Too Far 02 - Never Too Far

possible.
    Bethy sat back. “Well, if you aren’t gonna pack up and head back to Rosemary with me then at least let’s go out. I need to stay the night before I do that drive again. We can go find some fun somewhere and then crash at a hotel.”
    I nodded. “Yes. That sounds good. Just no honky-tonks.” I couldn’t walk into another one of those. At least not this soon.
    Bethy frowned. “Okay… but is there anything else in this state?”
    She had a point. “Yeah… we can drive into Birmingham. It’s the closest big city.”
    “Perfect. Let’s go have some fun.”

    When we pulled into the driveway at Granny Q’s she was sitting outside on the porch shelling peas. I didn’t want to face her but she had given me a roof over my head for three weeks with no strings attached. She deserved an explanation if she wanted one. I wasn’t sure Cain had told her anything. His truck wasn’t here and I was immensely grateful.
    “Want me to stay in the car?” Bethy asked. It would be easier if she did but Granny Q would see her and call me out for being rude if I didn’t let my friend come inside.
    “You can come with me,” I told her and opened the car door.
    Bethy walked around the front of the car and fell into step beside me. Granny Q hadn’t looked up from her peas yet but I knew she’d heard us. She was thinking about what she was going to say. Cain must have told her. Dang it.
    I looked over at her as she continued to shell those peas in silence. Her short white bobbed hair was all I could see of her. No eye contact. It would be so much easier to just go inside and take advantage of her not speaking to me. But this was her home. If she didn’t want me here I needed to pack up and leave.
    “Hey, Granny Q,” I said and stopped, waiting for her to lift her head to look at me.
    Silence. She was upset with me. Disappointed or mad; I wasn’t sure which. I hated Cain right now for telling her. Couldn’t he keep his mouth shut?
    “This is my friend Bethy. She came to visit me today,” I continued.
    Granny Q finally raised her head and gave Bethy a smile then turned her eyes on me. “You take her on in and fix her a nice big glass of iced tea and give her one of them fried pies I got cooling on the table. Then you come on back out here and talk to me a minute, hmmm.” This wasn’t a request; it was a subtle demand. I nodded and led Bethy inside.
    “Did you piss off the old lady?” Bethy whispered when we were safely inside.
    I shrugged. I wasn’t sure. “Don’t know just yet,” I replied.
    I went to the cabinet and got a tall glass down and went to fixing Bethy a glass of iced tea. I didn’t even ask her if she wanted it. I was just trying to do what Granny Q had said.
    “Here. Drink this and eat a fried pie. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I said and hurried back outside. I needed to get this over with.

Blaire

    The wooden planks cracked under my feet as I stepped back onto the front porch of Granny Q’s house. I let the screen door close behind me with a loud bang before remembering it was old and its springs were long ago rusted. I’d spent many days of my childhood on this front porch shelling peas with Cain and Granny Q. I didn’t want her upset with me. My stomach twisted.
    “Sit down girl and stop looking like you’re ready to cry. God knows I love ya like you’re my own. Thought you would be one day.” She shook her head. “Stupid boy couldn’t get it together. I hoped he’d wake up ‘fore it was too late. But he didn’t, did he? You done gone and found ya someone else.”
    This had not been what I was expecting. I took the seat across from her and began shelling peas so I wouldn’t have to look at her. “Cain and I were over three years ago. Nothing that is happening now is affecting that. He is my friend, that’s all.”
    Granny Q made ahmph sound and shifted in the porch swing she was sitting in. “I don’t believe that. You two wereinseparable as kids. Even as a boy he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. It was funny to watch how much he adored you and didn’t even realize it himself. But boys hit them teenage years and lose their ever loving minds. I hate he did. I hate he lost you, girl. ‘Cause there won’t be another Blaire for Cain. You were it for him.”
    She hadn’t mentioned my pregnancy tests. Did she even know I’d bought them? I didn’t want to recap my past with Cain. Sure we had history but there was so much sadness and regret that I