Page 34 of Heart of Dixie
“So. You saw one article and that makes you the . . . thefuckingexpert on my job—mylife—and my clients?”
“You used to have a life you loved. You didn’t worry what other people . . . what Cooter said, what he did. You were full of fun and adventure. It was kid stuff, sure. But you were wild and crazy. You mademefeel wild and crazy. What happened to that girl who ran off in the middle of the night? When did your life become about pleasing other people?”
My throat had gone to dust. “You don’t know me well enough anymore to judge me that way.”
“Sure I do. Let me take a stab at this.” He picked up my drink and put it back in my hand. I gulped until the glass was empty. “You didn’t want to come back to Kissing Creek because you were railroaded into it. I understand Olivia can be very persuasive these days.” He grinned. “Now, that’s only simple reasoning, but how’m I doing so far?” He held up two fingers together and lifted my chin. “Close your mouth, princess. You’ll end up swallowing a fly.” I glared at him.
As easily as if we were only discussing the weather, he helped me down from my seat and led me outside. “Now, the other reason is a little trickier, and knowing you, a little harder to swallow, but I can be pretty convincing myself.” He shared a smile that would put a used car salesman to shame. “As a matter of fact, I don’t mind giving you a tour to prove it to you.”
The parking lot was packed, yet those tiny hairs on the back of my neck were prickling. I had no idea where his truck was located. I would trust Deke with my life and that of everyone I held dear, but his motives at this particular moment gave me pause.
He turned me to face the blinking lights of his small town—barely visible in the distance through scattered woodland and family farms, and spread his arm wide. “Kissing Creek itself. You always did love it.” He pulled me into him, my back to his torso until the warm and reassuring beat of his heart scattered my thoughts. I took a step forward and kept on walking. Out of his arms, back to clarity. “I think you missed it.”
My stomach dropped to my feet. I stopped in my tracks so I wouldn’t trip over it. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s okay to admit you wanted to come home. You had to know you’re welcome here.”
My belly slithered back up and settled in place. His smile lured me closer. “It was God’s truth that the memory of Friday night movies in the park and dropping a line in Hunt’s Creekwith you and Beth got me through those first lonely months in Chicago. But no, I never felt comfortable returning.”
Was it right I let him lead me over the gravel and through the darkened parking lot? Who knew, but with his hand on the small of my back, I was comfortable enough to follow him to purgatory itself. His pickup towered between an older minivan and an SUV, common enough in these parts, and I climbed in while he held the door for me. Within minutes he was cruising along the back roads, mere tracks some of them, as we reminisced and he made me remember what it was I loved about this place.
A blanket of stars was crystal bright overhead without the forest of trees to block them from view. With the windows rolled down, we drove through a field of corn as tall as a man. The heavy stalks whispered in the breeze. “Do you remember the summer before senior year when we all got jobs? It was when Ruby first let me wait tables; you detasseled corn. Even then, Beth knew she wanted to work for the sheriff’s office. She hounded them until they let her hang around.”
Deke slowed as he came upon a narrow intersection, then took a left. We had the barefoot run of our town, the three of us, like ragtag Musketeers. A world apart from the life of debutantes and sorority cotillions Olivia submerged me into.
“After all those years of cards and notes from her, promising she was waiting and wanting me, it was a blow to discover she was not the mama I remembered.” Deke cast me a quick glance as he took another left and got us back on the road to the highway. I shook my head. “She’d been married to Evers for years by then and was a society woman, and apparently, that was the way she liked it. Never did convince her I didn’t like it, too. In the meantime, I sucked it up, got my degree from Northwestern and realized my stepsister was as unhappy as I was.” That claimed Deke’s interest.
“Oh yeah? I thought she was all about sorority life.” He navigated the next curve in the road “Ha! Little did the good doctor know!” I shook my head again. “Madelyn was all about his money. Which actually worked out in my best interest, too, as the trust fund she received when she graduated was what she used to open the agency in LA.”
“Wait, I thought you worked with your college roommate?”
I waited. Even with only the glow from the dash to illuminate his features, I could tell exactly when it all come together for him. His eyebrows raised and his mouth opened to speak. I didn’t give him the chance. “Right! Madelyn was my roommate.”
“I bet that chapped daddy dearest’s ass.”
I smirked. “Actually, once he found out the clientele we were targeting, he didn’t have a problem at all. The biggest problem we have is keeping my mother from getting involved. It’s one thing to score tickets to a black-tie event for her and the doc, totally another to keep her from draping herself all over the clients. She has a way of forgetting she’s not twenty years younger than she really is. Last summer at the ESPY’s, he had to practically drag her away. It was damn embarrassing.”
He reached across the console and captured my hand. “There are so many mysteries in life. Some we will never solve.”
I nodded and turned to look out the window. “I imagine my mama will always be one of them.”
Deke made a stop at the entrance to the highway, then headed back toward town. The route we were on was familiar; I’d been exploring this way earlier in the week. Deke slowed his speed and guided the truck through another winding curve.
A deep woods thicketed the side of the road, leading down to the creek. Then again, everything on this side of town seemed to lead to the rambling Hunt Creek. I pointed out the window and into the darkness. “Our old treehouse is just ahead.”
I got a startled glance in return for my comment. “Did you check it out?” There was caution in his voice, but I imagined the place was pretty rickety.
Our old fort was the place we spent so much of our free time. We’d idled away hours making so many dreams, so many plans . . . so much foolishness. I hadn’t stopped when I drove past the other day. What was the use of dredging up silly childhood memories? Why would I want— “Stop!”
The tires squealed and I pitched forward; Deke’s heavy arm flew across my chest. “What the hell, Deke? You don’t have to mom-arm me! I’m a big girl now.” The truck skidded to a stop on the blacktop.
“You said stop. I stopped.” He eased the vehicle onto the shoulder and killed the engine. I was already running into the trees when he caught my arm and halted my progress.
I shook him off. “Let me go, Deke. I just want to see it.” I pulled my cell phone from my back pocket and flicked on the flashlight app. “I bet it’s nowhere as big as it seemed when we were kids.”
He grabbed my arm again when I started to pick my way through the underbrush and led me along what used to be a jagged trail. “No, not as big, Dix.” I turned to him, to see why his voice sounded so rough. “Whoa! Take it slow.” He caught me when I stumbled and shone his flashlight from the truck down at my feet. “You should have worn your boots instead of those heels if you were thinking about a hike.”
“I don’t have boots. Besides, I was planning to dance, not trailblaze when I left for the evening.” We came to the clearing where our tree stood, larger than ever and in full leaf. “What happened to it?” The branch hung only slightly over our heads—a perfect V where we’d spent an entire summer erecting our fort. It was still attached to the trunk of the tree, but only a few boards of the treehouse’s floor remained. It would have made somuch more sense to attempt this excursion during the daylight hours, but we were here and now I was curious. I shined the light in an arc to better view the area. A scattering of pop bottles and food wrappers were piled along with a ragged flannel shirt a short distance away. Deke wandered back from the pile of trash, the shirt in his hands. His forehead creased. “This looks like one I used to tease Blake about all the time. Told him he looked like a lumberjack in it.” His gaze lifted to where the treehouse used to be. “He mentioned his mama’s been complaining about someone stealing laundry off her line.”
