Flashbacks: Caroline Thibideaux
A series of vignettes from Caroline's past, giving us a glimpse of her relationship with Mason and not a little about Caroline herself--Maer
I.
The band played a good mix of classic big-band music and more current rock pieces. A little something for everyone, a little something to annoy everyone. It was about par for the course for a debutante ball. Caroline was bored stupid. Thank God it wasn’t her deb ball. That was last year. This one was her cousin Tanya Hardin’s. Girl’s daddy had the sense God gave a goat to let her invite some of those kids from school. All they were going to do was make Tanya cry tomorrow by making fun of her. Whatever – not Caro’s problem. Caro’s problem was getting that glass of champagne out the door before she got spotted with it.
Slinking out onto the balcony lit by the half moon above, she was not terribly thrilled to hear that it was time to move back to some of the more classic music. A Sinatra song if she wasn’t mistaken. The band was actually passable. As she took a long swallow of the champagne, the male voice behind her made her fumble her glass.
“Hidin’ out?” he asked.
His hand shot out and caught the glass as it fell, splattering golden liquid on the midnight blue of the gown she wore. And Caroline looked up into the blue eyes of the stage manager of the band inside.
“I’d say you had enough but it’s probably not my business.” He smiled at her, and wow… her belly clenched. Dammit. Mason McAlistar always had this effect on her. Turned her brain to a puddle of goo every time she laid eyes on him!
“No, it’s not,” she told him stiffly. “And I’ll thank you t’ mind yer business.”
He shrugged and said, “Ain’t no skin off my nose that Caroline Thibideaux’s a closet lush.”
Affronted, Caroline took a swipe at him, and he caught her wrist. “Ah, ah, darlin’… you might play those games with those little bastards in there, but you’re not playing lady of the manor with me.”
Jerking her hand away from him, Caroline demanded, “What do you want now, Mason? Isn’t it bad enough that I humiliated myself last year?” The thought of that scene made her cringe. She’d thrown herself at him last summer and he’d oh-so-gently told her she was still a child. It still stung.
He let her jerk her hand back, but it came up to cradle her cheek. “There was nothing to be embarrassed about,” Mason said gently. “I was flattered… but you weren’t old enough, Caroline. Your daddy would have had me strung up. I’m from the wrong side of town and way too old for you.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she retorted, disgusted. Mortified.
“No, baby… it’s not. Cuz what I wanted to do to you woulda got me arrested.” He smiled at her, a wicked little smile as he set her champagne glass on the stone railing. “You’re almost old enough, though. Not quite. And I’m gonna give you fair warning, Caroline. When you are, I’m gonna make it worth your while.”
Her knees were shaking. He was in her personal space, closing the distance between them. Not quite touching the length of her body, but close enough that she could feel the heat from him. And as the music changed again inside, he started to laugh.
“Wise men say… only fools rush in…” He sang under his breath, drawing her in to dance slowly under the stars with her on the country club’s balcony. And then he leaned in. It wasn’t her first kiss, but it changed everything. They danced, oblivious to everything but one another, for just that song. And then he was gone.
II.
He watched her from the shadows of the boathouse. Getting onto the property wasn’t that difficult. They’d been meeting in secret for weeks. She’d go to the mall with her girlfriends and he’d pick her up there and take her somewhere else. They’d spent time walking, talking, learning each other’s secrets. A lot of time kissing. But he’d been always a gentleman and kept his hands within reasonable boundaries. Well, mostly. Tonight that would change. If she wanted it to.
As she walked down the back lawn toward the small lake at the back of the property she had no reason to be nervous. He was no threat to her. She walked to the end of the dock and sat down, dangling her feet in the water. He remained in the darkness just to see her without her knowing for a few minutes and then he finally stepped out. She whipped around when she heard footsteps at the end of the dock. “Who’s there?”
Mason grinned slightly and stepped out into the light of the boathouse’s porch. “No one to be afraid of,” he assured her.
“What are you doin’ here?” Caroline hissed, a glance up toward the house. “God, Mason, Mama’s gonna have a conniption.” She pushed to her feet and padded back up the dock. He couldn’t help watching the graceful movements with a heated gaze. He’d kept away from her for the past two weeks. They’d been caught together and her mother had threatened to have him arrested for statutory rape if he’d laid a hand on Caroline. Which was exactly why he hadn’t, and both he and Caro had told her mother so. Caro’d been forbidden to see him again. But today that ended.
Mason held out a small, flat box. “You didn’t honestly think I’d miss your birthday, did you?” he asked softly.
Caroline bit her lip. Reaching out to take the box she opened it to find an unlabeled CD. When she looked up he was watching her. “Just some stuff I recorded,” he said casually. When she played it she’d realize he was the one playing.
That smile lit up his world and he couldn’t stop himself then. He reached for her and pulled her close. “There’s not a damn thing she can do about it anymore, Caroline. So now it’s up to you to decide… whether you want this or not.” He met her eyes and said, “I told you I’d make it worth your while. From here on out, the decision is yours to make, babe.”
