Need You Now (37 page)

Peeking out the window, she watched Dave and Cara step out of Dave's car. Darlene pulled off her small loop earrings, tucked her dove pendant inside her T-shirt, and wrestled with her wedding ring until it slipped off her finger. She put everything on the hutch by the front door and walked onto the porch. Blocking the sun with her hand, she called out as friendly a hello as she could muster up.

“I hope it's okay, but The Evans School closed early today when the air-conditioning stopped working, and Cara and I were wondering if we could visit the chickens.” Dave waved, and as always, he was perfectly put together in navy shorts and a yellow, collared shirt. Darlene glanced down at her blue jean shorts, white flip-flops, and her pink T-shirt with the Nike emblem on it. She'd had the T-shirt for as long as she could remember. It was a favorite, but it was as raggedy a thing as she owned. Why did Dave always catch her looking like this? She twisted her hair up on her head and secured it with a band she always kept on her wrist during the hot summer months. Her short ponytail wasn't necessarily going to improve her appearance, but it was over a hundred degrees outside.

“Of course you can visit the chickens.” Darlene walked slowly toward Dave and Cara. “Nice to see you.” She turned to Cara and smiled. “Hello, Cara.”

Cara didn't move toward her but instead pointed toward the chicken coop. “Ansley's chickens.”

“Yes. We can go see Ansley's chickens.”

Dave pushed his dark sunglasses up on his head. “I hope you don't mind us just stopping by. It was a last-minute thought since we found ourselves with a free afternoon. I looked up your home phone number and tried to call, but my cell kept losing service, and I couldn't get the call to go through.”

“Cell service is touch and go out here, and I don't mind at all.” Darlene welcomed the distraction. “Now, you know I'm not a big fan of these birds.” She smiled as she motioned for them to follow her to the chicken coop. “So I might not be venturing in there.”

“Oh no. It's all right. We can just look at the chickens from outside. You don't have to open the cage door.” Dave was holding Cara's hand as they approached the birds. Two chickens were running around, and the others were perched in their roosting boxes.

Cara let go of Dave's hand and ran to the cages. “Feed Ansley's chickens!” She bounced on her heels as she pointed to the chickens. Cara looked so pretty in her red shorts, white blouse, and flat white sandals. The Evans School was open year-round, so a day off was a nice treat for Cara.

“Cara, I don't think we need to go inside,” Dave said as he and Darlene walked up beside her.

“Feed Ansley's chickens,” Cara repeated, this time looking up at Darlene.

“It's fine with me, if you don't think the chickens will scare her. I don't like when they start flapping and running around. Ansley doesn't mind when they do that, but Cara might.”

“Maybe just for a minute, Cara.” Dave leaned down and untwisted the piece of wire that kept the small gate closed. Cara walked inside, and as Darlene had feared, the chickens began to get worked up, flapping their wings and scurrying around. Darlene stayed outside while Dave followed Cara in. Cara didn't seem bothered as she moved about the chickens, giggling every time one of them made a noise or raced in front of her.

As Cara moved to the back of the pen, the unthinkable happened. Four of the chickens darted in front of Dave, past Darlene, and out the door. Knowing how Ansley felt about her beloved chickens, Darlene jogged across the yard to round them up. “Back! Back!” she yelled as she tried to corral the birds back toward the cage. It was one thing for Ansley to let the birds run loose occasionally, but Ansley also had a system to get them back in their pens.

Out of the corner of her eye, Darlene saw Dave pull Cara out of the coop, even though she screamed and tried to resist. He locked the door so the other two birds were secure. “I've got to help Darlene get Ansley's chickens, Cara. Don't move.” He pointed a finger at her, but Cara scurried about, laughing and sending the chickens racing even farther away. One large brown hen disappeared behind the farmhouse.

“Darlene, I am so sorry,” Dave said as he dropped his sunglasses back on his face. Then he ran to the left, and Darlene ran to the right, both of them waving their arms and making
shoo
noises as they tried to coax the chickens toward the coop. But every time one got close, Cara jumped up and down and scared it back in the other direction.

Ten minutes later, Darlene and Dave were both soaking wet from sweat, and only one chicken had ventured back toward the cage. Darlene stopped and tried to catch her breath. Dave took her cue and also took a break.

“Are we doing this right?”

Darlene laughed. “Probably not.”

Dave walked closer to her and eyed all the loose chickens kicking at the grass a few yards away. “Should we lure them with some feed in a pan?”

“That might work.” Darlene went into the pen and picked up an empty feed pan. She walked around the corner to the barn and dipped the pan into a large feed bag. She jumped when she felt Dave brush up beside her. He was dripping in sweat like she was, and with only a small amount of light shining in through the barn window, she watched him run a hand over his forehead. Then he took the pan from her.

