“I suppose you’re right. You walking or driving?” Garvey stuffed his keys back in his pocket. He was walking.
“I’ll drive. That’s on my way home, anyway. Want a ride?”
Garvey shrugged his shoulders but got in on her passenger side. “Don’t see the point of wasting gas to go fifty feet down the street, but since you’re offering, why not?”
Everly laughed. Garvey wasn’t huge, but he was portly. She imagined he rarely turned down rides to go fifty feet based on his girth.
Chapter Five
“Last call in thirty minutes,” the bartender said.
Everly checked her watch. It was only 10:30 p.m. She hadn't considered the bar would close early, but it was a Monday night.
“That’s all right, Jim. Give us two beers,” Garvey said.
“Tap or bottle?”
Garvey looked at Everly and waited.
“Tap’s fine,” she said, surprising him. She totally seemed like the bottle type.
Jim dropped two mugs off at their table with a basket of pretzel mix and busied himself behind the bar. Everly sipped her beer.
“So, the whole story?”
Garvey downed half of his mug and belched. “Sorry. I’m just a little nervous. I’ve never told anyone by myself before. No names, okay?”
Everly shrugged her shoulders. “I guess, I mean as long as it isn’t confusing.”
“Well, you already know the players, so it shouldn’t be too hard.” He took another long drink from his mug and raised it to Jim, who refilled it and returned it.
“So, about sixty-some years ago, Rickdale was a smaller town. I mean, it literally had no stoplights. The nearest post office was about ten miles away, and the doctors worked out of their houses because the closest hospital was in the city. This meant a lot of home births that didn’t always go exactly right,” he started.
Everly nodded, not sure what that had to do with Mae White’s story.
Garvey noticed her suspicion. “Just setting the scene, like any good storyteller.”
“Oh, got it. Please, continue.” She took another sip from her mug.
“So, anyway. Far away from the town, closer to the bridge, and along Ricker’s Creek, a couple lived in an old house with their two boys. Word was the woman was a real looker. Long, wavy hair, silvery-hazel eyes, just downright gorgeous. She turned the heads of the men, married and single, whenever she came into town. Her husband didn’t like it...”
Harlan’s fist curled up beside his thigh. “You’re my wife, and you need to stop flirting with every dick that walks by.” He punctuated his words by slapping her across the face, leaving a red mark on her cheek.
Tears welled in her eyes, and she cowered. A small toddler hurried to her side, but she pushed him back. Her three-year-old grabbed Harlan’s arm and tried to keep him from hitting his mother again. Harlan slapped the child on the back and sent him scrawling across the floor.
“Don’t hurt the babies!” Mae cried, her tears flowing openly as she moved as far away from the boys as she could. Harlan could beat her as often as he wanted to as long as he left the boys alone. “Please, Harlan. Don’t hurt the babies. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
Mae never actually did anything wrong. She rarely even looked at anyone in town, male or female, but if Harlan said she flirted, she must have done something that gave someone the wrong message. That was her sin, and he would punish her for it.
Harlan’s fist curled again, and he punched her in the stomach, forcing her against the wall.
“I’m sorry!” she screamed, but her apology fell on deaf ears.
“No more apologies. You’ll never change!” Harlan screamed as he grabbed a handful of her hair and slammed her head against the wall. The older boy tried to grab Harlan’s arm again, but Harlan swung his fist backwards and knocked the boy out. The toddler, upon seeing his brother sprawled across the floor, started wailing. Harlan picked up the screaming baby and shook him hard.
“Shut up, you stupid boy. Shut up, or I’ll shut you up!” Harlan shook the little boy so hard, the baby’s back cracked, and Mae screamed.
“Harlan! Let him go before you kill him. He’s stopped! He stopped!”
Harlan hurled the boy into Mae and knocked them both to the floor, his fists flying and not stopping until both his wife and his youngest son lay still on the floor. He leaned down and whispered something in Mae’s ear, and she slowly got to her feet, limped her way out the door, and jumped off the bridge.
“Oh, my god! That’s horrible!” Everly shrieked. A few of the bar patrons turned to stare at her, and Garvey shushed her. She calmed down and whispered, “But if she was protecting her sons, why would she kill herself?”
Garvey took a breath. “Well, see, it’s all just speculation. I mean, everyone knew Harlan beat her. Did she do it to protect her boys? Who knows?”
“So why would she come back every thirty years and do these horrible things everyone says she does?”
“Again, this is just speculation, but she’s getting revenge on the men of the town for causing her such pain. Her husband beat her for men’s actions. So why not take revenge on them?”
“Wow,” Everly said. “So this weekend, every guy in Rickdale is in danger?”
Garvey shook his head. “Not if she does what she did last time. It was just the younger men, the ones still in their teens, she took last time.”
“And yet, you’re still here to tell me about it.” Disdain covered Everly’s pretty face like a shadow. “I think you’re just messing with me. She took every teenage male last time yet you’re still here. Billy’s still here. Old Jim, there. He’s still here.”
“I didn’t say she took us all. Only the ones stupid enough to pick her up and take her to her house. They tore the house down about two years ago after Jennifer—that’s Caleb’s mom—got enough people to sign the petition to demolish it. It doesn’t seem like the older people believe it matters any, though. Plus, Jim is older than I am. He was probably too ripe for a gorgeous young hitchhiker to take any interest in.”
Jim looked at Garvey. “The hell you say. And that’s why I’m married to the hottest woman Rickdale ever produced?”
Garvey laughed. It was a long-standing joke in Rickdale about Jim and his wife, Edna. She was a looker, all right, that much Jim had right, but people looked at her for a different reason.
“Aw,” Everly cooed. She always thought old sweethearts were something really special. Her coo made Garvey laugh harder. “Why are you laughing? You’ll give Old Jim a complex over there.”
Jim waved them off, shaking his head, and returned to cleaning the beer mugs. Garvey stopped laughing long enough to finish his beer. When Jim came to retrieve the glass, Garvey smacked him on the shoulder.
“Old Jim here, he’s indeed got himself a prize wife. Didn’t she win the best in show at the horse fair a couple years back?” He guffawed and almost fell out of his chair laughing.
Jim scowled. “She might be a heifer, but she’s my heifer. Only I get to talk about her like that. Now get out of my bar!”
Everly dropped a couple bills on the table. Jim turned to her.