Out of the Shadows (Bellingwood Book 12) (7 page)

"She seems nice," Polly said. "They want you on this job. And it looks cool. Sandy is an architect."

Henry took a loud breath. "Fine. Tell them to call Jessie and set up a time to meet. We'll see what we can do. This kind of puts off a surprise I was going to give to you, though."

"What?" Polly asked.

"Nope. I only discuss one building project a day with you. This was your limit."

"Come on," she pleaded. "Tell me."

"I love you very much. Have them call Jessie. I need to go to work." Henry ended the call, leaving Polly standing there with her mouth open.

She texted back to him. "
You rat. You know you're in trouble tonight, don't you?"

"I love you,"
he replied.

"Henry says to call his office manager, Jessie, and set up a meeting," Polly told the women as she went back to the table. "Apparently, he is busy, but I have my ways." She winked at them and then giggled.

"Really?" Sandy asked. "You had to pull the wife card?"

Polly shook her head. "No. He said he'd be glad to talk to you. However, he also told me that it was going to push off a surprise he'd planned for me, so you owe me."

"If this happens and he builds out the space for us, your first sewing class is on us," Jen patted Polly's hand.

Sonya leaned in and said quietly. "If he does the work, she can take as many classes as she wants. Right?"

Jen laughed. "That's our negotiator. She'd give away the shop if we let her. But if he agrees to do this for us, we know it will be done right and done well."

"Henry said he went to high school with your husband," Polly said to Sandy. She tried to place the young woman's age. They'd waited a long time to have children.

Sandy watched Polly processing and chuckled. "I'm three years younger than Benji and yes, we waited to have a child. Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever want this and when I got pregnant, I was as surprised as anyone."

"And you chose to give up your career?"

"Not completely. I still do freelance work for them, but I don't go into the office every day and it's okay. I'm happy."

She didn't sound that happy, but Polly let it go. People made choices in their lives and she barely knew this woman.

Sandy gave her head a quick shake and bent over toward Polly and in a conspiratorial whisper, asked, "So is it true about you?"

"Is what true?" Polly knew what was coming, but she liked to make people ask.

"You know," Sandy said. "You find dead bodies?"

"That's me. Grim Reaper."

"So you found that body in the field the other day?" Sonya asked.

Polly nodded.

"Do they know who it is yet?" This from Jen Dykstra.

"Not that I've heard. The Sheriff sheriff doesn't tell me much unless I get up in his face. And then it's only because I pester him," Polly said. "Or I sic his wife on him."

"Lydia’s been good to us," Sandy said. "We live down the street. I couldn't believe it when she showed up with food and then arranged it so other people from church did, too. It made those first weeks a lot easier. I was so not used to being at home and having to learn how to feed myself, Benji and a baby. Benji and I never ate at home before the baby. It was either over at his mom's house or we met after work in Ames. All we did was come home, collapse and go to work again."

"This is a big change for you, isn't it?" Polly asked.

Sandy nodded. "I’m trying to get used to it. It's getting easier and working with these two has been fun." She chuckled. "Everyone’s on a mission to teach me to be more relaxed."

"I need to introduce you to Sal Kahane," Polly said.

Jen looked around. "Doesn't she own this place?"

"Yeah, but she grew up in Boston. Sometimes Bellingwood drives her absolutely out of her mind."

"I grew up in Denver," Sandy said. "This has taken some getting used to, but I've lived in Iowa since college." She glanced up. "We moved to Bellingwood after I found out I was pregnant. Benji thought it would be easier if we were closer to his mother. He was right, but I was so glad when you opened the coffee shop. Even if I couldn't drink caffeine, I knew someday I would again and at least I could come in and sniff it."

Polly laughed. "Yes, you need to meet Sal. You’ll hit it right off."

Jen gathered up the papers from in front of her and gestured for the others to be pushed her way. "I'll set up a meeting with Polly's husband," she said. "Sandy, you and I need to find a time when you're available. Sonya, do you want to be there?"

"Maybe not at the first meeting. You girls have this in hand." She stood up. "I have a quilt to finish for a new grandbaby who’s going to show up any day now, so I should be home and sewing. It was nice to meet you, Miss Giller."

"Polly. Please," Polly said.

She nodded and smiled before walking away. Jen stood up and slid the papers into a portfolio. "You two sit and chat. I have things to do before my kiddos come. I'll be in touch, Sandy." She shook Polly's hand and followed her friend out of the shop.

