Page 126 of Smoky Mountain Dreams
Christopher grinned.
Gran leaned forward sharply and slapped his face. Not hard,but hard enough.
“Ow!” Christopher touched his cheek, playing up the hurt,but laughing at the same time. He’d half expected it.
“Serves you right, boy. You know better than to buy meexpensive things! I’m on my way out and you should have saved your money.”
“Like I said, Gran, if I hadn’t bought this for you, thenJesse and I wouldn’t have ever happened.”
She shook her head and gazed at the locket. “Well…I’ll bedag-blamed. Fine, put it on me.”
Christopher took the locket and snapped it closed around herneck. It hung down to the middle of her bosom, and she picked it up, studyingthe front of it with a smile. No matter what Gran said he knew she loved it,and she loved him. Between this moment here and now with her, and hisrelationship with Jesse, he had no regrets. He knew he’d done good.
Chapter Twenty-four
“OH,THANK GOD! I NEED YOU, RYDER.”
There was no escaping Shannon’s grip, and the wild look inher eyes made it plain that Christopher was going to have to help her out withsomething. He almost made a dumb joke, but instead asked, “What’sup?”
“I’m not supposed to be here today, but Corey’s up in WestVirginia visiting her mother in the hospital, so when Jeanette’s voice gaveout, guess who they called in on her day off?” She pushed the long,straightened hair out of her eyes. “I’ve got to hurry into makeup and fix thishair, but I’ve got a problem, and you owe me.”
“I do?” Shit. It was his day off too, and he’d only droppedin to grab his schedule. He’d left his copy at Jesse’s without adding it to hisphone calendar the way Jesse had taught him, and he hadn’t added it to his wallcalendar at home because he’d barely been there.
“Yes. Remember how I covered for you that time you needed togo down to Knoxville for your sister’s wedding?”
“Actually, Lash covered for me.”
“Right, but he was so drunk he forgot half his lines and I hadto sing them for him, and then backstage he was probably about to feel me upwhen he vomited on my shoes instead. I liked those shoes, Ryder.”
“Okay?” He braced himself.
“I’m supposed to be down in Sevierville in two hours for theChristmas sing-a-long at the nursing home where I volunteer. Old people needtheir carols, Christopher, and you’re going to sing for them.”
“Me?” Sure, he’d contemplated spending Christmas withShannon singing with her at the nursing homes, but this wasn’t his plan for theday. He was going home to work on his new songs, and maybe lay down a roughtrack or two on his old portable MIDI recorder. As much as he and Jesse wantedto spend every night together, it wasn’t fair to push himself on the kids likethat, so Christopher had planned to hole up at the cottage and concentrate onthe music in his head.
Still, he had to admit two days at Gran’s place seemed coldand lonely after almost a week at Jesse’s house with the kids always moving,talking, laughing, playing, and bringing friends around. The cottage seemed soempty now.
“You’ll love it. The old ladies will think you’re adorableand the old queers will invite you back to their room.” She leered. “Just laughlike they’re joking, or go back with them—whatever floats your boat.”
“Ha, ha. Shannon, I sort of had plans.”
She blinked, her dark eyes turning dangerous. “Vomit on mybest damn shoes, Christopher Ryder. If you’d been there that night, I’d stillhave those shoes. Do you get me?”
“I got you. Fine. Where do I go and what do I need to do?”
Shannon put her arm around him and smiled. “That’s my boy.”
Marcy’s nursing home looked the same from the outsideas it had the last time Christopher had been in its parking lot. Becauseof coursethat’s where Shannon volunteered. Christopher’sheart had dropped when Shannon gave him the name and address, but he’d agreedto come, and he ordered himself to get over it. Sure, Jesse’snot-completely-dead wife was inside, but it wasn’t as if the poor woman wouldbe coming to hear the carols.
He turned off the engine and examined the building. It wasn’tanything like Gran’s nursing home’s pastoral scene, but it was clearly anexpensive facility. He got out of his car, palms sweaty and his heart beatingfast as he grabbed his guitar out of the trunk. This time he was going inside,and he didn’t know what Jesse would make of that.
He’d walked by Holly’s Crazy Hat Stand on the way out ofSMD, but she hadn’t been working. He’d wanted to ask her advice about whetheror not he should tell Jesse where he was going. In the end he’d decided thattelling Jesse wasn’t necessary. He was going to the nursing home to sing toconscious old people. He wouldn’t be seeing Marcy at all. Still…
There was no denying his curiosity. He remembered Jesse’sintensity when he’d essentially commanded Christopher to stay in the car. Hetrusted Jesse. He knew that Marcy truly was gone. Yet there was some part ofhim that wanted to see the woman. If he was going to be sleeping with herhusband, engaging with her children, helping Jesse choose what colors torepaint the bedroom, and basically trying to make her family and home his own,then he felt like he owed her the dignity of seeing her at least once. Seeingher face-to-face and, if possible, looking into her eyes.
He’d been willing to wait before. Truth be told, it hadn’treally hit him how much he wanted to visit Marcy until Shannon had told himwhere he was going and the realization that he would be in the same building asher had washed over him like an icy wave. Now he knew the urge had always beenthere in the back of his head, itching when he saw Marcy’s portrait in thehallway, tugging at him when he’d woken that night in the red womb room ofhers, and hooking into him when Jesse had denied him access to her that day inthe car.
He should wait, he told himself, hitching his guitar strapover his shoulder and heading toward the front door of the facility. He’d singto the elderly and help them get into the Christmas spirit, and then he’dleave. And that would be that. He’d tell Jesse about his day later on, andmaybe he’d tell him where he’d sung and maybe he wouldn’t. If it would hurtJesse, he didn’t need to know. Right now, though, Christopher just needed tocapture the attention of the nurse behind the desk so that she’d buzz him in.
