Heartbreak Highway 1 (12 page)

She woke up early and dressed, deciding to go out for a walk around the property. The house sat on three acres that stretched along the Mississippi river and Addie had told her the day before that there was a path that led from the house, down to the river and around it. She passed a young lady at the front desk. She was petite and blonde just like Addie. She must be the one who maybe “has a bun in the oven.” She was as thin as a rail, if she was pregnant, she wasn’t very far along.

“Good morning,” the girl told her. “Mama’s got breakfast going. It should be ready right quick.”

“Good morning. Yes, I can smell it cooking. It smells wonderful. I’m going to take a walk I think and I’ll be back for breakfast. My name’s Eva so if anyone is looking for me, will you let them know?”

“Yes ma’am,” the girl said. Eva smiled; the five or six year gap in their ages had just made her feel a hundred years old.

She sat down on the front porch to lace up her shoes and as she was bent over she heard a familiar voice,

“Whoa! Eva? Is that you?”

Shit! Justin the RV guy…was he following them? Eva looked up and forced a smile. “Hi Justin, fancy meeting you here.”

He grinned. He perpetually looked like he’d just stepped out of the ocean. His face still had that sunglass tan and his hair was wet with gel or sex-wax…whatever surfers used. He still wore board shorts and a tank top, even though the morning air was cool. Eva wondered if he owned any regular clothes.

“You’s guys are staying here?” It was funny too; Eva thought to go from that deep south accent of the people here in Mississippi to the strong New Yorker one that Justin carried around.

“Yeah, what are you doing in town?” she asked him.

“My plan was just to pass on through, but I saw a flyer for a food and wine festival. The buddy of mine that I was supposed to pick up in Louisiana is catching a ride up here and we’re gonna hit that and party for a couple of days before heading out.”

“Oh,” she said, standing up. “That sounds…fun.”

Justin grinned and Eva could tell he thought he looked really sexy. The truth was, he was really good-looking, but when he opened his mouth and Eva was sober, he somehow lost his appeal.

Raising an eyebrow he said, “It will be, you should join us.”

“Thanks, I’m not sure how long we’re staying.” She stepped down off the porch and towards the trail and he said,

“Hey, where you going?”

“I was just going to take a little walk before breakfast,” she said, over her shoulder.

“Wait up! I’ll go with. I was supposed to meet a guy here who’s going to look at fixing my sump pump on the RV, but I’m early.”

Oh Joy! Eva thought. Justin had to jog to catch up with her, she was walking so fast. He grabbed hold of the sleeve of her sweatshirt and said,

“Hey, slow down. You can’t enjoy a walk if you run through it.”

She slowed her pace and to her delight, he walked along next to her silently…for a while. When they got near the river he looked out at one of the big paddle boats docked there and said, “That shit’s cool.” Eva wondered if when Helen told her you could learn something from everyone in life, if she included the Justin’s of the world. They walked quietly again for a while and then he suddenly said,

“Hey is that hot brunette still with you’s guys?”

Unfortunately, she thought. “Yes, she’s with us. She’s my friend’s girlfriend.”

Justin laughed and said, “Poor guy.”

Eva thought so too, but she was curious why Justin would think so.

“Why do you say that?

“Ah nothing,” he said, but his face said it was something. Eva stopped walking and looked directly at him.

“Justin, is there something you know about Simone that I don’t?”

He grinned, it was a lewd, perverse grin and he said, “I’d like to picture you knowing her the way I got to know her….”

Eva’s face grew hot. She imagined that she knew what he was saying, but she had to be sure.

“Did you two sleep together?” she asked him.

Even more lewdly this time he raised both eye brows up and down and said, “Why? Did you?”

“No! That’s disgusting, stop it. Justin, did you have sex with her?”

“I shouldn’t be telling stories. Maybe we should get back,” he said, suddenly regretting that he’d brought it up.

“Justin wait!” she called after him. “If she was your girlfriend and screwing around on you, wouldn’t you want to know?”

