Summer In Iron Springs (25 page)

Phoebe nodded and accepted a stack of plates from
Anna. “Where are Norm and the others?” She asked as she arranged the plates on the dining room table.

“They’re going to be late. Norm and Gina ran into town this morning
, and they’ll pick Stephen up on their way back.” Then, with a hint of hesitation ringing in her words, she added “And Billy said he wouldn’t be coming to breakfast.” She gave Phoebe a sideways glance. “Come to think of it, he hasn’t been here for a meal in a few days. I wonder why?”

Phoebe was silent for a long moment. Should she tell her aunt about what happened? Did she want to get into it with
Anna? “We had a fight,” she finally said.

Anna
nodded her head as she carefully arranged silverware beside each plate.

“I see,” was all she said.

She removed the vase of fresh wild flowers from the center of the table and set it on the kitchen counter. Then, she placed the casserole dish where the flowers had been. They both took their usual seats and Anna gave a blessing on the food.

“Would you like to talk about it?”
Anna asked as she filled Phoebe’s glass with orange juice.

Phoebe held her plate up so
Anna could serve her a slice of the egg casserole. “We were at the Gold Mine—the restaurant on Park street.”

Anna
nodded.

“And this girl,
Sarah, came up to Billy and started flirting with him.”

“What did Billy do?”

“That’s why we’re fighting, he didn’t do anything. And then Sarah said something about how I got arrested—Jenna and Dave were there too. It was awful. Then she said something about my dad being a criminal.” Phoebe’s voice cracked. “Billy didn’t even stand up for me or tell her to stop or anything.”

Anna
pushed her chair back and stood up. She walked over to Phoebe and, after situating a chair so they were facing one another; she sat down beside her. “That must have been terrible for you.”

“It was. It was embarrassing, and horrible. I still can’t believe Billy just sat there and let it happen.” Phoebe wiped a tear from her cheek.

“Have you talked to him about it?” Anna reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind Phoebe’s ear.

Phoebe shook her head. “He tried to talk to me
, but I was just too mad.”

Anna
nodded her head. “That’s understandable. I would be upset if that happened to me.”

Phoebe waited for
Anna to give her advice or tell her what to do—the way adults always do—but when a long moment of silence passed, Phoebe spoke.

“Do you think I should talk to him?”

Anna looked into Phoebe’s eyes and smiled a patient smile. “Well, I have always known Billy to be a fine young man. I wonder if there isn’t a reasonable explanation for his behavior.” She put a hand on Phoebe’s knee and spoke softly. “It couldn’t hurt anything to hear his reasons for acting the way he did.”

Phoebe nodded. She was being stubborn and, even though she couldn’t imagine any good reason for Billy acting the way he did, she knew she at least owed it to him to hear him out. At quarter to seven, she headed out the door. As she walked to the trailhead, she thought about
Anna. The quiet composure that was characteristic of Anna’s personality made sharing her feelings about what happened easy. She wondered if that’s what her mother had been like. She wished her mother was still alive so she could talk to her. Phoebe’s thoughts caused a pain to shoot through her heart.

When she got to the trailhead, Billy was there, sitting on a large flat rock.

She glanced into his eyes. They were tired and puffy. She wondered if he’d been losing sleep.

“Hey.”

“Hi." He stood to faced her. "I’m glad you came.” He walked over to meet her. “Can we talk for a minute?”

He motioned for her to sit on the flat rock and when she did, he sat down beside her. There was silence for a minute and then he stood back up. “I had no idea . . .” He shook his head as if searching for the right words. “
You know that Sarah and I dated for a while.” He started pacing back and forth as he talked. “We’ve known each other all our lives.”

Phoebe listened, waiting for the part about why he introduced her as his friend. Maybe she was wrong in assuming they’d moved on from the
friend’s
stage—after all, she hadn’t kissed that many boys. Maybe Billy thought that kissing a girl was no big deal. But, it wasn’t just the kissing. It was the closeness, and the sharing. It was the time they spent together—practically every waking moment. Didn’t any of that mean something to him? And why didn’t he stand up for her when Sarah blurted out the stuff about her arrest and about her father?

“Well . . .” He went on, struggling with every word. “Our mothers got this wild idea that the two of us would grow up together, fall in love, and get married.” He gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “Crazy, I know, but true. I started dating her
, because I felt like I was supposed to. I mean, that is how my life went up until I left home.” He combed his hands through his hair and then put them in his pants pockets. “My dad wanted me to date a suitable girl.” He raised his hands and made quotation marks in the air with his fingers when he said the word
suitable
. “One day, I realized that I was making my dad happy while making myself miserable.”

Phoebe’s mind reeled with questions—including what on earth was
suitable about Sarah—but she sat quiet and waited for Billy to finish.

“We had fun together and, for a while, it was alright. But,
Sarah started wanting to get serious around the same time my dad was pushing me to go to college. I felt like I was being pressured from all sides, and I just couldn’t take it.”

“So you broke it off?” Phoebe asked the question that was hanging in her mind.

“Yes. But like I said before, breaking up with someone like Sarah is not as easy as you’d think it should be.”

“So, you didn’t break it off?”

“I did. But she wouldn’t accept it. She just kept telling me that I was making a mistake and that I would change my mind.” He stared at the ground.

“Well, she obviously thinks you two are still together, or something. I mean, what was all that about the other night?”

“Oh, that was all just for show; it was for you—to make you jealous. That’s how she is. She came home from school for a couple weeks, and I’m sure she heard I had a new girlfriend and . . .”

Phoebe fidgeted in her seat on the rock. “You called me your girlfriend.”

