Thirty-Two and a Half Complications

by Denise Grover Swank

  “I suspect it’s too late to get out of our deal with Skeeter anyhow. Now that he knows about your gift, he’s not gonna let it go.”

  “Great.” I sighed again.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have told him, but I was scared.”

  “No, you did the right thing. I just hope to hear something from him soon.”

  After we wrapped things up for the day, I stopped at the Piggly Wiggly to do my Thanksgiving shopping. The turkeys were picked over, but I found a twenty-pounder and filled the cart until it was overflowing since I was out of just about everything I would need. Just my luck, I’d gotten a cart with a sticky wheel, and the more I piled in, the harder it was to push. Realizing I couldn’t fit any more groceries onto my heaping pile, I leaned over and gave the cart a good shove toward the checkout lane when a man by the bakery section caught my eye. I wouldn’t have thought anything about it, except I thought I’d seen the bank robber in the same location the previous day. Stopping in the middle of the main aisle, I turned around and gasped in shock.

  The Batman bank robber was standing there in the Piggly Wiggly’s bakery aisle, squeezing the day-old bread.

  It took me a full two seconds to overcome my shock. But by the time I’d come to my senses, he was already moving toward the back of the store.

  “Excuse me,” a grumpy woman snarled.

  My cart was currently angled diagonally across the main aisle, blocking customers coming from both directions.

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered, leaning into the cart and putting all my weight into it to change directions.

  I finally got the buggy turned around and headed down the cereal aisle toward the possible robber, hoping to intercept him. But as I reached the end of the aisle, a cart came barreling out of nowhere and slammed into mine, sending it toppling onto its side with a loud bang. The contents of my cart spilled out, the turkey sliding across the floor and slamming into a stack of canned sweet potatoes, which toppled over like pins in a bowling alley.

  Several customers screamed and jumped out of the way of rolling cans.

  “You tried to kill me!” A man’s irate voice filled my now-aching head.

  I glanced up to see Officer Ernie with his half-empty cart. He was dressed in skin-tight acid-washed jeans, a Def Leppard T-shirt, and a puffy, sleeveless powder-blue ski vest.

  I put my hands on my hips. “You’re the one who slammed into me!”

  “I shoulda known.” The police officer shook his head with a disgusted look. “If there’s trouble, I can bet you’re a part of it.”

  “I need to—”

  “You need to clean up this mess.”

  “But I think I saw one of the bank robbers!” Oh, Lordy. Why did I tell him that?

  He snorted. “And I saw the Easter Bunny on aisle four. Start cleanin’. Now.”

  The Henryetta police would never listen to me and I needed to track down that bank robber since that liar Skeeter Malcolm wasn’t going to come through on our agreement. I jumped to my feet and took off running toward the back corner of the store, but Officer Ernie caught up with me and grabbed my arm. I shook him loose, but he tumbled sideways into a giant cereal box display arranged into the shape of a giant turkey.

  The tower of boxes fell, a few of them bursting open to send tiny cereal letters flying everywhere. I gaped at the angry police officer climbing to his feet in front of me.

  He grabbed my arm before I had the sense to take off running. “Rose Gardner! You’re under arrest.”

  As he handcuffed me, pushing me out the front doors, I wondered what else could possibly go wrong.

  I should have learned long ago to never ask that question.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I stared at the holding cell walls, not surprised by how familiar they looked. I’d been in this same jail cell several months before for contempt of court.

  I flopped down on the small cot, which wasn’t any more comfortable than it had been last time. “I wonder if they’ll give me a bologna sandwich this time too,” I muttered to myself.

  Mason’s voice drifted down the hall. “Only if I leave you in here for long enough to find out.” He stopped at the front of my cell, hanging onto one of the bars. “I’m feeling a bit of déjà vu.”

  I gave him a regretful smile. “Hey.”

  “Hey yourself. I hear you had an eventful afternoon.”

  “You could say that.”

