Free Jilted by Varina Denman

where the Parker sisters’ lights had disappeared, and the gentle giants on either side of the highway no longer comforted me. I stopped walking, and when Clyde looked back at me, I tilted my head toward the hatchback.
    His eyes turned to slits. “You’re not going to hide in your house.”
    â€œIt’s tempting.”
    â€œLyn, you don’t know what they’re going to tell people.”
    My eyes blinked slowly, and in the momentary blackness, I felt the all-too-familiar dread of truth. “It doesn’t matter, Clyde. They saw us together, and they’ll make up the rest.”

Chapter Ten
    Clyde wondered if he would always attend worship alone. As he slipped through the double doors of the Trapp church building and stood in the tiny foyer, he could hear Dodd Cunningham teaching a Bible lesson behind a hollow door. Good man, Ruthie’s husband. After Fawn and JohnScott had married, Dodd encouraged Clyde to come back to the small congregation, and somehow the young preacher had smoothed things over enough that the congregants tolerated his presence. Mostly.
    When the bathroom door opened and Corky Ledbetter clambered through, pulling a small child by the hand, the entry shrank around Clyde.
    He bobbed his head. “Ma’am.”
    â€œMorning, Clyde.” She took three quick steps, then slowed. “So … you and Lynda Turner?” She smiled. “Y’all are a good match.”
    Clyde’s back straightened, but just then a bell rattled, sounding as if it were mounted inside the wall. The thin paneling vibrated, producing a squawking hum that signaled the end of Bible class. The door to Dodd’s classroom opened, and congregants began filtering past Clyde, so he shuffled to a corner, feeling huge in the tight space.
    Lee Roy Goodnight hobbled toward him, leaning heavily on a wooden cane, and stopped in front of Clyde to shake his hand.
    â€œThat grandson of yours is getting big.”
    â€œHe is.” Clyde’s pride swelled not only because of Lee Roy’s mention of Nathan but also because the old man had no qualms about referring to him as Clyde’s grandson.
    â€œWalking yet?” he asked.
    â€œJust.”
    â€œTwelve months old. Right on time.” Lee Roy wiped the corners of his mouth with his thumb and index finger.
    â€œCyde!” Nathan’s baby voice rang from the hallway.
    They turned to see Fawn coming toward them with Nathan in her arms and two bags hanging from her shoulder.
    Lee Roy chuckled. “You have a good week, son. Keep enjoying that boy.”
    â€œWill do, Lee Roy. You have a good one, too.”
    â€œCyde!” Nathan kicked his feet against Fawn’s hips as though trying to propel himself out of his mother’s arms.
    She smiled. “He can almost say your name.”
    â€œMm-hmm.” Clyde didn’t trust his voice to speak. He had gone twenty years without seeing a small person, and now there was one screaming his name.
    â€œHe’s not going to calm down until you hold him,” Fawn said.
    Clyde reached for Nathan, resting one palm beneath the boy’s rump and the other behind his back.
    â€œYou coming to the birthday party this afternoon?” she asked.
    â€œWouldn’t miss it.”
    â€œIt’ll be hot as blazes at the park, but that seemed like the best option.”
    A mental image flashed across his mind—Neil Blaylock and him in the same living room—and he grunted. “I see what you mean.”
    Nathan stretched his hand toward a lock of Clyde’s hair.
    â€œNo,” Fawn said firmly.
    â€œAw, he ain’t hurting nothing. People say I’m hardheaded.” The child yanked a lock of hair back and forth, but Clyde only smiled. “Go back with your momma now.”
    â€œSit with us today?” Fawn asked.
    â€œBetter not, but thanks.”
    A spicy scent overpowered the cramped space, and Clyde knew Susan was near even before he