Chapter 12 #2
“Okay, then, I’ll back off trying to fix y’all up for a little while,” Bernie said. “I was in a hurry to get roots put down for you. Joe Clay would be sad if you left, and I’d do anything for that man. I thought if I could just get you settled, then your brothers wouldn’t leave either.”
“Thank you,” Brodie said with a nod. “I should be going. Pansy, that’s my pot-bellied pig, is waiting on her new house. She can get up under the trailer, but when it rains the water runs under there. She needs a dry place to sleep.”
“Joe Clay said y’all boxed the trailer in real good and built a pen for that silly pig. How are you going to empty the sewer tank now that you can’t hook the trailer up and pull it into a dump site?” Bernie asked.
“We’re going to tie into the sewer line that’s already out there, and we can fill the water tanks with the well water we use for the crops,” he answered.
“Joe Clay fixed my trailer up the same way, only he made it so all I have to do is reposition a couple of lines, and I’m ready to go.
” Bernie finished off the last sip of her coffee and slid out of the booth.
“Thanks for the date. If you were this good at listening when you went out with the women I set you up with, then there’s something wrong with them. ”
“Thank you. See you around,” Brodie said as he stood up.
“Yep,” Bernie said, and left while he was clearing off the table.
Brodie crossed the parking lot and got into his truck. If it hadn’t been so late, he would have called both his brothers to tell them that an ice cream sundae was all it took to get them all off the matchmaking hook.
***
“You are going to have to fight to stay awake in church tomorrow if you don’t get some sleep,” Audrey whispered to herself as she beat on her pillow for the dozenth time that night.
She worried about Walter leaving in the fall and about the feud between her aunt and Bernie, but most of all she couldn’t get the previous evening out of her mind.
She had really enjoyed talking to Brodie and wished that she had not listened to her family when they bad-mouthed all the folks at the Paradise.
Those women could have been friends that she could call when she was having a bad day or a good one—but oh, no, the Tuckers did not associate with people who lived in a former brothel.
“And it hasn’t been a brothel in way over a hundred years.” She sat up in bed and decided that maybe a walk in the night air would clear her head enough that she could sleep a few hours.
She walked to the end of the cornfield, made a left and followed the back fence to the corner, and then walked down to the broken barbed wire.
She defiantly stepped over the tangled mess and sat down on his property.
The headlights of a pickup truck lit her up like a Christmas tree.
She could either run or stand her ground and dare him to file trespassing charges against her.
She decided on the latter. A rousting good argument might be just what she needed to fall asleep.
“Hey, what are you doing”—Brodie yelled as he got out of the truck—“on my side of the fence?”
“I don’t see a single No Trespassing sign,” she said.
He crossed the distance between them and sat down beside her. “I bet Ira had several strung down the fence years ago.”
“Probably so, but they’re all gone now, so you cannot call the police.” She covered a yawn with the back of her hand.
“I wouldn’t do that anyway, but what brings you out at this time of night?” he asked.
“For a walk because I couldn’t sleep,” she answered. “What are you doing here so late anyway?”
Brodie nodded toward the truck. “There’s one of those igloo doghouses in the back.
I bought it for Pansy. These spring rains could cause a mud lolly under the trailer.
The new little house will keep her dry as well as cool in the summer and warm on cold nights.
Want to go over to the trailer and see how well she likes it? ”
“Yes,” Audrey answered.
He stared at her as if she had an extra eye right in the middle of her forehead.
“Did you hear me?” she asked.
“I did, but would you say it one more time so I’m sure?” he asked.
“I said yes,” she answered.
He stood up and offered her a hand. “Sure that you want to take a chance that Miz Hettie will find out that—”
“I love my aunt, but I’m thirty years old, and she is not my boss.” Audrey put her hand in Brodie’s. Like always, her pulse kicked into third gear at his touch.
Every single time, she groaned to herself.
When she was on her feet, he let go of her hand. “I’m thirty also,” he said. “When is your birthday?”
“I should have said I will be thirty in June, but I’m close enough to it that I wasn’t stretching it very far,” she said.
“I was thirty last November,” Brodie said.
Audrey filed away that little bit of information and then changed the subject abruptly. “I’ve only actually been on this property one time, and that was after Uncle Ira passed away. I came over here to talk to Zelda one last time to ask about selling the place to me.”
Brodie removed the big box from the back of the truck and hoisted it up on his shoulder. “For real?”
“I told you how Uncle Ira and Grandpa felt about the family,” she said. “The fear of God was put in me about coming over here. I could walk up to the fence, but I’d better not take one step any further.”
“I can’t see you obeying rules,” Brodie chuckled.
“Well,” Audrey said, “I did stick my feet under the barbed wire one time.”
Brodie set the box down beside the porch and pulled out a pocketknife. With a few long cuts, he opened it up and removed the igloo from the inside. “How did it make you feel when you defied orders?” he asked.
“Exhilarated and scared at the same time,” she said.
“A vehicle came by about the time that I did it and lit me up somewhat like you did tonight. I worried the rest of that summer that someone saw me and would tell Grandpa. Back then, bright-orange signs really were up and down both sides of the fence that warned folks not to trespass. I never did it again until tonight.”