  A slow grin spread across his face. “For this to truly be déjà vu, you’d need to come over here and talk to me through the bars.”

  I shook my head, smiling. “And I was hoping you were here to spring me loose.”

  “Come on over here and work out your plea bargain.”

  I got to my feet and walked over to the bars. “What are the charges, Mr. Deveraux?”

  “Destruction of property, willful vandalism. Evading a police officer.” He tried to look serious, but a smile tugged at his lips. “You’ve been a very bad girl, Ms. Gardner. How do you plead?”

  “Not guilty.” I turned serious. “Mason, I saw the bank robber from my visions. He was at the Piggly Wiggly. I saw him yesterday too, but only from the corner of my eye. But this time I got a good look at him and I’m positive it was him. I started to run after him, but Officer Ernie slammed his cart into mine, spilling my food everywhere. And when I ran after the robber, Ernie hunted me down. He fell into a cereal display and the bank robber got away.”

  “So I heard, but with a slightly different spin.”

  “Are you mad?”

  “Why would I be mad? Every assistant DA loves to hear that his girlfriend has been arrested.”

  I cringed. “I’m sorry.”

  His hand covered mine over the bars. “Don’t be. This town needs shaking up. Kind of like my life before you barged into it on that fateful day in July. I knew immediately that you were a whirlwind of trouble. It’s one of the many reasons I love you.”

  I rested my forehead on the bars. “Thank you…I think.”

  “Let me go finish up some paperwork to get you out of here.”

  “I still don’t have a turkey, Mason. It slid across the floor of the Piggly Wiggly and knocked over a tower of canned sweet potatoes.”

  He grinned. “I’m really wishing I was there to see this display of destruction and vandalism.”

  “It’s not funny. What are we gonna do about Thanksgiving dinner?”

  “There’s still time to get a turkey, although you’ve been indefinitely banned from the Piggly Wiggly. I guess that means I’ll be doing all the shopping. Which also means we’re gonna starve unless we drive over to the Brookshires’s in Columbia County.”

  “Mason.”

  “Sweetheart, we’ll get it sorted out so you can go back to the grocery store. In the meantime, revel in the fact I have to do the shopping. Most women would love for their boyfriends to do the grocery shopping for them.”

  “You obviously don’t know most women.”

  He laughed. “Sit tight and I’ll have you out in a bit.”

  “I’ve heard that before.”

  He started down the hallway and looked over his shoulder. “So you know I’ll get you out.”

  True to his word, I was out in less than thirty minutes, but by then it was close to five o’clock. When Mason realized the time he released a groan, then said, “It’s too late to go back to work, so why don’t we just head on home?”

  “What are we gonna tell your mother?”

  “The truth. Trust me. She’ll love it.”

  “What about my truck? It’s still in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot.”

  “We’ll leave it and just ride into town together in the morning.”

  “Okay. But what are we gonna do for dinner? All my food’s lying on the grocery store floor.”

  “Stop worrying. We’ll pick up Chinese take-out.”

  He called in the order and we picked it up on our way home.

  Mason was right about his mother. I told them
the sordid details of my encounter with Officer Ernie as we ate at the kitchen table, both of them bursting out into laughter. Maeve said she found my predicament amusing and she promised to shop for our Thanksgiving dinner.

  “Oh, by the way, Rose,” she said, as she broke her fortune cookie in half. “When I was at the shop this afternoon, Violet said she’s planning on bringing her chestnut stuffing.”

  I shot a glance at Mason. “So she is still coming. She told me she was gonna think about it.”

  Maeve read her fortune. “It says ‘Great things are in your future.’” She glanced up and smiled at me. “I’d have to agree with that. What’s yours say, Rose?”

  I grabbed one of the two leftover cookies and broke it in half, almost afraid. “An unexpected amount of cash will appear soon,” I read out loud. Mercy, I hoped that was true, but so far Skeeter wasn’t telling me a blessed thing.

