Page 83 of One Southern Summer

“It’s a fundraising event at Uncle Art and Aunt Linda’s country club,” he said. “Between you and me, I have a standard speech that I recycle for certain audiences.”

Her laughter filled the car and lifted his spirits. She had the best laugh.

“What I hear you saying is, you don’t need to hole up in their guest room. You’ll be free to visit with your aunt and uncle and your cousins this evening.”

“Absolutely.” He plucked another chip from the bag and popped it in his mouth. The salty, crunchy snack wasn’t nearly as satisfying as he’d hoped. They had stopped at their favorite interstate convenience store a few miles back and bought some snacks to carry them through until they arrived at their relatives’ house in a couple of hours.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?”

No. Yes.

“It’s a mess, to be honest. I guess you heard Avery Lansing Crawford has been helping out with our big project, the expansion of Imari’s Place. We’re struggling with the media coverage. Folks in the community have not been real encouraging.”

“Yes, I saw a rather disturbing conversation online last night. What is with people these days? The comments were quite—”

“Crass?” he finished her sentence for her.

“Yes. Crass. That’s a good way to put it.”

“There’s been quite the focus lately on Avery and me, which is something we hadn’t expected or really even encouraged.”

A patrol car with flashing lights had pulled onto the shoulder of the road, right behind a bright red sports car. His mother tapped her turn signal, cautiously checked her mirrors then glanced quickly over her shoulder before merging into the next lane.

“Are you and Avery an item?”

He bit back a smile at her choice of words then unscrewed the cap on his soft drink and took a long sip. The sweet carbonated liquid didn’t do much to quench his thirst. Or maybe his frazzled nerves had turned his mouth cotton ball dry.

How to answer that? Since the night beside the pond had been interrupted by Maribelle’s fainting spell at The Oasis, he and Avery hadn’t had more than five minutes to themselves. Their face-to-face communication had consisted of interviews with Max and Charlie so they could finish filming their footage for the documentary. Then they’d exchanged whirlwind text messages with Dale to keep on top of the schedule as the project moved forward more quickly than they’d anticipated. Now they were on track to have new residents move in by late October. Max and Charlie wanted to finish the documentary this fall as well. And ever since Pax and Trey returned to Camellia, the whole stinkin’ town had been caught up in their business.

He was officially over it.

“I’ve cared deeply for Avery for years, Mom. Working with her on this project hasn’t changed my feelings.”

Her concerned gaze warmed his skin. He stared straight ahead, afraid that if he made eye contact, he’d tell her everything. And he was too ashamed to be that honest.

“I’m sorry to hear that not everyone in Camellia is thrilled with your work. I, for one, am extremely proud, and if Kim were here, you know she’d be cheering you on.”

Her tender words wound around his heart. An unexpected tightness in his throat had him reaching for his soda again. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t save her.”

He barely choked out the words before taking another sip of his soda.

Mom’s gasp startled him. In a very un-Mom gesture, she slammed on the brakes then steered the car onto the side of the interstate. Twisting in her seat, she pinned him with a hard look. “Cole Whitaker, what did you just say?”

He studied her as he slowly twisted the cap back onto the bottle. “I—I said I’m sorry that I couldn’t save her. Dad told me to watch her and I did, for a minute, but then I got distracted. When I looked back, she was gone.”

“Oh, honey.” Mom’s expression crumpled and her green eyes filled with tears. “She was abducted. I’ve never blamed you.”

“But Dad did.”

She pressed her mouth into a thin line then angled her head to one side.

“You don’t have to take up for him. He yelled at me and said it was my fault.”

Mom heaved a sigh then glanced down at her wrist. The classical piece filtering through the speakers carried a somber tone. She fidgeted with her charm bracelet. “Your father was so angry. He said a lot of horrible things to you and to me.”

“Is that why you didn’t stay together?”

“One of the reasons.” She sniffled and raised her head then offered a sad smile. “I love you, Cole. You’re my son and there’s nothing you can do or not do to change how I feel about you. Please don’t feel guilty for Kimberly’s abduction or her death.”

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