That Dog Won't Hunt (Dearing Family Series) (4 page)

Christina held Ben’s hand under the table. Chairs stuttered across the carpet as everyone else got settled. Christina saw Mr. Dearing catch his wife’s eye down the length of the table, then make a point of looking right and left. Lips curved, he gazed back at his wife and raised his eyebrows in a silent message. Whatever he meant, she understood perfectly. She gave him a smile so full of love it rattled Christina’s heart.

Why did she have to feel so stupid around these people?

The whole family was nice, including Tamel, who was really friendly, not to mention hot. Even if Jess tried to pretend he wasn’t. His face was amazing, and then there were those dimples. And he had this half smile most of the time, like he loved the world and the world loved him back. Kind of like Ben. Tamel and all the Dearings were so … easy with each other. And with themselves. How did it feel to be like that? To be so confident in yourself?

“All right, let’s pray.” Mr. Dearing held out his hands, and everyone else did the same. Lacey’s little fingers reached for Christina’s. All heads bowed, including Ben’s. Christina looked around the table, then quickly dropped her chin.

“Lord Jesus, thank you for bringin’ all the family home and safe.” Mr. Dearing’s voice had a strong ring to it. “And special thanks for bringin’ Christina to us. We ask your blessin’ on this food and this conversation. Amen.”

Amens
repeated around the table.

There was so much to eat. And the food was incredible. Christina had never tasted ribs like Mr. Dearing’s, even though she lived in Texas, known for its barbeque. All the dishes went around once, then a second time. The biscuits were melt-in-your-mouth. And the homemade jam was wonderful.

Christina could hardly keep up with the various conversations. Mrs. Dearing—Mama Ruth—asking Pogey about his school. Mr. Dearing and Tamel talking about the funeral home. Sarah was telling Maddy about some difficult client in her conference-planning business. Maddy talked about her work at the preschool Alex had attended.

“You still likin’ retirement, Dad?” Ben asked. Christina knew Mr. Dearing had sold his Ford car dealership in Jackson early that year.

“Yup. Didn’t think I would. But it’s nice to get up and think, ‘I don’t have to work today. Maybe I’ll just read. Or play golf.’”

“The life of Riley, huh.” Ben grinned. “Sounds great. That’ll be me in … oh, forty years.”

Sounded like forever.

“Oh, need to be takin’ pictures.” Jake scooted back from the table and picked up a camera lying on the sideboard. He moved around, clicking off shots. Everyone just kept on talking and eating, like it was no big deal. Christina kept her head down.

“Come on, Christina, look up.”

Heat sizzled through her nerves. She hated pictures of herself. Raising her chin, she tried to smile as the camera flashed.

“There, thanks.” Jake nodded at her.

“Say, who’s got the picture this year?” Mr. Dearing’s voice boomed down the table.

“We do,” Sarah said.

“Know what you’re gonna do yet?”

“We’re workin’ on it.” Jake sat down and picked up his fork.

Sarah shook her head. “We should have had this planned long ago. But Mr. Detail Man here just can’t get it together.”

Ben leaned over and whispered. “Sarah’s not only a conference planner, she wants her total
life
planned out.”

“I heard that.” Sarah threw him a look.

Christina licked her lips. “What’s ‘the picture?’”

She meant the question for Ben, but it pinged around the table.

“Ben hasn’t told you about our family calendars?” Maddy frowned at her brother. “Why haven’t you shown them to her?”

Ben shrugged. “Hey, we’ve only been dating for ten weeks.”

Jess raised an eyebrow, as if she knew that fact all too well. Christina focused on her plate.

“I’ll tell you, Christina,” Maddy said. “Every summer reunion we take a crazy photo of everybody together. Each family has their turn at figurin’ out where the picture’s gonna be taken. It can get pretty wild.”

“Only because everybody tries to outdo each other,” Ben put in.

Lacey grinned. “Last year Uncle Ben made us all climb a tree.”

Mrs. Dearing raised both hands. “I’m not doin’ that again.”

Jess looked smug. “Mine was the best, and y’all know it. Even if we did have to go kinda far.”

Tamel leaned forward toward Christina, as if sharing a secret. “Only because
I
gave her the idea.”

“Shut up, Tamel.” Jess elbowed him.

“You know it’s true.”

Christina looked questioningly from Tamel to Jess.

“We were sittin’ in pink bathtubs!” Alex burst out a high, loud giggle.

