The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection (28 page)

Careful, lady. A handsome
young man like that is just being kind to his landlady. Don’t make
anything of it.
Her sensible side shook a
finger at her.

But it sure couldn’t hurt
to look
, her playful side
answered.

“
I’m going to be gone for a
few days later this week,” she told him. “I’m leaving on Thursday
for Mackinac Island, so if you need anything, let me know before
then.”

He frowned. “Isn’t it a little late in the
year to visit the island?”

“
It’s a special event — a
Murder Mystery weekend at the Grand Hotel. A friend of mine had
signed up but had to cancel at the last minute, so I’m taking her
place.”

“
Really? That sounds like
fun. Are you going with a tour group?”

“
Yes. The bus is picking us
up at the Zutphen High School in the morning and dropping us off on
Saturday evening.”

“
Sounds like a great time.
I was just thinking about doing a feature article on Mackinac
Island. What’s the name of the tour group?”

“
I’m not sure. I have the
flyer inside. I’ll get it.” She hurried into the house.
Where did I put that paper?
She dug around the notes and papers on her desk. Where had she
put it? She might need that information while she was
traveling—

Ah. She’d already put it in her tote bag.
Picking up the bag, she found the paper and headed toward the
door.

The shrubbery already looked so much better.
Briefly she wondered if Mike would consider doing some of her yard
work in exchange for part of his rent.

“
Here’s the information
about the tour group.” She handed the flyer over to him, and he set
the pruning shears down before taking it. He scanned the paper then
took his phone out of his pocket. Was he going to sign up right
now? But instead of calling, he held the paper out behind the phone
and took a picture of it. Then he handed the flyer back.

“
Thanks,” he told her. “It
sounds like a great tour. I’ll check to see what’s happening with
my family, and if it works out, I’ll call to see if they have any
seats left.” He picked up the shears and went back to work. Helen
went inside to finish packing.

