“Yeah?”
“Well, right now a whole clan of ‘em are invading the office.”
***
Garrett gulped down a mouthful of lukewarm coffee to buy time. He gave his watch a deliberate, lengthy stare. “It’s only seven-forty,” he told a toe-tapping Mike Firenzi. “Can’t predict when Ronald will get here. His arrival times vary.”
Mike motioned for board member Jason Lenox to join them and shut the door. “Listen, Garrett. Doug and Shelley are doing a quick search of the building, hoping to find him, but we’ve got to talk to Ronald as soon as possible.”
“And it better be today,” Jason said firmly. “We’ve just discovered a big problem.”
Garrett cleared his throat. “What exactly did you find?”
“We’d voted over the summer to streamline the office supplies budget,” Jason said. “The purpose of which was to save money in that area, put it into an interest-bearing account and start using it to purchase fitness equipment for the staff, one or two pieces at a time. It was a special project we planned to keep as a surprise until the holidays.”
“Four Gates is willing to donate a few treadmills and stationary bikes, too,” Mike said, “as well as offer trial memberships for teachers at the Club. You know, for New Year’s resolutions, that kind of thing. We figured improving district-wide fitness was a more important objective than having an excess of glue sticks or tag board for kiddie projects.”
Garrett muttered a “you’re kidding” under his breath, but aloud he said, “Really?”
Jason nodded. “But Sonja set us straight this week. Said teachers have been complaining nonstop about the limited supplies. That they all really use that stuff, and regularly. You know, yarn and masking tape and—”
“Glitter?” Garrett added.
“Exactly,” Mike said. “But when we went to withdraw some of the deposited money this morning, we discovered the account had been drained.”
Garrett narrowed his eyes. “Who was the person responsible for making the deposit? Someone else on the board?”
“No,” Jason said. “Since it was for his school, we put it in Ronald’s hands. We told him to deposit it, but asked him to keep it a secret.”
The words were still hanging in the air when the door banged open. Shelley. She looked like a flaming magnolia, her temper matching her attire. “Well?” she demanded.
“Ellis doesn’t know where he is.” Mike glanced at her and clawed at his necktie. “You and Doug didn’t have any luck, huh?”
She shook her head.
“Look,” Mike said, “I’m going to give the superintendent a call then, see if he knows anything. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Jason marched out of the room, too, but Shelley stayed. She sashayed to Garrett’s desk then leaned over it, taking great big, blood-pressure-reducing breaths.
“Garrett, darling, we need to chat sometime soon. Privately.” The hot-pink blouse plunged between two very pale mounds of flesh. He couldn’t fault the outfit, but he wished Cait were wearing it instead.
“Is this about the missing money from the account?”
“In part,” she said, turning coy. A thin smile fought its way to her lips. “What are your plans for this weekend?”
“I’ll be in New Brighton.” He paused to gauge her reaction. “The Harvest Hoopla is this Saturday.”
It looked as though someone cranked Shelley’s fake expression a couple notches tighter. “Oh, of course. The festival.”
“Planning to attend, Shell?”
“Why, yes, darling,” she said, though the words lacked her usual sultry conviction. “I’ll be there, I suppose.” She swiveled around and sauntered back to the door just at Cait came into view in the office lobby. He didn’t know how much of their exchange Cait had overheard but, from the look on her face, he doubted she’d missed anything at all. To add fuel to the fire, Shelley blew him an enormous kiss. Cait’s beautiful eyes grew wide.
“See you Saturday then, and plan to spend a few minutes alone with me. I have a favor to ask.” Shelley turned, sweeping by Cait as if no one else were there.
He watched the redhead retreat and the blonde take a few hesitant steps in his direction. “Hey,” he said softly.
“Hey,” she whispered back, her expression impassive now, as if frozen. “What’s going on?”
He gave her a quick run-down of his discussion with Mike and Jason.
“This doesn’t look good for Ronald,” she said, nibbling on her lower lip, her brows creased.
