she wasn’t sure if her commitment to the environment was worth another long ride home. Especially in the winter. But she supposed it was as good for her health to ride the bike as it was for the Carolina blue sky.
A green Saturn Vue pulled up at the end of the drive, and a big, sloppy smile spread across her face. Steve rolled down the car window and grinned at her. “Need a ride?”
“Not really. My bike is fine.” She was joking, of course. She was disgustingly happy to see him. Steve Newsome had become very important to her in a very short time.
The grin faded from his handsome face. “I came all this way so you wouldn’t have to ride back after everything that happened today.” He opened the car door and started around the back of the Vue. “You
She laughed. “I was just kidding. Thank you for coming. It’s been a terrible day.” She grabbed him and hugged him tight, planting a large kiss on his cool lips right in front of all of Myers Park. Her mother would swoon to see it. A lady never kissed a gentleman in public.
“That’s more like it.” He kissed her back, then took the bike from her and put it in the cargo space alongside cat carriers and bags of dog food, all tools of his profession. “I’m sorry about your friend. Sam told me when I called. I hate that you had to be there when it happened. Would you like to talk about it?”
“I don’t know what to say. I’m not sorry I was there.” She walked around to the passenger side. “I’m glad I was there with him when he died. But I know I’ll see that car going over the guardrail for the rest of my life. I
He got in the warm car and covered her hand with one of his. “I’m sure he was glad you were there, too. I know it had to be terrible for you. If there’s anything I can do, you know I’m here. Feel free to call me anytime you see the car going over the rail again. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you.”
She leaned over and kissed him again, looking into his clear brown eyes that she thought were so ordinary when she first met him. Why had she thought that? He was the most extraordinary person she knew! “Thank you. I’m really glad you’re in my life.”
“Coincidentally, so am I!” He glanced at the house. “How’s his wife doing?”
“As well as she can.” She told him about the police considering Park’s death a suicide. “She didn’t need that right now. Not that anyone ever does. Why does everything have to be so complicated?”
“You don’t think it’s possible?”
“Not really.” She shrugged, wishing she could be more definite. “But I don’t know. John used to tell me people will do anything if they’re pushed. He saw some terrible things happen to good people. I don’t know all the details yet. But maybe Park was in a bad place. Maybe he felt this was his only way out. I won’t believe it until someone proves it to me, Steve. And I hope it’s not true for Beth’s sake. It’s not just the insurance money either. There’s the stigma she’d have to live with and the unanswered questions.”
“You’re right. No one should have to ask those questions.” Steve shook himself free of the events that hung over them both like the dismal turn the weather had taken. “I guess we’ll all have to hope for the best. That’s all we can do anyway. So. Where are we going now?”
“I need to go back to the shop and close up. Shakespeare is still there, too.”
“I got a call from Rue when you didn’t show up.” He turned right and started down Providence Road. “She was worried about you. I told her what happened.”
“I totally forgot about that! Thanks for covering for me. I’ll call her back and see if I can reschedule.” She glanced at him. “How did you know?”
“Sam told me when I called the shop.”
Peggy sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry he bothered you with this.”
“
She could tell he was a little riled up over being left out. She hadn’t thought of it that way. “I’m sorry. It’s still very new sharing these things with you. I’ve been alone for a while. That’s my only excuse. And I guess I really didn’t want to let on to Sam about how upset I was. Sometimes they treat me like I’m made of china!”
“Okay. As long as you weren’t excluding me because you thought
“I know. I promise from now on when really terrible things happen to me, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Good thing. You know what magazines say men are like when they get their feelings hurt. You don’t want to take one of those compatibility tests or anything, right?”
She laughed. “Not right now. But if your offer for dinner is still good, I’d like to do that after we drop Shakespeare off.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll help you get the shop closed up.”
But when they got to the shop, it was more cleanup than close up. Selena had locked the front door and gone into the back storage area for a few minutes to help a customer load some peat moss. When she came back, Shakespeare had ripped open a few dozen bags of potting soil and dragged them across the old wood floor.
Selena didn’t realize she was playing his game as she chased him across the shop, spreading the mess everywhere as planters, pots, and gardening implements fell down in their wake. She grabbed him around the neck and tried to wrestle him to the floor. Shakespeare thought it was a new game. He rolled with her still holding on to him through the spring garden scene.
That’s where Peggy came in. “What in the world happened here?”
Selena looked up from under the demolished snowman. “It was a dog quake. I tried to stop it, but it was at least a seven on the canine scale.”
Steve picked up a shovel lying across Shakespeare’s back. The dog looked up and wagged his tail. “Don’t try to get on my good side. I’m the one you dragged through the holly bush the other day.”
“We have got to get you those obedience classes.” Peggy frowned at the dog.
He whined and hid his head in his massive paws.
“Bad dog!”
They cleaned up the mess and took Selena home first after they left the shop. Dinner ended up at Steve’s house. Peggy didn’t want to go out. Besides being exhausted mentally and physically, she didn’t want to talk to anyone else yet about her experience with Park. The cocoon wouldn’t last long; only one night. Then the media would have done its job, and everyone would know. But she knew she’d be able to handle it better tomorrow.
Feeling a little like another Southern woman who thought she could handle everything better tomorrow, she apologized to Steve for not being better company when he finally took her home. “Maybe you should’ve let me find my way back without you. All you got for your trouble was a mess at the shop and a lot of silence from me.”
He kissed her good night at her door and told her it didn’t matter. “I love being with you no matter what. Besides, someday I might need you to be there for me. That’s what having a relationship is all about, right?”
“Right. Thank you. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Neither one of them were surprised when she didn’t invite him in out of the cold night. Peggy watched the headlights from his SUV fade into the darkness.
She let herself in the house and dragged herself up the curving marble staircase to her bedroom. Shakespeare followed. He jumped on the bed beside her, wagging his tail and waiting for her to complete her nightly ritual of washing her face and putting on her nightclothes before he settled down.
The house was familiar and quiet around her. The sounds from the old furnace in the basement reassured her as she closed her eyes, wishing she could shut out the world so easily. Even the prospect of visiting her botanical experiments couldn’t rouse any interest or excitement. She lay under the heavy green comforter, with her arm across Shakespeare’s neck, crying. People, good people, died too soon.
Park’s death brought back all the old memories of losing John. She wasn’t prepared for them, thought they were behind her. But they rose again like terrible specters haunting her, chasing her through the night.
She finally realized she wasn’t going to sleep that night. Her hand hovered over the phone as she thought about calling Steve. Shaking her head, she got up, changed clothes, and splashed some cold water in her face. “You’d better get a grip, Margaret Anne. This isn’t going to help anyone. Especially not
