Summer on Kendall Farm (6 page)

Sheldon quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth. He pulled a clean, though unironed shirt from his closet and slipped into it. His shorts and deck shoes would have to do. Soon he joined Christian on the sand and they walked the short distance to the house that the boy and his grandmother occupied.

“Good evening,” he said formally. “Thank you for inviting me.” He stood stiffly and uncomfortably. He was unsure what to do or say and where to put his hands. He had nothing to bring her, no wine, no flowers, no candy.

“Come in. The food is hot and ready.”

Christian jumped right into his seat. Sheldon looked confused as to which chair he should take. Christian pointed at one of the chairs and Sheldon took it, assuming the other one was his grandmother’s. Audrey slid in front of the final place setting.

“Grandma, Sheldon said if I put my meat on a bun, it would be a hamburger. Can I do that?”

“May I do that,” she corrected in what must have been her best schoolteacher voice. “And if you want a bun, you can have it.”

“But I’ll have to eat the vegetables, too.” He presented it as a statement, but it was really a question.

“Yes, young man.” She made him a plate and set it in front of him with meatloaf, mashed potatoes and summer squash. Then she got up and a moment later set a hamburger bun in front of him. The boy smiled and took it, proceeding to lift the slice of meatloaf and put it on the bread.

“Would you like a bun, too?” she asked Sheldon.

“No, thank you.”

She took her seat again. The smell of the food was making his mouth water. Sheldon hadn’t seen so much food in one place in a long time. And it was simple food. Not pheasant, coq au vin or arroz con pollo. Yet it looked like a feast to him.

She piled his plate with large portions. Instead of a bun, she added biscuits and checked with him to see if he wanted gravy on his potatoes. Sheldon nodded. When she passed the plate and they bowed their heads in prayer, he was truly thankful.

He wondered if she pitied him, too, if his thin body had triggered this invitation. Sheldon didn’t bother to analyze it too closely. He was hungry and he was going to eat as if he appreciated every single mouthful.

And he did. He’d never appreciated food as much as he did tonight.

* * *

A
COUPLE
OF
days later the heat and humidity had given way to comfortable weather. Sheldon walked into town. He was low on supplies and needed to replenish his stash of canned goods. After having dinner with Audrey and Christian, he longed for better food, but he couldn’t afford it. He carried a basket so he wouldn’t make the mistake of buying more than he could comfortably carry. It was a mile back to the marina and only once had he barely made it with the bags he was carrying.

Picking up some fresh carrots and broccoli, he knew he could eat them raw or with a little salad dressing. He stood in front of the bottles of dressing debating whether or not he should spend the money on one. He didn’t really need it. Deciding against it, he turned. Audrey stood at the end of the aisle and was now coming toward him.

“Hello,” she said, her voice both surprised and happy.

“I was just doing a little shopping,” Sheldon said.

She glanced at the basket in his hand. He was glad to have chosen the fresh vegetables.

“I don’t need much,” he said to explain so few items in his basket.

Audrey nodded as if she understood, but Sheldon knew she didn’t. How could a woman with a decent salary understand his needs for the bare necessities of life. It was why he kept to himself. He didn’t want to have to explain his life or his lifestyle. And he didn’t want charity. It wasn’t that it was beneath him. Sheldon had eaten at homeless shelters and accepted handouts when he had none.

But he was standing on his own feet now. He had a job, however humble. And he did for himself. Not even Jason would have thought he could survive in a world outside of the Kendall. But he was proving him wrong. Even if Jace didn’t know it.

“I want to thank you for dinner the other night. I really enjoyed it.”

“It was my pleasure. I hope you’ll come again.”

“I can’t,” he said. The words were out before he could stop them.

“Why?” she asked.

Sheldon searched for the right words.

“Is it because of the food? Something you don’t like?” Audrey asked.

“The food was delicious. The best I’ve had in a long time,” he assured her.

She smiled. “Does it have anything to do with Christian?”

“He’s a wonderful child and I enjoy being around him.”

