The Big 5-Oh! (22 page)

“What about the young part?” she teased. “We’re old enough to know better.”

Jared dropped a sigh and then fell silent. The unspoken words hanging from the tip of his tongue throbbed, aching to be released.

I love you
, he wanted to declare.
I don’t want you to leave. Instead, I want you to marry me and stay here and make a life with me.

“I’ve loved every minute we’ve spent together,” Liv told him, and his heart ached with the implication of her words.

But I’m going home and leaving you here alone.

“So have I,” he interrupted.

“Meeting you on the plane that day was the greatest gift.”

Stop now
, he thought.
Enough lead-up to good-bye. Just don’t say anything else
.

“I’ll miss you so much,” she added.

“I’ll miss you too.”

Jared wrapped his arm around Liv's shoulder and pulled her toward him. The last thing he wanted was for their eyes to meet at that moment and for Liv to see all the love and grief standing there.

I can’t do this on my own
, he thought.
Now that I’ve fallen for her, how do I let her go? Help me let her go gracefully, Lord.

The meadow seemed so far away now. As Prudence prepared for the journey back, her heart sank lower and lower.

“It's so hard to say good-bye to all of you,” she declared, her donkey eyes brimming with dewy emotion. And then her gaze met the stallion's, and the tears spilled out without warning. “I’ll never forget you.”

Horatio landed on Prudence's neck, and he soothed her with his outstretched wing.

“Will you ever come back?” one of her new friends asked.

Prudence lifted her lopped ear and cocked her head. “I don’t see how,” she said. “But I think I might believe in miracles more now than I used to.”

“A good miracle is always a dandy thing to hang on to,” Horatio hooted.

R
ain came down in sheets for most of the night, but in the light of morning it had deteriorated to a fine mist squeezed out of gloomy, gray clouds that blocked out every inch of sky.

The tow truck wouldn’t get to them for several hours, and Jared, Liv, and Georgia stood inside the open garage surveying the damage beneath the broken tree.

“How will I return my rental car,” Liv finally asked, “if I can’t get it out of the garage?”

In another week, Rand would be going back to England with his new wife by his side. And now Jared found himself in the bizarre position of standing in a garage trying to figure out ways to help Liv leave as well.

“You can take a taxi to the airport,” he offered. “I’ll return the rental this afternoon, after they tow Georgia's car.”

“You would do that?” she asked, turning toward him.

“Of course.”

Liv twisted back again, facing outward. Jared thought the three of them must have looked like odd little birds on a wire.

“I wish I didn’t have to go.”

“Then why go?” Georgia asked outright, breaking the line to spin toward Liv on her left. She pressed both hands to her hips. “No, really. I don’t understand. You two have obviously found something in each other that's special, am I right?”

“It's complicated,” Liv told her.

“Love is not complicated,” Georgia said, and then she twirled toward Jared on Liv's right. “I haven’t seen you like this with someone in a year full of Sundays, and now you’re going to just let her go?”

“Liv has a job to get back to, Georgia.”

“There are jobs in Florida, Ja-red.”

“And friends. A house. A life.”

“All of which we have here in Florida, surprisingly enough.”

Jared sighed.

“All right. Fine.” Georgia waved her hand at him. “I’m just sayin’.” She stepped back into line with the other birds at the edge of the garage, staring out toward her battered car, scowling in silence. Three different versions of the same frozen statue.

“I guess I should go pack,” Liv muttered.

“I’ll check on your flight,” Jared said.

And then Liv went one way, Jared went the other, and Georgia was left standing there alone.

“Talkin’ to you two is like a kick in the fanny with a frozen boot,” Jared heard her say.

It was all he could do to keep from laughing out loud. He kind of understood the sentiment.

“Yes. The eleven-thirty flight out to Cincinnati. Will it be on schedule?”

“Do you want me to pick you up at the airport?”

“Oh, Hallie, no. I can grab a cab. I don’t want you out in the cold, going all that way.”

“Did you ever find it strange that the Cincinnati airport is across the river in Kentucky?” Hallie asked, and Liv chuckled.

“I have always found that strange.”

“But really, I don’t mind going out in the cold for you. I mean, it's cold, but it's
a dry cold
.”

Laughter popped out of her, and Liv shook her head. “I’ve really missed you.”

“You have not. But thanks for saying so.”

“Tell Josie that Jared and Rand are going to watch after Boofer until she gets back on Tuesday. Oh! And Clayton had a heart attack yesterday.”

“What? Is he all right?”

“He had surgery for a blockage, but Jared says he's doing really well, all things considered.”

“Thank the Lord. Mama would be heartbroken if anything happened to that old coot.”

“I think I would too,” Liv admitted, and Hallie laughed at that.

“Really! The last I heard, you were thinking of drowning him in my mother's swimming pool.”

“We’ve had a moment or two since then. I’ve kind of learned to see his better side.”

