by Nancy Naigle
“Thanks. Nothing better than selecting and cutting down my own trees. I look forward to this all year.”
“Know what ya mean,” Dave agreed. “Even after all these years, I love the sound of the chain saw firing up. The mixture of the pine, gasoline, and sawdust. They make that into a man’s cologne … then they’d have really done something.”
Ben wasn’t a small guy, but he always felt like a kid next to Dave. Not just because of the age difference either. Dave had to be every bit of six feet four inches or better with shoulders as wide as a linebacker’s, only he didn’t need any pads. And the acreage of trees and countryside quickly put into perspective how a person fit into the bigger scheme of nature. Just one tiny piece of a huge landscape.
Two and a half hours later, P’s tongue was dragging and the Gator was stacked high with the trees Ben had picked out. Dave drove them back to the lot. One of the young guys hoisted the trees one by one from the Gator into the bed of Ben’s truck while P lapped from a huge trough of water meant for the goats. Twelve goats bleated and climbed the fence for attention in a makeshift petting zoo for visitors, but the truth was, those goats were one of nature’s fastest tree-trimming chipper solutions. A goat farmer from up the road switched out the small herd every few days, treating them to something green this time of year. The goats devoured the trimmed limbs and peeled the bark right down to the raw wood.
Ben pulled cash from his pocket and paid Dave. “Until next year.” He turned to Mike, who was guzzling a cola next to the counter made out of old pallets painted in candy cane stripes. “Nice to meet you, Mike. Maybe I’ll see you next year.”
“Hope so, Mr. Andrews.”
Ben tucked a five-dollar bill into the boy’s hand as they shook.
Mike looked in his hand, his eyes popping wide. “Thanks, Mr. Andrews.”
“You’re welcome, Mike. Keep up the good work.” Nice kid. Good manners. He hoped one day his kid would make him as proud, but damn did being called “mister” make him feel old all of a sudden. “See you next year, old man,” he said to Dave, if for no other reason than to make himself feel a little better.
“Counting on it. Don’t forget to send me a picture of the tree lighting for the website and Facebook.”
“You got it.” Ben opened the door to his truck, slapped his hand to his thigh, and P pounced in and took his position. Ben lowered his window, enjoying the fresh air and the occasional whiff of the pine when he slowed at the stop signs.
Ben’s phone buzzed against the center console of his truck. Not recognizing the number, he pressed Speaker and answered with a quick hello as he rolled up the window so he could hear better.
“Mr. Andrews, my daughter, Ashley, works for you.”
Ben’s concern had him pulling to the side of the road. Ashley was eight months pregnant. He hoped everything was okay. She’d worked for him for almost five years now, and she’d been trying to have a baby the whole time he’d known her. Please don’t let anything be wrong.
Ashley’s mom continued, “You’re not going to believe this, but not twenty minutes after Ashley got into town here last night, she went into labor.”
He let out the breath he’d been holding. “Labor? She’s okay, right? I mean this is really early.”
“A month early. I thought for sure it was Braxton Hicks contractions, ya know, false labor, but she sure fooled me. Good thing I humored her and took her to the hospital. Wasn’t an hour later she made me the proud grandmother of the most precious, beautiful, smoochalicious little hunk of a man. That’ll teach her husband’s mom to try to horn in on scheduling a visit at delivery time with my daughter. It’s only proper for the mother of the mother to be there. Not the mother-in-law! Anyway, please spread the word, and I guess you’ll need to put her maternity leave into effect immediately. They’ll be staying here for the next few weeks. And, if I have it my way, maybe they’ll spend Christmas here.”
“Well, isn’t this a surprise.” And not a particularly good one if he had to consider just what this meant to his workload, although he was excited for the young couple. “And she’s doing okay?”
“Oh, she did great. They are both strong, even if she can’t seem to make up her mind on the name for him. Anyway, they’ll be here in the hospital. Doctor wants to keep them a couple days just to keep an eye on the little guy. He’s not but barely five pounds. Just a little peanut, but no worries. They are both going to be just fine.”
“Congratulations.”
