Hometown Series Box Set

by Kirsten Fullmer

  “Mhhm,” Winnie said, not really listening to Tara complain. She adored Bella, and as far as she was concerned, the child could get as dirty as she pleased, and she would still be perfect. Of course, she wasn’t the one kneeling over a tub or doing the laundry…

  “Did Julia come over for tea today?” Tara asked, pretending that she didn’t know darn well Julia had been at Winnie’s house all afternoon.

  The question interrupted Winnie’s pensive mood and she gave Tara the eye. “What did you hear?”

  “Nothing,” Tara lied. “I ran into Bobby, and he said Julia was there when he left.”

  Winnie sincerely doubted Tara’s explanation, but she kept her opinion to herself. “How are things with you and Justin?” she countered.

  Now it was Tara’s turn to look speculatively at Winnie. “What did you hear?”

  “Nothing,” Winnie lied, “I ran into Blanche at the grocery store, and she said she hadn’t seen much of Justin lately.”

  Tara frowned. “Well, she’s right. He’s been out of it for weeks now.”

  Winnie turned to Tara, her forehead creased in concern at Tara’s tone. “You sound upset.”

  “I am upset,” Tara huffed, pulling a lock of hair over her should to comb it with her fingers. “He’s never been gone this much.”

  “Have you talked to him about it?”

  “I tried,” Tara sighed, her hands falling limp in her lap. “But he just acts like everything is fine.”

  “What do you think is keeping him away?”

  Tara shook her head, then stared over Bella’s head and across the park. “I don’t know. Part of me wonders if there’s another woman—”

  Winnie scoffed and waved off her comment. “Oh, I very much doubt that.”

  “They say the wife is the last to know. Maybe I’m being stupid, or I’m in denial or something.”

  “I think half the town would know if he were up no good,” Winnie assured. “And I haven’t gotten wind of anything like that.”

  Tara turned to scrutinize Winnie through narrowed eyes. “You know something.”

  “Stuff and nonsense,” Winnie blustered, but she couldn’t meet Tara’s eye.

  “Why aren’t you telling me?” Tara cried, jumping up from the bench. “Is it that bad?”

  “I told you I don’t know anything,” Winnie reiterated.

  Tara wasn’t comforted, but she turned away to watch Bella, who was now standing and kicking dirt into the wind. She likely had both shoes filled with dirt too.

  “Julia and I went up to the attic,” Winnie said calmly, as if she went up there every day.

  Tara whirled around, her eyes wide. “You did?” She knew the old woman and Julia had been in the attic and found the photo album, because Julia had told her. She was just shocked that Winnie had so casually admitted it. She figured she’d have to wheedle all the details out of Winnie on the sly.

  “I found all sorts of old photos,” Winnie continued, ignoring Tara’s reaction. “But then you’ve looked at them many times, I’m sure.”

  Tara’s face flushed. “Why would you say that?”

  Winnie gave her a look. “Maybe because the album was on top of the pile and not half as dusty as everything else.”

  Tara shrugged. “Well, it was my attic too…”

  Winnie quirked a brow but didn’t argue.

  Tara came back to the bench. “You looked so happy in those photos.”

  “I was happy,” Winnie confirmed.

  The women fell silent, watching Bella pick up her shovel and bang it on the sandbox. She flinched with each blow, making both women smile.

  “It didn’t look like you found the box of college photos though,” Winnie continued, sliding a glance in Tara’s direction to see her reaction.

  “Where were those?” Tara asked, incredulous. Julia hadn’t mentioned college photos.

  Winnie chuckled. “Oh, tucked away.”

  Tara knew she hadn’t been particularly thorough in snooping back in the day. She’d been content enough to leaf through the album and then tuck it back in the box. Then again, it hadn’t occurred to her that more photos were hidden up there, or she may have looked harder. “Did you find photos of Claudia?” she asked, curious about the woman who would be coming to town in a few short days.

  “Of course. And photos of her brother, Roy. He was a good friend too.”

  “What else?”

  Winnie gave Tara an arch look. “What else, what?”

