Identity (6 page)

The women laughed as one, but the laughter had an edge. All had been touched by homelessness. It seemed like a futile issue, but they knew the fight to remedy the situation would continue.

“Think of the ones you help,” said Patty Huffner as she pulled out an empty chair and joined them. “Before you guys came along and got Doc to see them, I used to have homeless people in my office every week looking for pain meds or antibiotics. And I’m a vet, for Chrissakes! Y’all do good work and don’t forget it.”

“Here! Here!” Liza agreed, raising her mug of beer in a toast. “Let’s hear it for New Life!”

“To New Life Mission,” the women chorused as one, lifting their glasses.

Liza spied her then, a small ethereal woman with red hair who was entering the dimly lit restaurant. It was a familiar face, one that had been haunting her. Liza knew her right away.

“No way,” Liza whispered while realizing that, of course their paths would cross again, both living in the same small town.

Arlie, who many thought oblivious to the subtleties around her, was actually quite observant.

“What is it?” she asked, leaning toward Liza. Her words alerted Mindy, who also leaned close. Soon Rosemary, Kim and Patty quieted and turned to Liza. The entire group of women turned as one to follow Liza’s intense gaze.

“Who is she?” asked Kim.

Rosemary shook her head as if awakening from a dream. She emitted a low whistle of appreciation. “Is that her?” She looked at Liza.

“Who? Is that who?” Arlie stared from woman to woman.

“Liza’s new friend,” Rosemary answered absently.

“Ro!”Liza whispered, her tone irritated. “She’s a woman I met the other day,” she explained. “Her name is Shay.”

“Well, go get her. Let’s meet this Shay,” Arlie said, grinning. Liza shot her a warning glance but rose and made her way across the crowded room.

A relieved expression settled on Shay’s face when she saw Liza approaching. She looked as though she’d been ready to leave the loud, unwelcoming environment.

“Hello,” Liza said loudly. The din in the bar part of the restaurant was deafening. “Shay, right?”

“Right. Yes. And listen, I’m really sorry about the other day. I have one of those Irish tempers that goes off without warning.”

Liza was having a hard time hearing Shay but recognized the apology. “No problem. That’s all done.” She leaned close. “I’m Liza, by the way. Come on over and sit with us.” She indicated the table where her friends watched with avid curiosity.

Liza studied Shay, watching as doubt and fear kaleidoscoped on her lovely face. Finally, courage won out and she nodded. Liza took the smaller hand in hers and led her through the maze of haphazardly placed tables and chairs filled with boisterous drinkers.

Once they were in the quieter restaurant area, Liza sighed. “That’s better.” She smiled encouragement at Shay as she spoke to the others. “Hey, guys, this is Shay.”

Shay examined each face briefly and nodded a shy hello.

Arlie stood, almost dropping Mindy’s serving tray, and extended her right hand. Realizing that it was spattered with wing sauce, she withdrew it, scrubbed it against her denim overshirt, and then offered it again. Liza laughed and rolled her eyes for Ro’s amusement.

“I’m Arlie, Arlie Russell, and this is my wife, Mindy.”

Mindy, who had expertly caught the tray falling from Arlie’s lap, nudged Arlie aside.

“Hi there,” she said, extending her hand. “Nice to meet you, Shay. Can I get you a beer to start?”

“Mich would be good, if you have it,” Shay responded.

“Be right back.” Mindy hurried off.

“Rosemary King,” Rosemary said, rising to shake Shay’s hand.

Kim, studying Shay with keen eyes, stood and offered her hand. “And I’m Kim, Ro’s better half. This is Patty, our local vet. Here, sit, join us.” She indicated the chair Liza had purloined from a nearby table.

Returning Patty’s welcoming nod, Shay took a seat next to Liza.

“So, Shay, where are you from?” Rosemary asked. “What brought you to our quaint little burg?”

Shay grimaced as if reliving an unpleasant memory. “My parents passed away, so there was no reason to stay in Virginia. This seemed like a quiet, nice place to live.” She shrugged and her gaze wandered the crowded restaurant. “So here I am.”

“Do you have kids?” Kim queried. Her curiosity had been piqued by Shay’s easy acceptance of their introductions as partners.

“No, no kids. And no husband.” Her pale lips compressed into a thin line as if expecting a challenge.

Mindy approached with a bottle and a frosted mug. “Here’s your beer, hon.”

