Hope Callaghan - Garden Girls 07 - Missing Milt (4 page)

Gloria and Mally walked to the next corner and stopped.  She wasn’t sure which way to go and where this Wisteria Way might be.  They turned right and headed deeper into the neighborhood, farther away from the front where Liz and Frances’ apartments were located. 

They walked three more blocks.  Gloria was about to give up and call Liz to see if she knew how far back this Wisteria Way was.  At the corner, finally, she found the street.

The two of them made another right.  It was a small cul-de-sac. Gloria let out a sigh of relief.  She loved the walk and fresh air, but realized they would have to cover the same distance to get back to the car.

She looked down at her shoes – flats - and not necessarily the best pair of shoes for walking the neighborhoods. 

The two of them made it to the end of the street when Gloria spied the address she had been looking for: 72709 Wisteria Way.  She glanced at the name on the mailbox:
Trudy Gromalski. 

The driveway was empty and the garage door shut.  The curtains were drawn.  It appeared as if no one was home, but Gloria pressed on as Mally and she made their way up the drive to the side door that faced the drive. 

She rang the bell and waited.  No answer. She rang the bell a second time.  Still no answer.  After the third ring, she gave up and the two of them headed back down the drive. 

She looked down at Mally.  “We might as well finish the walk before we head back,” she told her.

Mally’s tongue hung out the side of her mouth.  “Woof.”

Gloria admired some of the houses on the street, and correctly guessed that this section of Dreamwood was a newer one.  The houses were all Craftsman style with spacious covered porches and custom woodwork. 

The homes were the complete opposite of Gloria’s old farmhouse, which was in desperate need of a new paintjob.  Maybe she could hire Tyler and Ryan to paint it next spring.

She turned back to give Trudy Gromalski’s house one last look and wondered if maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her.  She could have sworn she saw the curtain move.  She narrowed her eyes.  Maybe someone was inside - avoiding her! 

Back on the next street, she studied several other houses.  The styles of these homes were a bit different, a little older and more of the traditional brick exteriors.  She saw a few more curtains move and decided to make a game out of counting how many curtains moved and guessed at how many people were watching her – a stranger to their neighborhood – and Mally walk by.

Gloria didn’t see Liz as she made her way through the parking lot and over to her car. She opened the door and waited for Mally to climb in.  She started the car and pulled out of the lot.  At the stop sign, she debated.  Should she make a run by Del’s Diner to see if any of the employees or his buddies could recall anything odd Milt may have said or done or save it for another day?

It was already late afternoon. The first shift employees – the ones that probably waited on Milt and his pals – were long gone.  She’d have to save that for another day.  Maybe run by there for breakfast in the morning.

Gloria cruised into the small town of Belhaven and made a last minute decision to drop in to Dot’s place.  It didn’t appear to be terribly busy since they were smack dab between the lunch and dinner crowd. 

Dot was sitting at a back table with her husband, Ray, when Mally and Gloria stepped inside.  The place was nearly empty.  She wandered to the back table.

“Haven’t seen you around in a few days,” Dot commented.

Gloria slumped into a chair and Mally crawled under her chair.  “Yeah, I’m trying to get ready for the kids’ visit.”

Dot frowned.  “That’s not until December,” she pointed out.

Gloria nodded. “True, but Eddie and Karen will be here in a couple weeks for the fall color touring.”

Dot crinkled her nose.  “Oh, I forgot about that.”

Ray got up from the table and grabbed a clean coffee cup.  He set the cup in front of Gloria, reached for a fresh pot of coffee and poured.  “You met Andrea’s housekeeper, Alice?”

Gloria sipped the coffee.  “Yeah, she’s a real character.”

Ray refilled Dot’s cup, then his own before he sat back down.  “She sure is.  She came back in the kitchen to give me pointers on how to spice up the food.”

Gloria grinned.  She could picture Alice doing just that.  Alice loved Mexican spicy food…the kind of food that roared through Gloria like fire!

Dot peeled the lid off the small creamer and dumped the liquid in her cup.  “She got me to thinking…what about all-you-can-eat taco night?” 

