A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) (25 page)

"Follow me," Polly said. "Let's get you some food and then I want to know what is going on."

She took them to the kitchen and though the women were cleaning things up, Hannah and Sylvie quickly served up a bowl of chicken noodle soup for Elise and when he nodded yes, a bowl of chili and one of vegetable beef for Marshal Carl, as Polly thought of him.

After they had taken seats at the table, Aaron Merritt joined them. He introduced himself to Elise and Carl Philips, then sat down.

"We're glad to see you are safe, Elise," Aaron said.

"I'm glad to be here. Thank you for everything," she said.

"I can't stay, Polly," she continued. "I'm here to get my notebooks and some clothes and to tell you what has happened, then we're leaving tonight."

"Where are you going?" Polly asked.

"I don't know and if I did, I probably couldn't tell you."

"What do you mean?"

"We're putting her into Witness Protection. She's already contacted her parents and when she's finished here, she'll be gone," Carl said.

"But, I thought you said you didn't see anything. You're not a threat." Polly protested.

Carl spoke up again, "Apparently, she didn't realize what she did see."

"You saw something?"

"I did. When I left, I saw two men leaving. And I also saw the car and because my mind traps numbers, I have the license plate. It's all part of their case now, so I have to go away at least until the trial."

"What are you going to do about your dissertation?"

"What better way to work in quiet than in a town where no one knows me?" Elise laughed. "I thought that was what I was going to find here, but now I'll find it somewhere else."

"Elise. I'm sorry this has happened to you. It doesn't seem fair," Polly said.

"
It’s really okay. I've spent my entire life alone and it's better that it was me than someone else. I'll be fine. Carl says that we'll try to schedule the dissertation presentation at the same time as the trial so I have a reason to be in Chicago. After that, who knows where I'll go or what I'll do."

Polly leaned over and hugged her. "I know you can't keep in touch, but I'm going to worry about you."

"Don’t. I'm going to be fine. The best thing about meeting you has been that I have another friend in my life."

Polly shook her head. "It's still not fair."

"No worrying," Elise scolded. "Now, I'm going upstairs to take a bath and change my clothes. Then, I'm going to pack some of my things and get out of here with Carl. He promised me an adventure across the country. I think I need clean clothes for that."

She started to stand up, then said, "My parents are going to send a cousin to pack the rest of my things up and take them to their house. You'll recognize him. He looks a lot like LL Cool J. He'll have a letter for you with my signature on it."

Polly snorted with laughter. "I don't suppose Bellingwood is going to produce too many people who look like him. I suspect I won't have any trouble identifying him."

Elise giggled, "You're right. This isn’t Chicago."

They finished their soup and she stood up. Carl stood as well and followed her out of the auditorium.

Aaron said to Polly, "Are you
okay with this?"

"No, not really, but I don't have a choice, so I'll deal with it." She started gathering dishes and stood to take them to the kitchen. "Have you ever seen something like this before?" she asked.

Aaron picked up the baskets and followed her to the kitchen, "If I told you the truth, I might have to kill you, Polly."

"Can I get you something more, Polly? How about you, Sheriff?" one of the women asked.

"No, Jessie, we're good," he said. "Sure was wonderful, though! Thanks everyone."

Sylvie came out of the kitchen and took Polly's arm, "Two down and I'm still standing! The rest of this is going to be easy. We have everything ready to go!"

"Sylvie, you've done such an amazing job," Polly said. "You're a hit!"

"I'm having the best time. Jason and Andrew went up to your apartment to get Obiwan. They thought he might need a trip outside. I think they want an excuse to be where the action is."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself and I told your boys there would be five dollars apiece for them if they watched the dog today and kept him out of the way."

"Polly, you don't have to do that."

"Don't start with me," Polly wagged her finger at Sylvie.

"Fine," Sylvie said, then she turned to head back into the kitchen. "See you later! My galley awaits!"

Aaron said, "I'm glad Elise is back and fine. I think I'll take off, but I'll see you later tonight."

"Thanks for everything Aaron. Are you planning to dance with your girl tonight?"

"Not on your life. I might have to arrest anyone who suggests that I do."

"I'll be good then."

She went back into the auditorium and joined Beryl and Lydia who were stuffing cellophane and ivory tissue paper into mason jars. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"We're making candles. Here, start stuffing."

"This seems dangerous somehow," Polly remarked.

