The Mill River Redemption (9 page)

“When it rains it pours,” Kyle said with a good-natured smile. “No problem, Miss Ivy,” he called back to her. “I’ll just be another minute,” he said to Claudia before loping across the street.

Claudia watched him for a moment and then looked at Rowen, who was sitting in the grass next to Emily’s car with Gus’s head in her lap. “Wow,” she said to Emily, “it looks like he’s found a new best friend.”

“Yeah, I don’t think Gus has ever met a kid he didn’t like,” Emily agreed.

Claudia smiled. She was unsure what else to say. It wasn’t just that she barely knew Emily. She was intimidated because Emily was striking. Even with her curly red hair in a disheveled bun, a makeup-free face, and clothing wrinkled and stained from her cross-country drive, Emily was easily the most beautiful woman Claudia had ever seen in person.

And yet, she seemed friendly and down-to-earth, certainly much more so than her sister.
Being new in town wasn’t easy
, Claudia thought.
Is there some way I could help her feel welcome?

“So, do you know anyone else in Mill River?” Claudia asked. “Other than Ivy and your sister, I mean. I’ve lived here less than a year myself, but once you’re settled in, I’d be happy to introduce you to some of my friends.”

Emily’s face brightened at her words, but before she could reply, Rose burst out the front door of her house. Although Claudia thought she saw Emily’s sister glance in their direction, Rose did nothing to acknowledge their presence. Instead, she walked briskly to her BMW, started it, and wheeled it around to park on
the opposite side of the street. Then, again ignoring her and Emily, Rose exited the sedan, came back across the street, and climbed up into the driver’s seat of the U-Haul.

“What the hell?” Emily muttered. As if to answer her question, the truck’s engine roared to life, and the red brake lights on the back of it lit up.

Gus startled and stood up, pulling Rowen along with him.

“Rowen, honey, come over here away from the truck,” Claudia said. She reached out a hand as Kyle’s daughter and Emily’s dog came to stand next to her.

“Surely she’s not going to try to drive that thing,” Emily said.

Again, on cue, the truck started to move. Instead of pulling closer to Rose’s house, though, the U-Haul lunged backwards into Emily’s Subaru.

The loud
thump
reverberated up and down the street.

“My car!” Emily said.

Claudia pulled Rowen closer. The truck inched forward until several feet again separated it from the silver car. Within a few seconds, the engine was cut and Rose, looking exasperated, came around the side of the truck. Emily was already inspecting the front of the Impreza.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Rose began. “Some of the stuff we brought won’t fit in the house, and I was just trying to pull the truck up a little so it’d be easier to load.”

“And so you put the truck
in reverse
? I can’t believe it. The very first day we’re here, and you wreck my car?”

“What do you mean, ‘wreck’? I just tapped your bumper is all.”

Emily’s mouth dropped open. “Tapped? Don’t you see this?” She pointed down toward her car. “The bumper is all pushed in, and the grill is cracked. I don’t know how much all this’ll cost to fix, but I expect you to take care of the bill.”

“Whatever.” Rose rolled her eyes and snorted. “Frankly, I can’t believe you’re still driving such a tin can. But since it’s already got so many dents and scratches, what’s the big deal about a few more?” She reached into the pocket of her tight jeans and withdrew a folded stack of bills. “Here,” she said, peeling a few bills off the top and handing them to Emily. “This should be plenty to fix whatever you say was just damaged. Frankly, I’m not sure the bumper and grill weren’t already like that.”

“I just saw you smash into them!” Emily yelled. “And Claudia did, too, didn’t you?”

Emily whirled around, seeking her affirmation, and Claudia gave a quick nod.

“This two hundred dollars won’t even cover the deductible,” Emily continued. She took another step toward Rose, waving the bills as her voice grew louder. “Maybe I should just call the police and file a report. And tell them to run a Breathalyzer while they’re at it.”

Claudia thought she saw Rose give a small shudder in response to Emily’s threat.

“Whoa, what’s going on?”