Gloria studied her over the rim of her cup.  Dot served mostly comfort food: fried chicken, meatloaf, burgers and fries.  “Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.  She can share some of her seasoning recipes.”

Ray agreed.  “That’s what we were discussing.  You know…a change from the same old, same old.”

Dot got out of her chair.  “You want a piece of pie?  I’m trying a new pumpkin recipe.”

Gloria’s stomach grumbled.  All that walking around had made her hungry.  “Sure, I’d love to be your guinea pig.”

Dot popped into the kitchen and returned with a generous slice of pie, topped with a dollop of real whipped cream.  In her other hand, she had a small dish filled with diced chicken.

She slid the pie on the table and set the dish on the floor.  Mally licked Dot’s hand and chomped down on her treat.

Gloria lifted her fork and sliced off a piece before popping it into her mouth. The layered pie was delicious.  There was something different about it. Gloria pointed her fork tines at the pie.  “What’s in this?”

Dot shook her head.  “Nope.  You gotta guess.”

Gloria took another bite.  She rolled the creamy pumpkin around on her tongue.  “Hmmm…there’s a creaminess to it.  I mean, even creamier than pumpkin pie normally is.”

Dot nodded.  “It has a layer of cream cheese and white chocolate.”

It was divine.  It was heavenly.  It was a hit – in Gloria’s book!

She devoured the piece in record time. 

Dot watched the pie disappear. “Did you ever catch up with Liz and her friend?  They were in here looking for you this morning.”

Gloria nodded and rolled her eyes.  “Frances’ love interest, Milt, has been missing for, I dunno, maybe a couple weeks now.”

Dot nodded.  “I saw the missing poster over on the wall in the post office.”

Gloria picked up the last remaining chunk of crust and nibbled the edge.  “Frances is going to be on TV 8’s 6:00 o’clock news.  She chained herself to the front entrance of Dreamwood’s restaurant to draw attention.”

Dot raised an eyebrow.  “To draw attention to whom?  Her or her missing boyfriend?”

Gloria picked up her coffee and took a sip.  “Luckily, I was able to talk her into unchaining herself.”

“In exchange for helping search for missing Milt.” Dot finished the sentence.

“Bingo.” Gloria wiped her mouth and dropped the napkin on top of the empty plate.  “I need that recipe.  I could make it for the kids when they come to visit.”

“Or you could just order it from me.” Dot winked.

“Yeah, maybe I should just have you make it. I’m probably going to have my hands full.”

It had been years since all of her kids – and grandkids – had been home for the holidays at the same time.  Gloria was excited.  Not only would she get to see them, they would get to meet Paul.  Of course, Jill had already met him.

Gloria grabbed her purse from the floor and stood.  “I should get going.  Lucy promised to come over for pizza and help me clean out my clothes closet.”

Gloria had several close friends who lived in the small town of Belhaven: Ruth from the post office, Margaret who lived up on the lake and of course, Dot. 

Gloria was closest to Lucy.  Lucy was the most adventurous of her small group of friends and more times than not, she ended up in the middle of Gloria’s adventures.  Gloria had dragged all of the girls into her misadventures at one time or another, but Lucy was her main sleuthing sidekick. 

“You want me to take a piece of the pumpkin pie for Lucy to try?”  Lucy had the biggest sweet tooth in town.  She was a bit of a confectionary connoisseur and Dot usually bounced her new dessert recipes off Lucy.

Dot shook her head.  “She was in here earlier to pick up some cookies and such and she tried a piece.”

Gloria wasn’t surprised.  It probably would’ve surprised her more if she hadn’t shown up.  Gloria waved good-bye to Dot and Ray and headed out the front door.

Lucy’s little white ranch was on Gloria’s way home.  She swung in the driveway and pulled in behind her friend’s yellow jeep.  She made her way up to the front door and tapped lightly on the glass pane as she peeked in the window.  Lucy was nowhere in sight.

She waited for a few minutes before wandering around back to the storage shed.  The single side door was closed and the padlock in place.   

