Heart racing as it did whenever she expected his appearance, she sank back onto her heels. She had to get over this. Eight years was way too long to carry a torch for someone who’d shown no indication he had any interest in her other than friendship.
Her earpiece beeped again. She took a deep breath to try to settle her emotions then stood to retrieve the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me.” Her older brother’s voice filled her ear.
“Hey, Forbes.”
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“Nope—I’ve been at the new house for a while. You and the boys having fun at the lake?” Her brothers always spent New Year’s Eve at their family’s lake house on Larto Lake.
“Yep, though it’s been really wet and cold. But the fish are biting, which makes it all worthwhile. We’ll be headed back to town around noon, and then we’ll go over to watch football with Dad.”
Watching football with her father and four brothers was something that Meredith usually dropped everything to do. “Aw, that sounds like fun.”
“But not as fun as whatever construction project you’re doing today?” The tone of amusement in Forbes’s voice came across as almost patronizing. Along with their parents, Forbes had been very vocal in his disapproval of Meredith’s purchase of the house.
“Exactly. I’ll miss y’all, but this is where I want to be.” So please don’t make a fuss and try to convince me to come over.
“Okay. Well, if you decide to knock off early, there might be an inch of sofa for you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You are planning on coming over for family dinner tonight, right?” Forbes asked.
“Of course. Why?”
“I just wanted to make sure. Um ... there might be a non–family member there tonight as well.”
“Is Marci’s boyfriend coming?”
Her brother paused a little longer than necessary.
“Oh, Forbes!” She groaned. “Please tell me he isn’t going to propose to her in front of the whole family.”
“He’ll be okay.”
“It’s not him I’m worried about. Marci came to me a couple of weeks ago, worried about whether or not he’s the right one for her. If he does this in front of all of us, she’s going to feel obligated to say yes, just so she doesn’t disappoint us or hurt him.”
“You’re not giving her enough credit, Mere. Or him. I’ve talked to Shaun at length. He really does love Marci and will provide her with a good life.”
“You’ve talked ... Did you talk him into doing it this way?”
“No.” A little sharpness crept into Forbes’s voice. “Look. I realize you still haven’t forgiven me for what you think was my interference with Anne and George’s relationship—”
“Forbes, you told George to lie to her—not once, but twice. She was so angry with him she almost let him walk away forever.”
“Whatever happened last summer is between them and me.” Forbes’s voice strained with forced softness. “Besides, I don’t really think you’re upset with me.”
Meredith’s annoyance started turning to anger. “Are you a psychologist now? Is that something they taught you in law school?”
“Whoa there, girl! I’m not trying to psychoanalyze you. I just wonder if the idea of a sister who’s ten years younger than you getting married first is the main issue.”
“You don’t seem to have a problem with it. She’s only twenty-four!” Meredith slammed the scraper on the floor and paced the living room. “She isn’t finished with her bachelor’s degree yet. How can she be thinking about getting married when she can’t even commit to a major?”
“Uh-huh.”
Frustration, disappointed hopes, self-recrimination for her still-single status wrapped around her chest in tight bands, cutting off her air. Her head spun for a moment. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she could no longer deny the fact that there was something wrong with her. Why else would she still be single at thirty-four?
She took a deep breath and tried to gather up the shattered pieces of her emotions, then let out a bitter laugh. “I guess I should thank you for the forewarning. Now I won’t have a meltdown like this tonight.”
“You’re welcome.” Forbes spoke with a gentle laugh.
“I’ll get home in time to make sure Jenn is ready to go at six.”
“Great. I’m going to let you go then.”
“I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“I’m sorry I deliberately provoked you.”
In spite of the remaining tightness in her chest, Meredith smiled. “Yeah, well, I guess I can forgive you. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Sis.”
When the call ended, she tossed the earpiece back onto the mantel, wishing she hadn’t answered—but also grateful she knew what was coming. She grabbed her coat and trudged out to the back porch, where she sank onto the wet top step, the rain having momentarily paused. The old cypress boards sagged, just like her spirits.
“Lord, what’s wrong with me?” She glared up at the dark clouds. “Why is it that a twenty-four-year-old without a clue can find a man who’ll love her, and I haven’t been able to get a guy to take me out on a date even once in my life? Why is it that the two men I’ve fallen in love with haven’t even noticed?”
Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rested her forehead on her knees. “It’s not fair. I’ve been asking You ever since I turned fifteen for a boyfriend—for a husband ever since I turned twenty. What have I done so wrong that You’ve kept that from me?”
A large raindrop plastered hair to the top of her head. The cold water running down her neck made her feel even worse, adding insult to injury. She scooted back up the porch to lean against the house wall and pulled her coat closer. Driving rain sliced the air, eliminating her view of the tree-lined fence at the back of her half-acre lot. The squeaky moan of the floorboards did nothing to help her mood—one more thing that needed to be fixed.
She was just like this house. The part the world saw was complete, pulled together, polished; but inside, everything was a mess. The difference was that she could fix the house.
Lightning streaked, followed by booming thunder, the sky nearly black, water forming in vast pools in low-lying places in the yard. The porch boards moaned—no, that wasn’t possible. She wasn’t moving. Something else was making the noise.
The pounding rain nearly deafened her. She leaned over and pressed her ear to the crack between two floorboards.
Was that something whimpering? She crawled to the edge of the porch and leaned over, her head and shoulders instantly soaked. The trellis that enclosed the area under the porch broke away easily.
With one hand trying to keep her hair out of her eyes, the other sinking into the mud to keep her balance, Meredith hung half off the porch, trying to see under it.
No good—too dark.
She pushed herself up, and not caring about the rivulets of water—and mud—she tracked in, she ran into the dining room. From the bottom drawer of her tool chest, she grabbed the giant flashlight.
Back outside, she once again leaned over the edge of the decking. She flicked on the high-powered beam and swept it slowly from one side to the other—
There. Light reflected in two small eyes. Too big to be a rat, not close enough together to be a possum—or were they? No, the rounded shape of the shivering body was wrong.
Though the edge of the porch dug into her diaphragm, Meredith whistled. “Come ’ere,” she called in a high-pitched voice.
The shape moved—Meredith nearly lost her balance in surprise.
“Come on. That’s it. I’m not going to hurt you.” She ignored the water running up her face, filling her nose, and stinging her eyes but kept offering encouragement until she could finally see the puppy clearly.
A few long moments brought it close enough for her to make a grab for it—Meredith landed shoulders-first flat out on her back in the grass, face fully exposed to the drowning rain. And now she had a cold nose whuffling in her ear.