Chapter 11 #2
Joshua looked at his wife, who warned him with her eyes that it may not be the best idea. But regardless, she assured him, “Go ahead.” A text came through Sarah’s phone again, but she didn’t check it.
Joshua began, “Do you know Ed Wright, Caleb’s dad?”
“I know his name, but I never met him. He was on my daddy’s football gang that used to play for fun every Saturday morning.”
“Yep, that’s him. Ed and Ashley’s dad Tim go way back.
That’s kind of how Ashley and Caleb got hooked up.
Anyway, a few years ago, Tim and Ed were drinking together at a Chiefs’ party, one of those big cookout kinda things where there were tons of people there.
But Tim, being as he gets when he drinks, got a bit too rambunctious and started shit-talking Ed, who didn’t like it at all and tried to ignore Tim for the rest of the night, but Tim followed him everywhere and kept badgering Ed about his health condition and making fun of his wife, Caleb’s mom.
Now mind you, Anne is a damn good woman.
She didn’t deserve that kind of disrespect.
“Ed had enough of it and told Tim to shut his mouth. Tim didn’t like that at all and pushed Ed to where he almost fell down the stairs.
Some people tried to stop the fight, but Tim was a mad bull on his damn beer fix and pushed Ed hard enough to almost knock him down the stairs again.
That’s when Caleb heard the scuffle from the kitchen and came out.
He yanked Tim back so hard and threw him into the wall.
Everyone was screaming and trying to get them to stop, but Tim had his sights on Caleb now, and they started fighting.
Mind you, it’s important to note that Ashley wasn’t home when this happened.
“When Tim finally made fun of Ed’s health condition for the last time and joked that he and Anne had an affair right on Anne and Ed’s bed, Caleb lost his composure and did one of those weird military grappling moves and completely broke Tim’s arm and knocked his lights out.
Boy, I tell ya. It was a full ground and pound if ever there was one. ”
Evie hotly interjected, “He had it coming! What was he supposed to do? And I take it no one vouched for Caleb or defended him?”
Joshua shook his head. “Not when it was all Ashley’s family and family friends. They thought Caleb acted outta line and took it too far.”
“That caused Caleb to sign for divorce? I don’t understand.”
“It caused Tim to lose a lot of feeling and use of his arm. It jeopardized his ability to play on the football gang and do his job, which was in construction.”
“Oh, cry me a fucking river!” Evie snapped.
“You don’t understand,” Joshua said. He fixed his eyes on her.
“That put a lot of stress on the family, and eventually got Tim laid off. And because of that, Ashley was pissed at Caleb, and it caused a strain on their relationship. Caleb wouldn’t say sorry and stopped going over to her family’s house for anything. ”
Evie threw her hands up. “Good! He shouldn’t. I can’t believe no one defended Caleb. I’d have done the same thing had I been in his shoes, but I still don’t see how that affected Ashley directly.”
“Caleb then went through some times of being physically angry. He composed it well until one day Ashley drove him insane and he got mad, lost his temper, and threw a chair at the wall and scared the hell outta his poor kids.”
Evie remembered what Sandy said at the salon a year ago. She had mentioned the chair incident.
Joshua went on, “So Caleb filed for divorce after Ashley told everyone he hit her. It took that poor guy forever to mend his name. But…”
Evie slowly interjected again, “The scar still remains?”
Joshua signed sadly, staring off. “Yep, but like I said…”
Evie lifted her head to look at him.
“Don’t go messin’ around with that guy. He’s got some serious PTSD issues, Evie. You’re such a sweet, beautiful, loving, and caring girl. He’s not your issue to fix. I don’t want you gettin’ wrapped up in some head case who can’t control his anger.”
Evie thanked them both sincerely for their hospitality and conversation.
As she got to her car, it was one of those long Midwest goodbyes as Sarah and Joshua hung out at her car as she kept trying to leave.
Sure, the company and idle chatter was nice, but she really needed to get home to think, and the cold wind was getting in her car from the window being down.
When she was finally able to get home, she collapsed on the bed and gathered herself from all of what happened that day.
She had only been up for four hours, but it already felt like twenty-four.
Pawpaw’s warning came back to her like the drifting call of a whippoorwill. He ain’t nothin’ but trouble.
She rubbed the sadness from her face and then looked at the ceiling.
That could’ve been what Pawpaw was trying to warn her about, in that Caleb had a temper or could be violent, perhaps?
But that seemed to be long ago, way before Ashley and he split.
Whatever the case, she needed to figure out who told Sandy, who in turn told Ashley, who in turn confronted Caleb.
But the hardest part was that it wasn’t a lie.
She and Caleb had been seeing each other.
No, they never had sex. But they came close to it often.
They had been romantic with each other. Someone could easily see that his truck was there, yes.
But that could have been for anything, like the contracting work he had started to do for her.
But someone, somewhere, somehow knew they had been sexual.
