by Jessica Beck
It was twenty minutes until our normal closing time at seven, and there was still no sign of my grandfather. I hoped that Chester and his grandson hadn’t had any trouble on their way to the lake. If anything had happened to them while they’d been doing something for me, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to forgive myself.
Greg kept poking his head out of the pass-through to scan the dining room.
“Would you stop doing that?” I asked. “You’re making me nervous, and Jenny nearly dropped a bowl of mac and cheese a few minutes ago.”
“I did not,” our youngest server said with a laugh as she came by to pick up a bowl of Greg’s homemade chicken soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for Counter Seat 12. Jenny was a college student, and a godsend for us, happy to work a three-hour shift every afternoon and evening that wasn’t enough for most folks looking for a job. “And you’re as bad as he is, Victoria. Who exactly is it that we’re all waiting for?”
“Moose is coming back home tonight,” I said.
“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.” For some odd reason, Jenny seemed to gravitate toward my grandfather, and it was pretty clear that he didn’t mind the attention of the pretty young blonde.
“I just wish it were for a better reason,” Greg said as he ducked his head back into the kitchen.
Just as my husband disappeared, the front door slammed open and my grandfather rushed in. His gray hair was unkempt, and there was a six-day stubble of beard on his face, but his eyes were still clear, his back arrow-straight, and his demeanor commanding.
“Where’s the fire?” he bellowed.
That got the immediate attention of our final two diners. Hastily, I told them, “There’s no fire, folks. Everything is fine. It’s just an expression.”
That seemed to soothe their nerves, but Moose looked confused. “Chester told me that Rome was burning.”
I nodded. “It is, but would you mind lowering your voice? Or do you honestly want all of Jasper Fork knowing our business?”
That calmed my grandfather down in a hurry. Running the diner for all those years, Moose had heard more from the kitchen about the secret goings on and behind-the-scenes events in our small community than anyone else in town, and he knew full well how fast rumors could spread. “You’re right. Let’s continue this in back.”
Jenny protested, “But that’s not fair. I won’t be able to hear what’s going on if you both move back there.”
Moose patted her hand. “Don’t worry, child. I’m sure my granddaughter will bring you up to speed soon enough.”
Moose followed me into the kitchen, where we’d kept the notice since Mr. Lance had first delivered it.
“Where’s Dad?” I asked him.
“He went to get your mother and grandmother. It sounded as though we needed to have a family meeting, and they’re all a part of this crazed clan just as much as your husband standing over there is.”
Greg nodded, and I was sure that he appreciated being included, even in times of turmoil. He had come from a broken home, and when he’d married me, he’d found a sense of belonging that he’d missed so dearly as a kid.
“Should we wait for them?” I asked.
“I don’t want to, but then again, I don’t figure we have much choice.” He looked over at Greg. “Any chance I could get a bit of that chili of yours while we’re waiting?”
“You bet,” he said. Greg scooped out a huge portion and added a large chunk of cheddar and a hunk of cornbread to the heaping bowl. This was no ordinary fare. Rich chunks of stew beef were seasoned with onion, garlic, chili powder, and handful of other spices I recognized. A bowl of my husband’s chili was a legitimate meal in and of itself. Greg’s cornbread was a little sweeter than most, but it was the perfect complement to the spices in the chili.
Moose took a seat by the prep counter and promptly devoured it all, asking only for a refill of the chilled milk I’d given him a few moments before.
“I’d deny it under oath in open court if you ever repeated it,” my grandfather said as he quickly scraped the bottom of his bowl, “but I like your chili better than what I make, and that’s saying something.”
“That’s funny, I like yours better, myself,” Greg said.
Both men smiled, and I could feel the warmth and affection pass between them. My dad had lacked what it took to run the diner, and no one had been more aware of it than my grandfather, but in Greg—and in me—Moose had found true kindred spirits to carry on his legacy.
As he pushed his bowl away, the kitchen door flew open and my parents hurried in, along with my grandmother. While Moose’s face was grizzled, my dad’s cheeks were bare.
“You stopped to shave, even after you heard that Rome was burning?” I asked, not believing my own eyes.
Moose laughed. “Not even Joe is that crazy. Your dad took an electric razor with him to the cabin.”
“There’s no shame in trying to always look presentable,” my father said. He had some of Moose’s genes in him, but whereas my grandfather was robust and open, my dad was quite a bit more reserved. I wondered how hard it must have been for him growing up in his father’s long shadow, and at that moment, I started to understand my father just a little bit better than I ever had before.
“Come here and give me a kiss, you old man,” my grandmother said to her husband. “I know it’s hard to imagine, but I actually missed you.”
“Like this? I’m a tad unkempt.”
“I don’t care what state you’re in.”
She kissed him soundly, and then Moose said, “We’re all here now, Victoria. What seems to be the emergency?”
“It’s this,” I said as I handed him the document Howard Lance had delivered earlier that day.
“Eviction,” he said as he read the top line. “That’s complete and utter nonsense.”
“I’m not so sure it is,” Greg said. “It looks official enough to me.”
“I bought the land this diner stands on myself from Joshua Lance fifty years ago.”
