"It seems to me arguments are being made to dismiss a lot of things," she said, flinching as a tree root dug into her heel.
He stopped, facing her. "I couldn't tell if the screen was pulled off from the outside or pushed from the inside."
"What are you going to do?"
"Hell," he said, throwing the twig into the woods. "I don't know." He knelt down and started to untie his shoes.
"What are you doing?"
"You might as well be walking barefoot in those sandals." He slipped off his tennis shoe and handed it to her.
Sara hesitated, and he added, "I've had my mouth on every part of your body, Sara. You think I haven't noticed your feet are the same size as mine?"
"They're not that big," she mumbled, putting her hand on his shoulder to steady herself as she slipped her foot into his shoe. To her embarrassment, the fit was nearly perfect.
She looked down to see if he had noticed, and he smiled up at her. "I love the way you blush."
"I'm not blushing," she said, though she could feel it in her cheeks.
He helped her into the other sneaker. She started to kneel down to tie the laces, but Jeffrey did it for her, saying, "I keep waiting for somebody to say something. There's no way they're all buying this story."
"I think Reggie has some questions," she said, watching him double-knot the laces. He had such large hands, but they were soft, and his touch was always so gentle. For some reason, the anger Sara had felt toward him this morning had dissipated, and all she could think was that twenty-four hours ago she had been on the verge of falling in love with this man. As much as she wanted to change her mind, she could not alter how she felt about him.
"There." He stood, holding her sandals in one hand. "Okay?"
She took a step, lying, "They're a little loose."
"Yeah, right." He continued, walking in his socks. "Did Reggie mention I dated his sister?"
"I just assumed you'd dated every woman in town."
He gave her a look.
"Sorry," she said, and she really was. They walked for a few more minutes before she asked, "Why is everyone so against you?"
"My dad wasn't exactly in the Rotary Club."
"It goes back further than that," she said, wondering what he was hiding. She had her own secrets, though, and she was hardly in a position to fault him for being reticent.
He stopped, facing her again. "I want to stay in town another day."
"Okay."
"And I want you to stay with me."
"I don't -"
"You're the only person here who doesn't think I'm some kind of criminal."
"Hoss doesn't."
"He will after I give my statement."
"What are you going to say?" she asked, wary of his answer.
"Exactly what you'll say: the truth." He resumed walking and she followed. "Maybe it'd be different if Robert was talking." He stopped, pointing behind Sara. She turned, looking at the mountains on the horizon.
"That's Herd's Gap," he said. "All the rich people live there. Jessie's family included."
Sara shaded her eyes, taking in the view.
"I know it doesn't look like much, but it's right at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. You can't see them from here, but up that way," he indicated the space to their left, "are the Cheaha Mountains." He started walking again. "And underneath us, there's thirty-two miles of the hardest, whitest marble in the world. It goes about four hundred feet down."
Sara watched his back, wondering why he was telling her this. "Is that so?"
"Sylacauga marble is in the Washington Monument and the Supreme Court building," he continued. "I remember when I was a kid the windows would shake from all the blasting." He stepped over a fallen tree and held out his hand to help Sara over. She could see his socks were getting filthy, but he did not seem to care.
He said, "There's an underground river that cuts through the city. Between the river and the blasting in the quarry, there are sinkholes all over town. A few years ago one of them opened up at the Baptist church and the back half of the building dropped about ten feet underground."
"Jeffrey -"
He stopped again. "That's what I feel like, Sara. I feel like this whole town is sinking, and I'm going right down with it." He gave a harsh laugh. "They say you can't get any lower than the ground, but this is the one place you can."
She took a deep breath, and breathed out, "I can't have children."
He did not speak for what seemed like an eternity, then he gave her a neutral "Okay."
"I gather we're supposed to pretend you didn't say what you said last night before…" she threw a hand into the air, "…before all hell broke lose."
"No," he stopped her. She believed him when he told her, "I meant what I said."
"Then tell me," she asked. "Tell me why Reggie doesn't trust you."
Droplets of rain splattered against the leaves overhead, and Sara looked up at the sky just as the bottom dropped out. In seconds, they were both soaked. The rain was so dense she reached out to take Jeffrey's hand for fear she would lose him.
"This way," he yelled over the downpour. He walked fast, then started jogging when a bolt of lightning cracked the sky. The tall trees all around them that had been so beautiful before were nothing more than lightning rods now, and Sara picked up the pace along with him, wanting to find shelter before the storm got worse.
The sky grew darker, and Sara looked up just as Jeffrey pulled her down into a squatting position. Carefully, he pushed back a clump of hanging vines and rotted old boards before leading her through a four-foot-wide opening into a cave. Inside, the air turned almost cold, and she put her hand against the rough rock of the ceiling, trying to get her bearings. Even with her knees bent, Sara could not stand up straight. She curved at the waist, reaching out with her hands, trying to feel her surroundings as Jeffrey pulled her farther into the cave. There was nothing but empty space to her left and right, but overhead the ceiling sloped up so that she could straighten a bit more. Still, she had to keep her head and shoulders down so she would not scrape against the ceiling.
In the distance, she could hear the muffled rain as well as a constant dripping. Just enough light came in through the vines and cracked boards at the entrance to keep them from total darkness, but somehow that was no comfort. Even as her vision adjusted, she could not see the back of the cave.
"You okay?" Jeffrey asked.
"Fine." Sara shuddered, but not from the cold. She kept her hand against the ceiling, feeling claustrophobia overwhelm her.
"Jesus, it smells in here." He passed by her again, doing something at the entrance of the cave. More light came in as he kicked out the boards, but it was still too dark for comfort.
Sara blinked a few times, making out a long bench seat like the kind they used to put in cars. Stuffing and springs jutted out of the vinyl upholstery. In front of the seat was an old coffee table with hemp rope around the edges, scuffs showing where people had sat with their feet propped up. Jeffrey brushed something out of his hair as he walked over to the seat. He searched under the bench, and over the steady hush of the rain she heard him laugh.
"They're still here," he said, sounding pleased.
She stepped closer to him, unsettled by the darkness. A musty odor was in the air, and underneath that the scent of decay. She wondered if there were any animals in here, or perhaps an animal was on his way back home, looking to get out of the storm.
Jeffrey struck a match, and the cave was briefly illuminated before the flame flickered out. Like her, he was standing with his shoulders hunched against the ceiling. Unlike her, he seemed perfectly at ease. She felt embarrassed for being so frightened. Sara had never been afraid of the dark before, but the closed space had a feel to it that she could not quite name.
He struck another match. The fire burned down just as quickly as it had with the first, casting the cave back into darkness. He said, "I guess they got wet."
Sara spoke before she could stop herself. "I don't like it in here."