A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) (23 page)

"Have you considered staying away from dead bodies?"

"Madeline Black is not on me. Your wife found her. I was only along for the ride."

"See, the good news is that everyone is focused on you, Lydia gets away with it. I like it that way," he laughed.

"Thanks a lot," Polly said.

"Take care of yourself today. We're going to be outside and upstairs for a while. I'll find you when I've got more information."

Doug and Billy were standing in the outer office and Aaron said, "Looks like you have a line waiting for you. Take care." He walked out and stopped to shake hands with the boys. Polly watched him put his hand on Billy's back and nod to Polly. She shook her head and waited for them to come in.

"Hey Polly! Sheriff Merritt says we're supposed to move in with you."

"I saw your girlfriend again last night," Polly said to Doug, attempting to deflect the conversation.

"My who?" Doug asked.

"Sarah. The EMT you were flirting with last fall."

"Hey. That's not a bad idea. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because she's eight years older than you, dude." Billy laughed and poked his friend in the arm.

"It wouldn't matter if we were meant to be together."

"If you were meant to be together, she would have fallen for you rather than strap you onto a gurney," Billy remarked.

"Okay, whatever. Polly, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. It's a hard head. Are you working today?"

"Yep, Jerry says it's an all-hands-on-deck day. But, we wanted to see if we could schedule a twenty-four hour game party next Friday and Saturday."

"Twenty-four hours?"

"The new Saturn Flight release hits on Wednesday and ..."

Polly stopped him with her hand. "I don't want to know." She opened the calendar on her computer and said, "It doesn't look like there is anything going on next weekend. The auditorium is yours."

"If we get the classrooms finished, can we use the computer room? It's perfect for gaming and we won't have to move things around."

"Sure. I don't care where you play. I've put you on the calendar. The room is yours."

"Thanks! What do we owe you?"

She pursed her lips. "You pretty much have lifetime access whenever the room is available. Don't ask me that again, got it?"

They did some fancy handshake, high-five, fist-bump thing with each other and Billy smiled and said, "Thanks, Polly. You're awesome."

"Now, if we could move in here and out of our Mom's houses, we'd be a lot less lame," Doug said.

Polly slowly nodded, "You would be, wouldn't you!"

They left and Polly reached into a drawer and pulled the layout of the property back out. "It would be really good for them to move out of their parent's houses. It would be good for me to have a garage. It would be good for everyone if I could build more guest quarters." She opened the middle drawer of her desk and took out a pencil, then began drawing lines around the building. "Henry is going to kill me," she mused aloud.

"Why am I going to kill you?"

"People keep sneaking up on me this morning. How is that possible with all the windows in this place?"

"Why am I going to kill you? And if you weren't so intent on what you were doing ..." he bent over her desk and saw what she was doing.

"I'm not going to kill you, but aren't you ever going to be satisfied?"

"Come here," she said. "Look at this."

He pulled a chair up beside her and watched as she pointed things out on the map to him. "I don't have a garage. One of these days I'm going to own all of these things that need a garage and I don't want to be bringing them up and down from the basement."

"You're going to have a barn, Polly."

"But, I don't want to put my truck in a barn. I want to put it in a garage. And I was thinking we could build an apartment over the garage. It could be a guest house or maybe Doug and Billy could rent it."

"You really like those
boys, don't you."

"I do. They're fun to have around. Like little brothers I never had. On this other side we could build a matching structure with four more guest rooms, two upstairs and then two accessible apartments downstairs. I can't believe I didn't think about that until now. There are plenty of creative people who use wheelchairs instead of legs or need to have things more easily available to them. If we build those rooms on this side, all we have to do is build a covered walkway and put in automatic doors."

"Are you ever going to be finished building here, Polly?" he asked, laughing.

"Well, I was kind of thinking about talking to you about that."

He sat back and lowered his eyelids at her, "About what?"

"What do you think about going into partnership with me and renovating some of the old buildings around town?"

"To what purpose exactly?"

"Well, we can rent them out. We could sell them. Some of them are in such bad shape that no one sees their potential."

"You've lived in this town less than a year and you've spent more time thinking about it than a lot of people who have lived here forever," he said.