  Tara shrugged. “I don’t know, was there any, you know, crazy photos of parties or riots?”

  Winnie turned to her with a frown. “What gave you the idea I was such a party girl?”

  “It was the sexual ’60s!” Tara exclaimed throwing her hands in the air. “You don’t expect me to believe you missed the whole thing!”

  “The whole thing,” Winnie muttered, shaking her head.

  “Well?” Tara insisted.

  Winnie straightened her shoulders. “I’ll have you know that I worked hard on my studies, and I got good grades.”

  Tara’s expression registered shock. She hadn’t really considered that Winnie would actually attend classes, which seemed silly in retrospect.

  “And,” Winnie continued, “you seem to forget that the parties and riots, that you so adamantly bring up were attended by people, my friends. People with passionate feelings about things.”

  Tara shrank visibly. “I didn’t mean…”

  “You know,” Winnie huffed, “Those were very difficult times. The young men of my generation were dying in the jungle, and we couldn’t do anything about it. The civil rights movement changed this country and for the better too. We were dedicated to making the world a better place. And it really irks me that history has labeled that whole era nothing but ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’. We weren’t all into free love, you know!”

  “I— I didn’t—” Tara stuttered.

  Winnie shuffled to face forward, her face still flushed with emotion.

  “I’m sorry,” Tara said, her voice small.

  Bella put a handful of dirt in her mouth, and Tara made a dive for the sandbox. But Winnie didn’t notice. She was lost in the past, back in those turbulent days.

  * * *

  A knock on the dorm room door pulled Winnie from her studies. She stood, arching her back to work out the kinks, and headed for the door. In the doorway stood Roy, looking crisp and tidy in his dress uniform. “Hi Roy, what’s up?”

  He looked past her into the room. “Is Claudia around?”

  She shook her head, not offering him any information as to where Claudia may be. It wasn’t worth upsetting Roy.

  “Oh, well, want to grab a sandwich with me?”

  Her stomach grumbled at the mention of food. “Yeah, okay. Come in.”

  He strode in and stood stiffly by the door. Winnie couldn’t help but think of the way Thomas entered a room, casual and confident, lounging on whatever furniture was handy, even if it was a bed. “Why are all you ROTC guys wearing dress uniforms today?” she asked as she quickly pulled a brush through her hair and collected her jacket and purse. The March weather was still chilly.

  “We had an award ceremony,” He replied vaguely, knowing she didn’t really care about such things.

  “That’s nice,” she replied as she locked the door.

  He didn’t say any more about it.

  While he held open the outside door, Winnie scanned him from head to foot. He looked so different in his uniform. Older, professional, serious. Where was the boy she’d grown up with? Roy had always been solemn, more serious than Claudia anyway; however, now that he was about to graduate, and his military career was kicking off, he’d acquired a new air about him. More poised maybe? Then again, the ROTC cadets took a lot of flak just walking across campus in their uniforms. He’d had to grow a thick skin. That thought stung. She certainly wasn’t in favor of the war, but she did care about Roy and the other soldiers. He was such a good kid, a good man. He always tried
to do what was right, to a fault. He was a good friend and a good brother. It wasn’t fair that he’d be shipped off to war.

  “Did you hear me?” he asked, tossing her a look.

  “I’m sorry, what?” She asked, realizing she’d been off in space.

  “I said, where do you want to eat?”

  Her favorite hangouts were the burger joint and the coffee shop, but those were places she went with Thomas. Besides, Roy would get hassled if he went there in his uniform. “The cafeteria, maybe?”

  “Okay,” he agreed, never one to argue.

  “So, why did you want Claudia?” she asked, curious. He hadn’t come by looking for her in weeks.

  “It’s mom’s birthday. I was going to remind her to call.”

  Add good son to the list, she noted.

  “But, I suppose she has better things to do…” he sighed.

  “Maybe she’s at a study group,” Winnie offered, knowing full well that was a lie.

  He scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

  Irritated, Winnie stopped walking. “Why do you do that? You don’t know. She was actually very upset and crying this afternoon.”

