RIDE THE TIDE

Chapter 26: Burnt Bridges

It was a tearful goodbye for Penny at the airport in Boston.  Tom walked as far as he could with her to her plane for Charlotte. His bags had been checked for Toronto. They kissed good bye and she boarded the plane, buckled herself in and pulled out his book to finish. She kept turning the book over and looking at his picture on the back cover. Her seat mate, noticing the book, remarked, "I haven't seen that one."

Penny smiled, rubbing her fingertip across Tom's picture. "It's his latest. It's also very good. You really should buy it."

Terry pulled into the airport parking lo, found a space, then looked at his watch. 3:30. “We’re early.”

“No, we’re not, Terry. She might already be here waiting. Her plane is due at 3:45. Hurry up!”

“Planes are never on time, Jess. We’ll probably be here an hour or more before she shows up.”

He was almost right. Forty-five minutes late the plane landed.

Penny was pulling her carryon and had her raincoat slung over her arm. She was looking for a tall auburn-haired man. Jess saw her first and called out. Penny dropped everything and ran to Jess, throwing her arms around her. Terry picked up her things and followed them out the door way so other people could enter the waiting area. He had a look at her, sizing his sister up. She looked good, her cheeks rosy, her hair shining, and she flashed a big smile for him.

“Oh, Terry! I am so glad to see you.  I've missed you two so much.”

“Penny, you’re looking good, girl. They must be treating you all right in England.”

“I have so much to tell you, Jess.”

“Well, let’s go see if they sent your bag along with you,” Terry remarked.

Her bag did, indeed, arrive and they loaded it in the back of Penny’s Cherokee. Terry said he thought it needed driving as it wasn't good for a vehicle to set up too long. Jess climbed in back with Penny so they could talk. Penny flashed her diamond.

“Penny! Oh, that’s beautiful...and big, too. Wow! I'm so happy for you and Tom.”

Penny told her how Tom proposed in Boston, the ring in the glass of champagne.

"That's so romantic," Jess smiled. "How is Tom? I hate that we won't get to see him."

"I've brought all the newspaper clippings from New York, London and Boston. You can read them," Penny offered.

"We won't have anything to talk about for the next three weeks," Terry mock-complained. "All the news will be old by the time we get home."

They stopped and got a bucket of chicken before they reached the house so Jess wouldn’t have to worry about what to eat.  "I haven't had fried chicken since I left," Penny laughed.

"What did you eat over there?" Jess asked.

“Jess, everything is so fresh, right out of the garden. The meats come from the farm. Nothing's prepackaged. Even the milk and butter come from a dairy a couple of miles away.”

“Sounds like it was back here when we were little,” Terry added. "Hogs and chickens came from this farm when Uncle Henry had it.”

“It’s the same thing, Terry, just on a larger scale.” She told them about Akkers and the good things she cooked.

"Think you could cook us some English food while you're here?" Jess asked.

"Sure, but I'm still learning. I cook southern when Akkers has a day off. Tom loves it!"

“Well, he would,” Terry said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Jess

Terry, sensing trouble, took Penny’s bags up to her old attic bedroom.

“You’re beginning to sound like Tom. You’re picking up an accent, Penny.”

“I guess when that’s all you hear, you absorb it without knowing.  I know I’ll probably sound just like you when I leave. I want you to look at these, Jess.” She pulled the press clippings out of her handbag and handed them to Jess.

“Penny, he’s a celebrity! Look at that picture! He sure looks good. Got a haircut, I see, and here’s a picture of you with him.” Penny looked over. It was the picture taken when they first arrived in New York. Her hair covered most of her face. “I notice they don’t mention you here.”

“No, Tom didn’t want me to have to deal with the press, and if they knew I was his fiancé there would be questions, you know. It's bad enough what he puts up with, dumb questions from interviewers. He has a publicist who travels with him, makes sure he gets where he's supposed to be and the right information is given out. She looks after him pretty good.”

“She?”

“Mary Anderson is her name. I’m not worried about her. She has a cell phone attached to one ear.”

Penny pulled the latest book from her bag for Terry. “It’s not even in the bookstores here yet. I’ve read it and it’s good. Well, it would be, wouldn’t it?” she laughed.

Jess cleaned up the chicken remains and asked Penny if she’d like a cup of coffee. "There's some banana pudding in the fridge, if you like."  Penny helped herself to the pudding.

Later that night as Jess and Terry were getting ready for bed, Jess asked Terry what he thought of the new Penny.

“You know, Jess, she’s more like the old Penny I grew up with. A little more sophisticated, maybe. I like the way she holds herself now, shoulders back and head up. She was a pitiful thing when she showed up here last summer. The only thing is, I hate she's going to be so far away. You know she'll live there. They’re not going to set up housekeeping around the corner.”

“I know, Terry, I hate that, too, but she's just glowing. Makes you feel good just to be around her. She has her self confidence back. I can tell that just by listening to her.”

