One Day in Apple Grove (11 page)

Cait already knew Honey B.’s story but never got tired of hearing it because it was proof positive that even a cautious man could move quickly when the situation called for it.

“I thought the simple ceremony at the justice of the peace in Newark was lovely,” Meg said, bending down to take the hairbrush out of one son’s hand so he would stop smacking her other son. “But I understand why you’d want to have the vow renewal—it’s a chance to have everyone with you, celebrating the love you and the handsome sheriff share.”

Honey B. sighed. “I didn’t realize how much I wanted a real wedding, so I bought a gorgeous dress online and was all set to dazzle my husband in front of all of our friends and neighbors, but that was before I realized I was expecting again.” Tears filled her eyes as she added, “And I…damn it, I don’t know how to sew.”

“I do,” Mrs. Jenkins said with a smile. “Don’t you worry about those alterations, Honey B. You’re going to knock Mitch Wallace’s socks off when he sees you walking toward him.”

“Just leave it to us,” Mrs. Hawkins told her.

“Peggy and Kate are making the cake.”

“You planning on having a green cake like Edie and Bill?” Cait asked.

Honey B. just smiled. “That was the craziest wedding cake I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I’m going to tell you what the McCormack sisters are planning for our cake. Something has to be a surprise since the whole town is in on everything else.”

The conversation in the room started to escalate as everyone volunteered their ideas on a how to make Honey B. and the sheriff’s vow renewal perfect. “If I ever get married,” Cait said suddenly, “I’m not having a big wedding, just me and the groom—like Honey B. and Mitch did over at the county courthouse.”

“That’s it?” her sister asked.

“And my family.”

“Ten people?” Mrs. Doyle shook her head. “That’s just sad. Weddings are happy times for family, friends, and neighbors to celebrate.”

Cait remained firm. “Up until Meg and Dan got married, I wanted to elope, but then I’d be breaking the family tradition of tying the knot in our barn.”

“Only our grandparents, Mom and Dad, and Dan and I got married in the barn,” Meg reminded her. “You could have Reverend Smith bless your vows after the fact in the barn…with a party for family and friends.”

“And neighbors,” Mrs. Doyle put in.

The ladies were tittering and laughing, so Cait didn’t think anyone would hear her when she reminded Meg, “Remember when I asked Pop if I could borrow a ladder to elope and he just laughed and said not to bother…just to take the stairs?”

Meg nodded. “You were eight years old and so serious, he couldn’t help but tease you.”

Everyone started laughing and Cait realized she should have known they’d be listening. Danny was tugging on Meg’s leg, so she picked him up before telling her friend, “I’m hungry.”

“Me too,” Honey B. said, “but I have customers.”

“We’ll watch the boys, Meg,” Mrs. Doyle offered, holding out her arms for Danny. “Why don’t you go on over to the diner and pick something up for you and Honey B.?”

Meg smiled and picked up Joey, handing him to Mrs. Jenkins. “Be good for Mrs. Doyle and Mrs. Jenkins,” she told them. “Mommy will be right back.”

Three little boys called out, “Bye!”

After passing out kisses, she asked her friend, “What do you want?”

“Sausage gravy and biscuits.”

“That all?”

“Mmm. I’m not that hungry.”

Caitlin asked, “What would you order if you were really hungry?”

“Chicken fried steak, sausage gravy, mashed potatoes, and biscuits…why?”

“No reason.” Cait grinned. “Come on, Meg, let’s go get that food before Honey B. faints again.”

“Not funny, squirt!” Honey B. called out, using the nickname Cait hated as Cait closed the door. Once her sister’s friend couldn’t see her, she let go of the laughter she held.

“What’s so funny?” Meg demanded as they crossed the street to the diner.

“Nothing.” Cait smiled.

“Hey there, Cait, where’ve you been?” Kate asked as they walked through the door.

Peggy walked out of the kitchen and smiled. “I hear she’s been hanging around with a certain handsome doctor.”