"What do you do on Sunday evenings?" Polly asked Sandy.

"Nothing." Sandy shrugged. "Why?"

"Sal and Sylvie, myself and Joss Mikkels all eat pizza together over at Pizzazz. Nearly every week. You should join us. It's no big deal; just a chance to get our heads on straight before a new week."

"Sylvie Donovan, the baker?"

"Yeah. And Joss is the librarian. We're friends who eat pizza. Sal's boyfriend is Mark Ogden, the veterinarian. Do you have animals?"

Sandy shook her head. "Are you kidding? I can barely take care of people in my life. I'm much better with lines and drawings than I am with living things."

"Anyway, his sister runs the dance studio in town and her husband, Dylan, owns Pizzazz, so we hang out."

"You know everyone, don't you," Sandy said. "If it weren't for these two ladies and Mrs. Merritt, I wouldn't know a soul in Bellingwood."

Polly laughed. "That's funnier than it should be," she replied. "I spent two years feeling like I didn't know anyone at all. Every time I turned around, I was meeting someone I should have already known. It will get easier. So, Sunday?"

"Let me see if Benji will be okay if I'm gone. He's not any better with humans, and try as he might, this daddy thing is about to push him over the edge. We were not cut out for this."

"I know some baby sitters," Polly said.

"Do you have kids?"

Polly laughed again. "Oh, Sandy, if you only knew how crazy that question is. You are only a couple of years younger than me. I have two kids, but not because I gave birth. My daughter, Rebecca, is twelve and we adopted her after her mother died last spring. We’re also guardians of a high school junior whose parents were killed a couple of years ago. So, yes, I have kids, but no I didn't have babies."

"Wow."

"I guess that describes it. You'll love Sal, because she'll get you, but you'll also love Joss and Sylvie. Joss wants a big family. She and her husband." Polly glanced at Sandy. "That's Nate Mikkels, the pharmacist at the drug store. Anyway, they adopted twins last year. I can promise you that she will help you in any way she can. Sylvie has two boys, a sophomore in high school and a seventh grader. She's on the opposite end of the spectrum as you. She's just getting started with her professional life and loves being a mom, too." Polly reached out to touch Sandy's arm. "You need to know us. We might not give you a lot of help, but we'll have fun."

"Okay. I didn't expect this."

"Have you gotten to know Camille?" Polly asked, waving the coffee shop manager over.

"I just met her today," Sandy said.

"Camille, you need to know Sandy, too," Polly said. "And you should probably come have pizza with us on Sunday nights."

Camille smiled. "Sal and Sylvie asked if I'd come. I think this next week I will finally be available. So yes, I'll be there. Are you coming too, Sandy?"

"It sounds like I'd be crazy to miss it," Sandy said.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The three kids - Andrew, Rebecca and Kayla - were at Polly's dining room table working on homework when her phone rang.

"Hey Eliseo, what's up?" she asked.

"Heath didn't come back on the bus. Jason didn't see him."

"Is Jason there? Can I talk to him?"

"Just a sec."

Polly waited for a moment and then Jason said, "Yeah?"

"Heath didn't say anything to you?" she asked.

"No, why would he?"

"I don't know. You both come to Sycamore House and you work together in the barn after school."

"I'm not his keeper," Jason said. "He does what he wants."

Polly was done. "Look, Jason. I'm not asking you to be his keeper. He can take care of himself, but I do expect respect and compassion out of you. People have extended themselves to you a lot over the last couple of years and for you to take this attitude with anyone is out of line. I'm tired of it."

"He didn't get on the bus. He didn't talk to me. That's all I can tell you," Jason said.

"You know we aren't finished with this conversation, right?"

"I figured," he muttered. "Here's Eliseo."

"Trouble?" Eliseo asked.

"Nothing we can't work out. I'll call Heath and see what's going on and let you know. Thanks for telling me," she said.

"We'll be fine here this evening without him. No worries."

"Thanks." Polly hung up and looked at her phone. She knew it had been too good to last.

After scrolling through her numbers, she landed on Heath's and swiped the call. It rang and rang and went to voice mail. "Heath?" she said. "This is Polly. You can't not show up and not tell me either. Call me as soon as you hear this. You don't want me to worry, right?"

