And I felt very proud because Grandpa said I did a good job. Then Mr. Darryl and Mr. Dennis and some other people came to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for lunch and then he wasn’t a stranger anymore. But he did not try to put his arm around me again. I don’t know why not.
Ms. McIntosh is coming in now and I hope she sees me! I wonder if she got the picture I drew for her. I hope she did because I know it will make her happy because she will have a family.
“Robby!” she says, and I like the way she says my name because it sounds glad to see me. “Thank you so much for the beautiful picture!”
I say, “You’re welcome,” because that is Good Manners. Grandma taught me to have Good Manners.
Ms. McIntosh comes over and sits beside me and she smells like flowers. I wonder how she always smells good. Sometimes I smell good but only for a little while. It doesn’t last like her good smell does. She pulls the picture out of her back pocket and puts it between us on the table. “Do you have time to tell me about it?”
I do have time because Mr. Paul hasn’t told us to do anything yet. He and Ms. Janice are talking. We like it when they talk because then we can talk too. Right now Stacey and Joseph are talking and Marcus is listening to them. Anthony is not talking. He is just rocking back and forth and I hope he isn’t Over Stimulated. Everyone is leaving him alone because sometimes if everyone leaves him alone he gets okay.
I nod at Ms. McIntosh so she knows I do have time to talk and then I point at the moon. “That is the big moon we looked at with the scope. I put the holes in it like it really does have.”
“I know, and I love it.” Ms. McIntosh is happy about that. “You drew it exactly like the real moon.” She points at the bottom. “And is this me? Because it sure does look like me.”
“Uh-huh. I put your ponytail in it.”
“And my jacket. You did such a good job of making it look like me. And here, you drew someone and put Mom. Did you mean for that to be my mom?”
“Uh-huh but not your real mom. Your stepmom. You know, like Stacey has.” Stacey has a real mom and a stepmom. Stacey lives with her real mom and Stacey’s stepmom lives with Stacey’s dad.
I don’t think Ms. McIntosh knows she has a stepmom because she frowns but it isn’t a mad frown. It’s the frown I have sometimes when I am trying to read something that is too hard. For a minute she just looks at the picture and doesn’t say anything.
Then she says, “It looks like Mrs. Huffman. It’s her dress, and her apron. Even her shoes, and I like the way you drew the laces. Is it Mrs. Huffman? Or did you just imagine I had a stepmom that looks like her?”
I am glad she can tell who it is because those laces took a really long time to draw. I am quite talented at drawing. That’s what Mrs. Pruitt says at school. She is the art teacher and she says, “Robby, you are quite talented at drawing.” So I know I am.
I nod again at Ms. McIntosh. “It’s Mrs. Huffman,” I tell her.
“Hmmm,” she says. She likes to say that word but I still don’t know what she means when she says it. She is biting on her lips. My mom tells me not to do that because it will make your lips chapped. I guess Ms. McIntosh doesn’t know that.
“But Robby,” she says, and her voice is slow and quiet, “what makes you think Mrs. Huffman is my stepmom?” She turns her head sort of sideways and looks at me.
And now here comes the big secret and I can tell for sure she doesn’t know about it and I can’t wait to tell her because I know it will make her so happy.
So I tell her, “Because Mr. Huffman is your dad.”
Chapter 28
I had no idea how to wrap my head around what Robby had just told me. He said he had overheard Mr. and Mrs. Huffman discussing me one night while he was in bed. Apparently Mrs. Huffman had encouraged Mr. Huffman to approach me and tell me who he was.
According to Robby, Mr. Huffman’s response was something along the lines of, “You think after all these years she’s really interested in knowing who I am?”
“But you’re her father,” Mrs. Huffman had said. “You have to let her know. You can’t do this. It’s not right.”
“I’m doing this for me,” Mr. Huffman had answered. “Not for her. She doesn’t need it. I do.”
“They argued loud,” Robby told me. “Then Mr. Huffman made Mrs. Huffman promise to be quiet. But he didn’t make me promise to be quiet because he didn’t know I heard him. See? You do have a family.”
