Shine On (2 page)

“E
mmie, I was wrong about him. He did have a good reason to leave. He never dated anyone else that whole time we were apart, said he always felt like we were still together,” Ava explained setting her jaw. “You know how Ma kept saying to give him time and if it’s meant to be, he’ll come back. Well, turns out she was right.”

“Yeah, what was this good excuse he had for leaving and breaking your heart?” Emmie frowned trying to decide if this was worth the fight.

“I cannot say. I promised. You just have to trust me, please?” Ava looked dead into her friend’s eyes. The two never kept secrets but Ava couldn’t tell her this. She’d hoped that Emmie would at least respect her for not making up some lie.

For a split second Emmie looked hurt but brushed it away. “Okay, I trust you. Just be careful, alright.” There were too many other things going on in her life right now to lose her best friend over a boy. In time the truth always came out.

“Want to borrow a swimsuit?” Ava asked, eyeing her friend’s pale blue work dress. “Looks like you’re a little over dressed.”

“No, it’s okay. Just your parents here tonight, right?” she asked. “No point in getting all dolled up. I’ll just wear my slip.”

“No, no one else… Vince is finishing up something at the office for Papa.” Ava paused for a second then added, “I really do have this lovely swimsuit. It’s just the berries! You would…” Her words trailed off as she headed back into the bedroom producing a navy swimsuit, if one could even call it that. Emmie had never seen a garment with so little fabric. It might cover Ava’s stick-thin body but there was no way she would be able to squeeze her bits in that thing. She was all for the latest fashion but that new swimsuit was borderline indecent.

“Umm, no thanks. I’ll be fine.” Emmie slipped off her dress and laid it across Ava’s bed.

The water was cool and refreshing in the sticky September afternoon. Emmie sat in her slip, dangling her legs into the water, taking in her surroundings. It was beautiful. A few big oak trees stood in the far backyard peeking over the white privacy fence that surrounded the massive pool. The white columns and arched roofline of the back terrace opened up to the shallow end of the pool. Sheer curtains framed the walkway from pool to patio. The pool itself was like a work of art, crystal clear water with dark blue lines dividing different swimming lanes.

Four Roman statues representing spring, summer, winter and fall stood guard at each of the corners of the cement path that enveloped the pool. Emmie craned her face up toward the setting sun and closed her eyes.

“Ava. Ava, are you out here?” a deep voice boomed from the other side of the sheers that separated the pool from the patio.

Ava looked at Emmie with wide eyes and smiled. “I am so sorry. I had no idea they would be back so soon.”

“Ava, there you are. Hey, Emmie.” Gabe walked right past Emmie and pulled Ava into a tight hug, and kissing like he’d just returned from war. Good grief. Emmie stared back out at the oak trees unsure where to look.

“Well, if it isn’t little Miss Emmie Shimmy,” Vince boomed, his dress shoes clicking closer to her on the pavement.

“Vincent, you hear me, you better not,” she screamed scrambling from the side of the pool.

Anytime she was near a pool and Ava’s older brother, Vincent, came up behind her, she knew her fate. It had been the same since they were kids. Emmie never saw his face, she just felt his huge hands lift her off the ground. In a matter of seconds, she was airborne. Her last plea was met with a mouth full of cold water and muffled laughter she could hear from above. Emmie popped her face out of the water and glared at him. If looks could kill Vincent would be a dead man.

But the look was in vain because, by the time she reached the steps, Emmie was laughing so hard she had a difficult time getting out of the pool. She walked right over to Vincent and smacked him on the shoulder as hard as she could. She still looked like the little mouse with big blue eyes to him that had peddled around the pool since he was ten years old. Unfortunately, that is not what she looked like to everyone else.

Emmie turned to head inside for a towel. She was surprised to find two guys in her path. She suddenly felt very self-conscious. One looked at her with blatant amusement like he had never seen a girl in a swimsuit before.

Oh My Goodness…

Her slip. She was in her slip, not a swimsuit.

