Best Friends Read online

  “I’ve been accepted at both colleges. It’s no big deal.”

  “Yes, it is,” he said in a determined voice. “You’d hate it and resent me later for missing out.”

  “No, I wouldn’t, Cal.”

  But he wasn’t listening to her. “Besides, I’m not ready to settle down and I don’t think you are, either. I have a lot of things to do before I can support a wife and kids.”

  “Like knocking around Mexico and some Caribbean Islands with your ‘friend,’ MaryAnn?” she snapped, jealousy curling sourly in her belly. MaryAnn was the girl who lived on the farm next to Cal’s parents and Cal had known her forever.

  “You’re jealous because my uncle invited me and MaryAnn on this tour and not you.”

  “Well, shouldn’t I be? You’ll be spending weeks with her instead of me.”

  “He’s the professor in charge; he has to pick qualified people, not just ones who want to tag along.”

  “Oh!” She fought back tears. “That was mean. Your trip will separate us for most of the summer. But you don’t mind that a bit, do you? You care more about the trip than about me!”

  He turned to look straight at her then and said, “Our trip is a worthwhile fact-finding tour of their agriculture and how our countries can help each other, to study how we can help them progress and modernize.”

  Her voice came out ragged. “And that’s more important to you than us?”

  He heaved a long sigh. “There is no ‘us’ right now. We have four long years of college ahead of us. Neither of us is ready for anything like that. Be reasonable, Tami. What if you got pregnant?”

  “That would be a disaster?” She raised her chin, tears threatening again.

  “You know it would. We’d end up dropping out, not being able to afford a family and college. Now isn’t the time for it, that’s all.”

  “Then, I guess I won’t be wearing this anymore.” She reached up behind her neck and unsnapped the gold chain with his class ring she’d worn there so lovingly for over a year.

  She hadn’t taken it off even to shower. To her going steady had meant they were already promised to each other. Obviously it didn’t mean that to him. She’d been a fool!

  She yanked it free, pulled his class ring off the chain and thrust it at him.

  He shrugged, took it and slipped it in his pocket as though it meant nothing to him. Nothing, when her heart was breaking. For a moment, she thought she saw regret in his face, but she couldn’t be sure in the dim moonlight.

  “Tami, I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to be like this…”

  “Please take me home, Cal,” she said, her voice dripping ice.

  With a long sigh, he turned back to face the front and started the car.

  Neither had spoken on the drive home. Tami stared out the window, blinking back tears. He was not going to see her cry.

  When he stopped in front of her parent’s house, he turned to her and said, “Tami…”

  “There’s nothing more to say. Goodbye, Cal. Have a nice life.”

  She got out and slammed his car door, then strode up the sidewalk, her chin high. She managed to hold in the tears until she’d gotten to her room and flopped onto her bed. Then she let them fall freely. So much for her silly dreams of a happy future with Cal.

  So, she’d gone off to college and tried to forget about him. But LuAnn was right. She unconsciously compared every man she met to her first real love. And they’d always come up short. They all had some flaw he didn’t. But Cal had the biggest flaw of all—he hadn’t loved her back. Why couldn’t her silly heart accept that?

  She’d never even told him or anyone else back in Conley that she’d never gotten to that fancy college out east, either. Her father had died that summer and her mother had finally had to admit they’d been living way beyond their means. Even with the scholarship she’d won, they couldn’t afford it.

  So, they’d moved to Mankato and she’d lived at home while attending the local college and working part time. Her mother still lived there, but Tami seldom saw her now. She’d gotten involved in college and made new friends, even married. Well, that hadn’t lasted long enough to count, had it? It had been a spur of the moment thing, when she’d been feeling down after hearing that traitor Cal had married in college after all, to the neighbor girl and they were expecting a baby. He hadn’t wanted to live with Tami for fear of that happening, but then married Mary Ann only two years later? Boy, had that hurt.

  So when Harvey, whom she’d been casually dating, had proposed for the third time that week, Tami had accepted and married him. Big mistake, as they both agreed only a few months later. And divorced. She sighed at the memory and got up and paced her apartment.

