Look Always Forward (Bellingwood Book 11) (25 page)

Sylvie's eyes filled and she bent over to hug Beryl's shoulders. "You are an amazing woman. It's too bad that more people don't understand how terrific you are. Thank you."

"Ain't no big thing," Beryl said.

Lydia looked across at her friend. "I take you for granted far too often."

Andy nodded. "We always have. I've been her friend for as long as I can remember and every time we're together, she surprises me." She smiled at Beryl. "I'm awfully thankful for you."

Beryl picked up her parasol and tapped Andy on the head. "Stop it now. You're embarrassing me and you know I don't like it if I'm not in control. Finish your meals."  She looked at Polly. "I want to hear more about that nice young man out at the hotel. I understand he's taken a liking to our Sylvie."

"How do you hear these things?" Sylvie asked, putting her fork down firmly on her plate. "You live by yourself, you never get out and yet you always know things you shouldn't know."

"I have spies everywhere." Beryl crouched forward, her eyes darting back and forth. "You never know where they're hiding."

At that moment, the sound of a child's scream rang out. Polly jumped from her seat and ran toward the sound. On the other side of the street, a young woman was fighting with a high school aged boy for her purse. Her daughter was screaming in fear.

Polly didn't even think about it, but ran across the street to help the woman. "You there. Stop what you're doing," she demanded.

She realized that she was about to confront Heath Harvey again. He was with one of the boys who'd tried to bully her and Grey the other day. By the time she put her feet on the sidewalk, the boys had taken off, running south.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

The woman nodded and wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"Call the police," Polly yelled and took off after the boys. She wasn't going to let them get away. She'd already told herself that they couldn't do much to her other than punch her a couple of times and she was betting that they wouldn't even do that. She saw them duck into the alley and stopped at the end, wondering if she wanted another black eye.

Footsteps behind her caused her to glance up, only to see Rebecca, Andrew and Kayla coming.

"What are you three doing?" she asked.

"We saw you chase someone and thought you might need help," Rebecca said.

That clinched it for Polly. It was one thing to put herself in danger, but the last people she wanted to see get hurt was these three kids. She looked down the alley and then back at Rebecca.

"I know who it was," she said. "I'm not walking into a fight with them. Not tonight. Let's go back and see if the woman is okay. She had a scare."

They walked back up the block and found a small crowd surrounding the woman and her daughter. Bert Bradford was walking down the street toward them and Polly waved at him.

She stopped and put her hands on Rebecca's shoulder. "Go on back to the coffee shop. Tell them that I'm fine. I'll be there in a few minutes."

The kids hesitated and she said, "Go. I need to talk to Officer Bradford."

Rebecca scowled and harrumphed, but finally walked back across the street with Andrew and Kayla.

"What happened?" Bert asked after they left.

"Heath Harvey and one of the boys you took in yesterday tried to steal this woman's purse. I chased them into the alley, but decided not to follow any further."

He nodded. "I'm glad. We'll keep an eye out for them."

"What did you do with the other boy?" Polly asked.

"Ladd Berant," he said. "We couldn't keep him. The chief did his best to frighten him, but there are just some kids who are too cocky for their own good. He thinks he is smarter than all of us put together. It's too bad, though. One of these days he's going to go too far."

"How long do they get to get away with harassment like this?"

"You're certain it was Heath Harvey?" he asked.

"Absolutely."

"Attempted theft is more serious than intimidation. We'll find him and maybe this will put the fear of God into him." Bert gritted his teeth. "He usually doesn't do things like this on his own. Berant is the leader of this little gang and the rest of the boys do what he says. More than likely he's close by, giving directions."

"This is going to be a rough week for you guys if they're here with everyone on the streets."

Bert nodded, then looked over his shoulder at the group still gathered on the sidewalk. "I need to take care of her. Thanks for your help, but please don't get yourself in trouble chasing down our local gang members. There are people above me who wouldn't be pleased if you got hurt."

"Got it. I'll try to be good," Polly said. She smiled at him and walked back across the street. Yeah. This was going to take some explaining.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Too much had happened and no one felt like continuing the party, so Polly took Kayla home. Lydia had asked Beryl to save the prizes for another evening, but the wild woman was not to be dissuaded. She took out four gift bags and passed them to each of her friends. Lydia and Sylvie were hesitant, knowing they'd lost the competition. Sylvie laughed out loud when she pulled out a bright red feather boa.

"What is this?" she asked.

Beryl nodded to the rest of them. "Open yours."

Each woman found the same thing in their gift bag.

"These aren't winner or loser prizes," Lydia protested. "They are crazy."

Beryl took another boa out and wrapped it around her neck. "I get tired of being the only wild person in this group. You all need to join me. From now on, whenever we get together, I demand that we wear these. Especially if we go out to dinner. Are you with me?"

