All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (48 page)

When she'd gotten the scholarship to Boston University,
he hadn't hesitated. It was the right thing to do and she was going, even if it
meant they'd be far apart from each other. When she was offered
the job at Boston Public Library after graduation, he
only asked her one question - did she want to work there. When she hesitated,
he told her she needed to respond with whatever her gut told her to do.

Then Polly realized that even though for some it might
seem like she had run away from Boston because of the terrible situation with
her ex-boyfriend, Joey Delancy, in truth, she had been ready to make a change
and the best change she could have made was to return to Iowa. When her Realtor
offered the opportunity to buy the school in Bellingwood at a ridiculously low
price, she grabbed it without hesitation.

That was what she needed to remember and that's what
Jeff asked of her this afternoon, to be fearless when making the right
decision. He was correct. She needed him and he was the best person for the
job. She was lucky to have found him and he would bring a lot of value to this
little company she was building. It was time to quit worrying and get started.

She turned Obiwan around and they jogged back to
Sycamore House. Jeff was walking around the outside of the building, looking
around and taking notes.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked as
she walked up to him.

"Just planning the Christmas
lights.
You know we're going to
have to get on that right away. Can you organize ladders and cranes and extra
help? I know where I can get the lights. They'll be shipped here by Thursday
afternoon. I'll be back in town then and if we can get a crew working on
Friday, I'll have this place ready to go by the weekend.
”

"Umm, okay?" she said. Then with a little
more definition, she said, "Alright! Will you let me make a few phone
calls right now? I need to find someone who can bring in a cherry picker for
us."

"I've signed the contract,” he said. “It's on
your desk. And thanks for the computer. It's great. But, I'd like to get a
tablet, if that's alright."

"Sure. We can do that in the morning, if you
don't mind not wandering around the city."

Polly walked into her office and called Henry. He was
the only person who could help her pull this off and if he didn't know who to
contact, she was going to have to scramble. She wasn't sure what Jeff was used
to, but Iowa didn't move that fast. Hmmm, she guessed they would move that fast
now!

Henry assured her he would take care of it. While they
were talking, Jeff walked into her office and rubbed his fingers together as if
asking for money, she looked at him and he mouthed, "credit card for
lights." She stood up, pulled her wallet out and handed him her card,
thinking, "This could be a huge mistake." In a few minutes, she heard
the printer running and he walked back in with a receipt and her card, leaving
them on her desk.

She finished speaking with Henry, who said he would
have plenty of people there on Friday to hang lights and then she opened up the
folder with Jeff's contract. He'd signed and initialed everything. She
signed the rest of it and walked out into the main
office. He was already on the phone in his office, so she waited. He waved her
in. He said good-bye to whomever he had been speaking with and she laid a copy
of the contract on his desk.

"We're ready to go."

He stood up and shook her hand. "Polly Giller.
We're going to make a
helluva
team. You've got something amazing started here and
I'm going to rock your socks, girlfriend! Are you ready?"

Polly winked at him. "I'm ready, Jeff. It's time."

She ran Obiwan upstairs to the apartment, changed her
clothes and came back down. Jeff was on his phone again, rapidly taking notes. He
held his finger up and when he clicked his phone off, said to her, "There
isn’t much time, but we're going to give this town a great Christmas. They'll
be talking about it for at least a month!

"I have a twenty foot tree coming here on
Thursday for the main hall, just past the landing. Two more trees will be
coming for the front steps, then you and are I going to talk about the party."

"What party? I'm almost afraid to ask!"
Polly declared.

"Your all-community Christmas
event.
We need to set a date and
make sure nothing else in town conflicts,
then
we'll spread the
news. Do you know someone who can cater this thing?"

Polly sighed, "Let's go to dinner. I'll lead you
down to Ames, take you to dinner and think about it on the way."

She got in her truck, he ran to his rental car and
followed her as they made their way out of town and headed for supper.

Temperatures seemed to be dropping more every night
and made it that much more difficult for Polly to crawl out of her bed in the
morning. She was eternally grateful for radiant floor heating. At least she
could put her feet on the floor without shivers radiating up her spine. She
bundled up and snapped the leash on her dog. Obiwan didn't seem to care about
the temperature, he was happy to be outside as long as she was with him. They
walked out the front door and had it not been for the street lights, it would
have been dark. "It's known territory for us this morning, Obiwan. I'm not
tripping into the creek so you can have an adventure.” She patted her coat
pocket to ensure she had her phone and a flashlight.

They turned right and walked beyond the school to the
concrete pad where the old gymnasium had once stood. Andy told her it had come
down the year after the school closed. It was practically crumbling, so the
city razed it due to safety concerns. They walked as far as the trees lining
the creek and then followed the
tree line
back to the school. Obiwan sniffed at every leaf and grassy
patch. As they passed behind Sycamore House, Polly saw lights from a car, then
flashing lights and heard a crunch of tires in her lane as two vehicles pulled
in. She and Obiwan continued to walk toward the lane, wondering what might be
up. Obiwan took a few sniffs as they got closer and pulled her faster and
faster to the vehicles.

