Sweet Tea and Secrets (36 page)

“We made a lot of good memories, didn’t we?” she said.

He held her chair out for her and she sat.

“Here’s to many more.”

They ate in near silence, until Garrett got up for a second helping of macaroni ‘n cheese.

“Is Carolanne coming by tonight?”

“Unh-uh, she’s going out with Connor.”

“Wow, Pearl works fast. I thought he was still seeing that Chicago girl.”

“Yeah. He is. Carolanne ran into him at Spratt’s Market. He’s taking her out to dinner. Just friends.” Jill air-quoted the just friends.

“That’s what they think. No one can escape Pearl’s power of love.” Garrett pointed his fork at Jill.

“Seems that way, doesn’t it?”

“Where are they going?” Garrett asked.

“He’s taking her to Roanoke Rapids to the new dinner theater. Have you been yet?”

“No, but I heard it’s great.”

“I would love to have Carolanne back in Adams Grove.”

“Now who’s making a bigger deal of the date?” he teased.

She lifted her shoulders sheepishly. “You never know.”

“It doesn’t sound like just a friendly night out to me either.”

“Stop getting my hopes up. But Pearl’s never wrong, is she?”

Garrett tipped his beer toward Jill, his eyes sparkling in the candlelight. “I hope not.”

Chapter Eighteen

The next morning, Jill padded into the living room, to find Garrett sitting in the living room floor surrounded by blueprints and note paper. He balanced a near empty coffee cup on one knee in the middle of it all.

Jill stooped next to him. “Whatcha’ doin?”

“Good morning, sleepyhead. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Want more coffee?” Jill asked.

He gulped the last sip and handed his cup to her. “Thanks.”

She came back with two steaming mugs and sat on the floor next to him, peering over his shoulder. “Are those the plans for Bridle Path Estates?”

“Yep.” His eyebrows drew together.

“Problem?” Jill scooched closer to him.

“No. I was just thinking that maybe we could still do the Artisan Center. You know, like we’d originally planned.”

She perked up. “Are you serious?”

“It was a great idea. I mean, if you want to stick around. Running the Artisan Center would give you something to do, and it would be great for the community. No pressure.”

She squealed. “Are you kidding me? I’d love that.”

“Look at the barn area over here.” Garrett pointed to one of the blueprints. “I think we can move the playground to the back side of the pastures, closer to this cul-de-sac.” He scribbled on the plans, trying to translate his vision for her. “Then, if I turn the barn to face west and run the pastures this way, it would leave this space open, adjacent to the road.”

She traced her finger where he’d just pointed. “Right here? Facing North?”

“Instead of pastures at the entrance, we’d have the Artisan Center.” He leaned closer to her. “Do you think it would work?”

His face was so close to hers that she caught her breath. “Would what work?” She said not wanting to take her eyes from his.

“The plan,” he said.

“Yeah.” She looked back down at the papers, concentrating on the drawing. “Yes. With the pasture behind it here, right?” Jill swiveled to get a closer look, examining the changes.

“Right. We could build a small livestock area in that space if we wanted to. Better yet, we could have a 4-H meeting area. The county could use a spot for that.”

“That would be cool. We could do watercolor and pen-and-ink workshops back there.”

“I like the idea.” He nodded. “The Artisan Center would be almost diagonal from Penny’s so it would help her business, too.”

“I think it’s perfect.” She sipped her coffee. “Are you bribing me?”

“Is it working?” He held her gaze for a moment.

She shrugged her shoulders, but held his gaze. “Maybe I’m looking for a reason to stay.”

He took her hand in his. “I think we should do this no matter what. I don’t want to bribe or buy you. The Artisan Center is good for the community, whether we’re a couple or not. If you come back to me, I want it to be because that’s where you want to be.”

That just made her feel even more confident that she was right where she should be. “Count me in. I even know who I want to be the first artist to display her work in the center.”

“Who would that be?”

“Mary Claire. I’ll let her know so she can start thinking about what she’d like to show, but I definitely want that portrait of Pearl on display.”

“She really captured Pearl’s sparkle, didn’t she?”

“Yes, she did.” They shared a moment of silence thinking about Pearl.

“We have a deal?” Garrett extended his hand for Jill to shake.

She didn’t hesitate. “Deal.” And they meant it, because in Adams Grove, a handshake was more binding than a written contract.

Garrett didn’t let go of her hand. Instead, he tugged her close gently dropping a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.

Jill smiled at the familiar gesture. It was one of those little things she used to love about him. She got up from the floor and sat on the couch.

He rolled up the plans, snapping a rubber band around them. “So what are you and Carolanne up to today?” Garrett popped her playfully on the head with the rolled-up tube.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish, Malloy.” She grabbed the other end of the tube and tugged it, then blew through the end, making a loud trumpet sound.
Rhoooowoooo
.

“Don’t get me started,” he warned.

Over the years, she and Garrett had battled with watermelon seeds, popcorn, marshmallows, and blueprint tubes were fair game, too. Deciding to avoid the challenge, she answered his question about Carolanne. “We’re going to take Aunt Milly to Rocky Mount to check out some yarn, and then to Shoney’s for an early supper.”

“Milly will love that. But if you have any pull with her, would you please make sure she doesn’t knit me another sweater vest this year.”

“A sweater vest?” Picturing him in a sweater vest made her laugh.

“Quit laughing. It wasn’t funny. For Christmas last year, she knitted me a red sweater vest.”

“Get the heck out of here.”

“I’m not kidding. Even Pearl joked my ass about it. That thing was redder than a fire truck.”