Polly looked at her friends, who all had huge smiles on their faces. "I'm in for the boa. Who needs to be boring?"

Andy tossed hers around her neck, then pulled some of it up under her eyes. "Am I mysterious?"

"You'll do it?" Beryl asked, quite flabbergasted.

Lydia sat up straight and wrapped her boa from the top of her head to under her chin a few times. "Of course we will. But you don't care how we wear it, do you?"

"You're the best," Beryl said. "Sometimes I worry whether or not my whimsy gets under your skin."

"We're with you, crazy woman," Andy said. "You're the only reason I don't wear dark blue suits every day, even when I'm playing with my grandchildren."

They'd helped clean up and pack everything back into Lydia's Jeep. Sylvie left with Andrew, and Polly put the girls in her truck.

After she dropped Kayla off, Rebecca climbed into the front seat. "You have fun with your friends, don't you?" Rebecca asked.

"They're nuts, but I love them."

"Do you think Kayla and I will always be friends?"

"I think you have a good chance. But you'll make new friends as you grow up. You'll meet people in high school and more when you get to college and then when you start working. You'll never stop making friends."

"Kinda like you and Joss?"

"Exactly like that. I don't see my high school friends very often, but when I do, I still love them. Our lives just changed and we weren't together all the time. Sal's the only friend I see from college, but if she hadn't moved to Bellingwood, we wouldn't see each other that often."

"And that's okay? I'd miss Kayla if I couldn't see her."

"It's always okay to miss friends you aren't with," Polly said. "But you can't focus on that or you'll miss out on getting to know other wonderful people."

"Like you," Rebecca said. "I have so much fun with you."

"And I do with you, too," Polly replied. "I would have been a different person if you weren't in my life."

"I miss Mom, but it isn't as terrible as I was afraid it would be." The light from the street lamp illuminated tears on Rebecca's face.

"Do you feel guilty about that?" Polly asked quietly.

"Sometimes. For a long time I thought that it was bad that I was having fun again. Everybody kept asking me if I was okay or if I was sad. And I was okay. I think they wanted me to be sadder than I was. Mom was so sick and she hurt all the time. I didn't want her to stay alive when she felt like that."

Polly pulled into the driveway and pressed the button to raise the garage door. She drove in and turned off the truck. "Your feelings are yours. They're okay no matter what. Other people don't want to lose that feeling of sadness because it reminds them of the person they lost. That's okay too. When it comes to death and living without someone we love, feelings are going to be very different and very personal. Whatever you feel is okay."

"I'm glad Mom made me live with you before she died. That made it easier," Rebecca said. "It would have been bad to just move in that first night."

"Your mom was an amazing woman," Polly said. "She loved you with everything she had."

"I love her too."

"I know you do."

"But it's okay that I love you. Mom told me that I had enough love for as many people as I wanted to love."

Polly smiled. "She was right. That's a great way to look at it."

Rebecca opened the car door. "Look at us," she said. "Talking about this stuff and not crying on the side of the road. I'm proud of us. We're growing up."

Polly laughed out loud. "You're a nut, girl. And I love you."

"Do you want me to walk the dogs tonight?"

"Nah," Polly said. "Send them down. I ate so much, I should at least get a little exercise. Tell Henry I'll be back in a few minutes."

The dogs ran down. Han waited patiently for the leash. Polly didn't feel like being on top of his behavior tonight, so leash it was. She walked back into the garage and jumped when Obiwan barked. He rushed toward the back of the garage.

They'd emptied most everything from her father's home, except for a few stacks of boxes. Slowly but surely, she was making her way through them, but it felt like a never ending process.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Han growled as Obiwan's barking grew louder and more insistent.

"Obiwan. Come," Polly commanded. She wanted to get him out of there and back inside. Someone or something was hiding behind her boxes and she didn't want her dog in trouble.

"It's just me," a husky voice said and Heath Harvey stood up.

Polly pulled Han back and said again, "Obiwan. Come here."

"I won't hurt him. I won't hurt you either."

"What are you doing in my garage?" she asked. "Aren't the police looking for you?"

He rolled his eyes. "That's why I'm in your garage."

"Obiwan. Come." This time, Polly snapped the words out and her dog obeyed. He trotted to her side, trying to keep an eye on the young man at the same time. "I don't know why you've chosen my garage to hide in, but I'm the wrong person to mess with."

"Yeah. Whatever. I'll get out of your hair."

Polly opened the door to the storage room and pushed the dogs inside, then pulled the door shut again. "Why did you choose my garage tonight?"

He snarled at her. "The door was open. Nobody would think to look in the great Polly Giller's garage for a loser like me. You'd never have anything to do with me."

