The Night Is Forever

“Hmm.”

“Are you ready to try this again?”

“Hmm...”

* * *

“I know it’s a cliche, but...I think the earth moved,” she said solemnly. She rose up on her elbows. Her hair cascaded around her face. He marveled again at her stunning beauty, and he marveled that they were together.

He lay with his hands laced behind his head. He smiled. “Really? The earth moved?”

She shrugged. “Who knows? They might’ve been digging in a nearby mine.”

“Are there nearby mines anymore?” he asked her.

“Oh. Maybe not. So the earth moved, and...”

He supported himself on one elbow, facing her. “And?”

“And it was even better than that,” she told him.

“Oh?”

“I forgot the world,” she whispered.

He pulled her back into his arms. The moon shined on.

They might forget the world when they were together like this, but reality always came back soon enough.

As if sensing his thoughts she sighed softly. “Nothing compares to a night like this.” She smiled. “Our theory was a good one.”

“Theories should always be thoroughly proven,” he whispered. “Are you interested in some more fact- checking?”

Her eyes were absolutely hypnotic and dazzling in the moonlight. “I’ll do my best to oblige,” she said.

And she did.

14

When morning arrived, Olivia was glad they’d enjoyed such an incredible night. And glad that they’d slept in each other’s arms.

In the morning, Dustin explained that he’d talked to Ellie over at Willis House and that she’d said Coot wanted him to show up for breakfast.

“Sounds like a plan,” she told Dustin. “The cafe has a great Sunday brunch. But I wasn’t aware you’d gotten to know old Coot so well.”

“Can’t say I know him that well,” Dustin responded. “But I’ve spent some time talking to him and he seems like a savvy guy. He watches the people around him. He appears to be an elderly gentleman simply enjoying the beauty of the countryside as his later years slip by. People wouldn’t expect him to be as observant as he really is.”

“So, we’ll meet Coot for breakfast,” Olivia said.

Before they left, they let Sammy run around the yard for a while, and Olivia lavished some affection on the dog.

Delilah called out a greeting to them as they entered the cafe and indicated that Coot was sitting in a booth toward the rear. They waved to her and slid into the booth with Coot.

“Morning,” he told them. “I’m just enjoying a ‘Liv’ here. Mighty good coffee. And I’m glad to see you two young people looking so healthy. That was something, what I heard about yesterday morning!”

“Far too much excitement for a camping trip,” Dustin said.

Coot shook his head.

“Could’ve been much worse.” Delilah served some tourists at the counter, then came bustling around to see them. “Why, honey, I am so proud of you!” she said to Dustin. “What you did was amazing.”

As he lowered his head, Olivia realized that she was loving more and more about the man; he was uncomfortable when people put him on a pedestal. He glanced at her and a little smile came to his lips. “I think we decided that the ‘amazing’ actually went to you,” he whispered.

She blushed, hoping the others hadn’t heard. Dustin looked up at Delilah. “Honestly, it was nothing more than simple first aid, but thank you, Delilah. I’d love to have a ‘Liv’ this morning.”

“Me, too,” Olivia said. “And I’d also love your Sunday-morning hash and—oh, Dustin! If you haven’t had them yet, you have to try the cheese grits. They’re the best in the South, I swear.”

“Well, then, two ‘Livs,’ two orders of corned beef hash and two orders of cheese grits,” Dustin said.

“Don’t forget the biscuits,” Coot added.

When Delilah was gone, Dustin turned to Coot and asked softly, “You know something?”

“Can’t rightly say I know anything,” he said. “But I just figured, what with everything that’s going on, any small thing might be important.”

Dustin nodded. “Yes, you’re right.”

Coot glanced at Olivia. “A bunch of those boys from Parsonage House were in here last night, with one of their monitors. I was sitting at a booth reading the paper.” He shook his head sadly. “Aaron is great with those boys but I guess everyone over at the Horse Farm is kind of on the ‘watch and wait’ list.”

Olivia cringed and stared down at the table. “The monitor was reading a book, not paying much mind to the boys. They were talking about the camping trip.”

“And they said something,” Dustin said, gently urging Coot to go on.

“Yeah, they were trying to reconstruct things for themselves,” Coot told them.

“What did they talk about?”

“Who was where when. Seems Joey saw you go flying out of the tent when everyone heard the scream. He scrambled out himself. He saw Olivia—and she grabbed Drew and they ran off.”

“That’s pretty much what happened,” Olivia said.

“They went on to talk about it, and they said there was one person they didn’t notice until Dustin asked about Aaron. She must’ve been gone for a while, ’cause she came back to the group late,” Coot said.

“Sandra?” Olivia asked.

Coot looked at her. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“She was the only other ‘she’ there.”

“They didn’t see her crawl out of the tent?” Dustin asked.

“They might have—they’re not sure. But they’re certain they didn’t see her the whole time. They all mulled it over for a while, but then, of course, they started saying they couldn’t be positive, so they’d best not say anything.”

“Thanks, Coot.” They all fell silent as Delilah came over with their food.

“There you go,” she said, setting down the plates, which were garnished with melon and apple slices. “Now you two eat up. I’m glad you ordered big. This isn’t a morning to be snacking on nothing but tomato juice and a few wedges of fruit. The body needs nourishment.”

“It looks wonderful, and we’re going to enjoy every fattening bite of it,” Olivia assured her.

“You burn energy like a bird in flight, Liv,” Delilah said. “Speaking of juice—want some?”

“Sure, juice sounds great,” Olivia replied. “That will make it a bit healthier, right?”

“That’s exactly what I told Sandra Cheever last night. She said she’d been sitting at the hospital for hours and was going back—but that she had to have something besides hospital food.”

Coot frowned. “Sandra was here last night? I didn’t see her.”

“Oh, she came in before you and the boys.” Delilah made a dismissive gesture. “First she says she has to have some good food—then she turns her nose up at my menu, saying I didn’t have healthy choices. Why, I told her to have some juice and a salad and she said I needed fat-free dressings!”

As she spoke, the door to the cafe opened again.