"Maybe it's because everything is new to me. People around here are used to seeing those empty dilapidated buildings and forget that they don't have to be that way."

"You're probably right. Let's talk about this sometime when things aren't quite as busy."

"I'm in no hurry. Barn first, then we talk about a garage and another building. This conversation can take place in several months. I'll still be here."

"So will I," he said and pushed his chair back from the desk. "They're delivering the crane this morning, so I'm going to be outside. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "And of all people, will you quit asking me that?"

He started to reply, but she interrupted him, "I know you're worried. But, stop it. I'm fine."

"Okay. I'll see you at lunch. I hear Sylvie is making tacos."

Polly watched him leave and went back to her plans. She pulled paper out of a drawer and started sketching out more ideas.

People were in and out all day long and Polly was glad when she saw the day ending. She'd offered to pick up Sylvie's boys from school and gotten a harried thank you. Jason and Andrew were upstairs in her apartment after taking Obiwan outside for an hour. Aaron had stopped back to tell her they didn't have anything yet, but were still hopeful to find Elise and her captors in Iowa. The crews of decorators in the auditorium had decided to keep their plans as secret as possible, so after lunch they'd shut and locked the doors and told Polly even
she
couldn't see it until Saturday afternoon. Sylvie and Hannah had been managing an influx of women bringing pies and soup stock in for lunch as well as assembling breakfast casseroles and preparing the evening meal.

Polly had tried to stay out of everyone's way, but found herself exhausted as the building began to empty. Sylvie finally dropped into a chair in Polly's office and waved as Hannah left the building with her husband.

"I think we're ready," she said. "It's going to be a great day."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Sylvie. I know you've never done anything like this before."

"Honestly, I haven't done it by myself, but Mom used to do meals down at the fairgrounds all the time. It's not that big of a deal if you have a plan and stay organized. Hannah is good, too. She's spent enough time working around food, she knows how to time things out and she's not afraid of hard work."

"Good. Are you going to be able to rest tonight?"

"Probably not, but that's okay. The boys and I will put a movie in and I'll fall asleep in the middle of it. Then, I'll wake up and panic and make a million notes for myself. If I get everything written down when I'm panicking, hopefully I'll be able to go back to sleep. I'm going to be here at five o'clock tomorrow morning to start cooking breakfast, though, so don't worry if you hear noises down here. Bruce and Hannah are coming by six. We'll be ready to serve at seven."

Sylvie stretched both arms out and said. "I'm glad you're doing all of this and not me. I'd never sleep fretting over it. I think we both have found good places to be. Now, I'm going to run upstairs and get my boys and get out of your hair. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Are you bringing the boys with you at five?" Polly asked.

"No, I told them they could sleep until seven. Lydia said she'd stop by for them at seven thirty and bring them over for breakfast."

"I was going to tell you that if you wanted to bring them early, they could come up to the apartment."

"Nope. You get to sleep all by yourself tonight."

Polly winked at her, "Thanks. I'll see you later!"

Sylvie left and went upstairs while Polly shut her computer down. Jeff stopped in and said, "I'll see you in the morning."

"Have a good evening!" she said. He left and the building continued to quiet down. She shut the lights off in the office and closed the door, then wandered around the empty hallway downstairs. Sylvie and the boys came down and waved as they walked outside and Polly sat down on the stairway. Her headache had returned with a vengeance. She rubbed the knot and thought it might be going down a little. Tomorrow was going to be a much better day.

Henry walked in the main front doors and saw her sitting there. "I think everything is battened down and ready to go for tomorrow." He sat beside her on the steps. "Your eyes look like you're in pain. Can I help?"

"My head really hurts. I need to get some ibuprofen."

"Why don't you go on upstairs? I'll make sure all the doors are locked and the lights are off. I'll come up and get my stuff in a few minutes."

"Thanks," she said and stood up. She put her hand out to pull him up and he let her.

"You are an independent girl, aren't you?"

"And don't you ever forget it. But, look, I'm letting you take care of me. Isn't that good?"

"Very good. Now go upstairs and I'll be there shortly."

"Pushy fellow," she said as she began walking up the steps.

Polly had taken the ibuprofen and then lay down on her bed to try to quell the pounding in her head. Henry came in and found her there and said, "I'm not going to be able to relax at my place knowing you feel like this. Do you care if I hang out in the living room and watch television?"

