By 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning, Kyla had already fed the five Nubians, walked twice around the pond, and started a recipe of her mom’s slow-cook chili in the crock pot. Lee’s bedroom door was still closed, and she hadn’t heard a peep. The only way she knew he was home was by the silver Explorer parked halfway to the barn. Kyla wrote a note and placed it in the hallway, where he’d be sure to see it. “Helping Lillian move. Call me. Hope you rested.”
Easing through the stop sign at Johnson Builders, Kyla tried to remember the last time she’d been on Cox Gap Road. It had to be Rachel’s going-away party in the middle of tenth grade. It was the day after Christmas, a Friday night. Cold wasn’t the right word for that God-forsaken farm owned by Ronald Archer, Ray’s father. Kyla turned up the heat in her Silverado and tried to recall the name of the road. All she could say for sure was that it was a couple of miles past Happy Hill Baptist Church. She remembered the church because her grandparents had taken her and Lee to an all-day Sunday singing when they were in the third grade. Or was it the fourth? Anyway, the road was quite a way beyond the church, and it was a turn to the right. Lillian and Jane had both screamed at Kyla’s attempt to navigate the winding road.
Rounding the curve, Kyla saw a Weathers Furniture truck backed to the front door, a one-story cedar-sided cabin. Small, but cute. Lillian had asked her two days ago if she would mind helping her move. Kyla turned right on Alexander Road. She pondered where to park, beside the split-rail fence along the road or in the driveway. She opted for the latter.
It was between another split-rail fence surrounding a pond and the cabin. Kyla parked next to Lillian’s Aviator. The pond was gorgeous. Kyla especially liked the spewing fountain in the center and the gazebo at the beginning of the pier.
“Hey friend,” Lillian yelled from the back porch as Kyla removed a dozen donuts she’d purchased at Y-Mart.
“Hey, hope you’re hungry.” Walking to Lillian, Kyla considered what was happening with her best friend. The place was quaint, naturally seductive, even romantic. Any outdoorsy person would love it. But Lillian had never been that type. She had grown up in town and, after marrying Ray, had enjoyed all the finer things of life. Kyla concluded that, unlike herself, Lillian was too sophisticated for this place.
“Come on in, the Weathers guys are just finishing up. I hope you like my cabin.” Lillian held open a screen door and pointed across the porch to the kitchen door. There was another arched doorway on the opposite end, closed.
Inside, the place seemed larger. Pine-paneled walls perfectly accentuated the rusticity of the outdoors. The cabinets were the same. Kyla laid the donuts on a small but new-looking table. “Wow, I love it.”
“Let me give you a quick tour. It won’t take but a minute.” Lillian laughed and pointed toward a coffee maker about half finished with a fresh pot.
Lillian was correct. The cabin was small, with a ‘big enough’ den. There were two bedrooms on the north side separated by a ‘not-quite-big-enough’ bathroom. The bedroom toward the barn was full of boxes. No furniture. The front bedroom had a way-too-big bed. Kyla quickly calculated that Weathers had delivered a leather couch and matching chair, two end tables, an oversized coffee-table, a huge Armoire, and the small round table in the kitchen. According to Lillian, the former tenants left the gigantic bed in the front bedroom.
“When did you move all those boxes?” Kyla had understood Lillian to say two days ago they would make several trips this morning between her and Ray’s lodge and what she called ‘the Corbett place.’
“Uh, last night.” The two returned to the kitchen. “Coffee?” Lillian asked as she motioned Kyla to sit and handed her two paper plates and plastic forks.
“Half a cup, black.” She had already had two cups in her den waiting for Lee to join her. “Why not wait until morning? You asked me to help.” Kyla opened the box and removed her favorite, a lemon-filled with thick layered melted cream cheese.
“Couldn’t sleep.”
“Why? I thought you take a sleeping pill.”
“Didn’t work, thanks to you.” Lillian delivered two cups of coffee in Styrofoam cups and sat facing the back door.
“Uh? What did I do?”
“Like you are that dense, you twerp. Do I have to draw you a picture?”
“Seems so, you got me.”