“Then what is it?” Audrey asked.

“It’s hard to explain. I can’t tell you about it now.”

“All right,” she said, but she didn’t give up. “How about you tell me about it as I drive you home?”

Sheldon looked confused.

“My car is in the parking lot. As far as I know, you don’t have one and it’s a long walk back to the marina.”

“I like to walk,” he said.

“Oh, stop being a martyr and accept help when it’s offered.”

Sheldon smiled at that. “I’ll meet you at the front door.”

CHAPTER SIX

T
HE
FIRST
-
FLOOR
office that Kelly worked out of faced east. She’d removed the pocket doors and installed french doors in their place. It allowed the light to flow out into the hall and make the space brighter.

It was her policy to review the business every morning at seven. Using her project-management skills, she would study the expenses of the ongoing renovations and the future plans for making the property an income-producing concern. If all went according to her projections, the Kendall Farm Restoration Corporation would come into fruition. She’d been distracted for the past two days with Jace and Ari. But she was back on schedule now. She’d asked Jace to meet her at nine so he could sign all the employment papers and she could give him a list of things that needed his attention.

Taking a drink of her coffee, she clicked on the Kendall’s financial details. Using the time to go over the books, she realized she was getting close to a zero balance in her account. She’d already mortgaged the place as much as the bank allowed. Thankfully, she had an advance check for $10,000.00 from a modeling agency that had asked to use the place for a week. When they finished their location shoot, she’d get the balance. The money wouldn’t go far, but it would pay Jace’s salary and help with some of the marketing she was doing. She’d contracted with local visitors’ bureaus and had brochures being printed to announce the opening of the farm for visitors.

She’d worked with a web designer and the site was ready to go live. There were more details that needed coordination, but she was on schedule.

Kelly glanced at her grad school degree hanging on the wall. Her MBA got her a job at an advertising and marketing firm on Madison Avenue. In charge of several key product accounts, she was on her way up the ladder. Then disaster happened. She lost a big client. She winced at the memory of her client telling her they were switching to a rival firm. Nothing she said could change their minds. Nothing she offered was good enough. Afterward, she felt as if there was a cloud over her and no longer was she given the important clients. Advertising is a business based on image and perception. Kelly was good, but one failure was all it took to end her chances at being the golden girl.

When her grandmother died, leaving her a small inheritance, and the Kendall came on the market, Kelly snapped it up with the intention of proving her promotional skills were as honed as ever. Looking over the marketing plan, she made a few changes and hit the print button. As she pulled the page from the printer, Jace came in.

“Oh,” Kelly said, startled as she turned back from the machine. “Is it nine o’clock already?”

“Afraid so,” he said. He took a seat next to the desk. He held a sheath of papers.

“Are they completed?” she asked.

He nodded, handing them to her.

Kelly checked to make sure the insurance forms had no gaps. Finding none, she looked up.

“They seem fine. I’ll submit them right away.”

Placing them on the top of her inbox, Kelly looked over the pages on her desk. Rifling through some, she glanced at Jace. “I’m usually more organized than this,” she said, finding what she was searching for. “Here’s a list of things I’d like you to start on. I made notes about what needs repair and what needs to be replaced.”

Jace looked at the list. He nodded several times.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Yes. I was hoping you could let me know if you think of anything else that should be done or restored here at the Kendall, given your association with the place.”

He sat forward in the chair. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve mentioned I’ve done a lot of the work myself, with my cousin’s help and her husband’s, but if I should bring in a specialist for something, let me know.” She pulled another sheet of paper from her desk and handed it to him. “These are the projects I worked on.”

“You did all these?” He scanned the long list.

“I did.”

“Including replacing the fencing along the road?”

She nodded. “That’s right.”

“I’m impressed.” He stood up. “I’ll get going on those jobs that need doing.” At the doorway he stopped and turned back. “Do you mind if I take Ari with me?”

“Not as long as you’re responsible for his safety.”

“Don’t worry. He’s always my first concern.”