  He stopped and turned back to her. “Oh, let me guess. She was upset about the riot at Columbia University.”

  Winnie knew the topic was not a good one to discuss with Roy, but he was right. She nodded hesitantly.

  “And I’ll bet she was upset that some stupid hippy students were injured,” he continued, his face turning red with anger.

  “Faculty were injured too,” Winnie defended.

  He took a step closer to glare down at her. “Wynona, they held a dean hostage!”

  “I know,” she said her voice small. “But he was doing research to—”

  “I don’t care what research he was doing!” Roy spat, flinging one hand. “It’s not okay to take people hostage just because you don’t like their work!”

  Now she was upset. “Maybe you should care! Surely you can’t agree with—”

  “Don’t even start that crap with me, Wynona. Don’t even say it!” He yelled, then stared hard over her shoulder, his jaw working as he tried to rein in his anger. His eyes came back to hers. “Did you know it took over a thousand police officers to break up that mess and rescue the dean?”

  “Yeah,” she retorted with her fists on her hips. “They beat and arrested over 700 students!”

  “They were rioting!”

  “They were protesting!”

  He turned his back and paced three steps away, his back heaving. When he turned back, his face was set in stone. “I swear, I don’t even know you anymore.”

  His words stung, maybe because she felt the same way. How had it come to this? They were lifelong friends, both good people. How could they be on separate sides of everything?

  When she didn’t speak, he spun on his heel and marched away, leaving Winnie to wonder if they’d ever be able to speak civilly to each other again.

  * * *

  Tara crossed her fingers on the steering wheel as she drove up the long drive to the Inn. Maybe, if she wished it hard enough, Justin would be home. But as she pulled up to the house, his truck was nowhere in sight.

  “Daddy!” Bella cried from the back seat, rubbing more dirt into her sleepy eyes. “Want daddy.”

  “Me too,” Tara said, putting the car in park. She’d hoped to get Bella rushed through her bath before she got too grumpy, but that wasn’t going to happen. She’d be lucky if Bella didn’t have a meltdown before she was ready for bed. That thought saddened her too, because the baby was her only company now. Oh, she could probably seek out Blanche, but she wasn’t in the mood to hear about past husbands and exotic places. She just wanted Justin.

  “Daddy,” Bella hollered, opening and closing her outreached hands as tears left clean streaks down her dirty face.

  Tara sighed. Admittedly, they were both a mess. She climbed out and hauled the toddler out of her car seat. “Let’s go find a bath, okay?” She said, trying to sound upbeat for her daughter. But she couldn’t help but wonder how Bella would ever get another sibling if something didn’t change, and in a big way.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Winnie bent to put the last of the pies in the oven. With a huff, she straightened and pulled off the pot holders. Staring down at her aching hands, she opened and closed her fists, sure that the day spent rolling and shaping dough had done her in. She glanced at the pies cooling on the countertop and had to sigh again. They’d turned out lovely. Now she just had to stay on task and get the last batch out of the oven without burning them.

  Weary, she plopped onto a stool at the kitchen island. Would the town folk like the new apple pie recipe? If they didn’t, she’d likely never hear the end of it. She could see it, 10 years down the road, and folks would still be saying “Remember the year Winnie made those crazy apple pies?”

  Her back ached and she reached around to rub it with a gnarled hand. Well, if they hate the pies, so be it. They were made now. Then again, this reunion may give Smithville residents more to gossip about than pies.

  Unsettled by that thought, she rose to clear up the mess, her mind drifting back to a quiet spring day in Pittsburgh, so long ago. She, Claudia, and Thomas had been at the coffee shop, enjoying a gab and a latte. It had been the first warm and balmy evening of the year, and everyone was out and about. There hadn’t been a hint of trouble.

  “Don’t you love this weather?” Claudia sighed, tossing back her hair to feel the last rays of the sun on her face.

  “It’s perfect,” Thomas agreed, leaning back in his chair to cross an ankle over his other knee.

  Winnie pouted. “I’d enjoy it more if I didn’t have finals coming up in a few weeks.”

  “You need to chill out,” Thomas chuckled. “Find your center, be in the moment.”

