by Tonya Kappes
“Mae,” He put his hands together. “Thank you. That’s great. We need to money. That’s actually why I’m late. I picked up a late shift this afternoon at the diner. Mom got a part time job at a law firm.”
“That’s great!” I was glad things weren’t looking so bleak. “If we do well tomorrow with sign ups, I wanted to know if you’d be interested in coming to work here this summer for children’s summer camp?” It was what his mother and I had discussed, but I was sincere.
“Done. I can work at the BBQ Joint and here. It’ll be great. Thank you.” He bowed.
“You are very welcome.” The sun had long gone down and the dark had blanketed the campground. “I’m beat. Just lock the door behind you when you leave tonight.”
“Will do.” He nodded. “And thanks again.”
“No problem.” I stepped outside and the quiet hit my chest like a ton of bricks.
The lightening bugs and the moon helped lead the way back to my camper, but the dark was something eerie.
“Mae?” the voice came from the darkness, making me jump around.
“Ty,” I gasped and held my hand to my chest. “You scared me.”
“Well, with everything going on, I could see why you’d be a bit jumpy.” He laughed.
“Yeah.” I swallowed back my heart that had jumped up into my throat from being scared half to death. “I’m just not used to all of this.” I glanced up and looked into the sky.
“You’re the city girl that’s always been in the city. I’m a country boy who moved to the city for a chef job.” He took a seat right on the ground. “Sit.”
“There?” I questioned.
“Mae West, the ground is the best place to be to look up.” He patted the ground before he laid back with his hands clasped behind his head, resting them on the ground. “The stars are still over a city.”
I plopped down next to him and laid down, in the same position. The entire dark sky was filled with twinkling stars.
“In the city, the building lights never really let the skyline get completely dark like it is here. When you see if for the first time, there’s nothing like it.” I could feel his staring at me.
“Can you believe that there’s so many galaxies up there?” I asked in a whisper.
“Why are you talking so soft?” he asked and propped himself up on the elbow, staring at me.
“I don’t know. It’s like church or something. Being respectful for the beauty or something.” I was glad it was dark, because I blushed from his smile. “I know it sounds stupid.”
“Mae West, you are far from stupid. That’s what scares me.” He tugged something out of his pocket. “Three months rent.”
“You didn’t have to pay tonight,” I said.
“Just because we are having a moment, doesn’t mean you can go soft on me.” He stuck the money on my stomach and laid back down. “Are you going back to the city once the campground is back on it’s feet?”
He was smarter than I thought.
“Are you going to go back to wherever you came from once your dad gets on his feet?” I asked.
“Awe, see.” He snapped a finger at me. “You are smart.”
“Mmmhmmmm.” I chuckled.
“I love the city and I love cooking. When I decided to leave Normal and my dad, plus those little squirts, it was the hardest decision of my life.”
“Where did you go?” I asked.
“San Francisco. So many young people there. I had a farm to table gig going.” his voice harmonized with the sound of the grasshoppers. “Say, have you ever caught lightening bugs?”
“No.” I started to laugh. “Is that a thing?”
“Yeah. Thank you for doing the sign.” He jumped to his feet. “Let’s grab a couple of jars. I’ll show you.”
He reached down for me to take his hands to be pulled up. When our fingers touched, my heart did a flip flop. We quickly let go when I got to my feet.
“I have some jars in the camper left over from the previous owners.” I tilted my head towards my RV. “It’s closer too.”
“And we don’t have to tell my brothers what we are doing or they’d want to join us.” There he went again with that smile.
“What do we need?” I asked to keep the conversation going and not have that odd silence, even though I’d caught lightening bugs many times as a child.
“First we will put some grass in the bottom of the jar. Then we try to catch them as they light up.” he made it sound so easy.
“Like in our hands?” I asked.
“Yes. It’s not like they are fast.” He laughed again at me.
I opened the door to the camper and it was just stinky.
