Assault and Batting

by Rothery, Tess

  Taylor gave her a kiss goodbye and let her back out the front door. Grandma Quinny wasn’t one to use the back entrance.

  “Whew!” Maddie made a dramatic sigh of relief as Taylor locked the door behind her grandma. “She’s always terrified me.”

  “Rightly so. No one messes with a Quinn woman.”

  “That’s a lot to live up to.” Maddie gave her a practiced look of compassion. “I suspect you’ll be changing your name when you get married.”

  Taylor thought back to all the ways she had come up with to write her new signature once Clay married her and made her a Seldon. “Maybe. It’ll depend on the name, I guess.”

  Maddie also stood. “Sadly, I was heading to the market too, but I think I’ll put it off a bit. See you tomorrow, same time, but at my office, okay?”

  Taylor let Maddie out the back door but didn’t say okay. She was tired of agreeing with everyone.

  Chapter Nine

  Belle was hanging out in the living room that evening. An unusual thing, her being in the house at all, much less being out with people.

  Taylor put a kettle on and joined her.

  Belle stretched on the old hardwood floor of their front room. She could still do a front split and lay her chest on the floor.

  “Do you ever miss dancing?” Taylor sat on the sofa with her legs tucked under her. The muffled sounds of the news floated in from the TV in Grandpa’s room.

  “Sometimes.” Belle sat up and stretched her arms over head.

  “Why did you quit?”

  “There’s only so much you can do here in Comfort. Mom was willing to drive me wherever a stronger dance studio was, but I didn’t love it that much. There’s plenty to do without dance.”

  The kettle began to softly whistle. “Can I get you a cup of something?”

  “I’m good.”

  Taylor went to the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea, then went straight back to where she had been. She wouldn’t have left, if it hadn’t been for the insistent whistling.

  “What did you replace dancing with?”

  “Lots of hiking, mostly. Some kids think it’s boring, but I like to follow the creek and stuff. Be outdoors. This is a great place to be outdoors.”

  “Man, you are so right.” Taylor sipped the tea. “Do you hike much still?”

  “Too much school.”

  Considering Belle had been skipping classes she didn’t think were worth her time for most of this year, Taylor wondered how much she could trust her. “So…I took you out of school for a little while, not realizing you were in some kind of crazy college thing. Are you going to be okay?”

  “Yup. I’ve got it under control.”

  “Even the classes you were skipping?”

  “I wasn’t getting dual credit for gym, don’t worry.”

  “Can’t help it, sorry. I suspect I’ve entirely ruined your life, and I hate that feeling.” Taylor picked at the seam of the slipcover. It would need to be mended. She didn’t love big projects like this, but overall it was still in good shape. Worth saving. Plus, her mom had made it.

  “You haven’t. Mom was really pushing for me to graduate with my class next year instead of graduating early, since we’ve all been together forever, but I don’t see the point. I got early acceptance to OSU this December and can start in the fall. Why would I stick around one more year? For sentiment?”

  “Yeah, Mom’s sentimental. She would have wanted all the cap and gown pics and stuff. Are you going to walk this spring?”

  “I was going to, but now, I don’t know. I don’t care. Grandpa doesn’t really care. Do you care?”

  Taylor closed her eyes for a moment and pictured Belle, black lined eyes, inky died hair, but in the silver cap and gown girls wore at graduation from Comfort High School. She wanted to see that. To take pictures of her sister and frame them so her friends would ask about her, and she could brag about how smart Belle was. “I care about what you care about.”

  Belle laughed. “No, you don’t.”

  “I want to, does that count?”

  Belle shrugged. “September’s not long from now. Does it really matter if you and I care about the same stuff?”

  “I guess I just want you to know you are still loved and watched over and thought of.” Taylor sipped her tea.

  This was hard.

  She found herself saying that way too often. What had she expected? The sudden loss of her mother to be easy? “So what? Who cares that you’re moving out in the fall? You’re here now and you deserve someone in your life who thinks of you and tries to help.”

