Country Heaven (21 page)

When he crept into the kitchen she was humming Beethoven. The cadence was crystal clear, and it made him wonder what her singing voice sounded like. She had her back to him, washing a dirty pot at the sink, and he snuck his arms around her waist. She screamed and jumped in his arms.

“Never let anyone tell you that your volume matches your body. You’ve got some serious pipes there.”

Tory unclenched her hands from the pot as the water continued to run. “You scared me. Don’t you know better than to sneak up on a person? You’re lucky I didn’t whack you with this pot.” She waved it in the morning sunshine streaming through the window above the sink. “It’s not funny, Rye.”

He grunted. “That’s what you think. That was priceless. Seriously though, your humming has a nice musical quality to it. Why don’t you sing something for me? I suspect that you might have a decent voice.”

Her hands continued scrubbing the pot. “If there’s one thing I never plan to do for you, Rye Crenshaw, it’s
sing.
How stupid would that be? I mean, you’re a professional.”

“Oh, come on. Sing me something.”

“No. Now, why don’t you hit the showers? You smell like someone who got a little reckless and shot up some beer bottles last night.”

Her eyes sparkled like the water in his favorite fishing spot upriver. They both knew he didn’t reek of old beer.

“That’s the scent of a man you’re detecting, darlin’.”

Her laughter followed him out of the room.

***

Tory was flipping bacon when she heard a car pull up outside. She frowned when she looked through the kitchen window. Amelia Ann was heading toward the house, carrying a container of cookies from yesterday. She had on a pink linen dress belted with a white sash. When Tory opened the door, she noted the delicate pearls at the woman’s neck.

Amelia Ann forced a smile. “Good mornin’. I hope it’s not too early for me to drop by.”

Returning the smile, Tory put one bare foot over the other to cover up her lack of shoes and smoothed hair behind her ears, praying she didn’t have bed head. She felt practically undressed next to the other woman.

“No, of course not. I’m making breakfast. Rye’s in the shower, but he should come out soon. I left bacon on the stove. Come on in.”

Still clutching the container to her chest like it was stolen treasure, Amelia Ann nodded and followed her inside, waiting as she put the bacon on a paper towel.

“I managed to save some cookies,” she explained when Tory was done. “Mama dumped the majority in the garbage, but the phone rang, and I managed to save what was left while she was talking with Kim Jenkins. I thought we could keep them here until we could take them to the kids. Mama and I are going to a ladies’ luncheon, or I’d hide them in the car. But it’s going to be a hot one today. The frosting would melt.”

“Don’t worry. We can keep them here.”

“I talked to the kids last night. Annabelle cried on the phone. She wanted her princess cookies. Rory didn’t say anything, but he never does.”

Her heart broke, hearing that. The poor kids.

“You must think we’re monsters.” She twisted her pearls. “To treat children like that.”

Tory, who’d been checking the blueberries for stems, looked up at her with a soft smile. “Amelia Ann, you were in the kitchen making cookies with the rest of us. And now you’ve gone to all this trouble to make sure the kids get what they made. You’re a good aunt.”

Amelia Ann sniffed, reached into her small white purse, and pulled out an embroidered handkerchief.

The woman had an embroidered handkerchief? Tory hadn’t seen one of those since her grandma died.

“I’m really not. If I was a good aunt, I’d stand up for the kids like Rye did.”

She delicately blew her nose, managing not to make a sound. Tory was impressed—she always sounded like a goose.

“That’s why I came this morning. I did some serious thinking last night, and…I want to talk to Rye.” Her usual grace was gone as she stutter–stepped forward. “I want to make a break from family tradition like he did.”

What could that mean? “Amelia Ann, I don’t usually give advice, but you need to find out what’s best for you. It may not be the same as what’s best for your brother.”

“I know that, but…”

Rye walked into the kitchen wearing only a pair of worn jeans. Beads of water still clung to his chest. Did the man have something against drying off and wearing a shirt or was he purposely teasing her?

“I’m hungry. Breakfast about ready?”

Right. Breakfast. Her mind had gone blank, erased by that mouth–drying, awe–inspiring chest. “Yes, I was waiting to put the pancakes on until you came out.”

He turned to his sister. “Mornin’, Amelia Ann. Ah…I didn’t have anything to eat last night, so I ran out of the shower before dressing properly.”

