Page 54 of Save the Date
“Can I give you a ride home? My truck’s just parked over on Liberty.”
“Thanks, but I’ve got the shop van parked in the lane behind the K of C.”
“Oh.”
***
His face fell, and Cara was secretly glad. They’d had a drink together. Just one. But she was starting to like him. Okay, she’d started liking him the day he brought Poppy back home, and apologized. And she thought just maybe, he kind of liked her.
“You could walk me back over to the van,” she offered. “I’m no fraidycat, but I definitely don’t like walking in these dark downtown lanes at night.”
“Good thinking,” he said. “You never can tell what kind of lowlifes are wandering around down here on a Friday night.” As they moved down the sidewalk, she hesitated, but then reached over and tucked her hand through his arm. “For safety,” she said gravely. “Because you really never can tell.”
He squeezed her hand, and gave her a sideways glance, and her smile was warm, as though they both shared some exciting new secret.
He could have covered the two blocks to the K of C hall in less than five minutes. Instead, he took his own sweet time. Hestrolled. It was a typical May night in Savannah, in the mid-eighties, and the scent of her light, flowery perfume wafted in the warm evening air.
She was walking slowly, too. “I’m a house voyeur,” she confessed, as they passed a stately town house. “I love walking around downtown, peeking in the lit windows. I want to see what kind of furniture people have, the pictures hanging on their walls, their wallpaper. My ex used to accuse me of being a peeping Tom. You ever do that?”
“No. Okay, occasionally. But I’m trying to see the molding profile, the staircase details, the old hardware, and the window casings.”
“I’m even worse when it comes to gardens. I’m forever riding down lanes, hoping for a glimpse into somebody’s courtyard. Someday, somebody’s probably going to see me peeking through their fence and sic the cops on me.”
“Like I tried to do after you followed me home a couple weeks ago?”
“I guess it’s lucky for both of us the cops had better things to do that night,” Cara said. They walked past Liberty Street and entered the lane that ran behind the Knights of Columbus hall. Jack took the opportunity to put a protective arm around Cara’s shoulder. Just in case.
“This is me.” The pale pink striped Bloom van was parked near the K of C’s back door. They heard music from inside. A group of men were standing just down the lane, talking loudly, their lit cigarettes making an arc in the inky night. They heard a loud metallic clatter, as something was tossed against a battered trash can.
“Party’s still going,” Jack said, nodding in that direction. “I think I recognize a couple of those guys from the wedding. Tommy Hart, the guy in the black fedora? He used to date Meghan.”
“I hope Bert’s gone home by now,” Cara said. “He’s been sober two years now, and I shouldn’t worry about him, I know, but it can’t be easy for him, being around parties and booze all the time, every time we do a wedding.”
“Want me to go inside and check on him?” Jack offered.
“No. He’s a grown-up. I don’t want him to think I don’t trust him. What about you, will you go back inside, to find your sister?”
Instead of answering, he pulled his phone from his pocket and showed her the screen. There was a text message—
Gone out with the girlz. Don’t tell Mom.
He grinned. “That’s Meghan for you.”
Cara reached in her bag for her keys, and he moved closer beside her, with his hand on her arm, and she realized, with a start, that he was probably going to kiss her. A little frizzle of electricity shot up her spine, as she realized she hoped he would.
She found the key and fit it in the lock. His hand touched her cheek, lightly, and he leaned down.
“Hey, asshole!”A man’s voice echoed in the lane. They heard glass splintering against concrete, and more voices.
“Drunks,” Jack said, shrugging.
“What the fuck? Man, that’s not cool!”
Jack jerked his head around to see what was happening.
More glass shattering. Shouts.
A door opened from a town house at the entrance to the lane, spilling light into the lane. They could see four men, clumped together, and a fifth man, sprawled on his back on the broken asphalt.
