Mack was picking something out of his teeth. “It was a bitch getting it off.”
The adjuster shook his head and silently snapped some photographs. Turning to Mack he said, “I’ll need a few of the car, as well.”
*
Val pushed a shopping cart toward a checkout stand. She’d decided she should probably get some groceries for the house after all. She couldn’t eat every meal at the Halfway Cafe.
The grocery store was fairly busy. Standing in line, she listened to the activities around her—the blip, blip of items being scanned, the elevator music playing overhead, and the hum of the refrigerated grab-and-go soda case next to her.
It took her a moment to register what was going on in front of her. The woman checking out looked fairly normal, but the items she was buying certainly weren’t. The checker didn’t seem to be as interested as Val as she scanned KY jelly, rubber gloves, baby powder, and a rope.
Val was so engrossed in what she was watching that she jumped when a hand squeezed her shoulder. She turned to see Cam, who was holding a basket of groceries.
“I’m sorry, did I scare you?”
Val shook her head but said, “Yeah, a little. I was just…”
“Marveling at the price of rubber gloves?” Cam whispered.
“Yes! That’s it!” She relaxed and was grateful she didn’t have to explain her interest in the strange items the checker was now bagging.
She hadn’t realized how happy she’d be to see Cam again and was glad she’d chosen to go to the store when she had.
“How are you?” Cam asked.
Val stepped forward and started unloading her things. “Low on supplies.”
Cam looked over Val’s groceries and saw a Hershey bar on the belt. “Chocolate, too?”
“Sometimes a girl’s just gotta have her chocolate. What am I saying? You’re the expert on that. Am I right?”
Cam smiled. “You’re correct. And today just happens to be my turtle-making day. Why don’t you come by and I’ll make you some special ones. They’ll be nice and warm.”
“That sounds too heavenly to turn down.”
“Good.” Cam’s wide smile looked cute on her. “Around six?”
Val grabbed the Hershey bar and put it back on the candy rack next to her. “If I’m early, don’t hold it against me.”
Cam laughed and said good-bye as she walked away to finish her shopping.
Val watched her for a moment. She sure was beautiful, she thought. Dealing with a dead mother certainly wasn’t the best circumstance under which to meet someone as wonderful as Cam, but the little flutter in her heart told her not to sweat it. And she really wanted to go by the candy store for some fresh turtles.
*
It didn’t take long to return to her mother’s house and drop off the groceries. She brought the mail in and cleaned the coffeemaker before changing into some more comfortable jeans and a lightweight red sweater. She grabbed her mom’s house keys again and left.
When Val walked into Cam’s candy shop, the aroma of chocolate was twice as strong as before. Cam stood bent over a cauldron, and when Val got closer, she could see that Cam’s rubber-gloved hands were covered in thick brown liquid heaven.
“Wow,” she said.
Cam slowly pulled her hand out of the chocolate she’d been stirring. “I like to feel the consistency. It’s weird, but it works for me.”
“Hey, who am I to judge what a woman does with her chocolate?”
Cam placed a glob of it on a graham cracker and handed it to her. “Here.”
“This looks incredible.”
“It should tide you over until the turtles are finished.”
Val took the graham cracker and sat on a stool close to Cam. Taking a bite, she closed her eyes and groaned. “I think the Virgin Mary just blessed me.”
Cam looked at her with those penetrating slate-blue eyes, and a hot tremor ran through her. She stopped mid-chew, not sure of what to do or say next. Ripples of desire crept up her back, and her sudden desire for this woman surprised her. Not that Cam wasn’t magnificent; it was just that she’d barely met her. Yet, her body was acting on its own, shuddering so deeply, with no care about how obvious it must have made her look.
The corner of Cam’s mouth curled up into a half smile.
Val wanted to kiss her. She could easily lean over and—
Cam spoke suddenly. “That’s about the best compliment I’ve ever gotten.”
The suggestive moment passed. It was obviously a one-sided moment, and Val secretly admonished herself. She relaxed a little but was honestly disappointed. “It’s true.”
“I haven’t even added the caramel and nuts.”
“That says a lot, then. If the chocolate is this good, it’ll only be better with the added ingredients. It’s like pancake batter.”
“Pancake batter?”
Val nodded as she licked her fingers. “Taste pancake batter before it goes onto the skillet. If it tastes bland or chalky, the pancakes will just be okay. But add sugar and cinnamon until the batter tastes really good. Bam, killer pancakes.”
“Makes sense.”
“Of course, I know nothing about dessert making. That’s a particularly involved science. All I know is your chocolate is amazing.”
“Only the finest. And I’m proud to declare that this establishment is carob-free.”
“Thank God. I hate carob.”
“It was invented for people who can’t handle happiness.”
Val laughed. “But how can you stand to be here all day with this yummy-smelling candy practically screaming at you?”
Cam put on a new pair of gloves. “Oh, it’s worse than that.” She gestured upward. “I live over the store.”
“You’ve either gone stark raving mad or you’ve become immune to the aroma.”
“I can’t verify for sure that I’m not crazy, but I am immune to the lure of chocolate. And it’s probably for the better. I’d weigh four hundred pounds if I let myself go in here.”
