Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 06 - A Season of Change (22 page)

Rachel pulled the electric blue hair back a little. “It is a wig. Mom talked to me about this a few months ago when I started doing full color dye jobs. This way I can do lots of crazy things and it doesn’t take that much work.”

“Oh, girl, that’s awesome,” Polly said.

“Between my wigs and my shoes,” Rachel held her foot up. She was wearing short black boots with four inch heels. “I’m running out of space in my room.” Polly had less than ten pairs of shoes. Four of those were work boots, two were tennis shoes and the others were assorted pumps and flats.

“I should let you buy shoes for me,” Polly laughed. “I always put comfort above style.”

“Oh, these are comfortable, trust me.”

“I don’t trust you. They look like they’d kill me, but you’re young and I’m glad you like them.” Polly laughed. “So, did you take lunch into Mrs. Heater?”

“She just wanted soup, especially since you are eating together tonight.”

“I should check on her.”

“She said she was bored, but I think she’s still really tired.”

“I’ll bet she is. And I’ll keep an eye on Doug. I haven’t talked to Anita for a while either. Hopefully, nothing terrible happened.”

“Thanks, Polly.” Rachel got up and went back to the kitchen.

“Rachel?” Polly followed her out.

“Yes?”

“You know, you and Doug and Billy could eat dinner with us tonight. We’re just hanging out.”

“Okay. We’ll see. Thanks.”

Polly turned and headed for the addition. If Sarah Heater was bored, she wondered if she could help.

She knocked
softly on the door and said, “Sarah? It’s me, Polly.”

“Come on in,” Sarah called back and Polly opened the door.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get up to greet you,” Sarah said. “I just don’t have all the energy I should have. The doctor told me that chemo would wear me out, but this is ridiculous.” She was sitting in the rocking chair. It had been turned so she could look out both of the windows. Polly supposed that even on grey days, the view was still pretty wonderful.

“I was just checking to see how you were doing.”

“Other than being tired all the time and a little bored, I’m okay. I hate daytime television and I feel useless just sitting around. If I could get up and move more often, I know I’d rebuild my strength. Do you have anything I could help you with?”

Polly sat down in the chair at the desk. “I don’t know. I’m sure there’s something. What would you like to do?”

“I could do anything. I worked in telemarketing at Bel-Co. I’ve worked as a desk clerk in a hotel, so if you needed something with your guests, I could do that. I’ve done a little bookwork before and worked as a receptionist. I’ve done nearly everything. I know I don’t have a lot to offer, but you’ve been so wonderful to me and Rebecca, that if there is anything I can do, I want to.”

“Just a second. I’ll be right back.” She winked and said, “Don’t go anywhere.”

“I’ll try to stay put.” Sarah said, laughing.

Polly ran back to the office and dropped into the chair in front of Jeff’s desk.

“What do you need now?” he asked.

“You spend too much time in the office,” she said.

“You’re right. I do. But since you totally suck at all of this, I have to do it.”

“What if you had help?”

“Oh, don’t tease me. That’s mean.”

“No, really. It wouldn’t be all the time and wouldn’t be for long periods of time, but I think Sarah Heater could help you. She’s been a receptionist and done bookkeeping and you could teach her how to manage a calendar. She’s got a really nice voice and could answer the phone for you and make appointments. And when she feels like crap, she could go back to her room and take a nap until she feels better. What do you think? Yes? Yes?” Polly stopped and took a breath.

Jeff looked at her. “That’s not a bad idea. I don’t need someone in here eight hours every day, but having her help when she felt good would clear some of these piles out of my life. We have that desk in the front office and I have plenty that she could do whenever she got to it.”

“So can I tell her?”

“Sure.” He rolled his chair over to the credenza and opened a drawer, then pulled out several t-shirts. “She can wear these. That way she doesn’t have to worry about getting new clothes.”

Polly stood up and walked to him, then bent over and hugged him. “You rock my world, Jeff Lindsay. I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re all lovey-dovey because Henry finally got around to popping the question. You love everyone. Now go away and let me work. Tell Sarah that I’m in here all the time and whenever she wants to show up, I have plenty of work for her.”

