Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Magnolia
“ W ell, it definitely needs work…” Belinda said.
We sat in her car, staring at the house that had belonged to grandparents I’d never met. It was small and looked like it had been neglected for decades. The vegetation was overgrown, and a few windows were broken. Over half the paint had peeled off the siding. The front door had been left partially open. It looked like it needed to be bulldozed rather than remodeled.
“I suppose we expected that,” I said.
Belinda reached for her door handle. “Let’s get out and walk around.”
Before I could stop her, she was already climbing out the door.
I wanted to follow, but the house reminded me so much of the house , the one where I’d been kidnapped and tortured by Tripp a decade ago. The house where I’d watched him torture and murder a woman.
I wasn’t sure I could get out of the car.
Belinda walked around and opened the car door, squatting in front of me. “Magnolia,” she said in a serious tone. “What’s scaring you?”
Tears swelled in my eyes. “Who says something’s scaring me?”
“This isn’t like you. Not the you before…everything.”
“Maybe it’s the me now.”
She narrowed her eyes. “No. I don’t believe that. Sure, you’re a different person now, but you were fearless before.”
“I was stupid. Colt’s stuck with a fool.”
“Magnolia…” She hesitated, then reached out a hand. “No one would ever accuse you of being stupid. Especially Colt.”
“I can’t go in there, Belinda.”
“So we don’t go in,” she said, sounding perfectly reasonable. “We’ll just walk around the property. Come on. It’s a nice day.”
She was right. It was a gorgeous day. The sun was out, and it was in the low seventies, and blessed relief, the humidity was relatively low. We’d spent the morning talking to two different private investigators and then ate gas station deli sandwiches for lunch since I was worried about being recognized if we went into a restaurant. But I felt cooped up, and truth be told, I was missing Colt like crazy. Part of me was ready to call this whole trip a mistake and head back to Franklin. With any luck at all, I’d be home before Colt got back from his gig tonight.
“It’s a farm,” I said. “There’s no point in getting out of the car. Let’s just forget all of this and tell Mr. Cooper that I’m selling. Lord knows Colt and I could use the money.”
“Fine,” she said. “Sell the farm, but at least get out of the car and look around first.” She stood and tugged on my hand. “Come on.”
I let her pull me to my feet, and she graced me with a smile.
Still clasping my hand, she started to walk toward a barn a few hundred feet past the house.
“When we finish here,” I said, “I think we should go home.”
She stopped in her tracks. “What are you talking about?”
“I should have listened to you. We should be on a beach somewhere, sucking down tropical drinks while we bask in the sun. Not traipsing around an overgrown, neglected farm.”
“So we’ll take that trip next time with the money you make off the farm, but we’re already here, so you might as well see it.” Belinda stopped and tilted her head back to glance up at the sky. “Just think. Your mother grew up in that house and looked up at this same sky when she was growing up.” She was quiet for a moment, then said, “It makes me feel closer to her.”
It was easy to forget that I wasn’t the only one grieving the loss of my mother. Belinda had grown quite close to her while she was married to my brother.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the wind blowing my hair and the sun shining on my face. My mother had always seemed like such a city girl that I struggled to imagine her here.
“Don’t you want to know why she left?” Belinda asked quietly. “Sure, people leave where they grew up, but they usually go back home to visit their family.”
“ I didn’t,” I said, opening my eyes and turning to face her. “I never once went back home until I had to.”
“And you had a reason,” she said. “Your mother must have had one too. Aren’t you the least bit curious about what it was?”
I was, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to admit it and give her more ammunition to use against me. Still, it was obvious Belinda wanted answers too. I needed to take her feelings into consideration.
“We’re already here,” Belinda said, “so I say we finish looking around the farm, then call Summer and tell her we want to hire her.”
I stared at her, agape. “You seriously want to hire Summer Butler? Are you kidding? ”
“Do you want to hire the other guy? He was too busy looking at your breasts to even hear what you were saying.”
“Well, I didn’t say much,” I snapped. “You did plenty of talking for both of us.”
Belinda gave me a look that was equal parts frustration and disappointment. “We can go home if you like. Or we can try to salvage what’s left of the weekend. We’re only a couple of hours from the Gulf of Mexico. We could find a hotel on the beach and lie around getting tan and reading beach novels, but I honestly think you’ll regret it if you don’t get some kind of closure about your mother.”
She was right and we both knew it, but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to admit it. “Fine. Call Summer if you want. Get your answers.”
She gave me a hug, gently pulling me to her and holding me close. “Everything’s going to be okay, Magnolia. I promise.”
“No one can promise that,” I said, sounding like a sullen teenager.
She grabbed my upper arms and stretched back to look at me. “You just have to give it time. Maybe you need more space away from Franklin and Nashville. If you sell this land, maybe you and Colt could take a real vacation. Go away for several weeks and hope things die down with Mo and Molly and their stupid podcast.” She hesitated. “You could even consider moving away.”