“I can’t draw, so I’ll spell it out for you: L E E.”
“Oh, my gosh.” The sophisticate surprised Kyla once again. Even though she knew Lillian had recently asked about her brother, it was only after Kyla had mentioned Lee. She recalled telling Lillian her brother was helping his in-laws with a case involving the old Hunt House. Now, she appeared star struck for want of a better term. “You’ve got to be kidding. That train left the station a century ago.”
“Half a century. Can’t you count?” Lillian paused and closed her eyes like she was searching the universe. “See if you can visualize this picture. Lee and I were both on that train. Unfortunately, we were in separate cars, rolling down the track headed in the same direction for fifty years. Now, here we are.”
Kyla broke her fork and grabbed another one from a box beside the coffeemaker. Instead of sitting, she leaned against the sink. “You’re fantasizing. The real world is brutal. Lee has scars, deep scars that feed his depression. I’m afraid he’ll never recover from Rachel’s suicide.”
Lillian stood and joined Kyla next to the sink. “A girl can dream, can’t she?”
“Of course. But you must be realistic. Even if by some miracle the two of you, what should I call it? Reconnect? I can think of at least two mountain-size problems. Three. I already mentioned the effects of Rachel’s death.” Kyla took one step and faced Lillian. Her eyes were sad. A tear was running down her left cheek. “Here’s the second problem. It’s called marriage. The way you’ve been for many decades. I doubt your loving husband will send you off with his blessings.”
“Oh please, I can do without your sarcasm. And I doubt even the repulsive Ray would appreciate the smarmy compliment.” Lillian rolled her eyes.
Kyla didn’t relent. “If those two are not large enough obstacles, there’s the third one. It likely is the worst: too tall, deep, and wide for a petted and pampered little darling like you.” The girlfriends had always preferred openness and honesty, albeit brutal.
Lillian turned away from Kyla and looked out the kitchen window toward the pond and the gushing fountain. “You’re so negative. Just like a psychiatrist I once knew.”
“Okay, I’ll hush. Don’t we need to get to work?” Kyla said with a twinge of sadness. She, like Jane Fordham, was an old maid, as in single. And, even worse, she’d never even been in love, so what the heck did she know?
“Oh girl, you don’t get to play that smart ass professor routine and then skip out to your next class. Tell me about the enormous elephant blocking my path.”
Kyla pondered Lillian’s analogy. Not bad for the girl who’d never worked in her life, assuming you didn’t count her teenage job at Fred King’s. Kyla nudged Lillian to the side. Now, each had their own sink to hold. “Okay, you asked for it. It’s called first love or teenage infatuation. No matter the label, it has long since faded into the sunset. Those feelings you shared with your first boyfriend weren’t real. Here’s reality. All you and Lee would get out of a current day soap opera would be some passionate sex. Don’t forget, because I haven’t. These are your words on more than one occasion, ‘there’s so much more to love than sex.’”
Lillian poured the remaining coffee down the drain and turned off the warmer. “I know you’re just trying to help, but I’ll always believe there is one special person out there who would get me and get to me. It would be a real intimacy that electrified every cell in our minds and bodies.”
Kyla walked to the table and closed the lid on the donuts. “I think you’re reading too many romance novels.”
Lillian said something about chemistry when Kyla’s cell rang. She removed it from last night’s jeans. It was Lee. “Perfect timing you have big brother.”
“Uh?” Lee was stirring the chili, trying to decide what he wanted to do while Kyla was away.
“I bought donuts at Y-Mart. Your favorite, lemon-filled smothered in cream cheese. I’m saving you one.”
“No way.” Lee asked questions about Lillian and why she and Ray were moving. “This chili smells great. Mother’s recipe. Right?”
“Always. Oh, if you will, add two tablespoons of sugar. Don’t forget to stir.” Kyla couldn’t imagine what Lee had gone through, was still going through. They had lost both parents in a car accident, but, as tragic as that was, Lee losing his wife to suicide seemed worse. No wonder he was so depressed.
“What time will you be back? I’m trying to plan my day.” Lee said, removing the crock pot’s lid and using the sugar bowl to pour in an undetermined amount.
