Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
C arson glanced down at Bubba, who was sitting on the tiny vanity in the travel trailer watching him shave. “Be glad that you don’t have to do this every day,” he said.
Bubba cocked his head to one side and meowed.
“I don’t understand cat talk, but I’m going to believe that you agree with me. I hope you’re in the same frame of mind tomorrow when the movers take Uncle Victor’s things out of the house and bring mine in. This is our last night in the travel trailer. We’ll be in a bigger place tomorrow evening.” He poured shaving lotion in his hand and then slapped it onto his face.
Bubba raised his paw and touched Carson on the arm.
“Are you asking me if I like Jenna? The answer is yes, I like her very much.”
But she needs to work through all her issues, Carson thought. Other than finally scattering her mother’s ashes, I’m not sure what else has her spooked, but I can tell she’s got other issues from the haunted look in her eyes.
He picked up the cat, carried him to the living area, and set him on the tiny table. Bubba turned around a few times and curled up in a tight little furball. Carson had just pulled on his boots when Victor knocked on the door and then stuck his head inside.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” Carson answered.
“You ain’t in the service now, son,” Victor said with a chuckle. “I’m your plain old uncle, with an emphasis on old.”
Carson took a second to pat Bubba’s head before he left the trailer. “How long did it take you to stop saying sir?”
“Longer than two months,” Victor admitted.
“Are you and Aunt Dorena ready for tomorrow? Won’t it be bittersweet to see that moving van pull away with all your things?” Carson asked.
“Yes, it will,” Dorena said as she joined them and looped her arm into Victor’s. “This has been our home longer than any place we ever lived, but I’m ready for a change. I want to spend time with our daughter and the next generation of kids. So, I’m going to think about the trip and the fun your uncle and I are going to have on the trip to Virginia, and all the good times we’ll have with our family when we get there.”
“I’m glad that we’ll be busy with the party, and with the movers taking our things out and then bringing yours in,” Victor said. “If we didn’t have anything to do on our last day, there could be time for sadness.”
Carson slowed his stride so that his uncle and aunt wouldn’t be winded when they arrived at Jenna’s cabin for supper that evening. “I agree, but I’ll still be a little sad when I see you pull away in that travel trailer.”
“You just be sure Bubba is with you in the house when we leave,” Dorena said in a scolding tone. “Our daughter is allergic to cats and dogs both, and this old man right here has such a big heart, he wouldn’t let me toss the kitten out at a roadside rest.”
“Darlin’, do I need to remind you of the frog?” Victor asked.
“No, you do not,” she scolded.
“What about the frog?” Carson asked.
“One was on our back porch, and she made me carry it all the way back to the edge of the lake,” Victor answered. “My heart is a dried-up raisin compared to hers. She would never throw Bubba out of the trailer. She would probably take him to a shelter when we get to the end of our journey, but until then, she would treat him like a king and cry like a baby when she left him behind.”
She nudged him on the shoulder. “You know me too well.”
“Yep, I do.” He beamed.
Carson wanted what they had—the love, companionship, and friendship, even after years of marriage. He had thought he had found it when he proposed to Jody, but he had been wrong. Folks talked about a woman’s biological clock ticking loudly. He didn’t believe that men had such a thing, but lately, he had been craving all the things that a permanent commitment would bring into his life. He didn’t have a fortune to offer a woman, but he did have a heart that he was more than willing to share with the right one.
* * *
Change had never been Jenna’s enemy. That probably was a result of moving to the lake every summer, and then back to the family’s estate in time for her to go back to school. When Jenna was young, she counted the days until she could get to the cabin for three months. When she was a teenager, she couldn’t wait to see her favorite person and take a few more art lessons from Ramona. She seldom even unpacked when they arrived but went straight over to Ramona’s cabin to visit and set up a schedule for the next three months. Then everything changed in the course of five minutes. She had a funeral to plan and a divorce to navigate—that was a huge change and a heartbreak all rolled into one.
“Your mind is a million miles away,” Amber said, as she set the dining room table for six people.
Kelly tossed grape tomatoes into the salad and added croutons and cheese to the top. “What are you thinking about?”
“Change,” Jenna answered.
“What about it?” Amber asked.
Jenna filled six glasses with ice and set them around at each place setting. “There’s a lot going on right now. Victor and Dorena are leaving. This is our last week together for what could be the last time.”
“We’ve all made beautiful memories here.” Kelly carried the salad to the dining room and set it down on the table. “We’ve shared so much and gotten through obstacles that life threw at us in these past ten years. We can all lean on those in tough times, but honey, the biggest change is yet to come, because you are going to find happiness right here.”
“How can you know that?” Jenna asked.
Before Kelly could answer, someone knocked on the back door. Jenna tossed her apron aside and crossed the room to answer it. “Y’all come on in,” she said. “We’re putting supper on the table right now.”
