Chapter Three
Mary-Beth and Felicia lifted the heavy feed bag and carried it together to the barn at the McCadden Farm.
“You know, Tanner could’ve carried this for us so we don’t pull a muscle or something,” Felicia said, winded and bent in half over the bag they’d heaved over the buckets near the horse stalls.
“We don’t need his help.” Mary-Beth wouldn’t ask for assistance from a guy who’d had his father send her away. Mr. McCadden’s words still haunted her. “Sorry, but fame and fortune mean more to him than being with you.” Tanner had been too much of a coward to tell her himself, which made the sting of it even worse. One argument, and he’d split without a word. They’d vowed to attend University of Tennessee together, but then he was offered the big scholarship for Notre Dame and ran off without her. He didn’t even consider her or their promises to each other. Poof, he was gone, and she was left behind and forgotten. All for Tanner McCadden to achieve his football star dreams.
Felicia stood, stretching her back. “You’re going to have to speak to him on occasion, so why don’t you just tell him off and get it over with? I mean, you’ve been holding it in for over a decade. You’re going to explode.”
“That doesn’t sound like you,” Mary-Beth said.
Felicia shrugged. “Maybe Declan is rubbing off on me, or maybe I don’t like people messing with my friends. He abandoned you for football without even thinking about the future you both had planned together. It would’ve been one thing if he’d tried to make it right, to make a plan to see you or talk to you about how it might work out long distance, but he didn’t. He only vanished. The coward.”
Mary-Beth thought for a minute about Felicia’s new boyfriend. They’d misjudged the ex-con profoundly. Apparently Mary-Beth wasn’t a good judge of character. The man had been nothing but kind to all in Sugar Maple, despite their prejudice. Maybe that’s why he and Felicia worked so well together… Both faced adversity due to their past—Felicia for being born from a mixed-race couple, and Declan for being born to a deadbeat dad who’d let him take the fall for his embezzlement. “Doesn’t matter. I’d have to care to hold anything in. And I don’t.” She swiped the barn dust from her brow with her flannel sleeve and spied through the decaying wood slats of the barn to check for any sign of Tanner before she waltzed outside.
Felicia followed at her heels. “Why don’t I get Mrs. McCadden to help with the plants? You can head home to be with Andy.”
“He’s still at football practice. I have until ten. And I already closed the coffee shop for the day since it’s Monday.” Mary-Beth slid two potted plants from the back of the truck and carried them to the garden—an old, abandoned, dried-up, wilted garden that needed major tending, but if anyone could transform it by the wedding, it was Felicia. “I’ll help, but you’ll have to direct me.”
“No worries. My amazing boyfriend sketched my ideas into an official plan.”
Mary-Beth smiled, and this time it wasn’t forced. She was genuinely happy that Felicia had found an amazing boyfriend who worked harder than any man she’d ever met. He’d swooped in, saving her nursery, her grandmother from a fire, and Felicia from a lonely life.
“Wait a second…” Felicia set her own plants down on a wooden bench at the edge of the garden. The bench where Tanner had etched their initials on the back, in the center of a heart. “You can’t be here; you’re supposed to be on a date.”
“Nope. That was canceled.”
“Canceled? Since an hour ago?”
Mary-Beth shrugged, knowing that negotiator Felicia would overanalyze the situation.
“Since Tanner rode back into town…into your life?”
“Stop. Tanner has nothing to do with it. The date just didn’t happen.”
“Really? So, Seth canceled on you? The man who keeps hanging out in town just to take you out on dates?”
“Work. He’s here to work.” Mary-Beth hotfooted it back to the truck for the next load, but she wasn’t fast enough. Felicia blocked her at the tailgate.
“Oh no, you don’t. You hold up. No way, no how. You canceled that date.”
“You’re making too much out of it. Seth was…was…too into himself. I don’t need another one of those.”
“You think every man is too into himself. Even the preacher who dedicated his life to helping children out of abusive situations. Listen, I know how hard it is to face a man who broke your heart, but hon, you need to do this. Think of Tanner returning to this farm as an opportunity, a blessing to help you move on with your life. I know you don’t want to. I know it will hurt. But I know you need to do this. And so do you.” Felicia plopped her hand onto Mary-Beth’s shoulder. “Besides, if you don’t talk to him, Davey might send out the minions to tar and southernize him.”
Mary-Beth giggled, not from happiness, but more from a dark place that made her pleased at such a notion. “Would that be such a bad idea?”
“Now that you mention it, if you get the syrup, I can get the leaves, and Davey will stand watch as Tanner writes hundreds of apologies to you to stick to himself.”
“No thanks. I don’t need any grand gestures of love. It worked for Drew to win over Carissa, but honestly, I don’t even like sticky syrup.”
“What?” Felicia offered faux shock for extra emphasis. “A Sugar Maple resident who doesn’t like syrup? Oh hon, you better not say such things. There are ears everywhere.”
“I’d laugh, but there’s truth to that. I’m glad we’re friends and you’ll keep my secret.”
“Always.” Felicia snagged a few more plants and slipped to the side, allowing Mary-Beth to grab her own load. “You know, Tanner will figure out pretty quick that you’re not the one getting married.”
Her breath quickened from the labor or from the thought of Tanner thinking she had moved on without him. “I’m sure he already knows. Certainly his mother will tell him.” Mary-Beth kept her attention on her work, not allowing it to roam down memory lane through the nearby wooded trail that lead out to their cliff, or to their secret tree house hideout, or to the roof of the front porch where they’d look up at the stars most Friday nights after the football games, talking about their dreams.
“Do you remember when we were all kids and we climbed to the top of the large oak over at the lake so you could watch Tanner play football without anyone knowing we were there, because you were grounded and not allowed to leave your room?”
“Don’t remember.” A flash of the memory tried to break through Mary-Beth’s carefully constructed grief-blocking front line of defense.
“You slipped, and your bracelet caught on a branch. We thought you’d lose your entire arm, the way you were dangling and screaming.”
“Still don’t remember.” Mary-Beth set the plants down and went for another load.
“You don’t remember how Tanner dropped the ball five yards from the goal, climbed the fence, and saved you, causing them to lose, wrecking their undefeated season?”