“Nope, but he keeps saying he’ll bring her around sometime,” Addy said. “Bye, now.” Addy ended the call and turned back to the Ryans, a dreadful knot in the pit of her stomach. “Mia has used all the money she had saved, and her checking account is almost dry. Between the two accounts, she’s got about sixty dollars, and Ricky O’Malley is the father of Justine’s new baby. Can it get any worse?”
“Whew, that’s a lot to take in,” Pearl said.
* * *
“Hey, anybody home?” Grady yelled from the front door.
“We’re back here!” Sonny hollered. “Come on in and have a glass of tea and some pie.”
Grady took a chair at the head of the table so that Addy was on his left. “That sounds good. I thought I’d stop and get copies of Sonny’s medical charts today since I can’t come by tonight. Got a long, boring meeting at the hospital, starting right after rounds.”
Addy got to her feet and poured Grady a glass of tea. Since the pie was already on the table, she took a dessert plate down from the cabinet and grabbed a fork from the cutlery drawer. “Will we see you before Sunday morning?”
“Doesn’t look like it.” He cut himself a large piece of pie. “The whole week is swamped down with meetings. That’s what I get for being head of the ER, but it’s also what I’ve worked for, so I can’t complain. How have things been here?”
“Same old, same old,” Sonny said. “But got to say, these new pills are keeping my problems at bay.”
“That’s great,” Grady said.
Couldn’t the man see that Addy was upset? Her eyes were swollen and red from crying, and every vibe coming off her spelled sadness in big bold letters. Jesse didn’t feel like he was in a position to say a word. If Addy wanted Grady to know what had happened that morning, she could tell him. But Jesse didn’t have to sit there and stew in his jealous juices.
He pushed his chair back. “I’m going to take my sandwich to go and help Henry mend fences. See y’all at supper.”
Grady didn’t even look up from his pie, but just waved.
Addy caught Jesse’s eye and mouthed, Thank you.
Sonny grabbed his cane and said, “I think I’ll go with you, son. I can’t help, but if you’ll park up under a shade tree, I’d sure enjoy watching.”
“Don’t forget your hat,” Pearl said. “And Jesse, pick up his lawn chair. It’s that long, red tube thing settin’ beside the washing machine. If he gets too hot, call me, and I’ll drive out and rescue him.”
“Will do.” Jesse waited for his father to head out the back door and then followed him.
“What was that all about? You jealous of Grady?” Sonny asked when they were in the truck. “He and Addy are just good friends. You ain’t got nothing to worry about with him.”
Jesse started the engine and drove around to the back of the house, then went through the procedure of opening and closing the gate. That gave him time to think about what his dad had asked before he answered.
“I guess I am jealous,” he admitted, “but as a friend. She deserves someone who can see she’s upset and has a lot on her mind. All Grady seems to be interested in today is Mama’s pecan pie. A real friend would invite her out to the porch and let her vent. I couldn’t sit there another second and watch her want him to ask about her day.”
Sonny nodded in agreement. “Ever think that maybe she’s not ready to tell him that you’re Mia’s father? That she just wants him to eat his pie and go so she can have some time to process all this? And speaking of Mia, how are you holding up after finding out you had a daughter all these years? I figured you’d be stomping holes in the porch floor or rippin’ and snortin’ around on that old dirt bike to get past the anger that Addy kept such a big secret for so long.”
“I’m still in shock,” Jesse answered. “If I would have asked when Mia’s birthday was, I could have figured it out on my own. I just figured that Addy had met someone at college or out in the Panhandle, and that’s why she stopped writing and calling me. I should have known we were better friends than that.”
“Should have, could have, would have,” Sonny said. “Those are all in the past. What are you going to do about the future?”
“I feel like I’m navigating uncharted waters at the dark of midnight in a horrible storm,” Jesse said. “I hope that someday Mia and I can have some kind of relationship, and that Addy and I can at least be friends like we used to be.”
“We didn’t even know you kids were dating,” Sonny said. “It wasn’t until she moved in with us and Pearl saw a picture of Mia when she was a little baby that we began to put things together. Those two pictures are identical. Then we did the math, and your mama remembered that Addy didn’t even come tell you goodbye on the morning we took you to the recruiter’s place. We figured y’all had had a falling-out, and that’s why she didn’t want anyone to know that you were the father.”
Jesse pulled the truck up under a shade tree, not far from where Henry and the boys were working. “We only had one night together, Dad. That last night before I left, and we both cried and swore we wouldn’t let that night ruin our friendship. She slipped out before daylight without even telling me goodbye.”
“Guess God had other plans,” Sonny said. “I just wish we would have known before Mia was fourteen. We could have done more to help them. And I damn sure wish I could get a hold of that kid she’s run off with. I would kick his ass all the way to the Gulf and then kick him off in the water.”
Jesse chuckled. “I’m sorry for all this mess, Dad. You sure don’t need all this stress when you are trying to keep this disease from getting worse.”
“Family don’t always mean there’s smooth sailin’, son. Sometimes the waters get rocky, but we’ve always got each other to lean on,” Sonny told him.
“Amen.” Jesse got out of the car and propped Sonny’s chair up against the tree. He set a bottle of water in the holder on the arm. “Thanks for coming along and supporting me today.”
“Anytime, son, anytime.” Sonny slid out of the truck and made his way to the chair.
Chapter Ten
Addy could not sleep at all that night. She tossed and turned, beat her pillow into submission, threw the covers off, then pulled them back up over her body, and finally gave up even trying. She padded down the dark hallway to the kitchen, got down the Jack Daniel’s, poured a double shot, and carried it out to the porch swing. The night was considerably cooler than the day had been. She had just set the swing in motion with her foot when Jesse walked up on the porch with a beer in his hands.
“You couldn’t sleep either?” He stopped the swing, sat down on the other end, and then set it in motion again.
“I keep going over the past nineteen years and wondering what turning point brought all this about. I think it was moving here. If we hadn’t come back to Honey Grove, she never would have met Ricky and made all these bad choices,” Addy said.
Jesse shook his head. “It’s plain that you’ve been a good mother, so stop blaming yourself.”