Please, please let there be at least one
empty seat on that bus.

~~~~

Helen listened to
the familiar sound of the garden shears working
their way through the hedges, and before she knew it, her old lawn
mower was starting up. Did he really mean to cut her grass? She got
up to look. Sure enough, he’d brought the ancient push mower out of
the garage and was cutting the grass along the fence toward the
front yard. Briefly she thought about stopping him, but for some
reason, she seemed unable to do so. She just stood in her front
window, watching him go back and forth across her front yard. And
then he went to the back. She checked her cupboards and
refrigerator to see what she could make for dinner. After all that
effort, the least she could do was to cook him dinner.

By the time the motor shut off, she had
spaghetti cooking, a salad put together, and the table set. Maybe
that was a bit presumptuous. What if he already had plans?

She opened the back door as he came out of
the garage.

“
Thank you so much for
doing the yard work. I’d really planned to call someone to help
with that soon.”

“
It’s no problem. It was
kind of nice to be outdoors, enjoying the warm weather.”

“
It looks wonderful. But
you must be tired. Do you have plans for dinner?”

His brows shot up and she felt her face
heat, but she pushed on. “I have spaghetti and a salad if you’d
care to join me.”

His smile made her heart stop. And his words
were music to her ears.

“
That sounds great. Let me
go inside and wash up first, and I’ll be right over.”

Her good day just got better.

Helen opened her
can of soup and dumped it into the saucepan. While
it heated she went off to search for the crackers she’d bought a
week or so ago. Since she’d be gone for three days, she didn’t want
to have a bunch of leftovers in her refrigerator. Besides, she was
tired from all the arrangements she’d made for her trip.

While waiting for the soup to heat, she went
through her checklist again. Clothing for three days, a sweater, a
light jacket, medications…

Her cell phone rang, its
sound muffled from inside her purse.
Well,
at least I know where it is for a change
.
She pulled it out and answered.

“
Hello.”

“
Hi, Mom. This is Nancy.
Are you free tomorrow afternoon?”

“
Actually, I’m going to be
out of town until Saturday.”

“
Really? Sounds like fun.
You haven’t gone anywhere in a long time. Where are you
going?”

“
I’m going to Mackinac
Island with a senior bus tour. It’s a Murder Mystery weekend at the
Grand Hotel. Donna VanDoorn invited me because her friend had to
cancel.”

“
Oh, that’s wonderful!
Well, I was going to see if you could pick Cameron up from soccer
practice, but I can make other arrangements. You deserve to have
some fun.”

Well, at least Nancy is
happy for me. She’s not going to worry about the cost.
“Thanks, Nancy. I’m excited. I haven’t been to the
island since Paul was in junior high.”

She hung up, feeling better
about her decision to go. The soup was steaming in the pot, so she
took it off the stove, poured some into her favorite soup mug, and
took it to the kitchen table. In front of her was the trip
itinerary, and even though she’d read it several times before, she
went through it again, getting more excited with every word. The
Grand Hotel was the most famous landmark on the island, the site
for the movie
Somewhere in Time
and
This Time for
Keeps,
an Esther Williams movie. The prices
at the hotel were high, and this weekend was a true splurge, but
doggone it, she wanted to go. Howard insisted it would cause her no
hardship at all. In fact, he’d seemed downright bothered at the
fact that she worried about it. He kept saying there should be
enough in her regular draws that she should be able to go on trips
often. It would be interesting to see what he found as far as her
spending habits. She honestly didn’t feel she was wasting money,
but maybe Howard would disagree. Maybe he’d sympathize with Paul
and tell her she needed to pack up and move to a smaller, more
affordable place. Howard had been impressed that she’d rented out
the apartment.

Her cell phone rang again. This time it was
Paul. She mentally braced herself and answered.

“
Hello, dear.”

“
What’s this I hear about
you taking off for Mackinac Island?”

She took a deep, calming breath, hoping her
impatience wasn’t loud enough for him to hear. “I’m leaving
tomorrow morning. It’s going to be great.”

“
Tomorrow? Why didn’t we
know about this earlier?”

“
I didn’t know until
today.”

“
The Grand Hotel is
expensive. How did you manage to pay for the trip?”

“
I cashed in my loose
change. You’ve been bugging me to get rid of stuff, so when I
started boxing up all my ‘silly trinkets’ as you put it, I found
all sorts of money stashed away in the house.”

There was silence for a few moments. “Mom, I
know how much you have to live on—”

“
Yes, you do. Maybe you
know too much. Anyway, I knew you were out of town today, so I
called Howard to ask how much it would affect me if I withdrew the
money for this trip. He promised me it wouldn’t be a problem at
all.”

More silence. A very subdued Paul continued.
“You… you called Howard?”

“
Of course. You know how
you never believed anything I said unless someone else told you the
same thing? Well, I decided to take a page from your book. I wanted
to find out if the world would come to an end if I treated myself
once. And he assured me it wouldn’t.”

“
Okay, Mom. I guess I’ve
been hard on you. I’m sorry. Have a good time. Do you need spending
money?”

“
No. Mike gave me his first
month’s rent, so I have plenty.”

“
Mike? Rent?”

“
Oh, I guess I forgot to
tell you. Pastor Sikkema’s brother Michael is renting the apartment
behind the garage for a few months. He moved in the day before
yesterday, and today he trimmed the shrubs on the side of the house
so the walkway is easier to access, and he cut the grass, since
none of those high school boys you contacted has been here
yet.”

“
High school boys — right.”
He cleared his throat. “I guess I forgot to take care of that.
Sorry.”

“
You’ve got a lot on your
mind, dear. Now that I have some extra money coming in I could take
care of that myself.”

“
True. I’m glad you figured
out a way to go, Mom. But just be careful not to make extra
withdrawals too often.”

“
I know. I told Howard that
you and Jonathan and your wives are helping me get organized to
move to a smaller place so that my expenses won’t be so
high.”

“
You told him
that?”

“
Yes. He sounded surprised
that I can’t afford to keep the house.”

“
It’s not that you can’t
afford it, Mom. But you’d be more comfortable in a smaller
place.”

“
Possibly. I’ll be more
comfortable if I don’t have to penny pinch so much.”

“
Do you really feel like
you’re on too tight of a budget?”

“
Well, it would be nice to
be able to go out for lunch with my friends now and then. My
friends are starting to think I’m anti-social.”

“
That’s not you,” he
muttered.

“
Anyway, I’m sorry I can’t
pick Cam up from his soccer practice, but Nancy assured me she
could make other plans.”

“
Yeah, I think she’s
already got that covered. Let me know how the trip goes. When do
you get back?”

“
We get back late Saturday
afternoon, so I won’t have to miss church on Sunday. I wouldn’t go
if I had to miss the pageant rehearsal.”

“
Right. Well, I’ll see you
on Sunday morning, then.”

She hung up, feeling better. She’d expected
Paul to berate her for spending money on the trip, but oddly he’d
been fairly supportive.

Especially after she told him she’d talked
to Howard.

She’d have to think about this more… after
she got home.

The late October
morning dawned crisp and cool as Helen, Donna, and
a dozen others waited for the bus to Mackinaw City. She pulled her
sweater around her and stood with her friend. It had been a long
time since she’d been out of southwest Michigan. She and Joe used
to travel often. After the boys had grown and Joe had sold the
business, they had even gone overseas. But since Joe had passed,
her world seemed to shrink.

Her visit to the financial planner’s office
earlier in the week had opened up her eyes about a lot of things
she’d previously not bothered with. They’d pointed to one fact: she
was, compared to what she’d thought, a wealthy woman. She didn’t
need to save every scrap of paper or bite of food or penny.

The question was,
why
was Paul so
determined to not let her spend money? Did he really feel she was
incapable of budgeting? Had she done something to make him think
she would waste her money frivolously? She’d have to ask him about
it sometime. Later, after she’d enjoyed herself on this
trip.

She’d looked around, hoping Mike would join
them, but he didn’t. The group wasn’t large so maybe he hadn’t
gotten around to calling the woman in charge. Well, that probably
was a good thing. If he had been part of the group, she’d probably
spend the whole trip staring at him and pining away. This way,
she’d enjoy the trip itself. She had a friend to sit with and talk
to, and she had money in her pocket to spend. She had her tote bag
with essentials and her suitcase all packed and she was ready to go
on her first adventure since becoming a widow.

The bus rolled into the high school parking
lot right on time, picking up the dozen or so travelers. When she
got on the bus, Helen realized why Mike was not among them — it
seemed every seat was full. The trip must have been sold out.

Donna leaned back and was asleep within
minutes. Gentle snores filled the air; the result of the early
morning departure. Helen took her knitting out of her tote bag and
started to work. Long ago, when she was a busy mom, she’d learned
to have something to work on whenever she had unexpected wait time.
For this trip she’d come prepared with a paperback book and enough
yarn for a couple of small projects. She decided to work on a scarf
and hat set for herself. The yarn had been stashed away in her
closet, purchased at a time when money hadn’t been such a concern.
Her needles clicked as the miles passed, and she settled in for the
ride. As her hands moved, creating the familiar pattern, her mind
went to the pageant.

Last night’s rehearsal had gone badly. Two
of the lead characters hadn’t come and hadn’t called to check in or
explain. Those who had come didn’t know their lines. Even the
characters who didn’t speak didn’t seem to know where they were
supposed to be and what they were supposed to do. At this rate,
there wouldn’t be a Christmas pageant this year. It was a good
thing they still had five weeks to go.