  Now, this class reunion meant she would have to face Cal again. For a moment, hope surged as she had a thought. Maybe she’d get lucky. Maybe Cal wouldn’t even show up for the reunion. There were always no-shows at every reunion, weren’t there? Maybe she could do this assignment without even meeting him. That thought warmed her for all of thirty seconds before she faced reality.

  Yeah, fat chance. He’d be there. He still lived there and Aunt Cora, who also lived there, gave her an unasked for up-date on him every time she talked to her. That was the main reason she hadn’t gone to see that dear soul in years, though she’d invited her to Minneapolis several times.

  Tami weighed her options. No matter how she looked at the situation, the answer was the same. Short of quitting her job, she didn’t have any choice but to do the assignment Mr. Edwards had given her. With a sigh, she took the reunion invitation from her purse and dialed Linda, who still lived near Conley.

  “Oh, Tami! I’m so glad to hear from you,” Linda enthused. “Are you really coming to help with the reunion plans? That’s great! You’ll stay with me, won’t you?”

  “No, I’d better stay with Aunt Cora,” Tami said, thinking with a shudder of Linda’s three little ones. She wasn’t used to kids and knew she’d better not chance trying to stay there. “I owe Aunt Cora a visit. She’s been unhappy with me for quite a while for not coming to see her.”

  “Yes, she mentioned she’d only seen you when she went to the Twin Cities shopping. Will you be down in time for a planning session tomorrow night?”

  “Sure. I can leave around noon tomorrow.”

  “I’ll pick you up at Cora’s about quarter to seven, then. See you tomorrow night.”

  ~*~

  In her home near Conley, Linda hung up the phone and gave a whoop. “All right!”

  Immediately she phoned her friend and former classmate, Sally Kenner, and broke the news. “Tami’s coming back to town, Sally! She'll be here for the meeting tomorrow night. Isn’t that great? I told you she’d come to the reunion! It’s high time we got her and Cal Lentz back together.”

  “She’s really coming? I wonder why?”

  “Because I wrote and asked her, of course. Maybe she just needed a little reassurance she was welcome.”

  “Oh, I don’t know, Linda. It must be more than that. After all, it’s been ten years since she and Cal broke up. She didn’t even come back for his dad’s funeral or Mary Ann’s.”

  “Well, you can hardly expect her to come to his wife’s funeral,” Linda scoffed.

  “You’re right. Guess I’d feel funny doing that, too, if my boyfriend had married someone else. Even Sam agreed it was better she didn’t come, and you know my husband seldom thinks I’m right about anything.”

  “Well, she’s coming back now. And it’ll work out, you’ll see. So, I’ll bring her along to the planning meeting tomorrow night. Don’t say anything to Sam or Cal, or Cal might not come. He can be contrary, you know.”

  “I’m not so sure this is a good idea, Linda.”

  “Come on, Sally, I know I’m right. They just need a little push to get back together. I never did understand their breaking up.”

  “What if they’re barely polite and ignore each other?”

  “Then, we’ll have to give them a nudg
e. Hm, what will work? I know. I’ll say I’m too busy to work on finding all the addresses for the invitations. You refuse, too. You’ve got a good excuse with your job of babysitting. We’ll assign that job to Cal and Tami. Then they’ll have to talk to each other. You’ll have to get Sam to go along with our plan.”

  “Okay, but if Sam’s mad at me, I’m telling him you made me do it.”

  Linda laughed. “Make his favorite supper and put him in a good mood.”

  “That’s exactly what I had in mind. It’s probably the only thing that’ll save our hides. Fried chicken it is. Why don’t you and Tami come for supper, too?”

  “Sounds great, but no, I’m afraid their meeting again may be too upsetting to handle over a meal. You’d better feed the men first and soften them up, and then I’ll pop in with Tami.”

  “All right. Whatever you think will work.”

  “I’ll see you at tomorrow night at seven.”