Val watched Cam lean over the chocolate and stared at the muscles in her back. Cam had to work out, because simply stirring liquids sure hadn’t shaped that kind of body.
“I somehow doubt you’d let yourself go like that,” Val said, suddenly wondering why she’d said that out loud.
Though Cam smiled, Val couldn’t tell how she’d taken the comment and privately yelled at herself for her ill-mannered conduct.
“So, I’ve already lightly toasted the whole pecans,” Cam said as she moved a large cookie sheet over to the marble-topped prep table.
Cam had changed the subject. Slightly embarrassed, Val decided to just concentrate on the task at hand, focusing on the metal sheets holding marvelous lumps of something that looked ready to eat just as they were.
“And earlier,” Cam said, “I coated each cluster of pecans, here, with homemade caramel. That kind of acts like glue to keep the nuts together.”
“The pecans are shaped like real turtles with legs and a head. Usually, I see them as just huge, round hunks.”
Cam chuckled. “A lot of places believe in super-size marketing. I never wanted to do that.”
“Kind of like a less-is-more belief.”
“Precisely. So, the caramel has set and now it’s time for the chocolate.”
“Awesome.”
Cam stared at her, and Val quickly looked around the room as if she’d knocked something over. Maybe she had chocolate on her face. She swiped her mouth. When Cam still stared, Val spoke. “What?”
“You don’t think I’m going to do this all by myself, do you?”
Val jumped off the stool. “I can help?”
Her answer was the pair of gloves and a large spoon Cam handed her.
“You fill the spoon,” she said when Val was ready, “and then pour it over the first pecan cluster.”
With her own spoon, Val followed what Cam was doing. When they’d finished the sixteen turtles on the sheet, Val was as blissful as Rembrandt
must have been after completing a portrait.
“That’s all there is to it?” Val wanted to lick the spoon.
“That’s all, except we have about twenty more sheets to finish.”
“May I help with those, too?”
“I was hoping you would.”
As they stood side by side spooning chocolate, they talked about high school and which classmates still lived in Hemlock. Val laughed when Cam told her she would have liked to think it was kismet that found them in the same grocery store at the same time, but with only one store in town, it was more like a high-probability equation.
“Well, we could have missed each other by minutes.”
“That’s true,” Cam said as she moved two sheets to a cooling rack and brought two more over. “So tell me more about the accident. The deer hit a woman’s car and then flew over and hit yours?
“Yeah. Scared the hell out of me.”
“Wow.”
Val spooned a little too much on one turtle. “Shoot. This one got messed up.”
“Not to worry,” Cam said. “I sell them by weight and can guarantee you that someone will always ask for the fattest one.”
Val went back to spooning. “I feel bad for the poor deer. They’re such beautiful animals.”
“Where’s your car now?”
“At Mack’s garage.”
Cam nodded, but Val noticed her face change. Her lip tightened and her nod was brusque.
“You don’t like him?”
“He was with my ex, that’s all. It was years ago, but they started sleeping together before we broke up.”
“I didn’t know Mack was gay.”
Cam’s eyebrows rose when she looked at her. Val smiled her best goofy clown face, and Cam broke into a laugh.
“For a minute there, I thought you were clueless.”
Val turned to dip out another scoop of chocolate. “I am about a lot of things. But I’m glad I wasn’t about you.”
When she looked up, Cam’s spoon was coming her way, and it landed with a plunk on her nose.
“I’m glad you’re glad,” Cam said. Her expression was so warm and considerate, and Val couldn’t remember connecting with someone this quickly and this easily.
“Anyway,” Cam said, “it’s water long gone under the bridge now. We broke up a while ago, and I’m just not on speaking terms with either of them now.”
Val wiped the chocolate off her nose. “Thank God there’s another mechanic in town, too.”
“You’re right about that one.” Cam spooned some more chocolate onto a clump of pecans. “How badly was the other woman hurt by the deer?”
“She wasn’t.”
Cam seemed to contemplate the statement before saying, “A deer hits her car and she’s not hurt? How’s her car?”
“Damaged.”
“Totaled?”
Val shook her head. “Front-end damage. Grill, hood. Hers was drivable.”
Cam frowned. “Every car I’ve ever seen that’s hit a deer is pretty much totaled.” She shrugged. “Strange things happen, I guess.”
“Well, that was my first deer. And I hope it’s my last.”
Cam smiled again. “I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable with that dead deer riding in the back of Mack’s tow truck.”
“The deer?”
“Didn’t Mack come out and tow you back?”
“Yes, but he didn’t get the deer.”
When Cam frowned again, Val said, “What?”
“Mack’s one of the biggest hunters around. He’d never miss out on venison, whether he bagged it or not. Was the deer too far destroyed?”
“I don’t think so. It was in the forest just off the road. I was planning to go see if it was still alive, but the girl in the other car told me not to.”
“And Mack didn’t even go look at it?”
“No.”
“I’d call that an unexpected turn.”
“The whole event was unexpected.”