  “Rose,” Maeve said. “It might make it easier for me to get all the supplies for Thanksgiving if you make me a shopping list. And I forgot to mention that Violet said she’s going to bringing a marshmallow salad and a pecan pie.”

  I made a mental tally of who was attending, and something else occurred to me. “I can only imagine what Violet’s gonna say when she discovers I’ve invited Bruce Wayne, David and David’s girlfriend.” I had forgotten to tell her.

  Mason drew in a breath and shot me an ornery grin. “It’s going to be a Thanksgiving to remember.”

  That was an understatement.

  Maeve and I came up with a menu and a shopping list before I went to bed, the excitement of the afternoon having exhausted me. I watched from the bed as Mason emerged from the bathroom in his pajamas and headed for the bedroom door. He’d slept in a spare bedroom the night before, though he’d hid it from his mother.

  “Mason, please don’t sleep in the other room. I miss you.”

  He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. “We’ve already discussed this, Rose.”

  “No, Mason. You’ve discussed it. Did you talk to Jonah this afternoon?”

  He kept his back to me. “Yes.”

  “Don’t you think sleeping in the other room is running away from your problems?”

  He sighed. “You know it’s not that.”

  “Then come back to bed, Mason. If you have a nightmare, I won’t wake you up.”

  He moved away from the door and sat on the edge of the bed. “I can’t promise I won’t hurt you.”

  I grabbed his hand. “I’d rather take my chances than sleep without you.” I reached behind his head and pulled his mouth to mine, convincing him that staying in bed with me was the best idea since the invention of the wheel.

  I was in a deep sleep, my back pressed against Mason’s front, when I heard a phone ringing. Mason reached over and grabbed my cell off my nightstand while I struggled to wake up.

  “This is Mason Deveraux.” He sounded so serious and professional that my grogginess cleared and I lifted my head.

  “Yes,” he said. “We’ll be right there.” He held onto my phone after hanging up.

  “What happened?” I asked, looking up at him.

  “That was Officer Sprout. Your nursery was broken into.”

  “What?” I bolted upright.

  “The alarm was going off, so he went by to see if it was a false alarm. It wasn’t.” He started to get out of bed. “I’m going down there to check it out. You stay here and get some rest.”

  I got out of bed on the other side. “I’m going too.”

  “There’s no reason for you to go, Rose. I can take care of it.”

  “It’s my business, Mason.”

  “I know. My offer wasn’t meant as an insult.”

  “I know, but I’ll never be able to sleep.” I opened my dresser drawer to pull out a pair of sweatpants. “I’m going.”

  He relented, and I called Violet on the way into town.

  “Vi, did the police call you?”

  “Yeah.” Her voice was shaky. “Mike’s on his way over to watch the kids and Joe’s going to bring me.”

  “Do you seriously think Joe bringing you is a good idea, Violet?” My voice was cold.

  “I’m sure you’ll have Mason there for you to look after your best interests. And I’ll have Joe looking out for mine. If your boyfriend has a problem with it, tough.”

  “Joe’s coming?” Mason asked after I hung up.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine. The two of us are going to have to see each other sooner rather than later. I only wish you weren’t part of it.”

  I couldn’t say I didn’t feel the same way.

  Two police cars were parked in the nursery parking lot, and Detective Taylor met us at the front door. “I need to warn you. It’s quite a mess.”

  My stomach in knots, I started through the front door, sucking in my breath when I saw the destruction. The entire place had been vandalized. The display shelves were empty and tipped over and everything that had been on them was smashed. All the artificial Christmas trees that Violet had spent so much time decorating were strewn in pieces around the store. Broken ornaments crunched beneath our feet as we walked. All the wreaths and decorations on the walls had been pulled down and tossed in a pile. The room was cluttered with so much crap I could hardly make my way though. A giant Stay Away From was painted in red across the wall behind the cash register, the warning clearly unfinished. We had started to pick our way through the mess to the back room when Violet and Joe showed up.

  I slipped my hand into Mason’s to reassure both of us.