"I don't care. I'm going to shut my eyes for a while until the pounding goes away."

"I'll be out here if you need anything," he said.

"Thanks."

He turned the light off and closed the door most of the way. She heard his footsteps in her living room and the television turn on, but it didn't take long for her eyes to shut and the world to be gone from her consciousness.

When she woke up, it was dark out and there was light coming through the crack in the door. The cats were snuggled up with her, but Obiwan was nowhere to be found. She moved her head around and felt much better. Sitting up, she rolled her neck and shoulders and then, put her feet on the ground and stood up. Yes, she was feeling a lot better.

Opening the door to the living room, Polly found Henry asleep on the sofa with the television on. Obiwan looked up from the spot he had made behind Henry’s legs, and apparently decided he was going to stay put. She quietly walked past him to the kitchen and realized he had washed the dishes and put everything away. The clock on the microwave read 7:36. She opened a cupboard door and selected a glass, then filled it from the tap. When she turned around, Henry was sitting up.

"You washed my dishes," she said.

"Good, your powers of observation are still intact," he laughed.

"Do you want some supper?"

"I could order a pizza," he offered.

"No. I think I have ingredients to make a pizza." She pulled out a pre-cooked pizza shell. "What do you like on it?"

"Anything you have. Can I help?" He had walked out to join her in the kitchen.

Polly began pulling items out of the refrigerator, and said, "Sure. Here, start slicing mushrooms and I'll chop the onions and peppers."

They had a pizza in the oven in only a few minutes.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep on you like that. My head was killing me."

"And I didn't mean to intrude on your Friday night. I couldn't leave you the way you looked."

"Well, aren't we a pair," she said.

They talked about Henry's plans for the next day while waiting for the pizza to bake. When it came out of the oven, Polly said, "How in the world could I have pulled off any of this without you, Henry, and how did I get so lucky as to land in the same town you live in?"

"You know,” he said thoughtfully, “I always figure there's a grand plan in motion. Sometimes it's obvious and sometimes we can't see it happening. This time, I think it's obvious."

Running back and forth from her bed to the front door, Obiwan finally woke Polly up.

"What is wrong with you?" she finally asked. Then she checked the time. Five fifteen. Sylvie was in the building and the poor dog didn't know what to think. "Are you really going to keep this up?"

Frustrated, she threw the blankets back and after dislodging two confused kitties, she grabbed Obiwan by the ruff of the neck and wrestled him down on the bed. "You make me nuts, you know that? I had one more hour of sleep and I'm up because of you."

He licked her on the face and she wrestled with him for a few more minutes. Both cats had leaped away, jumping to ledges on the cat tree and watching the morning's entertainment. When she stood up, he jumped to the floor and butted her in the thigh. "I know. Someone is downstairs. But, I know who it is and we’re safe."

Obiwan sat in front of the bedroom door while she pulled clothes on to take him outside. Henry had taken him out last night before he went home. Getting thumped in the head had gotten her a day's reprieve from being out in the cold air with her dog, but she had to get back to normal today. She bundled up and snapped the leash on him and walked out into the hall. They trotted down the steps and she allowed him to take her back to the kitchen so he could check out the noise.

"Good morning," she said to Sylvie, who jumped after placing a casserole dish in one of the ovens.

"What are you doing up?" Sylvie asked.

"Jedi guard dog here heard you and wouldn't rest until he had made sure everything was safe."

Sylvie walked over and put her hand out for Obiwan to sniff. "I'm sorry. I didn't think about that," she said.

"No problem. I was at least an hour away from waking up anyway." Polly laughed, and then said, "No, don't worry about it. We’re going out to get the morning started. I'll see you after a while." She heard Sylvie turn the water on and wash her hands as she walked to the front door. It made Polly giggle. Obiwan was going to have to stay out of the kitchen.

Security lights were on around the building, but Polly pulled her flashlight out. "We're not running this morning, okay? But, we'll take a long walk. They walked past the parking lot to the highway and followed that down to the end of her lot where the trees bordering the creek began. In the dark of the early morning, the piles of wood under tarps and the crane standing dormant were odd shapes in the middle of her property. She let Obiwan wander in and out of the trees, pulling him back when he tried to get too deep as they made their way around the perimeter of the grounds. Someday this area would be fenced in and a couple of her very own horses might be greeting her in the early morning. She shivered a little with excitement at the thought of it.

