“Myles wasn’t on the bus,” Piper announced when she and Mady came in from school.
Kari turned off the vacuum. Weariness pressed down. Tonight was the first night of bowling league since the alley had reopened. She thought she was done with this behavior. “I bought bananas when I went shopping if you’re hungry and want a snack. We’re going to have supper early today because I have bowling.”
“Is Autumn coming?” Mady asked.
“No, Myles is going to watch you.”
“He’d better get home, then,” Piper said.
Exactly what Kari was thinking. “Eli’s Coming” by Three Dog Night chimed on her cell phone. The ringtone she’d chosen for Eli. She walked over to the table to pick it up.
“Maybe that’s him,” Piper said.
“No, that’s Mr. Evans. That song always plays when he calls.” Mady crossed her arms, obviously pleased that she knew something her sister didn’t.
Kari didn’t even want to contemplate how Mady had figured that out. “Hi,” she said into the phone.
“See?” Mady pointed at her. “She’s using her nice voice, like she always does when she talks to Mr. Evans.”
Kari moved into the hallway. Did she really use a different voice when she talked with Eli?
“I have Myles with me,” Eli said.
Kari’s stomach sank. What had he done now?
“Liam’s car wouldn’t start, and Myles said he’d take a look. Liam had said he’d drive Myles home if he got the car running, but Myles couldn’t, and he missed the bus.”
Kari leaned against the wall listening to the rhythm of Eli’s voice.
“I’m going to drop Liam off. Then, if it’s okay with you, Myles and I can pick up subs for everyone at the General Store. You won’t have to cook, and we won’t be late for bowling.”
“We certainly wouldn’t want to be late for bowling. Should I expect you here at 1700 hours?”
“Affirmative.”
“See you then.” Kari closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall.
“Mommy, are you sleeping?” Mady stood at the head of the hallway.
“Of course I’m not sleeping.” She hadn’t felt this awake and alive in a long time.
Eli walked Kari from the bowling alley to his truck. “I think tonight went pretty well.”
“You would. You beat me and almost everyone else in the place all three games.”
He opened the door for her. “There is that. I meant getting the subs, eating with Myles and the girls and things in general.” He closed the door and walked around to his side of the truck. This wasn’t the smooth, cool segue he’d practiced.
“Yes, I think Myles is finally warming to you,” she said as he climbed in and shut the door.
But was Myles’s mother warming to him? That was the question Eli wanted answered. “Forever Wild is playing Glens Falls a week from next Thursday. They’re an Adirondack area band that’s making a name for itself on the national country scene. It’s to benefit the county food pantries. They like to give back to the locals who helped them get a start.
“I’ve seen the signs—everywhere. And I’ve heard them on the radio. They’re good.”
“I like them, too.” Lame, Evans, lame.
Kari’s eyes lit. “Did Myles enlist you to talk up the concert, so I’ll say yes when he asks to go?”
She was still on Myles. “No, I’m talking up the concert so that when I ask you to go with me, you’ll say yes.”
Kari opened her mouth.
“You don’t have to give me an answer right now.” His heart pounded.
“I’ll need to line up a babysitter for Piper and Mady if Myles will be going, which I know he’ll want to.”
She made it sound like it was almost a done deal.
“You can let me know next Friday.” He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
“No,” she said when he lifted his head, her warm breath against his cheek completing the stab to his heart her refusal had started.
“Your face.” She laughed. “I meant no, I won’t let you know next Friday. I’ll let you know right now. I want to go to the concert.”
“Great.” He leaned back in the seat and stifled an impulse to whistle a Forever Wild song.
Thursday evening, Eli pulled open the door to the Glen Falls auditorium, his gaze on Kari. She’d dressed in a soft ivory shirt and what looked like new jeans that fit just right. When he’d told her at the house how nice she looked, Kari had beamed. He’d have to do it more often. She was so beautiful inside and out.
“Looks like a good turnout,” she said.
“Yeah, it sold out fast.” He placed his hand on the small of her back and walked her to their seats. They sat and, as the band worked through its set, he dropped his arm around her shoulders.
The music wound down, and the lead singer announced, “We’re going to take a break, then come back for another set. I hear there are refreshments to keep you entertained until then.”
The dimmed lights turned up, and Eli and Kari walked toward the refreshment tables behind the seats. He took her hand, and she slipped her fingers between his, as if it were a natural thing for her to do.