  Belle narrowed her eyes and considered this. “Will you be here still, when I go away?”

  Taylor’s original plan had been to stay in Comfort for the year and a half Belle had left of high school. She had pictured a long stretch of sisterly togetherness, grieving, laughing, loving. In her mind, it was going to be intense and beautiful, and when they loaded up the car and drove to college, Taylor would go her own way too. Whatever way that was. Maybe she would sell the shop. Maybe by then she’d be attached and want to stay. Hudson’s handsome face passed fleetingly through her mind, then the bank teller whose name she had forgotten. It wasn’t like this was a singles wasteland.

  That’s what Clay had called it—a wasteland. He hadn’t wanted to leave his job to help her run the family shop and raise her sister. It was a dead end…the shop, the town. Somehow, he had even dismissed Belle.

  Taylor hadn’t brought Clay around here much, even though they had dated for over four years. He hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know them, or this place.

  Not that she hadn’t invited him.

  The point was, it wasn’t a wasteland. It was just…many small places spread out over a glorious fertile valley, and sometimes you had to drive a ways to get to all of it, but that didn’t matter because it was lovely.

  “That’s what I thought.” Belle responded to her silence. “Neither of us are planning on sticking around.”

  “I don’t know the future, but I’m not planning on running out on Grandpa Ernie.”

  “Good.” Belle nodded in approval. “I’ll be done with college in about two years. Maybe three if I get a masters, and then I’m going to follow work, you know?”

  “I do know.” Taylor had followed work, sort of. She had taken her education and experience and gotten in on Joanne’s management track with the hope of moving to corporate sooner rather than later. It had been getting later and later and seemed less likely than ever. Impossible now that she had quit, but that didn’t matter. Flour Sax was a fabulous store and Comfort was a lovely town. With her master’s she could even teach at the college, maybe. There was plenty to do in this area. “So, thinking of you and what you might want, where do you think we should take this investigation next?” Taylor needed this change of subject. She wasn’t ready to think beyond the now.

  “We need to talk to the owner of the Riverside Getaway, Andrea Millson. I think she knows more than she says she knows. Also…” Belle whipped out her phone and Googled something. “Are you or are you not going to get that YouTube channel back running? Our ad revenue has really slipped.”

  “Why did no one tell me about this?”

  “Mom told you. I sat in the kitchen and listened to her while I did some statistics homework. I don’t think you listen well.”

  “I suck.” Taylor traced the subtle plaid pattern of the creamy linen slipcover with her thumb. Her mom had matched the pattern perfectly. When Taylor repaired it, it wouldn’t be as good.

  “Yup. Even though I have scholarships and stuff, the YouTube money was going to be very useful for paying school fees, and also for Gramps as his dementia gets worse.”

  “Can you help me?” Taylor joined Belle on the floor and looked at her phone. She had the Flour Sax website open but wasn’t really looking at it.

  “Sure. I can walk you through what they did. Mom’s old school—was old school—and has a bunch of spiral notebooks with her notes in them up i
n the apartment.” Belle referred to the apartment above the store. “We’ll need to get those and figure out what’s next. She was very organized, methodical and so on.”

  They spent the rest of the evening messing around with iMovie. Taylor pretended she hadn’t figured it all out already. She needed this time with her sister.

  * * *

  The next morning Belle talked with Maddie alone while Taylor read through her mom’s notes in the waiting area. It was easier on her emotionally than watching the videos, but she had to do both. She didn’t want to duplicate content, or even worse, contradict. She was feeling pretty good at the end of the hour. Ready to test her hand at it, in fact.

  Belle invited her into the counseling room, but both she and Maddie were standing.

  “We discussed Belle’s visit to the Kirby house. In the future it makes sense for Belle to make sure you know where she is, so you won’t worry.”

  Taylor refrained from saying “duh.”