"What would you do with horses, Obiwan? I know the barn has six stalls, but I think I'd like to have two. I'd hate for one to get lonely." He didn't seem to be paying any attention to her, so she tightened the leash and made him wait for her to catch up. Polly knelt down and hugged him. "I got you a couple of feline companions. How do you like having them around? I think everyone should have someone warm to snuggle with. I'm glad I have you guys."

Obiwan waited patiently for Polly to stop hugging him, then rummaged through the grass at their feet. Finding nothing, he began his wandering again. He walked toward the concrete pad where all of the activity would be happening today and began nosing around the tarps.

"There's nothing there for you. Come on away from there," Polly said and pulled back on the leash. He followed her across the grass to the wooded area and they followed it around to the back of Sycamore House. She could see Sylvie moving around in the well-lit kitchen.

"I think she likes it in there, Obiwan." He looked up at her and then went back to his task. "I like it here, too. Come on, let's see if I can pick up the pace." She dropped into a slow jog and they ended up at the north end by the east-west highway. Polly slowed down and walked with him to the curving lane that led to the parking lot. "I can't wait to plant trees here this spring. Can you imagine what it will look like when they get tall and all filled out? This is going to be heavenly!"

The lane was dark and she looked up at the lamp posts, wishing she had turned them on. Now would be a good time to have Dumbledore's deluminator from the first Harry Potter book. Then it occurred to her that she should talk to Jerry Allen about those being on a circuit she could control with her cell phone. That would be close enough and a lot of fun. They'd installed smart wiring throughout the building and little by little she was bringing modules online so everything could be controlled via the internet.

As they approached the main parking lot, a truck pulled in and up to the front of Sycamore House. The door opened and a light came on and Polly realized it was Hannah McKenzie. She leaned across the seat to kiss Bruce goodbye and jumped to the ground.

"Good morning, Polly! You're up early."

"I know. It's a little too early, but Obiwan and I have had a good walk."

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing fine. It's still a little sore, but I think the lump is going down a bit. I'm glad he didn't clock me in the face. I'd be very angry if I had to cover up a black eye today."

Hannah laughed and held the door open for Polly and Obiwan. "I'm glad you weren't badly hurt. Can you imagine not being able to be here today?"

"No, I can't!" Polly exclaimed. "It feels like I have been getting ready for this day forever. Like it's some sort of graduation day."

"It might be! I think you're going to have a lot of people in here today. Bruce's family is coming over tonight. His brother said he might come over and see what the barn raising is all about, but I know his mom is bringing our kids for dinner."

"That's great. I can't wait to see them again. Well, I probably ought to go up and get ready. I'll see you later."

Polly went up the steps while Hannah went around to the kitchen. She pushed her apartment door open and then attempted to shove it back into place, finally getting it to fit snugly into the door frame.

Obiwan sat and waited for her to unsnap the leash, then ran for the kitchen.

"I'll never be allowed to forget your breakfast, will I, buddy?" Polly said. When she pulled his food out of the cupboard, she heard the mad dash of two cats from the bedroom into the kitchen. "Got it. I'll feed you as well."

She turned the television on in the living room and dropped into the sofa. It wasn't even six o'clock yet. If everyone was quiet, she could sneak another half hour nap in. Just to be safe, she set the alarm on her phone and placed it on the table, then pulled the blanket over her and stretched out, falling back to sleep.

Polly came up out of a dream to her phone's alarm. The cats were on the back of the sofa with their heads wrapped around each other and Obiwan had found his way into a spot at the end of the couch.

"I have to get moving. You all stay right here and sleep, because your rough life demands so much of you." She threw the blanket off, covering Obiwan's head. He shook it off and watched as she headed for the bathroom.

"No really," she said. "Stay right there. No one move."

She stopped in the doorway to the bathroom and giggled. No one had moved.

After her shower, Polly pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, then opened a drawer and took out a Boston University sweatshirt. Grabbing her coat as she headed for the entryway, she said, "Someone will be up later to check on you. Be good."

