That Dog Won't Hunt (Dearing Family Series) (14 page)

Ruth stood in an assembly line at the kitchen counter with Maddy and Sarah, putting together ham sandwiches for a late lunch. She already had potato salad made, and they’d pulled out a large bag of chips from the pantry. Lunch at Dearing reunions tended to be chaotic, folks eating whenever they had the chance. But now that the men had come home early, the family would end up eating together around the dining room table.

Except maybe Ben and Christina. And Jess and Tamel.

She threw a glance across the family room, ever on the watch for any of those four to appear.

Somewhere far down the east wing a door slammed. Ruth stilled.

Hard footsteps stomped up the hall. Had to be Ben.

Slices of ham still in her hand, Ruth hurried through the family room and toward the front hall. Her son was near the top of the stairs.

“Ben!”

He turned, his face taut with anger.

“What happened?”

“I can’t talk right now.” He swiveled and disappeared on the second floor.

Air rushed from Ruth’s lungs.

Heavy-hearted, she made her way back to the kitchen. Maddy and Sarah raised their eyebrows in silent questions. Ruth shook her head. “Looks like now
they’re
fightin’.”

“Oh, boy.” Sarah looked at the line-up of sandwiches. “Guess we’d better make two less.”

“What about Jess?” Maddy held a knife and a jar of mayonnaise. “And should we make one for Tamel?”

“Tamel always wants to eat.” Sarah laid cheese on a slice of bread.

“Yeah, but Jess might not want him to stay.”

“Jess doesn’t know what she wants. That’s the problem.”

Ruth laid the ham slices on a plate and rinsed her hands. Her thoughts still snagged on Ben and Christina. “How can you two be talkin’ about the food at a time like this?”

Sarah put cheese on another sandwich. “Don’t worry, Mama, if it’s meant to be, they’ll work it out.”

What if it wasn’t meant to be? Ben would be devastated.

“As for Jess, she’s so stubborn,” Sarah said. “If she doesn’t see the light during this visit, it’ll be a while before she gets back here. She could lose Tamel altogether. Then she’ll be sorry.”

“Yeah,” Maddy said, “cute as he is, other women’ll flock to him like geese to honey.”

Sarah snickered. “Bees to honey.”

“What?”

“
Bees,
Maddy.”

Maddy screwed up her face. “Bees don’t flock.”

“But they—” Sarah raised both hands. “Oh, never mind.”

Voices sounded in the front hallway.
Jess!
Ruth’s heart wavered. “Here they come,” she whispered. “Now, don’t you two say anything.”

Sarah put on an innocent face. “Who, us?”

All three heads swung toward the family room doorway. Ruth could feel the questions vibrating off Maddy and Sarah.

Jess came through the entrance, followed by Tamel.

“Hi, you two.” Ruth searched Jess’s face. Her daughter held her head high, as if trying to appear nonchalant, even as three pairs of eyes looked her over. All the same, Jess’s expression seemed … softer. “You hungry? We’re makin’ sandwiches. Tamel?”

“Sure, thanks, Mama Ruth.”

Jess gave a tight smile. “Yeah, me too.”

Ruth nodded. Jess looked different beside Tamel. That simmering hurt masked by anger was gone. “You stayin’ for supper, Tamel?”

“No, ma’am, I’d love to, but I need to feed my dad. I’ll be over after supper, though. Jess and I are goin’ out for a while.”

Jess threw dagger gazes at Sarah, then Maddy. Daring either of them to say one word.

“Okay.” Ruth kept her voice light. “Maybe you can have some dessert with us before y’all go.”

“That would be great.”

Ruth shot up a silent prayer of thanks. She turned back to the sandwich-making. From the corner of her eye she glanced at Sarah, unable to keep her lips from curving. Sarah smiled back.

“Where’s Christina and Ben?” Jess asked.

“In their rooms.” Ruth sighed. “Things don’t look good.”

“Oh.” Jess studied the counter. “Wonder if I should try to go and apologize again. Although that didn’t work so well the first time.”

“Maybe you ought to just leave her alone.” Sarah put cheese on the last sandwich. “Whatever’s goin’ on, she and Ben have to work it out.”

“She doesn’t want to work it out, that’s just it. That girl has issues.”

“Shh.” Ruth shot a look toward the hall. “Keep your voice down.”

Jess walked over and laid a hand on her mama’s shoulder. “You’d better prepare yourself. I don’t think this is gonna work. And in the end Ben will be better off without her.”

Ruth would not dwell on that thought. Her son would be crushed. “We just need to give her extra space. She’s had a hard life.”

“I get that, Mama. But she doesn’t seem willin’ to
let
us give her extra space. She’s just decided that for whatever reason, she can’t blend into this family.”

“Well.” Ruth started putting sandwiches on plates. “We’ll see.”

