Secrets in the Sand - Carolyn Brown Page 0,22

he gathered up his blanket, tossed the unopened bottle of bourbon in the back of the Bronco with the last six-pack of beer, and started back home to tell his mother what had happened. Tishomingo, like most small towns, had its own special gossip vine, and his mama didn’t need to find out about his past at the beauty shop tomorrow morning.

“Hello, Clancy.” An old movie was playing on late-night television when he crossed the living room and sat down in his dad’s leather recliner next to his mother. She had on one of those mask things that made her face all green and cracked looking, and her hair was wrapped up in a towel. “Did Melissa find you? I told her you’d gone fishing. You know that girl comes to see me every year when she comes to visit her relatives. She says she still feels like I’m her mother-in-law. I think she regrets the way your marriage ended. I hope you aren’t crazy enough to give her a second chance. She just got a divorce a few weeks ago, and she’s always been one of those girls who needs a man around her to tell her how beautiful she is.” She spoke without taking her eyes from the movie. “Good Lord,” she finally noticed Clancy’s feet. “What did you do? Fish barefoot in the water all evening?”

“Nope. I put my feet in the water and then I laid back and watched the moon come up. I tried my damnedest to get sloppy drunk, but it didn’t work,” he said honestly.

“Drunk?” Meredith’s eyes widened out so much that the green mask cracked even more. “You?”

“Yep, me,” he said. “Mother, I’ve got a confession. The summer after my senior year I was sneaking around with Angela Conrad…”

“Not Dotty Conrad’s granddaughter,” she gasped.

“Yes,” he admitted. “I fell in love with her, but I was too young and stupid to realize it. Besides, I couldn’t tell you and Dad.”

“But why? Dotty might not have had money, but she was a fine woman. And Angela was probably the nicest little girl I ever met. Remember, Dotty used to clean house for me?” his mother whispered. “Angela came with her lots of times. But then maybe you didn’t know that. You were usually out with your friends. Anyway, Angela didn’t come with her after she was about sixteen. Dotty said she was cleaning somewhere else so they could make more money.”

“Good grief, you mean Angela was hired help?” Clancy wiped a tear away from his eye.

“Sure. She dusted and ran the vacuum lots of times for Dotty when she was in junior high school, and then she went on to clean for some of my friends,” Meredith answered.

“Mother, she was pregnant at the end of the summer after high school,” he said bluntly, “and I ran out on her. I was scared she’d embarrass me and you and Dad.”

“You did what?” Meredith sat up straighter and gave him “the look.”

Clancy suddenly felt two feet tall. Angela had been right about him, but now his mother was disappointed in him as well.

Meredith shook her finger at him. “I didn’t raise you to be uncaring and selfish. You had a responsibility to that girl, and she was such a nice, sweet kid. Why didn’t you tell me?”

He ducked his head like he did when he was a little boy and had done something he wasn’t proud of. “I was ashamed, confused, and downright stupid.”

“Do I have a grandchild?” she asked.

“No, my son was stillborn. I didn’t find out about it until this week, and now I realize I’m still in love with Angela. Of course, she doesn’t want anything to do with me!” he said miserably.

***

Meredith Morgan had never seen her son so unhappy. Life could take some crazy twists. For weeks, she’d been worried about what everyone in town would say when they found out she’d begun dating again, and now the buzz at the beauty shop tomorrow morning would undoubtedly center on Clancy.

“Since you’ve been honest with me…” Meredith paused. “I’ve been seeing a man.”

Clancy jerked his head around to stare at her. His mother knew that his dad had been right up there next to God in Clancy’s eyes. Granted, his mama wasn’t an old woman, but still the thought of her with someone else made him both sad and angry at the same time. He was speechless for several moments, and when he did try to say something, the words wouldn’t come