And there it was, the jinx his buddy Jason had warned him about. Now he’d have to find a backup person to coordinate the details of the annual Carolina’s Best Flour Extreme Gingerbread Bake-off. He’d taken on that volunteer activity for the hospital, thinking that he could free up one of his staff, Ashley, to handle all of it. She wasn’t supposed to go out on maternity leave until January, so the timing had been perfect for her to cover that for him. At least he’d thought so.
A month early? Who would’ve thought he’d need a backup plan for an early first baby? Crash.
Ben smiled in an attempt to mask the frustration he was feeling as he spoke. “You tell Ashley not to worry about a thing. Congratulations on the unexpected arrival. Thank you for the call.”
“You are so welcome. Oh, and she said her files for the Extreme Gingerbread Bake-off are in her top right drawer, and apologized she hadn’t gotten farther along.”
And burn. He doubted the smile would hide the tightness of his words now. “No worries.” He had no right to be upset. Ashley was managing that project as a volunteer. And even worse, the contestants had been announced in last week’s newspaper, and he was on his mother’s team, so it would be a huge conflict of interest for him to manage and judge the event.
Good thing Christmas was his favorite holiday, because he was about to be armpit deep in lights, caroling, and gingerbread houses.
Chapter Nine
This morning TGIF had just gone to a whole new level, because if Joy had to take care of Molly two days in a row, she might lose her mind. Child care was one skill that was not on her résumé.
By the time she’d figured out what needed to be done for Molly, gotten her on the school bus, and waved good-bye at the curb, Joy had already lost an hour of her morning. And for the first time she had a little compassion for those mornings when Renee rolled in to work about thirty minutes late, frazzled and apologizing. It was a wonder Renee wasn’t late a whole lot more often.
Joy’s plan had been to be at the hospital, checking in on Ruby by now. She liked to think she was flexible, but if there was one thing that drove her nuts, it was a day that started off with unexpected hitches. Okay, fine, maybe she didn’t like any kind of deviation from her plan at any time, but was that such a bad vice? It certainly had proved beneficial from a career perspective.
Every plan needed a mitigation plan, and she was usually completely prepared, but the unexpected chain of events this morning once Molly appeared had left Joy exhausted. That god-awful cock-a-doodle-doo, like a See ’n Say on its last legs, rang in her mind. For a fleeting moment, she considered crawling back into bed and just starting all over, but her sensible side wouldn’t let her succumb to the aggravation in that way.
Plus, Ruby was sure-fired ready and waiting to come home.
The morning sun was warming things up. A soft billow of steam hung over the morning dew, and the chill that had greeted Joy early this morning had been chased away. She wouldn’t need a sweatshirt jacket now. She shed it, hung it on the chair in the front hall, and marched through the kitchen, snagging one of the crusts that she’d been instructed to cut from the peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich she’d made for Molly. And next time, can you cut it in squares? she’d asked. Really?
Joy stuffed the morsel into her mouth. It had been a long time since Joy’d had a PBJ, and it was a lot tastier than she’d remembered. The whitewashed wooden screen door slapped the frame behind her as loud as a gunshot. The donkey kicked his feet in the air and ran around the pasture, snortin
g as if buckshot had just zoomed past him. She rounded up Ruby’s muck boots and ran the hose over them to clean them up after last night’s stinky mess. She buried her nose in the sleeve of her shirt to keep from gagging, but as she moved, she splashed the icy-cold hose water on her socks.
She slipped off her wet socks and sat on the stoop to wiggle her damp feet into the rubber boots. She gave Molly the Bunny a sneer. “You tricked me. I thought you were the Molly everyone was so worried about.”
The fuzzy rabbit lifted itself to its hind feet and wiggled its nose.
“Yeah, you want me to feed you. I know.” Joy filled the scoop with food and sprinkled it into the bowl, then cleaned the water dish. “I bet you don’t want crusts either.”
Feeding the menagerie seemed like a long and tedious task at night, but it was much more so in the daytime, when the animals were wide awake and begging for attention. The goats were under her feet the whole time she tried to pour the feed in their trough. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be in a cast too.