“Oh, ha, look at her face.” Don gestured toward Christina.

“Oh, y’all, now hush.” Jess waved her hand around. “We went to a Habitat for Humanity Restore in Jackson, about thirty-five minutes away. They had three big bathtubs, all pink, can you believe it—”

“Lacey and me were in the same one!” Alex’s pixie face lit up.

Jess nodded. “This guy who works there knows Tamel, so he let us get in the tubs. We all crammed in like sausages, and he took the pictures for us.”

Christina smiled. Sounded crazy but fun. “Does everyone get a copy?”

“You bet.” Jess waved a hand, nearly knocking over her glass of tea. “Every year I make a calendar with pictures of our reunions for each family. I’ve got my calendars goin’ years back. Great memories, lookin’ through ’em.”

What a fun idea. And to have memories worth thinking about … “I’ll bet.”

Things got quiet for about half a second. Then conversations started up around different parts of the table. More food was passed, and everyone kept eating. Christina chewed on the ribs, but her mind hung up on Jess’s words. Calendars and memories. People you
wanted
to be with. Her heart surged. She had to make this work. Not just survive the reunion and hurry back home. But really become a part of the family.

Jess was watching her, as if trying to figure out what she was thinking. “So, Ben tells me you work as an admin at the company?”

“Yes.”

“How long have you been there?”

“I just started three months ago.”

“Oh. So Ben and you two met pretty soon after that.”

All other conversation died away. Suddenly everyone was looking at Christina.

“Mm-hm. A couple of weeks.”

“The first time I saw her I flipped.” Ben picked up his glass of tea. “Took me two days to get up the courage to ask her out. I figured everybody would be hittin’ on her.”

Christina blinked at him. Get up the courage? She couldn’t begin to imagine laid-back Ben short on self-confidence.

“Was everybody?” Jess asked.

Yeah, right. “No.” Christina shrugged. “I just kinda kept my head down. It was a new job, and I had a lot to learn.”

Mama Ruth picked up the plate of corn and sent it around again. Not many ears left in the huge bowl. “Tell us about your family, Christina. I hear you’re the only child?”

Christina stiffened. Here it came. The questions. She pinned on a pleasant expression. “Yes.”

An awkward, roaring silence followed. Christina racked her brain for something else to say.

“How about your mom and dad? Do they live near you?”

For a nano-second Christina had a wild urge to spit out the truth—all of it—and get it over with.

“My father died last year.”

Christina felt Ben stiffen beside her. He exchanged a surprised look with Jess across the table. Panic spritzed through Christina’s veins. Oh, no. She hadn’t told him that, had she. She’d acted like they were both still alive …

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Mama Ruth sounded genuinely sad. “He must have died at a young age.”

Christina’s heart banged around. Ben couldn’t stand being lied to, he’d told her that. “Fifty-one.” She didn’t dare glance at Ben.

Mama Ruth looked stricken. Christina knew she was ten years older than that herself.

“Is your mother in good health?”

Good enough to chase after every man she saw, even at fifty years old. At least that’s all she talked about whenever she called. “Yes.”

“Does she live close to you?”

Never far enough. “She’s in Austin.”

“Oh. Well, that’s not too far away to visit.”

Christina managed a nod.

More awkward silence.

Ben cleared his throat. Pointed to the potatoes. “Please pass those, Don.”

He already had some on his plate.

The bowl started around. Ben watched its progress as if it might disappear any minute. Christina could feel his deep disappointment that she’d lied to him. Like a wall had suddenly gone up between them. Her hands started to shake. She hid them in her lap.

Everyone was looking at her. They knew, didn’t they. That she had so much to hide.

The seconds trailed out. Christina felt her face go hot.

“So, Tamel.” Maddy’s voice was over-light. She had to lean around Jess to see his face. “What’s new in your life?”

The focus shifted to him. But Christina felt little relief. Her insides still trembled. With effort, she picked up her fork.

Tamel scratched his cheek. “Well, I did have quite the situation a few weeks ago.”

“Oh, do tell.”

Most everyone perked up, expectation on their faces. Jess shook her head, as if already bored. Ben shoved food in his mouth, inches—and a world—away from Christina.

Tamel laid down his fork and knife. “Well, you know I moved in with Dad about ten months ago. And those crazy neighbors next to him—the Berkenshires?—they’ve got these pet rabbits in a bunch of cages. Drives Rufus nuts.” Tamel looked across the table at Christina. “Rufus is my dad’s hound dog.”

