by Tonya Kappes
“Bomb?” Granny shook her head. “I’d call that a nuke.”
“You’re not making me feel any better.” I checked the tea that I’d put in the refrigerator to be served with supper to see if it was cool enough to put in the glasses over ice.
Instead of a water glass, Granny served each diner a Mason jar glass of tea as well as another drink they’d prefer. When I told her that people liked to have water, she claimed I was sassing her with big city ways and to lower my standards since I was a country girl with roots that ran deep in the sweet tea community. I guess she knew what she was doing because everyone loved her tea.
“You think it’s his mama?” Granny asked a great question. “’Cause if it is, you need to go down swingin’.”
That was the thing with Granny. She was as southern as they come and as sweet as her tea, but she could chew you up in a minute and you’d thank her afterward because the way she did it was so nice that you didn’t see it coming.
“I don’t think so.” I helped get the roasted potatoes and wilted lettuce into the bowls. Granny served everything family style. She claimed it was good for conversation and bringing people together. “He said that he only told me.”
“Are you going to try to keep a relationship?” Granny asked the question that rolled around in my head, only when I heard it out loud it made my stomach hurt.
“I don’t know how we can.” The pain in my heart was so powerful, I had to rub my chest with my hand. “As it is now, we barely get to see each other.”
“Not that I think you should break up, but the old saying is true.” Granny pulled the serving forks out of one of the clay crocks she kept on the counter and stuck one in each of the pot roasts. “You know the one about letting go and if it comes back it was meant to be.”
“Yeah. I know,” I muttered.
I also knew that I’ve loved Jack Henry Ross for as long as I could remember.
“Well, you go on.” Granny came over and gave me a much needed hug. “It seems like you’ve got things to do other than sit here and look at this silly old woman in a too tight wedding dress.”
I shook my finger at her.
“We are going to take that dress back. Shame on them for letting you buy it.” I tsked, gave her a kiss and a hug before I headed back out the door.
I’d spent more time at the inn than I’d expected. I certainly had no plans of helping cook or even getting things back together so she’d not lose all of her guests, but I loved Granny. Crazy or not.
Jack Henry’s cruiser was already parked in the back of Eternal Slumber. The side door to my efficiency was unlocked and I found Jack Henry in the small TV room to the left.
“Hey.” I walked into the room.
He clicked the remote control and turned the TV off.
“Sorry I’m late. Granny nearly took her entire business down with one juice.” I shook my head before I bent down and kissed him on the head. “Literally.”
“What?” He laughed.
“You know that she and Doc Clyde are getting hitched,” I called over my shoulder on my way across the hall to my bedroom. “There’s a new wedding type boutique next to Burns and she went there.”
I opened the door to my closet and pulled out my little black dress. It’d only take a few minutes for me to get changed and comb a brush through my hair to get ready for my supper date with Jack.
“She decided she wanted to wear a dress that was at least two sizes too small for her and she decided she wanted to juice to lose weight.” I stood in front of the mirror in my small bathroom and tugged the dress in the appropriate places. The brush glided through my hair and I swiped some red lipstick on to add a little color to my face. “She insists she can’t do it with all the snacks she has in the gathering room and the sweet tea.”
I grabbed the pair of hoop earrings off my dresser and walked out, putting them in.
I continued my story.
“She replaced the tea bar with a juicer bar.” I laughed and stared at my handsome boyfriend.
“I hope you are as feisty as she is when you’re her age.” He stood up from the couch and looked at me. There was a silence that hung over both of us and we knew what it was.
“Does that mean you’ve made your decision and you’re not going to go because you definitely want to keep this up.” I gestured between us. “And you don’t want any time or space between us?”
“Is that what you want?” He walked over to me. “God, you are beautiful.”
There was a sound in his voice that told me he’d made his decision and it wasn’t one I wanted to hear.
“You’re going to take the job, aren’t you?” I gulped back the flood of tears that were building up in my eyes.
“Emma Lee.” He lifted his hand to my face and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Don’t cry. There’s nothing to cry about.”
“You’re moving.” My lips were so dry. I curled them into my mouth and raked them across the top edge of my teeth. A tear fell down my face. He brushed it away.
“I’m not moving for long.” He ran his hand down my arm. “When I met with them again today, they could tell I was apprehensive, so they offered me a temporary position for six months. We can do six months apart. It’s not like I won’t see you.”
“I know you. You’ll throw yourself into your work and your intentions might be good but. . .” I couldn’t do what Granny had suggested I do.
The thought of telling him to go and see if he came back was like I was letting go of a grenade. Once I let him go, it would explode. It took me at least fifteen years to get him, now I just couldn’t let him go that easy.
“You’ve not been present the past months anyways.” He squeezed me to him. “You can take the next few months and deal with Charlotte’s death without putting on a brave face for me. I want to be here for you in your grief but you won’t let me.”
As much as it hurt to hear, he was right. I’d not dealt with Charlotte’s death the way I should and I probably did need some time. But not time without Jack Henry.
“I can get help with you here.” I could hear my begging.