"Nah. That Jeff thinks of everything. We have battery operated LED tea lights for these. Now get stuffing. I have to figure out a creative way to wrap bandana pieces around these," Beryl said.

Polly sat down and following Lydia's example, crumpled cellophane and tissue paper.

"Not too tightly, now," Beryl said. "It's decorative and fancy."

Polly pulled her tissue paper back apart and crumpled it back together and pushed it into the jar. "How's that?"

Beryl placed a tea light in front of her and said, "Drop 'er in and see what you think."

The candle nestled into the paper and seemed to be the effect they were going for. Polly asked, "How many of these are we making?"

"Jeff thinks we need three or four on each table so people can see. I think he's planning to make the room much too dark, but who knows!"

Tables were being rearranged and covered with blue or red gingham tablecloths. Square pieces of muslin were placed on the top and three tiered stands set into the center of each table.

"What are the stands for?" she asked Lydia.

"Sylvie has hundreds of cupcakes for tonight. Those will be arranged on the two bottom tiers. Then, someone is doing origami with bandannas and creating roses for the top tier."

"Wow. This place will look awesome!" Polly said.

Lydia nodded, "It’ll be wonderful."

Jeff and three others came in carrying a large piece of wood painted to look like the front of a barn. Across the top, a sign read, "Sycamore House Barn Raising" and a white door was painted in the center. They propped it up against the back wall and left, soon to return with two split rail fence props. Those were laid on the floor and they left again only to return with two bales of hay on a cart. Polly watched in amazement as the stage was set and when she couldn't stand it any longer, got up and walked over.

"What in the world?"

"Surprise!" Jeff said, "Tell me you love it."

"I love it, but I don't know what you're doing. If it's just a decoration, it's way cool. Is that it?"

"Nope. We're going to do a kind of photo booth with it."

"I’m surprised and impressed," Polly said.

Jeff broke one of the bales open and spread hay around in front of the barn, then used the other to hold up one of the fence props. It was a little cheesy, but seemed perfect.

"Jeff, you love this, don't you!"

"I really do," he laughed. "And I keep trying to come up with ideas that you couldn't imagine. You're a challenge for me!"

She smiled and noticed that Elise was standing in the doorway watching. "Excuse me. I'll be back,"

"Go ahead," he said, nodding at her in the door. "I'm sorry about this."

"I know. It stinks."

Tears filled her eyes as she made her way to the door. Elise said, "Stop that. You can't let me leave like this. I'll feel awful."

"I'm sorry. I wish you didn't have to go at all."

"I was going to have to leave sometime. It's just earlier than we thought." Elise was beginning to choke up. She gulped and said, "It is going to be
fine. Please believe me."

"I do. I just don't like it. I was looking forward to having a friend in Chicago who would take me to do crazy shopping and maybe see a show or something."

Elise reached in for a hug. "Maybe someday. Or," she said brightly, "maybe we can meet in London or Paris and you can teach me how to be normal in a big city."

"Then promise me that if you ever end up in London or Paris you will call me. Promise?"

Elise looked up at Carl, who nodded, "I promise. If that ever happens, you're my first call. Now, I have to go. Thank you for everything, Polly."

Polly hugged her one more time and watched as her new friend left.

Her heart was still a little tender, and Polly decided she didn't want to face her friends yet. She decided to check the progress on the barn and was shocked when she opened the side doors. All four walls were up and being painted. Henry had told her he would start on the roof on Monday as long as the weather was decent. She'd spent more time over the last few days checking the forecast than ever before and wondered if that was going to become a habit now that she lived in Iowa. She chuckled to herself. When she had been a kid, she accepted the weather as it came. If there was a snow day, it garnered the greatest excitement of her young life, but it never occurred to her to watch as weather approached.

Henry was framing one of the front windows and as she approached, she heard him laughing and chatting with someone inside the barn.

"This is coming along a lot faster than I expected," she said.

He stepped back and grinned. "Faster than I expected, too. We had twice as many people show up today than I had planned for and they were ready to work. I think they kept my guys busy. What do you think?"

"I think I can't believe this. It doesn't seem real. How long are you planning to work?"

"The sun will set in a couple of hours. I want to kick everyone out of here before that happens. That will give us time to reorganize what's left and then get home and cleaned up for the evening."

He took her arm. "I saw Elise drive away. How are you handling this?"

Polly nodded. "I wanted it to end differently, but she seems fine with it."