The guy nearest her smiled, eyes wide with amusement. “Hi ya, Doll,” he grinned.

Emmie rolled her eyes and walked right past him, still tugging on the hem of her slip. The second guy didn’t have the decency to look away either. As she moved around him, she felt something drop on her shoulders. Emmie snapped back around, puzzled.

The guy pulled the collar of the jacket close around her neck and whispered, “Honey, there isn’t any amount of pulling on that slip you can do to make it not cling to your…” he paused for a long second, “…your body.”

Emmie wanted to find some cold dark cave and hide there for all eternity. Mr. Chivalry—I give my jacket to half-naked ladies all the time—didn’t look the least bit flustered and she hated him for it. He pulled a cigarette out of his vest pocket and took a long, slow draw. His blue-gray eyes were staring into hers. A grin played at the corner of his mouth. Then he moved to her and headed toward Vincent, smacking the “Hi ya, Doll” guy in the back of the head on his way.

Her pride made her want to throw his jacket at him and walk inside with her shoulders back and chin held high. Her mousy modesty made her pull the coat tighter around her shoulders and scurry into the house.

Chapter Three

E
mmie tiptoed through the house as quietly as she could, not wanting to catch the attention of Molly and Al. She was sure her face was flaming red and having to answer questions about her blush would only make her feel worse. She went straight to Ava’s bedroom and changed into her dress. Ava entered the room a few minutes later with a smile painted on her face. Emmie looked away and continued pinning up her wet curls.

“I wish you would have just taken my extra swimsuit. You really are too old to be swimming in your underwear.” Ava laughed.

“Yeah, says the girl who was outside in less fabric than a napkin,” Emmie said.

“Yes, but my napkin isn’t see-through when wet,” Ava countered.

“Point taken. From now on, swimsuit it is.” She nodded in agreement.

“So who is that down there?” Emmie didn’t think there was anyone in Ava’s family she hadn’t met over the years.

“The first fool that talked to you was Patrick or Trick, ignore him. The guy that gave you the jacket is Silas. They’re my cousins. Mom’s brother’s boys,” Ava answered.

“Girls, dinner’s ready,” Molly called from downstairs.

“Are you going to be okay? No permanent damage?” Ava asked half kidding.

Emmie shrugged, “Not the worst thing that’s happened in the last few months.”

She grabbed Silas’s jacket and headed down the stairs. The boys were already seated at the table when the girls walked in the dining room. Everyone’s plates were already full and an easy conversation filled the air by the time they made it downstairs. Emmie nonchalantly dropped Silas’s coat on the back of the chair and took her seat next to Ava.

Al’s eyebrow arched in question. He opened his mouth to say something. Molly smiled and put her hand on his, silencing him with a look. He frowned, glancing at Silas but he said nothing. Molly formally introduced her nephews to Emmie, as if nothing had happened. Silas nodded hello playing along with the introduction but Trick was not so polite. Emmie swore his face may actually split open, he had such a wide smile. She felt shades of embarrassment coloring her cheeks again. Thankfully the phone at that moment started to ring.

The guys at the table visibly tensed as Al walked over to answer the call. His voice was clipped and quiet. She couldn’t make out what he was saying. Vince and Silas moved nearer to him. When he put the receiver down he spoke to them quietly. They nodded. Silas motioned for Trick and Gabe to join him. Vince headed for the door.

“Excuse us, Aunt Molly. Dinner was great but we’ve got to head back to the office,” Silas said.

“Oh Al, surely they don’t need to go right this second. We just sat down,” Molly sighed, annoyed with her husband.

Al put a hand up to silence her. Molly sighed and sat back down, “They’ll be back soon.”

Then he walked the guys outside, returning a few minutes later alone. Emmie looked over at Ava with an unspoken question. She shrugged. Dinner passed in forced conversation.

