Merridee’s was the source for wonderful coffee cakes and cinnamon rolls and those fabulous caramel pecan rounds. Amerigo had the best tiramisu. Loveless Cafe featured delectable homemade biscuits you could slather with peach preserves, while Dalts had the best chocolate malt cake you’d ever put in your mouth. She could go on and on. If you were looking for any kind of sweet treat, Scarlett Jo Newberry could tell you where to go.

She looked down at her watch. Elise McAdams was ten minutes late for their eleven o’clock lunch date. Scarlett Jo shrugged. Might as well grab a table so she could get something to drink as she waited. She ordered sweet tea in a Mason jar because they would do that here if you asked. She always asked. That was how her granny had served tea, and it was her favorite way to drink it.

After another five minutes she went ahead and ordered blueberry cobbler with ice cream. That would be her appetizer. She hadn’t had any fruit with breakfast, and this would cover at least one of her fruit servings for the day, plus some dairy. If she decided she wanted another cobbler after lunch—and she might just decide to do that—then she’d be covered for another couple of servings. A giggle slipped out when she thought of that. Sometimes she cracked her own self up.

The window next to her table gave her a great view of the Franklin lunch rush. She caught sight of Elise as she stepped from her car, phone attached to her head, deep in conversation. Elise’s wide turquoise necklace bounced as she walked toward the door, still talking. She spotted Scarlett Jo when she came in and waved, quickly said good-bye to the person on the other end, and collapsed in a chair as if she had lived nine lives before noon.

“Whew.” Elise set her yellow handbag on the table. “What a morning. I was at the church all morning. Then I forgot our babysitter has to leave early today, so it looks like I won’t be able to stay long at all. I’m really sorry, Scarlett Jo. I can’t believe school is out already, and I’m not used to our summer schedule yet. You know what I mean? Arranging childcare drives me crazy sometimes.”

“Oh, sugar.” Scarlett Jo flipped a hand at her. “You’d better be careful. These years will fly by quicker than you can blink. My Jack was two years old yesterday. Now he’s taller than me and shaving. Happens before you know it. I mean, when I saw your Hank the other day, I couldn’t believe how much he’d grown.”

Elise smiled. It was hard for any woman not to smile at the thought of her children, unless she had just spent the entire summer with them. “I know. He and Hailey both seem to be changing overnight.”

“And these are such sweet years. Get ready, though. For teenagers you’re going to need extra sugar. In fact, considering the way this day is shaping up for you, you might want to start with dessert, too, just to make it through.”

Elise looked at the cobbler bowl, then up at Scarlett Jo. “Oh, I’m good. I had some toast for breakfast.”

Scarlett Jo shook her head. “What is it about women today? Nobody eats. People look at food as if it has a disease or something. But God made food to be eaten. He made bodies to require it. You are a stick, Elise. You need to eat. Now, if it’s money—if the church isn’t paying you enough to eat . . .”

Elise let out a nervous laugh and held up her hand. “No, seriously, I’m not hungry. And trust me. I eat. I eat all that I want.”

Scarlett Jo pushed her spoon through the velvety ice cream
and crust into the thick fruit filling. She put the entire spoonful in her mouth and chewed slowly, smiling as she did. She wanted Elise to know what she was missing. It worked. She could have sworn that at one point the other woman licked her lips.

She set her fork down. “So shoot straight, Elise. What’s up?”

Elise’s face showed that she hadn’t expected Scarlett Jo’s forthrightness. She moved her long dark hair across her shoulder and placed her hands on her purse as if she might need to get out quicker than she thought. Her brow furrowed, revealing the lines around her eyes. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Scarlett Jo.”

Scarlett Jo took a long drink of her tea. “Well, this is how I see it. When you have a friendship with someone and then all of a sudden that friend begins to avoid you, it’s either one of two things. One, they might have had a big life change that they are having to adjust to, like a move, a new marriage, a new baby, a new job. Or two, they are avoiding you because they’re doing something they shouldn’t be doing. So I’m thinking, you haven’t moved, there’s no new baby, there’s no new job, there’s no new marriage, yet you’ve fallen off the face of the earth. You don’t stay around after church. You haven’t called to get together in months. And I had to all but drag you here today. My best conclusion is that something is up. So what is it?”

Scarlett Jo forked another bite of the rich, sweet goodness and waited with a face that reflected nothing but concern.

Elise looked dumbfounded. “Um . . . well, um . . . I’m just not sure what you’re talking about. The church has a lot of demands. My family has a lot of demands. The kids’ school, caring for the people in the music department, my volunteer work. I’m just not as available as I used to be.”

Scarlett Jo nodded, carefully listening to all that Elise was saying and all that she wasn’t. “But these are the same demands you had a year ago. And a year ago we had lunch every other week. We talked about our children, our husbands. How is Tim?”

Elise raised her hand for the waitress. “I think I’ll just have some coffee.”

Scarlett Jo crinkled her nose. “Sure, honey. Get you a coffee.”

Scarlett Jo finished her cobbler and sipped tea while she waited.

The coffee arrived quickly. Strong-smelling coffee. “Tim is good. You know he is.” Then her eyes began to water, and Scarlett Jo heard the faint break in her voice. “Well, I’m not sure. He’s been acting different lately. I’m kind of worried about him.”

