Robin's Reward (Bonita Creek Trilogy Book 1)

by McCrary Jacobs, June

  He changed into shorts and an old t-shirt in preparation for taking the strenuous run he’d planned. He caught sight of Robin stomping by across the street. From the expression on her face, it appeared she was agitated about something. He smiled as he was reminded she was especially attractive when irritated or worked up about something. He was relieved he was not the cause of her bad mood this time. He hadn’t even spoken to her in a couple of days.

  Shoving his romantic woes into a seldom-used corner of his mind, he left his rental and headed for the running trail he was learning to enjoy as a physical and mental challenge. The solitude of running gave him time to think over his feelings regarding Robin, his difficult consulting assignment, and the dilemma of avoiding Miss Susan Stinson. By the end of his run, he felt a peace and contentment flowing through his soul he’d not felt in a long time. He took this as a positive sign of things to come.

  ~*~

  By the time she arrived back at her cottage a few minutes later, Robin was an overheated, overstressed disaster. Her thoughts were running wild and she knew moping around the cottage was not going to relieve her stress. She decided to work in her back garden for awhile in an effort to calm her nerves. Quickly she changed into her gardening clothes and work shoes and slathered on some heavy-duty sunscreen. Grabbing a bottle of icy water she drew a broad-brimmed sun hat onto her head and headed out her back door.

  As she pulled on her gardening gloves she made a mental plan of her tasks for the day. Her list included weeding, deadheading some flowers, and feeding her perennials. As she worked, her thoughts flashed back to an encounter with Susan Stinson from their senior year of high school. After a particularly difficult week of listening to Susan’s criticisms and taunts, Robin asked her classmate why she was so mean to her.

  “I despise you. Plain and simple. You’re like little Miss Sunshine. Sugar and spice and everything nice. Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes. I just can’t stand you. You’re everyone’s favorite even though you’re homely. I should be the popular one because I’m much prettier than you. You’re such a loser, Chaplin.”

  If today’s remarks were any indication, Susan’s angst toward Robin had only grown during the past eight years. “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” Robin reminded herself. She sent up a quick prayer for Susan and began humming. She soon forgot about her troubles of the past few days. Lost in her chores and delighting in her garden, Robin worked for almost three hours before hunger struck with a vengeance.

  She cleaned up her tools and headed toward the cottage. After showering and changing into a cool, comfortable floral print caftan, she decided to phone Penny to tell her about the Jeff/Susan connection.

  “Hey, cousin. I think I figured out why Jeff Clarke brushed me off on Saturday morning.” She paused dramatically before revealing her speculation. “He’s dating Susan Stinson.”

  “Susan Stinson?” Penny voice screeched through the phone at an unusually loud volume for the shy seamstress. “Are you sure? That makes absolutely no sense.”

  “Well, yeah, I’m sure. I had the distinct displeasure of meeting up with Susan at the park this afternoon, and she told me they are dating. She even called Jeff her ‘boyfriend’. She was so smug about it I wanted to smash my double-scoop strawberry ice cream cone all over her perfect face. I know it doesn’t sound at all ladylike, but it’s how I felt when she told me.”

  Penny’s sweet laughter floated through the telephone line. “Can’t blame you for feeling that way. I guess in the long run this will help you to forget about him more quickly. I mean, what he did to you was definitely not kosher. Now you don’t need to waste time regretting what could have been and all. If he prefers the other woman, the guy needs to have his head examined.”

  They laughed for a few moments before Robin added, “Thanks. I knew I could count on you to help me see the light. How’s it going with you?”

  “It’s going really well. I’ve got a new job for a lady I sew for to design and make her daughter’s prom dress. Money is no object according to the client. So, I’m having a great time working with wonderfully expensive fabrics, crystal beads, and over-the-top silk threads. What a treat.”

  “Sounds like you’re busy, so I’ll let you go. See you soon.”

  “Call me anytime you need to talk.”

  ~*~

  Robin made herself an egg salad sandwich and put together a small green salad made with the organic produce she was growing in her own garden. None of her tomatoes were ready for harvest yet, but they would be well worth the wait when they became ripe later on in the summer. She took the food and a glass of iced tea out to her back patio. From the picnic bench, she could see her entire garden and looked upon it with a sense of pride. When she moved back into the cottage three years ago, the gardens had been an overgrown eyesore. Her grandfather had tended the gardens with love and devotion while her grandmother preferred to spend her time indoors cooking, baking, and sewing. With her grandfather’s sudden death a few years earlier, the gardens had been left to tend themselves. Robin’s goal was to bring the gardens back to their former brilliance. Little by little, she was accomplishing her goal in well-planned phases.

  With a lot of planning, patience, and good old-fashioned sweat equity, she’d created a peaceful haven for birds, insects, her guests, and herself. She enjoyed eating her meals or reading out in her backyard paradise. This evening she enjoyed her meal and the quietude she experienced in her garden until she heard the thumping of a stereo echoing from somewhere behind her home. Standing up on the bench, she could see into the yard directly behind hers. Oh, I so cannot believe this! He does live behind me! Mr. Jeff ‘The Ratfink Weasel’ Clarke was sitting on his deck eating from a plastic food container balanced on his lap. Unbelievable!