“I watched the two of you together,” she said.

His eyes flashed.

Kelly felt a streak of heat run through her as if she’d just made a confession, that she’d somehow invaded the privacy of a father with his son. “I didn’t mean anything by it, just that it’s obvious how much you two love each other. I can tell you wouldn’t let anything hurt him if you could possibly prevent it.”

He gave his head a shake and left, but not before Kelly saw the bob of emotion in his throat.

CHAPTER SEVEN

K
URT
M
ALLARD
HAD
been right, Jace thought. The sunlight shining through Kelly’s hair was like watching a beautiful fire. It mesmerized him. He couldn’t take his eyes off it or her. Outside he perused her list and decided which tasks to complete first. With Ari trailing behind him, he strengthened barn door fittings, checked to see that the correct size stone for the added pathways had been delivered, put up a half dozen shelves in the garage and reorganized the storage there. It took him two days to complete just the first third of the list. As he went about his work, to say that he was impressed with everything Kelly had done would be a gross understatement. Jace could see her presence at the Kendall was more than an asset.

Jace knocked lightly on her office door with Ari standing next to him. She invited them in. Jace held the list up. “I’ve done a few things. Thought you might like a status update.” He handed her the paper, which he’d added columns to. There were check marks in red indicating the tasks he’d completed, the date they were completed, what was decided on and finally his initials under the approved column.

She looked at it, then up at him. “You’re very thorough.”

“Comes with the job,” he said.

“I helped,” Ari stated.

Kelly smiled at him, a smile she’d never given Jace.

“What did you do?”

“I held the light so dad could look at the...the...” He faltered.

“Joist,” Jace provided.

“Joist,” he repeated.

“I’m sure you were a big help,” Kelly told him.

Ari beamed.

“Since it’s the end of the day, I thought I’d finish that library for you, but I see you’ve already done it.”

“I plan to put the books back in another week. The paint needs time to really cure.”

He nodded. “I’ll start on the other things on the list tomorrow. In the meantime, I promised Ari I’d take him into town. He hasn’t seen anything of Windsor Heights, except the Kendall, since we arrived.”

“You can come with us,” Ari said.

“Yeah, you can,” Jace imitated his son.

Kelly glanced at the spreadsheets on her desk. The office was full of unopened boxes. Jace noticed a brochure taped to one of them. One chair had several post office and courier boxes stacked, ready for tomorrow’s pick up.

“You have to eat sometime,” Jace prompted. He wanted to see her away from this place. She worked all the time, as if she had an impending deadline.

“Well, I suppose I can finish when I come back.” She shuffled her papers together. “Let me freshen up. I’ll meet you at the front door in five minutes.”

Twenty minutes later they were sitting at the Hamburger Palace, a fast-food place where Ari was stuffing himself with a huge hamburger and a plate of french fries.

“Chew, Ari,” Jace cautioned. The boy was shoveling food into his mouth as if he hadn’t had a meal in days. “They don’t have hamburgers where we were living,” Jace told her.

“That must have been interesting. Living in a different country, I mean.” Kelly took a bite of her burger.

“It was. I’ve lived in a few countries, actually. But, obviously, Colombia’s meant the most to me.” He used a napkin to wipe the side of Ari’s mouth. “Too much relish.”

“What did you do there exactly?”

“We put in a water treatment plant. It had just come online when Ari and I left.”

“The job was over?”

“My part in it. The plant was completed, outfitted and online. The maintenance crew was in place and it was time for me to be transferred to another project. But I opted to return here.”

He looked at Ari. Kelly followed his gaze and he knew she understood his meaning. She reached for the bottle of catsup and poured a little on the side of Ari’s plate. Then she dipped a French fry into the sauce and offered it to him. Ari bit it.

“Mmm,” he said, and picked up his own fry, repeating the procedure Kelly had shown him.

“Have you inquired about pediatricians, yet?” she asked.

“Before we left, I’d looked into some, but I haven’t visited them. Would you know of any?”