“You need to focus on you. Then I want you to focus on me.” His breath was warm on the top of my head. He hugged me tighter. “I want you to focus on us like you did before Charlotte died. It will be good for you even though it doesn’t seem like it now.”
It completely dawned on me.
“Are you doing the whole let it go and if it’s meant to be it’ll come back?” I pulled away and looked at him.
“What are you talking about?” Confusion was all over his face.
“Nothing.” My paranoid state was taking over. Now I didn’t feel like he loved me and he was breaking up with me. “Are we breaking up?”
“No,” he said. “No,” he reiterated.
“It sure feels like it.” The tears flowed down my face and I suddenly didn’t feel much like going out.
“We are still an us. And I’m still going to be your contact for your Betweener clients.” His voice cracked. There was a hurt on his face. More like an uncertainty.
My eyes drifted into the TV room. Betsy and Mr. Whiskers stood in the dark corner. Even with Jack Henry there and my Betweener clients, I’d never felt more alone.
Chapter Sixteen
“My, oh, my.” Mazie tsked behind the reference desk. “Three times in a week.”
She was right. I’d never stepped foot in the library three times in my life, much less three times in a week.
“And so early.” She looked me up and down. “No coffee?”
“Are we alone?” I’d deliberately planned to be here early. Just not this early.
Last night after Jack Henry and I talked a little bit longer, we’d gotten take out and sat in front of the TV. Neither of us wanted to go out anymore. We’d decided we just wanted to spend time together until it was time for him to leave for his six-month stint with the state. Though he’d stayed over and we had a connection like we’d never had,
I was starting to feel a disconnect. More than likely it was me that was putting the distance between my heart and reality so I could cope better. It was something to explore but not now. Now I had to get Betsy’s case solved and get her crossed over.
“We are alone.” Her face softened, her eyes squinted in coordination with the slow, easy smile that tipped the corner of her lips. “You have something to tell me, don’t you?”
It might be something I regretted, but in my gut it seemed like the right thing to do.
“Mazie, you and I’ve never been great friends. We’re friends and we’ve never had our differences and this might be something to bring us a lot closer.” I tapped my finger on the counter and took a deep breath. “Like a band aid,” I whispered, “rip it off.”
“You are a medium,” she gasped in delight.
“Not necessarily.” I made sure to watch her reaction. “Before I tell you anything, I need you to promise me that you won’t say a word and if you do, I’ll deny it until I die.”
“I’d never tell.” She leaned forward. Her eyes were twinkling.
“I’m only telling you because I feel like you are a source of knowledge and up until now,” I swallowed the lump in my throat, “Jack Henry has always helped me. He’s going to be taking a temporary job with the state police and I’m going to need someone on my side.”
“And you picked me?” She squealed with excitement.
“I picked you only because you are more in tuned to me and what’s going on. I’m not sure why, but you are.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m what you call a Betweener. I found out after that Santa over Artie’s Meat and Deli fell on me.”
She snapped before she pointed at me. Her jaw dropped and her eyes grew big.
“I remember that. I didn’t put two and two together and realize it was then that Doc Clyde diagnosed you with the bogus disease.” She nodded her head back and forth like a turtle. “So the hit on the head did it?”
“Yes. When I woke up, Ruthie Sue Payne was standing next to me with Chicken Teater.” My lips pinched, as did my brows. “It’s not just anyone who dies. It’s only those who have been murdered.”
It looked as if Mazie was trying to say something, because her mouth had dropped wide open.
My phone chirped from my back pocket. It was Granny. She and Doc were at Eternal Slumber and needed to talk to me. I quickly texted her back since Mazie was trying to get herself together from my news and let her know that I was going to at least be another thirty minutes.
“Wait.” Mazie stuck her hand out. She’d obviously been playing the last couple of years of crime in her head. “Are you and Jack Henry really an item or have you just been working for him as the informant?”
“Initially, he was like you. He knew there was something going on with me. I felt like I could trust him, like I feel like I can trust you.” I watched her face. It seemed as though she was really touched by my trusting her. “Then over time, we grew into more than an informant type relationship into a real love.”
The sting of a good cry grew from the tingling in my nose to the lids of my eyes.
“Since Jack is going to be going to the state police for a few months, I feel like I need someone who is smart and intelligent and can keep a good secret.” I was talking about her.
“So all the people you’ve been helping him with that were murdered had come to you?” She was still trying to wrap her head around my Betweener gift.
“Yes. All of them. And now Betsy and Mr. Whiskers, a cat.” It sounded like I was crazy.
“A cat?” she asked and started to nod her head. “I’d heard you’d been buying some cat food at the Buy and Fly.”
“Yeah. News travels fast around here. I was trying to get the cat to come to me and trying different cat foods was my thinking. Little did I realize that he was with Betsy when she died.” Which brought me back to my current situation. “Are you going to help me with Betsy or not?”
“I’m going to be your new partner?” She lifted her hand to her chest.
“I’m going to need someone to help me when Jack leaves.” I put my hand out. “Can I trust you?”
“Absolutely.” She took my hand and we gave one big shake. “What do you need from me?”
“I’ve only got about ten minutes until I have to go meet Granny at the funeral home, so here’s what I know.” I began to tell her about Betsy.