Her arms twined around his neck and she laughed softly. “Then I guess we better get the heck out of here. I don’t want to be caught halfway through. And I think you made me wait long enough, don’t you?”
Oh thank God, he had a moment to think before his lips captured hers. He’d been afraid that the two weeks apart might have been enough to make her see alltheir differences. He rested his forehead against hers and chuckled breathlessly after he released her from the kiss. “Let’s grab your shoes, hmm? I parked off the east wall.”
Her laughter tumbled through the night as they ran, her sandals in her hands. The night was far more than worth listening to her mother bitch a blue streak in her oh-so-disappointed way the next morning when she got home.
III.
She didn’t care if her mother had an absolute stroke. Seriously. Caroline got out of the 20001 Lexus R300 that her parents bought for her 18th birthday and headed into the house. “Mama, I’m goin’ out to dinner, don’t wait up!”
“Caroline, I had planned to have a few people in tonight. Where are you going this time? I swear, child, you haven’t stayed put two days in a row since you got home from Atlanta!” Mary Alice scolded lightly as she watched her offspring sprint past on the circular stairs.
“Goin’ out with Mason!” Caroline called as she darted into her room to change clothes. “He just got back from Biloxi. The band did great!”
Mary Alice’s face took on the long-suffering expression and she followed Caroline up the stairs. Pausing in her daughter’s doorway she crossed her arms. “Caroline, when are you going to get over this ridiculous fascination with that man?” she demanded, incensed. “I swear, your daddy and I think you’re seein’ him just out of spite. He doesn’t even have a real job!”
“Mama, we’re not havin’ this argument again. I’ve only been home three weeks and you’re already makin’ me crazy!” Caroline retorted from inside her closet. “I’m nineteen years old, and I don’t need your permission to see anyone. I like him, I’m gonna keep seein’ him. It’s not like we’re goin’ steady – I see other boys at school. But I like Mason McAllistar and I’m gonna keep on seein’ him.” She poked her head out. “No matter how crazy it makes you. He treats me real nice, he talks to me like I’m a normal person and not a Thibideaux, and he’s never been anything but good to me.” She never spoke to her mama about their arguments – it would only fuel the flames.
Her daddy actually seemed to like Mason, though Caroline didn’t let them meet often. It was her mother who was concerned about how it looked that he was so much older than her. He wasn’t that much older.
Mary Alice sighed. She and her husband had agreed that fighting Caro on this was just going to make it go on longer out of sheer stubbornness. So she simply said, “Have a good time, darlin’. I’ll see you later.” Her tone was of resignation.
IV. (Mason McAllistar)
Mason couldn’t wait. For three summers, Caroline’d been coming home to him. Sure, they weren’t steady. They’d both dated around. Probably done a little more than dating too, he was sure –she’d shown him a few things last summer that he certainly hadn’t taught her.
But for four school years they’d exchanged letters and phone calls pretty regularly, and she graduated Wesleyan with honors. He couldn’t go to the graduation, he’d been stuck in Nevada with the band. He hadn’t even gotten to see her before she left to go on that trip to Europe with Beth, Heather, and Grace. They should be getting back to Natchez any day now.
He went to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner, and when he got back he grabbed the mail. It wasn’t until he was sitting down with his supper that he looked through it and found the letter. Caroline’s handwriting was as familiar to him as his own. He thought there must have been some kind of mistake when he opened it.
Dear Mason,
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write this time. The trip to Europe was amazing, I had a blast. I’m back in Atlanta now, and it looks like I’ll be staying for a while. A job opportunity has come up that I really want to take advantage of, and it starts very soon. I won’t even be able to make it for a visit this summer.
I had really hoped that I might be able to find something in Natchez or at least in Oxford, but it’s not panning out. And I can’t ask you to put your own career on hold to come out here and start over. I miss the times we’ve spent together, but I think maybe you better not wait for me, Mason. Not that I think you were or anything. When I get home again, I’ll try to catch up with you.
All my love, Caro
Wait, what? What the hell? Had he just been Dear John’d?? Mason was stunned. He tried to call her, but her mother answered the cell. “Miss Mary Alice, just let me talk to her,” he begged.
Her tone was far more gentle with him – over the past three years, they’d come to some kind of friendship. Especially after Caroline’s father passed away the summer before her senior year. “Mason… she doesn’t want to hurt your feelings, dear. She wants to be able to keep your friendship. I know the letter wasn’t the best way, and I’m truly sorry. But she wants a little time to make a clean break. Can you give her a little space? I promise I’ll let her know that you still want to talk.”
He hung up with her, his stomach in knots. After trying another half dozen times and being rebuffed, he was finally forced to give up.
He needed something new. The band had dropped him this year, after all the work he’d put in to help them make it big they’d decided to screw him. Nothing was holding him to Natchez anymore.
It was a wild idea, but he had nothing left to lose. Mason McAllistar signed on the dotted line one week later to fight in Iraq for Uncle Sam in a war he wasn’t even sure he believed in. But he needed the distance.
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