Liza cringed, remembering the time she had called Shay “hon.”

“Thanks, Mindy. Just the bottle’s okay.” Shay did not explode as Liza expected, merely plucked the bottle off the tray, leaving the mug behind.

Mindy hurried off, to check on her other tables.

“You’re living in the old Carson homestead up off Dooley, aren’t you?” said Liza.

Shay nodded. “Yes, by that weird pond.”

Liza smiled cautiously. “Right. Dooley’s Folly.”

Arlie spoke up around a mouthful of french fries. “So, how’d y’all meet anyway?”

Shay laughed and blushed, her fair skin glowing crimson in the TV lights. She politely gestured for Liza to tell the story. Liza related the entire incident, excluding the extent of Shay’s temper. In the tale, Liza made herself more of a villain angering the fair maiden until the maiden stormed off. Back to her castle.

“That’s hilarious,” Rosemary said, even though she’d heard part of the story before. “Stuck in Dooley’s Folly. Too funny.”

“It wasn’t funny at the time, that’s for sure,” Shay added, sipping her cold beer.

CHAPTER TEN

“Wow, fresh air,” Liza said, inhaling deeply as they stepped outside Wicked Wings. “I don’t know why CM lets people smoke in the main dining room. It’s bad enough in the bar.”

“It’s the whole bar-type atmosphere,” suggested Shay. “I think people actually enjoy the illicit thrill. He’d have less business otherwise.”

Though enjoying the company of Liza’s friends, Shay had been glad when Liza suggested a walking tour of downtown Maypearl. The sultry night air was oddly refreshing. Crickets and other night insects serenaded them from the surrounding forest as they walked along.

“You could be right,” Liza agreed.

They took a right and walked north along Esperanza toward a buff-colored strip mall. A large sign proclaimed it Sunset Mall, but it had never lived up to this grandiose name, consisting of merely a half-dozen ordinary glass-fronted businesses set into tan stucco and decorative brick.

 “This belongs to Surep Dujan,” Liza said pausing at the large window of a small Subway restaurant. Dim night-lights lit the empty interior and signs filled with piles of moisture-kissed vegetables beckoned to them irresistibly. “I’m sure he’s home with his beautiful wife, Duri, and their two well-behaved sons. He’s very much a family man.”

Shay nodded. “A good thing,” she murmured.

“Have you met Doctor King yet? He’s our local sawbones.”

“No, I haven’t been sick, thank goodness. Why?” Shay responded.

“His wife, Paula, runs this place.” They paused before a huge plate glass window decorated with a red rose logo and the banner
Paula’s Posies
. “He’s Ro’s brother, too, in case no one told you.”

“Original,” Shay commented pointing toward the logo.

“You’d have to meet her,” Liza said, grinning.

Shay paused at the next storefront. Styrofoam heads peered blankly from shelves like blind ghosts trapped behind the eerie plate glass. Each head wore a differently styled wig, some with garish colors.

“Oh my,” Shay exclaimed. “Atomic Hair Designs?”

Liza laughed and shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans. “That’s Lisa Adams. She was the one all the boys chased after in high school. Larry Adams won out. Shame, too, because, between you and me, she could have done a lot better.”

Shay nodded and they moved on toward the colonial façade of Mac Wayne’s Allstate Insurance office. An 8 x 10 glossy photo of Mac’s plump, freckled face crowned by a patch of red hair smiled out at them. Shay walked faster as Liza chuckled.

“Mmm, smell that?” Liza asked a moment later.

“What is it?” Shay lifted her nose and inhaled deeply.

“Coffee. I swear Nora puts roasted coffee beans in the Java Cup’s air vents to draw us suckers in.”

“Even at night?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s devious.”

They laughed companionably.

“So, this is it,” Liza sighed.

Shay looked around in disbelief. “What? You’re not serious?”

“Yeah, I am. I mean, this is the heart of Maypearl. There’s a couple businesses out your way and a couple back that way, toward where I live. Oh, and if you bear right off Esperanza, heading north, you’ll come to the dollar store and the car parts place.”

She paused and gestured toward the street. “The post office and library are over there and all the schools are east of town, off Esperanza, and that’s pretty much it. Surely you checked it out?”

Shay was embarrassed and felt a little defensive. “Well, I’ve been busy, settling in. I’ve only been here about a week.”

“You didn’t check out the town before you bought the Carson place?”

“No,” Shay said, exasperation showing. “I didn’t. I had someone else do it.”