I had barely managed to thank Robby again for the wonderful picture before excusing myself and escaping to my room, locking the door behind me. Once there, I had no idea what to do. Could it possibly be true? It seemed so farfetched, but it would certainly explain the creepiness factor I’d experienced since meeting them. If he was my father, it wasn’t a coincidence he’d shown up to work at the Lodge. Had he been stalking me? What did they want?
As it had when I’d thought Mrs. Huffman might be Lindy, my mind immediately went to money. I had a lot of it; that was no secret. Is that what they wanted? Blackmail, maybe? But for what?
My adult life was an open book. I hadn’t done anything that hadn’t already been covered in one tabloid or another. Some of the worst things printed about me in those magazines weren’t things I’d ever even considered doing, but they made for good print. Such is life in the Hollywood scene. There was nothing, no hidden secret, no shameful deed, for them to use to blackmail me. If blackmail was the aim, it wouldn’t be my adult life that interested them.
It would be my childhood. I paced frantically around the small room, knowing I needed to calm down but not knowing how to do it. Was there a connection to Virgil Young? He’d been spouting off about Roy Campbell all around town for the last week. Now a man claiming to be my father was also here. Both had been hired to work at a facility that I started, on land that I own. Surely that wasn’t coincidence.
What in the world was going on?
I pulled out my cell and dialed up John. After four rings I hung up before I could be directed to voicemail. I called Corinne’s house next, but there was no answer. They’d obviously gone out, maybe to the diner again. I wouldn’t call Michael. How could he help me? He didn’t know the things we knew.
A part of me wanted to find Nora. I needed to talk it over with someone, and Nora did have a way of helping me put things in perspective. But she was so protective of the Huffmans. I understood her position; human service jobs, though among the hardest, are notorious for paying poverty level wages. She had a perfect setup with the Huffmans and they’d be very difficult, if not impossible, to replace if they left. I would fill Nora in, but not yet. Not until I knew a little bit more.
Sheriff Moore, then. As much as I didn’t want to interact with that man, I wondered if I should call him. Too many odd things were happening, coming together in a way that made me nervous. I pulled his card out of my jacket pocket and looked at it. It was nearly five o’clock, half an hour before dinner, plenty of time to call. Should I? I didn’t know what to do; if only John had answered his phone.
I was afraid. It wasn’t a feeling I was used to, not in my adult years, although I’d certainly felt it often enough as a young child. Re-experiencing those feelings brought on a profound loneliness. I wanted Billy May. I wanted to connect with someone who knew me and loved me. I did not want to be alone.
I had nightmares back then, nearly every night, in the years I lived with Billy May. I’d wake up screaming, fighting off an imaginary attacker who had been only too real before Billy May saved me. He could no longer hurt me during my waking hours, but he came back often to hurt me in my sleep.
Billy May, hearing my screams, would come and pull me into her strong arms. She would rub my back and talk to me. She always smelled of soap, a clean, safe smell. Sometimes she read books to me. Other times she whispered to me, over and over again, almost like a chant, while she rocked me. Jessie girl, it’s okay. You’re okay. You’re with me. You’re surrounded by people who love you. We’ll take care of you. No one
can hurt you, now. You’re surrounded by people who love you. She would hold me as I fell back to sleep, and I knew nobody could hurt me as long as she was with me, not even in my dreams. She wouldn’t let them. She wouldn’t. How I missed her.
On impulse, before I even realized what I was doing, I scrolled to Michael’s number and hit the button to connect. He answered immediately.
“Jessie! Is everything okay?”
I heard commotion in the background, laughter, conversation, Kay’s voice yelling out someone’s order. They’d gone back to the diner as they’d promised Kay. All of a sudden I longed more than anything to be back there with them. I could picture it, Kay in her pink dress and white apron, order pad in her hand.