“Thank you, Jeff.”
Polly took the t-shirts and practically ran back to Sarah Heater’s room.

She stopped at the door and knocked and then poked her head in. “It’s me, can I come back in?”

Sarah was standing at the back window, looking outside. “I know it’s cold out there and it’s so brown, but spring is going to come pretty soon, isn’t it?”

“I hope so,” Polly said. “I’m certainly tired of this.”

“What do you have there?” Sarah asked.

“Sycamore House t-shirts. Jeff said he wants you to work for him. Whenever you feel up to it and for however long you can be there. If you have to come back to your room and take a nap, that’s fine. When you’re recovering from a chemo treatment, you don’t have to do anything. But as much as you want to be in the office with him, he has work for you. Here,” she set the shirts on the desk. “These are for you.”

Sarah sat on the edge of the bed. “Thank you. Are you sure that he really needs me?”

“I saw the stacks of papers in his office. He needs you. We’ve been here over a year and I don’t think he’s done any filing. He needs someone and I’m no help. He can’t even get me to use the calendar program on my phone. I never know what’s going on.”

Sarah stood back up and walked over to the desk, picked up a t-shirt and held it out. “This is my size.”

“He thought it would be. If you can’t start tomorrow, that’s fine. Just as soon as you feel like it.”

“This isn’t going to be long-term, Polly.”

“It will be there for as long as you want to do it. Your first job is to take care of yourself and Rebecca, but when you have the energy, you have a place to work.”

“You aren’t going to pay me anything, you know. I owe you so much. I will work as hard as I can to repay you, but it will never be enough.”

“That’s not important. Money really never is,” Polly smiled. “The only important thing is that you get to spend as much time as possible with Rebecca and that you live a life she will always remember.”

Polly headed for the door. “I’ll see you at supper tonight. About six forty-five in the kitchen?”

“We’ll be there.” Sarah held the t-shirt close. “Thank you
.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

“Oh my, this is nice.” Polly stretched out on her bed, disturbing all three of her animals. If things went according to plan, she wouldn’t have many more mornings alone in her bed. Sylvie had called at ten thirty last night to tell her that they were still in the middle of cleaning things after the big meal, so Polly had taken Jason and Andrew to their apartment to pick up clothes for today and assured Sylvie that she’d get everyone to school on time.

Dinner had been great fun with friends gathered around the big harvest table in the kitchen. She hoped Henry was ready for her ever-growing family. She just couldn’t help herself. But he had enjoyed the time together as much as everyone and finally left when Polly took the boys to get their clothes.

She looked at the time and jumped out of bed. If she hurried through a shower, there would be time for Jason and Andrew to take theirs while she made breakfast and took the dog for a run. When she was dressed and walked into the living room, Jason was gone and so was Obiwan.

“Where’s your brother?” she asked Andrew.

He mumbled up from the sleeping bag on the floor. “He went down to the barn to help Eliseo feed the horses. Said he’d be back in time.”

Polly laughed. That boy was hooked. “Okay, then. You’re first in the shower. Get up and get going.”

“Just a little longer?” he whined.

“Nope. No more time. You don’t get to sleep in at home; you don’t get to sleep in here. Up, up, up, up, up.”

Andrew pulled the top of the sleeping bag in tighter around his neck and whimpered. “No. Please?”

Polly went into the kitchen and poured water into a glass. “Are you sure you want to keep sleeping?” she asked.

“Yes. Please.” He turned onto his side and backed himself up against the sofa. “Just a few more minutes.”

“Are you really sure?” She stood over his head and dipped her fingers into the glass. “You have one last opportunity to tell me you’re ready to get up.”

Andrew screwed his eyes tightly together. “Not yet,” he said.

Polly began trickling droplets of water from her fingers onto the top of his head. He didn’t move until one hit his forehead. Another dripped onto an eyelid and then to his cheek.

“What are you doing?” he cried, brushing his hand over his face.

“I’m insisting,” she laughed and dripped a few more drops of water onto his face.

“That’s not right!” Andrew sat up and looked at her accusingly. “That’s mean.”

