A Peach of a Pair Page 25

  31

  NETTIE

  I was so busy scanning the crowd at the train station in Columbia, I didn’t realize I had my hand pressed against the window until Remmy raised his and grinned at me. He was standing next to a man I didn’t recognize on the platform. Lurleen stirred beside me. She had slept on and off for most of the way home, but still seemed very tired. Feeble.

  Hands on both railings, Lurleen trembled as Remmy supported her under one arm from the front and I supported her under the other from behind. My heart leapt every time Remmy glanced at me, smiling before he went back to concentrating on getting Lurleen safely on the ground. When we were finally on the platform, the man nodded at me and then Lurleen and expressed his condolences as other passengers got off and the workers unloaded and reloaded the train.

  “Thank you, Jennings,” Lurleen said warmly to the man who appeared to be much older than her. He was wearing a crisp black suit, white shirt, and skinny black tie and was melting a bit in the afternoon heart. “Nettie Gilbert, this is Jennings Boykin; he works at the Kornegay Funeral Home.”

  “You’re welcome, Miss Lurleen.” The man nodded at her and then at me. “Miss Gilbert.”

  “And how are things in Red Hill, Jennings?” Lurleen asked.

  “Better than I expect they are for you. Grace says to tell you hello and she was awfully sorry to hear about Miss Emily.”

  “While it doesn’t bother me one bit, Emily would be chagrined to hear you call her Miss. Coming from you, it would make her feel old, and we both know how she felt about that.” Lurleen smiled and then turned her attention to me. “Jennings sold my father his first brand-new car.”

  “Worked at a lot of things,” Jennings chuckled.

  “But you found your calling at Kornegay’s,” Lurleen said firmly.

  “Ninety-two and still going strong,” he said proudly.

  Now, if I’d been Lurleen I would have worried about a ninety-two-year-old driver taking Miss Emily to the funeral home back in Camden, but the man didn’t look anywhere near that old. I suspect it was his work that kept him young. And his attention to detail. He winced as the ugly blue casket was carried down the loading ramp by four men. Jennings whistled to the workers and motioned for them to bring it his way.

  “What in the world?” he said as it neared.

  “Don’t start, Jennings. I was trying to do something nice for Emily It’s not like I can’t see with my own eyes it went awry,” Lurleen snapped. “I’m going to get that boy who painted my dining room last summer over to Kornegay’s first thing tomorrow. We’ll wait until next Sunday for the service and the burial. That should give him enough time to get it right.”

  Remmy was looking at me like he could eat me up, but he kept a gentlemanly distance, most likely out of respect for Lurleen and Mr. Boykin. His intense stare made my heart flutter, a hard blush traveled from my top to my toes, and I had to tear my eyes away from him to keep my composure.

  The men filed past and Lurleen ran her hand along the side of the casket. “How’re you feeling, Miss Lurleen?” Remmy drawled.

  “One minute I’m as fine as I can be, the next minute, horrible,” she whispered, watching the men load the casket into the hearse and shaking her head. “Simply horrible.”

  “Let’s get you home,” he said, and we guided her to Remmy’s car with the ragtop down.

  She stopped short like she wasn’t too sure about the convertible. “We’ve got a ways to go to get back to Camden; I’ll put the top up,” Remmy said. She swiped at her eyes, shook her head, and took Miss Emily’s scarf out of her pocketbook. It was as turquoise as the gulf had been that first day. Tying it under her chin, she offered me a yellow one that would have looked lovely on a blond Miss Emily when she was in her prime.

  “As much as Emily pretended she didn’t like you, Remmy, she did, and by the way she said she despised your car, I’m sure she adored it. So, if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to ride with the top down. See what all the fuss is about.”

  Remmy grinned at her, melting my heart into a little puddle, and then at me, completely shredding what was left. “Miss Gilbert,” he said opening my door. I slid into the seat, stopping on the passenger side, dying to slide on over and plaster myself to him. Eyes full of wanting, he looked at me, took my hand in his, and kissed my palm. The soft brush of his lips traveled up my arm, my whole body ratcheted up tight, in the very best way, and I didn’t want him to stop.

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” Lurleen huffed after Remmy looked longingly at me and then put the car in gear to back out of the parking lot. “Kiss the girl.”

  Being a Southern gentleman, I expected Remmy to ignore Lurleen or laugh off her remark. Instead, he shoved the car in park, yanked me across the bench seat and gave me a hello kiss the likes I’d never known before. Not even with him. When he pulled away he smiled, eyes on me. “Thanks, Miss Lurleen.”

  “Well you looked like you were going to burst if you didn’t kiss her, so you’re welcome. And another thing, you may call me Lurleen.” Remmy’s head jerked toward the backseat. “I believe you earned it.”