“Oh gosh.” I fanned my hand in front of me. “What is that smell?”
“Musty. You really need to clean out this thing if you’re going to live in it.” He stepped in behind me. “You’re going to need new bedding, new curtains, and a good cleaning.” He opened the window over the kitchen sink to let air in. “And clean out the window sills. I have a good cleaning solution for it, for you.”
The knock at the door made us look at each other. When I opened it, I was shocked to see Detective Hank Sharp standing there.
“I thought I’d bring this by as sort of a peace offering since I razzed you so much about the investigation.” He held a box with a bow on top. “It’s a coffee maker. I figured if I stopped by, you can make a pot instead of that Keurig thing.”
“Oh.” I was in bit of a pickle, wondering if I let him in or tell him I was about to catch lightening bugs with Ty Randal.
“I’ll get you that cleaning solution tomorrow.” Ty made the decision for me. “Hank.” He nodded as Hank stepped out of the way, making room for Ty to leave the RV.
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure what to say. “What about the jar?”
“I’ve got to get my brother’s in bed. I didn’t even notice the time.” I heard him call in the dark, but couldn’t see him.
“So, want to break it in?” Hank asked. “I also brought decaf and regular.” He also had a bag in his hands.
“It’s been a long day.” I sighed. “Tomorrow is going to be longer.”
“Fine.” He handed me the box and bag. “Did I disturb anything between you and Ty Randal?”
“Nope.” I shook my head.
“Around here, we don’t really call before we come by. We just kinda show up and I’m sorry if I caught you off guard.” It was nice to see Hank’s softer side. “I also wanted to make sure you were okay. Now that this is all behind you, you can move on with your life.”
“Yeah. My life.” I laughed. “I don’t even know what that looks like myself.”
NINETEEN
“Who’s the new kid?” Henry had walked around the lake and lit the tiki torches the next day before it was time for the fundraiser to begin.
“That’s just another person I’m trying to help from the fall out of Paul’s bad decisions.” I pull my hand up to my brows to shield the sun as I looked across the lake at Jr. getting all his dodgeballs in the bourbon barrel for one of the games he’d gotten for the kids. “His dad was the one I found in the storage unit.”
“The guy that killed Paul?” Henry asked.
“Yeah. His wife and son lost everything. Like everyone else and the best I could think of was to give him a job to help pay back some of the college fund that Paul had talked his dad into giving him.” The magnitude of what Paul had done to these families were still just unimaginable to me. Every time I thought about it, I had to force it out of my head or the guilt would stop me from doing what I was trying to do. Help everyone.
“That’s a noble thing, but you’ve got to stop burdening yourself with it.” Henry patted my back and continued on his way.
I knew that his words were true and now that Paul’s killer had been brought to justice, it was time for me to continue on with my business plan of bringing business back to Normal and the National Park like old times when the town was thriving by hosting a g
ood fundraiser.
“Whatcha’ thinkin’ ‘bout?” Dottie walked up with an unlit cigarette in her fingers.
“Looking at what we accomplished in just a few days.” I pointed to the lake. “Can you believe what a little fountain and irrigation can do?”
“I believe what can be done with a smart woman like yourself has found herself again. Even after a tragedy.” Dottie put the cigarette in her mouth and extended her arms to give me a hug. “Who’s that?”
I pulled away and looked over my shoulder at Jr. He had the dodgeball area all set up next to the recreation building.
“That’s Grady Cox’s son.” I looked back at her.
“Honey, you ain’t going to be able to save them all,” she said what everyone had been saying lately to me.
“He’s a good kid and he deserve to go to college and start over.” I watched as he put the hula hoops out on the ground, wondering what he was going to do with those.
He looked over at us, took off his hat and gave a good wave in the air. I waved back and noticed Dottie had given him a slight gesture with her hand.
“I’ve seen that kid somewhere.” She squinted, tilting her head to the left and the right.