  “It was a lovely gesture on Belle’s part.” Maddie continued.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I apologize if I in any way contributed to the idea that Colleen is responsible for your mother’s death. While I still believe finding out exactly what happened that night is the right thing to do, I decidedly will not be pinning blame on anybody. And, as Belle and I discussed, if any of us finds any evidence of wrong doing, we will immediately contact the police.”

  “Indeed.” Taylor sneered at Maddie like she was her enemy. “You’re embarrassed about what Hudson said to you, but you don’t have to take it out on us.” She slipped her arm into Belle’s. “We’ve got enough problems without your cold attitude.”

  Belle laughed. “Maddie’s embarrassed about it. I’m embarrassed about it, you’re embarrassed. What’s a little embarrassment between friends?”

  Taylor turned to look at Belle but didn’t let go of her arm.

  “We can do the investigation without Maddie, if you insist on making her an enemy.” Belle patted Taylor’s hand. “But I don’t think we can do the grief processing stuff without her. Sorry, Taylor. It’s just…they didn’t really cover that stuff in your MBA program, did they?”

  Taylor shook her head.

  “That’s what I thought. I need Maddie more than she needs me right now so let’s play nice.”

  “When did you turn thirty-seven and become a better grown up than me?” Taylor asked.

  Belle smiled. “I have moments.”

  Maddie cleared her throat. “It’s not uncommon for a younger sibling to step up significantly in maturity during a time of crisis. Let’s make our next appointment, shall we?”

  Maddie and Belle compared phone calendars while Taylor stared at a painting of water bubbles. It didn’t soothe her troubled spirit.

  “Maddie agrees. Talking to Andrea Millson next is the right thing to do.” Belle and Taylor walked the six blocks home from Maddie’s office on Third and Mill.

  “I’ll call to see if we can meet her soon.” The day was chilly, and Taylor folded her arms. Spring seemed determined to stay in hiding, despite the tulips being in bloom.

  “Sure.” Belle nodded. “I’ve got some schoolwork to do, but I can bring Gramps over to the store around eleven when you open.”

  Maddie’s help with Belle was supposed to make everything better, but Hudson’s stupid misinterpretation of an innocent overnighter had ruined it. Taylor wished she hadn’t thrown out his number. She would have liked to give him a piece of her mind.

  Taylor called Andrea before she left the house for work. Andrea didn’t sound excited to talk with them, but was willing. All they had to do was meet her at the bed and breakfast for dinner the following night.

  * * *

  Taylor had half expected to see Hudson at Andrea’s dinner table the next night, so when he was the one outside flipping their burgers, she wasn’t surprised. Belle gave her an obnoxiously knowing look when she spotted him.

  Andrea looked about their mom’s age. Her wispy hair was styled with blonde highlights and beachy waves. She leaned in hard to country chic, pairing a high-end western snap front shirt and some new Wranglers, with wedge sandals and fake eyelashes. She had a huge aquamarine colored stone on her right hand, but nothing on her wedding finger.

  On greeting, Andrea embraced Taylor in a surprisingly comforting hug, and then Belle as well.

  “Girls, I owe you an apology. I chickened out when you stayed here. I just…I couldn’t. I’ve known your mom a long time.”

  “We can’t blame you, honestly. None of this is easy.” Taylor reached for Andrea’s hand and gave it a warm squeeze. “I didn’t realize you had known Mom.”

  “I went to high school with her and the girls. I drove into school from our place out on Moon Creek.”

  Andrea led them to their seats at the old farmhouse style table.

  “I guess Mom didn’t do these getaways very often now that Grandpa Ernie’s kind of heading downhill.” Taylor had a view of the patio from her seat, and of the grill master who was focused on his work.

  “It’s hard,” Andrea said. “Aging parents is probably the hardest thing a person goes through.”

  Taylor caught Belle’s eye. She would have given everything she owned to have to deal with the problem of aging parents. She swallowed the ache and continued. “Had Mom and the girls stayed here before?”

  “Sure, lots of times. They used to do this as a regular getaway. They came here every couple of years. Sometimes it’s nice to get away, but still be near home.”

  “I agree.”