  Lurleen liked the top down so much that when we arrived at the house on Laurens Street she and Miss Emily shared, she asked Remmy to ride around the block a few more times. When it became apparent she was avoiding her home, she sucked in a breath and told Remmy she was ready. He and I helped her up the front steps; she tried to act like it didn’t bother her when she entered the house, but it was obviously as impossible for her to imagine this house without her sister as it was for me to imagine my life without mine.

  Remmy entered the bedroom after I got Lurleen dressed and under the covers; he checked her over like he had every day since I’d known him.

  “Did you get some supper?” he asked with his fingers on her wrist, looking at the second hand on his watch. She nodded. I didn’t want to dispute her word because she’d barely eaten two bites, so I kept quiet. As good as the food on the train was, neither of us had felt much like eating.

  “How are you sleeping?” he said, poking at her swollen calves.

  “Not at all well,” Lurleen said with a guilty look in my direction. While she’d sworn she was sleeping just fine to me, I hadn’t slept either and had heard her fitful night of tossing and turning. Crying for her sister.

  “Do you want something to help with that?” he asked. She nodded and he took a bottle out of his bag and drew up the syringe.

  “Knock me out?” Lurleen asked, chin quivering, slight smile.

  “If you haven’t slept, this’ll be plenty,” he said and administered the dose. “I’m staying tonight, Miss Lurleen, if that’s okay with you and Nettie. If you wake up and need anything—”

  “It’s more than fine with Nettie,” she said with a wry smile, her tongue already a little thick. “And don’t worry about me, if I need you I have that infernal cowbell Emily gave me.”

  “Thank you,” Remmy said.

  It only took a few minutes before her eyes fluttered shut, then I took his hand and led him out of the room. When he closed the door behind us, I wrapped my arms around him and would have climbed inside of him if I could have. With my face pressed into his neck, he felt like home.

  “I never meant to fall like this,” I breathed.

  “Awful glad you did.” He slanted his mouth across mine. I heard the thud of his bag on the floor before he scooped me up and started for the sofa.

  “Upstairs,” I whispered. He didn’t hesitate, just took me to my room and set me down like I was still fragile, but I was so far removed from that damaged girl who didn’t know what she wanted.

  “I missed you.” He took my mouth again, his hands threaded in my hair. I pulled him down onto the bed, laughing. “God, I love you,” he said trailing kisses down my neck. “I know it’s too soon to say that, but I’ll be damned if I can hold it in one more second, Nettie. I love you.
”

  I smiled against his lips.

  • • •

  It wasn’t until he left, just before dawn, that the cowbell rang loud and clear. I dressed and hurried downstairs to find Lurleen propped up in her bed reading. When I helped her to the bathroom, she was a little steadier than she had been the night before. Instead of going back to bed, she came into the kitchen with me and drank coffee while I rummaged through the refrigerator to find something for breakfast.

  On Miss Emily’s command, I’d cleaned out the refrigerator before we left on our trip, so there wasn’t much. Some spoiled milk, some condiments, and a big bowl of banana pudding topped with a thick caramel-colored meringue.

  I didn’t think Miss Emily had believed me when I told her to bathe the banana slices in lemon juice, but she must have because they didn’t look too bad to have been a week old. We had the pudding for breakfast with coffee, although there was barely enough to make a decent-sized pot.

  “It would be rude of me to ask how your night was,” Lurleen said, stirring her coffee while my face turned ten thousand shades of red. “But just so you know, my sleep was deep and dreamless,” Lurleen said. “Which brings us to today. What are your plans, Nettie?”

  I swallowed hard. What were my plans? After Remmy made love to me last night, my mind was full of wants and needs, none of them having anything to do with my immediate future. Remmy and I hadn’t slept at all; when we weren’t kissing, touching, I was telling him about the trip. Going home to Satsuma. Sissy.

  “I really want to call home and see how the wedding went, whether it was good or bad or happened at all, but I won’t.” I scraped my bowl to avoid looking at Lurleen. “Sissy told me she’d call or write when things settled down. I don’t know how, but I know she’s okay; I’m just not sure what that means.”

  “Yes,” Lurleen said, “but what are your plans?”

  “We’re out of those Eskimo Pies you love so well, out of everything really. I thought I’d go to the A&P after breakfast. Stop by the pharmacy; you’re almost out of digitalis too.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it, Nettie.”

  “Well, I’m staying. Here. As long as you’ll have me, if that’s what you mean,” I said firmly.

  “Fair enough, but only because I’m a selfish old maid who doesn’t want to die alone. Now, what do you want to do with yourself besides take care of a fussy old woman with one foot in the grave?”

  “Whether you like it or not, Lurleen, both of your feet seem pretty firm on this side of the grass for the time being.”

