Escaping the Past (Wester Farms) (29 page)

Lou indicated she should sit by pointing to the kitchen chairs around the table. Then she took a chair on the opposite side.

“
S
he’s doing just fine. She left this morning for a short vacation with Jeb and Sadie,” Brody replied. He reached to touch his eye. “She actually fared a lot better than I did. She won’t have any lasting scars,” he said. He looked out the screen door. “I’m going to go out and talk to Mr. Patton. Be right back.” He nodded at them both.

A pregnant pause filled the space in the room.
“Well,”
Elizabeth
 
said slowly, taking a deep breath. “I just wanted to see if
s
he was al
l
right. You guys sure gave us a scare last night. Never had that kind of drama at a school dance before.”

Lou reached over and covered Elizabeth’s nervous hand
with hers. 
“I appreciate what you did, Elizabeth.” She squeezed her hand before releasing it. “I hear you called the police right before you called me.” Lou’s eyes filled with unshed tears. “I appreciate all
you did
.”

“It’s Brody you should thank. He fought like a madman.”

Lou’s eyebrows drew together.

Liz nodded. “Really.” She covered her heart with a hand. “I’ve known Brody for a lot of years but I’ve never seen him like that. He’s always been strong and powerful but I’ve never seen him fight before. Ever. He went after that man like he was fighting for his own life.”

“I’m sure he would have done the same thing for anyone else.” Lou replied, taking a sip of her tea.

“No, Lou.” She shook her head vehemently. “He wouldn’t. He did it for Sarah because he feels something for her.”

“What do you mean?” Lou asked.

“You don’t see it
,
do you?” Elizabeth asked. “She’s an extension of you. It’s you he would
have
hurt if something
had
happened to her. That’s why he fought the way he did. You don’t get that desperate look on your face unless you really care about something.”

“I fail to see…”

Liz cut her off. “And you won’t see until you feel the same way he does.”

Brody breezed back into the house, John beside him and Elizabeth’s dad bringing up the rear.

“We better get home if you want to go out tonight, Liz.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth took one last sip of her tea. “I almost forgot about that. I’m going dancing at The Pour House tonight.”

Brody smiled. “The Pour House, huh? That place is still open? I haven’t been there in years. Do you remember that time we…” Brody’s voice trailed off as he caught Lou’s curious look. “Never mind,” he muttered.

Lou crossed her legs and regarded him coolly. “No. Please continue.”

“We went there a lot the last year before I left.” He chuckled again. “Boy, those were the days.”

She pointed to Liz and then to Brody. “You guys went there together?”

“Well, yeah,” Liz replied uncomfortably. “That was a long time ago.”

“Yes, it was,” Lou
agreed
.

John piped in. “Well, I’m going. That’s where all the good-looking ladies end up on Sunday nights.” He grinned boyishly. “You guys know how much I like to follow the ladies.”

“You can barely walk, much less dance
.
”

“I sure can sit a bar stool just fine.” John puffed his chest out. “I might just get some sympathetic attention.” They all laughed.

“Did you want to go, Brody? For old time’s sake?” Liz asked hesitantly.

“Only if Lou goes, too.” He regarded her quizzically.

“Oh, no. You guys go ahead. I have some things I need to get done here,” Lou said.

“What kind of things?” Brody asked.

“Just some work,” she lied.

“I guess we’ll have to take a rain check, Liz. Lou’s a fraidy cat
,
” Brody provoked her.

“I am not!” Lou protested loudly.

Liz stood up and walked toward the door. “It was good to see you again, Lou.”

“You, too, Liz. Thanks again for last night.”

“No problem. Someone might need to help my daughter like that someday. You guys are sure you don’t want to go tonight?” Liz asked one more time.

Lou heard him say to Liz quietly. “Lou’s not like you, Liz. She’s a quiet sort of girl.”

Lou felt the anger boil up inside her with that comment. Men never picked the quiet girls. They went for the boisterous, beautiful girls with outgoing personalities, like Liz.

“You know what?” Lou stood up straighter. “I think I do want to go.”

“Really?” Brody and John both asked in chorus.

“Yeah, really,” Lou said sarcastically. Lou stepped closer to Liz and asked quietly. “What should I wear?”

Liz whispered back, “Something sexy and daring.”

Lou nodded seriously, having no idea what that meant.

“Do you want me to bring over something you can wear?” she whispered in Lou’s ear.

“Would you?” Lou whispered back.

“Six o’clock,” Liz said as she got into the truck with her father.