  “I am in the moment,” Winnie defended. “And my thoughts are centered, centered on my future if I bomb finals.”

  “Speaking of the future,” Claudia said, “Are you coming back here next fall?”

  Winnie tossed Thomas a heated look. “Who says I’m leaving for the summer?”

  “Oh wow,” Claudia laughed, picking up on her friend’s body language. “You two are so into each other.”

  Winnie blushed, still not 100% comfortable with their unprofessed status as a couple. But Thomas thought he could get her an internship for the summer, and his roommate was leaving. That meant she could live with him and work instead of going home. She loved the idea, all but telling her parents about it, that is. She knew they considered living together before marriage a sin. But being with Thomas didn’t feel like a sin. It felt simple, natural, and right.

  “I think I’m going to California,” Claudia said, her expression dreamy.

  Winnie snapped out of her dreams. “California!”

  Claudia laughed. “Oh, don’t look so wounded. You didn’t think we’d be inseparable forever, did you?”

  “Maybe,” Winnie replied, trying to get her head around not having her best friend close at hand.

  “Wouldn’t it be cool if there were a way to see what your friends across the country were doing?” Claudia said. “You know, like a window into their life or something.”

  Thomas shook his head and took a sip from his mug.

  Winnie frowned, still unhappy with the thought of Claudia taking off on her own. “Your ideas get weirder and weirder.”

  But Claudia wasn’t offended. No one ever got her visions.

  “Who will you travel with? Where will you live?” Winnie questioned.

  “Maybe I’ll thumb my way out there,” Claudia replied, mostly for effect. But when Winnie looked to have a full-blown fit, she raised her hand. “I’m kidding. Mostly. No, lots of people are heading out there, that’s where everything is happening. That’s where it’s at!”

  Before Winnie could ask what exactly was happening on the west coast that made it so popular, a ripple of concerned voices and shouting interrupted the restful evening.


  “He’s been shot!” a man yelled, running into the middle of the outdoor café. “They shot him in cold blood!”

  Winnie’s thoughts immediately went to JFK and the day he was shot.

  Thomas jumped up.

  “Martin Luther King, they shot him! He’s dead!” The student cried, with tears streaming down his face.

  “Dead!” Claudia gasped, jumping up from her seat as well.

  Thomas moved closer to the gathering crowd, listening to the details, his face turning white. He came back to the girls. “We’ve got to get you out of here, now.”

  “Out of here?” Winnie echoed, rising from her chair, confused.

  “I’m not going anywhere!” Claudia argued, heading toward the crowds that now milled in the streets, shouting.

  Thomas grabbed her arm. “This is going to get ugly, we have to go!”

  Claudia shrugged off his grip, but Winnie looked fearfully to her left and right, seeing nothing but incredulous expressions, crying and shouting faces -- fists raised in anger and women sobbing. Chairs toppled over, tables were pushed, and one crashed to the ground, dishes and all. Someone threw a beer bottle, and it landed near Claudia.

  The glass bottle shattered at Claudia’s feet, and she covered her face with her arm.

  “Come on,” Thomas yelled, grabbing each of the girls by one arm. Ducking down, they ran together into the street, hoping to find a way out of the crowd. But the street had become a surging mass of bodies, pushing, pulling, knocking them over. Winnie went down on one knee and Thomas hefted her up. They saw a gap in the crowd and broke into a run. The noise was deafening with screaming, crying, and over that the sound of sirens. Winnie could not believe the pandemonium that had broken out within minutes.

  They jostled through the crowd for what seemed like forever, Thomas pushing his way and dragging the girls behind him. Finally, they ducked into a doorway in the falling dusk, and Claudia realized they were back on campus. Smoke filled the air from unknown sources and police sirens pierced the din. Thomas shielded the girls from the pushing crowd with his body, and Winnie realized he was wheezing. Fear twisted in her chest like a knife. She knew full well that once Thomas started wheezing, there wasn’t much he could do to make the asthma attack stop. Hot coffee was about the only thing that helped, and that was obviously not an option now.