Snakes Among Sweet Flowers (19 page)

Cam nodded through it all, trying his best to look like a responsible adult, although he felt more like a kid being left without a babysitter for the first time.

Walter, in his uniform, stood off to the side, seemingly used to leaving these things to his wife. He appeared to be ready to go, but also prepared to stay for quite a bit while his wife finished whatever she was doing. The kids were busy showing Jackson all the things they’d gotten at the dollar store for him, in particular the large stack of board games in the corner.

Jackson smiled dutifully, but was obviously wearing pretty thin and needed quiet. Before Cam could interrupt and corral the kids, Pamela caught on and did it for him. Jackson was given his pain meds, then everyone was shooed from the room and the door closed for good measure.

“You cannot let those kids keep him from getting the rest he needs,” Pamela began after turning to Cam.

Walter looked like he might be thinking of stepping in but decided against it, so Cam assured her. “No problem, ma’am. They have jobs and bikes to ride.”

“Don’t think twice about calling if you find you can’t handle this,” she said.

Cam nodded. “You’ll be the first to know.”

Pamela stared for a moment more, taking stock one last time, then turned and surveyed the bit of the house she could see. Tommasina was curled on one of the couch cushions and appeared to have slept through all the commotion.

“As I said before, you will have guests coming to check in on Jackson. Don’t feel bad about telling them he’s resting or doesn’t need visitors, but they’ll still want to come in and visit. It’s just the way it is here.” She turned back to Cam. “You should probably keep coffee made, have a pitcher of iced tea ready. Maybe lock the cat away in another room. Do you want me to stay for a while?”

Cam’s first instinct was to say no to the offer. He honestly didn’t need Pamela supervising him as he let Jackson sleep, but then he reconsidered. While Pamela came off as bossy, Cam was pretty good at reading people, and he could see the hope in her eyes that he might ask her to stay for a while. This was her son after all, and she had almost lost him.

“Actually, ma’am, it would be right nice if you would. Just to show me how it’s done before leaving me on my own.”

The smile he got from Jackson’s mother was payment enough. She nodded. “All right.” She glanced around again, appearing to consider her options. “Let me ride with Walter back to the house and I’ll come back in my car so he can get back to work. You’ll be fine until then?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll start the coffee.”

She nodded again, seemingly pleased, and headed for the door.

Walter leaned over and shook Cam’s hand. “Smart move, boy.” He grinned and followed his wife out of the house.

Cam stared over at Tommasina, who lifted her head as Walter and Pamela left. “Looks like you’ll have to sleep on my bed for the rest of the afternoon.”

THE REMAINDER
of the day went by in a blur of visitors, each bearing a casserole dish, a Crock-Pot, or a dessert of some sort. Pamela was the consummate hostess, holding court while Cam poured coffee and glasses of tea for their guests. A few of the younger women, presumably former classmates of Jackson, were allowed in to visit for a few minutes, but mostly Pamela kept everyone away from her mending son.

The women who did get to see him seemed to hover around him like bees to a flower, all too eager to claim his nectar for their own. Cam was unimpressed and wished Pamela would run them off as quickly as she had the kids when they’d been eager to have Jackson’s attention. But Pamela seemed very proud of how many women obviously wanted her son and made no beef about showing it.

When Cam left to take the kids home for the day, Jenny Miller was just coming out of Jackson’s room but had accepted an offer for a glass of tea. Cam frowned as he slid into the truck and got it started. That woman was like a dog with a bone. He could tell. She seemed to have it in her mind that if she was unrelenting enough, she could somehow convince Jackson Rhodes that he loved her. He could only imagine how annoying that would be.

Cam wasn’t usually a social person, and although he had done very little to entertain the guests who had come by that day, he felt like he’d run a marathon just having them wandering in and out of his house. There was now enough food in his kitchen to feed an army for an extended siege, and he had heard and forgotten enough names to fill his lifetime quota. If he was this worn-out, he could only imagine how Jackson felt. He hoped this would not continue, because at some point, his graciousness was going to run out, and it was going to be sooner rather than later.

Upon returning to the house, he was pleased to see that Jenny Miller’s car was gone. He walked in to find Pamela relaxing on the couch, looking far more drained than she had while surrounded by people.