"Sometimes you have to know what the next step is in order to go forward with confidence," he said. "She found out what the next step was and took it."

"You're right," Polly said. "I need ten minutes to feel sorry for myself and be ticked off that I couldn't fix it; and then I will focus on the incredible things happening around here today!"

"Just ten minutes?" he laughed. "Good for you. Do you need company or is this something you can do on your own?"

"Oh, shut up," she shook her head and walked into the barn. Henry's friend, Gary, had been on the other side of the window and was sitting on a five-gallon bucket.

"Hey, Polly," he said as she walked past.

"Hey, yourself," she responded and continued down the developing alley in the center of the building. Outside doors for the stalls were being framed and the floor of the attic was nearly finished. When she arrived at the far end of the aisle, Henry's teacher, Fred Wayne, called her into the room where he was working.

"We're putting shelves in here and I wanted to measure your height. You're not terribly tall, are you?"

"What?" she laughed.

"How tall are you? Will I be able to hide treasures in these upper shelves or can you reach up here?" He pointed to a shelf that was well over her head.

"I'm not that tall, but I bet I can find something to step on to reach it, so don't you be hiding things up there."

"Our Henry has a thing for you. Are you girl enough to handle it?"

Polly was startled at his question and stood there dumbfounded.

"You be good to him. He had his heart broken once in a big way and I haven't seen him spend this much time courting a gal since that little witch walked out on him."

She still didn't know what to say and decided to keep quiet.

He got close to her and quietly said, "If you're going to break his heart, do it before too much time passes, please?"

Polly nodded and backed out of the room. She left the barn and took a deep breath. How had this gotten so serious? Now she was responsible for Henry's past? She kept walking toward the creek, needing to be away from everyone long enough to breathe again. She hadn't brought her gloves or a cap outside with her, so she pulled up the collar of her jacket and jammed her hands into the pockets of the jacket, walking faster and faster until she reached the tree line. One deep breath and then another; as she began following the path along the trees back to Sycamore House. She kept her head down and tried to subdue her panic. She walked around to the far side of Sycamore House and using her phone to unlock the door, entered the storage area behind the stage. No one saw her and she rubbed her hands together to warm them as she gathered up her courage.

The auditorium had undergone a minor transformation in the short time Polly had been gone. The tables were all set. The pails had colorful bandannas tied to their handles, blue and red bandanna roses were seated at the top of the tiered stands, three mason jar candles had been placed on each table. Polly saw that there were mugs at each place setting; how Jeff had found mason jars with handles, she didn't know, but the room looked great.

Jeff, with his camera around his neck, sidled up to her. "What do you think?"

"The place looks great. I can't wait to see it with the strings of lights and candles. How's Sylvie doing in the kitchen?"

"She's sent everyone home, since they're coming back at six to finish getting ready. I believe she has gone up to your apartment to get her boys."

Polly said, "I can't believe she has this so well organized,” Polly said. “I could never pull off three big meals like this in a day. I couldn't pull off one of them."

"You’ve put a lot of trust in her and she won't let you down."

"Thanks. Are you heading home or are you staying here until dinner?"

"I'll probably stay here. I have my things in the office."

"If you want to use one of the showers upstairs, you're welcome to hang out in my apartment until we get started."

"I'll use the shower, but don't worry about me. I have plenty to occupy myself in the office."

The auditorium began emptying as people filtered out; the women who had been working on the tables making minor adjustments to arrangements as they walked past them.

Lydia said, "I'm leaving to go home and put on my dancing shoes." She put her arm in Jeff's. "Will you dance with me tonight?"

Jeff took her hand, lifted it and twirled her around, then said, "As often as I can without having the Sheriff pull out his six-shooter, ma'am."

Lydia giggled and said, "Walk with me to the door, Polly."

Polly looked helplessly at Jeff, "It almost sounds like I'm going to be scolded for something. I'll see you in a little bit."

He smiled and waved.

"Polly, I see you smiling, but you look as if you could grind glass with those teeth. What's up with you? This is supposed to be a fun day. Are you upset about Elise or is it something else."

"It's just life, Lydia," Polly responded. "I'm fine and it has already been a great day."

"That was a not-so-neat evasion of the question, but because I need to get home, I'm letting you have it. You'd tell me if you needed to talk, right?"

"Well ..."

"Okay. I get it." Lydia gave her a quick hug. "I love you dear and I'll see you later."

