Southern Comfort: Chandler's Story (The Southern Series Book 1) Read online

  Southern Comfort

  Chandler’s Story

  Book One of the Southern Series

  By Shelley L. Stringer

  Cover Photo Art by Julie Bradford Lama

  Copyright 2014 by Shelley Stringer

  ISBN-13: 9781497478800

  This is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locals in this novel are either a product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to the memory of my two precious grandmothers – Irene Mann Tompkins and Pearlie Gray Fitzgerald, who unknowingly started me down the path of an author when they gifted me with books at an impressionable age.

  My Mamaw Tompkins gave me THE HIDING PLACE, and I can still remember the feelings of hurt and outrage I felt for the young woman facing the unimaginable horrors of Hitler’s Germany.

  My Mamaw Pearlie gave me my first historical romance novel, ASHES IN THE WIND. I was twelve, and facing a long drive home with my parents from a visit with her in Denver, Colorado. I read the book from cover to cover on the twelve hour drive (probably a bit racy for me at the time,) but my love for romance was born. I still have the hardback book she gave me thirty-seven years ago, and it is well-worn and loved.

  Acknowledgements

  I want to thank my husband, Jay Stringer, for his encouragement and patience as I lived in Chandler’s world for months at a time. Thanks also to my two wonderful sons, who endured the time spent with my head in a notebook or laptop at school functions, baseball games, football practice, and endless nights I probably should have spent with them.

  And to my good friends and beta readers Camela Moer, JoAnn Green, Lauri Colbert, Cindy Henry, Dori Richardson Burton, Julie Lama and others – you know who you are. Thank you for encouraging me to finish the story and keep writing, and giving me the confidence to self-publish. I couldn’t have done this without you!

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter One

  North Texas, my hometown and my sheltered past were in my rear-view mirror. I was bone-weary from the devastating events of the last four weeks. As I watched the flat, Texas landscape pass swiftly by, I escaped to my new life with everything I owned in the world packed in my little SUV. I sensed a change when I gained East Texas, and once I drove out of Canton and past Tyler and Longview, the pine trees seemed to gather on the sides of the roads like old friends, forming a tall canopy over the highway to welcome me back. The mind-numbing sadness still hung over my head, but the suffocating sympathy I’d felt at home was lifting. I stopped in Shreveport for fuel and sipped on my diet Coke slowly as I waited for my gas tank to fill, gazing down the highway in anticipation of the last part of my journey.

  The further I drove into the central part of Louisiana, the thicker the trees. When the Spanish moss began to gather in the ancient oaks, draping down like floral icicles from the towering branches, I knew I was nearing my destination and a new life. I finally arrived at the ferry at the crossing from New Rhodes to St. Francisville and called my Aunt Sue and Uncle Lon to let them know I was about an hour and a half away.

  I smiled at the thought…no matter the circumstances, I looked forward to spending time with Constance and her bratty brothers. My only cousins, Constance, Cade and Drew were the closest thing to siblings that I had.

  As I gazed down the majestic Mississippi River from the ferry carrying my mother’s SUV across, I remembered the last time I’d made this crossing on the ferry. I’d stood in this same spot next to my daddy.

  “Puddin’ Pie, what has you all upset?” he’d asked, placing his arms around my shoulders.

  “Oh, nothin’. I just wanted Mamma to take me shoppin’ before we left. Constance always has the prettiest new clothes, and I hate lookin’ like the country cousin every time we visit. She’s so beautiful, all the boys are in love with her,” I sighed as a tear formed.

  “Chandler Ann, the clothes don’t make the girl. You are just as pretty as she is, just in a different way.” He pulled on my ponytail while he continued, “you’ll be just as pretty in your Levis as she is in those designer jeans. I’m not a lawyer like Uncle Lon, and…”

  “I know, we’re not made of money,” I finished for him. “I just wish I was pretty like Mama. Why couldn’t I have her jet-black hair, and beautiful green cat-eyes?”

  “’Cause God wanted you to look like me, Puddin’,” he grinned down at me, as I pulled back to consider the rather large bald spot forming in the middle of the light brown hair on his forehead.

  “Well, like me when I had hair,” he clarified, hugging me tighter. “Every time I look at you, Chandler, I do see your mother. Only I see her in your actions, the way you fuss over me, the way you share things with her…you and your mom have a special connection, the nack for decoratin’, for making everything beautiful,” he’d observed, as we neared the ramp on the other side of the river. He gazed adoringly at my mother still seated in the car. My parents were deeply in love.

  As I came back to the present, the tears began to flow. It felt as if I was telling my parents goodbye. The door was closing behind me – the door to my sheltered life …on my small town, only child, country girl life. When the ferry touched the levee on the other side, I straightened my shoulders with resolve and made myself a promise: No more tears. No more. I climbed back into my car for the last leg of my journey.