Everyone assembled for lunch—except Ben and Christina. Sy, Jake, and Don were showered and smelling fresh as a flower patch. After lunch Sy planned to haul the lobster corpses down to the dumpster behind Piggly Wiggly. They wouldn’t sit there long before the bin was emptied. Lady Penelope trotted into the dining room as if she’d never encountered the “family’s eating” rule in her life. Sy pointed toward the kitchen and told her to get into her bed. She marched out, nose in the air.

“Where’s Christina, I want to sit by her.” Lacey looked around.

“In her room, restin’.” Sarah patted the place beside her. “Sit here.”

“I’ll go get her.”

“No.”

“But—”

Lacey sat.

“I don’t care if she’s not here.” Alex picked up a potato chip. “She got my clothes dirty.”

“You did that yourself.” Lacey’s eyes flashed. “You’re the one who spilled your pie.”

“She gave it to me.”

“You wanted it!”

“Girls.” Jake frowned at both of them. “Hush.”

“Alex, I don’t want to hear you say one more word about Christina.” Maddy pointed at her daughter.

“But she—”

“You want to go to your room?” Don gave her a hard look.

Alex pouted and shook her head.

“Then be quiet.”

The rest of the meal passed with less than animated conversation between bouts of silence—a first for the Dearings. Ben’s seat looked so empty. Ruth could almost feel the concern for him rolling off each person. She exchanged a long, knowing look with Sy down the length of the table. For the first time she let herself wonder if Christina’s presence in the family would cause more scenes like this. How would they handle it? And Ben’s life could become such a roller coaster.

What if he
was
better off without her?

Ruth could hardly taste her sandwich. There was only so much a mother could do to fix things for her children. When they were little it was much easier. She could kiss the scrapes and bandage the cuts. Nurse them when they were sick. But to stand by and watch an adult child be deeply hurt cut her to the core.

After lunch Tamel left to be with his father. He insisted on dumping the now dead lobsters at Piggly Wiggly for Sy. “No big deal.” He shrugged. “I drive a hearse.” Maddy and Sarah shooed their kids outside to play in the backyard awhile. Sy and Don said they’d toss them the Frisbee.

Sarah and Jake took off to scour the town for the perfect place to shoot the family summer photo. They happened to walk out the door the same time as Tamel, who was lugging the tied plastic bag of lobsters. They stopped for a minute on the sidewalk and talked. Ruth spotted Jess watching them through the front window, Maddy beside her. She joined them.

“Now what do you suppose they’re yakkin’ about?” Jess narrowed her eyes at the threesome.

Maddy lifted a shoulder. “Maybe he’s givin’ them ideas for the picture.”

“He’d better not be.”

Maddy laughed. “You’re just worried they’ll beat your pink bathtubs.”

“Nobody’ll beat my tubs.”

“Uh-huh. Or maybe they’re talkin’ about what happened between you and Tamel.”

Uh-oh.

Jess drew herself up and gave her sister an imperious look. “Nothin’ happened between me and Tamel.”

“Well, you certainly seem to be gettin’ along all of a sudden.”

Jess pulled her mouth in and turned away. Which was all that needed to be said.

Ruth and Maddy exchanged a glance. Maddy gave a thumbs up. Ruth nodded.

Ben eventually came downstairs. Ruth fed him a late lunch. Christina didn’t so much as poke her head out of her room. Ben ate despondently, then moped around the house. He sought consolation in Ruth and his two sisters, moving from teary-eyed to angry and defensive as he related what had happened. Bottom line, he’d done all he could do. Now it was up to Christina.

The afternoon inched by. Ben kept watching the clock and shooting glances toward the hall. Ruth could not stop thinking about Christina locked in her room. Wasn’t she hungry? Shouldn’t she take her some lunch?

Ben said no. “She wants to be left alone, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

“But maybe she’s waitin’ for us to make the first move.”

“I
did
make the first move, Mama. I went to her. And she turned me away.” The hurt in Ben’s voice pierced Ruth’s heart.

The kids, Sy, and Don came inside, cheeks beet red and sweating. “Whoo!” Sy rinsed his face off at the kitchen sink. “I need another shower.” The little girls were dragging. Maddy sent them both to their rooms for a nap. Lacey insisted on taking Penny with her. Penny obliged.

Around four o’clock Jake and Sarah returned, apparently victorious in their search. “What did you find?” Maddy started pestering them as soon as they came in the door.

Jake’s eyes shone. “Not tellin’.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Nope. Just prepare to be amazed.”

“Sarah, tell us.”

“Huh-uh.” She scrunched her nose at Jess and sing-songed, “We’re gonna beat you.”

“We’ll just see about that.” Jess wagged her head.

The picture-taking would take place Sunday afternoon. In the morning they’d go to church. Would Christina be with them for any of it? Certainly by tomorrow morning she’d come out of her room. She had to eat.

No matter what Ben said, Ruth wasn’t about to let a guest starve.