Billy smiled, and his face softened. “Yeah, well; I mean, you are, aren’t you?”

“I thought so, but when you introduced me as—

“I was just nervous. I wasn’t sure what to say and she took me by surprise and I knew you were going to be upset, and I just . . . it was stupid.” He shook his head. “I should have just told her you were my girlfriend. I’m sorry.”

He wasn’t going to get off that easily. There was still more explaining to do. “What about that stuff she said about me? How did she know about it?” She looked Billy in the eyes and saw something there. What was it? Shame? Embarrassment? Guilt?

He stood up again and slowly paced back and forth in front of Phoebe. “Well, before you got here . . . before I knew you. . .” He blew out a long slow breath. “I overheard Anna talking to Alyssa about you coming. Anna said something about how you had gotten arrested and that your dad was sending you to live here.”

“So what, Billy, you just decided, what the heck—I’ll go tell my soon-to-be ex-girlfriend about this? Is that what happened?” Anger warmed Phoebe’s blood as she imagined Billy and
Sarah having a good laugh at her expense.

Billy didn’t say anything
, but the expression on his face answered her question.

“And, what was that whispering about?” Phoebe went on. Phoebe could only imagine what had caused
Sarah to cackle like a Halloween witch. “Were you telling her more juicy gossip about me?”

“That’s not what happened
.”

Phoebe looked away. She didn’t want Billy to see the tears that had filled her eyes.

“Please, Phoebe, look at me.” Billy pleaded.

When she put her back to him, he moved to face her. Then, kneeling down before her
, he looked in her eyes.

“Yes, I told her. It was stupid. I was helping
Anna clean out that bedroom for you when Sarah stopped by. She asked me why you were coming here, and I told her. I know I shouldn’t have. And I know it’s not an excuse, but I didn’t know you then. And, I didn’t feel how I feel now.” Billy shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. I never should have repeated what I’d overheard. Anyway, when she showed up at the restaurant I had a feeling she would say something about it so I asked her not to. That’s what I whispered in her ear.”

“Then why did she laugh? Maybe I just don’t have a sense of humor but that doesn’t seem like something that would make her laugh the way she did.”

“You’re right,” Billy said, nodding his head. “I was so mad at her when she did that because I knew she was just trying to make you think we were talking about you. She’s like that.”

“So, right after you asked her not to say anything about my arrest, she blurts it out in front of everyone? Nice.”

“I know. It was an awful thing to do, and I wish I could go back and change it.”

“You sure didn’t seem upset the other night Billy. You should have said something right then and there.” Phoebe stood up and started heading back down the trail. “I shouldn’t have come here Billy.”

“Wait, Phoebe. Please.” Billy rushed to catch her and when he did, he took hold of her arm. “Please Phoebe. Don’t leave. You’re right. I should have spoken up. That’s a problem I have—it’s part of the reason things got so out of hand with my dad. I need to be better about speaking up in situations like that. Plus, I was nervous and embarrassed about the way she was acting. She can be really obnoxious.”

“You think?”

“I’m sorry Phoebe.” He reached out and took her hand in his, and she pulled it away.

“I wish I could go back to that night and do everything differently. Believe me, I would.”

“Really?” Phoebe glared at him. “Tell me the truth Billy. Were you lying that day in the cabin when you said you didn’t know about my dad? Because if that’s true, you’re the only one in this whole town who didn’t know about it.” Phoebe held her arms out and made a big sweeping gesture.

“I wasn’t lying, I promise.” Billy followed Phoebe as she headed away from the trailhead. “I didn’t know about your dad until you told me about him. I’m not from here. I only started living in Iron Springs full time a year ago. All these other people have lived here their whole lives.” Billy stopped walking and took hold of Phoebe’s arm. “People like Sarah live for this kind of stuff. That’s one of the reasons I broke up with her. She loves to gossip. And in a small town like Iron Springs, what happened with your dad is big news.”

Phoebe searched Billy’s eyes. Was he telling the truth?

“Feebs, this is what I have been trying to tell you for days. I acted like a jerk, I know that. And I’m sorry. But, I wanted you to know what really happened—not what appeared to be happening. I could see it looked bad. Sarah made sure of that. But, I would never do anything to hurt you.”
He pulled Phoebe into his arms and spoke in her ear. “I love you, Phoebe.”

Phoebe pulled back and looked into his eyes. “You do?”

Billy nodded.

Phoebe could sense the sincerity in Billy’s words. She allowed herself to relax in his arms as she thought about how often she had gossiped with her friends about people she didn’t know. Billy hadn’t done anything worse than that. He had passed on some juicy information about her to Sarah—something she probably would have done if she had been in his place.
“I love you too,” Phoebe said. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“This is the point where you forgive me,” Billy whispered.

“I forgive you.” She took a step back and looked at Billy. “But, I need you to do one thing.”

“Anything.”

“Tell her you’re not her boyfriend.”

“I already did. I called her after we left the restaurant and told her that I was dating you. I also told her how childish it was of her to act the way she did.”

“What did she say?”

“She acted like she was innocent. It’s how she does things. She whined and apologized—but what she did was intentional
, and I told her that I wasn’t buying her naive act.”

Phoebe pressed her lips to Billy’s. “Thanks for doing that.”

“So, we’re good? You forgive me?”

“Yes.” She gazed into his eyes. When he lowered his head and
kissed her, she knew the matter was over.

“Thank you for the canvas. I love it.”

“You’re welcome, Feebs. Will you paint something for me?”

Phoebe knew immediately the scene she would paint for Billy. “Yes.”