****

Lou relaxed most of the afternoon, second-guessing herself about going out for the evening. She couldn’t begin to compare to the knockout, Liz, and was feeling completely uncomfortable about spending the evening walking in her shadow. However
,
Brody had thrown down the gauntlet and she
had
picked it up. Now she had to make the best of it. Brody knew what she looked like, in and out of bed.
Would he still pick me if there are other women within his
reach
? Would he still be just as interested? Or would he pass me over and move on to someone else?
Only
one way to find out
.

Brody knocked on her door at suppertime. She opened the door a crack. “Yeah?”

“Hey. John just burned some chicken on the grill. Want to come down and eat?”

She glanced absently at her watch. “Is it that late already?”

“Yeah. Liz will be here in about thirty minutes. Come on down and get something to eat.”

He reached to put an arm around her shoulders and she sidestepped, avoiding him, walking ahead of him down the hallway instead. “Something bothering you?” he asked.

She spoke around the fingernail she was chewing. “No. Why would anything be wrong?”

“Is your head still
hurting
? We can cancel tonight if you don’t feel like going out.”

“Oh, no,” she breathed. “We’re going out. With Liz,” she added
as an afterthought. She shook the thoughts away. They would get her nowhere. But she wanted to know so badly.
. “Tell me one thing?”

“What?”

“What kind of relationship did you have with her all those years ago?”

“We grew up together. We were best friends. Then, in high school, we were boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“What kind of boyfriend and girlfriend? Casual? Or serious?”

He stopped her in the hallway and put his arms around her, pulling her close. “What kind of question is that?”

“It’s the kind of question you ask someone who you’ve been sleeping with,” she snapped at him.

“Do you want to know if we had sex, Lou? If you do, just ask
.
”
It was almost like he was daring her to do just that.

“Never mind,” she
bit out
.
“
I really don’t want to know. I just want to know how many memories I’ll be up against tonight.

“If you change your mind, just ask me.”

“I won’t change my mind.” She pushed against his chest. He turned her loose.

They ate supper in relative silence. John prattled on about various topics, not oblivious to the tension. After dinner, they cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher. Then they went and sat outside on the porch.

About five minutes later, Lou saw a cloud of dust coming down the winding drive, created by the red convertible that belonged to Liz. She had the top up this time and Lou realized why as soon as she stepped out of the car. She punched John’s arm as
he whistled
softly under his breath.
Liz
was beautiful. Her long hair fell in waves against her bare shoulders. Her tube top looked stunning rather than gaudy, showing off her perfect breasts.

“She didn’t have those back when I knew her,” Lou heard Brody whisper to John. Her black jeans hugged her thighs and rode low on her hips. Lou saw the dimples at the small of her back as she bent over to retrieve a bag from the backseat of the car.

Lou shot Brody a scathing look. Then she smiled a fake smile at Liz and rose from her seat.

Liz cocked her head to one side and regarded Lou’s ponytail, shorts
,
and T-shirt with a small smile. “You ready?” she asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Lou held up two hands as though surrendering.

“Then let’s get started,” Liz said, walking through the screen door. She motioned for Lou to follow her. “Get moving,” she snapped playfully. “We don’t have all day.” She turned to Brody and John. “I know you both have a certain level of adorability at all times but you need to go and get ready, too.” She snapped her fingers.

They both hopped out of their chairs and headed for their rooms as well.

Liz followed Lou up the stairs, chattering the whole way.

They walked into Lou’s room and Liz turned her around slowly, silently appraising
Lou’s figure
. “You got some mighty fine assets, lady. Easy as pie. Go get in the shower while I get things ready here.” She shooed Lou with her hands, slowly prodding her.

Lou stepped into the shower feeling defeated. She showered and washed her hair quickly. She shaved her armpits and legs and applied scented lotion to her whole body. She wrapped her hair in a towel, turban style
,
and tied a towel around her body. She stepped back into the room, feeling like a teenager back in the locker room
.

“Ok
ay
, let get started,” Liz began.

Lou cut her off, holding up one hand. “Wait.” She took a deep breath. “I need to talk to you about something first.”

Liz sat down on the edge of the bed. “I was wondering when you were going to get around to it?” she grinned.

“Get around to what?” Lou asked, biting her lip.

“Let me make it easy for you, Lou. Brody and I were ‘a thing’ when we were young.”

“How serious?” she asked, biting her lip again.

“All the way serious,” she replied. Lou groaned. “But that was when we were
young
, Lou.”

“You were old enough for it to be ‘all the way’,” Lou
tossed at her
.

“All the way in the way teenagers do, Lou. Not adults. It was over before he ever left town and neither of us wants to strike it back up again.”