Finding Me (28 page)

Early Monday afternoon, Beth heard her mother return from a quick run to the store. She was speaking to someone, a man. Seconds later, Kenmore came walking into the room. “I conned your mom into a ride over. It’s only right that I drop by and check on the other patient. How you doing?”

“I feel fine. How about you?”

He hobbled in, using a cane, his face scrunched in concentration. “Just fine, just fine.” He took a seat in the wingback chair across from the bed. “Tell me what kind of hoops you have poor Rand jumping through trying to get the house ready for a baby.”

Beth laughed. “To tell you the truth, he is jumping through a few. You know, making the porch safe, covering electric plug-ins, getting rid of cords that are a choking hazard, all those kinds of things you don’t think much about when you’re just a couple.”

“Yes, having a kid changes the way you look at just about everything. And that’s not all bad. You never realize how selfish a being you were until there is a little bundle of joy in your life.”

“I can’t wait to hold her . . . or him. I don’t know why, but I just think Sprout’s going to be a girl.”

“Wishful thinking, perhaps?”

“I don’t really think so. I would be completely happy either way.”

“That’s going to be one lucky kid, I’ll tell you that much.”

“I’m glad we have the role models that we do. Mom is amazing, as you know, and Rand’s parents are awesome, so we at least have that to help guide us.”

“And of course, they will make terrific grandparents, ensuring
that baby is adequately spoiled, and effectively thwarting every effort you two make at discipline.” He smiled as he said it.

“In case you’ve forgotten, Mom was pretty strict.” She reached back and plumped the pillow behind her head.

“As a mother, yes. As a grandmother, I wouldn’t really count on that so much.” Again he had that smile.

“It will be interesting to see how it all plays out,” Beth said. “How are you feeling about the changes Kelli’s done at the store? Are you thrilled?”

“What do you mean? What changes?”

Beth realized too late that he didn’t know, and that she shouldn’t have said anything. The only thing she could do now was try to play it down. “Oh, you know, I heard she’s rearranged some things.”

“Rearranged?”

“She has a knack for organization. I’m sure you’ll like it.”
Change the subject.
Change the subject.
What’s another subject?

“She is rearranging my store while I’m stuck at home?” His voice was getting louder.

Okay, the time for changing subjects was past—what was needed now was damage control. “I think it might have been my fault, really.”

“Your fault?”

“You see, I talked Kelli into going baby shopping with me before they put me in bed, and we were looking at all the little toddler slides and play sets, and she made a comment about all the little kids who come into the store with their parents and all the havoc they wreak. I said something to the effect that it really wasn’t their fault—if they didn’t have a safe place to move around, what were they supposed to do? I’m pretty sure that’s what planted the idea of setting up a toddler corner over in the area where the hardware used to be.”

“Hardware
used
to be?” His face was growing red.

My damage control may have backfired.
“Well, you know, she moved it farther to the back, over where the plumbing supplies are. There’s sort of a home improvement section now, with everything together in one place. I haven’t seen any of that, but it sounds awesome.”

“What?!” His eyes went wide as soon as the word boomed across the room. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to shout at you, Beth. It’s not your doing. It’s just that I can’t believe she’s changing the store around without talking to me about it.”

“She probably wanted to surprise you, and now I’ve gone and blown it. Please don’t tell her I told you. I really didn’t mean to say anything I shouldn’t have.” Why couldn’t she ever just keep her mouth shut?

“Of course I won’t. When Shane comes home tonight, I’ll tell him I want to go for a drive and check out the store. I’ll pretend like I had no idea anything was going on.”

“Don’t be mad at her. She really is doing a good job.”

“Well, I guess I’ll be the judge of that tonight after Shane gets home.”

Oh no. She’d done it again. Why couldn’t she ever keep her mouth shut?

33

K
enmore punched number two on his speed dial. Shane picked up on the other end before Kenmore even heard a ring.

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” That kid needed to learn to lighten up just a little. “I want to go to the store. You’ve finished with your important work by now, right? Since I am
not allowed
to drive, I need a ride.”

“Since when do you call me at work? Ever? I thought you must have fallen or gotten hurt or gotten a blood clot in your lung or something.”

“What’s the big deal? You’ve been telling me to call you if I need anything, so that’s what I’m doing. I need something, and I’m calling.”

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that if I had a dollar for every time you’ve gone off about people who make personal phone calls during work hours . . . Oh, never mind. Why, exactly, do you want to go out to the store right now? You know I’ve been checking in there. It’s running just fine without you.”

What was it about this generation that they needed an explanation for everything? “Can you take me or not?”

“Yes, I can. I just want to know why we’re going.”