  Chapter 2

  The next day, Tami reluctantly packed her suitcase. She made sure she had her laptop, cell phone, small tape recorder and digital camera. Getting in her small red Chevrolet, she headed south on Interstate Thirty-Five out of Minneapolis. In no time, the cold March drizzle forced her to turn on her windshield wipers. The rhythmic swish-swish seemed to close out everything except her memories of the hometown where she was going—memories of Cal Lentz, her first love gone wrong. He’d been the local sports hero and she’d led his cheering section. Her lips twisted wryly as she negotiated her little car around another semi. Truck traffic seemed unusually heavy today.

  She hadn’t ever intended to return to Conley when she’d gone off to college ten years before, excited about seeing more of the world than their little rural town. Ten long, bitter years. Years of hard work and struggle, of hopes come true, then dashed against the rocks of divorce and disillusionment.

  Conley was a small town and the people there thrived on gossip. Aunt Cora still lived there, so they’d probably heard all the details of her divorce. But not even Aunt Cora knew all of it. She hadn’t really treated her husband fairly. It hadn’t been his fault he wasn’t like Cal. She’d had no right to judge him so harshly.

  Maybe LuAnn was right. She should take this opportunity to seduce Cal and get him out of her system. Maybe then she’d be ready to give love with another man a fair chance at success. She had to stop comparing everyone to Cal. He hadn’t been perfect, no matter what her heart seemed to think. Yes, that’s what she’d do. She’d swallow her pride and sweet-talk Cal into a hot, short-term affair and “wash that man right out of her hair,” like the song from South Pacific said.

  An hour later she was enjoying a long-overdue visit with her Aunt Cora, beginning with hugs, tea and gingersnaps.

  Tami had always loved coming to see her father’s sister. Cora was tall and thin, but lively and always cheerful. A widow, she lived alone on a farm and rented out the land to a neighbor. Her three children were all grown and had opted for city jobs. All had attended college, and Cora was proud of them, happily sharing the latest news of their lives.

  ~*~

  A few miles away, on the edge of Conley, Cal locked the door of his farm implement store.

  “Goodnight, boss,” Tom, his mechanic, called, getting into his ancient Ford truck.

  “Goodnight, Tom. See you in the morning.” Cal was proud of his niche here, proud to have his name on a store in his own home town. He knew it seemed a small dream to most people, but he’d made it come true. Conley might have under a thousand people, but that was one reason it was such a great place to raise a child. Everyone knew and cared about everyone else.

  Climbing into his battered pickup, Cal headed for Sam and Sally Kenner’s house to pick up his five-year-old son. A widower these past two years, he was lucky to have friends nearby who were willing to baby-sit. Bobby loved to stay at Sally’s and play with her little girl, Jean. Cal had tried taking him to the store with him, but Bobby had soon grown bored and cranky. Besides, with a little boy underfoot, Cal had found it hard to keep his mind on selling machinery or parts to farmers.

  He drove through the quiet, tree-lined streets to Sam’s farm on the edge of town, carefully negotiating a pothole on the graveled driveway. Tall pines formed a U-shape around the two story white frame house which had been in Sam’s family since the turn of the century. At the bottom of the U stood a large red barn which held the prize Holstein dairy cows which were Sam’s pride and joy.

  Scamp, Cal's golden Labrador, met him with a friendly bark. Scamp accompanied Bobby to the farm each day and loved the freedom he had there. Cal patted the big dog’s head in greeting and walked to the house. He gave the door a perfunctory knock and walked inside.

  The delicious odor of frying chicken met his nose, making his stomach growl and his mouth water. Sam was so lucky having a great cook like Sally for a wife.

  “Daddy’s here!” Bobby yelled, running to meet Cal. Sally’s three year old, Jean, was close behind him.

  Cal swung Bobby up for a hug. “Hi, pal, ready to go home?”

  “We had lots of fun today, Dad. We helped Sally make ginger-man cookies.”

  “And Fluffy has kittens down in the barn,” Jean chimed in. “Mom took us down to the barn to see them. We got to hold them.”

  “That’s nice. Hi, beautiful ladies,” Cal said, grinning at Sally and her little daughter over Bobby’s shoulder.

  “Hi yourself, you flatterer,” Sally returned wiping her hands on a paper towel.

  “Is Sam still out in the barn doing the milking?”

