on five was magnificent.”
Peyton smiled, held out his hand. “Thank you. Nice to meet you too. Thank you so much for being willing to play the benefit. Your band should draw a huge crowd.”
Jack glanced toward the door. “Well, I best be going.”
“Yes,” Peyton said, “thanks for stopping by.”
I opened my mouth, closed it. What could I say now?
Jack nodded at both of us and closed the door behind him. Peyton and I stood in the hallway. “What the hell was that about?” He backed away from me.
“Just what I said it was about.”
“I come here to tell you I’m sorry, to try and find a way to talk to you about what happened at the restaurant, and I find you in the arms of another man. And why are you soaking wet?”
I looked down at my pants streaked with mud, my wet blouse. “Got caught in the thunderstorm. . . .”
“What did you do?” He touched my shirtsleeve. “Roll around in the mud?”
“Peyton, please . . . he stopped by . . .” I stuttered, stumbled on my words.
“A phone call wouldn’t have sufficed?”
“He was looking at his old house. Look, why don’t we just discuss us, what happened at the restaurant?”
“I’m not in the mood now.” Peyton turned away from me.
“Please don’t be this way. I want to find a way to talk all this out, be able to discuss what is important between us.”
“No secrets, right, Kara? Isn’t that what you asked for the other night? No secrets. Seems like you have some of your own.”
“Jack is not a secret—he’s an old neighbor.”
Peyton sat down on the bottom step of the staircase, dropped his head in his hands. “Tonight, about the photography, I just meant you should give some thought to what you want to do, not run impulsively after it.”
“Okay, I will. I will give it more thought. But we could talk about it.” I touched his clenched fist. “Maybe now isn’t a good time, but maybe you could listen to why I want to try.”
He took my hand, stroked my palm. “I’m sorry, Kara. I’m just under a lot of pressure, and when you said you wanted to leave . . .”
“I didn’t say I wanted to leave. I said I wanted to consider photography school, that I wanted to explore my options.”
“I’m a schmuck,” he said, and drew me toward him.
I fell against his chest.
“Kara, I need to ask you one more question.”
I drew back. “Okay.”
“Where did you say you stayed in Savannah when you went to check out the band for the tournament?”
“The Courtyard Savannah. I told you that already.”
“Then why don’t they have you in the register?”
I pushed away from him. “You checked?”
“Obviously I needed to. No secrets? Shit.” He stood, kicked the edge of the stairwell.
“I never lied. I told you I stayed there . . . I didn’t say I had my own room.”
He leaned down and put his hands on both my shoulders. “That, Kara, is no different from me not telling you I’d been engaged before. You spent the night in some guy’s hotel room.”
“On the couch.”
“Oh, what a gentleman.” He rolled his eyes. Peyton stood up straight and fought for control. I’d seen this struggle before, on the golf course. He stood taller, looked ahead, and his nostrils flared as he took a couple of deep breaths.
The next words that came out of my mouth were unbidden. “I’m not a bad shot.”
“What?” He focused in on me.
“You’re acting like you just had a bad shot on sixteen while you’re two strokes behind.”
“You’re very perceptive, Kara, because that is exactly how I feel. Except right now I’m on eighteen and it’s a golf course I’ve never played before and it’s sudden death for the championship. Something is going on with you and you’re just not acting like yourself. I think I need to go home before this descends into a fight we regret.”
“I agree.”
Peyton kissed me. “I love you. I really do. I’m sorry about this night. Let’s wake up tomorrow and start all over, okay?”
“Good deal.”
He walked out the door, and I sat back in the chair, picked up my glass and let the wine spill warmly all the way down to the knot in my stomach.
No, I wasn’t acting like myself at all. At least not the self I’d grown accustomed to being over the past few years.
I reached for the words Mama had told Daddy. Listen to the hints of your heart. Should a wish