Even Tory thought it was a lame explanation.

“Be right back,” he said and turned and left.

Embarrassment crept across her cheeks.

“My, my,
are you sure there’s nothing between my brother and you?” his sister asked with a sly smile. “I know what you said, but… He was raised to never walk around shirtless unless we were at the lake.”

Tory had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing. “Have you seen his promotional materials? His chest and butt are prominently featured, guaranteed to inspire salacious fantasies in even the most repressed schoolmarms.”

Amelia Ann smoothed an invisible wrinkle in her dress. “Yes, but that’s business. And that’s not here. I figured he’d revert back to some of his old habits.”

Tory did laugh this time. “I’m sorry, but are we talking about Rye Crenshaw?”

“You can laugh, but people who were raised in a rigid and structured environment tend to do two things. They keep following the straight line like Tammy. Or they swing too far the other way—like Rye. I’m hoping to end up somewhere in the middle. But I need help. That’s why I’m here.”

Tory studied the young woman closer. She might look like a frothy confection from an elite bakery, but there was more substance to her than Tory had originally expected. “You’re absolutely right, Amelia Ann.”

She smiled, and this time there was a barbed edged to it. “Being a cultural anthropologist, I thought you would have understood something about my brother. Rye Crenshaw is as big a fake as Rye Hollins was. He still hasn’t figured out who he is.”

Tory felt her chest tighten. Yes, she had begun to suspect that very thing. The man she had slept with on the couch last night was so much more complicated than she’d originally thought. And more endearing. There was trouble there—and heartache.

She didn’t want to think about why she wasn’t running away from it.

***

Rye strode into the kitchen wearing a white T–shirt. He’d noticed Amelia Ann’s surprise when he emerged bare chested. It irritated him to think about how he’d turned tail and run from the kitchen because his sister had caught him trying to make a move. Where was his mojo? Hell, he was used to fifty people milling about and taking pictures of him in revealing clothing.

Tory was flipping pancakes on a smoking griddle when Rye walked up and kissed Amelia Ann on the cheek. He froze when her arms clamped around him. This was not her usual embrace.
Uh–oh.

“What’s the matter? It’s not Daddy, is it?”

“No. I’m just so glad you’re here, Rye.”

He smoothed a hand over her blond hair and closed his eyes. “I’ve missed you, too.”

She took a deep breath and stepped back, and he braced himself for what she was going to say next.

“Rye, I… Ah, I need your help. I got into Vanderbilt law school, and I want to go.” The words rushed out faster than the usual cadence of her speech.

If his mama had streaked at a church picnic, he wouldn’t have been more shocked. “You what?”

Her brow furrowed, and her lip trembled for a moment. “I said that I got into Vandy law school.”

“I know, but…” Was he sputtering?

“I took the LSATs and scored a 180.”

“A 180!” Holy shit. He’d only scored 172, and that had been considered superlative. “But I don’t understand. You’ve never mentioned wanting to do this before. I’m plumb flabbergasted, Amelia Ann.”

Her voice fell to a whisper as she confessed her darkest secret. “I joined the debate team at Old Miss, Rye, and I loved it. From then on, it’s been my dream to become a lawyer.”

Debate? His sister? She never stood up for herself at home.

“And I’m good at it, too. When I make an argument and win? Well, it’s probably the best I’ve ever felt in my whole life.” Her eyes twinkled at that.

“This is a huge decision, honey,” he said. Mama would raise holy hell, and he wasn’t sure what it would be like to have his sister live so close to him. His lifestyle wasn’t exactly…upstanding. “Are you sure—”

“I don’t want to end up like Tammy or Mama,” she whispered, her eyes suddenly wet with tears.

His mouth opened, but nothing came out. Oh, shit. What could he say to that? “I know you don’t…and you won’t. You’re nothing like them.” But a lawyer? His baby sister?

Her face practically glowed in response. He craned his head to look at Tory, hoping to change the subject. “Breakfast ready yet?”

She nodded and set a platter of steaming pancakes on the kitchen table. “Why don’t you both sit down, have some breakfast, and talk?” She poured them coffee, her face carefully blank. “I’m going to take a walk in the woods.”