“I know. But a few things still don’t add up. I’ve had my eye on him since August and, other than this situation, I have no hard evidence of wrongdoing on his part.” He paused. “The board, however, seems ready to lynch him.”
“Shelley certainly seems to have different plans for you.” Her eyes flared and he was momentarily pleased by her jealousy. He considered reassuring her that she had nothing to worry about, especially after last night, but Cait didn’t give him a chance. “Is she really coming to the Harvest Hoopla?” she asked coldly.
“Unless we can bar her from the grounds, yeah, she is.”
A humorless laugh escaped her mouth. It stopped as abruptly as it started, though, and she studied him from across the room. “I hope your time alone together will be…pleasurable.”
“Oh, well, it might’ve been the highlight of my fall season except—” He lowered his voice. “I’ve been having these ‘berry incidents’ recently that have kinda taken the lead.”
He had the satisfaction of seeing her blush before she turned away.
“Berry-picking season is quickly coming to an end,” she said, tossing a backward glance at him and speaking far too sweetly, he thought, for anyone with such a sharp glint in her eye. “After the first frost, it’s all over.”
Somehow he figured this little statement didn’t bode well for their love life. He opened his mouth to speak but, in a swivel and a flash, she was gone.
What the hell was wrong with her? Why the sudden cold-shoulder? She couldn’t seriously think he and Shelley were still…? No.
He didn’t have much time to ponder anything, though, because two minutes later Mike Firenzi strode back into his office.
“Ronald called the superintendent late last night. Said his wife had a death in the family.” Mike narrowed his eyes. “He’s out of town and unable to be reached until the weekend.”
Garrett squinted, too. “Very odd.”
“It is. I just wonder what Ronald did with that money.”
“Hmm,” Garrett said. “And I wonder what we’ll have to do this weekend to find out.”
STEP 11:
Turn on the rock-salt and ice freezer.
Let the dasher (blade) scrape away the thin layers
of frozen ice cream while pumping air into the mix
as it’s whipped up.
~From Mr. Koolemar’s Top Secret,
Kool Kreme Ice Kreamations Recipe Book, pg. 97
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A few days later the sun rose into a flawless October sky, full of autumnal promise. Cait sprang out of bed at five-thirty to begin preparations for the big day.
She’d spent a week of afternoons unloading bags of streamers, leaf-patterned tablecloths, boxes containing the fruit and nut gift baskets Marianne had sent, miscellaneous decorations and various Harvest Hoopla signs into Seth and Dianne’s spare bedroom for easier access on this day. Now, it was time to use them all.
With a fuzzy sweater over her shoulders to stave off the morning chill, her hair pulled away from her face into a twist and a clipboard full of notes and lists in hand, Cait stepped onto Seth’s backyard patio and surveyed the orchard.
The apple trees, heavy with ripe fruit, glistened in the slanted morning light. Dappled patterns of sun and shade danced with each other on the grassy carpet. The hums and chortles of wildlife conversation played softly around them. Cait inhaled. If peace had a scent, this was it.
“This is going to be amazing,” she whis
pered to her brother as he set out a picnic-table spread of pastries and hot coffee for the just-arriving volunteers.
“May the day bring you only good things.” He pecked the top of her head and gave her a squeeze. “Let’s set up the tables.”
***
Garrett parallel parked into one of the spaces along the side of the country highway and began the short stroll toward Seth and Dianne’s massive Victorian home. The festival wasn’t scheduled to start until nine, but cars were already lining the road.
He meandered to the backyard, setting down the bakery box of fresh chocolate chip cookies he’d brought over. He saw Jimmy, one of Cait’s second graders, running his chubby little legs off to deliver a tablecloth to a booth. He hadn’t seen the kid smile like that even once when they’d passed each other in the school hallways. In fact, Garrett couldn’t remember ever seeing him smile. Must be Cait’s magic.
He glanced around. Where was she? She’d avoided him for days, claiming “work” for the festival, but enough was enough.