“Probably by early afternoon. Lillian had her furniture delivered. We’re about to unpack and shelve her kitchen stuff.”
“What about Ray’s stuff?” Lee doubted Ray would move his own furniture. Something seemed odd.
“He’s staying at the Lodge. Lillian’s leaving. Moving in here at the old Corbett place.”
Lee didn’t pursue additional details. “I may get out a while. Do you need anything?”
“No, but thanks for the groceries. I saw them this morning. By the way, why were you so late?”
“Listen, we can talk this afternoon. You better get to work.”
Lee ended the call. He knew nothing about the Corbett place.
***
Lillian knew instantly that Kyla’s call was from Lee. “I’ll be in the bedroom.” She’d said as she exited the kitchen.
When Kyla joined her in the front bedroom, Lillian had already unpacked an assortment of burgundy sheets, pillows and cases, an ocean scene quilt, and a dual-sided black and gray coverlet. “Grab the box-spring cover.” Lillian motioned her head toward the back room.
It took the two of them several minutes and multiple tries to lift each side of the heavy mattress and manipulate the extra tight cover. “Dang, how about some fresh air?” Kyla assumed the sunshine coming through the thick wooden shutters against the outside wall hid a workable window. That statement had triggered Lillian’s story of forest scented Febreze and a woman named Faye. Their laughs became exhausting. They ultimately crashed across the bed.
Lillian finally stood, opened the shutters, and raised the window. “I bet I’ll never come to bed at night without seeing Faye and the adorable Eddie making love. Maybe I should have sold it to her.”
“Well, it’s not too late. Don’t you have a better king than this in your bedroom at the Lodge?” Kyla despised the idea of sleeping on a used mattress even if Febreze sanitized every inch.
“I do, but I don’t own it. It belongs to Ray.” Lillian said, tossing Kyla the edge of a mattress pad.
To Kyla, that seemed an odd way to operate a marriage. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. When you two tied the knot, it was the first marriage for both. Right? So, why the ‘his and mine’ routine?”
“Pull it down, tighter toward the bottom.” Lillian said, as a domestic expert. “Who said anything about my stuff?”
Kyla couldn’t believe sophisticated Lillian didn’t own a thing even though Ray (and presumably she herself) was rich. Gossip was that he was worth a billion dollars or more. Further, the two married five decades ago. “So, you don’t own a thing? Then how did you buy new furniture from Weathers?”
Lillian struggled to stuff an over-sized pillow into its case. “It’s complicated. I used Ray’s account, with his permission, mind you. And I don’t literally own anything. He’s about to pay me $100,000. Less what I’ve charged.”
Kyla asked a dozen questions, and Lillian answered them all. Yet, there was something confusing about the one and only modification to the prenup. “Then how did you get to move out and still keep your place in Ray’s will?”
“I grew a second set of balls.” Lillian’s word pictures were getting worse. “The first time was when Ray was negotiating the sale of his pharmacy chain. This time, he’s on the verge of building a Rylan’s in our hometown. There’s nothing more important to the local boy who made it big than his personal reputation, and his standing with First Baptist Church of Christ.”
“So, you threatened to disclose the three affairs?”
“Four actually, but let’s not quibble.”
“You said the prenup prevents you from divorcing Ray and from ever remarrying.” Kyla was having the same difficulty as Lillian with the undersized pillowcases.
“Or, ever cohabitating.” Lillian added.
Kyla had learned a lot about the law during her forty-plus year career in the marketing department at Coca Cola in Atlanta. “Dear, I don’t think that’s exactly legal. Are you sure you have a correct interpretation?”
“You’re not only beautiful but extremely perceptive.” Lillian smiled and motioned Kyla to follow her to the den. After sitting on her new leather couch, she continued. “It’s illegal, but my attorney has advised me to keep my mouth shut on that subject. Until I find some credible evidence, something that would transform my husband into playdough.”
“Now, I’m really confused.” Lillian patted the couch cushion beside her, showing she wanted Kyla close by.
