Finding Me (18 page)

Alison nodded. “I agree, it is unusual. What do you think is going on?”

Shane stood up and shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve got to believe there’s a con involved, but I can’t see what it is she hopes to gain.”

“If she was after money, there would definitely be more promising subjects in town than your father. Besides, Kenmore told me that all of her rent checks have cleared the bank already. If she doesn’t do a good job at the store, he can fire her and you’re no worse off than before. And since he’s the one who always does the end-of-the-day bookkeeping, if she’s skimming money anywhere in the store, he’ll know about it soon enough.”

“You’re right, I know you are. For some reason, there’s something about it that just gets me really worked up.”

“You want to take care of your father, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Alison placed her hand on his arm. “Speaking of con artists, did you hear Beth’s latest?”

“Nothing since the china debacle.”

“Who could forget that one?” Beth volunteered two days a week at the local thrift store. A young woman had come in, told Beth a long story about her abusive husband who had finally been arrested, but when he found out the police were on their way, he broke every last piece of china in the house—that china was the only thing the woman had left from her poor dead mother.
Now, the family was in such financial straits they were eating directly off the counter.

Beth had run home, packed up her beautiful set of Royal Doulton fine china, brought it in, and happily presented it to the woman. Two days later, Rand found it all for sale on Craigslist. Turned out the woman had never been married and did not have any kids, but she and her boyfriend had a whole houseful of stolen goods.

Alison shook her head. “You would think she would have learned something of a lesson from that, but she didn’t. She handed over her car keys a couple of days ago to a woman who asked for cab fare so she could get her sick baby to the pediatrician’s office.”

“She didn’t.”

“Unfortunately, she did. Thankfully, the woman, who had a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit, ran the thing into a ditch before she was ten miles out of town. It dinged up the car a little, but no one was hurt.”

Shane shook his head and laughed. “That girl takes the word
gullible
to a whole new level.”

“I know. It scares me to death to think of what she might get talked into next. There’s a woman she works with at the thrift store that she keeps talking about now. She’s determined to get her a merchandising job in a department store. I’m pretty sure the next issue will have something to do with her.”

“Hello, hello.” Rand and Beth came walking around the corner of the house, Rand pulling a rolling cooler behind him, Beth carrying a bag of rolls. “It smells really good back here.”

“I’m getting the hang of using this smoker. This is my first attempt at Texas-style brisket, though, so consider yourselves forewarned.”

“From the smell, I’m saying I’ll take my chances. By the way, your dad pulled up right behind us.”

“Hello there.” Kenmore came ambling out of the house. “Looks like I arrived after all the food is ready. Perfect timing.” His limp was getting more and more pronounced. Alison noticed Shane watching his father with a look of disapproval.

Kenmore walked over and smiled at her. “Last day of school, eh?”

“Yep. Until a week from Monday, anyway.”

“Mom, you’re doing that summer program? I thought we agreed that you weren’t going to do that again this year.”

“No, you agreed that you didn’t want me to do it again this year, but I told you that I was planning to.”

“Kenmore, tell her she needs to stop doing that. You know it’s not a good thing.”

“And why is that?”

“Well, she has to drive all the way to Nashville twice a week, and the kids in that enrichment program are not nice kids. I just think her time would be better spent here in town. You can teach more music lessons if you want to work more.”

“That’s what’s wrong with your theory, darling. The summer is when my students go on vacation. My music lessons always drop off in the summer months, so I can either teach music two days a week at the Radison Academy summer program, or I can try to find work at Walmart. Since every high school and college student has already applied for all those jobs, the chances are not in my favor.”

“What is it with kids that they think they can tell their parents what to do?” Kenmore grinned a challenge toward Beth. “I liked you all better when you were little and you didn’t try to boss us around so much.”

“Maybe you should try listening to us sometimes, right, Shane? I’m sure we’d all be a lot better off.”

“Agreed. Especially when you’re making decisions about who
you are hiring and who is going to be living in the rental house you
co-own
with one of those kids.”

“Well, at least your father made a good decision there.” Beth dropped into a lounge chair. “He’s hiring Kelli, right?”

“You know her, too?” Shane bellowed.

“Oh yes. I met her at church, then went by to visit her earlier this week. She’s a great girl, you don’t have anything to worry about there. Trust me, I’m a great judge of character.”

Alison exchanged a glance with Shane. His face was bright red, and she thought for a second he might explode. Somehow he managed to turn toward the smoker and get busy, but she could still see his hands shaking.

21

K
elli was bent into the back hatch of her car, lifting a load of clothes, when she heard a voice behind her. “Welcome to the neighborhood! Need help carrying anything?”

She turned around. “Beth?”

“Yep, we saw your car just now when we drove up. Rand’s just putting away the groceries and then he’ll be down. Here, give me a handful. I wish we’d known that today was moving day. We’d have been over to help you sooner. You got a lot more?”

“No, this is it, really. I didn’t plan to stay here for more than a week when I first came. Kenmore and Shane rent the place furnished, so I just have a few clothes and nothing much else.”

“That makes it nice for moving, then.”