  To say that summer passed in a blur would be putting it mildly. The only family I had left, the Leblances, had so much extended family that I couldn’t keep all their names straight. My uncle’s family was deep-rooted and well-known in Southern Louisiana, the kind full of lawyers, doctors, judges, and old established southern businessmen. They all welcomed me as a part of the family, and under other circumstances, any young girl would have been thrilled at all the prospects and new surroundings. Their homes were beautiful and gracious, as they lived a comfortable and privileged lifestyle. I still had the feeling that my mom and dad would be here at the end of the summer to pick me up. That wouldn’t be happening on this trip, but I just couldn’t seem to wrap my head around the fin
ality.

  My cousin Constance lived to be around people, to shop, and to have fun. She and her brothers Cade and Drew were just what I needed that summer to keep me from curling up in a ball and checking out of humanity. Constance and I filled our days those two months with swimming in their pool, going to the nail salon and visiting her cousins who lived around the parish. We still had a couple of weeks before we had to go our separate ways – she to Tulane in New Orleans, me to Baton Rouge. Everything had happened so fast…I couldn’t get in to Tulane on such short notice, but Uncle Lon had been able to pull some strings at LSU.

  As it happened one blistery hot day, Constance decided that we needed to go into Baton Rouge to shop for school clothes and things she thought she would need for her dorm room.

  “Come on, Chandler! We haven’t been shopping since you got here. I know you want some new clothes to start the semester, don’t you?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Great!” Her eyes lit up suddenly, and I knew she had a whole plot going in that beautiful blond head of hers. “We’ll go to the day spa, hit the mall, Lord & Taylor, Abercrombie – oh, I can’t wait! There is the best restaurant downtown and a neat club on the river…”

  “Club? By ourselves?” I questioned nervously.

  “It’ll be fine! Don’t be such a stick in the mud! Anyway, you are over twenty-one. What are you worried about?”

  With Constance, there was always something to worry about. She had her grandmother, and her grandmother’s money, to bail her out of any situation. But I had a feeling that she wouldn’t have to use either. She wasn’t afraid of anything. And she had the southern belle good looks to go with her winning personality, so I figured she could talk her way out of anything from a traffic ticket to a homicide. Constance was a one-woman-blonde-turn the sweet on, sister - intimidation machine! I loved her, and I envied her spunk.

  We spent the day in Baton Rouge, charmed the stuffin’ out of ten or so store clerks, spent way too much money for my trust fund budget, and hit the club on the river before we headed home. The minute we walked in the club, I suspected this wasn’t her first time. The bartender knew Constance by name and what she wanted to drink. She ordered both of us a margarita on the rocks with 1800 Tequila, and found a table near the dance floor. A group squealed at another table as we made our way across the room, and I knew that she had a fan club here as well as everywhere else we’d been that day.

  “Everyone, I want you to meet my cousin, Chandler. Chandler is moving to Baton Rouge to go to LSU this fall. Chandler, everyone!” Then she was grabbed from behind by the hunkiest guy I’d ever seen, muscular build with sun bleached hair and twinkling blue eyes.

  “Chase!” she squealed, turning into his arms. He proceeded to plant a kiss on her that would have made me pass out, and then dragged her out onto the dance floor. She blew a kiss over his shoulder, and began to two-step to the song that was cranking up. As he swung her around the floor, I sank into one of the empty chairs at the next table, suddenly feeling self-conscious. How could she leave me alone like this?

  A rather friendly boy with round brown eyes and light brown hair struck up a conversation with me immediately. “Hi, I’m James, Jamie around these guys. You’re from Texas, right?”

  “Yes. Nice to meet you. Do you go to school here?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be a senior this year at LSU. Will you be a freshman?”

  “No. I’m transferring from a community college back home.”

  “First time living on your own?”

  He had no way of knowing that this was the question that always made my stomach sink.

  “Yeah,” I answered as I looked down into my drink and took my first sip. “How do you know Constance?”

  “I’m friends with her brother, Cade. I’m from Alexandria. Most of us here tonight go to LSU, or are from Denham Springs or the surrounding area.”

  “I haven’t met many of her friends yet. I’ve just been here since the first of June.” I looked around the table at all of the faces that were surprisingly interested in our exchange.

  “We all get together about every two to three weeks or so, either here or one of the frat houses, wherever we land. Hey, you’ll have to come to a tailgate party at the entrance this fall. I’ll introduce you around!”

  A tiny, slim girl with straight, golden blonde hair and blue eyes made her way around his chair to stand in front of me, her hands on her hips.

  “Be careful how much introducing you do, Jamie boy. Some girls might not like it.” Her eyes shot daggers in my direction.

  Here she was, I thought. The she-cat with claws bared – there was always one in every clique.

  “Oh back off, Mandy. The girl’s new here. She needs to be introduced around.”

  “She looks like she can take care of herself. Come on, it’s time you asked me to dance.” She obviously didn’t like him showing me any kind of attention.