  Her heart softening, she thought how this was an example of wasting resources. The two of them could be spending this evening together getting to know each other better and enjoying each other’s company. Instead, they were each eating alone with only their own thoughts, regrets, hopes, and dreams for companionship. Hold on there, girlfriend. If he’d wanted your companionship he wouldn’t have snubbed you, now would he?

  She considered calling out an invitation to Jeff across the back fence to come to her place for some dessert and conversation. She shut down her thoughts when she remembered why they weren’t spending time together. He’d made the choice to end their acquaintance before it even began. She’d rather spend her time alone than to approach someone who’d rejected her so unkindly. After all, the man obviously had no common sense—he’d chosen Susan Stinson as the object of his attention and affection. Robin shook her in disbelief. Of all the women.

  Robin quickly cleared her plate and went inside to her desk. She spent the rest of the evening listening to music while working on the plans for the Storybook Fair. The library’s major annual fundraiser was scheduled for the final weekend in May at the town’s historic park. The date coordinated with the end of the school year and didn’t interfere with graduation, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, or Father’s Day. Robin had been responsible for the entire event since its inception when she became the Head Librarian three years ago. The library would reopen for business tomorrow, so she had this last evening off before things got hectic.

  This year the fair would offer several booths with activities for children and adults alike. Each booth would be named and themed around a favorite storybook character or setting. In the ‘Little Red Hen’ booth sponsored by the local bakery, children would learn to knead bread and walk away with a warm roll fresh from the oven. The local family grocery market was sponsoring a candy booth called, ‘Willy Wonka’s Candy Factory,’ where children of all ages would be able to shop and fill a small paper sack with their choice of candies.

  The local model train club was hosting the ‘Little Engine That Could Model Train.’ Guests could view a large model train traversing through forests of pines, over steep mountains, down through valleys and across river bridges before being given a genuine w
ooden train whistle as a gift. The nursery and garden supply store was sponsoring ‘Mr. MacGregor’s Garden’ where children would learn about planting and growing vegetable and flower seeds while working in a small sample garden plot. Children could choose two packets of seeds to take home to plant in their own gardens.

  Town Books set up a booth filled with several shelves of brand new books for children ages six months to young adult. With the donation of two gently used books for the library’s bookstore, a donor would have the opportunity to choose a brand new book to take home. This was consistently one of the most popular booths. Bonita Creek residents loved to read, and parents and grandparents were committed to the literacy of their offspring.

  At the ‘Teddy Bear Picnic’ area hosted by the local Lions Club families could buy grilled burgers, hot dogs, cold salads, and beverages for a reasonable fee. The festive booth included picnic tables set up in the shade and lively music performed by a group of musically-talented Lions. Robin smiled as she remembered the broad repertoire of music played by the band. Show tunes, country, rockabilly, gospel, soft rock, folk, jazz, and children’s favorites were included in their play list each year.

  The band was even willing to take requests for a ten dollar cash donation to the library fund. A large coffee can labeled, ‘You Want It, You Got It,’ sat on the corner of the makeshift stage. This was one of the greatest sources of funds at the fair each year. The ‘Teddy Bear Picnic’ was the ending point for most of the families.

  Fair attendees were encouraged to wear a costume depicting their favorite storybook character. The vast majority of the attendees arrived in homemade costumes, so there was a costume contest at the end of the evening, too. Many little ones wore rabbit costumes in honor of an all-time favorite naughty book character, Peter Rabbit. Some little girls wore Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty costumes. A few of the families dressed as groups of characters such as those from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, or The Three Little Pigs. Some of the older children and teens chose characters from The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit or adventure stories such as Robin Hood and Swiss Family Robinson.

  Robin proudly wore the same costume each year. Her all-time favorite book character was Laura Ingalls Wilder, the frontier girl from the Little House book series. In Laura’s honor, she wore a handmade pioneer-era dress, apron, sun bonnet, and lace-up boots. She thought it was fun and inspiring to see the citizens using their imaginations to bring storybook characters to life.

  The citizens and merchants of Bonita Creek were generous supporters of this fundraising effort. Some of her regular library volunteers sold advance tickets at a small discount, and the response was overwhelming. For a working-class town going through its own tough economic times, people were enthusiastic about helping out their library. The fair was a fun kickoff for the summer, and she felt the local children became more involved in her summer reading program due to the early exposure it was given at the fair.

  The past three fairs had generated enough funds to purchase six new computers and two new printers for the library. She’d discovered many of the citizens couldn’t afford to have a computer and printer at home, much less pay for the internet service they would need to be in touch with the outside world. The local internet service provider was a homegrown company owned by one of the patriarchs of the community. Mr. Jorgenson generously donated free internet service to the library on an annual basis.

  Using last year’s proceeds, the library’s board of trustees had approved the purchase of some new tables and chairs for the children’s area of the library along with updating the library’s collection of books, music recordings, and movies. The large print fiction and non-fiction collections also benefited from the additional funds generated at the fair.