When she realized who was getting out of the sheriff's
car, it made more sense. Stu Decker had been to Sycamore House several times
after her coming home party and Obiwan recognized his familiar scent.

"Good morning, Stu! You pulled a rotten
shift!" she said.

"Ah, I took over for a buddy who wanted to go to
his girlfriend's Christmas party last night."

"I told them you were a good guy, no matter what
anyone says!" she laughed.

"I know that! You keep standing up for me,"
he replied. "Just a minute, though. I need to deal with this guy."

"Okay. When you're done, if you want to come in
for coffee, it's already brewing."

"I might do that. A cup to go would help this
night end well."

He bent over to the driver, who had rolled his window
down and was handing him paperwork.

"Just a second sir, I'll be right back." Stu
said, as he carried it back to his car.

Polly and Obiwan were walking past the car, when the
dog pulled away from her and headed for the rear tire.

"What are you doing, Obiwan? Stop that!" she
shouted and pulled back on his leash. He continued to drag her toward the car
and began digging at something in the wheel well.

"Obiwan!
Stop!"
The dog pulled something to the ground, then sat in
front of it and looked at Polly as if to say, "I found this, is that okay?"

She flicked her flashlight on and saw a package on the
ground. Stu left his vehicle and bent down to see what it was. He picked it up,
dropped it into a bag he pulled out of his pocket and then went back to the
driver.

"Sir, would you get out of the car?" he
asked.

The driver's door opened and lights came on in the
car. Polly could see a woman in the front seat, rubbing her eyes, as if she
were trying to wake up. In the back seat were three small children, all
sound
asleep. The youngest looked to be around a year old
and the other two were several years older than that.

"Sir, I am about to place you under arrest for
possession of illegal narcotics, would you please walk around behind the car?"

The man began walking and Polly could see the look of
shock on his face. He looked up, peered at her, looked away, then back at her
and said, "Polly Giller? Is that you?"

Polly looked more closely and realized she had gone to
high school with this man. He dated her best friend, Marsha for two years. "Bruce
McKenzie?"

"Polly, I don't know what is going on! I don't
know anything about drugs."

Obiwan kept trying to get back to the car, but Polly
pulled his leash tight and sternly told him to sit. He sat.

"Please get into the car, sir." Stu walked
Bruce around to the back seat and opened the door.

Just then, a third vehicle pulled into the lane in
front of the car. Aaron Merritt got out and strode over. Stu took a moment to
explain the situation and Aaron walked to the passenger side of the vehicle. "I'm
sorry, ma'am, we need you to step out as well."

Fear flitted across her face as she looked into the
back of the car. The children were still asleep, as she pulled her sweater
tight and stepped out. "What is it? Bruce, what is going on?"

Aaron asked the two of them, "Do you have any
family around here who could take your children? This is a serious offense. We
need to process this vehicle for further drugs and will be taking you to
Boone ."

Bruce said from the back seat
, "
We were
going back to Story City to see if my father would consent to let me work for
him. Things have been tough in Denver."

The girl broke in, "He doesn't know we're coming.
If Bruce had called to ask, he would have said no, but we were hoping he
couldn't say no to our faces. Sheriff, those aren't our drugs!"

"I'm sorry. We have no choice," Aaron
replied.

She began to weep as he placed cuffs on her and walked
with her back to his own vehicle. At that point, the oldest boy woke up and saw
what was happening. He started yelling for his mother, which caused the other
two to awaken and begin crying.

"Sheriff, what are you going to do with the
children?" Polly asked.

"We'll wait here until Child Protective Services
shows up, then we'll let them take care of this." he said.

"Oh, come on!" she protested. "Let me
take the kids inside. I'm calling Lydia." She pulled her phone out and
dialed, then pressed send. Lydia assured her she would be right there and they
would set this straight.

Sheriff Merritt shook his head and sighed. "You
aren't helping me do my job, Polly."

"I don't intend to help you do your job,” she
said. “I intend to take care of some very frightened kids. Let their mom come
over here and tell them it's alright to go with me."

He brought the woman back to the car and opened the
back door.

"Sammy, this is Polly," and she nodded at
Polly. "She is going to take you into this great big old school and you
are going to help her with Emma and Tyler, alright?"

"Mom!
What's going on?" the boy cried. "Why is
Bruce in that car and why
is this
Sheriff trying
to take you away!
Mom!"

"I don't know what's going on right, now, Sammy,
but we have to go with them and clear things up. It is all going to be alright.
And Polly is going to make sure that you three are taken care of while we're
dealing with this. Will you be good?"

"Mom!" he began wailing and jumped out of
the car, grabbing at her waist. She leaned over and rested her face on his
head. The baby and his older sister were now wailing inside the car.

Polly handed the leash to Aaron, then reached in to
unsnap the seat strap and pulled the little boy out with his car seat.