My face must have whitened because my grandfather asked, “What’s wrong? What did I say?”
“Lance. The man who delivered this paper today said his name was Howard Lance.”
“How old was he?”
“Mid-fifties, I’d say.”
That brought a frown to Moose’s face. “I suppose he could be Joshua’s boy, but I can’t be sure. All I know is that Joshua Lance sold me this land just before he moved to Hickory, and I haven’t heard a word from him since. At the time, he had to have owned ten percent of Jasper Fork when he started selling it off at rock-bottom prices. Quite a few of us bought land from him.”
My dad spoke up. “Did any of you have your titles searched at the courthouse when you made the purchases?”
Moose shrugged. “I don’t believe so. As I remember it, it was just a cash-and-handshake deal.”
My father looked exasperated. “Did you at least have the transfer of ownership registered at the clerk’s office?”
Moose looked angrily at my dad. “How could I possibly remember that from all those years ago? I’ve lived a full life since then, boy.”
Martha touched her husband’s shoulder. “Calm down, Moose. Joseph is just trying to help us determine if we should be concerned about this.” Nobody in the world called my father Joseph except my grandmother. I still called my parents Mom and Dad, but Moose and Martha had always insisted on being called just that, even when I’d been a toddler. Neither one of them had cared for the grandfather/grandmother monikers.
“I’m perfectly calm,” Moose said dismissively. He tapped the document with his index finger as he added, “Something’s got to be done about this.”
“I know a lawyer in Lenoir we could get to look into the legality of this,” my father said.
“We could always call Rebecca,” I chimed in. I was having second thoughts about not interrupting her conference. This was, in a very real way, life and death for me and my family.
“Joe,
Victoria, there’s no offense intended, but I aim to take this to the top,” Moose said gravely.
“Are you going to call the governor?” Greg asked. Rumor was that the state’s highest elected official and Moose went way back, but I’d never been able to discover if it were true, or if Moose had just started the rumor himself for his own entertainment.
My grandfather shook his head. “No, I’m going to need somebody higher in authority than that. I’m calling Holly Dixon.”
My grandmother immediately bristled beside him. “There’s no need to do that, and you know it.”
He took her hands in his. “Martha, I told you a long time ago, there was never anything between Holly and me but simple conversation. We need her now, and there’s no reason not to call her.”
“I saw what I saw, and I know what I know,” my grandmother said.
“Hang on a second,” Greg said. “Are we talking about Judge Dixon?”
“Who else could we be discussing?” Moose asked. “She was Holly to me before she ever dreamed about becoming a judge.”
“She dreamed about being Mrs. Moose Nelson before she ever thought about going to law school,” my grandmother said sharply. Clearly, she was actually jealous of the woman, even after all of these years.
“Then I won’t call her,” Moose said with a sigh. “We’ll manage to get through this without her. I didn’t disrespect you then, and I won’t do it now, Martha.”
My grandmother looked at him a few moments, and then she took his face in her hands and planted a solid kiss on his lips.
“What was that for?” he asked her.
“For the gesture, and the sentiment. Now, go ahead and call her.”
Moose looked at her as though she’d just started speaking French. “Say again?”
“Call Judge Tart. If she can help us, I’m not above asking for it.”
“Go on,” I said, “Call her before Martha changes her mind.”
He glanced at the portable telephone I was shoving toward him as though it were radioactive, but he refused to take it. “Let’s all just take a deep breath and think about this for a minute.”
“We don’t have time,” I said. “If we lose this place, we all know that a part of our family’s going to die with it.”
“You’re right,” Moose said. “Somebody give me a phone book.”
Instead of answering his request, Martha kissed him once again.
“I’m not even going to pretend to know what that one was for,” Moose said.
Martha started to tell him when she saw me smiling. “Ask Victoria. She knows.”
I grinned. “I’m guessing it’s because you have to look her number up.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked, still clearly perplexed.
“That’s the point. You wouldn’t, if you knew it by heart,” I said.
Moose just shook his head. “I swear, trying to figure out women is a waste of a man’s time and brainpower.”
My mother, Melinda, who had been quiet up until now, said with the hint of a smile, “And we all know that you don’t have that much of either one to spare at the moment.” She was where I’d gotten my sassy streak, though she didn’t show it all that much anymore.
Greg laughed as he commented, “Take my word for it and give up while you’re still just a little behind, Moose.”
“That’s a fair piece of advice, and I aim to take it,” Moose said as he looked up the judge’s number in our local phone book. I may not have had any reason to have hope, but I was beginning to believe that we might just have a chance to save the diner after all. It wasn’t necessarily because of anything that anyone had said, or the plans we were making.
It was because my family was working on the problem together, and that gave me more encouragement than I could describe.
At least that was how I felt until Judge Dixon showed up fifteen minutes later.