Kelly shook her head. “I’ve never been around children or anyone with children, so I can’t help you there. But I’m sure there are services you can call to inquire about specialists. You can use the computer to look up the types of doctors who are part of the insurance plan.”

Again he looked at Ari. “It’s amazing that since he’s been here, he hasn’t had a single episode.” He shrugged. “I think he’s happy.”

“Many people with asthma live without episodes,” she said.

“Ari used to have them regularly.”

Hearing his name, Ari paid attention to him. “I have my inhaler,” he said. His hand went to his pocket to prove it.

“I know you do,” he said.

“I never go anywhere without it.” Ari was shaking his head and speaking slowly, the way Jace had spoken to him when he was old enough to understand that he needed the inhaler to help him breathe.

Jace smiled and Ari tucked it in his pocket before returning to his food. Turning back to Kelly, Jace looked at her hair. It was loose and flowing down her back. He wanted to run his hands through it, but she was his employer and he couldn’t do anything to jeopardize that. He needed the job in order to keep the insurance.

“I need a favor,” Jace said. He changed the subject to take his mind off Kelly’s hair.

“What is it?”

“I have to return the car. I hoped you could find it in your schedule to follow me to the airport and bring me back to the Kendall?”

“I forgot it wasn’t yours. Of course, I’ll drive back and forth. I can drop off some of the brochures I have along the way.”

“Brochures?”

“It’s one of my marketing ideas to get the Kendall to be self-sustaining. It’s been a lot of hassle, but I think it’ll be well worth it.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve negotiated a deal with the Maryland tourism people to include brochures in all those places that people stop along the highway. When I go to the airport we’ll pass right by the tourism offices. I can deliver the brochures.”

Jace remembered the boxes in her office. “Why?” he asked.

“Why what?”

“Why are you distributing brochures for tourists?”

“Oh.” She smiled widely and leaned closer to him. “I’m opening the house for tours.”

“What!” Jace recoiled. “You can’t.”

“You forget,” she said. “I own the Kendall.”

* * *

A
FTER
EATING
DINNER
with Jace, Kelly was having second thoughts about him staying on at the Kendall. He came with baggage, lots of it. She knew it when he arrived, but she’d misjudged how much he could interfere with her plans. He’d grown up on the farm and was having a hard time thinking of it as belonging to anyone except him or his family.

Ari was the one bright spot, but she wouldn’t let her affection for the child obscure her vision. She was doing what had to be done if she wanted to not only live here but make the place successful again. She had to make Jace understand that. She’d worked through several plans and she’d had to discard most of them as not producing enough income to warrant the effort.

As soon as Ari was asleep, she’d asked Jace to come to the main living room. She had coffee set up on the small table and was prepared for the discussion. This was no different from the presentations she used to make when she was at her New York firm. Only this time she was speaking from the heart about something that had a lot of meaning for both of them. She was worried, too. If he didn’t agree with her, their employment relationship could be over.

Kelly poured coffee into her cup and added cream. Jace’s footsteps on the hall floor alerted her to his presence. Her heartbeat jumped and she took a long breath. He stepped inside the living room and stood there a moment looking at her. He’d changed his shirt, replacing the earlier short-sleeved one for a sweater.

“This is a pleasant room,” Jace said. “I see the furniture has been changed. I like this better.” He came forward and poured himself a cup of coffee. He drank it black and made a face at its taste.

“Isn’t it strong enough?” she asked.

“It’ll do,” he said. He didn’t sit, but carried it around the room as he appeared to inspect everything in sight.

“Should I apologize or should you make the coffee from now on?”

“I’m sure I’ll get used to it over time.”

Kelly frowned. “Time. That’s what I want to discuss.” Kelly stood up. “I mentioned that I have certain plans for the house. Plans you are opposed to.”

“It did come as a surprise. I never thought anyone would want to let strangers into their home and have them roam around.”

“They won’t be roaming around. All tours of the house and property will be escorted.” She waited.

