by Lee Hollis
“I’ve already spoken with her father.”
“You called Danny?”
“Yes, to formerly ask for her hand in marriage.”
Hayley had not realized just how old-fashioned Conner was. Asking permission from both parents before proposing seemed like a throwback to another era.
“Luckily he got on board right away and granted me his permission. But he also strongly suggested I run it past you as well.”
“Wise advice,” Hayley said, chuckling.
They walked in silence for a few more seconds. Hayley’s mind was reeling. How could Gemma and Conner be on such different pages? How could he not on some level suspect Gemma’s general dissatisfaction with the relationship? How could one person be on the verge of ending it while the other one was on the verge of making it official?
Conner winced, his shoulder causing him some pain and discomfort. Then he scratched his chin nervously, furtively looking at Hayley, trying to judge her feelings about this major decision.
For Hayley’s part, she was just trying to stay calm and not do or say anything that would break her daughter’s confidence and upset the situation.
“So... ?” Conner finally asked.
Hayley thought long and hard before finally responding. “If Gemma wants to marry you, then you have my full support.”
Not exactly a glowing endorsement, but it would have to do in a pinch.
Conner breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Great. Now I just hope she says yes.”
Hayley tried giving him an encouraging smile, but it was hardly genuine since she was now full of dread. Gemma was going to be blindsided by a marriage proposal, and Hayley was now in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether or not she should at least warn her daughter that one was coming her way at breakneck speed.
Chapter 11
“Bruce, are you awake?” Hayley whispered, poking her husband lightly on his bare arm. He was lying on his side, facing away from her in their bed.
Hayley waited a few seconds, and when she didn’t get an answer, she asked again, this time a bit louder. “Bruce, are you awake?”
Still no response.
Frustrated, she shook him and he snorted and tried rolling away from her. “Bruce!”
“What?” Bruce mumbled into his pillow.
“Are you awake?”
Bruce sighed, turned over, and yawned. “Uh, yeah, I am now. What time is it?”
“A little after two,” Hayley said, glancing at the digital clock on her nightstand.
“Does the dog have to go out?”
“No, I took care of that earlier when I got home from the hospital, but that’s what I want to talk to you about. I’ve been sitting here, wide-awake, thinking and worrying about what I should do.”
“About the dog?”
“No! Conner! He told me he is going to ask Gemma to marry him!”
This finally stirred some interest in Bruce. He rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. “Oh... damn...”
“Gemma told me shortly after she got here that she is thinking of breaking up with him, but he is completely oblivious to her true feelings because the poor guy just told me he is on the verge of proposing!”
“I’ll say,” Bruce said. “Are you going to give her a heads-up?”
“I don’t know, that’s what I’ve been up all night trying to decide. What do you think?”
Bruce leaned back on the headboard, scratched his chest hair, mulled it over for a few seconds, and then said matter-of-factly, “I think you should stay out of it. Good night.” And then he dropped back down on his side and yanked the covers over his head.
Hayley considered his opinion for a few moments, and then turning to Bruce, said, “I think I would want to know.”
Silence from Bruce.
And so Hayley shook him again. “Bruce?”
She could hear him groaning under the covers, but that didn’t stop her from continuing the conversation. “Gemma told me in no uncertain terms that she was having serious doubts about her relationship, and in a sense, her confiding in me gives me a license to tell her anything I might know, don’t you agree?”
Bruce slowly sat up again. “If I agree with you, will you let me go back to sleep, please?”
“I want you to be honest with me.”
Bruce’s head slumped down as he tried to come up with a way to end this discussion and get back to sleep. Finally, he turned and looked directly at his wife. “I already told you what I think. Stay out of it. This is between Gemma and Conner. Let the guy propose and allow Gemma to give an honest, unrehearsed answer without you getting involved. That’s my official opinion, but because I’m really tired and I want to get a few hours of sleep before I have to be up to go to work, I’m willing right here and now to just tow the party line and tell you that you should do what your gut tells you. And if that means warning Gemma, then that’s what you should do. And if it somehow backfires, and Conner gets upset at you for spilling the beans, or Gemma gets upset at you for meddling, then I promise not to say ‘I told you so.’ Now, I’ve said my piece, I’m going to lie back down and close my eyes, and I’m going to have faith that you will finally stop talking and I can drift back to Dreamland.”
He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips. He waited for her to speak again, but she mercifully refrained. When he was reasonably certain she was done chatting with him, shaking, and poking him, he smiled and disappeared back down underneath the covers.
Hayley stared at the lump next to her.
He was probably right.
She should just keep her mouth shut.
But this was huge.
This was a marriage proposal.
And she didn’t want Gemma to be caught blindsided.
But given that, all Hayley knew at this point was that she would undoubtedly be up and wide-awake for the rest of the night, debating about what she should do while occasionally pinching closed the nostrils on her husband’s nose when he inevitably snored too loudly and distracted her.
Chapter 12
Hayley had been up most of the night, but finally around five in the morning, she dozed off and didn’t wake up again until after nine. Bruce had already left for work, and as she walked down the stairs, she saw Conner propped up on the couch, his arm in his sling, watching an old black-and-white James Cagney movie on Turner Classic Movies.
