I nodded. "Yes. That sounds good. Just no honky-tonks." I couldn't walk into another one of those. At least not this soon.
Bethy frowned. "Okay... but is there anything else in this state?"
She had a point. "Yeah... we can drive into Birmingham. It's the closest big city."
"Perfect. Let's go have some fun."
When we pulled into the driveway at Granny Q's she was sitting outside on the porch shelling peas. I didn't want to face her but she had given me a roof over my head for three weeks with no strings attached. She deserved an explanation if she wanted one. I wasn't sure Cain had told her anything. His truck wasn't here and I was immensely grateful.
"Want me to stay in the car?" Bethy asked. It would be easier if she did but Granny Q would see her and call me out for being rude if I didn't let my friend come inside.
"You can come with me," I told her and opened the car door.
Bethy walked around the front of the car and fell into step beside me. Granny Q hadn't looked up from her peas yet but I knew she'd heard us. She was thinking about what she was going to say. Cain must have told her. Dang it.
I looked over at her as she continued to shell those peas in silence. Her short white bobbed hair was all I could see of her. No eye contact. It would be so much easier to just go inside and take advantage of her not speaking to me. But this was her home. If she didn't want me here I needed to pack up and leave.
"Hey, Granny Q," I said and stopped, waiting for her to lift her head to look at me.
Silence. She was upset with me. Disappointed or mad; I wasn't sure which. I hated Cain right now for telling her. Couldn't he keep his mouth shut?
"This is my friend Bethy. She came to visit me today," I continued.
Granny Q finally raised her head and gave Bethy a smile then turned her eyes on me. "You take her on in and fix her a nice big glass of iced tea and give her one of them fried pies I got cooling on the table. Then you come on back out here and talk to me a minute, hmmm." This wasn't a request; it was a subtle demand. I nodded and led Bethy inside.
"Did you piss off the old lady?" Bethy whispered when we were safely inside.
I shrugged. I wasn't sure. "Don't know just yet," I replied.
I went to the cabinet and got a tall glass down and went to fixing Bethy a glass of iced tea. I didn't even ask her if she wanted it. I was just trying to do what Granny Q had said.
"Here. Drink this and eat a fried pie. I'll be back in a few minutes," I said and hurried back outside. I needed to get this over with.
Chapter 6
Blaire
The wooden planks cracked under my feet as I stepped back onto the front porch of Granny Q's house. I let the screen door close behind me with a loud bang before remembering it was old and its springs were long ago rusted. I'd spent many days of my childhood on this front porch shelling peas with Cain and Granny Q. I didn't want her upset with me. My stomach twisted.
"Sit down girl and stop looking like you're ready to cry. God knows I love ya like you're my own. Thought you would be one day." She shook her head. "Stupid boy couldn't get it together. I hoped he'd wake up 'fore it was too late. But he didn't, did he? You done gone and found ya someone else."
This had not been what I was expecting. I took the seat across from her and began shelling peas so I wouldn't have to look at her. "Cain and I were over three years ago. Nothing that is happening now is affecting that. He is my friend, that's all."
Granny Q made ahmph sound and shifted in the porch swing she was sitting in. "I don't believe that. You two wereinseparable as kids. Even as a boy he couldn't keep his eyes off you. It was funny to watch how much he adored you and didn't even realize it himself. But boys hit them teenage years and lose their ever loving minds. I hate he did. I hate he lost you, girl. 'Cause there won't be another Blaire for Cain. You were it for him."
She hadn't mentioned my pregnancy tests. Did she even know I'd bought them? I didn't want to recap my past with Cain. Sure we had history but there was so much sadness and regret that I didn't want to go there. I'd been living in a lie my father had constructed then. Remembering it hurt. "Has Cain come by here today?" I asked.
"Yeah. He came by this morning looking for ya. I told him you'd not come back home from your early escape. He looked worried and turned and left without telling me anythin' else. He'd been crying though. Don't reckon I've ever seen him cry before. Least not since he was a boy."
He'd been crying? I closed my eyes and dropped the peas into the large plastic bucket Granny Q was using. Cain wasn't supposed to be upset. He wasn't supposed to cry. He'd let me go a long time ago. Why was this so hard on him? "How long ago was that?" I asked, thinking about the hours that had passed since I'd bared my soul to him in the parking lot of the pharmacy.
"Ah, 'bout nine hours ago I'd guess. It was early. He was a mess, girl. At least go find him and talk to him. No matter how you feel about him now he needs to hear from you that things are okay."
I nodded. "Can I use your phone?" I asked, standing up.
"Of course you can. Eat you one of them fried pies while you're in there. I made enough for an army after he ran off this morning. They're his favorite flavor," she said.
"Cherry," I replied and she gave me a smile. I could see so many things in those eyes of hers. I knew Cain. Nothing about him surprised me. I understood him. We had a past. I loved his family and they obviously loved me too. This was safe.
Bethy was standing on the other side of the door sipping her glass of sweet tea and holding her phone out to me. She'd been listening. I wasn't surprised.