“When is he coming back?” Tallulah wanted to know.
“He didn’t say. I don’t know how long the contract is for; it’s for Sheriff Hill’s sister. She’s opening a country store or something in some little town called Serenity,” Janie told her.
Tallulah started to cry.
“Honey, you have got to get a grip on yourself. You didn’t want him, he moved on,” Janie said.
“I did want him. I still want him. I just needed some time to sort through some things in my head,” Tallulah said through sniffles.
“It seems to Janie that if you truly wanted him, you would have sorted through those things together,” she said. “Maybe this is for the best. His reputation here is ruined. You crying all over town only makes it worse. If he never comes back, then the sorting in your head is moot.”
Tallulah stared at Janie, then burst into tears again.
Ethan was pacing the floor. “I swear, Janie, if your brother was still here I would punch him in the nose!”
“Why?” Tallullah bawled, “I kicked him out, Ethan. I told him I never wanted to see him again. I wouldn’t take his calls. I drove him to drink and he doesn’t even drinkkkkkkkkk.”
Janie had had enough.
“Oh, shut up!” she said loudly. “Janie is sick of your whining and crying. Janie thinks you should take your ass home and get a grip. If you truly love and want him, he will be in Serenity, Wyoming. Go get him and bring him home, or do you still need to sort through your feelings to make a decision on that as well?”
“Janie, don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh to my sister?”
“No. Janie thinks your sister is spoiled as hell and out of touch with reality. My brother is a gentle, kind, and loving soul that so many people in this town rely on. They will find out who he was real soon. They’re going to find out who your sister is as well,” Janie said.
Tallulah, still in tears, looked at Janie with disbelief. “What is that supposed to mean, Janie?”
“It means, Doc, that you are not a very good person,” she said. “If you want him back, you’re going to have to make some changes.”
“Janie, that’s not a very nice thing to say to my sister,” Ethan spoke up.
“Maybe not, but it’s what she needs to hear. You guys have spent so much time praising her for her accomplishments on paper that no one looks at the selfish monster that she has become. Why do you think she is so old and still single? It’s not that she is picky – she’s a pain in the ass. At least that’s what Janie thinks,” she said to her husband. This, of course, made Tallulah cry even more.
“Janie also thinks it’s time for your sister to go home. If Janie wanted to hear this much crying, she would give you a baby,” Janie said with a twist of her lip.
“Goodnight,” Tallulah said, rising slowly. “I won’t bother you guys again.”
“No, you’re no bother,” Ethan said to his sister.
“Yes you are,” Janie said over his shoulder. “Woman up. Go get your man or shut the hell up and move on.”
“You are cold, Janie,” Ethan said to his wife. “Can’t you see she is hurting?”
“So was my brother. I didn’t see anybody comforting him,” Janie said. “Hell, he couldn’t even stop by to see me without you giving him the evil eye for hurting your precious sister.”
“I told him it was a bad idea,” Ethan said.
“Well, love had a different idea,” Janie threw over her shoulder.
Holden arrived in Serenity to a shell of a store. The old-fashioned sign that read “Double D General Store” was a welcome sight to him. He tapped on the side of the door frame to see an angry faced semi bearded man looking back at him.
“Hey there. I’m Holden Cimoc, electrician. I’m looking for...,” Holden started to say.
“You’re looking for Darlene. I’m Jack, the contractor. Come on in. We’re about to shut it down for the night and head out to get some grub,” he told Holden. “Darlene, the electrician is here!”
Darlene came from the back of the store. The brown eyes had the same intensity as her brother the Sheriff, but she was far more attractive. A warm smile put him immediately at ease.
“Welcome, Holden,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m so glad you’re here. We have fallen behind schedule because of that last electrician who had no idea what he was doing. Roosevelt said you’re one of the best.”
“I am. I’ll get it done for you,” he told her.
“Good. Good. Tonight, you’ll stay with me and my husband Daniel. We’ll have a nice little welcome dinner for you, then tomorrow we’ll get you settled in the bunkhouse across the street and you can get started,” she told him.
“Works for me,” Holden said with a smile.
“Let me close up and we can head out,” she told him.
Holden went out to the front porch of the store and gazed about the little town. The main road was still gravel with a handmade street sign that read Main Street. Two other buildings were going up, along with a house at the end of the road. It was the start of something.
“It’s a new start for me as well,” he said aloud.
“Glad you feel that way, Holden. There’s enough work here to keep you as busy as you want for as long as you want to stay,” Jack said to him.
“Sounds good,” Holden said to him. “Sounds real good.”
Nothing sounded right to Tallulah who sat on the couch beside her mother, looking sad faced, hopeless and forlorn. She’d cried so much, her tear ducts were dry, her eyes were puffy and the normally beautiful face looked, well, rather unattractive. Ester was over the sulking and shenanigans.
“Oh hush up, Tallulah,” her mother told her.
“Mom?” she asked in surprise.
“You have conducted yourself horribly through this whole thing and now you are playing victim, making that poor man look so bad that he had to leave town. You have destroyed him and all he wanted was to love you and have a life with you,” Ester said. “His Mama even stopped coming to church because of this nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense, Mama; it is my life. He cheated on me with some redhead hoochie that I found lying naked next to him in his bed!”