She swiped the call closed and then re-dialed. If he was ignoring her calls, she was going to pester him. How in the world did her dad live without knowing how to reach her? She remembered Mary telling her that it wasn't fair of Polly to make her father worry about finding her dead in a ditch. It had only taken one incident of him being white with worry when she showed up late one night. She'd discovered that making a quick call was better than the other consequences.

This time Heath picked up. "Hello?"

"Heath, it's Polly. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Where are you?"

"Still at school."

"Are you doing something?"

"Yeah. I'll catch a ride back to Bellingwood. No biggie."

She took a deep breath. "Are you going to tell me what you're doing? You do know who you're talking to, right?"

"It's cool. I'll talk to you later."

"No, Heath. That doesn't work. Around here you ask permission before doing something, you don't ask forgiveness later. Eliseo was expecting you at the barn and you aren't there. That's irresponsible."

"Sorry."

She took a breath. "When do you expect to be home?"

"I'll be there before supper."

"You know we're talking about this tonight, right?"

He sighed. "Yeah. Okay."

The second conversation she'd had like this in ten minutes. High school boys were going to make her nuts.

"Be safe."

"Bye."

She glanced at the kids around her table. The cats were sprawled out in a sunbeam on the floor beside Rebecca and both dogs were asleep on the sofa. Polly was so frustrated at the last two conversations she'd had, she wanted to scream. She knew she shouldn't let those stupid boys get to her, but dang, they drove her batty.

"I'm going out," she said to Rebecca. "I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Rebecca asked.

Polly scrambled to think. She didn't know. But she needed to say something. "Maybe to the grocery store, probably to the library to see Joss. Do you need anything?"

The kids shook their heads and Rebecca looked up at her. "Everything okay?"

"It will be," Polly said. "I'll be back in a while."

Rebecca followed Polly to the back stoop. "You know it's Monday, right?"

Polly turned and looked at her. "Yeah. Why?"

"The library isn't open. The little kids are downstairs."

"That's right." Polly dropped her head. "I'm going to run to the grocery store to get inspiration for supper tonight." She patted Rebecca's hand on top of the newel post. "I'll be back later."

"Believe the best about him, okay?" Rebecca said.

Polly chuckled. "Go back to your homework, Miss Intuitive. I'll see you later."

She ran down the steps and out the door to her truck. In just a few minutes, she parked in front of the grocery store and went in. Nothing sounded good right now, so she hoped great inspiration would overtake her before she'd gone through the aisles.

"I understand you made a new friend today."

Polly spun when she heard Lydia's voice behind her. She stepped into a quick hug, holding two tomatoes in her hands. "I didn't see your Jeep," she said.

"It's in back. Gotta keep you on your toes. I stopped at Sandy Davis's house and she said that you invited her to join y'all on Sunday nights." Lydia patted Polly's hand. "That was a nice thing to do."

"I like her," Polly said. "She'll have fun with us. Camille is coming, too. Soon we'll fill the place with young career women."

"As opposed to us old stay at home ladies?" Lydia asked with a chuckle.

Polly clutched her heart. "Oh, you got me. Right here where it hurts." She grimaced. "You know what I mean."

"Yes I do. I think it's wonderful you’re finding ways to meet more friends. And Sandy could definitely use some of those, too."

"Did you hook her up with Jen Dykstra?" Polly asked.

"Who me?" Lydia grinned. "Would I be so conniving?"

"Absolutely. It's what you do and you've perfected your technique."

Lydia put her hand on Polly's cart and pushed it out of the way of a young woman with her little son. "How are you doing? Aaron told me how bad things were on Saturday. I haven't had time to check on you. I haven't had much time to do anything lately." She gestured around the shop. "As evidenced by the fact that I'm here trying to decide what's for supper."

"That's what I'm doing too," Polly said. "Well, that and I escaped the house before I screamed. Young boys will be the death of me."

"Heath?" Lydia asked.

Polly nodded. "Yes. And Jason. They frustrate me. Some of it’s because I didn't raise Heath and now I'm trying to force him into a mold that makes me comfortable. He stayed in Boone for some reason and didn't call me first. I would have thought that was common courtesy, but I would have thought wrong."

"You are the guardian and you get to make those kinds of rules," Lydia said with a smile. She picked up a batch of bananas. "Two days and they'll be perfect for bread."

