A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) (30 page)

As she heard her mind think that last sentence, she smiled. They probably already thought she was a little nuts and so far that hadn't bothered her. She was ready to do something new, why not embrace it with everything she had.

Polly had stood for a while in the alley of the barn looking at the open stalls. Tomorrow night she would begin bringing four beautiful creatures back to health. Once that finally happened, she'd worry about what came next. She went back to her apartment and was now in bed, absolutely terrified at what tomorrow would bring.

Her alarm went off the next morning and she moaned. The night had been restless, filled with dreams she couldn't remember. Polly rolled over and sat up, dangling her feet to the floor. "Come on, Obiwan. Let's get this day started." She got dressed, ran downstairs and started the coffee maker, then decided they would take a different route this morning. She crossed the road to the wooded area separating the swimming pool from the newer neighborhood to the south. Beyond that was Bellingwood's industrial park. One of these days she needed to wander through and see what was going on in there, but for this morning, Obiwan was excited to explore new territory.

She picked up the pace and though he tried to stop and sniff every low hanging tree branch, he seemed to sense her emotions and finally just ran with her. He was panting and she was sweating when they trotted up the stairs to her apartment. Polly fed her animals and took a shower, and then since she still felt as if she had energy to burn, decided that this morning would be a good opportunity to try out a fruit coffeecake recipe. She warmed the butter and began creaming it with the sugars, while pulling out the rest of the ingredients. One look in the freezer told her it would be a strawberry kind of day.

While the cake was baking, she checked her phone and saw that there was a text from Henry. He was going to be ready to go to Boone at eight o'clock. It was seven thirty now. She texted him back: "Coffeecake in the oven. You're going to want some. Come to the kitchen when you get here."

"See. I told you. Epic sweet tooth," was his texted reply.

"Brat."

Polly took the pan downstairs and while it was cooling, set plates, napkins and forks out for those who were working today. The coffee was finished brewing. She drew off a cup and let it cool down while she cut the coffeecake and arranged the pieces on a platter. One of the edge pieces popped into her mouth. She giggled and put a full piece on a napkin and leaned on the counter. Henry walked up when she was chewing and he pointed at her mouth.

Rather than spit crumbs at him, she put a piece on a napkin and pushed it across at him, then took a drink of coffee and said, "Whatever."

"Are you ready to go?" he asked. "I need to get down and back."

"I don't know for sure why you're going with me. I could do this on my own. I'm pretty sure I can ask questions and get them to help me."

"Oh, I'm simply going for entertainment. Come on, let's get out of here."

She grabbed her coffee, pushed the last bite of cake in her mouth, and joined him. The morning sunlight hadn't pierced through the grey sky and she asked, "Are we expecting snow?"

"No. It's going to be fine. And it can't snow. Not until we’re finished with the roof."

"Okay. Well, you're the boss then. Speaking of being the boss, what do you think the odds are that this Shawn Wesley will show up for work today?"

"Even money says he won't. If you were scary enough yesterday, maybe he will; if he's got something else going on, maybe he won't."

"I don't get it," Polly said. "It isn't like the work is going to kill him and why would he try to screw up his first job offer in six months?"

"People have a million reasons for the things they do. I never know what to think about them."

"You know. He's going to show up today and then he's going to be a pain in my ass over and over and over again, isn't he? He'll push me right to the edge every time and stop before he topples over it."

"Tighten the leash, Polly. Make sure he can't do that to you. He's had his one chance and he has to know that there are no others."

"Gah. That makes me sound like some kind of tyrant. Why can't people just do the right thing?"

Henry laughed at her, but when he saw the look on her face, he said, "Sorry. You were joking, right?"

"No, I wasn’t. I get up in the morning knowing that I'm going to do my best for the day. Why is that so difficult?"

He patted her hand, "It's not that difficult for most, but the few who think they're entitled to an easy life make it seem like that's the way of the world. Let it go. If he works out, you've done a good thing. If he doesn't work out, it still doesn't change what you did. He has to deal with his own issues."

"Got it. Don't like it, though."

"I know. No one does. Welcome to the world of managing people. You were lucky with Jeff and Sylvie."

"And you."

"And me. You were downright blessed by me."

They laughed as he turned the corner and drove down Story Street in Boone. An hour later and Polly was sure the poor young man helping them at the Farm and Home Store would need a nap. His manager had approached and when she saw that they were buying four of most everything, began asking questions.

Polly explained about the rescue of the Percherons and the woman said, "Oh my gosh! We have some stable blankets in the back that would be the perfect size for you. We brought them in for another customer, but they ended up not wanting them. Can I give them to you and call it my good deed for the morning?"

Polly glanced at Henry, who nodded. "Thank you! That’s very thoughtful." No matter how long she lived here, she was never going to be used to the easy generosity of people.

They checked out and then loaded everything into Henry's truck. When they got back to Sycamore House, Polly saw that there were already people working on the grounds around the barn.

"You know I want a really nice fence, don't you?" she said to Henry as he drove up to the barn.

"I know. This will do until the ground thaws. Then we'll build whatever you want. I promise." He laughed and said, "You are going to keep me busy for years, aren't you?"

"I hope you never get bored working here," she said. "I have more plans than you can even imagine!"

"It is never boring. Just about the time I think we're nearly finished and I'm going to have to start looking for other work, you come up with a new idea."