He eyed Cait’s mom wandering around the edges of the property, greeting Seth’s neighbors and the Ridgewood Grove volunteers with smiles and donut holes. The orchard was crawling with artists and food vendors unloading their wares and getting their tables organized. Where there weren’t caramel-apple-toting adults, watercolorists or craftspeople, there were children. Everywhere. Running around with ears the size of Frisbees.
“Hi, Garrett,” a lady said.
Seth’s wife Dianne stood waving a couple yards away, strands of hay poking out of her blond ringlets. Mia alternated between twirling in place and running in circles. Gibberish woofed at him then showed off by leaping atop his squealing three-foot mistress. “What are you doing?” he called to Dianne. “Need help?”
“Pumpkin patch set-up,” she yelled back, “and yes!” She pointed to several crates of small pumpkins near the patio. “Just grab a bunch and help me hide them over there.”
“You got it.” In the corner of the lot he could see where a few piles of hay had been dumped for the little kiddie pumpkin patch. Garrett hauled over an entire crate on his first trip across the yard and set to work.
***
Cait studied her list as she all but sprinted down the orchard’s central path, making checkmarks on her sheet every time she passed a completed booth or designated game area.
“What’ve we got left?” Seth asked, a little out of breath.
“Not much,” she admitted, relief just beginning to settle into her tensed shoulder blades. “Mom and Eleanor seem comfortably set up. They’ve got enough paints and designs between them to decorate about a thousand kids.”
“I know. Mom’s been so excited. So focused. She’s almost like her old self today.”
Cait nodded, feeling hope rise inside, inflating her heart.
“How about the others?” he asked.
“We’ve got a few parents and their kids manning the easier games. Bean Bag Toss. Apple-Bobbing. The Musical Shoe Game.”
A group of shrieking goblins ran passed them, and Seth snickered. “I guess the storyteller’s already at it.”
“He’s unbelievable.” She smiled. “He started telling spooky tales for the volunteers at seven-fifteen and hasn’t stopped to take a breath yet. He’ll keep going until we close down at five.”
Miranda’s frizzy brown hair flew from behind her as she delivered stacks of plastic cups to a booth. Cait waved to the girl then pointed to Seth where Robbie and his buddies stood. “Mr. Jenkins set up the table for his ever-popular Harvest Food Taste Test. Half the kids are hovering around him right now.”
He laughed. “What are the featured delicacies this year?”
“I don’t know them all, but I could’ve sworn I heard his son say they made something called Brussels Sprout Quiche.”
Seth blanched. “God help us.”
“Well, if you try it but don’t like the aftertaste, all you need to do is find the Pastry Queen. I ate three pieces of her strawberry-rhubarb pie before I could stop myself last year.”
“Now you’re talking. I also thought I saw the chef from the BBQ Roadhouse setting up a booth. I take it he’ll have grilled bratwurst slathered with Bavarian mustard at lunchtime?”
She nodded. “And at the booth over there—” She pointed. “You can get caramel apples, cookies, jams and spiced cider. Oh, and Alan Koolemar, of course, has his own Ice Kreamations booth.”
Her brother opened his mouth to speak but another of Cait’s students came rushing up to them. “Is it really true, Miss Walsh? Is Jeremy’s dad gonna draw pictures of us?”
“It’s true. His table is over there.” She pointed deep into the orchard. “I think Daisy put up the sign down this path.”
“Thanks!” He raced away, barely swerving to avoid skidding into a mother with handmade quilts and comforters. A few minutes later, she and Seth reached the Pumpkin Patch.
Mia, hanging upside-down with Garrett gripping her ankles, was being swung in a slow arc over the tops of the pumpkins. The little girl giggled and squeaked, her chunky fingertips literally grasping at straws as she passed above the hay pile.
“Whooo-hooo,” Seth called out to his daughter. “That looks like a perfect position…for tickling!”
