“Angelina Ballerina?” I step up to where Noel is spooning batter into the hot pan.
“It’s a cartoon. A dancing mouse.” She passes me the bowl and takes a step back, putting her hand on her hip. “She calls you Taron?”
“I didn’t know what to tell her. Mr. sounds wrong, and I thought it was probably too soon for her to call me—”
“It’s too soon.” Noel’s voice is short, but she seems more protective than angry.
I watch the batter frying in the pan as I think about what I want to say. I think about last night and how standing next to her right now, making breakfast like we used to pricks a longing so deep, I’ve got to fight pulling her against my chest.
I want my family.
“I kept track of you while I was in Nashville.” I give her a smile. “Your business really took off.”
“So you’re a stalker?” Amber eyes cut up at me, and I shrug, flipping the four cakes quickly.
“Did you ever stalk me?”
“No.” She answers fast, then adds quietly. “I didn’t dare.”
Another slice of pain. I give the four cakes a beat longer before scooping them onto a plate. Setting the bowl aside, I face her straight on.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Noel.”
“You’ve said that before.”
“I don’t want to fight with you either. That’s not why I came back.”
She pours the scrambled egg mixture into the large skillet and as it starts to bubble, she looks up at me. “Why did you come back?”
For you… We’re interrupted by Sawyer and Leon entering the room. “Smells good in here.” Sawyer reaches out to clasp my hand before going to the table.
Leon doesn’t even look at me. He takes down five plates and goes to the table, putting one at each seat.
They’re both wearing blazers and khaki slacks. “What’s the occasion?” I step over to where Sawyer’s pouring coffee from a carafe.
“Church.” Noel steps past me putting the bowl of eggs and the plate of hoecakes on the table. “Dove, come eat breakfast.”
Church? Reading my face, Sawyer answers my silent question. “We’ve been going more regular since Dove came along.”
“Dove, breakfast.” Noel opens a drawer and pulls out forks and knives then glances up at me. “You don’t have to go.”
“No, I’m glad to go, I just…” I look down at the jeans and long-sleeved Henley I’m wearing. “I need to change clothes.”
Be the fountain and not the drain is out on the sign in front of the small, brick building. I have no idea what that means, but I guess I’ll find out.
Inside, I’m surprised to see so many faces I recognize. Noel takes Dove to another part of the building where she says she’s going to Sunday school. Sawyer steps over to talk to a man I’m pretty sure is Ed Daniels, and Leon leaves us to sit with a pretty girl I don’t know. I wonder whatever happened to Betsy.
“My goodness, is this Taron?” A wobbly voice draws my attention, and I look down to see a birdlike old woman with thin gray hair styled in a little bun at the nape of her neck.
She’s neatly dressed in a smock that has little flowers all over it. It’s been a long, long time, but I recognize her at once.
“Miss Jessica?” Taking her outstretched hand, I carefully hug her fragile body, and she laughs.
“You have a good memory.”
I remember everything about those days, even her smiling face appearing on my phone during one of my many calls. “I couldn’t forget you.”
“Still as charming as ever.” She pats my hand roughly, and I notice a woman with a name tag standing off to the side watching her. “How long have you been back?”
“I got here late Friday night.”
“I take it you’ve met your daughter?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“She’s a beauty. And sweet as her mamma.” She slides her hand into the crook of my arm and helps me escort her down the middle aisle to a row where she stops. “How long are you planning to stay?”
Glancing to where Noel is just returning to the small sanctuary, I lower my voice. “Hopefully, a long time.”
That lights her gray eyes. “I’m so glad. This is a good thing.”
She lowers herself slowly into the pew, and I glance up to catch a pair of dark eyes slicing into me. Mindy sits in the pew beside her mother, and from the look on the woman’s face, Mrs. Jenny does not think me being here is a good thing.
Chords sound out from the organ at the front of the room, and I quickly join Sawyer and Noel in a pew across the aisle. Sawyer is on the end with Noel between the two of us. A slim man wearing glasses stands in the pulpit at the front of the room and holds out his hands to welcome us.
Then the organist is joined by a piano playing “A Mighty Fortress is our God,” and I hold the maroon songbook for Noel and me. She seems surprised I know the tune, but I grew up in Nashville, not Nepal.
A few more hymns and we take a moment to shake hands. Mindy appears at Noel’s side, smiling up at me. Her green eyes are wide, and she’s tied her kinky-curly brown hair back in a ponytail.
“Taron Rhodes? What a surprise this is!” Her eyes go to her friend’s. “When did this happen?”
“Yesterday.” Noel hugs her and I can’t make out what she says in Mindy’s ear.
Mindy leans back, looking straight in her eyes. “You’d better.”
Her mother is behind her, giving Sawyer a hug then turning to Noel. “You feeling okay, honey?”
“I’m fine.” Noel’s voice is flustered, and the woman faces me.
“So you’re back.” It’s not a question, and she’s not smiling.
“Yes, ma’am.” I reach out to shake her hand. She does not shake mine, so I lower it, wiping it down my dark jeans. “I hope that’s not a problem.”
“I do too.”
The pastor takes his place at the podium, and we all take our seats. He starts talking about ways we can be fountains, refreshing, life giving, rather than draining away the happiness from others around us.
I look around the room as he continues speaking, remembering what Noel told me about the people here stepping in to take care of them after her parents died. Mrs. Jenny’s stern eyes meet mine, and I guess I deserve her disapproval. I guess to her I’m a massive drain.
Not anymore.
The pastor says for us to bow our heads and as I’m turning, I catch a frown I had not expected. Digger Hayes is glaring at me from the front of the room.
Bastard.
The final Amen is said, and the organ bursts into the Doxology. Noel stands beside me, and Sawyer says he’ll get Dove. I touch her arm lightly, but she moves it out of my grasp.
“You never said why you came back.” Even pissed at me, she’s still so beautiful.
She’s wearing a chunky burnt-orange sweater that makes her amber eyes glow and black pants that hug her curves down to the black ankle boots on her feet.
Her dark hair hangs over one shoulder in smooth waves to her breast. I remember her in her bedroom last night in only that thin shirt and sweats, her hair damp from the shower. She’s still so fucking beautiful… and so defensive.