  This year the library board had agreed to designate all of the money collected toward a new energy-efficient heating and air-conditioning system. The local HVAC contractor, Sam Baker, had approached Robin and offered to install the new system at no charge if the library could cover the wholesale cost of the equipment. After researching the issue in depth, Robin felt this updated system would save the city a lot of money on the monthly utility bills for electricity and gas.

  Since many Bonita Creek residents couldn’t afford air-conditioning for their small homes, they used the library often on hot summer afternoons and evenings. She considered the library to be a sort of respite away from it all for the library’s patrons, and she was committed to making the library as comfortable as possible.

  She spent many hours of her own time searching for ways to reduce the cost of the climate-control equipment. She’d applied for several grants through government programs, municipal utility energy-saving programs, and a national green energy foundation which acted as a benefactor of non-profit organizations who try to reduce energy usage in their facilities. With the money the library had been awarded through these endeavors, Robin had cut the estimated cost of the new equipment almost in half. Hopefully the community would come through with the rest of the funds needed to accomplish their goal.

  The ‘gently’ used books collected at the ‘Town Books’ booth at the Storybook Fair were later organized by the Bonita Creek Library Boosters and sold through the quaint, well-organized bookstore they had set up in one of the small conference rooms in the library building. The funds raised through this venture were used to purchase books and media materials for the collection and to provide prizes for the summer reading program. The Boosters also hired local storytellers, puppeteers, and magicians to entertain the children at various gatherings throughout the summer months.

  Soon Robin felt her thoughts detouring to her personal life. Her job was enriching, but she longed to have someone to share her empty days and nights. Her hopes of sharing them with Jeff Clarke were obviously not meant to be. She revisited the memory of his behavior at breakfast last Saturday morning, and she grew puzzled all over again. She scolded herself for overanalyzing other people, but it seemed like her guest had purposefully been a jerk to push her away.

  What had accounted for this man’s sudden change in temperament? It baffled and dismayed Robin. Maybe she’d read too much into their initial interlude. Her old friend, self doubt, crept in and reminded her she probably just wasn’t attractive or sophisticated enough for his big city tastes. If he was dating Susan Stinson, he was looking for a certain level of physical attractiveness Robin admittedly would never attain. Realizing she wasn’t going to be able to get her mind back on the fundraiser for the time being, she closed up her folder and laptop and decided to spend time reading and praying before retiring for the night.

  ~*~

  Since even simple fare such as scrambled eggs and bacon tested Jeff’s meager cooking skills, he resorted to heating up a frozen microwave dinner from the health food store. Although usually one of his favorites, tonight’s organic tangy Thai chicken with rice entrée was unsavory at vest. His bitterness toward his recent choices was palatable in each bite.

  He’d been enjoying a variety of songs on the local ‘oldies’ radio station. Hearing a singer mention girls with broken hearts in the song currently playing, his head snapped up with realization. Without a touch of arrogance, he realized he was guilty of wounding Robin’s pride a few mornings ago. “She’s probably still ticked off at me.” He wondered if she was sitting home thinking about his bad behavior. “You give yourself too much credit, Clarke. Robin Bennett hasn’t spent another second of her time thinking about you.”

  Had his rejection of her offer of friendship and kindness caused her pain? Disappointment in his actions washed over him yet again and destroyed what remained of his appetite. He dropped his fork onto his plate in disgust and sighed heavily.

  Robin Bennett probably had lots of guys asking her out. He seriously doubted she’d have any room in her life for a loser like him. He searched his mind to accurately recall their first conversation on the front porch. He pictured the brunette’s expression when she confided in him she no l
onger accepted dates after a long string of unfulfilling relationships. He felt a stinging pang of guilt when he recalled how she had poignantly described her past relationships with men as ‘sorrowful and dead end.’

  Surprisingly, she had confided to him about her ‘overabundance of tragic fate’ in her romantic relationships. Then he had unwittingly encouraged and supported her self-fulfilling prophecy by his rude manners and unkind efforts to turn her away.

  He realized it would be impossible to get the pretty brunette out of his mind because he didn’t want to lose his connection to her. She seemed to have the traits he’d always admired in women. From what little he knew, she was kind, compassionate, loving, intelligent, talented, and pleasant.

  He knew he wouldn’t want to live with himself if he didn’t attempt to correct his mistakes where Robin Bennett was concerned, and try to repair any damage he might’ve done.

  The evening evolved into a time of reflection and goal-setting for Jeff. He returned to his den, turned off the stereo and dragged out the files Mr. Bauer had provided. With the tight deadline imposed by the City Manager, there was no use postponing his tasks. He began analyzing the financial records regarding the Bonita Creek Library and lost himself in numbers for more than three hours.

  He was shocked to learn how little Robin was paid for working as a professional with a specialized and required Master’s Degree. Her salary was just a small portion of the annual operating budget for the library. Unless her insurance coverage was documented on another financial document, she had no health, dental, vision or life insurance coverage through the city.

  Did she have to pay for her healthcare out of her pocket? This was a travesty in his opinion as he quickly jotted down a note to look into this matter further. There were no other payroll expenses listed on the statements. Was she running the entire operation by herself? He added this item to his list of things to investigate.