Southern Comfort (24 page)

• • •

By six o’clock the next afternoon, Natalie had managed to successfully avoid Newland for almost twenty-four hours. And she would make it too, just as soon as the town meeting was over. She pulled into the parking lot at the school, handing Aubie his portfolio briefcase full of notes and other documents that he needed for the meeting.

He took it from her and gave her a sad little smile. “You know I can get my briefcase myself, right?”

Her heart broke a little at his words. She was so used to taking care of him, giving him everything that he needed, and making sure that his life wasn’t lacking due to his absent parents. But to hear him say that he could do things on his own …

“Aubie, I—”

He surprised her by leaning in and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I love you, sis,” he said. “You’re the best sister any guy could ever hope to have. But I’ll tell you a little secret: the less you do for me, the more I have to do for myself.”

On that cryptic note, Aubie got out of the car and shut the door. He walked toward the doors of the school without giving her a second look.

She shook her head as tears rose in her eyes. True, Aubie was growing up. And yes, it was more than likely time for her to give him more freedom. He was the mayor after all. But when he left, what was she going to have then?

Gerald’s face came to mind, but it offered her no comfort. Maybe because on the heels of that image came Newland’s words from the night before about how she couldn’t marry Gerald Davenport, how the man didn’t love her, and was only after her aunt’s house.

But why? Why would Gerald want Aunt Bitty’s house? And why was she trusting Newland Tran? She had barely known him a week— a
week
—and she’d practically fallen in love with the man.

The words clawed at her heart. She couldn’t be in love with Newland. He was the antithesis of everything she wanted from life. He was disorganized and shaggy and a northerner and … She scrambled around, trying to come up with any negative thing that she could think of about him. He wore concert t-shirts and tennis shoes. And he lived his life the way he wanted to and didn’t allow other people to dictate to him and yet he did things for a woman he didn’t know.

She shook her head. She couldn’t be in love with Newland Tran. It was impossible. She loved Gerald Davenport, and he was going to ask her to marry him anytime now. Once they got married, they would be the best power couple in northern Mississippi. Nothing could stop them. They would go around raising money and holding benefits for charities and …

The thought filled her with dread. Was that all her life had to offer? Was the only thing she could think of concerning her marriage to Gerald future benefits and foundation dinners? Surely there would be more than that. Surely that passion would ignite. Wouldn’t it?

She was so deep in thought that she jumped when someone rapped on the car window. Hand over her heart she looked up to see Newland standing there.

She shooed him away from the door and opened it, grabbing her purse before shutting the door and locking the car. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s a town meeting, right?”

“It is, but you don’t live here.” Clouds formed in his exotic eyes, and Natalie immediately regretted her words. “Newland, I’m sorry, I—”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t live here, but this seems to be the best entertainment going tonight.” He turned on his heel, leaving Natalie to follow behind.

• • •

As far as town meetings went, this special session was not much different than any normal meeting. Complaints were heard about loose animals, loud radios, and various other small town issues.

Natalie listened with half an ear tuned toward the council while she thumbed through her email messages. Her parents seemed to reach out to her at the oddest moments. She was constantly checking to make sure they hadn’t emailed her concerning some tragedy, imagined or real.

But when Aubie stood and started talking about the fundraiser he was putting into place for the new school athletic and cheerleader uniforms, her heart constricted.

She turned to look for Newland. He had come into the gym in front of her, and had found his seat, not inviting her to sit with him. She had gone to the row behind him and sat a few seats away, not wanting to invade his personal space. It seemed that she had completely overstepped her bounds with him tonight.

Everyone who had anything to do with fundraisers knew about the Amish Haiti benefit auction. But most everyone else hadn’t heard of it. But Newland Tran had. He’d said he’d spent time with the Amish. Which was why he had rigged up a light bulb with a car battery in the cellar. And why he had given that idea to Aubie …

It was more than that. It was more than just the idea handed from one mind to the other; it was that Newland had been thinking about the town and how to help. He’d come up with a solution where no one else had found one. That he cared about the town at all seemed to be a miracle in itself.

Natalie blinked back her confused tears as the council took a vote, setting a date for the auction that would allow the people of Turtle Creek to gather their items together and hold the auction in order to have the new school uniforms in by the time school came back into session in August.

Turtle Creek was growing, expanding and evolving, and for this particular project there was only one man to thank. A man who would be leaving in less than four days.

• • •

“I thought I’d find you here.”

Newland jerked to attention as Natalie appeared out of the shadows, like the specter that Bitty talked about.

“What are you doing here?”

“I live here?”

Newland shook his head. “No, you live across town in an apartment with your brother. Bitty Duncan lives here.”

He wasn’t sure why he was being so mean—maybe because Natalie wanted to move Bitty out of the house and into a home. Gerald seemed to support the idea and wanted the house to belong to Natalie so he could get it when they got married, and Aubie was along for the ride. Nobody seemed to care what Bitty thought.

“Sorry. That was hateful.” He said the words as she plopped down beside him. If she was sitting next to him, then she couldn’t be too mad, right?

“You think I should live here with my aunt?”

“I wonder why you don’t.” He was sitting with his back against the carriage house once again waiting to see if Gilbert and Darrell came with any more crates of moonshine.

“I guess I felt like I needed some independence.”

Newland snorted. “You need independence and yet you run everyone’s life. Why don’t you start there and see what happens?”

Natalie sighed. “I’m trying. I got a lecture from Aubie tonight about babying him.”

“You do baby him.”

“All I wanted to do was make up for our parents.”

“What about them?” Newland was afraid he’d be sorry he asked. He had his own parent sob story. He wasn’t sure if he could handle Natalie’s on top of that.

She picked at the grass next to her legs, tearing blade by blade and tossing it away. “Nothing, really. As soon as they figured out that I could handle the financial end of things, they headed off to the Mediterranean.”