“That should be the last of them,” she said wearily. “They do mean well. They all want to help and don’t really think of how much work they put on an already-stressed family. But then again, gossip will know who all didn’t come by or make something, and who brought store-bought too.” She smiled at Cam. “Is it like that in Atlanta or just here?”

He shrugged. “It might be in places. I never saw anything like this. Are you okay? Can I fix you a bite to eat?”

She seemed to shake off her lethargy and stood. “I’m fine. It shouldn’t be as bad tomorrow. Maybe a visitor or two. I told Jenny not to come by tomorrow, but I wouldn’t bet money on her staying away. You can call me if she’s a bother. As much as I wish Jackson would settle down, he doesn’t seem to cotton much to the girls around here.” She shrugged and headed toward the kitchen with her tea glass.

“I tried to keep things washed up as they were used. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take one of these casseroles home for dinner. Talking is more tiring than manual labor.”

Cam couldn’t have agreed more. “Take all you want, ma’am. I think we have enough.”

She smiled and peeked under the aluminum foil on a few. “Throw these here in the freezer. They’ll do fine. And the rest in the refrigerator. I’ll bring some containers tomorrow so we can wash these Crock-Pots and dishes before Wednesday night service. I can drop them by the church before we head out tomorrow evening.”

She must have seen Cam’s eyes widen when she mentioned coming over the next day, so she went on to assure him. “I won’t be staying tomorrow. I’ll come by and check on my boy and bring you the containers. Maybe do a rack of dishes if you need it done. I can also run off Jenny if she is hanging around. But then I’ll leave you to it.”

Cam grinned and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

After picking out a casserole to take home with her, she said good-bye to Jackson, then headed to the door, collecting her things along the way. “Call me if you need anything,” she said over her shoulder before closing the door behind her.

Cam sighed in relief and hurried upstairs to let Tommasina out, then slumped into one of the kitchen chairs once he came back down.

After a few minutes, just as Cam was considering getting up and putting things away, maybe even figuring out what to have for dinner, he heard Jackson calling from the bedroom.

Cam hurried to the door and peeked in. “Hey, man. Getting hungry?”

Jackson shrugged. “A little. Mostly I need a change of scenery. Think I could come out in the living room for a while?”

“Yeah, of course. No one here but us. I can fix you a plate to eat in there.” Cam stepped to the side of the bed but just stood, not sure where to touch or grab in order to help Jackson up.

Jackson slowly pushed his feet off the bed and turned to sit. He puffed like he’d just climbed a mountain or something. Cam grabbed the meds on the dresser and went through them until he found Jackson’s in-between pain pills, the one he could take when he needed something between doses of his heavy-duty medicine.

“Here, take a couple of these and then we’ll get you up and moving.”

Jackson swallowed down the pills, then looked up at Cam. “Let me hold on to you, not the other way around. There’s no good place on my torso to grab, with ribs and spleen and bruises.”

“You only got one good arm, though,” Cam argued.

“It still works pretty good, even if it is my left.” Jackson flexed to demonstrate, then reached out and grabbed Cam’s forearm. Cam tensed his arm to give Jackson something firm to use for support.

The trip to the living room was slow and full of grunts and moans from Jackson. He walked a lot like Charles Evans, including the huffing and puffing, and Cam worried that maybe Jackson was doing more than he should. He had a momentary panic at the thought of Jackson’s mother going full-out gangster on his ass if anything happened to her son.

Once he’d successfully gotten Jackson settled on the couch and propped his feet up, Cam relaxed a bit.

“We have enough food to end world hunger, so what do you feel like eating? There’s casseroles and roasts and soups. Anything sound good?”

Jackson thought for a moment. “Is one of them pork roast?”

Cam nodded. “I think so. With veggies all around.”

“That sounds good. In a bowl, with lots of the juice. Almost like stew.” Jackson laid his head back and closed his eyes.

Cam patted his knee and headed for the kitchen. “You got it.” He put the pork roast in the microwave and then started finding spots in the refrigerator and freezer for the rest of the food. He poured iced tea for each of them and even went ahead and cut pieces of pie. He grabbed the lap tray he’d bought and loaded it up once the roast was hot, then took their meals into the living room.

