The One & Only(83)

Twenty-six





The first two times I said I should go, he protested, but just after midnight, when I caught him stifling a yawn, I got up and said it really was time. He walked me back to the garage door and gave me a hug, then a kiss. It was only a friendly peck on the cheek, but still significant, since it was the first ever, at least since I was about ten. I floated home, so dazed that I didn’t realize that I had left my purse in his kitchen until the following morning. I waited until nine, in case he was sleeping, then dialed the only number in the world I knew by heart other than my own.

“Yep, you left your pocketbook,” he said before I could ask.

“Pocketbook?” I said, mocking his old-fashioned terminology.

“Yes. You’re lucky you didn’t get pulled over. How would you have explained that one?”

“Easy. I’d tell the police that you had my license. Drop your name … Works every time in this town.”

“Yeah, we already went down that road once,” he said, referring to my teenage drunk-driving episode. “Remember?”

I shuddered at the memory. “God, you scared me that night. Worse than the cops.”

“That was the idea,” he said.

“You know, I vowed that night …” I started, my voice trailing off.

“What did you vow?” he said.

“Never to let you down again.”

“And you haven’t,” he said. “So. You gonna come get this thing or what?”

“Yes,” I said. “I’ll be right over to get my pocketbook.”


A quick shower later, I was headed back over to Coach’s in jeans, an old Cotton Bowl hoodie, and a haphazard ponytail. I was still on a crazy high until I pulled into the driveway and saw Lucy’s car. Panicked, I started to back up, until I spotted her in the front seat looking right at me through the back window. She gave me a little wave, then got out of her car in a navy dress, nude pumps, and a double strand of pearls. She reached into the backseat to unleash Caroline from her car seat before they both walked over to my car. My mind raced for an explanation of why I could be here so early on a Sunday morning as I lavished attention on my goddaughter, buying a few seconds of time.

“Hey, honey! Don’t you look pretty!” I said as Caroline crawled onto my lap and began playing with the buttons on my dash. “I love your dress. And your braids.”

“They’re French braids,” Caroline said. “Mommy did them!”

“Well, oui, oui! She did a great job,” I said, glancing up at Lucy, who gave me a distracted, fast-twitch smile.

Caroline babbled some more random updates about her morning, something about her stuffed bunny named Monkey falling into the sink and getting wet. She then made a rapid transition and asked if I had candy in my car.

“Sure do,” I said, opening my glove compartment and pulling out a roll of cherry Life Savers that I kept there just for her. They were sticky from the sun, having melted into the paper wrapping, but Caroline didn’t mind, shoving two into her mouth. One dropped from her mouth and rolled down the front of her white piqué dress, leaving a red trail before falling onto the driveway. Lucy wearily sighed, as Caroline scrambled down from my lap, plucked the candy off the ground, and inserted it back into her mouth.

“Hey, Luce,” I said as nonchalantly as I could, realizing we’d yet to speak directly to each other. “You going to church?”

“Yeah … But who knows if we’ll ever make it there,” she said, talking more to herself than to me. She sighed again, looking exhausted. “What’s going on with you?”

Clearly she was asking me what I was doing at her father’s house on a Sunday morning, but I shrugged and said, “Oh. Not much.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked, point-blank.

I glanced up at her through my sunglasses and could see that she looked slightly puzzled but not accusatorial or suspicious. I told myself not to be defensive or, worse, lie, as Caroline scampered toward the house. I could see in my peripheral vision that Coach had emerged from the garage. He bent down to scoop up Caroline, then walked toward my car. Right away, I saw that his wedding ring was now on his right hand, a change since last night, and one that made my heart thump in my chest.

Lucy repeated her question. “So? What are you doing here? Just checking on Daddy?”

I considered simply saying yes, but forced myself to be truthful, mumbling that I had left my purse here.

“Your purse?” Lucy said, Coach now standing beside us. “When?”

“Last night,” I said, sneaking a glance at Coach, who looked the way I felt. Uneasy, guilty, totally busted.