Carnal Innocence

woman like Edda Lou keeps close track of that kind of female business. She knew.” He closed his eyes briefly, and when they opened again, a trace of the wild rage glowed in them. “Why am I so mad that there wasn’t a baby? She lied, so that means no baby died, and I don’t have to hurt thinking about it anymore.”
    Caroline did hold his hand, even brought it up to her cheek for a moment in comfort. She hadn’t realizedhe had feelings that traveled that deep and difficult a road. The part of her that softened for him would never be able to harden again.
    “Sometimes we hurt more for what might have been than for what is.”
    He turned his palm so that their fingers linked. She had the loveliest and the saddest eyes he’d ever seen. “You sound like you know what I’m talking about.”
    She smiled, and didn’t object when he kissed her knuckles. “I do.” Always cautious, she drew her hand free before it lingered too long in his. “Why don’t I go out and see if Junior’s made it yet?”
    He didn’t want to break the contact yet, not quite yet. With an effort he pushed himself up. “Why don’t we both go?” The room revolved once, slowly, then settled. “If you’ll give me a hand.”
    She looked down at his outstretched hand. It was foolish, she supposed, to think he was asking for more than momentary support. Shaking off the feeling, she reached out and joined her hand with his.

c·h·a·p·t·e·r 10
    J unior Talbot stepped out of the cab of his tow truck, stuck a finger under his Atlanta Braves fielder’s cap, and dug through his tangled mop of red hair to scratch his head. He made a long, slow circle around Tucker’s mangled Porsche, his J. C. Penney work boots crunching on shards of glass. His pale blue eyes were sober in his round, powerfully freckled face. Thoughtfully, he pulled at his full bottom lip.
    Caroline thought he looked like Howdy Doody on tranquilizers.
    “Seems like you got yourself some trouble here,” he said at length.
    “Little bit,” Tucker agreed. “Got a smoke, Junior?”
    “Guess so.” Junior pulled a pack of Winstons from the breast pocket of his grease-stained work shirt. He shook the pack, shooting a cigarette out to the filter, carefully replacing the pack after Tucker had taken it. Then he crouched down to contemplate the mashed fender. There was another long moment of silence. “Sure used to be a pretty car.”
    Tucker knew Junior wasn’t rubbing his nose in it. It was simply his nature to state the obvious. Leaning over,Tucker opened the glove compartment and found a pack of matches. “I s’pose they can fix her up, down in Jackson.”
    Junior thought about that awhile. “I s’pose,” he decided. “Could be you bent the frame, though. They got a way of straightening them out now. Used to be, you bent the frame and that was all she wrote.”
    Tucker smiled through a haze of smoke. “You just can’t stop progress.”
    “That’s the truth.” Taking his time, Junior straightened, then studied the torn grass on the verge of the road, the shower of glass, and the lack of skid marks. After some consideration, he decided to have a cigarette himself. “You know, Tucker, I always said you were the best driver I’ve seen, outside of the time I went down to Daytona to watch the 500.”
    Caroline gave a snort, and was politely ignored.
    “I recall how you took the Bonny boys for twenty dollars in the drag race down on Highway One—back in July of seventy-six it was. They put their Camaro up against your Mustang.” Junior accepted a match from Tucker and lit it with a flick of his thumbnail. “Wasn’t no contest.”
    Tucker remembered the race with pleasure. “Might’ve been closer if Billy T. had let John Thomas drive.”
    Junior nodded agreeably. “Closer, maybe. But neither of those boys got the talent for driving you have.”
    “Idiots,” Caroline said under her breath. If Junior heard her, he pretended not to. He’d been a married man more than a year now, and knew when a man should let his ears work and when he shouldn’t.
    “I gotta ask you,” Junior continued in the same slow, quiet voice. “How’d you happen to hit this pole here?”
    “Well …” Tucker took a considering drag. “You could say the car got away from me. Steering seized up.”
    Junior nodded and continued to smoke. Caroline nearly asked them if they’d like her to go back and fetch a couple of folding chairs so they could have their conversation in