  She laughed and closed her eyes as she savored the last spoonful of pudding. “Well, any day above ground is a good one.”

  “Remmy says he never expected you to make it back from Palestine alive; he thinks you’re immortal.” She laughed at the very idea. “And I’d really like it if you were,” I added softly.

  She handed me her bowl and I rinsed it out along with mine. Stirring her cold coffee, she put her spoon down, eyebrows raised. “I’m serious, Nettie. You’re far too young not to have plans.”

  I nodded. “My roommate’s wedding is in a few weeks.” I loved Sue, but I hated the idea of leaving Lurleen alone, even for the wedding. “I thought I’d ask Katie Wilkes or one of the women from your church if they could stay with you that weekend. It would be awful to miss Sue’s wedding; I’m kind of the maid of honor, and I did promise her I’d be there.”

  “So you shall. Is Remmy going?” She smirked. “From the way he looks at you, I’d say he’s got designs on wedding plans of his own. And June weddings can be quite contagious.”

  I blushed hard. “I haven’t asked Sue yet if it would be okay, but I hope so.” Would Remmy think I was trying to drop some big hint? Coerce him? Katie would have a field day with that.

  “I haven’t been to a wedding in ages.” Lurleen smiled. “No one wants to invite a spinster to their wedding; they must think it’s bad luck.”

  “Would you like to be my date, Lurleen?” I asked.

  “I would think if you’re kind of the maid of honor, they would let you bring two guests.”

  “I’ll ask Sue, but I’m sure she won’t mind.”

  “And after the wedding?”

  “I want to go back to school when the time is right.” I put my fingertips on Lurleen’s shoulder; she tipped her head to the side, sandwiching my hand there. “But much more than that, I want to be here for you.”

  32

  NETTIE

  It turned out Lurleen was not immortal. Nine weeks after we buried Miss Emily, she passed away in her sleep. I didn’t call the ambulance or even Remmy. Just sat with her and felt the loss of loving someone so dear, a friend. A sister.

  The phone rang several times around midmorning. I stayed by Lurleen’s side, heartbroken she was gone and elated she was with Miss Emily where she belonged. The phone started ringing again and then stopped and continued on and off that way for a few minutes. Not long after that, I heard the screen door bounce in the jamb and footsteps running toward the bedroom. Remmy stopped in the doorway for a moment and then rushed to my side; it was then that I started to cry and didn’t stop.

  I was a mess when I went to the funeral home to make the arrangements, but wasn’t surprised I didn’t have to do much, just choose flowers that were in season. Lurleen had taken care of all of the details years ago, right down to the hymns she wanted sung. Of course Miss Emily had nothing planned; when Lurleen had chosen her flowers, she told me Emily was a roses and satin kind of girl. When I’d asked her what kind of girl she was, she’d replied, “The simple kind. Daisies. Lilies. Even carnations feel too frilly for me.”

  So the church was full of every manner of summer lily; a blanket of snow-white daisies covered the casket that was painted to match her sister’s, and the church was packed with Camdenites who’d known and loved their gun-toting librarian. I rode the waves of grief much like Lurleen had with her sister, laughing and crying, and through it all, Remmy never left my side.

  The morning of the funeral, it had rained then poured during the church service, but when the azure blue casket reached the burial site, the clouds parted on cue to reveal the loveliest August sky. Remmy squeezed my shoulder and smiled at me when Pastor made a joke that Miss Emily was showing off for her sister; everyone laughed. But that’s the kind of sisterhood she and Lurleen had, the kind that loves and forgives and makes a stormy Carolina sky cloudless and beautiful.

  The Eldridge home welcomed hundreds of guests who brought more food than they ate, which didn’t seem possible. Children ran about the house playing while folks laughed and reminisced about the Eldridge sisters. Most of them I recognized from Miss Emily’s service. The same enormous spread was laid out with enough fried chicken to feed nearby Shaw Air Force Base, every manner of casserole, desserts galore. And lots of banana pudding. The ladies of the Kershaw County Library Auxiliary insisted I mingle with the guests while they fussed about, making sure platters and bowls stayed filled. Paper plates and cups stayed picked up.

  I’d noticed a chubby little redheaded boy who was maybe nine eyeing the piano, which had a beautiful tone after Lurleen had it tuned. He opened and closed the lid several times before his mother warned him to leave it alone. He watched until she was deep in conversation, opened the lid, and touched a few of the upper keys.

  “Do you play?” I asked. He shook his head, unable to take his eyes off the keyboard. It called to him like it had called to me and Lurleen’s mother. Her brother, Teddy. I sat down beside him, placed his hands on the right keys. The old piano began to sing. Chopsticks.

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