If they accused him of sleeping with her on the sole notion that his car was there, then they should have done it with Joshua’s car being there when he mowed for her, or Hunt’s cruiser being there when he paid her a visit just for fun.
As Evie thought, she again considered going to the salon to try and see Sandy there.
But it wasn’t the day Sandy normally went.
She was always there on a Sunday after church, and Sunday wasn’t until tomorrow.
Evie was tired of being sheepish and not confronting people.
And apparently Caleb was someone who stood strong for others, and she yearned to do the same thing for him, to confront someone about their stupidity and childish behavior.
But even if Sandy found out, how did she find out?
She sat up and grabbed her phone to open Facebook. Thankfully, he hadn’t unfriended her, and now there was really no need to. She pushed on and checked Sandy’s friend list. It was going to take her forever to scroll through over three thousand people, so she typed a name in the search bar.
Ashley Wright.
Ashley’s name came up as Ashley Polley Wright. Joshua and Sarah weren’t on her friend list, and neither was Hunt or Martin or even Hawkins.
Caleb was not on there. She tried everyone. Hell, she even tried her own brothers’ names and all of her family, including her late pawpaw. She even tried her coworkers’ names and her boss’s name. Nothing was showing up. Kelly was on there of course, Kelly Potts.
Evie was truly stunned and stumped. She rubbed her face and finally let out all her breath.
The mystery was building more and more. There was someone who put the bug in Sandy’s ear, because Caleb told her that Sandy told Ashley that someone told her.
It wasn’t like Sandy simply told Ashley that they had an affair.
No, she’d heard it from someone. It could’ve been Kelly, but how did Kelly find out?
Instead of waiting until tomorrow, Evie messaged Sandy outright.
She wrote, “Hey, Sandy. I wanted to clear the air a bit in case you’ve been misinformed.
Caleb Wright was doing some work for me, and it sparked a gossip chain that he and I were having an affair, and we’re not.
I’m actually seeing someone in the city.
” That was a brilliant ending, because it called back to what she had told Hunt at the Songbird Café earlier that she was seeing someone.
She continued writing, “So if someone told you otherwise, you’ve been misinformed.” She ended it with a smiley emoji. “It’d be nice to see you at the salon sometime! I’ve not been there for a long time. Hope you’re well!”
She sent it, keeping it cordial.
Sandy saw it and wrote back, “I appreciate you trying to clear the air, Evie. But someone saw you kissing Caleb like two hormonally-deranged teens about ready to fuck against your car outside O’Malley’s in Freeton.
This is not about his truck being there.
And I think it’s low as fuck of you to be macking up with a man who’s still legally married. Goes to show Caleb’s true colors.”
Evie lost her breath. Now someone was absolutely fucking stalking her. No longer did she feel like it was Caleb’s risk alone. Someone was following her and watching her house. Her chest tightened, and her stomach flipped a bit. She made a mental note to buy a ring camera.
But Sandy went on, “Not to mention they caught you kissing outside in your driveway. So, nice try. But I ain’t fucking buying your innocent act, sweetie.”
Evie lost her nerve. “You need to tell me who told you. Because now this isn’t just about Caleb’s divorce. This is about the fact that apparently, someone is stalking me. And I’m freaking out.”
“Oh, stop making it about you. Always fucking playing innocent victim. No one in this town likes you. You piss everyone off on the discussion page with your high and mighty antics. You think people like you because of the work you’ve done but that’s a just few people.
Ashley and the kids are the ones hurting right now.
Not you. Fuck off with your victim shit.
No one’s stalking you, Evie. People go places, you’re just a slut who makes it obvious to the world.
Learn some decency.” Sandy twisted the knife. “Jesus would want you to.”
With that, Sandy blocked her.
Evie felt her breath quickening with a violent panic attack coming on.
It was the worst one she had ever had. She tried to breathe deeply, but it didn’t work or help at all.
She rushed for her purse and popped a few CBD chews into her mouth, but the escalation happened so instantly that she couldn’t contain it.
The room began to fade; her legs grew numb.
She called helplessly for her cat as she reached for the phone to dial 911.
This time, she was truly alone. She couldn’t call Caleb.
Alone.
The color dripped from her face with sweat alongside it. Her breath became shallow, and her lips tingled. Teddy came in and rubbed against her frantically, trying to get her attention.
Alone.
Dying.
Alone.
Dying.
Frantically, she dialed and heard the voice say back, “911, what’s the location of your emergency?”
Evie stuttered, feeling herself losing consciousness, “6390 Maple-”
She collapsed, unconscious.
“Hello? Ma’am?” the voice on the other line said. “Ma’am?”
Evie was motionless on the floor, and Teddy yowled to the air. He licked his mother’s nose, and she didn’t move. Once more, he gave out a sad meow and purred against her face, nestling down by her neck. He push-pawed into her neck gently.
Evie didn’t get up.
And the snow fell gently outside.
But breaking the sound of the silence, a Chevy truck roared up that road, tearing across and nearly hitting a mailbox after swerving to get back in the correct lane.