As Good as the First Time Read online

  How Aunt Joyce ended up with the family house was pretty much, as most of these things seem to go, by default. But unlike some families it hadn’t caused too much animosity between the siblings. Their uncle Clint, he moved out to Sweet Bluff, not far, but in its day considered a better area for starting a family. And their Aunt Kath went on with her husband, and they live on the ritzy—well, ritzy at the time—Cocoa Estates on the other side of the lake. Her house was visible through the attic window. Then there was their mom. She broke everyone’s hearts when she went and married their father and moved to the scary, wild north to follow their father’s work. So, with Aunt Joyce being the last sibling standing, so to speak, and living in the house after the grandparents passed on, it just sort of fell into her hands.

  She’d never married, though it’s been said that she’d dodged quite a few offers. And she stated that she was happy to tend to the house and the shop to keep it safe for future generations. Liv for one was grateful to her for it. At times, she wondered if it was a sacrifice that Aunt Joyce felt was truly worth it. Especially now that she’d had to call all the way to New York to get help in her time of need. Suddenly Liv got an odd pang of both understanding and fear. Would this be her not so many short years from now? Possibly calling to Drea or Elijah for help from her apartment in New York? The mental picture it brought to mind didn’t give her a view half as happy as the one she was seeing reflected in the eyes of Aunt Joyce right now.

  “Well, you girls are home now,” Aunt Joyce said, pulling Liv out of her thoughts. “And while you’re here, I want you to truly consider this your home. I have extra sets of keys for each of you, so you can come and go as you please. You know I’m not big on formalities around here. And I know you both are grown, so I won’t be checking up on you.” She turned and gave Liv a pointed look. “Not too close.”

  Liv pulled back. “What’s that about? Why are you looking at me?”

  “Yeah, why are you looking at her?” Drea chimed in from over her shoulder.

  Liv should have felt partially relieved at that comment, but it was in no way a compliment and she knew it.

  Aunt Joyce feigned a shocked expression. “Who says I’m looking at you? Why should I be? I’m not saying my memory is long. But it sure ain’t short is all I’m saying too.”

  Liv let out a groan. “How about we just focus on that hip of yours and the future and keep memories where they belong, in the past? Cool?”

  Aunt Joyce chuckled as she swatted a hand in the air. “Cool? If you say so, sweetie. Oh, how I’m going to love having you young people around for a while.”

  It was Liv who was laughing and head shaking again a few minutes later as she stepped into the upstairs bedroom she used to share with Drea when they would visit as kids. Once again, the lack of change took her on a quick mental trip back in time. The large-print floral wallpaper was the same, just a little bit more faded, and the same twin brass beds they’d slept on as kids, separated by the small wooden nightstand, still sat opposite the white dresser. The only change was that now it was not missing only one knob, but three or four.

  As she made an attempt to stay grounded in the here and now, Liv made a mental note to stop in the hardware store and pick up dresser knobs. She could at least do that. She reached out and ran a hand across the dresser. It came back spotless. Wow. Missing knobs or not, her aunt had done her best to clean and prepare this room for them, even with her bad hip. She let out a frustrated sigh. Aunt Joyce shouldn’t have done that. Not in her condition. She hoped she’d gotten someone to help her with the cleaning and hadn’t risked injuring herself by doing it on her own. But as quickly as Liv thought it, she knew Aunt Joyce hadn’t arranged any help. The woman was a powerhouse and stubborn as all get-out. Of course she’d done her own cleaning, risk of injury or not.

  Liv turned from the dresser and looked up as a soft breeze hit her face, and she got a glimpse of the light curtains as they fluttered. As if by instinct, on slow, quiet feet she walked over to the window, pushed aside the ruffled fringed curtains, and looked out. There it was, not close enough to touch, but definitely close enough for a short walk over. Clayton Morris’s house. Well, his mom’s house, and now apparently the house where he was living again too. Glancing across and slightly to the left, taking in the closed, nondescript cream curtains, she wondered if he still used that room. Back in their day the curtains had never been closed, and oh, how many days and nights did she spend sitting on this little padded ledge just waiting for the moment when he would appear? Liv blinked, suddenly wanting to break away from her useless, frustrating thoughts. She stepped back from the window, desperate for distance.