Polly hugged her back and held the door open as Lydia left. Andrew and Jason ran down the stairs and pulled up short in front of Polly.

"You don't have to worry about Obiwan," Jason said. "We got back with him ten minutes ago. He should be good to go until after the party."

"Thanks, boys," Polly said. She pulled her wallet out of her jacket pocket and slipped two five dollar bills out as Sylvie joined them. "I appreciate your help with him today."

"Thank you, Miss Polly. You're the best!" came from Andrew, while Jason simply said, "Thanks."

"Thank you, Polly," Sylvie said as she patted Andrew on the head. "We'll see you later."

Polly held the door for the Donovans and then went up to her apartment. She had plenty of time before she needed to be back downstairs and what she needed right now was some hot tea and time with her animals. Obiwan followed her into the kitchen as she drew water and put it on to boil. "Sorry, bud. Nothing for you."

She watched the parking lot empty as the light of day began to fade. It had been a good day. The barn was in great shape, Sylvie was making a name for herself, Elise was safe, and people were having fun in her house. She knew it was time to shake off whatever malaise had settled in so she pulled out her basket of teas and chose an orange spice.

As the sun set, lights around Sycamore House came on. She poured hot water over the tea bag and stood for a few moments inhaling the steamy fragrance, then picked Luke up off the counter and set him back on the floor. He wound around her ankles a few times as she stood watching the last few vehicles leave.

A knock at her door startled her out of her reverie and she set the mug down. Obiwan ran to the door, wagging his tail and she attempted to walk without stepping on the cats. She pulled the door open to see Henry standing there.

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

"
How are you?"

"I'm fine," she said. "Did you need something?" She knew her tone was short, but facing Henry wasn’t in her plans for these few moments of quiet.

A frown creased his eyebrows, "No, I guess I don't."

"
Then don't worry. I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"Let it go, Henry. I'll see you downstairs. I need to get a shower and dressed and I assume you're wearing something other than that."

He was dressed in jeans, with a flannel shirt over a t-shirt. His jacket was well-worn, his work boots were filthy and his Chicago Cubs baseball cap had seen better days.

Henry huffed out air and said, "Something happened between the last time we talked and now and somehow you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad, Henry. Not mad at all, but we don't have time to talk about this right now."

She started to push the door shut and he put his hand on it, holding it open. He stepped forward into her space and Polly backed up.

"No. We're going to talk about it now. I'm not going to wonder what in the world I've done to set you off while you spend the evening with a couple hundred of your new friends."

Polly's eyes turned to slits. "I wasn't mad, but this could easily get me there."

"You're not going to scare me with your anger, Polly Giller. I know you well enough to know that you'll calm down once everything makes sense in your head again, so spit it out. What happened? Who said what to you?"

She turned around and stalked back into the living room, throwing her arms up in the air. "Why do I have to be responsible for your emotional health? Why do I have to worry about you falling apart if a relationship between the two of us doesn't happen? Why can't we take our time?" She spun back around on him and said, "Why does there have to be pressure? I didn't ask for this. I have told you over and over that I want to go slowly, that I'm not ready for a commitment."

Henry's eyes had gotten huge and his mouth was trying to make sounds, but nothing came out. He finally choked out, "What?" then took a breath, stepped in a little closer and said, "What happened? Who said what to you? Who told you there was any pressure?"

"Look," she said. "I get it that you are some wonderful, golden boy in this community and that everyone loves you. I get it that I'm an outsider who might hurt your little heart, but don't ever forget that I had plenty of life before I got here and I can make my own damned life with or without you in it. I didn't ask to fall for you and I didn't ask you to fall for me, so if this is going to turn into a huge, big, all-community commitment, well ... you all can go to hell!"

Polly's face had gotten red in her frustration and even as she said the words, she knew that she was blowing things out of proportion. Henry listened to everything she said and led her to the sofa, pushing a little so she would sit down. He sat beside her.

"You're falling for me?" he asked.

"What? That has nothing to do with this conversation. It just fell out of my mouth," she sputtered.

"Well, I heard it and I'm going to keep holding onto that."

"Whatever," she spat and sat back, moving away from him.

"First of all, Polly, there is no pressure. Secondly, this has nothing to do with people in the community. Third,"

"Like hell it doesn't," she interrupted. "Your friend made it perfectly clear to me today that I'd better not mess with your heart."