“Yes, and that was two months after you threw him out,” she said.
“I can’t believe you are taking his side!”
“I am not taking anyone’s side. I am just letting you know that you were wrong and you did not conduct yourself like the lady you were raised to be,” Ester told her. “You also did not treat him fairly nor were you honest with him.”
“I was honest,” she said defensively.
“No, if you were honest, you would have told him about your fear of crowds and you would never gone to that party,” Ester said. “He had a right to know that about you which is why you live like a hermit.”
“I don’t live like a hermit,” she said.
“Oh really? You are a doctor but would rather eat takeout from a fast food drive through than brave a grocery store where there are people. I think the only reason you come to church is because we make you,” Ester said.
It was true. She sat in the same seat every Sunday next to her mother on one side and her brother on the other. After the service she made a beeline for the front door, avoiding eye contact and interaction with as many people as possible.
“I’m sorry, Mama. I should have been honest with you and Daddy as well, letting you know I was seeing Holden,” she said.
“We already knew,” Ester said.
“What? How?”
“Holden told us,” she said with a smile. “Did you know he stopped by the bookstore every Thursday and had coffee with your father?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” she said with genuine surprise. “I didn’t think you would approve of me dating him.”
“You are a grown woman. Date and marry whom you deem worthy. You don’t need our approval,” Ester said.
“But he is Janie’s brother...,” Tallulah said.
“Tallulah, seriously. The man asked your father’s permission to see you before he even took you in his arms for that first dance at Ethan’s wedding. He basically asked for your hand in marriage as well,” Ester said with a chuckle. “Well, he didn’t ask; he told your Dad that in a year your father needed to be ready to marry the two of you.”
“He did?”
“Yes, Tallulah, he did,” she said to her daughter, taking her in her arms. “He also stopped by here on Tuesdays to see if I needed anything. He rewired my sewing room at no cost and even installed new lighting for these old eyes to see.”
Tallulah started to cry again but this time for a different reason.
“I love him so much, Mama, and I am so miserable without him,” she said.
“Then find a way to go get your man and bring him home.”
Chapter Sixteen – Connected Wiring
The cabin in which Darlene and Daniel lived was possibly the most beautiful thing he had seen in a very long time. He couldn’t truthfully say it was the most beautiful thing he’d seen because Wyoming, in itself still had a hold of his breath. Holden could not stop admiring the craftsmanship of everything from the door frames to the furniture. He moved about the cabin, taking it all like he had the first time he had walked into Orlando and Jacquetta’s, looking at all the wall murals. There were no murals here, but workstations for making quilts and other homemade wares. The bookshelf went from to the floor to the ceiling with a mini library. Some of the books on the shelves he’d read, others he looked forward to borrowing. What he loved most was the order of the shelved books. The shelves were organized alphabetically by author, then by sizes, and based on several of the collections, the order in which the books were printed.
Daniel arrived home early to walk in and witness Holden admiring the book shelf. “Hey there, I’m Daniel. Are you a reader?” Daniel asked his new houseguest.
“I am. I brought a couple of boxes of books with me. A few of these I have read, others I haven’t,” he responded. Holden pulled a book from the shelf. “I purchased a copy of this one from the library sale. I’m looking forward to reading it.”
Daniel clapped his hands. “That’s great. We can have a little book club on Wednesday nights. You come over for dinner, we talk books,” he said happily.
“Works for me. Thank you for having me in your home,” Holden said.
“Roosevelt spoke highly of you. He said you were the man for the job,” Daniel said to him.
“I’m very good at what I do,” Holden told him. “Is there anything I can help with to get dinner going? I think my stomach is touching my spine.”
Daniel headed to the kitchen and grabbed an apple. “Here ya go. I’m going to get the grill going and put us on some steaks.”
Holden held up his hands. “I’m sorry. I don’t eat beef,” he said.
“They’re elk steaks,” Daniel responded.
“Sorry, I’ve never eaten a piece of red meat in my life. It would probably make me terribly sick,” he said. “I’ll eat the veggies.”
“Not a problem. Do you like fish?”
“I love fish,” Holden said.
“Do you know how...I mean to fish?”
“I do,” Holden said with a grin.
Daniel waved his arm to him, motioning him out on the back porch. The mountains nestled against the backdrop of the sky momentarily stunned Holden and he stood still, breathing it all in, forcing himself to blink.
“I know. It gets me every time, too,” Daniel said. Handing Holden the fishing poles, he patted him on the back. “River is over there. Limit yourself to five, and I can fry them or put them on the grill. Here’s a knife to clean them.”
Holden stood agape.
“I can’t. I don’t have a license to fish in Wyoming,” he said.
Daniel pointed at his shirt. “Dude, I’m standing in front of you in a Smoky the Bear suit! I’m the park ranger for this area. We’ll get you a license, but right now, we need to get you some dinner.”
“Bait?” Holden asked.
“There is a soft bed of dirt by the river’s edge. Gently turn it with the knife and the earthworms come up. When you’re done with the apple, stick in down in the bed for them to break down and eat,” he said.