“Shocking.”

“You’re not kidding.”

“Are you sure you want to come back so soon?”

Liv squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, and then sighed.

“No. But I have to, if I want to keep my job.”

“And you do?”

“I do … what?”

“Want to keep your job?”

“I need to, Hallie.”

“Okay. Just checking,” she remarked. “I’ll see you tonight then. Call me when you’re home, and I’ll bring you some supper.”

“Thanks.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Liv tossed her cell phone to the bed, and then lifted her suitcase to rest beside it. Pushing on the top of the bag, she scissored the zipper back and forth until it closed. Boofer hopped up on the bed, and Liv dropped down beside her.

“It's been very nice to make your acquaintance, ”she told the dog, and Boofer reciprocated with a quick lick to Liv's hand. “You are a very nice dog, barring the Morey incident, and our
initial meeting, of course. But I’ve appreciated your company very much.”

Boofer fell over to one side and propped her head on Liv's knee. Tilting backward, she gazed at Liv, upside down.

“I know. It's so hard to say good-bye, isn’t it? But it's not forever. I’ll come for a visit now and then.”

Liv wondered if that was true, but she knew she had to tell herself that she’d be back to keep from losing it completely.

“Oh, Lord,” she prayed on a whisper, and then she clamped her eyes shut and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know why you brought me here to meet someone like Jared, only to have me leave him behind just when I’m starting to fall—” She couldn’t say the words out loud, so she thought them.

—
in love.

“Give me the strength to do what I have to. Help me let him go gracefully, Lord.”

Boofer gave a little whimper of support, and Liv raked her fingers through the dog's fur.

“And amen from me too.”

An hour later, Liv silently prayed for grace once more as the driver of the town car Jared had arranged tossed her bag into the trunk. Liv stood at the curb beneath a light mist of rain, facing Jared and Georgia to say good-bye.

“We didn’t get off to a very good start,” Georgia said softly as they embraced. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Water under the bridge,” Liv promised her.

“Y’all come back now, ya hear?” Georgia said in her best Southern twang as they parted, and Liv nodded. “I mean it. You come back.”

“I will.”

“I’m sorry you can’t stay,” Jared said, taking her hands into his. “Rand just told me that he and Shelby are getting married tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!” Liv exclaimed.

“There's something to be said for spontaneity when it comes to love, isn’t there?” Georgia rang in, but when Liv and Jared stared her down, she tossed her hands into the air. “I’m just sayin’.”

Jared squeezed her hands, and Liv turned back toward him. “It's going to be a very cold summer here without you,” he told her.

“But it's a dry cold,” she remarked, stealing Hallie's line.

“Ha!” he laughed, and then the amusement melted from his eyes like wax down the side of a candle. “Come here.”

Jared wrapped her in his arms and held her close while Liv fought back the tears that threatened to fall at any second.

Grace
, she thought.
Please, give me your grace.

“Call me when you’re home safely,” he whispered.

“I will.”

“And maybe I can plan a long weekend up there sometime soon.”

Liv gulped a pocket of air and nodded. “That would be so great.”

She’d never noticed those flecks of gold in Jared's eyes before, but now she couldn’t look away from them. She felt a little lost in them, in fact, like trying to swim through the inlet around Sanibel's lighthouse, with leg irons fastened securely into place.

Jared inched toward her, and then brought his hands to rest on either side of her face. He paused to guide an unruly spiral wisp of red hair back into place, and then he leaned in and kissed her with such tenderness that Liv thought it might just do her in. But the spectacle of her teeming, unpredictable emotions dissolved instead, leaving only the crushing stir of her love for Jared in their place.

“Safe trip,” he said, soft and sweet.

“Take care of yourself, Jared,” she replied, running one finger down the length of his square jaw. “Give my love to Rand and Shelby?”

“I will.”

Georgia had moved up the driveway toward the house, shielding her helmet of teased hair from the rain. Liv caught sight of her there, one hand pressed over her mouth, watching as she bid Jared a sorrowful adieu. Liv waved at her, and Georgia tossed back a haphazard finger-wiggle. And then one last glance at Jared, and Liv dropped her eyes and climbed into the back seat of the shiny black car.

She couldn’t look back, despite the inclination to do so. She just faced front with a stiff resolve as the driver added distance between her and Jared, and she felt just as gloomy and turbulent inside as the sky looked outside. And then, just like that greenish sky stretched out ahead of her, Liv's own clouds broke and down came the rain.

“Would you like tissues?” the driver asked her after a few minutes of quiet, sniffling tears.

“Yes, please.”

He handed her the box over the seat, and Liv went through at least a dozen of them before they reached the airport in Fort Myers.

The winds were high, powering the assailing spears of rain, as Liv jogged toward the terminal. A strobe of lightning foretold the thunderous explosion just as she made it through the glass doors and into the building.