“Good afternoon, young ladies.” Miss Birdyshaw came walking around the corner of the house. “I thought I heard voices over here, and I was hoping that it was move-in day. I’m so glad to see I was right.”

“Yes, ma’am, it is.” Kelli had been in town for just over a week, but that was plenty long to know that around here, you addressed
a woman as old as Miss Birdyshaw as
ma’am
, whether you were southern or not. “Just getting settled in.”

“Well, I’ve got something over at my place to add to your settling in.”

“Oh?” Kelli pictured another plate of cookies. “Shall I come around and get it after I carry in this load?”

“Ho there! Have I stalled long enough to miss out on most of the work?” Rand walked up wearing an orange University of Tennessee T-shirt and khaki shorts, grinning at Beth.

“Looks like you’ve lucked out. No furniture involved.” Beth swatted him. “But don’t worry, we would have saved it for you if there had been anything heavy.”

“Well, young man, you can come over to my place.” Miss Birdyshaw waved him toward her front door. “The mailman delivered a box today that was intended for Kelli. He brought it to me and asked me if I’d watch over it. I promised him I would see that the rightful owner got it.”

“A box, really?” Kelli stopped moving. “Are you sure it’s for me? I’m not expecting anything.”

“Yes. It was marked
Express Delivery
, and it’s from an Opal Larson.”

“Oh, that’s my . . . grandmother.” Kelli remembered Denice’s stern talk about boundaries and realized she needed to steer this conversation elsewhere. “She must have sent me some of my summer clothes or something.” That most certainly was not the case, but it was the quickest thing she could think up to diffuse any interest.

Miss Birdyshaw looked at Rand. “Would you mind being the beast of burden? It’s a bit too much for me to carry.”

“At your service, ma’am.” Rand extended his elbow for the older lady and the two of them disappeared around the corner.

Kelli and Beth made their way inside Kelli’s section of the
duplex, each carrying a load of clothes. As they walked through the small living room, Kelli saw the mound of paperwork on the coffee table. She had put all her information about her family there. The envelopes were sealed, but there were so many possible ways things could go wrong now. “Let’s just carry these clothes on back to the bedroom.”

“Sounds good.”

“Hellooo. Where do you want this box?” Rand called through the apartment.

“Uh, back room, I guess. Knowing my grandmother, it is clothes.”

“My kind of grandmother!” Beth set her load on the bed. “Lucky girl.”

“Yeah.” Kelli had to turn her attention to the closet. “I guess so.”

Rand appeared at the doorway, carrying a medium-sized box. “Also, I brought another set of muscles along in case we need any help.”

Shane followed him through the door, his eyes scanning the room as if expecting damage. He looked at her. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d make sure everything was going all right with the move-in.”

“Just fine. I don’t have a lot of stuff.” Kelli turned her back toward him and continued arranging the closet. The sooner he left, the better.

Miss Birdyshaw followed the men inside. “Shane, you sure did a nice job fixing up this place after that last group. Those young men left the place a bit of a mess and you’ve done a really nice job.” She looked around the room. “Where is that drum set of yours, Kelli?”

“Drum set?” Beth let out a squeal. “I knew it. When we were talking the other day, I could just feel that you weren’t being completely truthful.”

“Truthful?” A cold sweat broke out on Kelli’s forehead. “What
do you mean?” Shane was completely focused on their conversation now, looking like a tiger ready to pounce.

“About not being musical. You’re just one of those really modest people, aren’t you? Don’t worry, I’ve already talked to Mom, and she said she would give you a singing lesson on the house any time you want it. But maybe you don’t really need that either, huh? Maybe you were just playing that down just like you didn’t tell me you play the drums.”

“I . . . well . . . I was just kind of learning the drums back home. I decided I wouldn’t bring them here, though. It’s too expensive to ship them back and forth for just a few months.”

“Really?” Shane said. “Judging from what you said when you were looking over the place, I thought you were quite a serious drummer. Didn’t you say something about it calming your nerves at night?”

Beth looked toward him, wide-eyed. “Oh, then you definitely are going to want a set here, so you can relax. Don’t you worry about that. I’ll bet Mom can find you an old set to borrow while you’re here. She knows every single musical person in town. A few calls, and we’ll have you completely taken care of.”

“I really don’t—”

“It’s settled. Now, what else do we need to do around here?”

Kelli could think of one answer and one answer only, but she thought it best not to say it aloud.

Run.

“Are you sure that you don’t want me to help you with the clothes your grandmother sent you? They’ll all likely need to be ironed after traveling cross country in a box. I’d be happy to stay behind and help you with that.” Beth seemed more than a little determined not to take no for an answer.

Problem was, Kelli had no idea what was really in that box. Opal had never in her life sent Kelli a package—not for birthdays, Christmas, or otherwise. She always just showed up, extravagant gift in hand, any time there was a party to mark a special occasion. But when it came to spontaneous mailings, it never happened. Never.

“No, really. I think I’m just going to rest a bit before I dig into it. Moving was more work than I bargained for, and I want to be ready to start work on Monday—don’t want to wear myself down at this point.”

“All right, if you
absolutely
insist, but how about we agree now that we will pick you up for church tomorrow? We’ll be by about 8:45.”