The Summer of Our Discontent (26 page)

“Yes, we did.”

“Good.” Bev stroked her face one more time, then picked up her purse. “I’ll see you in the morning, love, and I’ll kiss the girls on the way out.”

Rachel followed her mom to the back door and watched as Kaycee and Sophie raced each other out of the tree house. Bev kissed and hugged them both, and Rachel smiled when Sophie called out, “Bye, Grandma.” She hadn’t considered that Sophie didn’t have one of her own. She felt pretty certain that if Luke wasn’t in her life, then his folks probably weren’t, either.

Patty walked into the backyard, and Rachel stepped onto the back porch to greet her. “Rachel, you got a tan,” she said brightly, but as she drew closer, she furrowed her brow.

“Actually, I got dusted by a reckless driver.”

“Momma, you’re nasty,” Kaycee said as she and Sophie ran over.

“Yes, thank you for noticing.” Rachel knelt down. “How about a hug?”

Sophie moved in before Kaycee could and latched on. “Hey, Aunt Rachel.”

Rachel laughed. “Hey, baby,” she said as she stroked Sophie’s sweat-soaked hair. Sophie then turned and hugged Patty, soiling her office clothes with grime. Rachel wrapped her arms around Kaycee and hugged her tight. “Hey, wet puppy.”

“I
am
hot, Momma, but I’d be cooler if I had hair like Ms. Aunt Faith. Sophie’s getting her hair cut, too.”

“I figured it would be easier to manage,” Patty explained. “Faith is supposed to get us an appointment on my next day off. I think an inverted bob would be cute.”

“That’d be adorable,” Rachel agreed.

They watched the girls scamper back to the tree house. “I didn’t want to say it in front of Kaycee, but if you wanted to get
Kaycee’s
done when we go, she can come with us.”

“It’s too hot, and she’s too active to keep it long.” Rachel winced. “It’s so pretty when it’s clean, but that’s only when she’s sleeping. I think I’ll take you up on that offer, but I’d like to go along.”

Patty smiled. “Good, it’ll probably be Wednesday.”

“Would you like to join us for dinner? I have no idea what Mom cooked, but I’m sure there’s a lot of it.”

“Hey, I’ll take a home-cooked meal over leftover pizza any day,” Patty said with a smile. “Do I have time to go home and change?”

“Sure, I need to rinse off anyway. I plan to go running later, so it’ll be quick. Just come back whenever you’re ready.”

“I’ll take the girls with me so you can rinse.”

*******

Rachel was out of the shower and her wet hair was in a clip. She’d set the table by the time Patty came back with the girls. The chicken casserole wasn’t Rachel’s favorite, but she dared not complain after all her mother did for her. It thrilled her that Patty and Sophie seemed to really enjoy it and ate enough that there was very little left over. The girls went back outside to play in the cool of the evening while Patty and Rachel straightened the kitchen.

“So…you’re dating my sister,” Patty said as she wiped up.

Rachel glanced over her shoulder. She wasn’t sure how much Faith had told Patty. “Yes, but we haven’t actually gone out on a date yet.”

“That’s what—dinner, a movie, a lot of talking? I’d say you’ve been going out for two weeks
sans
the movie.”

“You have a point,” Rachel said with a laugh.

“She came to visit me when I lived in Lake Charles, and she picked up a woman in a grocery store. She got that new body in her senior year of school, and something snapped in her. Anyway, we go into the store, and she sees the woman in produce. By the time we got to dairy, she had her number.”

Rachel was glad that her back was turned as she closed her eyes. Her head was already spinning with all that Chance had to say that morning, and now Patty was going to add to it.

“I’ve never seen her like this, though. You’ve thrown her completely for a loop. She was a nervous wreck yesterday when she came home, so afraid that you weren’t interested in her. I’ve honestly never seen her that vulnerable before. Whatever you said to her last night had her walking on air this morning.” Patty’s expression was stern when Rachel turned around to face her. “I’m very protective over my sister. She and Sophie are all I have. Faith would kill me for telling you all this, but she’s very serious. I thought you should know that.”

Rachel’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Thank you for being so forthright. I needed to hear that. I’ll take good care of your sister as long as she wants me to.”

Patty raised both fists in the air and shook them. “Yes! Hug me.”

*******

The lights in the park came on as the last few rays of sun slipped beyond the horizon. Rachel jogged behind Sophie and Kaycee as they rode their bikes in front of her. She watched as Kaycee slapped at Sophie’s hand when she reached out to take one of her handlebars.

“You’re gonna make me fall,” Kaycee said testily.

“No, I won’t. Trust me.”

Sophie was bristling with confidence because her training wheels were still on her bike. They’d been lifted, but they’d probably stop her from falling nevertheless. Kaycee was being asked to take a big chance. Rachel started to call out and tell them not to try the stunt, but as she opened her mouth, Kaycee let go of the handlebar and Sophie took it. They rode like that for a few seconds with no calamity.