"I'm not keeping you from something else you should be doing, am I?"

"Doug told me you were worried about that. Maybe I'll have to expand and hire some more people. What would my Dad say about that?" He turned in his seat, "No, Polly, you're not keeping me from anything. I like that I can give my guys lots of hours and I like that I can think about bringing on more help. Don't worry."

They got out and began unloading things into the barn. Polly was pulling out the blankets when another pickup drove in, laden with square bales of hay.

Henry walked to the driver's door and said a few words, then came back in as the truck drove around to the other end of the barn.

"What was that?" Polly asked.

"He and his boys are unloading hay for you. Mark called him last night. It should be stored down there. He told me they'll be back with a large bale for you, too."

"Wow. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, do I?"

"Nope. You don't," he laughed, "But, I bet by this time next year, you will have not only become a pro at it, you will have found something different to scare you to death."

They finished unpacking. She wriggled up onto the tailgate of his truck so she could sit and pull labels off things and get rid of packaging. While she was working, she heard Jeff's voice calling her name from the side doors of Sycamore House.

"Hey, Jeff! You can come out; there aren't any horses in here yet."

He continued to stand in the doorway and wrapped his arms around himself like he was cold.

"You wimp! I'll be right there." She gathered up the trash and walked toward the building.

“Has he shown up yet?" she asked.

"Yes. And this is going to be interesting," Jeff responded.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I want to fire him and he's barely gotten started."

The walked into his office and she shut the door before sitting down.

"Okay, what's going on?"

"He tried to light up a cigarette in the basement. I told him he couldn't smoke on the job; that we were a smoke-free environment and it wasn't safe around cleaning chemicals anyway. Then, when I took him upstairs to the bathrooms, I had also taken the paper and pencils to Joanna Wagner's room. She popped her head out to say thank you and I told her about the coffeecake downstairs. Then!" Jeff spread his arms out dramatically. "Then, before she can get back inside her door and shut it, he says, 'Who's the wackadoo in the green tent?'

"I pushed him into the bathroom and all he could do was ask if he had to wash this or scrub that. He told me that he didn't wash toilets, his wife did. When I asked if it was going to be a problem, he laughed and said, 'Not if you don't care what they look like.'

"Then, he went outside to have a cigarette. When he came back in, I took him into the auditorium to talk to him about the floors and the glass on the displays. I talked about the hallway floors and sweeping off the front steps. And before another ten minutes had passed, he went for another cigarette.

"Polly, this is a bad mistake." Jeff finally wound down and Polly felt herself beginning to wind up.

"I'll take care of it," she said.

"What are you going to do?"

"First, I'm calling Pastor Boehm and asking him what in the world he was thinking. Then, I'll track this jackass down and kick him off the property."

"Do you think he'll retaliate?"

"He doesn't have it in him to do anything except smoke. He's probably higher than a kite right now anyway and will forget it all happened by this afternoon."

Polly pulled the door open and went into her own office and shut the door. She dialed the church and asked for Pastor Boehm.

"Hi Polly, how are you today?" he said when he picked up the phone.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that when it comes to a new custodian, I'm not doing so well."

"Oh no, what happened?"

Polly told him about the interview on Monday and Shawn's refusal to work until Wednesday, his inability to show up until the end of the shift then and his attitude this morning. "Pastor, I can't keep him here. I'm building a family that takes care of each other and our guests. I can't have someone here who insults them and has no desire to work."

"I had no idea. His wife comes to one of our morning Bible studies and she is such a nice girl. She's been hoping to find him a job and truly speaks of him in glowing terms. I apologize and I guess I should have checked him out a little more before I brought him to you."

"No harm done. But, you should know that in about five minutes, he'll be headed out of here. I'll give him twenty bucks for the time he spent here, as awful as it was, and hopefully we'll put this behind us."

"Thanks for letting me know and I am sorry."

"If you can think of anyone else that would fit in better, let me know. I probably won't be so quick to hire them, but I would certainly interview them."

"Will do, Polly. I'll give it some thought, and thank you for the food. I got a call this morning from one of the families and she told me there was a gift certificate in there as well. That was a nice thing to do."

"You're welcome. Let me know if I can ever help again, okay?"

She pushed her phone back in her pocket and then pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her wallet. She found Shawn on the north side of the building, smoking another cigarette.

"Shawn?"

He looked up at her guiltily. "Yes, ma'am?"

"I don't think it's going to work out. Here's twenty dollars for the time you've spent here, but I can't keep you on staff."

"Did that fag tattle on me?" he asked.

Polly took a breath. "You have lost every single bit of tolerance from me. Start walking off my property. Now."

"Whatever. Bitch. I didn't want your damned job anyway. I just came to keep the old lady from whining at me." He stalked off and began walking toward town.

She watched him cross the highway and then went back inside. Jeff was standing at the stairway. "How'd that go?"

"You're a fag and I'm a bitch," she smirked.

"Well, at least we have new titles. That's one way to start the day!" he laughed.

"I'm sorry about this, Jeff. I'll be smarter next time."

"Hey, at least you handled it quickly rather than drawing it out and letting it fester until we had a real problem."

"We have a real problem. We need help here. You're getting busier and I'm getting busier and we need someone who will come in and take charge of the building and the grounds."

"It will happen, Polly. I think you need to relax. Look at me. I showed up at the last minute and then Sylvie kind of dropped out of thin air. It will happen."