When the clock struck five on Thursday evening, Fiona wasted no time locking up the store and heading to Lizzy’s house. She was still in a snit that she’d have to ride all the way to Wichita Falls the next night in the backseat with Sharlene and Mary Jo and then most likely all the way home with them in a drunken state.
But that wasn’t the whole ball of wax of her bad mood. If Jud’s sister came to town, then he wouldn’t need Fiona to talk to in the evenings, to bounce ideas off of or share secret beers with. He’d have Josie, and Fiona would be right back in her room—all alone. Fiona loved the evenings when she and Jud visited. It was something that she looked forward to all day.
Judging from the number of trucks out in the front yard, everyone was already at Lizzy’s when Fiona arrived. She checked her reflection in the rearview mirror, shook her hair out of the ponytail she’d worn all day, and reapplied her lipstick.
“Hey.” Lizzy met her halfway across the room with a hug. “You’re just in time for dinner.”
Fiona peeked over her sister’s shoulder. “Your place looks amazing! It looks…like a brand-new house.” She took a step back so she could see the whole living room and kitchen. “I love the soft off-white with the pure white woodwork. You did good picking that out, Lizzy.”
“I hear we’re going to make a party out of tomorrow night. It’s been years since I’ve danced with you.” Deke nudged Fiona on the shoulder.
“Be prepared to be worn out by the night’s end.”
“I expect whoever I take home will finish the job,” he laughed.
“Let’s eat and then we’ll put up my first Christmas tree in my new home with my new husband,” Lizzy beamed. “Tonight Toby is going to hold the lights and the garland and I’m going to place them on the tree.”
“Just like Mama and Daddy did when we were kids,” Fiona said softly.
“That’s right. Deke, say a quick grace for us and we’ll have supper,” Lizzy said.
Since the small kitchen table would only seat four people, Lizzy declared that the guys could eat in the kitchen. The ladies would take their food to the living room and sit on the floor around the coffee table.
Allie chose the outside because she wanted to be close to Audrey’s infant seat. Lizzy claimed the far end, leaving the other for Fiona. The low buzz of conversation and laughter in the kitchen came through the walls, but Fiona couldn’t make out individual words. She could easily distinguish each man’s unique drawl and knew who was talking at what time and wondered if Jud would miss talking to her in the evenings when his sister came to town.
“So how do you feel about going out with Sharlene and Mary Jo?” Allie’s nose looked as if she’d smelled something bad.
“Not my choice,” Fiona mumbled.
“What was he thinking?” Lizzy whispered. “But you said you didn’t want to make it a date, so it’s your own fault.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Where are you putting your Christmas tree?”
“Well, I’m going to put my two cents in and then we’ll talk Christmas,” Allie said. “Don’t let this one horrible evening dictate your decision about the future.”
“Enough about the future. Let’s enjoy the right now. Now, about that tree? And this is really good soup, Lizzy, but then you always were a good cook.”
“Just not a good housekeeper.” Lizzy smiled.
“What are you giving Toby for Christmas?” Fiona diverted the subject away from the next night.
“I found one of those coupon books online and ordered it. It’s for all kinds of sex things and it does not expire until Christmas day of next year. Other than that I have no idea,” Lizzy answered. “Confession time, though. Allie, I kept back a box of decorations from the attic when we brought them down. We always had way too much stuff for one tree since Mama bought more every year when it went on sale.”
Allie patted her sister on the shoulder. “So did I! I stole the one marked the year I was born. I think it probably has a lot of Granny’s stuff in it. You aren’t mad at us, are you, Fiona? We’ll share what’s on the tree at Audrey’s Place with you if you move away, or if you stay, it can all be yours.”
“No, I’m not upset at all.” A picture of a huge tree in her house in Houston flashed through her mind. It sat in a twelve-foot expanse of glass overlooking an acre of green grass. All done up in blue with a huge bow on the top rather than a star or an angel, it had been designed by someone on the firm’s payroll. When she and Kyle had their Christmas party, the tree, with the blue and white striped packages underneath, was a huge success.
