Page 43 of Heart of Dixie
Just then a band of black-suited gentlemen, along with Gus in his overalls and church shoes, advanced up the aisle in a loose formation. I found myself trapped . . . in my seat, and at a funeral I had no desire to attend as they lifted my father to their shoulders and carried him outside and to the waiting hearse.
That was it. Somehow, Cooter Barnes had managed to earn the love and respect of the good people of Kissing Creek, Tennessee, but I didn’t have to watch. As kin, I was expected to exit the building first. I did. Without looking back or sideways I flew through the doors, down the steps, and across the lawn until I was in the parking lot that covered the church’s back property. There, I halted to catch my breath and find two minutes’ peace. The chatter of guests was already close behind me.
I swatted at whatever was tickling my cheek and my palm came away damp. Rapid footsteps neared and a pair of strong arms wrapped around me from behind. “I’m here. I’ve got you, princess.”Deke. Instinctively, I clasped my hands around his hard forearms. My chin dropped to my chest. It would be so easy to melt into him. To let him catch me. To let him prop me up and support me while I gave in and was weak. So easy, and such a bad idea. He stole away any decision and turned me in his arms. Eyes clouded by tears, my arms found their way around his neck and clung.
My chest heaved with the effort to hold off the unwelcome sobs that wanted to wrack my body. Where had this come from, the unexpected grief? “Dammit, Olivia! She should be here, not me. I can’t do this.”
Deke’s hold tightened at my back as tears escaped faster than I could dash them away. “There’s a reason she had you come, Dixie. You’re his daughter.”
I’d driven myself to the church, but there was a limo waiting to deliver me to the cemetery. “I’m not prepared to play the anguished offspring.” The role was both foreign and uncomfortable. It had been too many years since Cooter was anything to me except a person I easily left behind. Deke loosened me by degrees, only enough to meet my gaze, and I leaned back in the circle of his arms as he searched my eyes.
“I would have sat with you inside and held your hand if you asked.” His mouth lifted in a lopsided smile. “You don’t always have to act so tough.”
My entire body relaxed. I was melting. He was catching me. “I wish that was true, but it feels as if I have to wear armor whenever Cooter’s involved.” I straightened my shoulders. “And we’re expected at the gravesite soon. That ought to be a barrel of fun, don’t you think?” The procession of cars was already moving past us, the good folks who knew and respected George Barnes undoubtedly relishing in the police escort now that Frank Peterson was over the worst of his deadly virus.
I cast a glance at the town car waiting for me. The driver opened the door and stood beside it. Deke lowered his brows and narrowed his eyes. “Let me drive you. Let me . . .” After a false start, he moved his hands to my shoulders. “I don’t want you to do this alone. I want to be there for you. Please.”
My heart stuttered a warning. I took a step back and he dropped his arms from around me. I missed the security of them immediately. Such a bad sign. He indicated his truck, parked in a space close by.
“Come on. Climb in. We’ll ditch the parade and take the long way.” He cupped my elbow to lead me across the asphalt, but my feet wouldn’t obey. He halted without pressuring me to moveforward, though it was the most important thing for me to do. His thumb rubbed my wrist as methodically as a metronome, as if he understood it would calm me.
“Do I really have to go? Cooter won’t miss me.” The sudden laughter in Deke’s eyes mocked me.
“You’re right; how would he know? But what about all those people you’ve come to know again over the last few days? You planning to blow them off?”
“Yes. No. Damn it!”And it would only be moments before he asked about Olivia.
After several long minutes, I lifted my gaze to his and glared. “I made the arrangements. I went to the church. I can do the rest. I feel like a hypocrite, but nothing bad lasts forever, right?”
He only smiled. “I’ve got you, princess. I’ve always got you.” I focused on the warmth of his caramel eyes and the honey in his drawl rather than the reason we were here and where we were going. His digit traced back and forth, back and forth, and my labored breathing eased. At his hand signal, I stepped over the curbing and let him lead me toward his truck.
Cooter may have let me down repeatedly over the course of my life, but I could always rely on Deke. I could count on him to stand beside me when I needed a friend, then hold me closer when I needed a lover. That knowledge wreaked havoc with my heart.
But it would get me through today.
24
Deke
“So, earlier.” I waved my finger in the vicinity of her face to indicate her earlier tears. “Not a reaction I recall while discussing Coot.”
She glanced at me, her eyes cloudy. “We’re all born alone, right?”
An interesting lead-off.I looked her way, then back through the windshield as I steered around a curve. “Sure.”
“And we die alone.”
“Alone. Technically speaking.”
“And if we live a miserable, lonely existence between those two days it’s nobody’s problem but our own, right?”
I began to see the light. “Cooter hasn’t been your problem for a long time, princess.”
She straightened her shoulders, her posture rigid in the contour seat. “He needed me to leave so he could change his life. Now everywhere I turn, I find a friend ofGeorge’s. Nobody even calls him Cooter anymore.”
Her dadhadchanged his life after she left. Improved it. Wasn’t the obnoxious asshole she grew up with. That would be a lot to adjust to in a few short days. “Did he ever try to contact you after you left?”
Her lips slammed together and she turned to stare out the window again; her long hair hid her face.