Penny was in the old bed in the attic looking out at the stars and wondering if Tom could see the same ones in Toronto.  He said he'd call her tomorrow. She jumped up and plugged her cell phone in. Wouldn’t do to have a flat battery. Funny how the English expression came to her.

Penny and Jess dragged her trunk in from the garage.  Pennycouldn’t remember what she'd packed when she left Charleston. There were some winter clothes, Charleston style, and she picked through them. Her leather jacket would come in handy as would some jeans and knit tops. Most everything else was too lightweight for winter in Yorkshire.

"They might do for spring, you know. I wouldn't throw them clothes away. They're nice."

So Penny made two piles. "You can take the things that won’t do for Pateley Bridge if you want."  Penny was going to ship her trunk to the farm and wanted more room for some of her keepsakes from the plastic bins. Her mother’s things were among the items in them.

Terry came home from school around 4:00 and found the women going through Penny’s bins. "Will you keep our mother’s china and one of the picture albums?" she asked.

"I haven't seen that for awhile," he said. They were still going through the photo album when Penny’s phone rang.

Tom was beat. He'd been on TV and to a book signing that day. Tomorrow it was a breakfast pressy and a flight to Chicago. "I miss you terribly already. I love you so much. Remember that." He asked to speak to Terry and they talked for a minute.  Tom ended by saying he would call from Chicago.

"I don’t see how Tom does it," Terry said, shaking his head.

Two weeks were gone already and there were still some things Penny needed to do before she left. There was the trust she wanted to set up for the Hole In The Wall cabin.  Penny and Terry were the last of the direct line to inherit the old cabin. Terry and Jess never had any children and Penny wasn’t going to at her age so it would go to their second cousin's family.  Penny wanted to make sure it was kept up and there was money enough to see it though a few generations. She also wanted to make her Cherokee over to Jess. Terry wanted to pay her for it but she talked him out of it. They needed something besides a truck and Jess’s old station wagon.  The other thing was to move her money into Tom’s account in England.  He wouldn’t like that but he could do whatever he wanted with it when they got home. It wasn’t doing her any good sitting in a bank in Mt. Airy.

Tom was in Los Angeles when he called to let her know he would be on the Leno show in case they wanted to watch it. They were lined up on the sofa with a big bowl of popcorn Jess had made.  Penny couldn’t wait for him to appear. He came out in his black pullover and black slacks. Jess thought he was better looking than the actor who came on before him. It was a good segment. Tom was easy, laughing and joking with Jay. His book had made the New York Times best seller list again. Jay mentioned there were rumors of a special lady in his life. Tom replied with a simple 'yes', not saying whether there were rumors or a special lady. Terry thought that was pretty smart and funny. They all caught the wink into the camera when the close-up came. Penny said that was for them.

Penny packed her bags again and stood there, looking around the room, wondering when she would ever see it again. The old oak four poster bed was covered with the quilt her grandmother had made. A picture of her mother and father on their wedding day and old faded photos of her grandparents were lined up on the dresser. Except for Terry and Jess, Penny felt she had burnt her bridges and it was time to go.

Jess drove Penny into Winston-Salem for the flight to Atlanta. Penny boarded the puddle- jumper that would skip around the Carolinas for the next four hours before delivering her to Hartsfield and Tom.

Tom spent the morning signing autographs inside the cover of his book at Peachtree Mall. He was weary of this but still he smiled and offered personal notes to his customers. Mary was standing off to the side on her cell phone, checking her watch.  He was to be at the airport at 3:00 then would have the night free.  Tomorrow there was a literary press meeting at the hotel and a dinner he was to attend. The next day he would be on a plane to England. He was fairly easy this trip. There had been no blood to clean up. Tom could be volatile when anyone tried to get too close. He had been known to walk off the set of a live broadcast interview when the questions became too personal.

He was waiting at the end of the line for Penny, wearing a black trench coat, hands on hips, his sunglasses pushed up. She saw him and her heart gave a flip. His arms came round her, holding her close for a minute, then he took her hand and her carryon then they made their way to baggage claim. He kept running his hand up and down her back and into her hair as they waited for the large blue case to come around. Penny leaned against him, hoping he didn’t have anything scheduled tonight. Tom’s driver took the luggage, stowed it in the back of the black SUV and they were on their way to downtown Atlanta.

It was a large suite in an old modernized hotel with a sitting area. Through the double doors reposed a king-sized bed. Penny removed her velvet jacket and turned around. Tom was there, kicking off his shoes and unbuttoning his shirt. Slowly Penny pulled her sweater over her head. That was all Tom needed. Within moments the room was almost spinning around her.

Later they lay in each others arms and talked about their adventures for the last three weeks. Penny told him about the trust she set up and going up in the mountains to find her second cousin, a moon shiner by trade and a farmer for all else.  He thought giving the Cherokee to Jess was a great idea. His eyes darkened a little, though, when she told him about transferring the money. He would see to that later.

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