“On TV.” I hated the news coverage of Happy Trails after it was announced that Grady was found in the storage shed. “His mom is the one who gave the interview on that Friday night national news show.”
“I bet your right. Poor kid.” She shook her head.
“I’ll introduce you to him because he is going to run the children’s activities when we get enough campers in here. I think it’s a great idea to offer the kids something while we have a parent activity.” I wasn’t sure what those activities could be, but I’d planned on making it just as much fun as the children’s program.
“You are exactly what Happy Trails needed. I didn’t have the energy or the getty-up that you’ve got to keep something like this crazy place up and running.” She cackled.
“Are you not going to light that cigarette?” I asked when I noticed she’d just been holding it between her fingers.
“Nah. I’m trying to quit. I went to that stupid Jazzercise class with Queenie. I couldn’t make it through the first grapevine,” she said. “I did like the strike class.” She did some sort of jabbing.
“Good for you.” I tried not to bust out laughing. I could only imagine what she and Queenie looked like. “I bet you feel better.”
“No. No I don’t,” she grumbled. “Hi, there,” she called to Jr. when we got closer. He dragged his hat off his head and smiled at her. “I swear I know you.”
“We do?” he asked. “Have you been to the BBQ Joint in Lexington? I work there a few days a week.”
“Nah.” Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. “Somewhere else.”
“I told her it was the TV.” I shrugged and pointed to the hula hoops. “What are those for?”
“I thought of two games since we are a little tight on funds. The first is where they will do an obstacle course in them and around them while they are on the ground, then a hula hoop contest.” He looked back at us. “You look like you are a mean hula-hooper,” he charmed Dottie.
Her face reddened the color of her hair.
“I was good as a kid, but I’ve not done it in year.” She shrugged him off.
“Go on. Pick one up. You know you want to.” He teased. She smiled.
“Okay.” She walked a few feet and stepped into on, bringing it up around her waist. “Say. I remember you.”
“You came into the diner.” He gave it as second go at that idea.
“Nope. You came here a few weeks ago asking about a hook up.” The hula-hoop didn’t stay around Dottie’s waist for every long. Maybe she got one hip rotation out of it. “You even filled out a form.”
“No, ma’am, it wasn’t me.” He shook his head. “I got the Pac Man game up and running, Mae.”
“It was you.” She snapped her fingers. “I know it was.”
“Ma’am. I’m sorry but I’ve never been to Normal and certainly not at this campground.” Jr. walked towards the recreation center. “I wanted to show you how I moved some of the video games around so they weren’t on the same electrical outlets and it would trip the breaker.” He motioned for me to follow him.
We left Dottie standing outside as she tried to do the hula-hoop a few more times. The recreation room looked really good. The old metal signs had been hung, the ping pong table sat in the middle like it was ready to go and the bean bag chairs were scattered all over the place. It looked like a child’s paradise.
“That popcorn smells so good,” I said and looked over at the popcorn machine. The top of the container was still popping up and down as the fully cooked kernels were falling out over the side.
“Wait until you taste it.” The pride on Jr.’s face went from the sparkle in his eyes to the big grin on his face. “Add a little butter and you can’t get this good of popcorn at the movies.”
He pushed a bag of tools out of the way.
“I’ll get those up before anyone gets here. I just wanted to make sure everything was working before I put them back in the shed.” He picked up a flathead screwdriver and shoved it in his back pocket.
“The video games look great.” I loved seeing the images playing on the screen. “Truly, you’ve done a great job.”
I moseyed over to the area where we had some jump ropes and chalk in bins the kids could take outside and play.
“This is a perfect area by the door.” I was so happy that I let Jr. come in here and make it his own. I could see how proud he was and excited.
“I do know you.” Dottie just wasn’t giving it up. “You did come here a few weeks ago. I was giving you a tour when the Fedex man came to drop off Mae’s boxes from that fancy lawyer of hers.”