After the meal the girls relaxed on the upstairs sleeping porch. It felt so normal. Talking, laughing, and listening as the birds’ songs turned into the hums of nighttime bugs. They relaxed in a comfortable silence for a while before Ava began to speak. Emmie expected her to turn the conversation to the pool shenanigans this afternoon but she didn’t. Instead she focused on the topic that Emmie had spent the last few months avoiding.

“Emmie,” Ava started, “what happened to Ronnie? We heard there was some kind of accident.”

She took a long breath. “I don’t really know, Ava. Sheriff Drake found him in his car. It hit a tree and caught on fire, I guess.”

“Do you think he’d been into his ’shine again?” One of Ava’s red pin curls came loose and fell into her eye. She brushed it back and looked at her friend intently.

“He was always in the moonshine. It was late at night. I was already in bed.” She picked at a thread on the quilt she was wrapped in.

“You think he may have been up to something?” Ava arched an eyebrow. When Emmie didn’t say anything, she continued.

“Remember that time we found those jars in your cellar? I’m sure they were moonshine,” Ava said.

“Yeah, well. We know he drank. No surprise there, Ava,” she said.

“I suppose you’re right. I’m trying to think why he was driving around those fields after midnight.” She pondered for a moment. Then she immediately changed subjects—as her brain was often inclined to do. But Emmie’s mind didn’t leave the topic so easily. Why was he in those fields so late at night? That was the question she’d refused to let herself spend too much time thinking about the past months.

***********

Ava asked her to stay the night but she refused. Something about her house kept her grounded.

Spotty met them at the end of the road, barking a welcome. Her black lab mix had one large white spot on his right eye and another on his back. When she was five she decided she wanted a baby brother, so Ronnie showed up one day with a pup. He said it was the best he could do. It was the only thing he ever gave her.

The dog met her as she exited the car, licking her hand and sniffing at the leftovers Molly had packed up. The night was warm and the moon was full. Emmie waved bye to Al. She locked up, got ready for bed, and settled in, waiting for sleep to claim her. But it didn’t. She closed her eyes and her mind played a picture show with vivid color—a perfect vision of the day Ronnie died.

“Emma,” Ronnie shouted. Her pulse quickened. Was he already up? She hated mornings when he rose early. Usually his ’shine headaches kept him in bed until after dawn.

“Emma, you better answer when I call your name,” he called from downstairs.

“Sorry, Ronnie. I was just on my way down.” Her bare feet thumped down the stairs, trembling hands gripping the loose handrail.

“It’s about time, girl,” he barked.

Ronnie looked the same as he always had, maybe a little grayer around the ears, maybe a little more wrinkled around the eyes, but basically the same. His mouth was still set in a frown; his hands were calloused from working at the lumber mill. His dishwater-blond hair was cut short to his head. She moved around him to the old coffee pot.

“Ya ain’t even started making the breakfast yet?” he sneered and jerked her back by the neck of her hand-me-down cotton dress. “Girl,” he breathed in her ear from behind, “what’d ya think I keep ya around here for, hmm?”

Spotty came up and nipped at his hand. The dog yipped as Ronnie’s work boot met his fur. Emmie grabbed Spotty and pushed him out the front door. When Ronnie was in this kind of mood it was better to get the dog away from him.

“Forget about it,” he huffed as he put on his hat. “I’ll be expecting supper tonight but I’ll be home late. Gotta work outside on the farm for a bit. You can just leave my dinner on the stove.”

Those were the last words she heard out of him. He was always working out on the farm but there was never anything to show for it. He let go of the garden six years ago after Mama died of the flu. He sold the only cow two years ago. The land was overgrown. She tossed and turned most of the night. Her brain wrestled trying to put it all together. She hung in the balance of sleep and awareness for hours, thinking it through.

“Oh my heavens,” Emmie said aloud. Spotty turned his head listening for something outside.

When she did not speak immediately, he plopped back down on the covers. “The jars of ’shine, the late nights, always outside but nothing to show, the woods—that’s it,” she said aloud. Part of her wanted to toss off the covers and go look right this second. She knew it was a foolish idea. Dawn was approaching. So, she closed her eyes and made a plan instead.