That process Holden was familiar with since it was the same way he and father composted at home. Home. It seemed worlds away. At the river’s edge, he sat removing his boots, rolling up his pants legs, and allowing his feet to dangle in the water. For the first time since he could remember, he cried. The currents of the river connected to the wiring in his heart, allowing the salty anger to flow freely from him, eroding away the hatred her felt towards Tallulah for breaking his heart. In less than a half hour, five nice size fish hung from the string, so he jammed wet feet into his boots headed back to the house. He looked about as a few other people were inside.
Three other vehicles had arrived since he’d left the house. He tapped at the corner of the screen door waiting for someone to bid him enter. A young man, he thought may have been Darlene’s son, walked toward the door.
“Hey there, Holden. I’m Jamar,” a tall thin black man said to him, opening the screen wide, ushering him in.
Holden couldn’t respond because he was watching a real live raccoon wrestle with a dog over bed. He pointed to the raccoon, who lost the battle as the dog took over the sleep spot and turn on her back, resting with her legs sprawled open. The raccoon hissed at the dog and went to a second bed closer to the unlit fireplace and took a seat. Holden couldn’t respond to the raccoon’s temper tantrum because the appearance of the animal’s owner also caught him off guard.
“What do we have here?” Cassandra asked. “Man, you sure are pretty. If I had known we were having company, I would have put my teeth in. Daniel, can I keep him?”
“What?” Holden said.
Jamar piped in, “No. He’s not interested in you—with or without your teeth, Beastmaster!”
Holden found himself smiling widely.
“Look at them pretty chompers. Man, I can’t wait to make out with you and run my tongue across them pretty teeth,” Cassandra said moving closer to Holden.
“Down, Cujo,” Jamar said. “The man just got here. He hasn’t been on the road that long to want to wrestle with a baby Yeti.”
“Shut up, you meathead,” Cassandra called out to Jamar. She had stealthily moved closer to Holden, who stealthily was backing up.
Darlene called out, “Cut it out, you two. It’s bad enough I can’t get this soap right. The last thing I need is to hear you guys bickering all night.”
That was music to Holden’s ears. “Can I help you make the soap?”
“You know how to make soap?” Darlene asked.
“Yes,” Holden said with pride. “I can also make shampoos, conditioners, teas, and if you have a milk producing goat, I will whip you up some goat cheese.”
“I have a goat,” Cassandra said as she stood closer to him, her fingers grazing his arm. Holden took two steps to the left.
“You are a goat,” Jamar mumbled under his breath.
“I heard that, you walking hot dog,” Cassandra retorted.
Darlene was entirely too happy as she threw her arms around Holden.
“I would like to offer you a contract to produce the soaps and things for my store. Of course, that is resting on me trying your products first,” she said to him.
“I have some in my truck, along with some of my teas,” he said.
“If you know how to quilt, I will divorce my husband and marry you right now,” she said.
“Your marriage is safe. I can’t quilt,” he told her with a sheepish grin.
Jamar shifted gears, ignoring his weekly sparring match with Cassandra. “I hope you are a dang good electrician, because we have enough work to last you a while. I just got signed contracts from a farmer and a dentist who are coming out in the next few months to Serenity. You’ll see the Doc’s house being built at the end of Main Street? I think
he worked as a barber to pay his way through college. So we got lucky there. Anyway, his place needs wiring, too,” he told Holden.
“I brought basic supplies. I can go over to Billings and pick up more, I guess,” he said to Jamar. “Who are you again?”
“I’m Jamar Smalls. I own the town of Serenity. Well, yeah, I am building it, too, which also makes me the Mayor,” he said with a smile. “I’m also the civil engineer, the engineer, and planning and development.”
“That’s a lot of hats,” Holden said.
“Explains why his head is so big,” Cassandra mumbled.
“Hush up, raccoon whisperer,” Jamar said.
They remind me of Jem and Meg. Holden asked, “Yeah, what’s with the raccoon?”
“He’s a rescue. I rescue animals. I have a sanctuary a few miles east of here,” Cassandra said, batting her eyelashes at Holden. She rubbed at his arms as he stood staring at her with a look of confusion on his face. “Is something in your eyes?” He asked her.
“Yes, a whole boat load of sexy,” she said giving him a bare mouthed grin.
Jack walked in the door with a box load of fabric scraps. “My ma sent these for your quilting, Darlene,” he told her. His eyes went to Cassandra pawing at Holden. He only shook his head. “Darlene, after dinner, can I get you to trim my hair?”
“Sure Jack, but Holden is going to show me how to make soap,” she said.
“How about I make this batch of soap and in return you give me a haircut as well?” Holden asked.
“You want me to cut that hair?”
“Yep, cut it off, and I will donate it to make a wig for cancer patients,” he said.
“You sure?” Darlene asked.
“It has never been cut low before. My Mom usually trims the ends and stuff, but I am ready for a change, so please, take it all off. I want a new look,” he said to her.
“Your accent is sooo sexy,” Cassandra said as she moved closer to him again. Holden moved two more steps to the right. At this rate he was going to be out on the back porch if she continued her pursuit of him.
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