“Here, let me do that.” He reached down in front of her, so close his chest brushed against her leg as he scooped deep into the almost-empty bag. When he lifted up, his face was within inches of hers. Sweat rolled down her cheeks as she locked eyes with him. She could hear Cara laughing around the corner, and she studied Dave's face. So serious, gazing back at her. She thought about the tenderness he'd always showed her, and for reasons she would analyze to death in the near future, she leaned her face closer to his. He didn't move as she leaned up and kissed him lightly on the mouth. When she eased away, Dave's eyes clung to hers, searching her face. He cupped her face in his hands, and even though she pulled against him, his lips were persuasive, passionate, and as he explored her mouth in a way that she knew was forbidden, she kissed him back.

When she finally pulled away from him, he whispered her name. “I've wanted to do that for as long as I can remember.” He reached for her again, but Darlene backed up, a full realization of what she'd done slamming into her like a truck that wouldn't stop crushing her. She backed up even farther.

“You have to go. Now.” She swallowed hard, Brad's face everywhere.

“Darlene, it's okay,” Dave said, holding a hand out to her as he eased forward. “This was bound to happen, and—”

“No . . . It was
not
bound to happen. And it shouldn't have happened. I'm sorry. I don't know . . .” Her eyes started to burn with tears. No matter what Brad had done, two wrongs didn't make a right, and Darlene couldn't stand the person inhabiting her body right now. “Please go.”

“Sweetie . . .”

“Don't, Dave. Don't call me that.” She stared at the ground, not wanting to look up at him. He put a hand on her arm.

“I'll go. But please, Darlene. Don't beat yourself up about this. It was just a kiss.”

Darlene knew it was more than just a simple kiss, and she was lost in a river of guilt. “I know,” she said, for lack of knowing what else to say and not wanting Dave to think it was anything more than a kiss. “It just shouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have . . .”
I shouldn't have initiated it
.

Dave moved closer, and Darlene could feel her heart pounding against her chest. She didn't move when he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. Instead, she started to cry. He pulled her into his arms. “Sweet Darlene. It's okay. We didn't do anything.” He eased her away, touched her wet cheek with his thumb. “But I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about you all the time.” He kissed her on the cheek.

“I can't do this.”
I don't want to do this
. She backed away. “Please tell Cara bye for me. I need you to go. I'll worry about the chickens later.”

Dave didn't move for a few moments.

“Please, Dave.”

He held up a hand. “Okay. I'm leaving. But, Darlene, I'm here if you need anything.”

She nodded, knowing that what she needed was a swift kick in the butt. She waited until she heard Dave's car pull out of the driveway before she left the barn.

It took her two hours to round up the chickens and get them back in their cage, and the entire time, she pictured the look on Brad's face if he found out what she'd just done.

Intermingled with that image was the image of Brad kissing another woman, possibly more.
What is happening to us?

Once all the birds were secure, she slid down the outside of the chicken cage, put her head in her hands, and cried. Good Darlene would be praying right now, but Bad Darlene had nothing to say to God. Shame engulfed her, and she wished God couldn't see her, couldn't hear her thoughts, couldn't be as disappointed with her as she was with herself.

But He knew.

And she'd never felt more alone in her life.

Dave waited until Cara was settled at home, coloring at the kitchen table, before he allowed himself to think about what had happened with Darlene. Something had possessed her to kiss him first, but she'd clearly regretted it. However, his thoughts didn't end there. She'd kissed him back, passionately, the way a wife kisses her husband. And that left him feeling both hopeful and ashamed. He'd never kissed another man's wife. Nor had he ever wanted another man's wife. He dialed her home phone number, but as he'd expected an answering machine picked up. He didn't leave a message.

As he paced the kitchen, he thought about Julie and wondered if she was looking down from heaven, shaking her head. Worse yet, God knew what he'd done. But for all his knowledge of those facts, he knew that he wouldn't have changed anything. The feel of Darlene's mouth on his, and the way she'd responded to him, left him craving more. Husband or no husband.

Grace sat down beside Skylar at lunch, like she had since the first day of school this year, despite the looks she got from Glenda and her other former lunch buddies. But those girls weren't her friends. Skylar was her best friend.

When Chad slid into a chair beside Skylar and set his plate down, Grace's muscles tensed.

“What are you doing here, Chad? Go sit with that dumb group of guys you hang out with.” Grace glared at him, then glanced at Skylar, who just smiled.

“Shut up, Grace.” He turned to Skylar. “I got tickets to Festival Hill for tomorrow. There's a percussion performance that's supposed to be really cool. Wanna go?”

Grace's heart beat faster when Skylar nodded and said, “Sure.”

She loved her brother, no matter how stupid he was sometimes. And she loved Skylar. But the thought of them together freaked her out. Skylar was her friend, and she wanted to tell Chad to back off and go find someone else to date. But when Skylar batted her eyes at Chad, Grace knew that she was losing her. Skylar would start hanging out with Chad, not Grace.

She thought back to the way she'd treated Skylar at school last year, and she figured she had this coming. But she wasn't going to give Skylar up without a fight.

“I heard Cindy telling some girls in math today that you guys were going to get back together.” Grace stuffed a fry in her mouth.