"I know I am, but I feel like such an ogre when I push him. I don't have to know everything, but I want to know enough so that I can take care of things before they fall apart."

"No you don't, dear. Sometimes things falling apart is the only way kids learn. Let him fight his battles, let him fail, let him grow up. Don't do it all for him."

"Hasn’t he already been through enough?" Polly asked.

"He had a crisis and faced down what most of us would call abuse. But don't let those things cause you to treat him with kid gloves. If you expect him to call you first, be consistent and insist on it. The boy isn't broken, he's wounded. Give him boundaries, follow through with expectations and be consistent. That's what he needs."

Polly sighed. "I don't like being a parent."

"It's not an easy job," Lydia said. "But you're fine. Trust me."

"So can I ask you something even though I'm not supposed to?" Polly asked.

"Sure, what's that?"

"Has Aaron said anything about the body I found on Saturday? Do they have any idea who it is yet? Is there anyone missing?"

"He hasn't said anything to me," Lydia responded. "But that’s not surprising. They probably don't have much information yet. Things are slow on Sundays and I haven't seen him yet today. Do you want me to have him call you tonight?"

"No, that's okay. I shouldn't press. It's not my business."

"Fiddle faddle," Lydia said "You found the poor soul, the least Aaron can do is keep you up to date on what he knows. But the truth is, you always seem to be part of the investigation anyway. You'll know more than I will in a day or two. Right?"

A sheepish grin stole over Polly's face. "Yeah. You're probably right. I'll be good.

They'd pushed their carts around the store and while Lydia had filled hers, the only thing Polly had was a few tomatoes and a package of pork chops.

"That's going to be sparse eating," Lydia said, pointing to Polly's cart.

"I knew I wasn't paying attention. I'd better walk through again," Polly said. "I'll see you later."

"Andy and I are going to start bringing things in tomorrow for the Haunted House. We need to dig through the shed and make sure everything is still in good shape."

"What's the new addition this year?" Polly asked.

Lydia smiled and put her groceries on the counter. "You’ll have to wait and see. We never get to surprise you."

Polly gave a little wave and turned back into the canned goods aisle. She needed to focus on one thing now. Dinner.

~~~

After dinner, Henry said, "I can either clean the kitchen or walk the dogs, Polly. You choose." He grinned at Rebecca. "You get to help the winner."

"I'll take the dogs," Polly replied. "Heath, you're with me."

Henry winked at Rebecca. "That's what happens when you take a shower early. You get to help with the dishes."

She sat back in her chair, her mouth agape. "I don't know how this happened. I only took a shower because Andrew spilled orange juice on me."

He laughed at her. "And look. You get to spend the next twenty minutes hanging out with your favorite man in the world. See how things work out?" Henry picked up Polly's plate and put it on top of his, then stood and headed for the kitchen. "Hurry up, little girl, or I'll make you lick the pan clean."

Polly beckoned to Heath and the two headed for the back door. She patted her thigh and both dogs raced toward them, running for the steps. She handed Han's leash to Heath and he snapped it on the collar. Polly did the same to Obiwan. They were taking the trail this evening and she didn't want to run into any trouble.

As soon as they were outside, Heath stopped and looked at her. "I'm sorry for not calling," he said.

"You should be. We're responsible for you, Heath, and you need to let us know what's going on. If you have things you want to do or friends you want to spend time with, that's great. But I still need to know. The last thing I want is to get a phone call from the sheriff, telling me that you're dead in a ditch somewhere."

"Wouldn't you be the one to find me if that happened?" he asked, tilting his head, a smirk on his face.

Polly glared. "Not funny. Are you going to tell me why you were late this evening? And you owe Eliseo an explanation, too. If you commit to a job, you can't just not show up."

"I'll talk to him," Heath said. "That was my bad."

They crossed the street to the swimming pool parking lot and headed for the trail. "It's not just 'your bad,'" she said. "You can't make it go away by flipping a quaint phrase. What was so important that you blew him off and couldn't be bothered to let me know where you were?"

"It's stupid."

"Then tell me about it."

"It was Libby's mom. Her car broke down and we took it into the shop. She needed new filters. Mr. Drummond drove us to the hardware store and we got what she needed. And she needs an oil change. But I told her that I could do that another time."

Polly took in everything he said and it clicked. "Libby?"

"Her mom's car."

"Who's Libby?"