Mally and Gloria made their way over to the garage.  The garage door was open but no Lucy there either.

Gloria started to grow concerned.  It wasn’t like Lucy to leave the garage door open and not be around.  She headed to the car to grab her cell phone and give her a call.  Hopefully everything was alright. 

She was halfway back, phone in hand when what sounded like a dull roar echoed from the field directly behind Lucy’s house.

Gloria stopped in her tracks. The sound grew louder.  Mally backed behind Gloria, her ears flattened out and she growled.  Gloria patted her head.  “It’s okay, girl.”

A bright flash of red careened around the corner of the shed. On two wheels.  It was a four wheeler.  The ATV skidded to a stop. A cloud of dust swirled around the machine and drifted toward Gloria. 

The driver shut off the engine, then reached up and unfastened the helmet, lifting it off a head of red hair.  Lucy’s red hair and it was standing straight up in the air.

Gloria stuck a hand on her hip.  “What in the world?”

Lucy lifted her left leg and hopped off the quad.  She set the helmet on the seat and peeled off a pair of black leather gloves. 

Lucy patted the windshield.  “Well, whatcha think?”

“What do I think?  I think you have officially boarded the crazy train and lost your ever lovin’ mind, that’s what I think!”  Lucy had done some crazy things in the past.

Well, now that Gloria thought about it, Lucy had done a lot of crazy things in the past.  Skydiving, building small explosives, hitchhiking to the Upper Peninsula by herself.  Of course, that had been years ago when they were a lot younger.

Lucy held out the keys.  “Here, give ‘er a spin!  It’s fun!”

Gloria took a step back.  “No siree, Bob.  I think I’ll pass.”

Lucy slapped the leather gloves across the front of her leg.  “Oh, c’mon!  Please?” she pleaded.

Gloria looked from her friend, to the menacing red machine, then back to Lucy.

Lucy could see she was starting to cave.  “Then let me give you a ride.  I’ll go slow, I promise.”

Gloria sucked in a deep breath. She led Mally over to the open garage and wrapped her leash around the leg of a work bench. 

She bent down to Mally-level.  “Now, if I don’t come back in 15 minutes, call Paul and tell him to come look for me.”

Mally let out a low whine before she yawned and slumped onto the cement floor.  She closed her eyes.  “Good watch dog you are,” Gloria grumbled. 

Lucy grabbed a helmet from the shelf and handed it to Gloria.  “Strap that on.”

Gloria pulled the helmet on her head and fastened the Velcro strap under her chin.  Lucy had already pulled her helmet on. She reached forward and turned the key.  The quad fired up.  Lucy squeezed the handle and revved the motor.

“Climb on.” Lucy reached behind her and patted the seat. 

Gloria straddled the back of the seat and plopped down in the center.  She gingerly placed her feet on the footrests before closing her eyes.  “Dear God.  Please protect me in my moment of insanity.”

Lucy turned her head.  “Hang on.”

Without warning, Lucy pressed the throttle with her thumb and the quad lurched forward while Gloria jerked back. She grabbed the back of Lucy’s shirt and pulled herself upright. 
She wasn’t kidding!

Lucy made a sharp U-turn and the quad zipped by the shed to the open field out back.  When the girls reached a semi-flat patch of ground, Lucy pressed down on the gas and the ATV raced across the field. 

A couple of times, the quad hit a bump and Gloria flew off the seat.  The girls made three trips up and down the long, open field before Lucy steered it back to the side of the shed.  She killed the engine and Gloria slid off.

Lucy’s eyes lit up as she pulled the helmet off.  “That was fun, huh.”

It was fun.  Gloria enjoyed it much more than she thought she would.  Her grandsons, Tyler and Ryan, would LOVE a ride. 

Lucy took the helmet from Gloria and set that, plus her own helmet, on the garage shelf.  She dropped the key in her pocket and waited while Gloria untied Mally.

The three of them walked to the house and stepped up onto the porch.  “You think I could bring the boys by for a ride next time they’re over?” Gloria asked.