Chapter 2
Martha excused herself as Moose made the call to Judge Dixon, and no one was really all that surprised when she left the diner altogether soon afterward, especially not my grandfather. We had just two customers at the moment, so I took the opportunity to hang the CLOSED sign on the front door and sent Jenny on her way, though it was still a bit early. My two regulars were soon gone, so I stayed by the door to let Judge Dixon in when she showed up. When the judge finally appeared at The Charming Moose, I let her in, and as she stepped inside, she scanned the dining room quickly. I had to wonder if she was searching for my grandmother.
I smiled at her and said, “Don’t worry. She’s not here.”
“She?” the judge asked archly, making one word sound more like an accusation than a simple query. In her late-sixties, the woman was stern and direct, and she wore her gray hair pulled back into a bun so tight it was amazing that she didn’t smile more often just from the pressure alone, but I could see that deep down, she was still quite a lovely woman.
“My grandmother had to leave,” I said, “but everyone else is in the kitchen. Would you care to join us there?”
Judge Dixon waved a shooing hand in the air, gesturing for me to lead on. I didn’t really have a response to that, and besides, she scared me more than a little bit with her judicial air that didn’t need a robe to back it up.
As we walked into the kitchen, I saw Moose’s face soften for just an instant, and I turned to catch a matching glimpse of the judge’s demeanor just before she carefully masked it again. It was clear that, regardless of the circumstances, she was happy to see my grandfather, even if most of his family was surrounding him at the moment.
Getting her composure back, she said, “First things first, Moose. Let’s see that document.”
My grandfather offered it to her as he said, “Thanks for coming, Holly.”
“Of course,” she answered. The judge studied the document carefully, and then after a few moments of consideration, she said, “I’m afraid it’s all in order, as far as it goes. This notice appears to be legal and binding.”
“But I bought this land fifty years ago!” Moose protested. “I paid good money for it.”
If his abrupt tone bothered her in the least, she didn’t show it. “Do you happen to have the original bill of sale?”
Moose just shrugged. “Honestly, if I ever did have one, it’s probably long gone by now. We did business a little differently back then.”
“How about the diner’s safety deposit box?” my father asked. “Could you have stored it there and forgotten about it, Moose? When I had to check it once, it was jam full of all kinds of papers.”
“I might have stuck it there, but then again, there’s just as much a chance that I used the back of it to write a takeout order down two days later.”
“I believe that it would be prudent on your part to find it,” Judge Dixon said. As she tapped the paper, she added, “This document could present you with a great deal of trouble.”
“All I can do is look for it,” Moose said. “Can you suggest anything else we might be able to do to make this mess go away?”
“If I were you, I’d try the courthouse in the morning. If the sale and property transfer were properly registered there, you should be able to win a court case if it comes to that.” She added, almost as an afterthought, “I’d have to recuse myself from the case, of course.”
“Of course,” Moose said. “While you’re here, can I get you a slice of pie? You used to like cherry, if I remember correctly.”
I know it wasn’t my imagination that time. She softened, but just around the edges, and only for a moment. “I’m afraid there’s no time, but thank you for your kind offer.”
After she was gone, I asked Moose, “What exactly was that all about?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Come on, I saw it, and so did everyone else here. Something happened way back then between the two of you, didn’t it? I’m willing to bet that it was more than just casual conversation, too.”
“Child, you’re delusional,” Moos
e said.
“But you didn’t say that she was wrong,” my mother chimed in.
Moose looked as though he wanted to say something, and then he obviously thought better of it. He rubbed his chin whiskers and then he declared, “I need a shower, a shave, and a good night’s sleep. We’ll deal with this in the morning.” As he headed for the door, he turned to his son and daughter-in-law. “Are you two driving me home, or do I have to walk?”
Once they were gone, I looked at Greg, and found that he was smiling at me. “What’s so amusing?”
“I don’t know a single other person in all of Jasper Fork with the courage to tackle your grandfather head-on like you just did, and yet you did it without any sense of concern for your safety or wellbeing. Remind me never to cross you, Victoria.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said with a smile. “I just asked the man a simple question.”
“Whatever you say.” Greg looked at the clock. “Let’s clean up and get out of here. I’m tired, and I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day. I’m going to cancel the poker game tomorrow night.”
“Don’t you dare,” I said. “You need your time away from this place, and besides, what are you going to be able to do to help our cause at night? As a matter of fact, it couldn’t hurt for you to show up and see what your poker buddies have to say. That’s one of the most influential groups in town, and if we can get them on our side, it couldn’t hurt.”
“You’ve convinced me,” he said with the hint of a smile. “I’m going after all.”
As we went about our nightly routine of closing, I balanced the cash register and swept the front while Greg took care of cleaning up the kitchen. The dining room was in good shape when my husband came out to join me, and as we headed home, I couldn’t help wondering if tonight was the beginning of the end for our comfortable and safe little world.
“Come on, open up,” Greg said the next morning as he knocked again and again on the front door. We were waiting on the courthouse steps, it was two minutes until nine, and my husband and I were there to see if any official records of the land sale between Moose and Joshua Lance existed. At the same time we were waiting to check the books, Moose and Martha were going to be visiting the bank, hoping to find the original receipt tucked away in the diner’s safety deposit box. While we were all chasing down leads, Mom was running the grill, and Dad had even taken a little time off from his job to help out up front.