“Listen carefully and know you’re sworn to secrecy. This is something I’ve told no one. Except my attorney. For years I’ve suspected that Ray, to put it mildly, isn’t a saint, not even considering his womanizing. I could provide a litany of examples, but the most recent might be more interesting. Did you know that Mayor King had initially suggested the old Outlet Center for Rylan’s location?”
“No. So, what changed? Why move it to a low-traffic area like Thomas Avenue?” Kyla knew little about the City’s expansion plans or its politics. But she had read one article in the Sand Mountain Reporter describing Rob Kern’s opposition to Boaz taking the title to the Hunt House. And, of course, she knew this controversy was why Lee was in town for the first time since 2002.
“This may sound crazy, but I think it has something to do with the Hunt House. Something infatuated Ray with that place.” Lillian pivoted her neck up and down, then back and forth, her neck bones making multiple cracking sounds.
Kyla was second to only her older brother in her ability to think, especially brainstorming. “That’s so weird. You know, the first thing that came to mind was Rachel Kern. Shit, if that’s true, this hits too close to home. My poor depressed brother.”
“You’re not totally wrong, but it might be for a different reason than you’re thinking. Ray is not pursuing a way to honor his high school girlfriend but to wipe away all her memories, his memories of her.”
“You’ve lost me. I know Ray and Rachel dated only during the first two years of high school, well, until Christmas of our tenth-grade year. Then, she and brother Randy, along with their missionary parents, left for China. Fast forward three years, might be four, and Lee and Rachel were engaged after meeting during their second year at the University of Virginia.”
Lillian started speaking before Kyla could finish Virginia. “And Ray and I were in Tuscaloosa and engaged about the same time.”
“So, what is it? Why would Ray have such negative feelings toward Rachel?” Kyla asked, remembering how smitten Lee had been when the mature-beyond-her-age brunette had moved to Boaz at the beginning of ninth grade. Lee literally fell in love after one look. But he didn’t have a chance against the athletic Ray Archer.
Lillian jumped up and ran away. Kyla thought she had suddenly gotten sick. But she returned as quickly as she’d left. “It’s getting cold in here. I forgot I left my bedroom window open. Now, to your question. I don’t want to say much because it’s mere speculation right now, but I’m searching. Based on what I’ve observed with Ray, when the name Rachel Kern or Rachel Harding comes up, he’s like the proverbial deer in the headlights. I can’t put my finger on it but there’s a physical reaction.”
“Let’s make a list.” The brainstorming Kyla was always eager to create a hypothesis. “I’ll start. What if something bad happened between the two?” Kyla laughed out loud. “Like, Rachel discovered Ray was gay.”
Lillian returned to the end of the couch. “Funny. Let me assure you that item doesn’t belong on your list. But I know there were rumors.”
“Rumors of what?” It was now Kyla’s turn to stand. Her mind was the one now racing.
“That Ray got Rachel pregnant.”
“No.” Kyla shook her head. “That isn’t enough. Especially given what you’ve said about Ray. And don’t forget, Rachel moved away. She took Ray’s problem to China.”
“Okay, that’s enough of the guessing game. Hopefully, I’m going to learn Ray’s financial secrets, maybe discover he’s dealing drugs or something. Anything to give me an out.”
“What does that mean?”
“The prenup. There’s a clause where he and I promise we have disclosed all our assets, and everything that would apply to the negotiations. If Ray’s been lying to me, let’s say he is a drug dealer, then I am free as a bird, and get half of his wealth.”
Kyla looked at her iPhone. It was half past noon. “I got to get going. I told Lee I’d be back by early afternoon.” Before she left, she apologized to Lillian for not being more help. The two hugged at the back door and Kyla made her way to her Silverado.
Lillian stepped off the bottom step and yelled. “I’ll keep you updated. And you take good care of Lee Harding.” Kyla shook her head and gave her best friend a wave.
When she turned left on Cox Gap Road, she regretted not asking Lillian the question that was on the tip of her tongue: “How are you going to learn this juicy stuff now that you’re no longer living with the man you despise?”
Little did Kyla know Lillian had a plan. Last night, in between moving relays, she installed two hidden video/audio cameras.
The Pencil Driven Life 