“Maybe,” he said in a non-committal way. “Her boyfriend’s got a little temper. He was all pissed at me for talking to you and you’re not even his girl. I’m not looking to get my ass beat while I’m in Mississippi. Besides, it would ruin your trip if his ass got locked up.”

“So you did sleep with her?” he didn’t look like he was going to come right out and admit it so Eva said, “I promise, I won’t tell Marshall until you pull out of town.” Justin looked like he was considering it and he finally said,

“You should just tell that dude you’ve got the hots for him, Eva.”

“What? We were talking about you and Simone.”

“Nah, we were talking about your buddy who by the way I think you’ve got the serious hots for.”

“Why would you say that?”

“I can see it all over your face. That night at the bar, you only talked to me because he was on the phone with the other one. Then the day you two were getting out of the balloon. You looked like a giant black cloud had just opened up on your parade when you saw his girl. Telling him she’s screwing around on him ain’t gonna make you no points. You got it going on…just use what nature gave you girl and go after what you want.”

“Thanks,” Eva said, abruptly, “But I really don’t need your advice when it comes to my love life.”

Justin grinned and said, “Well, if you need anything else when it comes to your love life, just let me know. I’d be more than happy to oblige.”

They were back at the house, so instead of humoring him with a response, Eva just went inside and left him standing in the yard. She nearly ran head-on into Billy.

“Hey there! Did you see a ghost?”

“What?”

“You’re a little pale, are you okay?”

Am I okay? Did I just find out that Simone is cheating on Marshall? What the hell am I supposed to do with that information?
“Yeah, I’m good,” she told him. “Just came in from a walk and I’m hungry.”

Billy pat his stomach and said, “It was delicious. I have a side job to get to, if the guy shows up.”

“RV guy?” she asked him.

“Yeah, how…?”

“He’s waiting out front,” she told him.

“Thanks!” Billy left to meet Justin and Eva made her way to the dining room. Marshall and Simone were already there.

“Good morning,” Marshall said when he looked up and saw her, “Are you okay?”

Damned expressive face! “Yeah, I’m fine. Just hungry. Good morning.” Then she forced herself to look to his right and said, “Simone,” with a little nod.

Simone forced one of her fake smiles and said, “Eva.”

“Guess who I just ran into?” she asked as she broke her fat, buttermilk biscuit up in her plate.

“Who?” Marshall asked. Simone was daintily wiping the sides of her mouth. She didn’t look interested until Eva looked right at her and said,

“Justin, the RV guy.” Simone dropped her napkin and suddenly Eva wasn’t the only one at the table who was pale.

* * *

They thankfully missed Justin on the way out. Just the mention of his name had put Marshall in a foul mood and Simone in a strange, subdued one. Eva was pretty sure that Justin had told her in a roundabout way he and Simone slept together, but she still wasn’t sure what to do with that information. She hated that she was taking anything Justin said with more than a grain of salt, but it had actually made sense to her that Marshall might not appreciate that information as much as one might think. For one thing, she had no proof and Simone was just likely to deny it.

They showed up to get on the bus for their historical homes tour just in time. The tour guide was in the middle of her talk already about the homes and as they found a seat she was saying that the roll call of historical homes in Mississippi was almost too long to list. She told them about a few they were going to be seeing and gave them a mini-history on each one and then they got on their way.

The homes all had names, most of them after the original owners. The first one they stopped at was called Melrose house. The first thing Eva noticed about it was its huge white doors. The tour guide told them the house had thirty six of them, made of solid cypress, but hand painted to make them look like white oak. They were beautiful, Eva thought, if not a little grandiose. The walk through netted them ten Italian marble fireplaces, a handful of what the tour guide said were “rare” French gilt and the coolest thing, Eva thought was the French Zuber wallpaper. It was made of original wood blocks the tour guide told them, carved in 1843. Eva had never seen anything like it. Of course, if it hadn’t been for Granddad’s home, Eva probably wouldn’t ever have known that people decorate in anything other than classic yard sale or thrift store. Their guide told them that the bronze and brass lighting fixtures had all been shipped from Philadelphia and the furniture was all made and hand carved out of rosewood.