Don’t go
, he nearly called as she walked away. He loved his sister, but he didn’t have a clue what to say to her.

Amelia Ann smiled as brightly as a used car salesman as she sat down. “Well, isn’t this just the best looking breakfast? That Tory sure can cook. You’re lucky to have found her. Too bad there’s really nothing more than friendship between you. She seems lovely, Rye. Just lovely.”

Her well–trained artifice was worse than toothpicks under his fingernails. When she reached for the platter with trembling hands, Rye sat down, grabbed them, and squeezed gently. “Stop. You’re killing me here.”

She looked down at her lap.

“All right, you’ve clearly thought this out. Tell me more.”

The women in Mama’s family graduated from Ole Miss before marrying, and the Hollins men went to Vandy for law school and married after that. This would be a big break with tradition, and she knew it. No female in their family had ever done anything like it.

Amelia Ann finally met his eyes, and in them he saw a fierceness he’d never seen before. “I want to go to Vandy like all the Hollins men, Rye. Mama will have me married next spring if I don’t leave here. She already has Barton Pembroke picked out. We’ve had three dinners with his family since I’ve been home this summer, and Mama keeps mentioning him. It’s been near impossible to stay away from his pawing hands when no one is around.”

Oh, Christ, this was just getting worse. He’d always hated Barton Pembroke, a mama’s boy with a predilection for seersucker and pinching girls at church picnics when the adults weren’t looking. And his sister was right. His mama would do everything in her power to force her to marry into that venerable family if she’d set her mind to it. Hadn’t she done the same with Tammy?

“I don’t want to be like Tammy, Rye,” she whispered. “Sterling’s not a good husband. He’s never home and doesn’t spend time with the kids. There’s talk that he runs around on her.”

A frown spread across his face. Part of him wasn’t surprised, but even though he and Tammy didn’t get along, he didn’t want her to suffer.

“Tammy hasn’t mentioned it,” Amelia Ann continued, “but I know she’s not happy. And now it’s spilling onto Rory and Annabelle.”

His mind was spinning around like the cotton candy machine at the state fair. “Let’s back up here. Going to law school to escape marriage is downright extreme, darlin’.”

“I’m not doing it because of that. I’ve never wanted anything like I want this,” she said. “Will you help me talk to Daddy?”

He took a gulp of his coffee and singed his lip. He stopped the swear word from leaking out. “Why haven’t you mentioned this before?”

“I was afraid,” she whispered, lowering her head. “I know you don’t think I’m very smart, and I wasn’t sure I was brave enough…to bear the consequences. After what they did to you…well, I was afraid to lose my family.”

Who wouldn’t be?

“Mama always says intelligent women aren’t attractive and men don’t like them, so I’ve always pretended not to care about my studies. Well, I’m tired of pretending.”

Yeah, he knew all about pretending.

Growing up, she’d never shown an interest in school other than as a place to hang out with her friends and socialize, just like Mama had expected. While she’d done her homework, she’d been a solid B student, not too smart and not too dumb—just like every other girl Rye had grown up with in Meade.

“I was going to tell you at graduation, because I wanted to ask for your help in person, but then everything went sideways and… I was made for the law, Rye, I just know it. I can remember just about anything I hear or read.”

He was excited for her, but he knew her decision would lead to a whole heap of trouble. “Well, you are a Hollins. We’re all pretty smart.” Even if it wasn’t part of his public image.

She beamed. “Exactly. Who cares that only the Hollins men have been the lawyers in the past? It’s the twenty–first century. Can I help it if I have the lawyer gene?”

“It makes me happy to see you this happy, Amelia Ann. It really does.”

But it also terrified him. Mama was going to pitch a fit, and God only knew what Tammy and Daddy would say. “But you know that it’s not that simple, right?”

She bit her lip and stuck out her chin, embodying both fear and courage. “I know. That’s why I’ve kept quiet. I sat on my acceptance letter for as long as I could, but I finally had to tell Vandy my decision…” She gulped. “I told them yes, praying you’d help me. Then this happened.”

He wasn’t following her. “What happened?”

“Daddy’s heart attack and his desire to reconcile with you. I was rather hoping that since Daddy seems to have taken a different view of
you
now, he might be willing to form one of me too. And I wouldn’t have to lose everybody.”