“Hmmm,” she said. “I’m fine with mean. Are you ready to get up now?”

He pulled himself up to the sofa and shucked off the last of the sleeping bag. “You’re worse than Mom.”

Polly walked back to the kitchen. “That makes me proud. Now get yourself into the shower so that you can be out when Jason comes back.”

Andrew glared at her and stomped loudly into the bathroom. The door began to swing shut, but he stopped it before it slammed. The water in the shower turned on and soon he would be wide awake and his attitude would repair itself. She wasn’t sure what to think about the living room. Between Rebecca’s things and now the boys and their things, the place had become a complete disaster. There just wasn’t enough space to have this many people living in and out of her life. She couldn’t wait until they had access to the other rooms on this floor and Henry was able to start building. He had plans for additional closets in the main room and lots of extra storage. One of these days she’d finally empty all of the furniture and boxes out of her garage and find a home for everything.

While she waited for Andrew to finish his shower, she flipped her laptop open and checked email. Sure enough there was another message from ‘igotyou.’

Too bad about the horse. Nice ring, though. It should have been mine. I guess you never learn.

She slammed the laptop closed and called Henry.

“Good morning, Polly. Did you get any sleep with those kids in the house?”

“Henry, the vandal emailed me again, but I don’t know what she or he did around here. I haven’t heard anything and Jason is down with Eliseo.”

“What did the email say?”

She opened the laptop back up, read it to him and when he didn’t say anything, she prompted, “Henry, are you still there?”

“Polly, that was a threat. I’m worried about you. We can get married tomorrow, but I’m moving in tonight.”

“I love you, Henry and I want you to be here, but I don’t think that will change anything. I can’t believe you don’t have any idea who this is.”

“If I knew, Pol, I’d certainly tell you. I dated Nan and then there were a couple of girls after that, but I didn’t really date anyone for several years before I met you. I was just too busy trying to figure out what to do with the business and the house when Mom and Dad moved to Arizona.

Polly looked at the clock on the microwave. Jason should be coming in any minute now and she didn’t want to upset him with this. “Let me call you after I get the kids to school. I’ll let Eliseo and Jeff and Rachel know to keep an eye out, but nothing ever happens during the day.”

“What time did that email come in?” he asked.

“Four thirty-four. Morning is coming earlier, so that seems like it’s pushing it on time.”

“I don’t care what you say, Polly. We need to put video surveillance outside until this is over. Please let me call a buddy and take care of this.”

Polly sighed. “You’re right. I should have done it when the horses were
released from the barn. Okay. Make the call.”

She heard the front door open and Obiwan bounded across the floor to her and put his paws on her lap. She smiled at him and scratched the scruff of his neck. Jason came in and waved when he saw her on the phone. “I’ve got to go, Henry. People are arriving. I’ll talk to you later.”

“I love you, Polly. This will work out. Do you want me to call Ken?”

“Would you? Thanks. I love you, too.” She put the phone down as Andrew came out of the bathroom, his hair wet and a silly grin on his face. “What’s that grin for?”

He ran over to her and hugged her, then buried his wet head on her shoulder. “That’s for dripping water on me.”

Polly laughed, “Okay, you got me.” Jason watched the two of them and shook his head. “Jason, it’s your turn in the shower. I’ll have pancakes when you get out.”

She stood up and the animals followed her into the kitchen. “Andrew would you put food down for the animals while I cook the bacon?”

Rebecca came in while the boys were getting started on breakfast. Andrew pushed Polly’s laptop out of the way and then he looked up at her, “What’s that, Polly?”

“What’s what?”

“That email. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to look, but it was right there.”

“Oh. Well, I’m not sure what to think about it,” she said.

“Is this from the person who let the horses out and did the other bad things around here?”

Polly nodded and put a plate down in front of Rebecca. “Do you want some bacon and pancakes?” she asked the little girl.

Rebecca looked up at her after reading what was on the computer screen. Polly thought about closing it, but now that it was out there, she figured she might as well just deal with it.

“Rebecca? Pancakes?” Polly asked again.

The girl nodded, distractedly. “Mom said someone was outside early this morning, but she couldn’t see them. She woke me up when she turned her flashlight on and shone it out the window.”