Cait couldn’t control the urge to laugh; she gave in. “Well, we’ve been doing a little more than hanging around.”

“Wait a minute,” Kate said, “let me get a pencil and piece of paper. This might be worth putting in the
Gazette
.”

“Not funny, Kate,” Peggy told her sister before nudging her toward one of the customers holding up an empty cup. “You’re on coffee duty. Get lost.”

Cait was trying not to cringe at the thought of someone discussing the aspects of her relationship with Jack—it was still so new, she meant to keep it to herself—but she always did have a hard time holding back when it was Peggy.

“She wouldn’t really tell Rhonda—” Cait began, only to have Peggy interrupt.

“Don’t worry,” Peggy reassured her. “Kate’s a lot of talk lately, especially since she finally broke up with her loser boyfriend.”

Cait was trying not to smile when she said, “I didn’t really think that you would, but sometimes I do wonder about your younger sister.” When the younger McCormack sister waved her hand in the air as if to say “go ahead and talk about me,” Cait leaned close and whispered, “Peggy, Meg thinks I’m in love.”

Peggy squeezed Cait’s hand. “Why?”

“Well, it all started when Jamie ran across the road into my arms.”

“Wait,” Peggy said, “you’re in love with a dog?”

“That’s part of it…but that was the first time I saw Jack as a person and not just someone who graduated from school with Meg, joined the navy, and came home to pick up where his dad left off—looking down the throats of everyone in town and taking their pulse.”

Peggy reached out to rub a hand up and down Cait’s back but didn’t say anything.

Encouraged, Cait confessed, “He’s funny, kind, and has this great laugh—and is one hell of a kisser.”

While Meg was chatting with Kate, giving her a food order, Cait sat down on one of the stools. “I’ve never felt like this before, Peggy…ever,” she whispered. “And it scares the ever-living daylights out of me.”

Peggy leaned on the counter and whispered, “So, how good a kisser is he?”

Cait’s grin turned wicked. “You remember Tommy Stackhouse?”

Peggy’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

Cait shook her head and whispered, “Better.”

“Oh. My. God,” Peggy said, fanning herself.

Cait started to laugh and pulled Peggy in for a quick hug. “I didn’t know if I was crazy or not.”

Peggy grinned at her. “Seriously? Tommy Stackhouse?”

Kate came out of the kitchen with Meg’s order and asked, “So, are you going to give me the lowdown on the town’s latest heartthrob?”

Meg chuckled as she thanked Kate. “That’s all you,” she said to Caitlin. “See you later, Sis.”

Watching Meg close the door, Peggy asked Cait, “Have you told him how you feel yet?”

Cait shook her head. “I wasn’t exactly sure of it myself. Besides, what if he doesn’t feel the same way?”

“Are you crazy? He’d be a fool not to fall for you.”

Cait’s heart lightened. “Thanks, Peggy.”

“No problem.”

They walked through the diner and out to the sidewalk. Standing in front of the diner’s picture window, Peggy asked, “So, does Meg finally know about the bet?”

“Yeah, we were just over at Honey B.’s and everybody filled her in.”

“Good,” Peggy said. “It’s a good thing what they’re doing for our town.”

“It is,” Cait agreed. “Sooo,” she said slowly, letting her gaze meet that of her friend. “If you were me, would
you
tell him?”

Peggy paused before answering, “Maybe not quite yet. You’ll know when the moment is right.”

As promised, Mr. Johnson was waiting for Caitlin the following morning when she pulled into his driveway. After doing the walk-through, she knew this would be a job she’d love—expanding his barn to include a few more stalls.

“Caitlin,” Mr. Johnson called out, walking toward her car. “Where’s the truck?”

“It’s in the shop.”

Before she could elaborate, he was nodding. “Heard about the whole business, just thought it would be repainted by now.” She fell silent and followed him over to the long, low building he wanted to add on to. “Now,” the older man said, pointing to the left side of the building. “Here’s where I think you should build the stalls I need. How you do it’ll be up to you, as long as it looks like what’s already there.”

