~Chapter 17~
Gathering Leaves
(originally posted April 25, 2008)
Trixie’s blue eyes flashed as she stood in the middle of the Belden kitchen bright and early Thanksgiving morning, with her hands on her hips. “So, Brian’s not going to be here until more than half the guests have come and gone and Mart won’t be here until tomorrow night? How could they possibly have left me to do all this work all by myself!”
“What am I, chopped liver?” Bobby retorted, as he prepared to take an armful of his mother’s best china carefully to the little-used dining room table, which would serve as the buffet during the open house.
Trixie waved a hand at him in disgust. “You’re just hard manual labor, same as Dan. I mean, who’s going to help me with all this food? I can barely make dinner for Dan and me; how am I supposed to make a gazillion dishes for a gazillion people?”
“Trix, haven’t your parents been having this open house for the last decade? You’d think you’d be used to it by now,” Dan chided gently as he carried in a box of the family silver that Mr. Belden had handed him down from the attic.
“Yes, but all the Beldens helped...all of them! And now we’re half a platoon short!”
“Your math skills continue to astound me, sis,” snorted Bobby. “We’re only one-third a platoon short.” He beat a hasty retreat into the dining room when Trixie shot an evil glare at him.
“You were short when Mart was in Africa, and weren’t he and Brian both missing one of those years?” Dan asked evenly.
Trixie scowled at him. “Why do you always insist on being calm and reasonable when I’m trying to have a nervous breakdown?”
Dan stopped on his way to the dining room to kiss her. Darting a quick glance around the kitchen, he whispered in her ear, “That’s why we got married. We compliment each other well.” He winked at her and spoke in a normal tone of voice as Bobby came back in for his second load. “I’m sure when I’m in desperate need of a good old-fashioned panic attack, you’ll be there to help me out.” Trixie made a face at him as he disappeared into the dining room.
“Brian’s a doctor now, Trixie, or almost anyway,” her father reminded her as he came into the kitchen with the last of the silverware. “You’d better get used to him missing a lot of holidays. And Sally’s family is bigger than ours even – she and Mart are going to have to learn how to juggle family gatherings at the holidays.”
“Besides, Trix,” Bobby snickered, returning to the kitchen, “It’s not like anybody would trust you to do all the cooking by yourself anyway. Moms will be back from the train station with Hallie soon. Honey just called a few minutes ago and said she was on her way – she’s a Belden now too, so she can’t get out of this – and Dad’s already taking care of the turkey, so just chill.”
But Trixie wasn’t listening to him anymore. Through the window above the kitchen sink, she had spotted her sister-in-law hurrying down the hill from the Manor House and rushed out the door to meet her. They hadn’t seen each other since Honey's early August birthday – never mind that they phoned or emailed each other practically every day – and Honey was anxious to hear all about her best friend’s experiences in Georgia first-hand. Even though Brian wouldn’t be in Sleepyside until later that afternoon when he finished his shift at the hospital, Honey had opted to take the train home the night before to spend some extra time with her family.
As they came through the door, Trixie grabbed Honey’s hand and started up the stairs. “We’ll be back in a few minutes,” she called over her shoulder to the men.
“Are you kidding me?” Bobby mumbled. “Not thirty seconds ago she was complaining about everybody deserting her and now she not only takes off, but she takes the best cook we’ve got with her!”
“I heard that young man,” Peter Belden admonished with a twinkle in his dark eyes. “You’d break your mother’s heart if she heard you say that.”
“I meant the best cook we’ve got here in the house right at this minute,” Bobby clarified. “If we don’t get at least a few dishes started, Moms will be fit to be tied when she gets back from the train station – and I’m the only one she can still ground!”
His father chuckled. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that, son. You mother still grounds me from time to time.”
Upstairs, Trixie dragged Honey into her old bedroom and shut the door.
“Okay, now tell me everything your emails didn’t,” Honey begged, her hazel eyes bright with curiosity over Trixie’s latest adventure. “And please finish all those stories you started but never finished because your cell phone died...again.” She winked at her best friend.