Corinne and John would be drinking sweet tea, Michael iced water with lemon. They would be laughing and talking, Corinne probably filling them in on the gossip of the other patrons. John would order the pot roast, Corinne the chef salad. Michael would ask them for recommendations, always willing to try anything. You’re surrounded by people who love you. My throat closed up and I couldn’t speak.
“Jessie? Are you there?”
I swallowed. “I’m here, Michael. I just....I wanted to call.” My voice trailed off and I fought against the urge to cry.
“Jessie, come back to town.” Michael’s voice was soft and insistent. “We miss you. We were just saying you should be here with us. We’ll tell Kay to hold our order until you get here. Come now.”
“I’m on my way,” I said, and I ended the call. I’d tell Nora I needed to eat dinner with Corinne and John. She would understand. I did need to eat dinner with Corinne and John. And with Michael. I needed to eat dinner with Michael.
Chapter 29
Michael was waiting for me outside the diner, leaning against the wall to the right of the door, hands in his pockets. He didn’t say a word as I stepped out of the car, just wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug. I hugged him back.
“Are you okay?”
“Right now I am,” I answered. He took my arm and led me inside, and I had to laugh. It was exactly as I’d known it would be. Corinne and John were drinking sweet tea, and Michael had saved me a seat beside his, where his glass of water with lemon sweated on the table.
From behind the counter, Kay waved at me. “Good to see you. It’s been a while.” I had to laugh.
“Let me guess,” I said as John and Corinne looked up at the sound of my voice. “John, you’re having pot roast, and Corinne, it’s the chef salad for you.”
Corinne’s face wrinkled in a smile. “And I took the liberty of orderin’ you the veggie plate. Kay is bringin’ it with the cornbread, of course.” Of course. It’s what I had always ordered for dinner at the diner. It had been my favorite since I was a little girl. Who in the world would know that about me but the people of Cedar Hollow?
“Come on and sit down, honey,” Corinne ordered. “I’m glad you’re here.”
I took my seat beside Michael and John gave me a sardonic look over the top of the dessert menu. “You couldn’t stay away from me, could you? It’s the boots, isn’t it? You’re in love with my hiking boots. Admit it.”
That feeling came over me again, the one I’d had my first morning back in town, when I’d sat with Corinne in her sunny kitchen. I felt like a normal person, doing what normal people did. I was having dinner with friends and family, in a place that felt like home. I was being teased by my best friend in the world. I knew all the people around me, if not by name at least by face or association, and they knew me, as well.
There was no need to explain anything, no agonizing decisions about what, if anything, to share with them. I wanted to bottle that feeling and keep it with me. I felt so happy for a moment I couldn’t come up with a single smart-aleck remark for John. I just sat there with a goofy grin on my face.
“Whoa,” he said, straightening up and setting down the menu. “What is this? Who are you, and what have you done with our lovely little sourpuss?”
“Now you hush, John.” Corinne reached over and patted me on the hand. “What’s got you smilin’ so, honey?”
I shrugged, the grin still plastered across my face. “I’m just happy to see you guys.” That was the best I could come up with, and it was true.
“Well, we’re happy to see you, too, honey.” She squinted at me. “I’m glad you’re here, but did somethin’ happen to bring you down here again today? I thought we weren’t goin’ to get to see you again until tomorrow.”
I filled them in on my conversation with Robby.
“Jessie, have you spoken to Nora about this? Assuming Robby is right, I wonder if she knew the connection when she hired them.” John’s expression was serious now, all humor set aside.
I shook my head. “I haven’t yet. But you know, John, you have a good point. Every time I’ve tried to discuss the Huffmans with Nora she’s gotten defensive. I understand how hard they’d be to replace; they really do keep the place going. But if she knew about them, that adds a whole other layer, doesn’t it? What would her purpose be? It doesn’t make sense.”
We waited for Riva to set our plates in front of us and then ate in silence, mulling over John’s question, before Michael spoke up. “Let’s look at this thing from all sides.” He set down his fork. “You were summoned here by somebody. Right now we have two suspects, right? Virgil Young, who was fired, obviously has anger towards you and had a connection to your stepfather, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances years ago. Virgil thinks you hold some blame for that.”