Rachel felt like everything she’d struggled with that day had been summed up in that moment. What it all boiled down to was simple trust. To continue on with Faith meant she’d have to close her eyes to the past and take Faith at her word. That was scary because she didn’t have any training wheels.

Chapter Thirty-one

“You are such a dick.” Faith lay on the sofa in the lounge, an arm thrown over her eyes. Her hands were chapped from scrubbing and being exposed to cleansers all day. Duke had stayed late to make sure everything was cleaned to his expectations. It made the day go by quickly, but Faith was bone tired. She raised her head up and looked at Alvin, who was on the sofa. His hand twitched where it lay across his stomach. He snored loudly once and smacked his lips.

Faith got up and walked quietly to the door leading into the truck bays where she could have some privacy. If Alvin was still asleep when she came back, she planned to fill his nostrils with sunflower seeds. She looked at her watch—it was a quarter after nine—and hoped Rachel was still up. She sent a text instead of calling.
You awake?

Yes, but the cow is asleep
.

Faith grinned.
Can I call?

Yes
.

“How was your day?” Faith asked when Rachel answered.

“Long, it’s kind of hard to get back into the swing of things after two weeks. How was yours?”

“Painful. Alvin started in on me about the picture of us taken at camp, so I smeared his hair with spit-covered sunflower seeds. Duke took one look at the mess and made us scrub the station top to bottom. We just finished a little while ago. I missed seeing you at Tibby’s this morning.”

“I missed you, too. I wondered where you were. I’m curious to know who snapped that photo.”

“It could’ve been anyone. All of the chaperones had phones and half of the kids. Did you take any ribbing over it?”

“Not really, no one said anything but Chance, he was…surprised.”

Faith leaned against the wall. “He doesn’t approve, does he?”

“He doesn’t know you.”

“Just give me a little time, and I’ll prove myself.”

“Are you afraid that I’m gonna change my mind?”

Faith closed her eyes. “I’m scared of everything right now. Have you ever wanted something so much and it’s at your fingertips, and you’re terrified that it’s gonna slip away before she can get your grip on it?”

“Yeah,” Rachel said softly.

“You don’t know how hard it was for me to walk away from you last night.”

“Yes, I do because I had to stand there while you did it.”

“I’d like to sit out under the stars with you again tomorrow night.”

“Same time?”

Faith smiled. “Yes.”

“It’s a date.”

“Good night, Rachel, I hate you.”

“I hate you, too, sleep well.”

Faith slipped her phone into her pocket and walked back into the lounge. Alvin was snoring up a storm. Sunflowers seeds in his nose didn’t seem good enough. Faith picked up a magazine and rolled it up. She smacked him in the forehead with it. His high-pitched scream was like music to her ears. “Good night, asshole.”

*******

Faith’s morning was productive despite the fact that she had only gotten a few hours of sleep. They’d run two medical calls with the ambulance service in the early hours of morning. Before then, she’d lain in her bunk thinking about Rachel. Over breakfast, she deleted every woman’s number from her phone that she’d kept just in case she found herself in a dry spot. Then she set up an interview with Kaycee.

“So what is your mom’s favorite treat?”

“Ice cream,” Kaycee said with certainty. “Can we get some?”

Faith nodded. “After lunch. Okay, what is your mom’s favorite flavor?”

“She likes chocolate chunk with raspberry caps, you know the little chocolate things with the raspberry stuff in it.”

“Sounds del—”

“That praline kind.”

Faith made another notation on her pad.

“The strawberry cheesecake kind.”

“Leaping lizards, child, how often do y’all go to the ice cream shop?”

Kaycee shrugged. “All the time.”

“Her metabolism must be off the charts,” Faith said in awe. “Okay, I know she likes the sunflower. Do you know if she likes other flowers?”

Kaycee nodded. “She does.”

“But what kind?”

“The pretty ones.”

Faith tried a different tack. “What does your mother absolutely hate?”

“Commercials, she screams at the TV, and sometimes, she throws socks at it when they come on.”

Faith rubbed her temple. “You are absolutely adorable. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”

“I like all the ones without nuts.”

“I like nuts,” Sophie said as she walked over and sat on Faith’s lap. “Momma keeps a big jar of them in the back of the pantry with all the cookies. She says she’s trying to protect you from the bad food because you don’t like to eat it.”

“Really? How very thoughtful. I’m gonna give her a special hug for that, it’s called a headlock.”

“Momma likes cookies, too. She bakes them, and she doesn’t let ’
em
get too hard. Then she puts them in a big plastic bag with a piece of bread. She says that keeps them soft. I’m not allowed to bring them in my bedroom, but sometimes, I do.”

“We gave Fred one,” Sophie whispered.

“Who is Fred?”

“He’s a green snake. I caught him by the fence yesterday,” Sophie said proudly.

“Baby, you picked up a snake?” Faith asked alarmed.