  Goodness, if she could not get a grip on even being near his house, how would she deal with seeing him in town? Get over yourself, woman.

  But the words rang hollow in her mind as they melded with images of growing through the years. All her growth spurts happened over the summers here at Sugar Lake, with the warm southern sun seeming to coax her limbs along their journey. From child to girl to young woman. As she’d run barefoot through the grass, an unheard-of luxury back in New York. Bare feet? That was so unlike her. Now that she thought of it, it was only something she’d wanted to do when she was here. But along the way, during those summers that her mother would come down to spend some time to visit with her family, and Daddy would follow later, there was always Clayton. The little boy who’d lived next door. By sheer proximity he was enlisted with the task of entertaining the city kids come to the country for a visit every year. His older brother was there too, but Clayton being closer in age, only one year older than Liv, he was the lucky—or perhaps, unlucky—one constantly pressed into service.

  When they were little it was just thrown-together backyard games of tag, kick the can, and hide-and-seek, but as they got older she didn’t quite remember when she started to anticipate those summer visits. And more important, seeing Clayton Morris again. It must have been when the games changed, and it was no longer hide-and-go-seek, but catch me if you can.

  Liv let out a frustrated snort. Is this what happens when closure never happens, or worse, you carry a ridiculous adolescent torch for way too long? Jeeze, she was so too old for this. And besides, she was five minutes past broken up with Damon, and she didn’t even have her TV or the money for it back yet. She frowned, not sure if she should laugh over what this line of thought said about the state of that relationship or the time spent in it.

  “So you’re going to sleep in this room?” Drea’s voice pulled her up short and had her spinning her head around and away from the Morris house.

  “Where else am I sleeping? Why? Where are you sleeping?”

  Drea gave her a grin and a shrug. “Hey, you have at it. If you don’t mind sleeping in one of these skinny little twin beds. But if you haven’t noticed it’s just you and me now, and only Aunt Joyce here. Finally, we’re here without Mom, Dad, or Elijah. The other bedrooms are free and clear. I’m going to sleep in the bedroom where Mom and Dad usually sleep. I’m stretching out.”

  Liv started to object, but in that moment she decided she didn’t have the strength to put her back into it. The day had already been long enough. She glanced toward the window once again and looked over at the big, white rambling lake house across from theirs. She should fight with her sister and move to the other bedroom. At least that way she wouldn’t be haunted by this view of the past. She’d have enough thoughts of Clayton as she traveled back and forth through town; she didn’t need this daily wake-up reminder. Liv turned back to Drea and opened her mouth when something stopped the intended words in her throat. “You know what, you have at it. Live it up, girl. But don’t come running to me when you’re missing me. I’ll be good here. Besides, I can use the other bed to spread out my clothes and things.”

  Drea grinned and then frowned as if a case of conscience was trying to catch hold. “Are you sure? I know you think I’m selfish, so we can flip a coin or thumb wrestle for the other room if you want.”
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  Liv shook her head at the sweet gesture. “That’s not necessary. You take it, it’s fine.”

  Just then, Aunt Joyce’s voice came from downstairs at the same time they heard the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway. Drea went to the window and angled her neck to get a better view of who was coming. “You girls come on and get down here. Seems the word is gotten out and here comes ol’ Kath. I knew it wouldn’t take her but a hot minute to get on over here when she heard the news,” Aunt Joyce said. “And you might want to put on a sweater because I’m sure she’s bringing a storm.”

  Liv and Drea looked at each other with skeptical expressions. “Did those two ever get along?” Drea asked.