Hearing Kyle’s voice sent waves of relief through Claudia, and she felt even better when she saw him coming back across the street. Only then did she look around and notice the large audience watching Rose and Emily’s altercation. Ruth Fitzgerald and Ivy were standing together on the front porch at The Bookstop, along with several other people she didn’t recognize. On the sidewalk a little ways away, both Daisy Delaine and her little gray dog stared in their direction. Two kids on their bicycles had pulled over along the curb, and a mail carrier was taking his time climbing the steps of a house two doors down, all the while craning his neck to see what was happening.

“She backed the truck into my car,” Emily told Kyle as he
reached them. “I’m glad you’re here, because I think I’d like to file—”

“Emily, Rose and I are very sorry for the damage to your car.” Sheldon had suddenly appeared, and he stepped in front of Rose to speak with Emily. “I saw it happen from the house. Rose was trying to move the truck because I asked her to, and she probably wasn’t used to the gearshift. I know she didn’t mean to hit your car.”

Sheldon’s soothing, conciliatory tone seemed to catch Emily by surprise. She stopped yelling and listened.

“Of course we’ll pay for any necessary repairs,” Sheldon continued, and Claudia noticed that he held a black checkbook in his hands. “If you’ll let me know the amount of your insurance deductible, I’ll give you a check for that today. And then, once you get an estimate, if there’s a balance beyond the deductible, you let me know, and I’ll also cover the additional cost. Would that be okay?” Sheldon removed a business card from the checkbook and handed it to Emily. “Here’s my contact information.”

Claudia was surprised at how quickly the tension in the air seemed to dissipate.

“Well, yes. I suppose that would be fine,” Emily said. She accepted the card from Sheldon. “I’ve got to check my policy to be sure about the deductible. If you want to come over to my house for a few minutes, I’ll look up the information.”

“Looks like everything’s settled, then,” Kyle said.

Everyone seemed to take his statement as a cue that the show was over. The kids on the bikes pushed off and started pedaling. Daisy and her little dog resumed their walk, and the folks at The Bookstop went back to browsing. The mail carrier walked past and nodded as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Claudia watched Rose head back to her house while Sheldon followed Emily to the one next door. She couldn’t imagine what
had happened to ruin the sisters’ relationship, but Rose’s taunting treatment of her younger sister was disgusting. Claudia remembered well how it felt to be treated poorly, and her heart went out to Emily.

O
NCE THE MESS ACROSS THE STREET HAD BEEN SORTED OUT AND
the last of her customers had left The Bookstop, Ivy fixed herself another glass of tea and reclaimed her spot on the porch swing. She watched as Sheldon came outside to put a few boxes back into the U-Haul before climbing into the truck and driving away. Rose moved her BMW across the street, to the parking space in front of her house where the U-Haul had been. All was quiet then. It was just the two houses, side by side. The two cars parked in front of them, the shiny Beemer and the dingy Subaru, like Cinderella and an ugly stepsister. And the two real sisters inside the houses, who had finally caved in to their mother’s wishes to come back to Mill River and hunt for the treasure she’d left them.

It’s working so far, Josie
, Ivy thought with a sad smile.
I just wish you were here to see it
.

1985

O
N A CRISP
T
UESDAY MORNING IN
S
EPTEMBER
, J
OSIE
swung her station wagon back into her driveway. She and Emily had watched and waved as Rose boarded the school bus, and afterwards, she had dropped Emily off at the nursery school that operated out of the basement at St. John’s. This new routine had started a few weeks earlier, at the beginning of the school year, but she still felt anxious being without her girls in the mornings. Even when she knew exactly where they were—in school, or with Ivy—she worried about their safety. It had been almost two years since the fire, and she still feared that those responsible for her beloved Tony’s death would find her in Mill River.

Instead of going home, Josie walked around to the side door of The Bookstop and let herself in. As usual, Ivy was seated at the breakfast table reading the paper. Her aunt looked up as Josie entered.

“Morning,” Ivy said. “Coffee’s still fresh, and I was waiting ’til you got here to do the pancakes. They’re no good once they’re cold.” Ivy stood up and went to the stove, where she had a bowl of pancake batter already mixed. “Everything go okay with the girls?”

“Yes,” Josie said. She went to the cupboard and pulled down a coffee mug. “I think they’ve pretty much settled into the routine. Rose is still excited about not being a kindergarten baby anymore.
And Emily hasn’t cried yet this week. I think she’s less anxious now that she knows I’ll pick her up at noon.”