Scarlett Jo patted Elise’s hand. “Worried why, honey?”

Elise dabbed her eyes. “Well, he just seems to be acting really odd. I don’t know—maybe he doesn’t love me like he used to. Maybe he’s overloaded at work or something. But he just seems real angry with me lately. Like he’s frustrated. And I told him I thought he was working too much. You know, with the way the church is growing, it requires more of us, more of him. But he claims it has nothing to do with work, so I don’t know. Maybe he’s having a midlife crisis. I would just hate for him to do anything foolish if he is.”

Scarlett Jo watched Elise take a sip. She held the coffee in her left hand.

“Sugar, it sounds like you and Tim might need to get away together.”

Elise took another long drink of her coffee. Her head lifted and she smiled. “That would be wonderful. But right now there just isn’t time.”

Scarlett Jo leaned over and took Elise’s hand in hers. “Honey, you can’t afford not to take care of your marriage. Marriage comes first—before children, before jobs, before everything except the Lord. And by ‘the Lord,’ I’m not talking about doing a church job. Your marriage comes before that too.” She beamed. “Tell you what. I’m going to talk with Jackson, and we’re going to make sure the two of you get away. I’ll even watch the kids.” She snorted. “What’s two more when you have five?”

Elise shook her head. “No, Scarlett Jo. You can’t do that. We’re fine. We’ll get away with the kids somewhere—camping or something. That’ll be what we all need.”

Scarlett Jo shook her head, and the large white flower that was attached to her headband shook with it. “I’m not taking no for an answer. You need time without the kids, and the church needs the two of you strong and healthy and happy. And so does your family.”

She could see Elise’s resignation. “Okay. Well, sure, yes, you’re probably right. We probably just need some time alone.”

“Trust me, Elise. I know the power of being alone with your man.”

“Thank you.” Elise glanced at her watch. “Oh, Scarlett Jo, I’m so sorry. It takes me fifteen minutes to get home, so I’m going to have to run. We will do this again soon, though.”

She stood, grabbed her purse, then leaned over and gave Scarlett Jo a half hug. Scarlett Jo hated half hugs. Elise touched Scarlett Jo’s face. “You are such a wonderful friend. Thank you for listening. But please don’t say anything to Tim. I don’t want him to think I’m talking about him. He’s just going through a rough time, that’s all. If you and Jackson offer something to us, let him think it’s your idea, okay? Please don’t let him know we talked.”

Scarlett Jo licked her lips and then moved her fingers across them as if she had zipped them shut.

“You’re the best,” Elise said. “I’ve really missed seeing you. I hope we can do this again soon.” She straightened and half ran from the restaurant.

Scarlett Jo watched as Elise climbed into her blue Volkswagen Jetta. As soon as she got in the car, the phone was back at her ear.

Scarlett Jo raised the glass of tea and took a long sip. Then she gazed out the window at the traffic as her mouth formed the words, “Lord, help Elise break. Whatever’s in her that needs to break to get her whole and out of her lies, break it. But if you could do it as gently as possible, I’d appreciate that too.”

Zach shook his head hard. But the image of Grace in his mind was apparently more of the tattoo variety than the Etch A Sketch version. Shaking couldn’t dislodge it. She was there. And she seemed to be staying.

Darlene came into the conference room. “I’m going to call it a day.”

He spun around, wondering for a second if his thoughts betrayed him. “Sure. Sure. I’m about to leave too.” He turned back toward the window. The neon lights of the Franklin Theatre already shone bright, ready to welcome evening moviegoers. “Grace Shepherd.” He spoke her name, appreciating the way it fell from his lips.

“Yes? Tough day for her, huh?”

“Yeah, but have you ever seen someone handle a situation like this with, well, such grace? She doesn’t get angry. She doesn’t
talk bad about her husband. She’s just determined. And she makes it clear that this is the hardest thing she has ever done.”

“It’s because she loves him.”

Zach let out a puff of air. “Look what he’s done to her. How do you love that?”

Darlene walked around the conference table and looked out the window next to his. “You can’t explain love. People love broken people all the time, and we are all broken in some way. We see it all in here, Zach. We get them in the denial stage, the anger stage, the shock stage. I think Grace Shepherd has a long road of healing ahead of her. A very long road.”

They stood there in silence for a few minutes before she added, “But just like I know God has a beautiful plan for you, I’m confident he has one for Grace. No matter where she may have to go to get there.”

Zach turned toward Darlene. Her white dress made her look almost angelic. “How do you know all of that?”

She let out a soft laugh. “I’ve never seen one living soul who has asked God for help and been refused. I’m not saying help will come the way you want. But I can assure you that from the moment we ask, he has heard and he is moving. Plus, I watch people. I take people in. And to be honest, I learn a great deal about them by what they don’t say.”

The last sentence came out in a knowing way. Darlene laid a soft hand on his shoulder, then exited the room, leaving him to wonder what she knew exactly.

Zach’s paralegal, Derrick, came in a few minutes later. He left a stack of research for next week’s court cases on the end of the conference table and said good-night. Zach stood quietly a few more minutes. Then a text message alarm sounded from his
phone:
Both girls spending night with friends. I’m doing dinner and a movie with Becky and Lisa.