“Stop that!” She swatted at the donkey. “Quit chewing my braid!” She wasn’t sure if he was chewing her hair or the ribbon, but either way, she didn’t like it one bit.
As she checked off the last item on the morning chore list, one look around told the story of how well she’d done.
Even graded on a curve, she’d probably get a D+ at best.
The barn looked a mess. Ruby hadn’t been gone even twenty-four hours. Joy tromped to the back wall of the barn and rummaged through the tools until she found a rake. Finding a quick rhythm, she swept the wide tines along the dirt floor of the barn. The pinging sound of metal against dirt soothed her, and the tension of the morning started to subside. With slow, measured strokes, she made her way from one end to the other until the barn looked ready for a dance. Just as Ruby had left it. Joy scooped the hay that she’d gathered into her arms and dropped it into the empty stall. It wouldn’t be good for food, all dirty, but it would still make good bedding.
She double-checked all the gates, and then went inside to get cleaned up so she could get to the hospital. Hopefully, Ruby would be ready to come home, and they’d figure out what needed to be done from there. She’d get her aunt settled in and be back home before the weekend was over. She’d even have time to go through her e-mail before jumping back into the welcoming fray at the office on Monday morning.
* * *
Joy swung into the same parking space at Bridgewater Regional Hospital that she’d been in last night. She gave the parking lot a quick scan as she got out of her car. There was no sign of the pickup truck that her car had gotten so intimate with. If only that had been a dream. Unfortunately, there was a constant reminder of how real that had been. She glanced back at the gouge on the side of her car.
How she hadn’t broken the taillight, she’d never know, but at least the damage was only cosmetic. She had to be thankful for that. Being stuck with no car or, worse, having to drive Aunt Ruby’s ancient gas-guzzling Lincoln would have been torture. That car was nearly as old as Joy.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t run into Mr. Indestructible Pickup Truck again while she was in town, even if he was super-good-looking, had given her his jacket to keep her warm, and declined her insurance information. But she’d be leaving soon. No sense making friends with someone she’d probably never see again. She was busy, and this trip had not been scheduled.
She hurried inside the hospital. Ruby was probably raising holy heck, waiting on her. A woman walked by with flowers and a balloon. For a second, Joy hesitated, considered ducking into the gift shop to grab something, but knowing her aunt the way she did, she’d rather not have to wait even an extra five minutes.
“Time is precious,” she’d always say.
Joy caught the elevator door before it closed, and stepped to the back wall. The woman with the balloon stood near the door. The balloon seemed to have a life of its own, bobbing that giant smiley face in her direction as it bounced against the door with a thwump, thwump, thwump. The doors opened and that doggone smiling Mylar balloon trailed behind the woman, taunting Joy with every step toward the hallway. Nah-nah-nah, you didn’t bring a present. And you’re late.
Some of the rooms had two beds. She was glad Ruby had scored private accommodations. It would be annoying to have a roommate who had guests running in and out all day. Of course, in this case, Ruby would probably be the one causing the commotion. She’d lived in Crystal Falls her whole life. There wasn’t anyone in this town who didn’t know her. And if last night was any indication, she had lots of friends.
Joy tapped on the door as she entered Ruby’s room. “Good morning, Aunt Ruby.” Joy hoped her aunt had slept in and hadn’t been waiting too long on her. “How are you feeling?”
Ruby hugged the covers against her tiny frame. “Honestly, I had a pretty rough night. I guess you were right. Once the good stuff wore off, things started getting bad.”
“Oh no. Are you in pain?” No wonder Ruby hadn’t called in a tizzy because Joy took so long to show up.
“Some, but they’ve got me doped up again. I’ll be fine, honey. Did you meet Molly?”
“I did.” Joy put her hands on her hips. “I thought Molly was the bunny. She nearly scared me to death when she showed up this morning. Waltzed right in without so much as a knock.”
“I must not have been clear. I’m sorry, dear. Those meds had me high as trash can punch. She’s a sweet little angel. Her mother is going through some rough times. Thank you for taking care of her.”