“Okay. I’m going to have to write all of this down like they do in the movies.” Her voice grew excited.
“Movies? I thought you were a reader?” I questioned.
She stared at me, not entertained by my observation.
“I’ve been watching too, like Jack did. I’ve noticed your strange behavior. Your shifty eyes, darting in and out of rooms, looking off into space, twitches of the mouth as if you were talking to someone under your breath and your subtle finger movements.” She’d said everything I’d been trying to do on the down low but obviously not very well.
“Was I that obvious?” I asked.
“No. Not from what I could tell. Trust me.” Her voice escalated, “I watched everyone around you. What clued me in was the bogus diagnosis. Of course being a librarian, I was so curious and tried to Google and find things on Funeral Trauma and found nothing.”
Suddenly she gasped.
“What?” I looked around to see what was going on.
“Did Charlotte…” her voice trailed off.
“Yes.” I pinched my lips together to try and prevent the sting in my eyes from forming tears. “That’s been the hardest. That and the fact there was a ghost attached to Betsy. She had even convinced Betsy that she could help her get to the other side. Then I realized the older person was a ghost.”
“I read something about that.” She turned and patted around the reference desk like she was looking for something. “Sometimes ghosts attach to other ghosts if they have something in common.”
“In common?” I asked. “Betsy is clearly a child, but this woman was older.”
“Do you remember her name?” Mazie continued to look around. “Maybe I can check into all my contacts for her too. They have to be related or the crime has to be related.”
“I don’t recall her ever telling me her name. She didn’t stay around long. Betsy is the only one who has, but I’ll ask her when I see her.” I looked at the door when it creaked open.
“Hi!” Mazie called and waved at the mother and child that walked in. “Story time will be in a little bit.”
The child jerked his hand from his mom and scurried in the direction of the children’s section.
“You’re busy and I’ve got to see Granny.” I spoke a little softer when I noticed a few more mother/children combos came in. “Why don’t you meet me at Eternal Slumber when you get a break?”
“What about lunch? Part-time help comes around lunch and I can get away then.” She smiled. There was definitely excitement in her voice and the bounce in her step when she came out from behind the reference desk was a good indication too.
“I’ll see you at lunch.” I waved her off and when I got to the door, I held it open for another group of mothers and their children.
The smell of coffee was carried in the morning breeze. It was like magic and I’d completely forgotten to go see Granny. Like a lost leaf, I floated down to Higher Grounds, which was packed. The small café tables were filled. I darted in and out between them and especially the one that was filled with Beulah Paige, Mable Claire, and Bea Allen Burns.
“Can’t you do anything with Zula Fae?” Beulah Paige didn’t waste any time grabbing my attention when she saw me.
“Good morning, ladies.” I nodded at Beulah and Mable. “Bea.” I greeted with a flat voice and a raised brow.
“Mmm-hmmm.” Her nose curled and her lips snarled. “I’ve got to go. I’m so busy at the funeral home.”
“Yep. Me too. Gotta go.” I knew Bea Allen had gotten down and dirty after running a pre-arrangements special of buy one get one half
-off.
“Really?” Bea Allen gave me the stank eye. “From what I hear, you don’t even got a warm body waiting for you.”
There was a time I’d have shot back at Bea Allen and that time was when Eternal Slumber was overflowing with bodies. Some people were hesitant to make arrangements with someone who had been diagnosed with the Funeral Trauma. Not that I didn’t know how to do my job, I did. It was that some didn’t trust in me to handle their physical body at the end of the life.
“What? No smart aleck comeback?” Bea Allen’s lip curled up as if she’d gotten my goat.
“I’m not going to respond to petty gossip that’s not true.” I turned back to tell Beulah and Mable goodbye.
“What about Zula?” Mable asked. “She told me that I had to go on a diet if I wanted to be a bridesmaid. Die in diet. No thank you.” She nodded toward Beulah. “I’m having hard enough time staying on this side of the ever after, much less die-ette.”
“Mmm-hmmm.” Beulah brought a piece of her muffin up to her lips and popped it in. “You stand your ground.”
Stand your ground. It took everything in me not to laugh. Neither of them would dare say that to Granny.
“Emma.” Cheryl held a cup of to-go coffee up in the air and set it down on the counter after we made eye contact.
“Thanks!” I was lucky that she’d turned out to be so sweet and not make me wait in the line. Especially after I’d just remembered that Granny was waiting for me.
With the fresh cup of coffee in my hand and Betsy walking down the street next to me, I picked up the pace in my step down the sidewalk. It was only a couple of minutes walk from Higher Grounds and I could see that Granny’s moped was chained up to the tree in the front yard of the funeral home.
I brought the coffee up to my mouth to hide my lips, “Betsy, do you remember the lady that was with you when you first came to talk to me?”
Her chin lifted up and down as she skipped down the sidewalk next to me.
“Do you remember her name?” I asked. “It’s really important.”
“I don’t.” She abruptly stopped in front of me and I stopped in my tracks practically dropping my coffee. “But she said that she was sorry. She always told me she was sorry and that she’d never leave me again.”