“I’ve heard an alarming report that I need to check out right away.” He rubbed the back of his neck, only now realizing that Shane would likely be delighted to hear of this. It would thrill him to no end to say, “I told you so. Kelli was a bad choice.”

“Ah.” Shane coughed, or was he laughing? He said, “Someone’s told you that she’s been rearranging, huh?”

Kenmore held the phone away from the side of his head and stared at it, trying to decide whether it was worth throwing. He finally decided against it and put it back to his ear. “Yes, and my own son knew it and didn’t bother to say anything?”

“Dad, she’s—”

“When were you planning on telling me about it?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t sure how’d you take it, and I didn’t want to upset you.”

“Since it’s my store, I would say that I have that right, wouldn’t you?” The more this conversation went on, the more Kenmore realized that Shane was—in his own way—defending Kelli. Hmm.

“You know that going over there and getting all fired up because she has moved a few things around is not going to do anything to speed your healing. Besides, I think she’s done a pretty fair job of it, much as I hate to admit it.” He was speaking in his extra-calm voice. Yep, he was definitely taking Kelli’s side here, but trying not to be too obvious about it.

“Go ahead, then. You can at least give me the satisfaction of hearing you say the words.”

“What words?”

“I was right, and you were wrong. Tell me your old man did a good job of finding someone to hire on his own.”

“Nothing doing. I’ll admit she seems to be doing a pretty fair
job so far, but if you ask me, there’s still something entirely fishy about the way she turned up and talked you into giving her that job.”

“Oh really? Apparently you’ve been checking up on her. Tell me, what nefarious deeds have you uncovered so far?”

“Well, for one, she rearranged the store. You’re the one who is, or was until ten seconds ago, so worked up about that.”

“Yet you’re defending her. Very interesting.” His anger at Kelli had melded with anger at Shane for defending her and downright amusement at the current conversation. It wasn’t very often he got Shane on the ropes like this. “Fact is, you have not found a single thing to complain about. You just admitted that she’s doing a good job moving things around without my permission and against my will. We both know this can only mean one thing.”

“What?”

“That her charms are not totally lost on you.”

“Get real.”

“I’m real. And since we both know that you think she’s pretty and you’re looking for excuses to spend time with her, I don’t see that there’s any reason for you not to stop by the house and take me with you out there to check on the place. Do you?”

“All right. Let me finish up some paperwork. I’ll be by in half an hour.”

By the time Shane arrived, Kenmore had worked himself back up into anger. How dare Kelli move things around in his store?

He made his way across the parking lot with his cane while Shane hovered behind him. “Will you go on? I’m not a little old lady. I’m perfectly capable of making it to the door without falling.”

“I don’t know why you insisted on using a cane instead of a walker. It seems a much safer choice.”

“Walkers are for old people. Besides, like I’ve told you a hundred
times before, I had the new ‘minimally invasive’ procedure. Much faster recovery time, that’s the whole point.”

Shane pulled open the front door and held it for him. “Yes, sir. Got it.”

Kenmore reached out with his cane and whacked his son on the backside before entering the store. Once inside, he stopped dead and looked around. “What happened here?”

Kelli was at the register with a customer, while two more were shopping in the store. Kim Smithfield was standing over in the corner watching something. Kenmore walked closer to get a better view, and as he approached, Kim looked up and smiled. “Kenmore. I can’t tell you how much we love what you’re doing with this place. We’ve all been talking about it.”

“Really?” He rounded the corner to see the little play area where Kim’s daughter was currently climbing the three steps to the top of a slide. She was grinning from ear to ear, and so was Kim. “And what are you all saying?”

“You know, just how much we like the updates you’re doing. And of course the kids’ area makes stopping by here with the little ones so much easier. For the first time in a long time, I don’t have to worry about Ariel knocking down a display while I’m trying to decide which kind of antibiotic ointment we need this week.”

Kenmore hobbled around the store to take a closer look. Several of the areas in the back remained unchanged, but three of the shelves up front had been completely redone. He waited until Kim and the other two customers left the store before he approached Kelli. She was looking at him with a mix of hope and fear.

As much as he wanted to grouse at her for making all these changes, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He took a deep breath, trying to breathe out some of his annoyance before he managed to say, “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

Kenmore wasn’t certain who looked more shocked: Kelli or
Shane, who stared at him, mouth open, pencil in hand, looking over the receipts. He’d have to think of a way to explain this one on the ride home. Then he thought of a better plan. “Kelli, why don’t you come over for dinner after you close up? I may be hobbled up, but I can still grill a mean steak.”

This would take the pressure off Kenmore and put it right back where it belonged. On Shane.

“Do you mind telling me what that was all about?” Shane waited only until his father had closed the car door behind him before he pounced with questions.