Lucy grabbed the door handle and pushed the door open.  “Sure.  Yeah! Of course.”

Lucy dropped down in a kitchen chair and slipped out of her work boots.  She set them by the door before she shuffled over to the cupboard. “Tea?”

Gloria nodded. 

Lucy pulled a pitcher from the fridge and filled two glasses.  She reached to the back of the counter and grabbed a box of goodies.  “I picked these up at Dot’s earlier.”

She opened the lid and slid the box towards Gloria. 

Gloria eyed the contents.  She had just eaten the piece of pumpkin pie.  Of course, she’d also walked around Dreamwood so that had to count for something.  She chose a small peanut butter cookie.  “Thanks.”

Lucy grabbed a peanut butter cookie, a lemon bar and a chocolate macadamia nut cookie before closing the lid and sliding it back on the counter.  “We still on for dinner?”

Gloria nodded.  “Yeah, I really need to get rid of some of those old clothes.” She eyed Lucy critically.  Although Lucy’s main staple was sweets, she was thin…almost too thin. 

Gloria wasn’t big herself, but she had a lot more curves than Lucy and none of her old clothes would look right on her friend.

Lucy nodded.  “I heard about the guy that’s missing over at Dreamwood.”

Gloria nibbled the edge of her cookie and sipped the tea.  “Watch the 6:00 evening news on Channel 8.  Frances chained herself to the entrance to Dreamwood Eats.”

Lucy rolled her eyes.  “Lord have mercy!  That woman is crazy!” She tasted her tea before reaching for the sugar bowl.  “This needs a little sugar.”

Gloria watched as Lucy dumped several large heaping spoons of sugar in her glass of tea and stirred. She lifted it to her lips and sipped.  “Much better,” she decided.

“How’s Bill?” Bill was Lucy’s boyfriend.  Gloria had meant to ask about him the last time she’d seen Lucy.  Gloria hadn’t seen his truck in the drive for at least a couple weeks now. 

Bill and Lucy had been dating for over a year now.  Gloria liked him well enough, although she felt that it was a bit of a one-sided relationship.  The one side being all in Bill’s favor.  Whatever Bill wanted to do, Lucy did it.

Lucy’s lowered her eyes and shrugged.  “Uh, I dunno.”

Gloria paused, cookie mid-air.  “Is everything okay?”

Lucy lifted her gaze.  “We had a bit of a falling out.  I haven’t seen him for a couple weeks now,” she confessed.

“Whatever happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Lucy looked out the window.  “I told him I didn’t want to go bow hunting this year.  That I wanted to hang out with you girls, maybe head to the outlet malls and do some shopping and such.”

“And?” Gloria prompted. She could feel her face starting to grow warm at the thought that Bill was angry just because Lucy wanted to do something other than what he wanted!

“Well, he said if that was the case, that maybe he would give me a
lot
more free time to spend with my friends.”

Gloria opened her mouth to speak and promptly closed it.  What she really wanted to say was that Lucy was too good for Bill, but she knew if the two of them patched things up, there would always be that hanging in the back of Lucy’s mind.  The last thing she wanted was for her friend to think that she didn’t support her 100% - no matter what choices she made.

“I’ll pray about it,” Gloria simply said.

Lucy nodded.  “I appreciate that.  In the meantime, I’m free to do – to hang out or whatever.” Her voice trailed off.

Gloria finished the last bite of cookie and crumpled her napkin, envisioning Bill’s head as the crumple.  She squeezed it extra hard.  “Great, you can help me with the missing Milt case,” she said.

That suggestion seemed to brighten Lucy’s mood.  “You think so?  Really?  I mean, you know I’m all in.”

And, indeed, Lucy was all in.  Lucy was a good little sleuth and Gloria was glad they had something to work on together, to take her mind off Bill. 

Romance and love was a tangled affair.  Her mind drifted back to earlier that day when Brian showed Gloria the stunning engagement ring.  Who wouldn’t feel like a princess getting a ring like that?