“I wanted to bring dessert, but Victor said y’all have everything covered,” Dorena said.
“This is a little goodbye supper for y’all, so you shouldn’t have to cook anything. Besides, I bet you’ve got all your pots and pans packed by now.” Jenna bent to give the short lady a hug.
Dorena had always reminded Jenna of her paternal grandmother Stewart. Gray hair, brown eyes, just a little on the curvy side, and always with a happy smile.
“Yes, she does, but we know where to go buy a cheesecake,” Victor said.
“And they are very good, but Amber whipped up a peach crisp that’s so good . . .” Kelly started toward the table with a bowl of green beans.
“That it will make you kiss the devil’s pitchfork,” Victor finished the sentence.
“That’s right,” Kelly said with a giggle. “Y’all gather on around here and have a seat. We just have to take the pot roast from the oven and bring it to the table.”
“This all looks amazing,” Dorena said, as she picked up the pitcher of sweet tea and filled all the glasses before she sat down.
Victor claimed the chair right beside her. “And smells even better. I do love a good pot roast, and the potatoes and carrots cooked in all that rich broth.”
Jenna brought the final platter of food to the table, set it down, and then realized that Kelly and Amber had chosen to sit at the two ends. Victor and Dorena were side by side, across from Carson. That left only one spot for her—right beside Carson.
Her pulse jacked up a few notches when he stood up and pulled out her chair. Then his shoulder brushed against hers when she sat down, and it spiked up even more. She was determined not to fight the feeling, but to embrace it.
A free heart has room for romance. Her mother was back in her head for the first time since she had scattered the ashes.
Could that mean that by giving her mother’s spirit wings to fly, Jenna had also loosened the chains that held her own heart back from having a real relationship? She explored that idea while the conversation around the table centered on Victor and Dorena leaving, and how long they planned the trip to Viriginia would take.
Jenna caught every third or fourth word, just enough to know to nod every now and then so everyone thought she was paying attention.
“You look beautiful this evening. That bright yellow dress makes you glow,” Carson whispered.
His warm breath on her neck made her shiver. “Thank you. You look . . .” She felt someone staring and glanced across the table to see Amber wink.
“I look what?” Carson asked. He smiled.
“I remember that you made this same meal the first time you invited us to share supper with you and your friends,” Dorena said. “I was hoping you’d serve it again tonight. Pot roast is one of my favorite meals. We’ll have party food tomorrow, and then we’ve decided to get in the RV and leave right after that. No need in sleeping in it here in the park and leaving on Sunday morning when we could easily make a hundred miles before dark.”
Victor put a second helping of food on his plate. “I’m glad this is what you cooked up for us, too. It’s just about my favorite all-time meal.”
“I thought kraut dogs was your favorite,” Kelly teased.
“That’s his favorite snack, except for chocolate cake, peach cobbler, and ice cream,” Dorena tattled.
“It’s surreal that you’re leaving,” Jenna said.
Carson finished off his tea and refilled it. “I’m just now hearing that this will be my last night with y’all. I thought you were staying until Monday.”
“Dorena just sprang that idea on me a few minutes ago,” Victor told him. “I agreed with her, mostly because we both hate goodbyes. When we leave here tonight, we’ll still see all y’all tomorrow at the party, and then we will get into the RV and be on our way. That way there’s less tears.”
“I read a quote once that said if nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies,” Dorena told them.
“Mama had that on a plaque in her office,” Jenna remembered, “and I brought it to the lake with me. It’s hanging in . . .”
“My bedroom,” Kelly finished for her. “Every time I see a butterfly, I think of that.”
“Amen,” Carson said under his breath.
“Well, looks to me like we’re all about to see butterflies in our future,” Dorena said. “I hope that you young women find what you are looking for in your travels. I hope that Victor and I can make our change without a hitch, and that Carson loves living here at the lake as much as we have.”
Jenna thought maybe she had left her out, or clumped her in with Kelly and Amber, until she smiled across the table. “And I really hope that you find happiness now that you are coming out of your cocoon.”
“How . . . what . . .” Jenna sputtered.
“I’m old,” Dorena said, “but I still see twenty-twenty. I can see that whatever is happening in your life has put a sparkle in your eyes that I haven’t seen before now. My prayer is that it’s just the beginning of a wonderful future for you.”
“Thank you,” Jenna whispered. “What you just said is beautiful.”
“Yes, it is,” Amber and Kelly chimed in together.
“I agree,” Carson added.
“We’re going to have to talk about something else, or I’m going to cry,” Jenna said. “And none of us are saying goodbye. That’s way too final. We’re going to just say ‘see you.’ That means that sometime in the future, we will all be together again around this table.”
“Amen!” Victor raised his tea glass. “A toast to what Jenna just said.”
“The two of us don’t have to say ‘see you’ to each other,” Carson said, for her ears only.