“Hang that,” Trixie said impatiently. “I want to hear all about this new girl Jim’s dating!”
“Why?” Honey asked suspiciously.
“What do you mean why? Because he’s my friend, he’s a Bob-White, he’s your brother, I want him to be happy, I know you do too, I hate not knowing what’s going on -”
“Okay, okay,” Honey laughed as Trixie paused for breath. “I get your point. What do you want to know? I barely know her myself. You might be better off asking Mart and Sally tomorrow.”
“Well, I already did ask Mart, and Hallie too. But all I’ve found out so far is that her name is Renee Wallace and she’s a nurse. She works at a hospital about thirty minutes outside of Indian Lake – I can’t remember the name of it. She’s an only child and her dad owns Wally’s Diner – we had takeout from his place Labor Day weekend. According to Mart, Wally’s makes the most fabulous everything he’s ever had – except for Wimpy’s burgers and Mr. Maypenny’s stew, and Mrs. V’s windmill cookies, and Moms’...well, everything. She’s tall with long, light-brown hair and brown eyes – Renee, that is, not Moms – and she’s kind of quiet, but really, compared to the Belden tribe, who isn’t? She used to live in Rochester, but moved back to Indian Lake sometime in...what’s so funny?”
Honey had fallen back onto the bedspread, holding her sides in silent laughter. “It’s just...” she gasped, “...it’s just that you sound like already know quite a lot about her. Did you use her as a test subject in some class on investigative background checks?”
Trixie’s cheeks turned pink and then she started laughing too. “Well, I don’t have her college transcripts yet,” she admitted.
“Well, you can ask her about her academics yourself,” Honey said. “She and Jim will be down with Mother and Daddy and Renee’s father later this afternoon.”
Trixie’s blue eyes grew wide. “Jim brought her home for Thanksgiving? And her dad too? It must be serious!” She ran to the window as she heard a car approaching. It wasn’t the Wheelers, but the Belden station wagon pulling in with her mother and Hallie in the front seat. “Gleeps! Moms is back with Hallie! We’d better beat it back down to the kitchen.”
She grabbed her friend’s hand and just as quickly as she had dragged her upstairs, pulled her back down to the kitchen and tossed her a bag of celery just as Mrs. Belden and Hallie came in through the back door. “Hi, Moms! Hi, Hallie!” she greeted, trying to sound casual as she picked up a knife and looked down with intense concentration at the chopping block in front of her on the kitchen counter.
Helen Belden merely smiled and replied, “Give it up, dear.” When Trixie looked up at her with innocent eyes she continued, “Honey’s cheeks are pink, you’re panting like you just finished the New York City Marathon, and most importantly, you are not crying like you just chopped several onions.”
Trixie stared down guiltily at the neatly diced onions on her cutting board, then back up at her mother in amazement.
“Yes, it’s true. You’re not the only Belden who can solve mysteries. And I further deduce from his red eyes, that Dan is the one who chopped those onions in your absence.”
Dan was standing by the kitchen sink, wiping his eyes with a damp paper towel. “Actually,” he sniffled, “Bobby said something mean to me and it hurt my feelings.”
“Yeah,” Bobby agreed, coming in from the dining room. “I called him a crybaby wuss who was getting whipped by my teeny little sister.” Dan growled and hurtled across the room to tackle him, as Bobby managed to squawk out a “Hi, Hal!” before being wrestled back into the family room.
Helen gave her niece a weary look. “Would you like me to take you back to the train station now?”
Hallie smiled softly. “No way. This will keep me from getting homesick. Beldens are Beldens, no matter where they live. I’ll just go put my suitcase in the guestroom.” She disappeared quietly down the hall as the ruckus continued in the family room.
Trixie looked at Honey and tilted her head in Hallie’s direction. Honey looked back at her friend wide-eyed. “Me?” she mouthed silently. “Yes, you!” Trixie mouthed back. Honey gave her best friend a look that clearly said, “You owe me!” and followed Hallie down to the guestroom.