  Liv sighed. “I don’t think so. At least not that I can remember. Come on, let’s go. Might as well see what we’ve gotten ourselves into.” She hooked her arm through Drea’s, clearly surprising her sister with her wide-eyed expression. “How about we show them a united front and let them see how the northern sisters do it.”

  Drea pulled a face. “If you say so. But you think we can pull it off?”

  Liv tugged at her arm. “Just come on. You’re the one who’s supposed to be the actor in the family.”

  * * *

  “Hey, Aunt Kath,” Liv said as she and Drea came down the stairs by way of greeting, but she momentarily froze midflight when she caught sight of her aunt and the other folks she had with her. Not only was Aunt Katherine, formally Goode, now Howell, looking up at them with her clearly assessing gaze, but so was her husband, Uncle Cole, and their cousin Pearl, formally Howell now Gleason, and Pearl’s two little girls. Oh well, the gang was all there.

  The air practically crackled around them as everyone was silent for a moment while the little troupe eyed the familial delegates from New York. Aunt Kath’s gaze was cold and unreadable. Her countenance was very much a mirror image of their own mother’s, except Aunt Katherine’s complexion was lighter, sort of a buttery yellow with the smattering of freckles that she sported on her otherwise unblemished skin, where their mother’s was more of a soft cocoa brown. Liv watched as her aunt’s eyes roved over Liv from her head to her toes, then they went over to Drea, down to her feet and then back up to Drea’s head. No doubt Aunt Kath had just made her own quick judgments about where the two had been, what they had been doing over the past ten to twelve years, and how they had faired during that time. All of this, she was sure, would be relayed as a direct reflection on how their mom and dad had done with raising them. The phone lines would soon be burning up between here and New York and the rest of the county as she spouted her opinions.

  Finally, a flicker of light flashed in her eyes. “What’s with the ‘Hey, Aunt Kath’? Y’all acting like you ain’t been away way too long to be respectable. What you doing standing all the way back there? Get up in here close and let me have a look at you. Give me a proper hug! It’s a shame how long it’s been since you’ve been home. I could shake your mama.” She said the biting words with a smile firmly in place. Her coral-colored lipstick barely budged, but Liv still couldn’t help but bristle at the obvious dig at her mother.

  “You’re right, it sure is. And it’s a shame you all have never made it up to New York to see us. I know my mom would have loved for you to accept one of her many invitations. We particularly missed you at our graduations.” She knew she’d probably pay for it later, but Liv couldn’t help giving a little push back. She was her mother’s daughter, and like her father always said, “It wasn’t like the road only worked one way,” although at times it seemed like it.

  Aunt Kath blinked, obviously surprised by Liv’s comeback. “Oh, we are sorry we missed them, but all that congestion in the city is just no good for my delicate respiratory system. I know your mother understands.”

  Liv frowned, but nodded and decided to let Aunt Kath off the hook. “Well it would seem, delicate or not, you’re no worse for the wear. How is it that time has stood still for you? You haven’t changed a bit or aged a day. I have to spend a little time learning your secrets so I can work on stopping the clock now too.”

  Her words had the desired effect, and Aunt Kath gave her first genuine smile as she giggled. “Oh, stop, Livy. Flattering your old aunt won’t get you anywhere. I’m still going to be angry over finding out about you two being in town from the local gossips.” She turned toward Aunt Joyce with a hard glare. “I suppose you thought you were doing something smart by keeping the secret from me, Joyce. Well, you weren’t.” She gave a curt head nod, then turned back toward Liv and Drea, reaching her arms up and making a gesture for them to come closer. “Oh well, no matter, you all are here now and we’re going to make the best of it. Joyce had her little moment, and now that’s done. We will get to welcoming you in a proper Goode family way.”

  She didn’t know whether it was a groan, but Liv suspected it was and that it came from over where Aunt Joyce was by the kitchen.