Corinne and I exchanged a look, which Michael caught. “What?” He looked from one to the other of us. “I’m not stupid, you know. I don’t care how the man disappeared. Given what I’ve picked up from the three of you, he deserved whatever happened to him. If you didn’t have a part in it, you should have.”
Corinne and I stared, while across from me, John chuckled. “I told you I like this guy, Jessie. He’s much smarter than the bozos you usually bring around.”
“Anyway,” Michael continued, “the other suspect, or suspects, are the Huffmans. You haven’t felt comfortable around them since you got here, and now you find out Mr. Huffman might be the biological father you’ve never met. Right?” I nodded agreement, spellbound.
“There are several questions here.” Michael ticked them off on his fingers. “First, did Nora know, when she hired the Huffmans, that he was your biological father? Second, are the Huffmans and Virgil Young affiliated in some way, and if they are, did Nora know that, too? Finally, who summoned you, and why?” He sat back against the seat. “Did I cover them all?”
“You did.” I was still absorbing Michael’s apparent understanding of events. Once again, he knew more than I had given him credit for. “But where does that leave me?” I asked. “I don’t know where to go from here. Do I confront the Huffmans directly? Ask Nora? Call the Sheriff? What’s my next step? Whatever it is, it needs to happen fast because we’re leaving tomorrow.” I was at a loss.
“You have the Sheriff’s card, right?” John asked. “I think you should give him a call this evening to let him know what you’ve found out. It certainly makes the Huffmans look more suspicious and it’s information the Sheriff needs to have. Then I think a conversation with Nora is in order. I have a feeling she knows more than she’s let on.”
“I think so too, John.” Corinne spoke up. “Let the Sheriff know what’s going on first. And don’t you dare take it on yourself to go question the Huffmans, you understand? You leave the Sheriff to do the investigatin’ with those people.”
“What do you think, Michael?” I realized I really wanted his opinion on the topic.
“For the most part I agree, but I want you to be very careful,” he said. “Don’t forget about the things that brought you here—the horses, the chemicals, the trashed office, the fire, and finally, the note. Someone, possibly Mr. Huffman, went to great lengths to get you here. Maybe he doesn’t intend any harm; maybe he just wanted to see you, but a man willing
to go to those lengths to meet a daughter he’s never known is unstable whether he means to harm you or not. I’m not really comfortable with you sleeping up there tonight.”
“I’ll be careful, Michael,” I assured him. “Besides, nothing is any different than it has been all week. The only difference is that now I know about Mr. Huffman and I didn’t before. That makes me safer, if anything. I’ll be fine. I’ll lock the door as I always do. And I’ll call Sheriff Moore on my way back up the mountain.”
“And you’ll call us before you go to bed to tell us goodnight and let us know you’re okay.” Corinne pointed a finger at me.
“I will,” I said. “You can tuck me in by phone.”
We paid for our meal and stood outside in the cool, late afternoon for a moment before leaving. This had always been my favorite time of year in Cedar Hollow. The mountains were stunning, the air fresh. I could smell the sharp scent of the fallen leaves as they crunched under our feet. John helped Corinne into her car and I glanced over to catch Michael smiling at me.
“You actually look peaceful,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look that way before.”
“I feel peaceful,” I told him, surprised myself. “Crazy, isn’t it? I’m surrounded by weirdness, someone may be trying to hurt me, and I feel peaceful. I never have been good at matching my feelings up properly with my circumstances.”
He laughed. “Yes, I’ve noticed that about you. It’s a part of your charm.”
It was my turn to laugh. “I’m a messed up woman, Michael.”
“No, Jessie.” His expression turned serious. “You’re a survivor. That’s what you have to remember. Quit seeing the scars as disfiguring and start seeing them as a badge of honor. All warriors have battle scars, and you won the battle. You’re still here. That’s what counts.”
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