Honey, of course, knew about Hallie’s short marriage and recent divorce. Trixie had been unable to pry any more information out of Hallie while she was caught up in the demanding program in Georgia, and Honey correctly surmised that the future federal agent was counting on her sister-in-law’s well-known tactfulness and sympathy to crack this particular case.
As she approached the guestroom door, Hallie turned and smiled at her. “I can’t believe how tall Bobby is! He’s only fourteen, isn’t he?”
Honey nodded. “Almost fifteen. And if he continues to sprout up, he’ll be the tallest Belden in the family before long. He’s already the star of the Junior-Senior High basketball team. Hey! You’re my cousin now,” she said with joyful realization and walked over to give Hallie a warm hug.
“I’m glad,” Hallie said. “We need more women in the Belden family. And I’m sorry I wasn’t here for your wedding last year.”
“That’s all right. France is a pretty long way to come for a somewhat last-minute wedding. And you were on your honeymoon too, weren’t you?” She watched her carefully for her reaction, but Hallie had her back to her cousin, digging in her suitcase. She didn’t answer Honey’s question and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence.
“Do you want me to help you unpack?” Honey offered.
“No, I don’t think I’ll be here long enough for that. I’m just going to hang up my dress for later this afternoon and let the wrinkles fall out of it.”
“We can steam it in the bathroom if it’s really bad,” Honey suggested. She was making small talk – drivel really – trying to figure out how to approach the touchy subject.
“No, I don’t think it’s...that...bad...” She looked pointedly at Honey’s obviously nervous expression. “All right, Wheeler – I mean, Belden – out with it! Trixie sent you in here to interrogate me, didn’t she?”
Honey flushed. “She’s worried about you.” When Hallie simply continued to stare at her, she added, “And curious.”
Hallie folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the dresser. “I’m fine and I don’t want to talk about it. For crying out loud, people get divorced in this country as often as they get married. Why is my divorce such a cause for concern?”
Honey shrugged helplessly. “Because Beldens don’t get divorced. Because you got divorced less than a year after you got married. Because you don’t want to discuss it.”
Hallie’s face softened. She knew her family meant well. But she just didn’t want to talk about it. Not yet. Maybe not ever. “If it was something simple, I’d tell you. But he didn’t hit me and he didn’t cheat on me and we didn’t get married one drunken night in Monte Carlo. It’s complicated. I’ll be okay, Honey. I promise.”
Honey smiled gently at her. “I believe you, but I can’t guarantee that’s going to satisfy Trixie.”
Hallie snorted gracelessly. “The only thing that will satisfy Special Agent Belden is if I give her a minute-by-minute recap of the marriage from start to finish in the form of a signed and notarized affidavit.”
Honey giggled. “She’s going to be insufferable in this new career of hers, isn’t she?”
“Probably,” Hallie agreed with a smile. “But with any luck, there are some sort of federal laws about not roping friends and relatives in to help you solve mysteries.”
As if on cue, Trixie began hollering for Hallie and Honey to come help her in the kitchen, and the two women laughed cheerily as they put their arms around each other and went to assist her.
Despite Trixie’s anxieties, the traditional Belden Thanksgiving Day Open House went off without a hitch, as it always did. It was a ton of work for the Belden clan, but seeing all their friends from Sleepyside happy and well fed and having fun made it more than worth it, especially for the Bob-Whites, who didn’t get a chance to visit with them often.
Brian arrived mid-afternoon and Trixie promptly gave him a huge hug and a plate piled high with food, telling him to eat up and enjoy because there were dishes to be washed and just because he was a big, important doctor-to-be didn’t mean he was getting out of all the work.
Luckily, the Wheelers arrived at the party at about the same time and Trixie was momentarily distracted by her fascination with Jim’s new girlfriend, leaving Brian to disappear into the den with his best friend to catch-up. Honey and Hallie took over dish duty while Trixie escorted the Wallaces to the buffet and peppered them with questions in a manner she hoped was conversational rather than interrogational.