  Belle pinched her mouth in a way that indicated she didn’t.

  “Soup’s on.” Hudson carried a tray full of burgers that smelled like the perfect summer dinner into the dining room. He set the tray down on a quilted table runner—an elegant dogwood flower pattern.

  Taylor trained her eyes on it, trying to decide if it was hand applique or machine. Also, it kept her from looking up at Hudson.

  Once the formalities of building their burgers was over, Taylor dug back into the investigation. She had hoped Belle would have questions, so she could have an emotional connection to this process, or whatever, but Belle could not take her eyes off Hudson. He seemed to have left her speechless.

  He was handsome, but Taylor didn’t think he was leaves-a-girl-speechless handsome.

  “I hear Mom and Colleen were fighting the night she died.” After the question, Taylor took her first bite of the burger. It was as good as it smelled.

  “Yeah. I could hear them all the way down here, which was a bummer. Not to complain about your mom, as she can’t defend herself, but I had other guests staying here.”

  “Did Mom start the fight?”

  “I couldn’t say, but you know your mom. Her voice really carried. Colleen had kind of a lower voice…harder to hear.”

  “Mom was yelling, you mean?”

  “Well, yeah. It was a fight. I’m sure Colleen was too.” Andrea hid behind her burger.

  “What do you think made her so angry?”

  Andrea was chewing still and couldn’t answer.

  “How are you doing, Belle?” Hudson asked before Andrea had answered her question. It was kind of him, but also Belle’s eyes hadn’t really left his face since they sat down. He might as well talk to her.

  “I’m doing quite well.” Belle sat up, her chin out. “For a vulnerable teen likely to be taken advantage of by adults in positions of power.”

  “Belle!” Taylor almost dropped her burger.

  “Would you rather folks not care?” Hudson didn’t seem even close to put off by Belle’s mouthy answer. He smiled, even with his eyes, like he thought she was a cute kid. “Because the world is pretty full of people who don’t care about anyone but themselves.”

  Belle didn’t have an answer, despite being the brightest one in the room.

  “Sometimes caring what happens to people is embarrassing,” Hudson said casually. “But it’s always worth it.”

  “I think Laur
a was mad at Colleen about the food.” Andrea jumped in, her own cheeks red.

  “What?” That wasn’t what Taylor had expected to hear.

  “Not my food, but the picnic stuff she had in the cooler. I know for a fact I heard her say cooler, and also hot, and nacho.”

  “They brought nachos in the cooler and she was willing to fight over it?” Taylor muttered.

  “Nachos should be served hot.” Hudson offered her a cheeky grin.

  “It doesn’t sound like Mom. Like, I can’t see her getting mad about the food.” Belle turned to Andrea and seemed to consider her for the first time.

  “All I can say is what I heard, and it wasn’t much. I could hear her voice, but not many of her words.”

  “But we know she was angry and went out to the dock, probably to cool off, right?” Taylor asked.

  “Yes, it was pretty late. Ten, I think. Well after when I want it quiet for the guests.”

  “And Colleen followed her out?”

  “Colleen came downstairs but I don’t think she went out. I think she was just pacing, cooling down.” Andrea clarified.

  “Amara and Melinda said she went out.”

  “Did they see her?” Andrea asked.

  “No,” Belle said. “They just heard her go out.”

  “You can’t hear the doors from upstairs. You can check before you go, if you don’t believe me. My hinges are smooth as butter.”

  “But if the windows were open, the ladies might have heard the doors shutting,” Taylor suggested.

  “We can test it after dinner. I want you to get the closure you need, whatever it takes.” Andrea sat up a little straighter as though she needed to fortify herself for the task.

  They finished their burgers and tested the doors. Even with the windows in the bedrooms open, Taylor couldn’t hear the back or front doors opening or shutting.

  “I’ve got ice-cream,” Andrea said as they hovered in the front room, unsure of their next step. “Let’s have sundaes and really talk. I feel like there’s more that needs to be said or asked or just remembered. Will that do?”