“Away from you?” I asked in horror. “I need you, Belinda. You and Colt have been my rock through all of this, even though I know you’ve surely struggled to deal with all of this too. You were there at the end of this mess. That had to be traumatic for you too. You saw me…” I paused. Dr. Norton told me how important it was to not bury the trauma, but to give it voice. “You saw me covered in blood, practically from head to toe. And you saw Colt with a bullet in his chest, and you saw me shoot my father. You can’t have witnessed something like that and escaped unscathed.”
She gave me a soft smile. “I’ve seen a therapist a time or two, but honestly, Owen has been there for me, much more than I ever expected. He understands what we went through, and he not only lets me talk and talk and talk —he listens. That’s more than your brother ever did.”
That wasn’t saying much.
“I’m not moving away from you,” I repeated. “Besides, Colt still dreams of hitting it big in country music, and Franklin and Nashville are where he needs to be to make that happen. I would never take that from him. Not after everything he’s done for me.”
She smiled at me, her eyes tender. “Things will get easier as time goes on. You’ll likely suffer from PTSD for the rest of your life, but you’ll learn to handle it. That’s what Owen told me, and he was right. It rarely bothers me nowadays.”
Shame washed over me as I realized that she’d experienced PTSD and I hadn’t been aware of it, although I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I’d been too lost in my own battles. “You’re right. I’m healing. I’m already much better than I was when I woke up in the hospital. Don’t mind me. I’m being a baby.”
“You’re not,” she said, “but I also feel like maybe I’m forcing you to do too much out of your comfort zone. That it’s doing more harm than good. If you want to go home, we can go.”
I stared at the house, feeling torn. I really did want to see Colt, but I was also curious about my mother’s past. “I wonder if all of my grandparents’ belongings are inside.”
“Do you want me to go in and look?” she asked in excitement.
“Maybe…”
“Actually,” she said, “I’m going to make a call. I’ll be right back.” She pulled out her phone and headed toward the house, only talking for about a half minute as she peered through the windows. After she hung up, she headed back toward me. “The place looks fully furnished, but it very much looks like it was abandoned. In any case, Chief Montgomery is headed out here to do a walk-through and make sure it’s safe.”
I gave her a blank look. “Chief Montgomery?”
“The police chief. He said he was more than happy to help and that he was in the area. He’ll be here in ten minutes or less.”
“He’s going to think we’re nutcases.”
“No, he said he thought it was a good idea since the property has been abandoned for so long.”
I suspected he was placating us, but I wasn’t opposed to him checking out the house first. “You do realize that we’ve met him already,” I said. “He’s Summer’s boyfriend.”
“It’s a small town and I suspect there aren’t many officers,” Belinda said, leaning her butt against the car as her gaze swept over the land. “I still find it hard to picture Lila here.”
I leaned next to her. “Same.”
Chief Montgomery arrived a little over five minutes later, holding a flashlight as he climbed out of his SUV. He was a good-looking man, so it was easy to see why Summer was interested in him.
“Ms. Steele and Ms. Steele,” he said in a friendly tone as he approached. “How about I go in first and make sure everything’s okay, then stick around while you walk through?”
“Thank you, Chief Montgomery,” Belinda said, pushing away from the car and walking toward him. “You have no idea how much we appreciate your assistance.”
“It’s my pleasure,” he said, flicking on the flashlight. “Y’all wait out here.”
The house was fairly small, so he wasn’t inside long. Belinda had already headed toward the house, but I hung back several feet, still unsure I could go in at all.
“The floor’s a little soft in a few places,” he said. “All the more reason for me to walk through with you ladies.”
“Are you doing this because you hope I’ll hire your girlfriend?” I asked bluntly.
He could have gotten pissed—he had every right—but he was all patience. “I’m merely doin’ my job of keeping citizens safe. Your business with anyone in town is none of my concern, Summer included.”
Belinda shot me a dark look, and I knew I’d crossed a line, but I was scared to go inside the house, and my fear was battling my curiosity. I was actually relieved Chief Montgomery was with us, especially since he had a gun on his hip.
“You ever used that gun before?” I asked, gesturing to his holster.
“I have,” he said carefully. “When needed.”
“Can you unholster that thing in a hot second if there’s a threat?”
He offered me a reassuring smile. “There’s nothing in that house, Magnolia, but I’ll be with you every step of the way to be sure.” Then he added, “In case a raccoon or squirrels jump out of hiding.”
We both knew that wasn’t what he meant, and I could have lost my temper, but instead, I was relieved. And also grateful he was trying hard not to embarrass me.
“Is there a basement?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“No,” he said softly, as though he understood my fears. Then again, maybe he did. “No basement.”
I darted a brief look at Belinda, then steeled my spine. “Well, okay then. Let’s go inside.”