After a few minutes, Hallie peeked into the dining room. Seeing that Renee looked a little shell-shocked, she quickly dried her hands on a dishtowel, asked Bobby to take over for her, and went to join the Wallaces and Trixie. “Hi, Renee!” she greeted brightly and smiled understandingly when she saw the look of gratitude Renee gave her. “You’re not torturing the open house newbies are you, Trix?” she asked her cousin and winked at Renee and Wally as Trixie turned red.
“I’m sorry,” Trixie apologized to the Wallaces. “It’s just that – well, you’re practically family now. You know Jim and Mart and Hallie, and they all like you – oh, and Jim and Honey’s parents, and Honey too – and I just want to get to know you myself.”
Dan snuck up behind her and pulled her into his arms. “Did she happen to mention that she’s in training to be a federal investigator? Or that she’s been nosing into people’s lives since she was a teenager? Or that she just can’t help herself?” He nuzzled his lips against the back of her left ear and whispered, “And that’s why I love her.”
In a clearer voice, he added, “I’m Trixie’s fiancé, Dan Mangan. And even though I’m a police officer, I promise that I won’t add my interrogation tactics to this mix.” He extended a hand in greeting and grunted as Trixie elbowed him in the ribs.
Wally grinned broadly. “Why, you’re Mart’s best friend, aren’t you? Every time Mart orders my spare ribs, he swears he has to get you up to Indian Lake to try them.”
Dan closed his eyes and uttered an appreciative murmur. “We were up there Labor Day weekend and I had them. Mr. Wallace, they are truly outstanding! I promise I will be back. Hands down, the best ribs I’ve ever had. But don’t tell Brian I said that,” he finished and winked at Trixie.
“Dad does something to that barbeque sauce that is to die for,” Renee agreed. “And I can’t believe he won’t even share his secret with his own daughter.” She gave him a disparaging look as she took a bite of her broccoli casserole.
“That’s what deathbeds are for, Peanut,” Wally joked, then laughed as his daughter reddened at the childhood nickname he used.
“Trixie!” Honey’s melodious and gracious voice came drifting in from the kitchen. “Can you please come help me with these dishes?”
“Where’s Brian?” Trixie shouted back testily.
“He just got here, Trixie. Let him have something to eat before you start slave-driving him.”
Growling under her breath at the way everybody was ganging up on her, Trixie composed her face into a gentle smile and with a voice eerily reminiscent of Martha Stewart, turned to the Wallaces and said calmly, “Please excuse me. I need to go help my sister-in-law. I hope we can talk again later. Please make yourselves at home and let me know if there’s anything else I can get for you.”
Dan choked on an olive and Hallie raised her eyebrows as Trixie walked off with measured steps to the kitchen.
“She’s a handful, isn’t she?” asked Wally, with a twinkle in his eyes.
“You have no idea,” mumbled Dan. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go check out the dessert table before Bobby gets freed from dish duty.”
“Do they need help?” Renee asked.
“Probably,” Hallie answered, “But not from either of you. You’re guests this weekend and you’re on vacation. Aunt Helen would have my head if I let you wash so much as a butter knife.”
She excused herself as Peter and Helen came up to the Wallaces to chat and went back to the kitchen to relieve Bobby, who made a mad dash for the dessert table. Hallie picked up a towel and started to help Trixie dry the dishes that Honey placed on the counter after rinsing them.
Trixie made a face at her. “Now, why did you interrupt me? We were having a nice chat.”
“Sure you were,” Hallie teased. “Trix, not everybody responds well to your guerrilla tactics. Renee and her father are small town.”
“I’m small town!” Trixie shot back.
“Yeah, small town, big mouth,” Bobby mumbled as he returned to the kitchen with a large wedge of pumpkin pie topped with a generous glob of whipped cream. Dan was close behind him with a brownie in each hand.