“Good morning, Conner.”
“Morning, Hayley,” he said, eyes glued to the TV set. Cagney at the moment was shoving a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face. Hayley tried to remember the name of the movie—perhaps White Heat or Public Enemy, two of his best gangster films. She loved Cagney. “Where’s Gemma?”
“She took Leroy to hike around Eagle Lake. She’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
“How’s your arm?”
“Still sore,” Conner groaned. “But doing better. Are you off to work?”
“No, I took the day off to help Edie Staples set up for the reception they’re hosting at the church for all the Emerson Conners school kids marching in the Halloween parade. I baked some cookies to take with me because, well, Edie’s baking skills are a bit sketchy, and I want the kids to at least have some edible sweets to eat with their fruit punch.”
“You mean those Halloween cookies that were in the four tins on the kitchen counter?”
“Yes, did you eat them all?” Hayley asked, folding her arms, and staring sternly at him.
Conner vigorously shook his head. “No, just a few, I mean there are still three whole tins left!”
“There were twenty cookies in each tin!”
“Yes, and they were so delicious! Now I know where Gemma gets her incredible culinary talents from!”
“Don’t bother trying to butter me up. I’ll make some more for you when I get home. Now I have to jump in the shower and get going.” Hayley downed a quick cup of coffee from the coffeemaker in the kitchen, and was heading back up the stairs again, when she stopped halfway and called dow
n into the living room, “Did you talk to Gemma?”
There was a long pause before he answered, “No, I’m still waiting for the right time.”
She hurried up the rest of the steps, relieved to know there was still a little time to intervene if she decided to do so against Bruce’s advice.
After showering and dressing and offering to make Conner breakfast, which he politely declined, Hayley loaded up her car with the three remaining tins of cookies and drove straight to the Congregational church. She hoped to find Ted Lancaster there so she could get an update on Trudy and find out when she would be released from the hospital.
When she pulled into the church parking lot and stopped next to the Staples’ brand-new RV, she noticed Trudy Lancaster’s food truck parked outside on the street in front of the church.
Edie emerged from the RV with a tray of brownies that she carried while wearing black-and-white-checkered oven mitts.
Hayley hopped out of her car. “Hi, Edie, sorry I’m a little late. I didn’t sleep very well last night.”
“No problem. We still have plenty of time before the kids get here. The parade isn’t even halfway down Cottage Street yet,” Edie said. “I was just warming up some brownies in the RV. The kitchen is so small I can hardly move in there. I don’t see how I am ever going to prepare any kind of decent meal under those conditions!”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll want to experience the local cuisine as you drive across country and won’t need to cook all the time.”
“I have serious food allergies so I can’t see how that will work out,” Edie complained.
Edie was obviously not looking forward at all to their long-awaited retirement plans. It appeared as if she would be a lot happier just staying home.
Hayley stacked the three tins of cookies in her arms and joined Edie, who was balancing the tray of brownies with one arm as she slammed the door to the RV shut with the other. Then she turned and noticed Hayley with the tins. “Oh, Hayley, I told you not to bake anything. I made plenty of treats for the kids as well as their parents and teachers.”
“I know, I just wanted to contribute a little something. Why should you have to do all the work?” Hayley said, as she glanced at Edie’s rock-hard and no doubt tasteless batch of brownies. “After I help you set up, I may swing by the hospital and visit with Trudy to see how she’s doing.”
“There’s no need,” Edie said as they walked toward the church entrance. “She was released this morning and she’s here, right inside with Ted. She’s got her coloring back and is feeling much better. She says she’s determined to have her food truck open for the Garbers’ Witches Ball tonight.”
“Oh, that’s such a relief,” Hayley said.
They entered through a side door where several long cardboard tables had been set up with Halloween-themed paper tablecloths. A big fruit punch bowl and stacks of plastic cups were on one table while plates of decorated cookies in shapes of ghosts, witches, Frankenstein monsters, and pumpkins were lined up on the other, evenly spread out with military-style precision. There was even a large cake in the shape of a haunted house on a third table. Hayley set her own cookies down as Edie went searching for a knife to try and cut her tray of brownies into squares.
Ted strolled in from a side office.
“Hayley, thanks again for staying so long with Trudy last night,” he said, smiling.
“I’m so happy to hear she’s feeling better.”
Ted nodded. “It was a rough night, but by this morning, she was back to her old self—a little weak, maybe, but raring to go. She wants to be well prepared for her catering gig tonight.”
“Do you think it’s a good idea for her to be working so hard so soon after a such a serious bout of food poisoning?”
“Of course not, but she won’t listen to me.”
“Where is she?”
“She went outside to her truck to finish making sandwiches for the kids when they arrive. Reverend Staples just went out there to volunteer to be her sous-chef.”
Hayley stiffened. “Oh? He’s out there too?”
Ted noticed her sudden change in demeanor. “Yes. Is everything all right?”
