CHAPTER 22

BILLY BOB

The day after my breakup with Carly was brutal. But not why you might think. Yes, I felt an element of sadness, but I was more relieved. What made the next day difficult was fatigue. For I had stayed up most of the night reading the book Destiny had loaned me.

However, the book about a prostitute helped me sort out my feelings for Willa. Given my breakup with Carly, and the fact that Willa was carrying my child, probably would have caused lack of sleep anyway. But I finally snagged a couple of hours of sleep around three in the morning. The alarm went of way too soon, but it wasn’t in me to call in.

After work I went to a Hy-Vee grocery store to find myself a quick, premade supper. As I approached the entrance, Dirk Easton was coming out. He and his lovely wife had welcomed a baby girl into the world the day before. This event gave him and I both memorable days, but he was on the much better end of the emotional spectrum.

“Billy!” Dirk exclaimed with possibly the biggest smile I’d ever seen.

“Dirk! Congratulations,” I barely said before his arms went around me for a tight embrace. The single sack he carried flopped against my back, and I noticed several curious faces aimed our way.

“Thanks,” he laughed. “Yesterday was the best day of my life!”

“I bet,” I replied as I marveled at Dirk’s joy. “So what are you doing here?”

He reached into his grocery bag and showed me some brownies. “My gorgeous wife had a hankering for these peanut butter brownies. They’re her favorite. They’re sweetened with honey rather than sugar.”

“What’s your baby’s name?”

“Ella Destiny Easton,” he replied. “She weighed seven pounds, seven ounces.”

“Wonderful! Tell Amy congratulations for me.”

“Yeah, yeah, you bet,” Dirk enthused. “Man, I tell you, Billy. Amy was all sweaty, her hair matted with sweat. But when she held our daughter for the first time, she never looked more beautiful. That image will be burned into my brain until the day I die.”

Dirk laughed and slapped my upper arm. I couldn’t help pulling him into another quick hug, despite curious onlookers. Come to think of it, I’ve never noticed two guys hugging in a grocery store before.

“I better run, good buddy,” Dirk beamed. “Glad I ran into you.”

“Me too,” I replied a little bit in awe. “Take care.”

I watched Dirk practically skip away. I thought of Willa carrying my child. Hy-Vee had a nice little flower shop in their store. Instead of getting supper, I bought Willa a dozen roses and immediately went to her place. I pulled up to find Zella putting a note on her door to inform potential customers that she would be back in twenty minutes. She smiled and waved at me.

“Hi, Zella,” I said as I got out of my truck.

“Hey, Billy Bob,” she replied. “I was about to go get Willa. She’s at Dollar General and her car won’t start. She said she tried calling somebody named Knight Storm but got their voice mail.”

“I’ll go get her Zella. I might even be able to figure out what’s wrong with her car.”

“That would be wonderful,” she sang. “I think she’ll be glad to see you. I’ve actually been a little irritated with you for keeping away from Willa. But I know that witch you’re gonna marry put you up to it.”

“Gee, Zella, tell me what you really think of Carly.”

“Okay, she’s not only a witch, she’s a major …”

“Alright, alright,” I said. “By the way, the marriage is off,” I told her.

“You two broke up?”

“We did,” I nodded.

“Billy Bob, that’s wonderful!”

“I’m starting to think that you don’t like Carly,” I chuckled.

“So why is the marriage off? Did she cheat on you again?”

“She did,” I nodded.

“So now you’re free to resume your friendship or whatever with Willa?” she asked cautiously.

“Or whatever,” I replied.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I brought Willa a dozen roses,” I said, waving a hand toward my truck. “So I’m hoping we will be more than friends. That is, if she’ll have me.”

“Oh honey!” she exclaimed, then the light from her countenance darkened. “I’m sure she’ll have you.”

“You don’t sound too confident.”

“Look, Billy, you have put her off quite a bit. She told me you let that… woman limit even your friendship with Willa. You know, Willa, the woman carrying your child.”

This truth pained me, and I winced. “Guilty as charged! Foolishly guilty! Do you think Willa will forgive me?”

 “Well, the only way you will know is to ask,” Zella replied turning and looking toward the house. Then she clapped both hands on her cheeks. “Oh my! Here we’ve been discussing Willa, while she sits stranded.”

“Right! I’m on my way,” I declared.

Zella followed me to my truck. “Do you want me to put those flowers in a vase?”

“That would be great,” I said as I reached through the window and grabbed them.

“Oh, very pretty,” Zella cooed. “No flower says romance better than red roses.”

Zella turned and marched toward the house. My roses bobbed slightly as they extended from her right hand. She seemed optimistic, and that gave me hope.

“Zella,” I called after her.

“Yes,” she replied as she stopped and turned.

“This card goes with them. Actually, you know Willa rather well. Would you read what I wrote and tell me if you think it’s okay?”

She read it and a warm smile appeared on her face as she nodded approval. She threw her arms around me, and I felt the flowers brush the back of my head as we hugged. She kissed my cheek as we separated. “It’s perfect,” she whispered.

As I made the ten-minute drive to Dollar General, it occurred to me that Willa didn’t try to contact me when she found herself stranded. My level of neglecting her was probably much deeper than I realized. When I spotted Willa, she was leaning against her decade old Dodge Charger and appeared to be texting. She did a double take when she saw me. Much to my relief, her face grew bright, and she waved almost as if flagging me down.