“At least I don’t talk with my big mouth full of food,” she retorted. “You’re as bad as Mart sometimes, I swear!”
“Trix, you are kind of...intimidating sometimes,” Honey said gently. “You scared the life out of me when I first met you.”
Trixie looked chagrined. “But now we’re best friends.”
“And sisters-in-law,” Honey said with a smile.
“Speaking of which, I think Brian has had plenty of time to eat his dinner, don’t you? And Jim too, for that matter.”
“Jim doesn’t have to help, Trixie,” Honey said firmly. “You only need to help if your last name is Belden.”
Trixie darted a sly glance at Dan, who grinned broadly at her. Spill the beans and you’ll be out of dish duties, Mrs. Mangan. But she just stuck her tongue out at him, so he remarked aloud, “Guess that means I’m off the hook forever!”
He hopped up on one of the kitchen barstools and leaned back against the wall, prepared to polish off his first brownie and start on the second, when Trixie’s next words stopped him in his tracks, mouth open and brownie halfway there.
“Well, I think the tradition of the wife taking her husband’s name is very archaic and patriarchal for today’s contemporary cultural standards.”
Bobby choked on his pie. “I thought Mart wasn’t going to be here until tomorrow night!” he yelped.
Trixie smiled naughtily at Dan. “Maybe I’ll make you take my name...hmm...Dan Belden. I like it.”
All three women burst into laughter and that was how Jim and Brian found them moments later.
“Three Belden women hysterical and two men so shell-shocked they can’t even finish their dessert? Something dire is happening here, Dr. Belden,” Jim said with one eyebrow cocked upward.
“Ah-ha! Another Belden!” Trixie shouted, tossing her older brother a dishtowel. “Put him to work!”
Honey giggled. “Good thing I didn’t make him take my last name.”
Brian tossed the towel onto the table next to Bobby. “You’re a Belden. Why aren’t you helping?”
”Because I’m the baby,” Bobby whined, batting childlike blue eyes up at his big brother while he licked his fork clean of the last crumbs of his pie.
Growling, Brian put him in a headlock and pulled him from his chair. “If you're taller than me, your days of pulling the baby card are over, Robert.”
They stood back to back and Jim dutifully measured them with his hand, but Bobby was still a couple of inches shorter than his oldest brother. “Yes, yes, yes!” he crowed, and went off to get himself another piece of pie to celebrate.
“Looks like it’s you after all, Bri,” Trixie chortled. “Here, catch!” And she tossed him a dripping plate.
Brian frantically juggled the slippery china before finally getting a grip on it. “Good grief, Trix! If I had dropped that, Moms would have had your head!”
“Actually, she would have had your head if you had dropped it,” Trixie pointed out. “Besides, I knew you’d catch it. Honey told me you have great hands.”
Honey’s face turned bright pink and with her eyes wide in horror, she smacked the wet dishcloth on Trixie’s arm as Dan and Jim and Hallie laughed uproariously and Brian rolled his eyes skyward.
Renee stopped on her way in from the family room and watched the scene with a smile, especially enjoying watching Jim’s face screwed up in joyful agony as he held his sides and laughed his deep, husky laugh. As he slowly regained his breath and straightened up, he saw her there and smiled brightly, his green eyes sparkling as he came to greet her with a light kiss.
“Are you sure you want to come in here?” he laughed. “It might prove to be quite a shock for an only child.”
“Hey, I’m an only child,” Dan reminded him.
“Yeah, and you’ve never recovered since you met all of us.”
“That’s for sure,” Dan agreed heartily, winking at Renee.
“I came to see if I could help,” Renee offered.
“Oh, no! According to Mrs. Belden here,” Trixie exclaimed, bumping her hip up against her sister-in-law’s, “your last name has to match hers in order to be subjected to this torture. Which is why my fiancé is sitting over there on his duff doing nothing.”
“I’m not doing nothing,” Dan insisted. “I’m watching your duff.”