“Understood,” she told him. “If I call in the order to the lumberyard over in Newark, I can probably have all of the materials ready for pick up this afternoon. If I pour the slab now, I can start framing first thing in the morning.”

“You’ll squeeze me in your schedule?” he asked. “I know it’s busy since Megan started working part time.” He waited a beat before asking, “She feeling all right?”

Cait smiled. “She’s great and feeling better every day.”

“Good. Young women were meant to be mothers. It’s natural—”

“If that’s the case, then who would be building your horse stalls right now?”

He slapped his knee and chuckled. “Joe Mulcahy never did suffer a fool…didn’t raise any either,” he said with a nod. “You’ll give me a fair price?”

“Always, but I thought you and Pop already agreed on time and materials?”

“I talked to your dad about that, but the job is labor intensive…and the thing is, I just don’t have a whole lot of extra right now. I need to put money back into caring for the horses. I’ve got a lot of paralyzed and paraplegic kids coming to learn how to ride, and I need to find another instructor to work with them.”

“Pop says you already have the next two months booked solid, with a waiting list.” She looked over at the horses quietly munching on hay over in the corral. “You’re doing this community, and our county, a great service by starting up this riding program. How could we say no? We have to help you help these kids.”

“I’m grateful that your dad raised you three girls right…even if not one of you can cook!”

“Don’t believe everything you read in the
Apple
Grove
Gazette
. Besides, that was years ago, when I was in high school. Maybe I’ve learned to cook.”

He shook his head and pointed at the barn. “Work up your material list, get me the price, and place the order. Pour your slab,” he said. “The sooner we get things going, the sooner we’ll be up and running.”

“When’s the next session start?”

“Two weeks.”

Cait stared at the building for a moment before coming up with a new plan. “Mr. Johnson?”

He stopped halfway to the corral. “Yeah?”

“If I get my dad to help me, we can have this baby framed out with the roof on in a day or so.”

“That fast?”

“We’re pouring some concrete slab, not digging foundations, and adding on to an existing structure…it’s not like the rebuild I did over at Mr. Weatherbee’s barn.”

“Thought you’d never finish it up and get to my barn.”

“How about it, want me to bring my dad in on it?”

“Think he’d do it?”

Caitlin grinned. “In a heartbeat. Retirement’s not as much fun as he thought it’d be. About all he has to do is work on the Model A pickup when Dan’s free. Those two are thick as thieves.”

“Family should stick together. I’ll leave a tarp by the side of the barn. You can use it to cover the wood you drop off later. Tell your dad I said thanks.” With that, he left her so she could call her father and get the lumber list together.

Her father taught her to be prepared, and she would have been if she were driving the F1. She went back to the car and pulled out the bags of concrete she’d stowed in the trunk that morning. She had the hoe she needed to work the water slowly into the concrete mix. What she didn’t have was a wheelbarrow. She’d have to call her dad, because she didn’t want to take a chance and ruin one of Mr. Johnson’s wheelbarrows if she didn’t get all the concrete washed out before it dried.

“Hey, Pop,” she said when he answered. “I’m gonna get started on Mr. Johnson’s slab and don’t want to wreck his wheelbarrow mixing the cement. Can you bring one by?”

“Have you staked out the area and measured the depths you need?”

“I will.”

“Do you have any scrap lumber pieces to create the form?”

“Yep.”

“Good.”

“Um…Pop?”

“Yes?”

“Mr. Johnson was hoping I could start right away, but was worried about not having enough money for time and materials, and working by myself—”

“Just ask.”

“Will you help me?”

“I can be there in about fifteen minutes. While you’re waiting, do the measurements, and run a chalk line to the stakes. And one more thing,” he warned. “Double-check the slab in the other stalls—it would be a good idea to match it.”

“Thanks, Pop,” she said. “I owe you.”