“Dottie,” My brows formed a V. “He’s never been here. It’s all the news media.”
“Yes, he has. I took him into my camper to fill out the paperwork, so I could open your storage unit for the FedEx man.” She planted her palm on her head. “I forgot about you being in my camper because I might’ve peeked a little bit in the boxes after they were place in the storage unit.” She smacked her hands together. “When I remembered I left you there, I came back and you were gone.”
I looked over at Jr. and was about to tell him to ignore her, but his body language had shifted. He’d tensed. His jaw was clamped shut. His eyes were fixed on Dottie.
“Jr.?” I asked in a hushed whisper. “Are you okay?”
There was second that I thought he was going to say something, but his nostrils flared in and out a few times.
“You’ve got somethin’ up your sleeve and me and Mae want to know what it is.” Dottie was relentless. She wasn’t going to let it go.
“Listen here, you old bat.” Jr. jerked the tool from his back pocket. “You don’t know what it’s like to spend all your life with a goal to go to a specific college. When someone takes that from you, like your father and his best friend, you tend to get a little on edge.”
“What are you saying?” I asked Jr. and focused my eyes on the screwdriver he appeared to be gripping.
“Did you steal my gun?” Dottie spat back at him.
“I stole your gun because her husband stole my life.” He jerked the screwdriver up and jutted it my way.
“What’s going on here?” I questioned.
“Mae West, get a grip. This here feller came here and stole my gun. Don’t you see, he’s Paul’s killer.” She shook her finger at him. “You killed your own daddy didn’t you. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
“For trailer trash, you’re pretty smart.” He glared at Dottie.
“Now, that’s not necessary. We are doing good getting the park up and running.” I wasn’t sure why I was trying to have a conversation with him. Maybe it was my nerves because at the moment, I felt like I was going to throw up. “So, lets just get on with what we need to do before everyone gets here for the fundraiser.”
“No wonder you had no idea what your loser husband was doing. You’re clueless,” there was a sarcastic tone in his voice. “If you think that I’m going to let either of you leave this building alive, you’re crazy.”
“You don’t have to do this. You have a great future in front of you.” There had to be some sort of good in the kid.
“Future? Paul West stole my future and my family. When I went to see him in prison, he wasn’t one bit remorseful.” His chest heaved up and down. “He wasn’t done making deals. He told me that if I used my computer skills and make it look like he was released early, then he’d make sure he’d get my college fund back.”
“Did you really steal Dottie’s gun?” I asked.
Thank goodness I didn’t replace the gravel, because I could hear cars pulling in and I was buying time in hopes someone would walk in.
“Yep. I wasn’t planning on stealing it until I snooped around and saw it. It wasn’t until the FedEx guy said your name and I knew that you were coming here. I wanted to kill Paul and put him in the storage unit, but as you know it didn’t work out that way.” There was a pleasure on his face that only evil could have.
“How did you free Paul?” I asked with an evil tone.
“Easy. I hacked into the system on the day of inmate releases and had his paperwork all ready to go. When they finished processing him and the rest of the men getting out that day, I went back into the system and erased everything I did.” His arrogant, shallow features made me want to smack them off his face. “The FBI can’t even figure it out. Idiots,” he boasted. “We had it worked out where he’d meet my dad here. When I told my dad to meet us, he wasn’t as happy as I thought he would be.”
“Why your own father?” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. “He loved you.”
“He loved me so much that he gambled my life way. He could’ve used different money.” His voice cracked. Ahem, he cleared his throat and it seemed to get him refocused. “I gave him the chance to apologize to me for what he’d done. I wanted Paul to see what he did to us. When my dad laughed and said that it was his money. He didn’t owe me anything, I shot him.” An evil explosion of deep laughter came out of him. “You should’ve seen Paul’s face. He was so scared and I told him that’s how me and my mom felt. He begged until I put a bullet in his head.”