“Hey, Willa,” I said, suddenly getting a flutter of butterflies in my stomach.

“Hey, fancy running into you,” she beamed.

“Actually, Zella told me you broke down, and I offered to come help.”

“Did she call you?” Willa asked with a suspicious frown.

“No, I stopped by your place right when she was about to take off after you.”

“What? Did you get special permission from Carly?” Willa snorted with a look of disgust on her face.

“No need,” I told her. “Carly and I broke up.”

I was hoping for a positive response, similar to Zella’s. Instead she frowned and seemed to take a step back, even though she still leaned against her car.

“I see,” she said as she looked away from me, her frown deepening.

“I stopped by to apologize,” I told her as I now worried whether the flowers were appropriate. Was I getting ahead of myself?

“For what?”

“For allowing Carly to dictate the level of our friendship.”

She shrugged, with a demeanor that appeared to be something between annoyed and hurt. We hemmed and hawed awkwardly for a minute as both of us were apparently tongue-tied. Then the reason why we were standing in the Dollar General parking lot penetrated my feeble brain.

“Why don’t I take a look at your car?” I stammered.

“Oh yeah. Would you?” she replied pleasantly. This made me feel a little more optimistic.

I spotted the potential problem immediately. Her battery cables were corroded. Then when I touched the positive cable, it moved easily. “I see the problem.”

“What is it?”

“I’m afraid it’s your flux capacitor,” I said solemnly.

“Oh no. That sounds serious,” Willa said with a worried look.

“Well, you won’t be able to time travel anymore.”

“Time travel? What are you talking about?”

“Remember the movie ‘Back to the Future’? The flux capacitor was how they were supposedly able to time travel.”

“Not nice teasing a lady in distress,” Willa said with a laugh as she bumped her hip into mine rather hard.

“Willa, careful, our baby,” I jokingly scolded. The playful banter dissipated the tension between us momentarily, and without even thinking, I placed my hand over her belly.

“Yes, our baby,” she repeated as she covered my hand with hers. I smiled at her, and to my delight, she smiled back. But then she removed my hand, and I couldn’t read the nature of her smile. Was it vindictive or pleasant?

“You’ve gotten a little bigger since the last time we saw each other,” I foolishly tried.

“Never ever tell a woman she’s getting bigger,” Willa said scornfully, “even if she’s pregnant.”

“Sorry,” I replied as I jammed my hands in my pockets.

“I’ll let it slide this time,” she replied evenly. Then we began to look at each other uneasily again. So I went to my truck, opened my toolbox, and got a screwdriver and a piece of sandpaper. I scrapped the corrosion off her battery cables and terminals. I put the cables back on and tightened them down.

“There, that should hold. Try starting it,” I said.

Willa climbed into her car and turned the key. The engine rumbled to life, and Willa’s face lit up. “Hey, nice job, Mr. Booker. Thank you.”

Mr. Booker instead of Billy Bob? At least she seemed rather pleased, for the moment anyway. Her mood seemed to be changing every few seconds. Changing hormones? Or maybe the fickle bonehead she was with.

“I’ll follow you back to your place,” I said.

“What for? You already apologized.”

“And you accept my apology?”

“Sure,” she replied with a tired sigh.

“Well,” I stammered. “If I followed you back to your place, I thought we could, you know, hang out and talk.”

“Oh, so you think you can blow me off cause Carly wanted you to and then just pop back into my life like nothing happened?”

“I didn’t blow you off, Willa. We still saw each other at fellowship, but then you stopped coming.”

“I stopped coming because it was getting obvious that I’m pregnant. I’m sorry, but I’m just not ready to tell the congregation about our weird situation. Plus, you have been more focused on marrying Carly and playing father to her baby rather than your own.”

“The truth is, Willa, you’ve been on my mind more than anything.”

Willa and I stared at each other for an uncomfortably long moment. Her blank expression bothered me. I actually would have preferred a scowl.

“Listen, Billy Bob,” Willa finally said mildly, before she turned sarcastic. “Just give me some time to get my head around this new situation. Let me ponder the honor you are now trying to bestow upon me.”

I bowed my head and nodded. “Fair enough. See ya later, Willa.” I stepped toward my truck and opened the door. I glanced back at Willa and gave a little wave. She smiled sadly and waved back. I climbed into my truck and began to turn the key when Willa changed her mind.

“Billy Bob, wait.” she sighed as she exited her car and stepped up to my truck. “On second thought, why don’t you come on over? I made some homemade strawberry lemonade this morning, with some fresh mint from the garden. It’s really good. I’d like to give you a glass as a thank you for getting my car started.”

“Sounds good,” I enthused.

“Maybe we could talk for a little awhile, too.”

“Sounds good,” I repeated.

“Then we can discuss why it is best if we just remain friends.”

“Sounds… Alright.”

I turned my truck around and drove back to Willa and Zella’s place. When I flipped through the radio channels, I came across the oldies song about a centerfold. I listened with mixed emotions as I marveled at the irony. Then I found myself singing along: “My blood runs cold, my memory has just been sold, my angel is a centerfold.”

As I followed Willa back to her place, it occurred to me that I was probably premature with the flowers I’d bought. How embarrassing this was gonna be!

Oh no! Especially the card, and the words I wrote! I had given it all to Zella, who would have put it on display! Talk about awkward! There was no way to hide the flowers. So I would simply have to try to sneak the card into my pocket before Willa saw it.