“That’s all right,” he told her. “I know where you live.”

An hour later, she was breaking open the bag of concrete with a hoe and removing the paper. Her father manned the hose and added water while they both watched the consistency.

“Nice and slow,” he warned as she folded the water into the mix, watching to make sure it wasn’t dry and crumbly or too wet. “Good. I think you’ve done it.”

“I know how to mix concrete, Pop.”

“I know, but Meg was the one who spent more time learning how to mix up a batch than you.”

She grinned. “I learn things faster than Meg,” she said, flexing her elbows as she picked up the wheelbarrow and rolled it up the makeshift ramp her dad had put together after they’d built the form for the slab.

“Is it too heavy?”

“No,” she said. “I’ve got it.” Shifting the wheelbarrow left and right to empty all of the mix into the form, she backed it up.

“Now,” he said, nodding at the pile, “smooth it out—”

“I know—into an even layer while you get the next bag going,” she called out over her shoulder.

Her father chuckled and did just that.

By the time they’d repeated the process enough times to complete the job, she was ready for a break. “I’m beat.”

“It’s tough work but looks great.” He beamed. “I brought some plastic to lay overtop of the forms so nothing gets into the cement before it dries. Are you going to break for lunch?” he asked. “It’s after one o’clock.”

“Oh no! I have to let Jamie out.”

“OK,” her father said, looking at his watch. “Why don’t you meet me at the shop after you take care of Jamie. I’ll have a sandwich waiting for you.”

She leaned up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “You’re the best.”

He chuckled. “It’s my cross to bear.”

She was laughing as she turned around and drove to Jack’s house to check on Jamie. The mournful howling had her heart breaking for the little dog. He must have heard her footsteps on the deck because he was jumping up, looking out the back door window.

“Hey there, Jameson,” she called out as she let herself in the back door.

He didn’t make a sound as he launched himself at her. She braced for impact, rubbed his sides until he stopped trying to climb into her arms, then got down on his level. “You’ve got some bad habits we’ll have to work on, dog.”

But Jamie wasn’t listening as he bathed her face with kisses. When he settled down and sat on her lap, she pulled him close and rested her face on his soft puppy fur. “You’re such a lover. I wish Gracie wasn’t allergic to dogs. You’d love it at our house. We’ve got the field in the back and the barn and…”
No
use
thinking
about
what
can’t be
. “Maybe Jack can drive you on over to run in the field with us, or maybe if I ask Peggy nicely, she’ll ask her dad if you can visit the McCormack farm—as long as you promise not to chase their chickens.”

Speaking of Jack, Cait wondered if she should just come out and say how she felt. She sensed that he returned part of what she was feeling—the heat was there in his eyes—and she was pretty sure he was beyond interested in the kissing stage.

She was getting hot and bothered just thinking about the last time he’d pulled her into his arms.

As if aware of her inner turmoil, Jamie sat quietly while she talked to him and stroked his head and back. “Mr. Johnson’s riding clinic for kids with disabilities is going to be great.” Jamie seemed to be listening. “Pop’s helping me add on a couple of horse stalls. It feels good to be a part of something important like this.”

Jamie started to squirm, so she let him go outside and do his doggy business. With that done, she gave him fresh water and some kibble to eat. “You’re a good dog,” she told him before asking, “How’s Jack today?”

At the sound of his temporary master’s name, he barked joyfully. “I know,” she confided, pressing her lips to the top of the puppy’s head. “I feel the same way about him. I’m busy tonight and can’t have dinner with you guys, but maybe tomorrow.”

She settled Jamie in his bed and reminded him to be a good boy until Jack got home. His eyes were sad, but he didn’t follow her to the door. He was smart and knew the routine, that Jack would be back in a couple of hours.

Texting Jack to let him know that Jamie was all right and reminding him that she would be working late over at Johnson’s, she got back in her car and drove to town.