  Jamie replied, “Oh, I’m sorry, Mandy. I just asked Chandler if she would dance on the next song.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me out on the dance floor. “Come on, Tex! Let’s show ‘em how to two-step.”

  I could tell Jamie was a real sweetheart.

  Luckily, the song was one I could two-step to. Jamie was a fairly good dancer, and he guided me around the dance floor effortlessly. Before long, I found I was beginning to have a good time. By the third song, I figured I would head back to our table. It was a slow song, and as I started off the dance floor, Jamie grabbed my hand and dragged me back.

  “Not so fast. Let’s dance to a slow one before I let you go.” I let him pull me into his arms. As we swayed to the music with our faces so close together, I studied his profile. He wasn’t as hunky as Constance’s friend, Chase, but he was rather pleasant to look at in his own way. He was tan, medium height, and had high cheekbones like he might have been of Indian descent. Jaime asked, “So are you dating anyone?”

  “No. I haven’t been out enough to meet anyone yet,” I replied.

  “Well, in that case, would you like to go out with me when you move to town next month? I’d love to take you to dinner and show you around.”

  “Sure, that would be nice.”

  Jamie tightened his arms around me then, and we finished the dance. When the song was over, he gave me a gentle squeeze and said, “Thanks, Tex, for the dance.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied, as I felt myself blush.

  Constance returned to the table and ordered a round of tequila shots for everyone. I’d never done a shot, so I was unsure what to do. Jamie was sitting next to me, and he must have sensed my hesitation.

  “Here, let me show you the ropes.” Jamie took some salt and licked the inside of his thumb and forefinger. He then shook some salt on his hand, licked it, tossed the shot down in one gulp, and then sucked on the lime lying beside the glass.

  “Simple. Now it’s your turn.” Jamie smiled at me encouragingly. I followed his lead, and the pure alcohol took my virgin throat by surprise. I wasn’t sure I’d ever catch my breath again. He laughed, and laid his hand across my shoulders as I coughed and tried to breathe. He asked as he motioned the waitress over, “Do you want another shot?”

  “No. I might need my lungs later on. I’ll just stick to margaritas, thank you.”

  “Can I have another shot, and another margarita for the lady.” He smiled at me again. I could feel things warming up nicely between Jamie and me. I wasn’t sure if it was chemistry or the tequila, but something was definitely warm. I glanced around and spotted Mandy across the table, once again shooting daggers in my direction. Another boy whose name I couldn’t quite remember came and sat down beside me, and asked me to dance.

  “Another time, son. I’ve got the next one,” Jamie replied for me as he smiled and pulled me on to the dance floor again.

  By closing time, I couldn’t remember my name. I knew the guy carrying me to Constance’s car was nice, but I couldn’t remember his name either. He’d asked me on a date, and danced with m
e all night. He kept me safe from the she-devil what’s her name, and she’d disappeared long ago. I stumbled along so much he’d finally picked me up under my knees with his right hand, and swung me up in his arms.

  I carried my sandals in my hand, and slapped him in the back of the head with them. “Oh, I’m tho thorry!” I exclaimed, giggling.

  “Thaths quith all righth!” he answered mockingly, as he grinned at me.

  Constance was in worse shape than I was, so another boy who hadn’t been drinking drove Constance’s car home, with me and the nice guy who’d asked me out in it. Chase followed behind us in his pickup with Constance. The minute my new friend deposited me in the back seat of the sports car, I was out like a light. I didn’t even realize I had my head in his lap until we reached the lights of Denham Springs and the car began to slow down as we pulled into town. I raised my head and looked at Jamie. Oh, yeah, that was his name. He smiled back at me. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’m fine. My head is less fuzzy now. I’m so sorry for falling asleep.”

  “Perfectly fine. I’ve enjoyed the view immensely.” He smiled and I blushed again.

  We pulled up in front of Constance’s house. Jamie got out first, pulled me from the back seat, and helped me to the door. Chase lingered at the curb with Constance. From the looks of them on the dance floor earlier in the evening, they knew each other much better than a handshake would indicate. I turned to tell Jamie thank you, and his face was suddenly close enough I could feel his breath on my face. It took me by surprise. I didn’t have time to decide whether I wanted him to kiss me or not. He made the decision for us.

  “Good night, Tex,” he leaned in and kissed me gently, his mouth slightly open, lingering as he gently caressed my lips. I realized I didn’t mind at all. As he pulled away from me he added, “I’ll call you when you get to Baton Rouge.”

  I woke the next morning to the light shining through the bedroom window. The faint noises I heard in the house beyond Constance’s bedroom door were like rockets going off inside my head. I groaned and sat up slowly, holding my head as I moved, hoping it wouldn’t fall off. I looked to the side, and Constance wasn’t there. I searched around the room and, hearing her resonating snore, I locked in on her feet just inside the bathroom door. She had crawled there sometime during the night, definitely in worse shape than I was.