Last year, she’d bought a twelve-inch fake tree at a discount store for three bucks, fluffed out the limbs and strung microwave popcorn for a garland. She’d bought a few ornaments at the thrift store and made a construction paper and glitter star for the top. The presents that her mother and sisters mailed dwarfed the little tree but she’d been proud of it.
“You ready for me to bring in the tree?” Toby yelled from the kitchen.
“Yup!” Lizzy hollered back.
“Did you get a real tree? You rat! I bought a fake one in Wichita Falls last week when we drove up to see Granny,” Allie said.
“I’ve always, always wanted a real one, but Granny was allergic to them and cats. Now I’ve got Stormy out in the barn with another batch of kittens. She comes into the house when she wants to and she and Toby’s dog, Blue, have become best friends. Toby and I went out in the pasture and cut down a tree before y’all got here. It’s leaned up against the back fence.”
The clock said midnight when Jud finally eased up the stairs, bypassing the squeaky step and going straight to his bedroom. He’d planned to come home right behind Fiona at ten-thirty but he and Deke got into a conversation about oil drilling and then he wound up over at Deke’s place having a couple of shots of whiskey with him while they continued to talk.
Now it was too late to knock on Fiona’s door. He slipped into his room, kicked off his boots and clothes, and fell into bed naked, shivering against the chill of the sheets. He felt cheated out of his nightly visit with Fiona and wished he’d begged off with the excuse of being sleepy rather than going to Deke’s place.
Fiona was in his dreams that night. She drove her mother’s little Chevy Malibu and they came upon a bridge, the likes of which he’d never seen before. It was an arch so tall that the top of it was buried in the white puffy summer clouds. There was enough steel bracing under it to verify that it was secure but it was only one lane wide and there were almost no side rails.
Fiona stopped the car at the end of the thing and shook her head. “I can’t do this. I’m terrified of heights. Always have been.”
“I’m right here beside you. I’ve got faith in you, Fiona. Keep your eye on the road. Don’t look to one side or the other. Just drive and in fifteen minutes, it will be over and we’ll be on the other side.”
She took a deep breath and held on to the steering wheel in a death grip. One simple swerve and they’d both plummet into a glassy blue river below them, but she made it across and pulled her car up to a place that required a passport for them to go on. She whipped hers out but Jud didn’t have one. He woke up while trying to explain to the guards that he was with the woman and didn’t need a passport.
He checked the clock to find that he’d overslept by half an hour. Truman would be finished with his breakfast and gone. The old codger didn’t wait around for help and things had to be done his way.
Usually Jud had a morning shower to wake him up, but that morning he threw on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved knit Henley shirt and carried his boots down to the kitchen. Truman, Fiona, and Dora June were all having coffee at the table. Hot cinnamon rolls were on the cabinet along with a pot of hot cereal, a pile of bacon, and a stack of toast.
Jud stopped inside the door and blinked half a dozen times. Truman at the table after six o’clock. Was the world coming to an end?
“If you wouldn’t stay out until daylight, probably chasin’ after hussies, you wouldn’t oversleep,” Truman barked.
“Truman O’Dell!” Fiona exclaimed.
Truman crossed his arms over his chest. “You best eat some of that oatmeal Dora June made. It’ll stick to your ribs while we get the livestock taken care of this morning.”
“Yes, sir.” Jud dipped up a bowl full of oatmeal with raisins, pecans, and brown sugar in it. He set it aside and slipped two cinnamon rolls, two pieces of toast, and half a dozen pieces of bacon on a plate.
Dora June bustled around behind him, filling a cup with coffee for him and topping off everyone else’s cup. “I’ve got a favor to ask, Fiona. You can say no, especially after the way we were with your mother last year when we excommunicated her from the ladies’ group at the church. I always have the ladies of the church, not just the auxiliary group, but any ladies who want to come, to my house for a little Christmas get-together. We don’t have presents, just food and a singing.”