They finished the last of the sheets of turtles, and Val was unusually disappointed that she had to leave. “I hate to go, but I’ve got plans tonight. I want you to know, though, that I had a really wonderful time today.”
“I’m glad. I did, too.” Cam filled a small bag with turtles and handed it to Val. “I pay my help in sugar, corn syrup, and nuts.”
“This is so awesome! I’m quitting my job back home. Those bastards pay me with very untasty pieces of paper.”
As Val stepped toward the door, Cam touched her arm. “I’m not sure how long you’re going to be in town, but will you come by again?”
A lightness filled Val’s chest and she welcomed the feeling. “If there weren’t a drop of chocolate or taffy in this place, I would still most definitely come back.”
Cam’s smile couldn’t have felt better to Val. She wanted to run as fast as she could to her car. She resisted, but it was very difficult.
*
After two decades, the Bijou was still open for business. It still had only one movie per night, and it always started at the same time. The marquee outside advertised the night’s offering, which changed every other Friday, and because the theater was located on the main road through town, the owner never advertised anywhere else. People just knew.
Val found Donna waiting in the lobby, where they bought popcorn and drinks before finding seats. The theater was filling up well for a Wednesday.
Donna was catching Val up on her new job as an office secretary in Newport when Val stopped her.
“That woman,” she said, tapping Donna on the arm, “That’s the one I was in the accident with. I mean it was her car that the deer hit first.”
“Really?”
She looked even younger than she did that rainy night. She was dressed and made up like a thirteen-year-old. Val watched her locate who she was looking for and take a seat next to him. The man was close to sixty years old and seemed very happy to see her.
“I don’t think that’s her father,” Val said.
“To each his own, I suppose.”
The lights dimmed and the first movie trailer started. Val couldn’t help but take another look at the woman and didn’t like that she was now making out with the old guy.
She stuffed a handful of popcorn into her mouth and wondered if that little dalliance would become the next bit of fodder for the gossip-hungry townsfolk.
*
Val woke up suddenly. The house was quiet, and she couldn’t remember hearing anything that might have woken her. She threw the covers off to sit up, but she paused. Her head swam as if she’d been drinking way too much alcohol, but all she’d consumed was a Diet Coke and popcorn.
Startled, she dropped her head and stared at her sweats and T-shirt, waiting for the wooziness to subside. Nausea gripped her stomach, and when she tried to stand, she pitched forward and fell to the floor. She was able to reach up and turn the nightstand lamp on, but a shock of dizziness slammed into her head and she crumpled to the floor.
Something was terribly wrong. She held her head and groaned out loud. Sick and confused, she reached for her cell phone and dialed 911. As the operator answered, she tried to speak, but everything went black.
*
When Val opened her strangely heavy eyelids, she realized she was in a bed, propped up by pillows. An oxygen tube was taped just under her nose, and a pink, plastic, kidney-shaped dish lay next to her hand. She was somehow wearing a light-blue cotton gown with little gold diamonds on it.
She heard some scuffling noises before what looked like a doctor and nurse entered from around a curtain and walked over to her bedside. “How are you feeling?”
Compared to what, Val thought. It was hard to engage her brain in any kind of recall. “A little nauseous. What happened?”
“You were found unconscious in your house. When the police arrived, they smelled natural gas. You must have been exposed to it long enough to become fairly sick.”
Val vaguely remembered waking up and trying to get to
her phone, but that was about it.
“Your blood looks good, and if your symptoms don’t get any worse in the next hour or so, you should be able to be released. Of course, you won’t be able to stay in your house until the gas department fixes the leak.”
The doctor opened a chart and began writing in it while the nurse poured her some water. She handed her the cup, along with some aspirin.
“Take this,” she said.
Her head pounded with the fervor of an entire crew of overly busy house roofers.
As she drank, the nurse said, “We called your friend Donna. She said she’d come by to pick you up.”
“Thank you.” She handed the cup back. “Do you know if the house is okay?”
“The paramedics that brought you in told me that a police officer turned off the gas main. I doubt the gas company will be out tonight. You’ll be able to go home after they confirm that your house is safe to re-enter. Now just relax for a while and we’ll check in on you later.”
They left, and Val lay there wondering how long the gas had been leaking. She hadn’t smelled anything when she’d gotten home from the movies.
She drifted off in a sort of hazy nap. She could hear people talking outside her door and intercoms calling for doctors. She dozed off and on, and the short moments of light slumber were filled with images of her mom, the highway into Hemlock, and Donna and Cam. Part of the movie they’d seen flashed in her head as well. All were just rapid, random clips whose fleeting emergence startled her awake each time.
At some point, she awoke to the doctor asking, “Any more nausea?”
“No.” She blinked at the light he’d turned on. “I’m feeling better.”
“That’s good. You’ll probably have a headache tomorrow, but it’s nothing that some aspirin won’t help. There’s no need to take anything stronger. I just want you to be aware of any other symptoms. Breathing problems, nausea, continued headaches, anything that concerns you.”
The bedside curtain ruffled and Donna appeared.
“My Lord! Are you okay?”
The doctor wrote some things down and left.
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