Page 26 of The Night the Lights Went Out
He seemed to get shorter then, his shoulders getting rounder, his chin closer to his chest. “I’m sorry, Sugar. We don’t got the money.”
“What about Dr. Mackenzie? He’d do it for free!” I didn’t know that for sure, but he was Willa Faye’s daddy and surely that would count for something.
He shook his head, looking over me toward Dixie, who’d stopped whimpering, like she was trying to be brave. “I won’t be asking him for more favors. Besides, there’s nothing that can be done.” He patted my head like I was still a little girl, then looked behind me at Lamar and Jimmy, and it was like he said something that I couldn’t hear.
“I can set it. I watched Mama set Harry’s broken arm when I was little. I remember what she did. Most of it.” I was already turning toward the porch steps, in search of a short piece of wood I could use as a splint.
Daddy put his hand on my shoulder, holding me back. “The dog’s in pain, Sugar. It’d be cruel to let her suffer. Looks like more than just a broken leg, too. Seems she’s been gnawing on it long and hard, which means a festering that’ll just kill her slowly. You need to do the right thing by her.”
He squeezed my shoulder, as much a sign of affection as he was capable of giving, then went back inside the house. Dixie was looking at me with her beautiful brown eyes, but I couldn’t touch her. I couldn’t. It would be like that Bible story about Judas. Even though that’s what I felt like.
“I’ll do it,” Jimmy said, his words thick, like they’d been mixed with molasses. “I’ll make sure she don’t feel nothin’. I’ll talk to her and pet her and let her know she’s loved.”
Lamar was frowning. I think he was, but it was too hard to see with all those stupid tears blocking my eyes. “I’ll go, too. That way, you cain’t blame one of us.”
I nodded, then turned away, still unable to look at the sweet dog who slept at the foot of my bed every night and hated to play fetch but was good at telling when you were sad and would lick your face to make you feel better.
I listened as someone went inside the house to get Daddy’s pistol he kept in his desk drawer in the study and then come back out. “You sure you don’t want to say good-bye?”
It was Jimmy, and he was standing behind me, and I could smell Dixie, smell her blood and her breath, and hear her whimper. I closed my eyes and turned my head, then felt the soft, cool touch of her tongue as she licked my cheek one last time.
And then they were gone and I ran to my room to put my head under my pillow for the longest time just so I couldn’t hear the single shot from a pistol from deep in the woods. When I came back downstairs to start fixing dinner, I wasn’t the same person I’d been. If Rufus’s death had made me grow up halfway, Dixie’s had made me finish up right quick.
A person learns a lot about life living on a farm, and what I didn’t pick up natural-like, Willa Faye’s mother filled in for me as best she could. But I learned two things that day all on my own. The first was that my brother Harry would always be my enemy. The second was that I would never love anything again that I couldn’t bear to lose.
Nine
MERILEE
Sugar turned her head from the window and looked at Merilee as if suddenly realizing where she was and to whom she was speaking. And it was clear that both of them wished they could be anywhere else.
Sugar stood abruptly, holding on to the back of her chair. “I’ve got to go. You can bring back the plates when you’re done. Just leave them on the front porch—no need to knock on my door and make me quit whatever I’m doing to answer it.”
“Sure.” Merilee stood and followed Sugar out of the kitchen.
Lily, who still had the laptop open—something Merilee really needed to say something about—turned to look at her mother. “Mom—Bailey just e-mailed me and told me that they’re sending back all the cookies we made with the tray. I guess we were supposed to put a little sign on them or something saying they were gluten free, nut free, and dairy free.”
“But they weren’t,” Merilee said.
“Exactly.” Lily turned back and began typing furiously.
Merilee avoided looking at Sugar and was saved from commenting on the tray or anything else by the sound of a vehicle outside. She recognized Wade’s pickup truck as it parked in front of the house and Wade climbed out. For the first time, Merilee noticed how well his jeans fit and how nice a Braves T-shirt could look on a well-built man.
She closed her eyes briefly and gave herself a mental shake. She was barely divorced, and the mother of two. Not to mention the fact that she was definitely more a suit-and-tie type of girl. Always had been.
Merilee pulled open the door just as he reached the front porch, and just as Lily called out from the other room, “Mom—Bailey’s dad says he thinks you’re pretty.”
Merilee cringed inside, wondering what else had been overheard in a conversation that probably wasn’t meant for Bailey’s hearing. And wondering why on earth he would say such a thing. It was... unnerving.
“Why wouldn’t he?” Wade said, stepping inside. “Speaking of pretty, good to see you again, Sugar.” He leaned over and embraced the old woman while kissing her on the cheek. “It’s a good thing you’ve sworn yourself to remain single or I might be asking you to step out with me.”
Sugar made a good show of pretending to frown. “Your mama needs to give you a refresher course on manners, Wade.”
“Nothing wrong with my manners. I just go a little crazy in the presence of so much beauty.”
Sugar shook her head, but her cheeks flushed, which was better than the stark paleness of her face ever since she’d told her story in the kitchen. “That’s enough, Wade. Why are you here?”
“I had an idea for another set of shelves that would fit in the hallway between the bedrooms and wanted to get Merilee’s permission and do some measuring. She’s got stacks of books along the wall that don’t have a home, so I figured why not. I also noticed last time I was here that the cellar doors outside are rotting and need replacing. I wanted to get a better look and get you an estimate. We’re in the middle of hurricane season, which always throws a tornado or two at us, and I want to make sure the cellar is functional.”