As Trixie shook her duff at him, Hallie motioned Renee to a chair. “Sit down and relax, Renee. Being around this bunch of nuts is enough to send any sane person to the loony bin.”
Jim was the only one who noticed Renee’s subtle change in expression as she moved towards the kitchen table. She looked...scared. Before she could sit down, he said, “Actually, why don’t you and I take a walk? Since we’re not Beldens, we are apparently exempt from the chores and you haven’t seen the orchard here yet.”
As he started down the hall towards the guestroom to retrieve their coats, Honey called out, “You’ll be back, right?”
“Of course I will, Madeleine. Do you think I’d miss the chance to kick some Belden butt in Thanksgiving Day Trivial Pursuit with the king of trivial knowledge busy stuffing his face in Indian Lake?”
“You forget, I’m on the Belden team this year, so I wouldn’t start polishing that trophy just yet, James.”
Jim snorted. “And you forget I’ve got the Wallaces on my team this year. So I’ve got medical, culinary, and the arts cornered. With Mangan at the sports desk and yours truly manning all things educational and natural, we’re gonna cream you!”
“The arts?” Dan asked Renee with interest as Jim disappeared down the hall.
Renee smiled. “I’m an old movie buff and my dad loves music of every kind from Bach to the Beatles to the Backstreet Boys.”
Hallie let out a short laugh. “I just can’t imagine your dad at a Backstreet Boys concert!”
“Strange, but true,” Jim said, holding out Renee’s coat for her to slip into. “The man knows all there is to know about music. Like I said, you Beldens are toast this year.”
“Brian, darling, I want a divorce,” Honey said and Brian snapped the dishtowel at her behind.
Trixie went over to put her arms around Dan and snitch the last bite of his brownie. “And I want to be on your team,” she purred.
Snuggling close to her ear, Dan whispered, “Just say the magic words and you’re on my team, babe.”
Trixie giggled. “Nope, you first,” she whispered back.
“275 more days,” he murmured.
“So, what do you think?”
“I think it’s just as beautiful as Indian Lake, even without the mountains.”
“The Catskills aren’t far off,” Jim reminded her. “But I wasn’t talking about the scenery.”
Renee and Jim were walking through the crabapple orchard, her arm tucked in his and her head resting on his shoulder from time to time. Jim was glad she had made the trip to Sleepyside with him. He was, at last, happy and relaxed. Renee seemed to enjoy meeting his parents and sister; and it was always a pleasure visiting his extended family too, for that’s what the Beldens were, family. Not just because Honey had married Brian and not just because they were neighbors. They truly were as close as a family.
Renee had only her father. Her mother had died when she was very young and Jim had never heard her speak of any of her relations on that side.
Noting that she hadn’t replied to his comment, Jim stopped and turned to face her, smiling curiously. “Renee? Where were you just now?”
She shook her head and smiled back. “Nowhere. Just daydreaming, I guess. What were you saying?”
“I didn’t say anything,” he said with a chuckle. Watching her face carefully, he took her hands in his and said, “I know the Beldens can be a little overwhelming sometimes. Are you okay with all this insanity?”
Again, he saw the subtle, almost nonexistent change in her expression. He would have put it off to his own paranoia, or fatigue from the long day, or the brisk wind that whirled around them, but her hands tightened around his and he knew that wasn’t his imagination.
“Renee?”
She smiled up at him. “I’m enjoying it very much. Thank you so much for inviting me…and Dad too.”
She pulled free from his grasp and walked off a few steps. Her brown suede jacket and her coppery hair made her blend in with the brown leaves that crackled underneath her feet and the nearly bare tree branches just over her head. She appeared to be studying the weathered crabapple trees, but Jim knew she was avoiding his questions.
How could he pressure her about what was wrong when he almost always clammed up himself when asked about his problems?
He moved quickly to catch up with her as she meandered through the orchard, trying to think of something to talk about that wouldn’t upset her. Of course, he wasn’t sure what was upsetting her, which made choosing a topic difficult.