She managed a nod. Her throat felt so dry. She took a drink of tea.

“I don’t know who procreates more, the Berkenshires or the rabbits. The last five years every time I came home they had another kid. And the rabbit cages keep gettin’ bigger. Rufus knows he’s not supposed to go in that yard, but the pull is just too strong. He slinks down there at night and noses around the cages. Just imagine all those tasty treats sittin’ in front of you, and no way to get to ’em.”

Jess reached for another rib, trying to look uninterested.

“One night a couple weeks ago Burt Berkenshire—that’s the dad—comes up to my door with a shotgun. Says he sees my dog in his yard one more time, he’s gonna pull the trigger.”

Mrs. Dearing gasped. “He wouldn’t do that!”

Christina felt numb. What would happen when Ben demanded to know why she hadn’t told him her father was dead?

“Oh, yes, he would.” Tamel’s head went up and down. “So I started puttin’ Rufus in the garage at night. Crazy dog howls around and lets me know he’s mighty unhappy. I told him it’s all his fault ’cause he wouldn’t behave himself. Anyway, three nights ago he got out. I think Dad left the backdoor not totally latched. I didn’t know it till the next mornin’ when Rufus shows up on my porch with a dead, dirty rabbit in his mouth.”

Oh-nos
and laughter flew around the table. Christina forced a laugh, too—then wished she hadn’t. It sounded so fake.

Ben kept eating.

Lacey gripped Christina’s leg. “Did that man kill Rufus?”

“No, Little Lace, don’t you worry,” Tamel said.

“Did you hide his gun, Uncle Tamel?”

“Nope. I hid the dead rabbit. Sort of.”

“You must have buried it.” Mr. Dearing’s eyebrows raised.

Tamel dipped his chin. “Tell you the truth, I panicked when I saw that dead critter. Usually I’d do the honest thing and go over to my neighbor’s and admit what happened. But I couldn’t and have Rufus live to see another sunrise. Besides, it wasn’t totally my dog’s fault. He got outta the garage, sure, but who let that rabbit outta its cage? So I did the only thing I could think of. I cleaned up that dead-as-a-doornail rabbit and snuck over to the Berkenshire’s yard that night.” Tamel hunched his shoulders. “My heart liked to beat outta my ribs. If Burt woke up,
I’d
be the dead one instead of Rufus. But I managed to stuff that critter back in his cage without makin’ a sound. Then I hightailed it home.”

Mr. and Mrs. Dearing exchanged grins. Even Ben chuckled. Hope trickled through Christina.
Please, God, please …

Maddy tilted her head. “Tamel Curd, I never thought I’d live to see you so devious.”

He shrugged—
what else could I do?

Jake laughed. “Ol’ Burt musta thought that rabbit had a sudden heart attack.”

Tamel picked up his fork, then put it back down. “Actually, it wasn’t that simple.” He scratched his chin. “See, the next day I got up and went outside. Couldn’t help lookin’ over at their yard, wonderin’ when somebody would find the dead rabbit. They say a criminal returns to the scene of the crime. Guess so. I was just hopin’ it wasn’t one of the kids that found the rabbit. So what do I see but Burt Berkenshire standin’ in front of the deadie’s cage. And he stands there and stands there. The man just doesn’t move. I’m startin’ to get more and more antsy, thinkin’
what?
Did I leave my DNA all over the corpse or somethin’?”

The laughter grew louder. Christina glanced at Jess. She was leaning on her elbow away from Tamel, looking at him as if she didn’t believe a word he said.

“So finally I can’t stand it anymore. I call out, ‘Hey, Burt! Everything okay with your rabbits?’ He turns around and looks at me, all pale-faced. Like he’s seen a ghost. So I say, ‘What’s wrong?’ and start walkin’ over to him.” Tamel listed toward Jess. “You know, the criminal actin’ all innocent.”

She flicked a look at the ceiling.

“When I get up to Burt, all he can do is point toward the cage. And there lies the dead rabbit, just like I left him. Then Burt looks at me, all jittery, and says, ‘That ol’ hare died yesterday. I buried him way out in the field, where the kids wouldn’t find him. Now here he is again, all cleaned up.’” Tamel widened his eyes and raised both hands, fingers curved. “‘Back from the graaaaave!’”