As the two of them walked toward the house, the big man gave Travis a look up and down.
“Great,” he mumbled. It looked like he’d raised the suspicions of an off-duty cop. More people walked past, most of them leaving, and looked at Travis. It was then that he realized that all the people he saw were in their finest. He was wearing a gray shirt and a pair of jeans.
For a moment Travis contemplated what he should do. Leave? See his mother tomorrow?
On the other hand, he thought that it was possible that his mother was at the wedding. He didn’t think so, as she had always been a quiet, retiring woman, but maybe so. It was even possible that the man she was thinking of marrying would be there too.
He had a vision of the two of them sitting in a corner holding hands and whispering sweet words to each other. It might be a nice thing to see.
And maybe Kim would be there—if she wasn’t the bride, that is. Not that he could introduce himself to her again. Not that he hadn’t seen her as an adult, but it had been a while. She’d been a very pretty little girl and she’d grown into an even prettier woman. The vision of her riding down the hill, her auburn hair flying out behind her, would stay with him forever.
Maybe he could change into some more appropriate clothes and maybe he could go and see
the wedding. Not stay. Just look, then leave.
He opened the trunk of the car.
Two
“So how are you and the new boyfriend—Dave, is it?—getting along?” Sara Newland asked as she sat down across from Kim. Each table had a different color cloth on it, what the bride called “Easter colors.” The band was taking a break, and the big dance floor was empty. Overhead, the tent was strung with tiny silver lights that cast pretty shadows everywhere.
Sara’s twin boys were now a year old and were at home with a babysitter. The wedding was a rare night out for her and her husband, Mike.
“We’re doing great,” Kim said. She had on her bluish purple bridesmaid dress, with its low, square neckline and swishy skirt. Jecca, who was the bride as well as Kim’s best friend, had designed it for her, and Lucy Cooper had made it.
“Think it’s permanent between you two?” Sara asked.
“It’s too early to tell, but I have hope. How are you and Mike doing?”
“Perfectly. But I’m not making much progress in taming him into a domestic life. I wanted him to help with the garden. Know what he did?”
“With Mike, I can’t imagine.”
“He chased off the guy who runs the backhoe, taught himself how to use the big machine, and he’s cleared a strip about two acres long for the new fence. You should have heard him and the owner of the backhoe yelling at each other!”
Kim smiled. “I would have liked to have been there. I spend most of my life with salesmen. Every word they utter leads back to me buying more from them.”
Sara learned forward and lowered her voice. “So how was Lucy Cooper with your dress?”
“I never saw her,” Kim said. “Jecca did the one and only fitting.”
“But you saw her dancing with Jecca’s dad a few minutes ago, didn’t you?”
Sara and Kim were cousins, the same age, and they’d played together since they were babies. For the last four years they’d talked about how odd it was that Lucy Cooper, an older woman staying at Mrs. Wingate’s house, ran away whenever Kim appeared. Other people saw her at the grocery, the pharmacy, even in Mrs. Wingate’s shop downtown, but when Kim showed up, Lucy hid. One of her cousins had snapped a photo of Ms. Cooper and shown it to Kim, but she saw nothing familiar in the face. She couldn’t imagine why the woman avoided her.
“I couldn’t miss something like that, could I?” Kim said. “Down and dirty. Raunchy. More than a little embarrassing at their age.”
“But did you see Lucy’s face?”
“Yes and no. She had it buried in Jecca’s dad’s body parts, so I’d see an eye here, and an ear there. I’d have to get one of those police artists to draw a full face for me.”
Sara laughed. “When I saw her, she looked like the happiest woman alive.”
“No, that would be Jecca.”
“It was a beautiful wedding. And her dress was divine! She and Tris are a stunning couple, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” Kim said with pride. She and Jecca had been roommates all through college and had remained BFF, even though Jecca lived in New York City and Kim in Edilean. A few months ago Jecca had come to Edilean to spend the summer painting, had met the local doctor, Kim’s cousin Tristan, fallen in love, and had married him today.