Kilt Dead (3 page)

“I can’t stay,” he said as soon as she released him. “I
have plans. But Mother insisted you’d need help getting
your things upstairs.”

Liss couldn’t miss the condescension in his tone or the
slight sneer on his plain, square face, but she chose to ignore both. “My bags and laptop are in the trunk. The car’s
unlocked.”

“Hope you didn’t bring too much stuff. You’re not
staying all that long.”

That was Ned always the charmer. Liss’s father
claimed his sister over-indulged her only child and he was
probably right. Ned thought the whole world revolved
around him.

As Liss turned to watch her cousin saunter toward her
car, she realized that a third person had come out to greet
her. Aunt Margaret’s next-door neighbor all but skipped
down her front steps and across the tiny strip of lawn that
separated the houses.

White-haired and bright-eyed, decked out in vivid colors, Amanda Norris beamed at Liss. “Well, dear, just look
at you! I love the scarf. Is that chiffon?”

“Hello, Mrs. Norris. Yes it is.” She’d found it in a vintageclothing store during Strathspey’s tour of the midwest.

“Snazzy. Just like you, my dear.”

In addition to being a long-time neighbor, Mrs. Norris
had been one of Liss’s most memorable teachers. She’d
taught third grade in Moosetookalook for more than forty
years. Probably half the people in town had been her pupils,
Liss realized. And after she’d retired, she’d continued to
be involved with Moosetookalook’s children. She’d been
on the school board Liss’s senior year and helped Liss get
a scholarship to a two-year college that offered both a
business degree and classes in the performing arts. When
Liss had joined Strathspey, Mrs. Norris had sent her a
congratulatory note, wishing her success in her new endeavor. She sent Christmas cards every year too, even
when Liss did not.

“Now, I won’t hold you up when you’re getting settled,” Mrs. Norris said, “but I want you to promise me you’ll
be over for a nice piece of apple pie just as soon as you
have a free minute.”

Liss didn’t hesitate to give her word. Mrs. Norris made
the best apple pie in the county.

“Amazing, isn’t she?” Aunt Margaret asked as the
sprightly little woman darted away again. “She was eightytwo her last birthday but she’s still sharp as a tack. If you
want to know anything about anybody in Moosetookalook,
just ask Amanda Norris. She’s better than a year’s worth
of back newspapers for catching up on what’s been going
on in this town”

“I’ll remember that”

There was one thing she was curious about. At an
angle, across the near corner of the town square, was the
house her parents had once owned, the house Liss had
lived in for seventeen years. It had been repainted but
otherwise seemed unchanged.

She shaded her eyes against the sun to better see the
two men working on the roof. When one of them waved,
she automatically waved back.

“Any idea who that is?” she asked her aunt.

“Dan Ruskin is just turning away. His brother Sam is
over by the chimney.”

She remembered them both, especially Dan. His eyes
were the color of molasses and even in high school he’d
had the kind of smile that could send chills down an impressionable young girl’s spine. “They do roofing repairs?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Dan bought the place. He’s fixing it
up for himself.” Aunt Margaret headed inside, leaving
Liss to follow. Ned had already gone ahead with her luggage.

As she crossed her aunt’s front porch, Liss wondered
whom Dan had married. Lucky woman, whoever she was.
Dan was a nice guy. And that house was perfect for raising a family.

Then she opened the door to the shop and forgot all
about Dan Ruskin as she stepped back into one of the
best parts of her childhood. She’d loved spending time in
Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium and it looked exactly as she remembered it. Aunt Margaret always had been
a great believer in “a place for everything and everything
in its place.” The racks of kilts and tartan skirts still
marched along one side of the big sales room. The opposite wall held its usual collection of bagpipes, practice
chanters, pennywhistles, and drumsticks. Cabinets, shelves,
and tables all displayed items with a Scottish theme. The
place even smelled the same, redolent of lemon-scented
furniture polish.

For the first time in three months, Liss felt alive again.

efore Ned has to leave,” Aunt Margaret said, reaching for a pad of lined yellow paper, “let me fill you
both in on the plan.”

They had gathered in the kitchen of the apartment above
the shop, Liss and her aunt seated on stools at the center
island and Ned leaning indolently against the counter. Liss’s
aunt was not as domestic as Mrs. Norris-the scent that usually lingered most pungently in the air was that of microwave popcorn but the room still had a homey feel. Liss
smelled something wonderful simmering in the Crock-Pot
and she recognized basil growing in a container on the
windowsill.

Aunt Margaret consulted the list on the top page of the
tablet. “The boxes going to the games are ready to be
loaded, so we don’t have to get up until five.”

Liss groaned inwardly at the idea of such an early
start. She’d become accustomed to performing at night and
sleeping late.

“I’m sorry about the timing. It would have been easier
on you if you’d been able to work in the shop for a few
days first.”

“No problem,” Liss assured her.

