Secrets in the Sand by Carolyn Brown

            Angel opened the door.

            “Wait!” Janie said. Tears began to stream down her cheeks. “Do you really think Jim would leave me?”

            “There are lots of women out there who would fall all over themselves to get a chance at a hardworking, good-looking man like Jim Moore.” Angel closed the door. “You know who that baby belongs to, don’t you?”

            Janie nodded. “But Melissa knows so many of my secrets that…”

            “A best friend wouldn’t blackmail you, girl. You need to ask yourself which is more important to you. Your marriage or your friendship?” Angel said.

            “She had a couple of abortions when she was married to Clancy, and she’s afraid to have another one. I shouldn’t be telling you this. She’s my friend.”

            “I knew the baby wasn’t Clancy’s, and that’s all that’s important to me,” Angel said. “The rest is her business, and yours if you decide to choose her over Jim. You have a nice rest of the evening.”

            “Thanks.” Janie wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. “I needed someone to set me straight. I’m going to call Melissa and tell her that she needs to stay somewhere else when she gets into town.”

            “Again, that’s your business, not mine.” This time Angel got out of the car and went back into the Dairy Queen. She slid into the chair beside Clancy and stuck a straw into her milkshake.

            “No blood or broken bones, I hope,” Clancy said.

            “Wouldn’t blame you if there was,” Jim muttered.

            “Nope.” Angel smiled. “We just had a come-to-Jesus talk. I think she might want to talk to you, Jim. Go on out there. Betcha she’s ready to tell you she’s sorry,” Angela said.

            “Sure, when hell freezes over,” Jim snorted, but he got up and left.

            “Good food, Clancy. Thanks. Not such good company for a little while there, but that’s changed now and the company is as good as the food,” Angel said. “When we get done, let’s go to the creek where the old swinging bridge used to be and sit on the banks in the grass and see if any ducks float by. There used to be a few when I was a little girl. Granny cleaned a couple of houses over there, and I was terrified of that little footbridge back then.”

            Clancy nodded, but it was plain that his attention wasn’t on an old footbridge that crossed Pennington Creek. “What’d you say to Janie?” he asked. “They just drove off, and Jim waved and winked at me.”

            “Not much. I told Janie a few things she needed to hear about Jim.”

            “And?”

            “Oh, all right. I said that I didn’t appreciate being called a bitch, and I told her what I intended to do if she called me that again. And that she needed to figure out what was more important, her marriage or her friendship with Melissa.”

            “So, you are a therapist too?” Clancy teased.

            “No, sir!” Angel answered. “I’m just a woman who saw a problem and told an old classmate about it.”





Chapter 14


            Clancy stopped in the middle of the new concrete bridge that had replaced the old swinging bridge a flood had wiped out years and years ago. “Daddy used to tease Mama about the old bridge. When they were dating, he would speed out to the middle of the bridge and then brake so the bridge would sway back and forth. Mama would scream, and he’d draw her into his arms and comfort her.”

            “I don’t have memories of my folks. They were truck drivers and left me with Granny for weeks on end. When they got killed, I was only three years old,” she said.

            “I’m sorry,” Clancy whispered as he drove the rest of the way across the bridge and parked on the edge of the road near the creek.

            “It is what it is. Granny was a wonderful mother to me,” Angel said. “Looks like the ducks have all gone to roost for the night.”

            “We can get out and sit on the sandbar. It’s not as wide as the one at the dam, but we can sit out there and listen to the crickets and tree frogs,” Clancy said.