"I don't have much to do with losers," she said. "But that seems to be your choice, not a general assumption by society."

"Well, I'm a loser and I'd better go."

"Wait a minute. Where will you go from here?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I may as well leave town. My uncle will beat the hell out of me and probably kick me out anyway."

"He beats you?"

The kid shook his head. "No, but after tonight he won't hold back. He hates me. I'm surprised he hasn't kicked me out."

"I doubt he hates you," Polly said. "From what I understand, he took you in even though he never had kids around before."

Heath looked up at her. "He said it. He told me that if I'd been in the car with my parents, I would have died too and then he wouldn't have to be responsible for me. He calls me a hoodlum and says I'm an embarrassment."

Polly pursed her lips. "I don't think he's wrong about the last part. You've been acting like a hoodlum this summer and I'm sure it's been quite embarrassing for your aunt and uncle. You know that you are responsible to people other than yourself, right?"

"Well, he should be responsible to me, don't you think?"

"That's crap. He takes care of you, gives you a roof over your head and puts food on the table for you. He doesn't embarrass you or talk bad about you to other people. He is responsible to you."

"Take his side. Everybody always does. You're just like them."

"Probably," Polly said. "Why would you think I'm any different."

He looked away and started to walk toward the open garage door. "No reason."

"Stop," she said. "Tell me why you think I'm different." Polly moved to intercept him before he could leave.

"Just people talking," he muttered.

Polly finally got close enough to touch his arm. He flinched and stepped back.

"What do people talk about?" she asked quietly.

"That you listen and don't judge. Everybody thinks I'm a bad kid."

"I think you're a bad kid," she said. "You pissed me off when you tried to intimidate me. You had no right. Who in the hell do you think you are?"

"It was just a thing."

"It was just a what thing?" she demanded. "Were you trying to impress those boys you were with? What else? Did you think that if you hurt me you would prove how strong you were? I'm a girl. You're bigger than me. What does that prove?"

"Nothing," he said, keeping his head down. "It was stupid."

"Damn right it was stupid. Why did you do it?"

"Because."

"Because why? That's not a good answer." She spat the word. "Because. That's no answer at all."

"Because Ladd said."

"If Ladd told you to jump off..." Polly stopped herself with a chuckle. Such a well-worn phrase. She just couldn't bring herself to repeat it. "What else has Ladd told you to do?"

Heath looked up at her, panic in his eyes. "I didn't do it," he said. "I swear I didn't do it." He ran out of the garage before she could catch him.

Polly followed, putting on speed, trying to keep up with this kid who was so much bigger. But he didn't have the advantage of months of running with her dogs. As he crossed the parking lot, she caught up and grabbed his sleeve.

"Why are you chasing me?" he asked, coming to a stop.

"Because you're running away. Now tell me what has you so shaken up."

"I can't."

Polly took a long, deep breath, keeping her hand on his sleeve. "Come inside with me. Whatever it is that has you so upset, you need to tell someone and apparently tonight, that someone is me. You came to my place because you want to tell me. Am I right?"

"No," he said, his eyes alight with fear. "I don't want to tell you any of this."

"Come on. You're going inside. I'm not standing out here on the road while you hem and haw about whether or not you're going to finally spill whatever is eating you up."

He looked up at the lights on in her apartment. "Are there people up there?"

"My husband and our daughter."

"Then I'm not going. This was a bad idea." He tried to pull away.

Polly held tight and tugged him toward Sycamore House.

"Lady, I'm stronger than you."

"Uh huh. Come on."

She practically dragged him to the front door of the building, waited as it unlocked and then took him inside. When they got to the stairway, he stopped. "I'm not going up there."

"Look," Polly said, still holding on to his shirt. "I've had a long few days. I'm tired of arguing with you. We can continue this as long as you like, but here's how it's going to go down. You'll say no and I'll push a little harder. You'll keep saying no and I'll keep pushing. And at some point, I'm going to win. It's what I do. You came to my place for help. I'm going to give it to you and at this point you can't stop me. Let's skip past all of the saying no and pushing and move ahead to your acquiescence. Okay?"

"You're crazy."

"That I am. No one will disagree with you. Now, head up those steps. I don't want to go through this up and down stuff with you any longer tonight. Move."

He trudged up the first few steps while Polly watched.

"I'm just going to make sure you don't back out. Keep going," she said. "I'll be right behind you."

When he got to the top of the steps, she took his arm, opened the front door and led him inside.

"Polly?" Henry asked coming out from the kitchen. "Who's... oh. Okay. Where are the dogs?"

"They're downstairs by the back door. Would you mind?" she asked.

"You're going to explain all of this to me later?"