  “Damn,” Joe muttered as he crossed the threshold. “This isn’t a robbery. This is a personal vendetta.” He glared toward me. “Who have you pissed off now?”

  “Excuse me?” I shouted.

  Mason’s hand tightened around mine. “Chief Deputy Simmons, I’ll ask you to speak to Rose respectfully or not at all.”

  Violet started crying. “I’ve spent weeks on this. Weeks. And now it’s completely ruined.” She turned to face me. “This is all your fault, Rose!”

  “My fault?”

  “You’re trying to find out who robbed that bank.” Her eyes narrowed. “Yeah, I know. Joe’s told me all about it.”

  “This has nothing to do with me.”

  “The giant graffiti on the wall says otherwise,” Joe bit out.

  Mason wrapped an arm around my shoulders and tugged me against him. “Before we start making accusations, perhaps you should conduct an actual investigation, Simmons.”

  “This falls under the jurisdiction of the Henryetta police.”

  Mason released a sound that started as a rumble, then grew into a roar. “For the love of all that is holy, Joe. If you care anything about either one of these two women, will you please conduct an investigation? Their business has just been destroyed.”

  I closed my eyes and sank against him, his words sinking in.

  There was nothing left to save.

  “I want to go home, Mason.”

  He lowered his mouth to my ear. “You don’t want to look around more?”

  “There’s nothing left to look at.”

  “Oh, God,” Violet said, hurrying across the room, picking her way through the debris. She rounded the corner and searched the shelves and the floor.

  “Violet.” Joe made his way over to her. “What are you looking for?”

  “The deposit bag. I had to pick up the kids and I didn’t have time to get to the bank, so I put it under the counter to keep it safe.” She started to cry.

  I was grateful I hadn’t given her the check I’d been paid the previous day for the Timberland job. I brushed back my hair. “Most of our sales are usually by credit or debit card, right? We’ll be fine.”

  “That’s just it. I haven’t gone to the bank for several days. We had several thousand in cash.”

  I started to laugh and all three of them looked at me like I was a two-headed cow. “That’s how this all started—because Violet didn’t go to the bank and we lost
thousands of dollars. It seems fitting for it to end this way too.”

  “With all due respect, Rose,” Violet said in tightly controlled voice. “Losing cash is one thing, but we’ve just lost almost everything in the store. All the preparations for the Christmas Open House have been ruined. So not only do we not have the money to pay off our debt, we have no income to keep us going. All thanks to you.”

  “Violet.” Mason’s voice was harsh. “Your insurance will cover this loss.”

  “But not in time. We’re sunk.”

  Mason groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “It’s three o’clock in the morning and we’re all tired and upset. Let’s not start making accusations that we’ll regret in the light of day. We’ll let the police and sheriff conduct their investigation and go from there.”

  We left soon after, while Joe and Violet stayed. Despite our animosity, I grieved for my sister. My money may have been tied to the store, but my heart wasn’t. My heart belonged to the dirt and the plants of the outdoor jobs I’d been handling with Bruce Wayne.

  “I know it looks bad, Rose, but insurance will cover this.”

  “It won’t be the same, but it’s all just stuff. Violet and I, though… Well, this will only make things worse. I’m not sure we can fix them.”

  “I know Violet’s done some incredibly hurtful things to you, but don’t give up on her. I suspect you’re right in thinking you’d be better off splitting up your business, but… Well, I’d give anything to have Savannah back, imperfections and all. Violet is your family. That means something.”

  He squeezed my hand, and I found myself wishing someone would give the same speech to Violet because it sure felt like she’d given up on me months ago.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I couldn’t go back to sleep after we got home. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the destruction of everything Violet and I had put so much work into, destroyed. Even if Skeeter got our money back at this point, it wouldn’t be enough.

  Instead, I went to the kitchen and tried to scrounge up enough ingredients to make a pumpkin pie. After I made enough dough for four pies, I sat at the kitchen table and nursed a cup of coffee, trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces of the Gardner Sisters Nursery and move on.