Instead of just going downstairs to open the shop on
her first day, she’d be driving to the fairgrounds in Fallstown to manage the Moosetookalook Scottish Emporium booth at the Western Maine Highland Games. Five o’clock wake-up call aside, Liss looked forward to it. She’d
always loved participating in their local Scottish festival.

“I’ll have to leave for the airport by six. Ned will drive
me, but by then Sherri should be here and between her
truck and your car, you two should be able to get everything to the fairgrounds in one trip. You’ll have until eight
to set up the booth. I’ve already had the tables delivered.”

Liss took a long pull on a glass of ice water. Aunt Margaret talked a mile a minute. Always had. But she was the
queen of organization. Liss had no worries that everything to do with the business was under control.

“Any questions?”

“Who’s Sherri?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Sherri Willett works part time for
me. Has ever since she came home. Wasn’t she in your
class at school?”

Liss nodded. She and Sherri hadn’t been close, but
Moosetookalook Elementary School was small. They’d all
grown up together.

First Dan Ruskin. Now Sherri Willett. Liss wondered
how many others were still around. Then she frowned, remembering that Ernie Willett’s daughter had been even
more eager than Liss to experience life beyond Moosetookalook, Maine. Sherri hadn’t waited to graduate from high
school. Just before Valentine’s Day their senior year, after
a quarrel with her father that had been audible to neighbors four houses away, she’d packed her belongings and
taken off for parts unknown.

“How long has Sherri been back?”

“Let me see. Must be about three years now. Yes, that’s
right. It was just a month or so after that when Sherri’s
mother filed for divorce and moved in with her and little
Adam”

“Back up. Sherri has a son?”

Margaret nodded. “Cute little guy. Must be four or five years old. And no, there’s no husband in the picture. Not
sure there ever was one. Hardly matters these days, does
it? Except to Ernie, of course. He won’t speak to her. Didn’t
want to acknowledge that his wife finally walked out on
him either. And of course he blamed me”

“Because you gave Sherri a job?” She supposed that
could explain Willett’s hostile attitude.

“Go figure. Far as I can see, he drove both his wife and
his daughter away with that temper of his. Do you know
he had the nerve to come here and demand that I fire
Sherri? I gave him a piece of my mind, let me tell you. It’d
be a cold day in Hell before I’d let a nasty old goat like
him bully me”

“I still say you should have had him arrested,” Ned put
in. “He threatened you and he broke stuff in the shop. At the
least you should have sued him for everything he’s got”

“What would I want with a gas station and convenience store?”Aunt Margaret scoffed.

“I don’t know. But then I don’t know what you want
with a hotel, either.”

“Hotel?” Momentarily distracted from the alarming
picture of Ernie Willett resorting to violence in her aunt’s
shop, Liss looked from her cousin to her aunt. There was
only one hotel in Moosetookalook. “The Spruces?”

“Joe Ruskin and his sons are taking most of the risks,”
Aunt Margaret explained. “I’m only a very small shareholder in the project. But when they finish fixing the place
up and it re-opens, the tourists will come back. Moosetookalook’s economy will revive. We’ll all profit.”

Ned snorted. “Or you’ll go bankrupt”

“Have a little faith, Ned” Aunt Margaret kept her voice
light as she chided him, but Liss saw the disappointment
in her aunt’s eyes. She wanted her son’s support and approval and clearly he wasn’t about to give her either.

Liss did not sleep well that night. In the hour before
dawn, she dreamed she was dancing. She came awake
with a small cry of distress as a restless movement sent
pain shafting through her knee.

For just a moment, she couldn’t remember where she
was. She didn’t recognize her surroundings. She thought
she must be on the road somewhere, between one show
and the next. Then her gaze fell on a framed photograph
on the dresser-the MacCrimmons and the Boyds three
years earlier at Christmas in Arizona. Awareness crashed
in on her, bringing with it renewed grief for all she had
lost.

A glance at the alarm clock told Liss it would sound in
another ten minutes. She turned it off and rolled out of
bed. After a quick trip to the bathroom, she consulted the
to-do list she’d composed the previous night, then settled
herself on the floor of Aunt Margaret’s guest bedroom to
limber up.

Liss had run through an abbreviated version of her
physical therapy exercises the night before, but they had
to be repeated daily. Warm-ups and workouts were nothing new When she was on the road, she spent hours doing
floor and bar exercises every day, not to mention running
through actual dances. After her surgery, she’d designed a
strengthening regimen for herself and now stuck to it religiously. Ignoring protests from her newly healed knee,
Liss forced her torso downward until her chest touched
the tops of her legs, a position she’d once achieved with no
effort at all. She was leaning forward to repeat the stretch
when she heard a light rap on the door.

“Liss? Rise and shine!”

“Be right there, Aunt Margaret” Liss levered herself
up off the floor and reached for jeans and a t-shirt. They’d
do for loading boxes. After that was done, she’d take a
quick shower and change into clothing more appropriate
for selling Scottish souvenirs.