Some Day Somebody (26 page)

“Honey, despite everything, that man did his part to give me some beautiful grandchildren. I’ll always be grateful to him for that,” Elaine said.

“So, when do we get to meet this Sam Langley?” Christie asked.

Carrie gave her sister a bewildered look. “I thought we’d take things slowly. No pressure, you know? I planned for us to get to know each other before I told anyone about him.” She plopped herself down in a chair.
“So much for plans.”

“When are you going to see him again?” Katie asked her.

“Tonight.
He’s coming with me to meet the landlord and to check out that house. Sam says it’s nice, and it’s cheap. He had some bad renters before and wants someone trustworthy in it. But if I do this, I’ll need some furniture.”

“What about your own stuff?” Susan asked. “You have a right to half of everything.”

Carrie nodded. “I know, but I told him he could have the living room furniture,
it’s
shot anyway. I’m taking my small dresser, the freezer, my rocker, and a few other odds and ends. Besides, all three of my kids will be at their dad’s at least until the end of the semester and they’ll need beds.”

“So, tell us about this co-worker in Kenton,” Jen told her.

Carrie spent the next several minutes telling them about Sam, and answering whatever questions she could about him.

“Well I can’t wait to meet him,” Elaine told her daughter. “It sounds like he’s a good guy.”

Carrie sent her mom a serious look. “He seems to be, but there are so many things that can go wrong. It’s not just about Sam and me; it’s about our kids too.”

Elaine reached out to cover Carrie’s hand with her own. “Don’t borrow trouble, sweetie. Just get to know each other, and stop trying to figure out what’s going to happen a year from now. God has a way of working things out when you least expect them to.”

Carrie chewed her lower lip nervously and nodded. “I hope you’re right, Mom.”

By four fifteen, Carrie and her kids pulled up at
Christie’s
to unload a few gifts and give her the opportunity to change clothes. She discarded her blouse and jeans for her favorite hunter green, v-neck sweater, along with dressy black slacks, and a pair of rarely worn heels that added a good two inches to her height. After refreshing her make-up and dabbing perfume to her wrists, she met her children in the living room.

“You kids ready to go?”

Grant took one look at his mother and whistled. “You look good, Mom.”

“Thank you, Grant.”

“You sure do,” Gretchen told her. “Are you going to check out the rent house dressed like that?”

Carrie nodded in the direction of the car. “Yep, and I have to be there at six, so let’s go.”

Once they were on the road, Carrie began fielding questions from her curious teens.

“Are you
gonna
see that man again?”

“What’s his name?”

“How come he’s not married?”

“Does he have any kids?”

“How many?”

“How old are they?”

“How long have you been dating him?”

Carrie cleared her throat and began. “Sam’s divorced, like I am. He has two kids, Amanda, who’s twenty and is married to Joe. Nick is seventeen and he’s a junior. We went out on our very first date last night.”

Lauren’s head popped over the seat. “You did?
A real date?
Where’d you go?” she asked, firing the questions out in rapid succession.

“Sit back, and buckle your seatbelt,” Carrie said, as Lauren sat back and obeyed her mother.  “He took me to a restaurant for a steak dinner. Afterward we went to a movie in Lake Coburn, and then we went back to his place so he could show me the house. I was back at Aunt Christie’s by midnight.”

“Where’d you meet him?” Grant asked her.

“At work.
He’s head of the survey crew.”

“Do you like him a lot, Mom?” Gretchen asked her.

She thought about how to answer that as she drove past the long harvested rice fields lining the highway. “I don’t know everything about him, but I like what I’ve seen so far. He makes me laugh.”

“Is he nice?”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah, he is.”

“Have you been on many dates since you and dad split up?”

Carrie stared at her daughter’s reflection in her rear view mirror. “
Honey, that
was the first date I’ve had with another man since I met your father.” She smiled, as Lauren’s shoulders drooped in relief.

Grant stared out the passenger window as he spoke. “It’s too bad dad can’t say the same.”

“If he could, he and mom would still be together,” Lauren said bitterly. She shook her head, mumbling under her breath. “Daddy is so stupid.”

Carrie’s gaze zipped from Grant to her daughters. “You know, now that I’m older I’ve come to realize that some people just aren’t compatible, no matter how hard they try. I think your dad and I are two of those people, but I don’t regret the years we spent together because it gave us you three.”