Jackson pulled his feet up to give Cam room at the other end of the couch and they settled in to eat their dinner. It only took a few bites for Cam to realize all that visiting had been worth it if the rest of the food tasted this good.

They were both quiet until their initial hunger was sated. Then, while poking at a potato, Cam asked, “So that girl, Jenny… I think she kinda….”

“Yeah, I know. In school, she was an easy choice for a date when I needed one. I never thought much about it, but I guess she expected we were going somewhere.” Jackson winced when he shrugged. “I’ve tried to distance myself in the past years, but she isn’t taking no for an answer.”

Cam watched Jackson pick at his food. “You really think it would all fall apart if they knew?”

“What?” Jackson said it like he was frightened someone could possibly hear. “Yes! I mean they know that gays exist, but not here.”

“But… Grant. Are you telling me no one knows about him?” Cam just couldn’t believe it.

“No! Well, I mean… no.” Jackson appeared to be working it out in his head and finally looked up at Cam. “They never talk about it, and as long as he doesn’t either, I guess that makes it okay. I guess. I think it would have to be shoved in their faces for people here to believe it was real. Because it’s something that happens other places.”

Cam nodded and grinned. “So it’s the worst-kept secret ever.”

Jackson huffed out a laugh. “Yeah.”

Cam dug into his pie and took a big bite. After a moment, he ventured on. “I don’t know this town like you do. Probably never will. And I’m not trying to push you to do anything you don’t want, but seems like an awful lot of people around here think the world of you. Just look at the crowds coming by here today.”

Jackson nodded. “That’s why I can’t ever let anyone know. It would be bad, Cam. Real bad.”

Cam let it drop. After all, he was still learning something new every day about living in a small town, but it seemed to him it was far easier to hate someone you didn’t know than someone that was the town golden boy, no matter what the cause.

AFTER THE
dishes were done, Cam stepped to the kitchen doorway to find Jackson staring off into space with Tommasina now comfortably settled on his lap. Although Jackson’s attention appeared to be elsewhere, he was busy sliding his hand down her back.

“More tea?” Cam offered.

Jackson seemed to shake off whatever he was lost in the blue thinking about and smiled. “Yeah. That sounds good.”

Cam went back into the kitchen, and as he was grabbing the tea pitcher from the refrigerator, he heard Jackson call out to him. “What do you do for fun around here?”

Cam chuckled. “Not much, Sheriff. That TV….”

“Yeah, I don’t see it picking up cable or anything.”

“Nah. Got it hooked up to a VCR player, though, if you want to see a movie. Other than that….” Cam came into the living room carrying the glass of tea and a beer for himself. “We could call Grant.”

Jackson’s eyes widened and he quickly said, “No!”

Cam had to set the glass down, he laughed so hard. “I was kidding,” he finally got out. “Just kidding. I don’t want that man around either.”

Jackson chuckled too and reached for his drink. “He’s nothing but trouble, Cam.”

Cam nodded. “I seen that for myself.” After looking around the room, he continued. “Usually I go out on the front porch and listen to the crickets at night. I could get you out there in one of the rockers if you want.”

Jackson scrunched up his nose. “And I’m the country bumpkin? I don’t ever remember going outside just to listen to the bugs. Are you sure you’re from Atlanta?”

Cam laughed again, then shrugged. “Maybe it’s just new and special to me still. You had it all your life and don’t know what you really got here. I didn’t even know places like this existed, you know?”

Jackson nodded and tried to reposition himself. “Yeah. I guess that makes sense. I don’t think I can handle sitting in a wooden rocker, though. Maybe we could open the window and let the night in to us?”

Cam grinned. “Yeah, I can do that. Hold on, Sheriff.” He pushed open the two main windows in the living room so that the breeze came in through the screen, leaving the curtains open wide, then took the cushion off the back of the couch on his end and tapped Jackson on the shoulder. “Lean forward.”

Jackson looked up to him quizzically as he did. “Where are you gonna sit?”

Cam grinned. “You’re the patient. Let me worry about me, okay?” Cam made sure Jackson was comfortable, straightening his legs and even draping a blanket across him, which caused the cat to abandon her spot and stalk off toward the kitchen. Cam then settled on the floor at Jackson’s hip with his back to the sofa.