“Did she see them?” Polly asked.

“I don’t think so. But I was trying to sleep. You should ask her.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you. I’m going to have to thank your mom, too. I don’t know what that person was going to do, but if she scared them off, I’m grateful.” Polly put two pancakes and three strips of bacon on Rebecca’s plate and pushed the butter and syrup toward her. “You eat up.”

She was too wired to eat anything herself and went back into the kitchen. As she wiped down the griddle, she turned and watched the three kids laughing and eating breakfast together. They didn’t know they were supposed to be scared of things. She could barely remember the days when adults took care of things so that she didn’t have to worry. It would be nice if someone was around to do that for her now. Polly gave herself a mental kick. Henry was doing everything he could. Even if it didn’t stop the worry, at least she wasn’t worrying all by herself.

Jason slid his plate across the peninsula and she dropped it into the dishwasher. He went back into the bathroom and when he came back out, his hair was neatly combed and he’d adjusted the collar of his shirt so that it was straight. Polly had never seen him pay that much attention to himself before. There had to be a girl. It didn’t seem like it was that long ago that he’d had a crush on Polly. My, how things changed.

He sat on the couch and opened his backpack, checking the books. He slid his phone out of his back pocket, swiped it open, and soon dropped it down in the bottom of a pocket in the backpack. He slumped back and looked around. Finding the remote, he turned the television on and began flipping through channels, not paying much attention to anything he was seeing.

Andrew waited for Rebecca to finish and brought their plates and silverware to Polly in the kitchen. “Wash your hands,” she said to them. “We’ll leave in a few minutes.”

The kids both slipped past her to the kitchen sink and Polly went into the living room and dropped down beside Jason. “Everything okay, bud?”

“Yeah. Whatever.”

“That’s all you’ve got for me?”

He looked up at her. “Girls suck.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he looked at her in shock. “I’m sorry. I mean that they stink.”

Polly chuckled at him. “Relationships stink sometimes, they really do. I’m sorry we don’t have time to talk about it right now, though. After school?”

“Nah. I’ll be fine.”

“You should talk to someone. Your mom?” He gave her another look of shock. “Okay, not your mom. Maybe Eliseo then.”

“I’m fine.”

Polly reached over and hugged him. “You really are fine. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, but look at me. I lived through being your age and it …” She leaned over and whispered in his ear, “sucked then too. It gets better. I promise.”

“Yeah. Whatever.” He put his hand on his backpack. “I’m going downstairs to wait for the punk. Is that okay?”

“Jason?” Polly warned.

“What?”

“Your mom doesn’t let you call him that.”

“Okay, fine. I’m going downstairs to wait.”

“We’ll be there in a minute,” she said.

Jason left through her bedroom and she turned around to see Andrew and Rebecca watching. “What?” she said.

“He likes a girl and she’s going with someone else,” Rebecca said, peering through the bedroom door to make sure Jason was gone.”

“Oh. Well, that does stink,” Polly said. “Is she a nice girl?”

“She’s pretty,” Andrew said. “But I don’t think she’s very nice. She’s kind of stuck up.”

“Got it,” Polly said. “Well, maybe he’ll like someone else one of these days.”

“I hope so. He’s not very much fun.” Andrew threw his backpack over a shoulder and headed out, then stopped at the bedroom door to wait for Rebecca. Polly followed them downstairs and into the garage.

She sat outside the school and watched them all go inside. Rebecca and Andrew turned around to wave, while Jason just kept walking. Polly took a moment to text Sylvie that the kids had been dropped off with no problems, then headed back to Sycamore House. When she drove in, she was surprised to see Sylvie’s car pulling in the front lot, so she hurried through the kitchen and met her near the offices.

“Good morning! I just texted you,” Polly said.

“I know. Thanks for keeping them last night. It was nice to not have to motivate Andrew to get up this morning. If he’d quit reading late into the night, it wouldn’t be so bad, but no matter what I do, he finds a way.”

“That sounds
just horrible,” Polly said, laughing.

“I know, I know. But I hate waking him up.”