Mia shrieked as Seth wiggled his fingers over her rounded tummy and Garrett continued to hold her, swaying her tiny body slightly from side to side.
Cait was reminded again of how good Garrett was with kids. His behavior with girlfriends, of course, was another matter…but maybe he didn’t really understand what she needed from him right now. Maybe he couldn’t see the effect his flirtations with Mrs. McAllister had on her. It was bad enough that the school board member was always on the verge of propositioning him, but did he ever consider that his own behavior encouraged it? Did he have to keep smiling at the woman? Showering her with eye contact, the kind that said she had his full attention? Her friends might claim she was being paranoid, and a couple of years ago she would have agreed. But now she knew better. She’d been down this road before, and it was better to be paranoid than to be blindsided.
Dianne appeared. “I’ll rescue you, darling,” she cried, pulling Mia into her arms. “Poor baby. Were they torturing you?”
“Oh, yes, Mommy.” Mia’s pink lips puckered up as she gave her mother a wet kiss.
Dianne kissed her right back then winked at her daughter. “Ha, ha! Well, I’ve got you now, and it’s my turn.” A fresh round of giggling began as Dianne started tickling Mia and spirited the child off to the house.
“Thanks for keeping an eye on her, Garrett,” Seth said. “She loves roughhousing like that.”
Garrett brushed the hay off his jeans. “Nah, she was keeping an eye on me. Told me where to hide every single pumpkin.” He half smiled at Seth then looked at Cait for a long moment.
“Well, I’d better go inside, too, take care of stuff before things get hopping out here,” Seth said. “Catch you both later.”
Cait watched her big brother walk away. Seth didn’t fool her. He hadn’t changed one iota since the day she was fifteen and he discovered her enormous crush on his best friend. He found all kinds of reasons to leave them alone. Until his buddy groped her a bit too freely for his tastes. Then Seth punched him out.
“So, how are you doing, Cait? I can’t say I’ve seen much of you this week,” Garrett said, his voice noticeably cool.
“I—I’m doing all right. It’s been busy, you know…lately. Planning for the festival and getting everything organized.”
He glanced around. “Well, you’ve done a remarkable job. Every booth, every activity looks perfect.” His lips quirked. “Not that I’m surprised. After all you were the one in charge.”
She could feel her skin heating up. “Thanks.”
“Noticed the baskets made their way here safely. Marianne would be pleased to see one monopolizing each table.”
“Oh, come on, they’re great. Did any of the children tell you what we’re doing with
them?”
“I can’t imagine.”
“They’re going to make the most wonderful door prizes. The booth owners will draw names from the big cauldron we have set up over there.” She pointed. “Each lucky winner will take home a gift basket personally presented to them by one of the goblins.”
“Yep. Saw your students. They look like very cute rats.”
“Garrett!”
“Okay, mice.”
“Hey, that’s a mean thing to—”
“Oh, stop trying to be so contrary, Cait.” He laughed and hugged her in a way that sent her pulse skyrocketing. Memories of their passionate night together flashed through her mind. The reminder made her joints grow weak. When in his arms, she could almost trust him completely. Almost trust herself, even…
“This is your big day,” he said, “and, as you can see, I’m here to help.”
“Thanks,” she said again, looking at her toes once he released her. She scanned her clipboard out of habit, took three deep breaths then asked the question that had been on her mind for several very long days. “Have you talked to Shelley already?”
“Nope. Haven’t seen her.”
“Oh.” She swallowed. “Any word yet from Ronald?”
“Nope on that, too. The superintendent said he left a bunch of messages at the principal’s house. Said he’d call once Ronald responded.” Garrett shrugged. “I’ll let you know what happens.”
“Okay.” She looked at her clipboard again. “Well, I guess I should get back to work. It’s really nice of you to be here, even though it seems the offender you were searching for has been found.”
“It does seem that way,” he told her. “But you never know. Like the saying goes, ‘It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.’”
***
Sweet Temptations Collection Page 35