She wondered if Paul would ever pop the question.  She glanced at her friend and stiffened her back. 
Who needed men anyways?  They had survived just fine all this time without them!

That resolve lasted until Gloria got in her car and glanced down at her phone.  Paul had sent her a text.  “I miss my girl.”

There was a second text: “Dinner tomorrow night?”  Although Gloria felt bad for Lucy, she texted back that dinner sounded lovely.  Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing her Paul.

Gloria parked the car in front of the garage.  Mally followed her up the steps and into the kitchen.  She set her purse on the chair and hung her keys on the hook.  The afternoon had flown by.  Lucy had promised to come down after she cleaned up, which gave Gloria just enough time to wash up herself and call her daughter, Jill.

Jill picked up on the first ring.  “Hi Mom.”

“Hello dear.”

“Aunt Liz called earlier looking for you.  She was in a bit of a tizzy.”

Gloria grinned.  “She found me.”

“It was something about Frances’ boyfriend.”

Gloria sighed.  “Yep. I guess I have a new investigation.”

Jill snorted.  “That’s kinda what I thought.”

Gloria could hear screams in the background.  Her grandsons.  “How are the boys?”

Jill groaned.  “Driving me C-R-A-Z-Y,” she said.  “They have an in-service teacher day and the boys are off this Friday.  I’m trying to figure out what to do with them.”

Gloria nodded into the phone.  “Good. That’s why I’m calling.  The tree fort is ready to put together.  Brian dropped the pieces off earlier and I was wondering if they could come spend the night.”

“Yes!  A thousand times yes!” Jill groaned.  “You are a lifesaver, Mom!  I don’t even have to ask the boys.  I know the answer already.  In fact, I think I’ll wait to tell them until Thursday night.  Otherwise, they’ll drive me even crazier than they already do.”

Gloria talked to her daughter for a few more minutes then hung up the phone.  She couldn’t wait to see how the tree fort looked when it was done.  They would need more nails and maybe even some cans of paint so the boys could customize it.  Visions of painted walls and painted hair filled her mind.

Gloria wandered out to the front, screened-in porch, which she rarely used anymore.  The porch was large and it ran the entire length of the front of the house.  On one end was a deep freezer where Gloria kept all the frozen stuff that she harvested from the garden each summer:  strawberries, corn, broccoli and green beans. 

She headed to the opposite end – to the metal storage cabinet that had been a fixture on the porch for as long as Gloria could remember.  She lowered the lever and opened the cabinet. Inside was everything the boys would possibly need for camping out.  Sleeping bags, flashlights, bug spray…

She closed the door and watched through the front porch window as Lucy’s yellow jeep pulled in the drive.    Gloria and Mally met her at the back door. 

After placing an order for pizza, they headed to Gloria’s small walk-in closet in the corner of her bedroom. The last time she’d cleaned the closet was after her husband, James’ death. 

Those had been some dark days and Lucy had come to her friend’s rescue.  The two women had painstakingly gone through all of his belongings. 

Gloria donated most of it to charity.  She kept a few items that had sentimental value to pass down to her kids and grandkids. 

Gloria switched on the light and stepped to the side. 

Lucy eased around her and stood in the center. “Good grief, Gloria!” She plucked a shirt from the hanger and studied it.  “This has to be from the 70’s!”

“I told you I needed help,” Gloria pointed out.

Lucy shook her head.  “Help?  You need an intervention.”

Lucy began pulling shirts from the hangers left and right, tossing them in the center of the floor.  Soon, there was a small mountain. 

Gloria grabbed Lucy’s arm. “If you toss much more, I’ll be walking around naked.”

Lucy stopped her cleaning frenzy and glanced at the empty racks.  “True.” She looked at the pile on the floor.  “I’ll stop right here but we need to go shopping.”

Gloria trotted to the kitchen and brought back a brand new box of heavy-duty lawn bags.  The girls filled the bags – three in all – and carried them out to the kitchen.  “I’m going to Green Springs tomorrow.  I’ll drop them off if you want,” Lucy offered.