“Oh, yes, everything’s fine,” Hayley fibbed. She did not like the idea of Reverend Staples out in the truck alone with Trudy, especially after witnessing how inappropriately he had behaved in the hospital room. “Maybe she could use my help too.”
At that moment, Edie flew out of a tiny kitchen off the reception room. “I can’t find a knife to save my life! Now where’s my husband? I have a whole box of Halloween decorations he needs to tape on the walls!”
“He’s outside. I’ll go get him,” Hayley said.
“Don’t bother. I’ll do it. I’m sure Trudy has a knife out there I can borrow to cut the brownies,” Edie said, hustling out into the main room, past the altar and down through the pews toward the exit. Hayley chased after her. She had a sickening feeling something bad was about to happen.
And she was right.
Hayley managed to catch up to Edie outside just as she hurried down the stone steps of the church and saw, through the open window of Trudy Lancaster’s food truck, her husband groping Trudy and trying to kiss her while Trudy’s scrunched-up face displayed a horrified look of disgust as she tried desperately to squirm out of his tight grasp.
“Dear Lord, what are you doing to that poor woman?” Edie cried, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.
Reverend Staples suddenly froze in place, allowing Trudy to slip out of his embrace. A few seconds later, Trudy barreled out of her food truck carrying a large tin pan filled with turkey, roast beef, and chicken salad sandwiches. She raced past Edie and Hayley, hoping to find shelter from Hurricane Edie inside the church.
Hayley intercepted her. “Trudy, let me take those sandwiches. You shouldn’t be carrying that so soon after your illness.”
Trudy looked at her, instantly picking up on Hayley’s desire to escape with her.
“Thanks, Hayley,” Trudy said, shoving the pan at Hayley while keeping one eye on Edie, who was apoplectic, eyes blazing, as she glared at her husband cowering inside the food truck. He was now a bundle of nerves, clearly afraid to come out of the truck and face his enraged wife.
Hayley and Trudy flew back inside the church, a house of worship, where hopefully they would be protected from the wrath of Edie Staples. There was no doubt in Hayley’s mind that at that moment Edie was furiously chewing out her handsy husband. And even though Reverend Staples was technically a man of the cloth, in his wife’s own mind at this point, he was more like the devil himself.
Chapter 13
The last thing Hayley expected to happen to her on Halloween was to end up waist deep in a sea of loud, unruly children dressed as witches and ghosts and goblins and ghoulies, not to mention assorted Marvel and DC superheroes and even one Spongebob Squarepants. She hurriedly filled plastic cups with fruit punch to hand out to the rowdy little kids that weren’t tall enough to pour their own. She ran around with plates of cookies, handing them out, at one point having to pull apart a wizard from Harry Potter and a chimpanzee from one of the Planet of the Apes movies who were fighting over the last oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.
It was a madhouse.
The parents and teachers were too busy gossiping with one another to look after their screaming kids, who were now experiencing the upper reaches of a sugar high post-parade. So all of the supervision was left to Hayley, who had basically been abandoned by all the other adults in the room.
Just as the parade had looped around to Mount Desert Street and the kids started to arrive for the after-parade party at the church, Ted had taken Trudy home to get some much-needed rest before her big catering gig at the Garbers’ party later that evening.
Shortly after catching her husband making an unwanted pass at Trudy, Edie had gone home, sending word through her husband that she was suddenly afflicted with a massive headache and needed to take some medicine and lie down in the quiet of her
own home.
Alone.
As for Reverend Staples, after informing Hayley that she was basically on her own to wrangle the hyperactive rug rats, he retreated inside his office to hide with the door locked, too embarrassed to come out.
When Hayley needed someone to mix up a fresh bowl of fruit punch, which was getting dangerously low, she knocked on the reverend’s office door, but he didn’t even bother to answer her. Hayley then had to fight her way into the tiny church kitchen and do it herself.
After an hour and a half, the crowd began to thin out, and when there were just a few stragglers left, Hayley finally had time to commence cleanup. She washed all the bowls and trays and wiped down the tables and folded them up along with the twenty chairs that had been set up, and returned everything to the storage closet.
Some day off, Hayley thought.
But it was finally over, and she was about to treat herself to a burger and onion rings at Jordan’s Restaurant when her phone buzzed.
It was Mark Garber.
She answered his call. “Hi, Mark! Ready for the big night?”
“Hayley, I need your help,” Mark wailed, skipping any pleasantries.
“What’s wrong? What’s happened now?”
“I don’t have a costume for tonight. Mary has been after me for weeks to get something good, and I’ve just kept putting it off and putting it off, thinking I would come up with something at the last minute. But now it’s the last minute and I still don’t have one!”
“Why are you calling me?”
“Because you’re very creative and your kids always used to have the best costumes in the Halloween parade, and I just need someone to help me so Mary doesn’t yell at me for not putting enough thought into what I show up in tonight—”
“I’m not sure what I can do, Mark—”
“Can you meet me at the drugstore? They still have a few masks and things left and I know you’ll pick just the right one. Please, I can meet you there in five minutes.”
“You want me to come now?”
“The party starts in a few hours. I’m in a code-red situation, Hayley, I’m begging you...”