Filed to story: Love on the Sidelines (Natalie & Karl)
You can leave now, I added mentally. The way the small kitchenette was arranged, I was pinned between the stove, the sink, and Karl’s body, and I wasn’t enjoying it one bit. He was way too close for my liking.
He was aware of it, too. Before I could slide by him, he put one hand under my chin and forced me to look at him.
“Do you want to know the real reason I came back, Natalie? It was because of you.
You’re my roots. Wherever you are would be home to me.”
“Don’t.” I choked the word out, pushing with all my strength at his hand. “You can’t make me believe your lies anymore, because I don’t care. Do you understand me, Karl? I don’t care.”
He took a step back, his eyes puzzled and sad. “I don’t know what’s happened to you, Natalie, but I never lied. Not once. And if it takes me the rest of my life, I’ll make you care again. That’s a promise.”
Daniel showed up at Southern Supply the next afternoon dressed for business in a white button-down shirt and khaki pants. I turned the store over to Kenny and spent the next two hours showing him around and outlining his duties, then worked with him awhile so he could get the general idea. He picked everything up so fast that I promised he could work alone the next day.
But even though I trusted him, my curiosity was killing me, and after an hour I strolled by the electronic department, doing my best to appear casual and unconcerned.
Daniel was busily and enthusiastically singing the praises of a new video game to a boy who looked about his age, and two teenaged girls. The boy’s attention was fixed solidly on the game, but the girls couldn’t seem to take their eyes off Daniel, and I smiled.
I had hoped that since the kids his age were too young to remember Karl or Frank, they wouldn’t have their parent’s built-in prejudices. It looked like I was right. While naturally wary of strangers, as most kids that age are, Daniel’s friendly, outgoing personality, combined with his good looks, was winning them over. Getting the kids on his side was half the battle.
After his parting shot the night I fixed pizza, I rather expected Karl to use picking Daniel up as an excuse to come by the store, but I didn’t see him again for a few days.
Instead, I finally got to meet Bowie Grant.
He was a bear of a man with a thick mop of steel gray hair. Only his warm, chocolate brown eyes kept his size from being intimidating. They smiled constantly, making the recipient of his gaze feel like they’d been blessed by an angel’s kiss.
“It seems like I’ve known you and your family forever,” he stated, with my hand engulfed in his. “Karl talked about all of you constantly.” I couldn’t help but return his smile. Bowie was the kind of man who could coax a reaction from the sphinx. “I’ve heard a bit about you, too.”
“Don’t believe a word of it.” He gave Daniel a mock scowl. “My cooking isn’t nearly as bad they let on. I would like to learn how to fix southern style food, though.
Maybe we can swap recipes sometime?”
“Sure. But I have to tell you, I’m not the real cook in the family. If you’re serious, you need to talk to my Aunt Darla. She’s the expert. There’s nothing she doesn’t know about cooking.” I paused. “Come to think about it, there’s nothing she doesn’t know, period. Just be prepared to have your soul saved while she’s teaching you.” I watched in fascination as he threw his head back and roared with laughter. “I’ve heard all about Darla,” he said, wiping tears of merriment from his eyes. “I can’t wait to meet her. She sounds like a hell of a woman.”
Aunt Darla?
My Aunt Darla? The man obviously enjoyed a challenge. Either that, or he was masochistic. But in spite of his apparent mental condition, I liked him.
Shortly after they left, it occurred to me that the only one in Karl’s family I hadn’t seen since their return was Lindsey, and if it were up to me, I’d never lay eyes on her again. My feelings toward her were so complicated that they resembled a ball of string, each emotion making up one strand, hundreds of strands twisted and knotted together until they were impossible to separate.
I suppose if I’m being honest, I have to admit there was some jealousy involved, but it was the least of what I felt. The hate was stronger. She had taken away the only man I’d ever really wanted at the time I needed him the most. She’d shared his life with him and given him a child. She’d taken the place that should have been mine.
But even the hate was overshadowed by the one thing I could never forget. She had made a fool of me. And there speaks the human ego, the voice inside us all that screams
“Me! Me!” in a never-ending litany.
Because from the day I’d first met Karl in that dirty junkyard, Lindsey’s hold on him was already bone deep. Because while I was happily dreaming about a life with him, she was pulling him inexorably back to her every time he left me. And I was too stupid, too innocent, to see what was happening when all the signs were right in front of me. Even if it was only in my own eyes, she had humiliated me, made me look and feel like an idiot. And while I hated Karl for what he’d done to me, it was Lindsey I truly blamed. With good reason, as I would discover before another month passed. I suspect if I had known what the next few weeks would bring, I would have packed my bags and left town right then and there.
The beginning of the end started the day after my family left for Hardy.
Aunt Darla and Aunt Jane had precooked enough food to last the Judge a month, but I was worried about him. Having the food available and getting him to eat it was two different things. I had checked on him Friday evening, and sure enough, he hadn’t touched a thing.
“I’m not hungry.” He glared at me from his easy chair in the living room.
Hands on my hips, I glared right back. “You’ll eat if I have to sit on you.”
“They never salt anything anymore, and they hide the shaker where I can’t find it.”
“You know what salt does to your blood pressure.” He rattled the newspaper and went back to reading, doing his best to hide the smile playing around his lips. “Don’t know what good it does a man to live a few extra years if he can’t enjoy them.”
Sometimes I wondered if the Judge didn’t act so cantankerous because he liked the extra attention it got him. I had to stand over him and argue down every bite he took. It made me even more determined that he was going to eat a good breakfast, so I set my alarm for dawn before I went to bed that night. I’d make him oatmeal, with raisins and brown sugar. It was his favorite, so I knew he wouldn’t fight it.
The shrill clanging of my clock yanked me out of sleep Saturday morning, and I yawned while I fumbled for the green silk robe that matched my short gown. Both garments hit me mid-thigh, but I wasn’t worried about dressing yet. There were no neighbors near enough to see me, and I didn’t figure Karl’s crew would work today.
It had rained the night before, thunder cracking so hard it shook the barn rafters. By the time I headed outside, the sun was already hot enough to make the moisture in the air feel like I’d stepped into a steam bath, and the silk gown instantly glued itself to my body.
There was a small mud hole right in front of the barn, and as I prepared to hop over it, a voice came from my left.
“Do you always run around outside like that in the mornings? Because if you do, I need to get here earlier every day.”