“Why not?”
“I wasn’t welcome here,” Audrey answered.
“Well, you are now, but it might be a good idea not to let your aunt or Bernie find out,” he said. “I’m just now getting on her good side. We had ice cream tonight, and she’s promised to stop fixing me up on blind dates.”
“Two miracles in one evening,” she teased. “That has to be a record for sure.”
“What’s the second one?” he asked as he set the little house over the fence. Pansy came out from under the trailer and smelled all around it before she went inside.
“That we’re talking without screaming and yelling at each other for a second time,” she answered. “It’s getting late. I should be going back to the house. If Aunt Hettie wakes up and finds me gone, she’ll panic.”
Brodie laid a hand on her arm. “Sit with me on the porch for a little while. Want a cold beer or a bottle of sweet tea?”
She slapped a mosquito only slightly smaller than a buzzard and left a small bloody mark on her arm. “I’m good. All the rain we’ve had is great for crops, but it breeds these vampire bugs like crazy. I’ll see you in church tomorrow morning.”
“I could walk you to your door,” he offered.
Audrey shook her head. “We better not push our luck.”
Brodie frowned. “Want to explain that?”
“Think about it. I’ll see you in the morning, or maybe I should say later today, at church,” she said, and blew him a kiss.
***
Brodie felt like a teenager who had just broken curfew when he removed his boots at the door and tiptoed up the stairs to his bedroom.
He carefully folded his shirt and jeans when he took them off and hung both over the back of the rocking chair.
He sighed when he got into a bed where his feet didn’t hang off the end and he could actually move around without fear of falling onto the floor.
He laced his fingers behind his head and stared at the ceiling.
Dark clouds drifting back and forth over the moon made for strange shapes on the ceiling and made him think of Audrey.
She was like the fast-moving black cloud, but now a little light had shined through.
And in that, he could feel the chemistry between them.
He wondered if she felt it too, or if she was still angling to buy his farm.
The next morning, he was awakened quite abruptly by pounding on the double doors leading out onto the balcony. He groaned, looked at the clock to see that it was only six thirty, and crawled out of bed.
“What do you want?” he asked gruffly as he opened the doors wide.
“Well, good morning to you, too, Mr. Grouchy Ass,” Knox smarted off. “Your alarm is going to go off in thirty minutes anyway, since it’s your morning to make breakfast. If you will remember, you invited Ursula and Remy to come over and eat with us before we all go to church.”
“But that would let me sleep another half hour,” he said.
Knox pointed to a lovely sunrise. “Then you would have missed that. It reminded me and Tripp of Mother’s excitement all those times when she showed us the beauty of nature.”
“Come on out here and have a seat,” Tripp said from the shadows. “Why are you so grumpy anyway. You are usually whistling by this time of the morning.”
Brodie sunk down in a chair and propped his bare feet on the railing.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and went to Walmart in Bowie to buy one of those igloo dog houses for Pansy.
All these spring rains could make a mess under the trailer.
The little igloo will keep her safe and dry. I didn’t get home until late.”
“Bet you that crazy pig won’t even use the thing,” Knox said.
“You’d lose that bet because she went right inside and was still there when I left,” Brodie said. “And you are welcome. Especially you, Tripp.”
“What’d I say?” Tripp protested. “I’m just sitting here looking at the sunrise and thinking of Mother.”
“I ran into Aunt Bernie at the Walmart store,” he answered.
“Why would I be thanking you for that?” Tripp asked.
Brodie told them a short version of the evening, ending with, “And she agreed to call off the matchmaking for all of us. She just wanted us to put down roots so Joe Clay wouldn’t be sorry and sad when we left the area.”
“Thank you, thank you!” Tripp said. “I’m sorry I let Knox wake you up. That’s even better news than this sunrise.”
“Amen!” Knox added. “But did she call it off forever or only for a few months?”
Brodie shook his head. “I’m not sure, but she might be gunnin’ for you, Knox, if you ever decide to take on a construction job outside of Montague County.”
“Then I’ve got some breathing room,” Knox said in a serious tone.
“It will take me months and months just to get caught up on what all the sisters want done; and before I even get started on their jobs, Joe Clay wants us to get started on that new parsonage for Endora and Parker; and then I’ve got to build a place for you. ”
“Is the parsonage a for free job?” Tripp asked.
“Yep,” Knox answered. “It’ll be a great tax write-off.”
Brodie patted his brother on the arm. “Like I said, don’t ever mention moving away from here in front of Bernie, or she’ll have you saying ‘I do’ so fast it will make your head swim. I’m going to get dressed and go downstairs. How do frittatas sound?”
“With hot biscuits and gravy on the side?” Knox asked.
“Or maybe pancakes?” Tripp asked before Brodie could answer.
“Since we’re having company, I’ll whip up all of the above,” Brodie said, and went on back into his room.
Will I ever make breakfast for Audrey? he asked himself silently.
When Pansy sprouts wings and flies, the nasty little voice in his head answered.