  “Yes. He should be in any minute. Why don’t you stay for supper? I made fried chicken.”

  “It smells great. Thanks for the invite.”

  “We’re supposed to meet tonight to get this class reunion stuff ironed out, anyway, remember?”

  Cal groaned. “I knew there was a catch. More reunion stuff? I thought deciding on the time, place and a catered dinner was planning enough.” Painful high school memories crowed in. Tami Johanson. He didn’t want to think about her or the past when he and Tami had been so happy together. That was best left buried.

  “Ha! That’s a man for you,” Sally scoffed. “There’s a ton of other stuff to do. We have to decide on the menu, hire the caterer and send out invitations for starters. And, as class president, you’re in charge, you know.”

  Cal frowned. “That was ten years ago. Isn’t there a statute of limitations on those jobs? Or am I stuck with it forever?”

  The door opened behind him, allowing a cold draft of spring air inside. Sam’s booming voice said, “Trying to weasel out of work again, eh?”

  Cal turned to meet his friend’s grin and slapped his shoulder. “Sure. You know I hate this stuff. Say, you were vice president, and I was told to delegate—”

  Sally laughed behind them, and said, “Come on, wash up for supper before everything gets cold. Linda’s bringing reinforcements around seven. I want to get the kids to bed before they get here.”

  After they ate, Sam and Cal cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher while Sally tucked the little ones in. Bobby agreed to nap upstairs after Cal promised he would take him home as soon as their meeting was finished.

  “Bobby’s still a bit uneasy in strange places, isn’t he?” Sam commented as he put leftovers into plastic containers and covered them.

  Cal nodded. “His mother’s death has left lasting scars. All he remembers is she went shopping and never came back. Hell, sometimes I can’t believe it myself. He was only three when she died. It’s too much for a little boy to understand.”

  “Yes, it is,” Sam agreed, setting the containers in the refrigerator. “That should do it. Want a beer?”

  “Sure.” Cal took the can from Sam and followed him back into the dining room.

  Sally came back downstairs carrying their high school annual and a manila envelope. She put them on the dining room table, saying, “I dug out the list of our classmates.”

  The doorbell rang. Sam crossed th
e room, opened the door and greeted the two ladies who stood there. “Hi Linda, Tami. Come on in. We were about to start the meeting without you.”

  Cal started at the sound of the familiar name and voice. He turned to stare at his high-school sweetheart in surprise. Tami stepped into the dining room behind Linda, smiling and greeting Sam cordially.

  Even though he knew their breakup had been for the best at the time, the pain of it ripped through him. It felt as though the sight of her had pulled the scab off the wound in his heart. Why hadn’t he asked who Linda was bringing to help them? Tami looked just as he remembered, a bit more polished and chic, with red lips and fingernails. Her long blond hair was as silky-looking and gorgeous as ever, her lips just as kissable. He caught the sweet scent of flowers. Yep, she even wore the same perfume.

  Had she dressed up special to come back to show them all how far she’d come from this little burg, as she’d once said she would? Or did she still care enough to dress up, knowing she’d probably run into him?

  Who was he kidding? Beautiful or not, she was probably still the same selfish snob she’d been when she’d said goodbye to him and gone off to the city. She’d always thought his dream of returning to Conley to run his own business was ridiculous.

  ~*~

  Tami turned and her heart pounded erratically. She stared into the narrowed brown eyes of the man she’d loved and left behind. The man who’d refused her. Would he do it again? It was inevitable she would run into him in Conley, of course. She’d known that when she’d taken the assignment. But did it have to be on the first night? She wasn’t ready for this. Maybe she’d never be ready.

  He looked wonderful, a bit older, of course, yet more virile and attractive, if that were possible. There were a few more lines in his face and he wore his dark brown hair a little longer. He’d filled out a bit, too, looking more muscular. He was definitely a man, now.

  He rose to his feet and came forward, surprise on his face. “Well, well. If it isn’t Tami Johanson or whatever your name is now, all dressed to the nines in high heels and cashmere yet,” he said, eyeing her from head to toe. “Did the nice lady take a wrong turn and end up back on the farm?”