She was starving by the time she pulled around the back of Mulcahys, and she was pleased to see her father gathering supplies in the back of the shop. “Hi, Pop!”

Her father looked up and grinned. “My favorite carpenter.”

“You’re only saying that because you’ll be working with me on the Johnson project.”

“I saw the bookshelves you built for Meg and Dan, and the curio cabinet you built for Miss Trudi’s birthday. She’s going to love it.” He paused and told her, “You’ve a gift, Caitlin.”

She cleared her throat. “Thanks.” She hadn’t expected him to say something like that, although he usually told them if he thought they did a good job with something. This was different—this was her dream. “It means a lot that you think so.”

He grinned and held out a sub sandwich.

“You are the seriously the best! I’m starved.”

While she ate, they talked about the Johnson job and the order in which they’d be doing the construction. When they’d gone over everything, he asked, “So, does the lumberyard have our order ready for pick up?”

“Yes, but that’s the problem,” she said, finishing up the sub. “I’m still driving the car and don’t have a lot of room.”

“I guess you didn’t look out front,” he told her.

“No. I came around back. Why?”

“Follow me.”

When they walked through the shop, Gracie looked up from her terminal, but from the glazed look in her eyes, she was either setting up tomorrow’s schedule or doing their quarterly reports for taxes.

Cait knew better than to interrupt now; she could talk to her sister later.

When her father opened the front door and held it, she stepped past him and felt her mouth drop open. “It’s finished?” She walked over to the F1, examining the passenger door up close. “It’s great…you can’t tell that it was scratched or anything.”

“Bob does good work.”

Her eyes filled as she spun around to face him. “I’m so sorry—”

“I know you are.” He took her hand and turned it so her palm was facing up, placed the keys in her hand, and gently closed her fingers around them. “Take care of our legacy.”

Clearing her throat, she promised, “I won’t let you down again.”

“That’s my girl. Let’s tell Grace where we’re headed.”

The lumberyard was busy, but Joe and Cait had been there countless times before, and knew their way around. They pulled up in front of one of the buildings in the back and were greeted by one of the owners. “Glad you two are still speaking to one another,” he said, eyeing the gleaming black F1. “Bob Stewart does good work.”

Cait silently cursed and waited until they’d loaded up the truck bed and paid for the lumber before saying anything. “Did you have to tell him about the truck?”

Joe stared out the front window as she drove. “Didn’t have to.”

“But this isn’t Apple Grove.”

“Close enough that news travels fast—good and bad.”

“Maybe I get why Grace doesn’t want to stay in town. Everybody knows everyone else’s business and talks about it over coffee at the diner…or at the lumberyard a few towns over.”

Her dad frowned. “She’s been wanting to go back to the city ever since she graduated. I keep expecting her to tell me she’s leaving any day now.”

“I know, but I haven’t given up hope that she’d change her mind.”

Her father sighed. “Mulcahys is my life, but that doesn’t mean it has to be Meg’s, or yours, or Grace’s.”

“But when you retired—”

“None of you were engaged or married, so I didn’t have to hire outside the family. I hoped it would always be that way, Mulcahys working for Mulcahys, but that’s my dream, and I am a realist.”

He fell silent for the next few miles.

She didn’t mind riding without talking because that meant that her dad would be working out a problem in his mind, but the sudden thought that she and Grace might be the problem unnerved her enough to break the silence.

“So, are you and Mary going to get married soon?”

His head whipped around so fast she wondered that he didn’t get whiplash. “What makes you ask?”

“Just something about the way the two of you were communicating without words.”

“When?”

“The other day at the market…when you turned the sign around and kissed her.”

“You saw that?” He sounded resigned.

“Yep, thought about taking a pic and sending it to Rhonda, but then realized that you might not like being front page center news in the
Gazette
.”

Her father was mumbling beneath his breath as they pulled into Johnson’s driveway. “You and your sister see too much.”

“Pop,” Cait said as she parked the truck. “For what it’s worth, we all like her and want you to be happy.”