“How old were you?”

“Seventeen.” The one word dropped between them like a rock.

“You’ve been on your own since seventeen?”

Natalie nodded. “Oh, it’s not been bad, you know. I had money to take care of things. I gained the power of attorney at eighteen. Until then I just made do and took care of things as they needed to be taken care of.”

“And Aubie?”

“He was just starting first grade.”

“So you stayed here and at eighteen raised a first grader all by yourself.”

Natalie smiled, though the motion was sad. “I had Aunt Bitty’s help.”

Newland laughed. “I’m sure that was quite a relief.”

“It was about the same as right now.”

He wanted to tell her how sorry he was, but he didn’t think that was what she needed to hear. Their conversation stalled; the only sounds were the katydids and the bobwhites calling back to each other in the night.

“My parents died when I was five.” There. That wasn’t so hard to say.

“Newland.” The one word was almost a prayer. “I’m so sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.” It was his standard response.

It had been a long time ago. But he still missed them, wondered what his life would have been like if they had been a part of it. But then he also wondered if things hadn’t been that way, would he be sitting here now with the most beautiful woman in the world, watching for bootleggers to come store their contraband in her aunt’s cellar? He wasn’t sure he could trade back.

“What did you do?” she asked.

“I went to live with my uncle. Not the most maternal man you’d ever want to meet.” He chuckled. “Nor was he particularly paternal either. I stayed with him till I was eighteen and then headed out on my own.”

“Do you see him much these days?”

Newland shook his head. “You see your parents much?”

Natalie hesitated, throwing three more blades of grass to the wind before shaking her head. “No. They send a card on Aubie’s birthday, but that’s about it. It doesn’t matter. We have everything we need.”

Newland’s heart broke for her. “What about love?” It was the one thing he missed the most about his parents. He’d never had that love, couldn’t remember what it felt like to be held in his mother’s arms and cradled at night. He couldn’t remember throwing a ball with his dad or doing any of those things that he knew his friends had gotten to do over the years. His uncle had been too busy with his own pursuits to pay much attention to the young boy he had been saddled with. But the love? The love had always been missing.

“I think we did okay.”

Newland shook his head. “Is that why you’re willing to enter into a loveless marriage with a man who’s all wrong for you? Do you think it’s okay to live without love?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t know about anything anymore. I had everything all planned out, then you showed up. Now nothing seems the same. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. What’s real, what’s not, what’s important, what isn’t.” Her voice broke on that last word.

“You want to know what’s real?” he asked. Even in the darkness of the shadows in which they sat he could see her give a small nod and swallow hard. “This.”

He reached out and, in one swift but deliberate motion, pulled her into his lap. She straddled him. He ran his fingers through the sides of her hair, tangling them in the long brown tresses. He gave her plenty of time to protest, plenty of time to tell him to stop. She didn’t.

So he pulled her mouth to his.

• • •

She sighed as his lips touched hers and melted into him. He was warm and solid and real and kind. Very kind. If she hadn’t already realized it this afternoon, it was so obvious now. She loved him.

She wasn’t sure how it happened or even when. Sometime between watching him cart around her aunt’s cat and come up with ideas to help the town survive, somewhere between all of that, she discovered that he had a heart as big as the south and twice as sweet as the tea.

She protested as he used his grip on her head to pull her lips from his.

“Natalie,” he started. His voice broke on the last syllable.

“Newland,” she said in return. He might be stronger than she, but she had the advantage, perched on top of him like she was. And she used her higher position to her advantage.

She pressed her hips into his, showing him with the one move just how much she wanted him. She fought against his hold, and won, taking over his earlier kiss. She deepened it, wanting more, needing more.

“I want you.” She said the words even as she wanted to declare her true feelings for him. But what good would that do? He was leaving in a couple of days. This was all she could have of him. And this was what she would take. After he left she’d figure out what to do about Gerald. But right now, it wasn’t something she wanted to think about. All she wanted was Newland, inside her, all around her, with her every step of the way.

“I want you too. But what about—”

“Doesn’t matter,” she said. Nothing mattered.

As they talked, they continued to place small kisses on the other’s waiting lips. It was as if the conversation needed to take place but the kissing couldn’t stop. She couldn’t allow it to stop. It had to continue, on and on. But not like the last time. Not wild and out of control. But slow and deliberate. A different kind of control. Not dictatorial, but unhurried, each touch placed for maximum pleasure.

She ran her hands up his chest, sliding them under today’s concert t-shirt to smooth over the hard ridges of his abdomen and pecs. She wanted to touch every inch of him, be with him again, yet not like before. She wanted kiss after kiss, caress after caress, until neither one of them could take anymore.

He wrenched his mouth from hers, his breathing heavy. “Natalie.” He chuckled as she fought against his hold to kiss him once again. “We can’t do this here. We’re outside. In your aunt’s yard.”

Natalie won the struggle and kissed him again, showing him just what he’d be missing if they stopped. “Sure we can. It’s dark. Who’s around to see?”

Emotions and indecision chased across his face. Then he gave a small bark of laughter. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

“I’ve never been told that before.” It felt good to have someone say something besides dependable Natalie, conservative Natalie, always in control Natalie. She smiled. She’d take crazy over that any day. Especially when it came to Newland.

She grabbed the edge of her borrowed t-shirt and pulled it over her head. The warm southern breeze caressed her skin as Newland sucked in a deep breath. She hadn’t been wearing a bra. And he seemed surprised by that.

Heck, she’d even surprised herself by coming out here like that. But it felt good, a little on the decadent side to feel the brush of the fabric against her nipples as she searched for him.

If she were being truly honest with herself, she’d come out here for this. Though she had needed him to start. And now that he had, she would see it through to the end.