  “Come on, now, don’t overwhelm the gals, Katherine,” their uncle Cole said from Aunt Kath’s side. “I’m sure they want to get settled. We don’t want to make too much fanfare out of things.”

  “Yes, Uncle Cole,” Liv said. “We really are happy to see you all, but please don’t make a big deal out of our being here. We just want to help out in the shop a bit and have a little visit with the family. It’s no big deal.”

  “I’d say it’s not,” came the voice from by the entrance to the living room.

  “And it’s good to see you too, Pearl,” Liv said, turning her gaze to her cousin, Aunt Kath and Uncle Cole’s oldest daughter. Pearl was older than Liv by a mere ten months, and Rena was only a year and a half older than that. They were always compared to stair steps when they were kids. A fact that Pearl hated because she never liked being wedged in the middle of anyone. Period.

  Being Aunt Kath’s oldest and most entitled child, Pearl seemed to think the sun rose and set with the fluttering open and closing of her eyes every morning and night. Or at least that was a running joke within the family. It would also seem, from her comment, that nothing in her sunny demeanor had changed. Still in true Pearl form, she put on her best, local beauty queen fake smile and laughed. “Oh, cousin, you know I’m just playing with you. Bless your heart,” she said, and held out both her arms as she walked forward toward Liv and Drea, taking them both in her ample arms and giving them a tight squeeze.

  Pearl’s skin was like her mother’s, a beautiful and unblemished light buttercream hue, and her eyes were a pale hazel passed on from her father’s side of the family. She still seemed to carry on with her homecoming beauty queen airs, though now she was hitting the thirty mark, married, and a mother of two. And by the looks of the swollen belly she was showing off in her minidress, number three would be making an appearance in a few months.

  “Oh, I know you’re just playing,” Liv said. “It’s good to see you, Pearl. And looking so wonderful. When are you due?”

  Pearl rolled her eyes skyward. “Can you believe I still have three and a half more months to go? This one here is gonna be the linebacker that Terrence has been hoping for. He’s a big one and has me constantly on the go. But like I told Terrence, after this I am done. It’s tubes tied up in a tidy bow for me. I’ve got my little angels, Tiffany and Taylor. And with this little one, my Tegan, coming on, my set will be complete.”

  Liv heard a groan from over her shoulder. This time she knew it was Drea. She tried as inconspicuously as she could to give her sister a small poke in the ribs, but she missed the mark when Drea anticipated her and slipped out of the way. “Three Ts, huh? Like Tony! Toni! Toné! You trying to start a singing group?” Drea said with a straight face, but Liv could see the laughter in her eyes.

  Pearl totally missed the joke and gave Drea a look that was serious. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t have my kids going into anything as trite as entertainment, at least not that form of entertainment. Not this little man here.” She rubbed her belly. “He will be All-State just like his father, and then hopefully he’ll go to the pros. Hea
ven knows his father could’ve done it if not for his injuries. And as for my girls, who knows, the world is open for them. There’s Miss Georgia, Miss America, Miss USA, and then Miss Universe. The sky is the limit.” With that comment, the littlest of Pearl’s mini-me’s looked up at her with sparkling, blue-shadowed eyes.

  “I’m gonna be Miss Georgia like you, Mama?” little Tiffany said. She was looking a might bit grubby around the edges of her mouth, as if she’d just wrestled with a blue Popsicle and the Popsicle had won. However, Liv knew by the annual holiday recap letter and card she got from Pearl that when done up, little Miss Tiff was an all-out Toddlers and Tiaras wannabe . . . when she put her heart in it.

  “Now, baby, Mama wasn’t Miss Georgia, but you sure will be if I have any say so in it.” She looked back at Liv with a wide grin. “Like I said, the sky’s the limit.”

  “As long as you’re looking toward the sky.” Liv forced out a smile, one coming more easily when she looked down at little Tiffany. Tiffany looked like a happy and well-adjusted child. She didn’t have any right to judge how her cousin raised her.