“I got her out the door.”
“Molly isn’t any trouble, and her mother, Ginny, counts on me. I can’t let her down.”
Joy could only imagine how important it was to feel needed at Ruby’s age. “Well, I think she’ll be glad to have you back. She wasn’t entirely pleased with the way I cut crusts from the sandwich I made for her.”
“Crusts off and then in fours. Just like you used to like them.” Ruby’s face contorted in a way that seemed to say, Is there any other way?
“I did?”
“Oh yes. You’d never eat a crust. And only white bread. Been a while.” Ruby tapped a finger to her head. “I might not remember what I said just last night. Might not even remember what I ate for breakfast, but I remember those kind of details. Special memories.” A lazy grin spread across Ruby’s face. Her pupils were dilated from the effects of the painkillers, making her look a little cross-eyed crazy.
“Anyway, I got her lunch packed, and got her on the bus.”
“Bless you.”
Enough about kids. That is behind me now. Joy sat down in the only chair in the room. A huge monstrosity of a thing covered in a plastic that could best be described as durable and god-awful ugly. “So what’s the plan to get you out of here?”
Ruby raised a thin hand. “I’m waiting on the doctor. He hasn’t been in yet. Not like we have a golf course for him to spend his morning on. I have no idea what’s keeping him.”
“Well, at least you weren’t waiting on me. I was worried when I was running so far behind.” Joy pulled the chair closer to the bedside. “I don’t know how you get all that done every day. You need help.”
“No. I don’t need help. I’ve got a routine. A system.”
“It’s a lot to do.”
“I enjoy it, and it’s keeping me in good shape.”
“Well, that leg has seen better days.” The doctor ambled into the room. With his white coat, tablet, and a stethoscope around his neck, he looked like he’d never hurried a day in his life. He circled the bed to Ruby’s side. “How’re you feeling?”
“Anxious to get out of here,” Ruby said. “That’s how I’m feeling. What took you so long? You know I’ve got things to do.”
“Don’t we all,” he said.
“You won’t be getting your eggs if I don’t get home and collect them. Those darn hens of mine would rather sit and hatch a pile of chicks if I’d leave them to.”
The doctor reached across the bed t
o shake Joy’s hand. “I’m Dr. Davis.”
“Joy.” She shook his hand. “I’m Ruby’s niece.”
“Emma’s daughter. I see it now. Nice to see you again.”
She hadn’t even recognized him. He’d been old as dirt when she was a little girl.
The doctor pulled back the sheet at the bottom of the bed and touched Ruby’s toes. “Feel that?”
“Of course I feel that. Your hands are ice-cold.”
The doctor laughed. “The nurses keeping you comfortable?”
“Now, Doc, you know that I’m not going to be comfortable until I’m home in my own bed, so why don’t you write me out of this place and let me get about my business.”
“As long as you are stable when I come to see you in the morning, I don’t see any reason that we won’t be able to move you to Dixon County Rehab Center tomorrow.”
“Rehab center? Look. I might take a little nip now and again, but I wasn’t drunk when I fell. I don’t need any rehab. Someone has misinformed you.”
“Not that kind of rehab, Miss Ruby. This is for you to get the physical therapy you’ll need to get back on your feet, and to help you learn how to get around in that cast. This kind of break takes time to heal. Especially for a gal your age.”
“I’ll have you know that this gal seems to do just as much as, maybe more than, most of the gals half my age in this town.”
Joy nodded. “I have to admit she must be in better shape than me. I could barely get the whole list of her chores done.”
“Don’t get yourself riled up. I know you’re fit, and I have no doubt you’ll make a strong recovery, that is, if you follow my orders. You really need to do the rehab.”
“Why can’t I do your silly exercise program at home?”
“Because we don’t have the equipment to do that, and it’s more than just exercise. Your insurance won’t cover that type of care at home. Your recovery will be much faster if we let Dixon County Rehab do what they do best.”
“It’s all a scheme to get into our pockets.”
“I can assure you that you’ll be well taken care of there. Enjoy the break.”