Ah, that explained the man her grandmother had spoken with. Liza stayed silent for a long beat. “So, why did you move here, Shay? There has to be a reason. It wasn’t for Maypearl’s deep Southern charm, obviously.”

They turned and walked back the way they’d come. The question hung between them and Liza could see Shay struggling with how much she would say to Liza. Though tempted to reassure her, Liza knew this was Shay’s battle.

“I just wanted to get away,” she said finally. “I needed to.”

A mantle of intimacy had fallen over the two of them with the admission. Liza took a deep breath of anticipation, inhaling Shay’s unique coconut scent. The intimacy felt good.

“Do you want to talk about it? About what happened? Was it a bad breakup?”

“Yes, sort of. The details aren’t important. I simply needed to be safe. Alabama seemed a good long way from DC. I…I once had family here.” She shrugged. “It just seemed to fit somehow. I like the South.”

Liza looked at Shay and in the sudden light outside Wicked Wings, their eyes met. The gazes coupled and held for a handful of heartbeats.

“I’m glad,” Liza said simply. The words seemed automatic because she was held spellbound in the tractor beam of Shay’s cobalt eyes. Liza saw so much there—a curious nature, the fire of conviction, a fear as yet unnamed. A connection was forged, and suddenly afraid and confused, Liza pulled her gaze away.

“Here we are,” she added, as if emerging from a dream. “Back at Wings.”

“Your brother is nice. I like him,” Shay interjected. “How long has he worked here?”

“Forever.Since high school.”

“He must like it then.”

Liza smiled and shook her head. “CM spoils him, is all. Richie hasn’t worked a hard lick, ever.” She sobered. “He took Mama’s death hard. He was her baby boy.”

“I’m sorry your mama passed,” Shay said quietly. She studied her entwining fingers as if she’d never seen them before. For some strange reason, maybe loneliness, she seemed loath to leave Liza’s company.

“It was her heart,” Liza said with a shrug of helplessness. “Runs in her family.”

“Still.”

“I know.”

“Both my parents are gone now. They were older.” Shay turned to study Liza. “Can you imagine what a shock I was? They thought they couldn’t have children, then, in their fifties, here I come.”

Liza laughed aloud, as if imagining the disbelief Shay’s parents must have experienced.

“Not that they weren’t happy about it,” Shay continued, “just…well, it’s late to start a family. I felt a little like an afterthought, like a third wheel, because they had developed such a great relationship. Their love was so powerful that after Mother died from pneumonia Papa just pined away for her. He didn’t last three months, joining her in his sleep one night.”

“I like the idea that they might be back together,” Liza commented softly.

“Me too,” Shay responded, smiling sadly.

“You coming back in?” Liza indicated the restaurant.

Indecision battled within Shay.

“No. I don’t think so.” She looked around nervously, afraid of the sudden and powerful feelings she had for Liza. This certainly was not part of her master plan. She enjoyed Liza’s quiet gentleness, however, which was so very different from Pepper’s hyper angst. It felt good. Too good. It terrified her on so many levels, levels she didn’t want to address tonight. “I’ll go home.”

Liza examined Shay for several silent minutes. Shay chafed under the placid scrutiny. “Okay,” she agreed finally. “Let me walk you to your car?”

“It’s just over here. I’ll be fine.” Shay hated the distrustful thoughts that filled her. She was torn between seeking Liza’s protection and the worry that Liza wanted to walk her to the car so she could track her later, maybe follow her home. Pepper had done it so easily once when Shay had moved to escape her.

“I’ll watch until you get there, all right?”

“All right.” Turning away abruptly, Shay clasped one hand to her mouth, hating that she thought the way she did. Years of caution had fed her newly suspicious nature.

“Hey, Shay, do you like dogs?”

Liza’s low voice arrested her and her heart pounded with new fear. What did Liza know? She lowered the hand and turned slowly. “Yes. Why?”

“Do you know where the animal shelter is? Over on Professional Drive?”

“No. I don’t even know where Professional is.”

Liza laughed. “Guess not, since you know absolutely nothing about Maypearl. You know Esperanza, right?”

At Shay’s cautious nod, she continued, pointing north.

“You just take a right off Esperanza onto Preserve Trail. Go about a mile and take another right on Professional. I’ll be at the shelter tomorrow about ten to help out and walk the dogs. Come over if you can. We always have a good time.”