After seeing the interior which Eva had been very impressed by, they were taken behind the house. There were several original structures there and although Simone was still in her funk, Marshall seemed to enjoy this part of the tour. There was a two storied kitchen and dairy building, a smoke house, slave quarters, a barn and carriage house and latticed octagonal cistern houses as well. Marshall loved horses, and he was particularly interested in the history the guide gave them regarding the stables that used to sit behind the carriage house and what breed of horses the people that originally lived in the house were fond of. Another really beautiful part of the home were the large columns that anchored the mighty Mississippi river.

Their day was full, moving on from Melrose to tour a Greek Revival mansion that spread out over an entire block, a house called Rosalie that sat high on a bluff and overlooked the river and Eva’s personal favorite on the tour a house with an octagonal design with unfinished interiors that towered up over the centuries old trees that sat around it as if reaching for the sky. The guide said the original builder, a man named Haller Nutt had been worth an estimated three million dollars. After the war he was left penniless thanks to the Union Army who had confiscated almost all of his cotton plantations and destroyed much of his real estate holdings.

They stopped for lunch in town and Eva heard Marshall asking Simone what was wrong. She told him she was “fine,” but he didn’t seem to believe her. She kept shooting furtive glances at Eva all day, like she was waiting for her to say more about Justin. Eva had more of less decided that she wasn’t going to say anything to Marshall, but what she had to say to Simone whenever she got her alone would be a different story.

The second part of their tour was to a place where the history went even deeper. They got to visit a place called Emerald Mound. It was a ceremonial mound that was built by the Natchez Indians in 1400 AD. It spreads out over eight acres and has a trail that leads up thirty five feet. They were able to walk up to the top with Simone griping and sighing most of the way, to a gorgeous view at the top. Eva took a lot of pictures; she was even magnanimous enough to snap a few of Simone and Marshall.

The mound was the last thing they had time to do that day. They had tickets for the following day’s tour as well if they chose to go. Simone was pouting by the time they got back to Magnolia house and Eva suspected that she would do her best to talk Marshall out of tomorrow’s tour.

Miss Addie had dinner ready when they got back to the house and they were treated to a catfish dinner with all the southern trimmings. After dinner, Marshall and Simone went up to the room and Eva found a book in the parlor and took it out on the porch to enjoy the pleasant evening. She was beginning to think that she wouldn’t ever get a chance to talk with Simone alone. She hung on Marshall like she was afraid he’d disappear if she let him out of her sight. Eva had decided that before she told Marshall something that might possibly only be a rumor; she would give Simone a chance to explain herself. Eva doubted that she’d do anything but get angry and deny it, but she felt like she owed Marshall at least that much.

As she sat enjoying the warm night and the fresh air, she listened to the sounds of soft jazz music off in the distance and she remembered that Justin told her there was a festival going on in town tonight. She went inside and found that Billy had appeared at the desk.

“Hello, have you seen any ghosts yet?” he asked her with a grin.

“Not yet,” she said, “And I’m hoping my luck will hold out. How far away is the festival?”

“It’s about five blocks north of us,” he said. If you head up this street out here along the side of us, you’ll run into it. Are you thinking about going down that way?”

“I was thinking about it. It’s early yet and I’m not quite ready for bed.”

“You’re not going down there alone are you? It’s a lot of fun and a lot of families go early in the evening, but if you go down there at this time, you’ll run into quite a few locals who have already hit the moonshine and a few tourists that have imbibed of a bit too much of the local flavor.”

“I think I’ll be okay,” she said.

Billy made a face like he didn’t agree, but he didn’t argue with her. Eva changed into a comfortable pair of jeans and tank top and headed out. She followed the directions that Billy had given her and was soon upon a raucous festival. There were food and craft booths, but it seemed that like Billy had indicated, the wine garden in front of where the live band was playing seemed to be of biggest interest to the people still there.

Eva started looking around at some of the booths and shrugged off a few mild advances but nothing worrisome. She was having fun chatting with the locals and she taste tested a few desserts at one of the booths and even did a little wine tasting. She had been there about an hour before Marshall and Simone showed up.