Ivy nodded. “Yep, and she sees that Rose is a big girl now, going to first grade, so that’s a good example for her.”

“You know how she’s always trying to keep up with Rose.” Josie sighed. “Time’s flying.”

“The older you get, the faster it goes,” Ivy said. “How are you doing? With them being in school, I mean?”

“I’m coping. I keep telling myself there’s nothing to worry about anymore. It’s been almost two years, after all.”

“That’s true. Just keep sayin’ it to yourself. One of these days, it’ll sink in and you’ll be able to believe it.”

Josie watched her aunt ladle batter into a hot frying pan, and she poured herself a cup of coffee. She sat down at the breakfast table, sipping from her mug. After a few minutes, Ivy turned around and looked at her.

“You sure you’re all right? You’re sorta quiet.”

“I was just thinking about what you said. About time going faster … about how lots of things seem to be going faster now.”

“Such as?”

“Money,” Josie said. “I’ve been so careful over the past couple of years, trying to stretch the life insurance money and what Tony and I had saved. Our expenses haven’t been that high, especially with not having rent or a mortgage to worry about.” She smiled a little, as she did every time she thought about her miracle house. “But, even so, the money won’t last forever. Now that I’ve got some time with the girls in school, I’ve got to figure out what I can do for a real job.”

“How much longer do you think your savings will last?”

“Maybe another year,” Josie said. “But there really aren’t any jobs here in town. I figure I’ll have to find something in Rutland.”

“You’ve never told me much about what you did before you
were married, other than that you worked in a jewelry store,” Ivy said. “I didn’t want to bring it up, either, for fear it would upset you, but now, since we need to get you a job … did you ever go to college?”

“I wanted to.” Josie stared down into her coffee cup. “Mom had no way of helping me, of course. She was lucky to hang on to a job for a few months before getting fired, and when she did get a little bit of money from somewhere, she drank it up. I started working after school during high school just so I wouldn’t have to worry about us having enough money for rent or the light bill. We used food stamps for groceries. It wasn’t much, but I learned how to stretch it to keep us both fed.” She looked up at Ivy with a wry smile. “I make a mean casserole with ramen noodles and government cheese.”

Ivy shook her head as she handed Josie a plate of hot pancakes. “That’s a damned shame. No wonder you don’t like to talk about her much. I do wish I would’ve known what was going on with you and your mom all those years. She didn’t want anything to do with me or your grandmother after she left, not even a phone call. All those teenage years, when you were supposed to be enjoying growing up …”

“I grew up long before I was a teenager,” Josie said quietly. “I figured after I finished high school, I’d get a full-time job, save for a while, and then start taking night classes. I found a job as a sales clerk in the jewelry department at Macy’s. I’d been working there about a year when a man came in wanting to buy an engagement ring. I spent over an hour with him, talking about the different options. In the end, he didn’t buy a ring, but he offered me a job in his own jewelry store in the diamond district.”

“That man was Sol?” Ivy laughed. “So,
that’s
how you came to know him. He came to Macy’s to shop for an employee!”

“Yes,” Josie said. “Said the best way to tell how someone would
treat a customer was to pose as one. He offered to double my hourly pay plus give me a better commission. I couldn’t refuse him.”

“Wow. I’ll bet that made it easier to save for school, then.”

Josie frowned. “It should have. I did save for a time. I was about ready to enroll in my first classes when Mom had a scare.” She paused and shook her head, remembering. “I came home from work one night, and the whole apartment was full of smoke. Mom was on the couch, asleep, with a pot on the stove. She’s lucky she didn’t burn the place down.” Josie shuddered. “We really had it out that night. Mom was freaked after learning what had happened, and she agreed to go into rehab. I thought she’d hit bottom and was ready to turn her life around, so I took the money I’d saved for school and used it to pay for her to go into a treatment center.”

“Oh, honey,” Ivy said. “I can’t imagine … that must’ve been so hard for you.”

“I was happy to do it,” Josie said with a bitter smile. “She’d never agreed to get help before. Never admitted she had a problem. I thought we finally had a chance at a fresh start. I figured I’d save up again and start school when I could.”