“Eli.” Patrick Russell stopped them halfway there.
“Patrick. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Brett got us tickets. I want to thank you again for all your help.”
“No problem. So, he’s here with you?” Eli looked past Patrick.
Patrick shook his head. “No,” he said in a subdued voice. “I’m here with Charlie.”
Kari’s hand stiffened in Eli’s.
“We’re giving things a second try.” Patrick looked over his shoulder. “She’d like to apologize to both of you, if you’ll let her.”
Eli nodded. He had no problem hearing Charlie’s apology. Eli could forgive her, even if he might not ever be able to forget all she’d done. He wasn’t so sure about Kari. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.
Patrick led them to his wife.
“Kari, Eli. I didn’t know if you’d come, and I couldn’t blame you if you’d refused. Let me say what I need to say before I lose my nerve. I did awful things to a lot of people, not the least of which was spreading lies about the two of you. I’m sorry. I’m particularly sorry for hurting Piper. I hurt Katy, too.” Charlie’s voice caught.
Patrick slipped his arm around his wife’s waist.
Eli reached deep inside himself. “I forgive you.”
“Thank you.” Tears ran down Charlie’s face. She turned to Kari. “I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but I hope you can find it in your heart to not hold the sins of the mother against the child and let Katy and Piper remain friends.”
Kari clutched Eli’s hand, and her throat muscles worked to swallow. To Eli, the silence surrounding the four of them seemed interminable.
“I forgive you, for Eli’s and the kids’ sakes as well as yours.” Kari looked into his eyes, and his heart swelled. “But you’ll have to forgive me, too. For the time being, Katy can come to our house, but I can’t let Piper come to yours.”
“Fair enough. Thanks again to both of you.” Sounds of the band tuning up punctuated her statement.
Kari was quiet on the walk back to their seats. Eli wanted to tell her he was proud of her for accepting Charlie’s apology, but couldn’t put the right words together.
The band ran through its second set. “Now we have something special for you,” the lead singer said. “The next song is from our new album. It’s a tribute to all of our men and women in uniform and all they and their families give up for us.”
A thundering applause answered the announcement.
The band moved from the first verse to the refrain,
“Don’t worry about me when I’m gone.
“Memories of you will bring me home,”
Kari’s shoulders tensed under his arm. This wasn’t the follow-up she needed to Charlie’s apology. After a moment, she relaxed and continued to tap her foot to the music as she had all evening, except with less enthusiasm. Or so it seemed to him.
The start of the final verse brought a quiet gasp from her.
“Do you want to leave?”
She shook her head.
As the band rolled into the final refrain, tears fell freely down her face.
“Don’t worry about me.
“You’ll be my last thought.
“When I go home without you.
“I’ll be willing away the hurt.
“When I’m heading there.
“Without you.
“Don’t worry about me.
“I’ll be rooting for you.
“To go on with your life without me.”
Eli stared at her helplessly. What had he done? Tonight was supposed to have been a fun night out for her.
At the end of the song, Kari stood with the others in clapping an ovation, tears streaking her cheeks. Eli mechanically brought his hands together while his mind rolled over ways to try to make things up to Kari.
Eli was surprised at the way Kari held herself together, saying goodbye to the people they saw walking out of the auditorium. Her determination to be strong made his heart ache. He so wanted to take her pain for her.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he unlocked the passenger side door of his truck.
Her head jerked up, almost as if she had just noticed him there with her. “John would have liked you. A lot.”
Somehow, her random statement seemed appropriate. “I’m sure I would have liked him, too.” He pulled the door open for her. How could he not like someone Kari had loved?
Kari lapsed back into contemplative silence for the drive to her house.
“I’m happy you asked me to come tonight,” she said as he pulled into her driveway.
“Despite Charlie and the last song?”
“No, more because of Charlie and the last song. They made me see things more clearly. Things I didn’t want to see before.”
“And that’s good?”
“That’s good.”
At the front door, she tilted her face to him, and he reached for her. A light went on in her neighbor’s house and he stopped.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I don’t care who sees us.”
He drew her into his arms and kissed her with a tenderness fueled by the uncertainty that had plagued him all evening, and she returned the kiss with a fierceness that reignited his desire to protect her from all the harms and hurts of the world.