“Did you wear it?”

“Of course I did. Milly worked hard on it. I wore it to the Christmas cantata at the church. She told everyone she’d made that vest for me. It made her day.”

“You’re a sweet man.”

“Don’t you forget it, but promise me you won’t ever dress me funny, like you did Clyde.”

She raised her hand in a scout sign. “I, Jill Clemmons, promise to never dress Garrett Malloy funny on purpose.” She lowered her voice to just above a whisper, “Unless he drools a lot.”

“A disclaimer. I see how you are.” He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “But, I think I can live with that.”

***

After a full day with Carolanne and Milly, Jill met Mary Claire at the diner to share the news about the Artisan Center.

The supper crowd had already cleared out. Jill flipped slowly through a portfolio of some of Mary Claire’s latest work while they snacked on a basket of onion rings.

“I like the sketches of Pearl’s gardens the best,” Mary Claire said.

“Me, too.” Jill took a picture out of the stack. “This hummingbird in the mimosa tree is probably my favorite. I don’t know. The birdbath is nice, too. They’re all great.”

“Yep,” Mary Claire agreed. She was the same age as Jill, but Mary Claire had been born with Down syndrome. Even so, she was a dear and talented girl. She enjoyed making the signs for the weekly specials at Spratt’s Market. The job gave her steady income. Last year, she’d moved into the apartment above the store which had room for a studio and was close enough to her mom and dad that they could help, when she needed them. She had an incredible ability to translate a memory into a keepsake through pen-and-ink and paper.

“Those other ones in the back are local people I sketched,” Mary Claire explained.

Jill flipped more quickly through those, paused, then flipped back to one that had caught her eye. The drawing featured a man standing behind a woman with his arms around her waist and leaning against a car.

Jill held the picture closer. She tried to control the concern from showing in her voice. “Mary Claire, when did you sketch this one?”

Mary Claire squinted at the picture, tilted her head, then looked to the ceiling as she tried to remember. “That’s the lady who asked Macy to deliver the fruit basket. See, there’s the basket on the ground. That man and woman were behind the store. I saw them from my apartment.”

“Had you seen them before?”

Mary Claire nodded. “At the park. I saw them at the park the day of Pearl’s funeral. I was there feeding the ducks that morning. I was really sad that day.”

“I know. Me, too.”

“I miss Pearl a lot.” Mary Claire’s pale blue eyes watered.

“Me, too.” Jill looked at the picture again. “Can I borrow this?”

“Sure. You can have it.”

“You’re the best.” Jill went to the counter, paid for their snack, then came back and hugged Mary Claire. Jill picked up her purse and the sketch and ran from the building toward the sheriff’s office, just two blocks down Main Street.

After jogging all the way there, Jill pushed through the heavy wooden doors of the sheriff’s office, half out of breath.

The dispatcher looked up from her desk.

“Where’s Scott Calvin? Is he in?” Jill asked.

The dispatcher nodded towards the back and continued her duties.

Jill walked down the hall and knocked on the glass window of the open door of Scott’s office. “Knock, knock,” she said.

Scott looked up from the paperwork that was stacked on his battered metal desk. “Hey, Jill. Everything okay?”

“Yep. But I think I just found something that might help.”

“What’s that?”

“Look.” She stepped into his office and laid the sketch on top of his papers.

“What am I looking at?”

“Mary Claire sketched it.” Jill tapped the picture. “She saw these people in the parking lot behind the store.” She pointed to the basket at the bottom of the photo. “That’s the fruit basket, and that’s Annie.”

“Really?” Scott leaned back in his squeaky chair. “Well, I’ll be darned. I hadn’t seen any of her recent work. Man, she’s even better than I remembered.”

“Yeah, but that’s not what I wanted you to see. Guess who that is?” Jill pointed to the man in the drawing.

“Is that Bradley Kase?”

“That’s why you’re the sheriff of this town. You can solve a crime,” she snapped her fingers, “just like that.”

Scott gave her a broad smile. “Good work, Jill.”

Chapter Nineteen

A week later, things were getting back to an uneventful Adams Grove pace. The scene with Bradley seemed long ago, even though it wasn’t.

Carolanne and Jill sipped coffee on the back patio and watched Clyde run the yard. In a few hours, it would be too hot and humid to sit outside.

“You and Connor have been spending a lot of time together, haven’t you?” Jill topped off her cup of coffee and passed the pot to Carolanne.

“It’s strictly business.”

“Hey, I was just saying,” Jill said with an innocent shrug.

“Right,” Carolanne said. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not usually one to speculate, but he does have you moving back to Adams Grove. Actions speak louder than words.” Jill hoped Pearl was right about them.

“
He
doesn’t. Our partnership does. When Connor told me that his practice had grown too large, too quickly, and he was turning away work, I suggested he get a partner. I didn’t even think about myself until later.”

“So how’s this going to work?” Jill tugged on the toy Clyde had brought to her, then tossed it as far as she could throw.

“He’s going to focus on the family and estate planning. It’s what he does best. I’ll pick up the real estate end. We’ll just split any other work.”

“Do you have a date set for the move yet?” Jill asked.

“I’m going to give my notice next week. So I’ll be home before the month is out.”

“Home. Sounds good, doesn’t it?” Jill had to agree that Adams Grove felt like home to her again, too.

“Connor said that I can stay in one of the apartments over his office until I find a place. You know, I was thinking it would be neat to be the first homeowner in Bridle Path Estates.”

“I happen to have an in with the builder,” Jill said.