“And you’d like to have it here?” Fiona asked.
“Bunch of folderol if you ask me,” Truman muttered.
“The house is beautiful and so big and I wouldn’t have to take everything to the church to have it in the fellowship hall, but I can if you’d rather I didn’t have it here with what all went on.”
“When?” Jud asked.
“Tonight. That’s why you can say no and I wouldn’t feel bad. Henrietta says we can have it at the church, but we always do it on the first day of December. We got so involved with the fire and all that we plumb forgot until last night.”
“Mama said to treat this like it was your home, Dora June, so of course you can have your party here. I’m going dancing with Jud, Deke, Sharlene, and Mary Jo, so you don’t have to worry about us getting in the way.”
“Thank you.” Dora June smiled. “We were wrong in the way we handled things with your sisters, Fiona. At the time we thought we were helping them see the error in their ways.”
“Water under the bridge. We aren’t even going to think of it anymore, Dora June,” Fiona said.
“Are you afraid of heights?” Jud blurted out, and immediately wondered if he’d said that out loud.
“Me or Truman?” Fiona asked.
“I ain’t afraid of nothing,” Truman said staunchly.
Fiona shivered. “Well, I’m terrified of heights. I don’t even like mountains. Give me flat land. A few rolling hills like we have here is okay, but nothing any taller than this. And I don’t like mice or spiders either, since we’re talking of fears.”
“Tall bridges?” Jud pressed on.
“Why? Are you thinking of taking some route to Wichita that involves a tall bridge? If so, don’t. Just flat out don’t or I’ll get out of the truck and hitchhike back home. I hate big bridges with a passion. We had to cross one on a business trip over in Tennessee once and I almost fainted.”
“Nope, just wondered.” The fear she’d had in his dream was real. Now all he had to do was figure out what in the hell that bridge meant and why she needed a passport to get into whatever country they’d landed in on the other side.
Fiona’s hair floated on her shoulders that morning with an errant curl falling on her cheek. He wished he had the right to reach across the table and push it behind her ear and then briefly touch his lips to hers, promising to do more later on when they were alone. She looked up and caught him staring and he gazed into her mossy green eyes for several seconds before he went back to eating his second cinnamon roll.
He had no doubt that she had the strength to cross that bridge even if it scared her half to death. She’d faced a divorce, losing her job, working for pennies, and living alone for a year. She could cross any bridge in front of her with no problem. But would she trust him enough to go with her?
“You are both awfully quiet this morning,” Dora June said.
“It was a late night getting both Lizzy and Allie’s trees all set up and done,” Fiona said.
“Then Deke and I got into a long-winded conversation and it was midnight before I got home.” Jud picked up the coffeepot and refilled his cup. “Anyone else?”
Fiona held out her cup and his fingertips grazed hers as he poured. Her expression left no doubt she’d felt them, too. Well, hot damn! At least he wasn’t rowing this boat alone.
“Deke thought we should leave at seven tonight. Is that okay with you?” Jud set the pot down.
“I suggest you hurry up and swallow the rest of that coffee and we get busy with what we got to do right now rather than worrying about tonight,” Truman said shortly.
“Sounds good to me.” Fiona’s voice had deepened. “Are we going to pick up Deke and the girls or what?”
Jud shook his head. “Everyone is meeting here so we don’t have to drive folks home.”
Fiona rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “If they’re too drunk to drive, those girls are sleeping in Sharlene’s van.”
“Well, I should say so,” Dora June agreed.
“Hussies, the both of them,” Truman muttered.
“Now, Truman, it’s Christmas and besides the preacher said we have to love our neighbors. Where would we be if Katy hadn’t shown us some love and if these two kids weren’t being nice to us?” Dora June fussed at him.
“I don’t like Christmas and never will.”
Jud winked at Fiona and she gave him a thumbs-up.