“So, you and your dad want to leave sometime Saturday morning?”
“Yeah, Dad wants to be back in time for the dinner crowd at the diner. I think he feels guilty for leaving it to Harold this weekend.”
“Is Thanksgiving weekend busy?” Jim asked curiously.
“By Saturday, yes,” she grinned. “Everybody’s sick of turkey by then, and sick of cooking too.”
Jim laughed. “Okay, then. How about a ride through the preserve Saturday morning before we hit the road? Then we can stop somewhere on the way and get lunch and be back in Indian Lake by mid-afternoon.”
“That sounds good. What are the plans for tomorrow?”
“It’s up to you. I have a meeting with Dad in the morning, but I’m free after that. We can just relax at the house if you want, or we can go into town and I can show you around Sleepyside, or –”
“Wouldn’t you rather spend time with your friends?”
“Sure, we can do that if you want. I just... ” He trailed off, still uncertain how she felt about his friends.
She squeezed his arm and smiled at him. “Jim, I love them. Really.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
She looked chagrined. “Is it that obvious?”
“No, I think you’re covering very well,” Jim replied. “Maybe it’s just that I’m getting to know your little mannerisms.”
She lowered her eyes, her hands carelessly worrying the buttons on his jacket pockets.
When she remained silent, Jim gently prodded, “Two can fight demons better than one can.”
Eyes shining, she impulsively leaned in and kissed him, then murmured, “Throwing my own words back at me, are you?”
“You scratch my back, I scratch yours. That’s how it works Miss Wallace.” He took her into his arms and scratched her back to emphasize his point.
They shared another kiss, this one longer and more searching. When they broke apart, the cold air turning their warm breaths to fog between them, Jim asked, “Does this have anything to do with last month, when you came to see me late that night?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “Yes, I guess.”
She bit her lip and Jim could see the pain in her dark eyes. He had the distinct feeling that she was trying very hard not to share her problems with him, and he wondered why. Why wouldn’t she trust him? What was so bad that she couldn’t trust him? Maybe if he opened up to her a little, she would –
“It’s really not that big of a deal,” Renee said airily, trying to brush it off. “I’m just worrying.”
Jim grinned wryly at her. “I think I can understand that particular emotion.”
She shook her head, tossing her hair back from her face as if tossing off her problems. “Just forget about it. I don’t want to bring you into my silly family problems needlessly.”
Jim watched her carefully, his instincts telling him it was not as minor a problem as she was trying to make it seem. If it was, then why wouldn’t she just tell him about it?
“If it’s bothering you, then it isn’t needless,” he stated firmly, hesitating before adding, “But I’m not going to press you about it. Just don’t let it eat you up inside. Trust me, I know.”
“I won’t.”
The words were both unconvincing and shockingly familiar to Jim. He'd said that same thing many times to his family and friends, with no intention of letting them into his pain. Should he ask Wally about it? Should he press her to open up? He’d already run her off once because of his own inner turmoil. Maybe he could be patient awhile longer, offering her silent support and showing her in any way he could that he was there for her, that she could trust him.
“It means a lot to me that you’re here,” Renee continued, smiling to try and reassure him.
“It means a lot to me that you’re here,” he replied teasingly.
The words “I love you” seemed to hover tauntingly over their heads, just out of reach. They were both held back by their pasts and held firmly in place by the comfort of what they had at the present, unwilling to break that spell and venture into territory that could upset what they had so courageously reached out for, what they both so much longed for.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
CHAPTER 17 (5,343 words)
Trivial Pursuit is a trademarked name and I’m making no profit from it. I do love it though!
I know Trixie was only teasing about Dan taking her last name, but I did have a friend who did that. She didn’t like her husband’s last name, but instead of just keeping her own and letting him keep his, she insisted he take her last name. He was whipped, she was weird.
I make no excuses for Wally Wallace’s musical tastes…I just liked the alliteration.