She slipped off her sunglasses as the winter sun dipped behind the dense cloud coverage. “Your dad may be the best husband in the world for some other woman, he just wasn’t for me.” She glanced at Grant then back at the mirror to his sisters. “We were so young.” She sighed and turned her attention back to the road. “If I ever do it again, I’ll make wiser choices than I did back then, I can promise you that.”

“So, how do you know this guy’s not just putting on a good act for you?” Lauren asked her. “Maybe once you fall for him or
marry
him,” she choked on that word, “he’ll turn out to be even worse than dad.”

Carrie chanced a look in the rearview again and her heart sank at the glare of unadulterated disdain coming from her daughter. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened. “Lauren, you’re right, I don’t know everything there is to know about Sam, but I believe he’s a good man.”

“What does he look like, Mom?” Gretchen asked.

“He’s very tall,
Gretch
. Way taller than me and he’s got blue eyes. His hair is thinning on top and he just turned forty.”

Lauren’s face twisted in disgust. “He’s
old!”

“So am I, according to you.” Carrie doubted if her daughter’s flush was caused by shame.
She’s probably good and pissed at me
.

“Is he good looking?” Gretchen asked.

Carrie nodded. “He’s a nice looking man, but that doesn’t count for much, in my opinion.” She watched Lauren roll her eyes and turned to stare out the window again. She swallowed her disappointment and plowed ahead. “Look, my primary concern with
any
other man will be how well he gets along with the three of you. Lauren,” she waited until her daughter’s reflected gaze met her own again. “If Sam’s not right for all of us, I’ll walk away from this. I promise.”

They drove the remainder of the trip to Ruby’s in silence, arriving at a quarter to five. Before the kids got out of the car, she turned in her seat to face them. “I love
y’all,
you know that, don’t you?”

One by one, her children said they loved her also.

Carrie got out of the car to hug her kids. “Try not to get in any trouble tonight, and be careful popping fireworks.”

She watched them disappear into Ruby’s house and waited. Just as she thought, Darlene ran to the door to meet her. “Hey, Ruby wants to know if you want to come in for a cup of coffee and visit for a while.”

Carrie shook her head doubtfully. “This is Dave’s turf, Dar.”

“He’s not here. He went to your house...I mean...his house...oh hell, I
hate
this crap.” She bounded down the steps and embraced Carrie in an emotional hug. “Holidays around here bite without you!”

Carrie shook her head as she pulled away from her friend. “It’s strange not to be a part of this anymore. I miss holidays here, and as much as I’d like to sit down and talk to everyone, I don’t have time to stop. I’ve got to go look at a house I’m thinking about renting in Kenton. The landlord is meeting me at six and it’ll take another fifty minutes to get there.” She consulted her watch. “I need to get going.”

She opened Ruby’s front door long enough to tell everyone Merry Christmas and how much she loved them. By the time she faced Darlene again, she was blinking back tears. “I’m leaving before Ruby comes out here, or I’ll fall apart for sure.” Carrie rushed to her car and strapped herself in. She settled her tearful gaze on her friend, who fought her own battle of brimming emotions.

“This is silly, Dar. You know that no matter where I live there will always be room for you guys to come and visit. I’ll call you when I’m settled.”

The other woman wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and sniffed. “You’d better.”

CHAPTER 14

The sharp
clip of heels on the hardwood floor echoed throughout the spacious house, void of anything but kitchen appliances.

“As you can see, it’s just been painted and the floors have been replaced. There’s new carpet in all three bedrooms and new vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms. The living room is hardwood. It comes with a gas stove, hood with built-in microwave, and a fridge. I can leave the washer and dryer if you need it.”

“I definitely need it,” Carrie mumbled.

Len Martin, the owner, gave her a curt nod. “Good...my last renters left a brand new set behind. Maybe they felt bad for stiffing me for rent and ruined floors.”

“Yeah, real nice of them to let their dogs use your place as a chew toy,” she said.

Sam walked outside to inspect the yard and exterior while Carrie finished checking out the inside. Signs of recent renovations were everywhere: stickers on newly installed double-insulated windows, floor surfaces that gleamed as though wet, freshly painted walls and trim in pleasing, muted tones, and a marble counter-top that reflected the glow of shiny new light fixtures. The house was a steal...easily worth three times the rent he was asking, and so much nicer than the place in Gardiner. Could she sell her kids on this?

Once more, she heard her mom’s words of wisdom.
You
make the rules now, Carrie
. Again she felt it in her gut; the feeling this was where she and her children belonged. This
will
be good for them.