She went out of the apartment and sniffed. Breakfast was starting to smell good.

Dawn was breaking outside and she saw a few cars coming into the parking lot. Polly dropped her coat inside her office, went back to the kitchen and said, "Can I do anything to help?"

Sylvie pulled a casserole out of the oven and shifted two others up from a lower shelf. "We're in good shape, but if you want to help dish the food up this morning, we'd love to have you in here with us."

"Sure! That would be great," Polly said. "Just tell me where to stand and what to do."

Hannah lifted a stack of plates to the counter. "We've already scored the casseroles and we'll cut them as we go. You could serve that or scoop fruit. There are cereal boxes for those who don't want casserole. Sugar and milk will be on the beverage table in the auditorium. Don't let them forget to take silverware and I think that's it!"

Henry walked up with Sam and Jimmy and a man Polly didn't recognize. "Good morning!" he said. "Are you ready to feed us yet? There are some people wandering around outside and this is Pat McGann. He's running the crane for us today." Henry pointed at Polly and said, "Pat, this is Polly Giller. Sycamore House is her baby."

The man reached across the counter to shake her hand and said, "Nice to meet ya!" Polly smiled and waited for Sylvie to declare breakfast was ready. Sylvie handed out pairs of disposable gloves to both Hannah and Polly and said, "We're ready to go!"

Jimmy had run back outside to let people know it was time for breakfast and soon they were busy serving food. Finally, Sylvie said, "Polly, I think we're close to the end. Why don't you take a plate and eat?"

"You two are the ones who have to be on your feet all day. I’ll stay here and make sure that stragglers get fed and you take a few minutes."

"We're fine," Sylvie protested.

"I'm your boss. Go eat and sit down for a few minutes."

Hannah and Sylvie glanced at each other, then both took plates and filled them. "We'll be right back and don't worry about dishes. Our lunch crew is eating breakfast and we'll clean up before we start. Promise?"

"I promise. I'm going to stand here and look pretty. Go!" Polly said.

Jeff walked up to the counter, holding his camera. He took a picture of Polly behind the counter and said, "That will be the cover for my tell-all book."

"Did you get my best side?" Polly posed with the spoon in the air and he clicked off a series of pictures.

He laughed. "You know those are going to be up on the web, don't you?"

"Great. That's exactly what I need."

Henry joined them from the auditorium and said, "You're going to have a barn by the end of the day, Polly."

"I can hardly wait!"

"If you need me," he winked, "you know where to find me." As he walked through the hall to the side doors and out to the concrete pad, men and women began making their way out of the building, pulling on work gloves and knit caps.

Jeff said, "I'll be back later. Between video and still, I have a lot of images to capture!" He followed the growing group of people outside. Polly had stripped off her gloves and was tossing them into the trash can, when Sylvie walked back in.

"One down!" she announced. "And no catastrophes."

"It's a good start to the day," Polly said. "What are your boys going to do today? Are you good with them being outside or would you like me to encourage them to stay in and upstairs?"

"They have plenty to keep them occupied inside. I told them they could go outside, but they were on the honor system. Neither of them was to try to help or get in anyone's way and if either you or I or Henry asked them to do something, even if it was to go inside, they had to obey immediately."

"
Well then," Polly laughed, "they can go up to the apartment as often as they'd like."

"That'd be great. I also told them they could be in the auditorium. They're supposed to check in with me every two hours starting at nine, no matter what they're doing." Sylvie giggled. "I programmed my phone’s alarm to alert me, those boys don't stand a chance."

Polly said, "That's probably why people like having them around. You've taught them to respect your boundaries. Why don't I take them upstairs right now and they can leave their stuff there today."

"Thanks, Polly. I appreciate it." Sylvie had started picking up empty pans and Polly could tell she was distracted by her next tasks, so she slipped out of the kitchen and into the auditorium.

Jason and Andrew were sitting with Lydia, Beryl and Andy. Lydia jumped up when she saw Polly and rushed over to her. "How are you feeling this morning - are you okay - I didn't want to talk to you while you were busy, but I've been worried - Did Henry take care of you yesterday - Did you sleep last night - Talk to me!"