Using both hands, despite the coffee cup, he signaled for her to continue. “I intend to open the house one day a week to tourists. I’ve hired a crew of college students who will be dressed in period costumes to provide the guided tours. As you know I’ve designed and printed brochures, and distributed them to tourist bureaus throughout Maryland and the four states that border it.”

“Just for the record, don’t expect me to don a costume and play lord of the manor.”

“I won’t, but I also expect that you won’t get in my way.”

He said nothing and his silence was irritating. Kelly decided to go on. “I also have plans in the works to help to attract events to the Kendall.”

“Attract events?” He stepped forward and set his cup of coffee on a table. She couldn’t figure out if he was closing his mind to everything she had to say. It didn’t matter. She didn’t need his approval.

“To begin, we have three weddings this summer. They will use the lawn for the ceremony and the ballroom and formal dining room for the reception. Photographs will be both inside and outside, weather permitting. There is a contract with a modeling agency in New York to use the Kendall for their next photo shoot. They will be here for three days, using the house and grounds to shoot an ad campaign for a fashion designer’s upcoming collection. The library, garden, small living room and the red room will be used.”

Stoically, he watched her without expression.

“I have a leasing agreement with Windsor Heights State College for their annual cotillion. It’s scheduled for next November. In that case, we’ll be using the grand ballroom, which will be decorated by the student committee and supervised by the dean of students.”

“Whose idea was that?”

“Actually, it was the Windsor’s. The social committee chairperson contacted me and I signed the agreement. We need the money and they are paying a hefty sum. Apparently, having a house that’s been continually occupied since the Civil War is a draw for the college. In addition, some of the students are helping out with the much needed improvements. They will be on sight come September and receive a credit for their work. I would appreciate it if you would be the project leader on that if you’re still here by then.”

“You think I’m leaving?” The smile on his face could be a smirk. Kelly ignored it. She had to persuade him and she believed in laying her cards on the table. As a marketing executive, she always told her clients the truth. They appreciated it.

“I believe that you will do what’s right for Ari. And for yourself. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if my changes for this place become so abhorrent to you because you can’t get it out of your head that the Kendall no longer belongs to the Kendalls, then you’ll have to consider whether or not staying here is the right thing for you both, or you’ll just disappear like you did five years ago.”

She saw it in his eyes, knew it would happen. “You’re a runner, Jace,” she continued. “Whenever things don’t go your way, you get on a horse and you run. When the horse can’t take you far enough, you use a car or a plane, or an engineering job. So no, I can’t be sure you’ll be here in September or even if you’ll be here in the morning.”

No one liked to hear a character assessment of themselves that was anything other than glowing. Kelly had told him nothing he could grab hold of that was good about himself. But she wasn’t sorry she’d said it. “I’ll let you know if I’m planning to leave,” he told her. “So go on. I can’t wait to hear what else is coming.”

Kelly glared at him. “When we begin generating enough income, I’m going to build a racetrack on the ten acres behind the horse barn. There we’ll hold races and charge fees. There’ll be a club house, stables and viewing stands. It’s a long-term project. I don’t expect to begin it for several years.”

Jace listened attentively without any expression. Kelly finished and let her words sink in. His gaze swept around the room. He’d already commented on the alterations she’d made to it.

When his eyes settled on her again, he said, “I’ll meet you partway.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I’ll act as project leader in September with the students. I’ll work on anything you want, but when it comes to tourists traipsing through the house, I draw the line.”

“You don’t—”

He stopped her with his hands, palms out. “I won’t prevent. I won’t undermine. But I won’t participate.”

“Fair enough,” Kelly said. They weren’t at war, but she felt as if she’d won the first battle.

“One more thing,” Jace said. “I’m not a runner. I had a good reason for leaving five years ago and an even better reason for returning now.”

“I know you left because of Laura,” Kelly stated. Windsor Heights was a small town and gossip about people at the Kendall was its stock in trade. He stared at her with eyes so hard they could have lasered her in two. “You don’t know the half of it.”