Christmas and Cleats

by Solly, Clare

  Not wanting to be trapped by anyone at this moment, Dottie wiggled out of his arms a little more roughly than she meant to. “We did what, Harold?” she accused.

  “Dottie, what’s wrong?” Harold noticed she was upset. He pulled the door closed just as Hetty reached the ground floor.

  “Dottie, I—Oh, hey Harold.” Hetty spoke with draining enthusiasm.

  “Hetty!” he shouted. He truly was ignorant to how much Hetty disliked him. Harold and put his arm around Dottie’s shoulders. Once they were past the threshold, he removed his arm from around Dottie why she exchanged a look with Hetty. Taking off his coat, he tossed it over the banister.

  “Hey, Harold, I thought I heard your voice,” Don acknowledged coming down the stairs. “How are you, man? I haven’t seen you in ages?”

  Both men tempered politeness as Harold put out his hand for Don to shake, “Good to see you, Don. Things are well. How is the diner?”

  Sharing another look, Hetty asked Dottie with her eyes what was going on. Dottie raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

  “Fine, fine. To be expected,” Don answered politely.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Frank said has he descended the stairs. “Never see you around here,” Frank lightly admonished Harold. Dottie was unaware until now just how much all of the people currently in this room didn’t care much for Harold. It was very obvious in their voices.

  “Frank! You’re here too, great!” Harold was getting more excited. “Well, since you’re all here, I have an announcement!”

  “Harold, what—” Dottie was cut off.

  “We are moving to New York!” Harold’s excitement was met with a stunned silence.

  Frank finally broke the tension. “Well, congratulations, he said reaching out to shake Harold’s hand. Then turning his attention to her, he said, “Dottie, I didn’t know you were wanting to leave.”

  “Frank, you know that Dottie has always talked about traveling around the world,” Hetty said both trying to clue Frank in, and pointedly spoke to Dottie.

  “Well,” Don cleared his throat, “That’s… great. We will certainly miss you… Dottie.” Hetty glared at her husband. “What? What did I say?” he asked innocently.

  “Thanks, Don!” Harold beamed. They all stood in silence waiting for Dottie to say something, but she just blinked a few times. “Dottie, they’re still working on the contract for your cookies, but I’m sure it will come through. Now, I have to start next week, but I know you are attached to this,” he looked around the front hallway odiously, “place. So, I told them you would have to call in remotely in on any meetings. I should go and start getting packed up. I have to move in the next four days!” He reached for his coat and started to shrug into it. “When did you put up the Christmas tree in the ballroom?” Harold asked when he caught the sight of it.

  Still standing in the middle of them all, Dottie said nothing.

  “Uh, this morning,” Hetty answered Harold.

  Confirming to Dottie she really did help put up the tree.

  “Harold that is great news,” Dottie snapped out of her stupor and walked to him and kissed his cheek. “You should get going, and we can talk later about all of the details,” she oozed with sweetness as she led him by the arm out through the door.

  “I knew you would be happy!” he exclaimed. “Ok, honey, I’ll call you later.”

  Dottie held the doorknob as Harold walked out of the museum. He put his phone up to his ear as he got into his car. She turned to Hetty and with irritation spat, “We will talk later.” Then she walked through the door and slammed it behind her.

  As she walked up her driveway and down Joe’s, the words formed and reformed in her head. She was moving, and he was leaving, and it was time once and for all to tell him how she felt. Years of feelings rose up and congested her head with frustration and hurt. Memories of the last few days flooded her brain as well. Why did he bother doing nice things for her, and looking at her the way he did, if he was only leaving again? Most likely leaving town for good this time. Dottie stopped walking as her heart had a shot of pain as she realized she had always held the hope he would be back. As long as he still owned his parents’ house, she knew he would come back someday. But now he would be leaving and for good.

  “Well good riddance!” she shouted at no one in particular. Snapping back out of the pain and into her frustration she took a few more steps and reasoned, she was leaving, too. New York was calling and—she stopped walking again. Just a few moments ago when Harold announced it, it felt wrong. Looking to her left she could still see the roof of the museum. Her heart warmed. That felt right.

  Shaking her head, she told herself that moving on was good. Heading toward a future with Harold in New York was what was planned, and the museum would be fine. She would get these new exhibits up and volunteers could run it. It didn’t matter that she stayed. Someone else could run it. Then she could travel the world and study other history as she always had planned to do. Besides, the world went on without Joe here, she thought. And he was a bigger deal to the town then she would ever be.

  The audacity he had to come and put a Christmas tree up in her museum! The thought heated her blood again, and she marched down toward the front door. Knocking hard with her fist, Dottie hollered, “Joe! We need to talk!”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  He had been on edge all day. The excitement was palpable. From the moment he got the idea he was just waiting to hear what Dottie thought. His phone was quiet. Nothing from Dottie. He hadn’t heard anything from Hetty, Frank or Murray. They were all in on it, so he thought he would hear something by now. He had texted them all but had gotten vague responses. Hetty said she was headed over to the museum around six-thirty but hadn’t texted after that. Dottie must have seen it by now. It was getting late. The sun had set at least four hours ago. Looking out the windows in the kitchen, he tried to see the museum, but between the rise of the hill and the row of hedges, he couldn’t even see the roof of the building.

  Yesterday the plan seemed simple when he called Hetty.

  “We should meet at the hardware store tomorrow early,” Hetty had in reply when he spouted the idea to her.

  “Great,” he exclaimed, “We can get supplies and decorations.”

  “Nope, we’re gonna get hers,” Hettie schemed. “Frank and Murray are gonna know exactly what to do. They know everything.”

  When they met thirty minutes later at the hardware store, Hetty had the blueprint of a plan in her mind. Joe remembered her being a planner, but not this much of a force of nature.

  “According to Robert, Dottie is supposed to be at the school in the morning looking through yearbooks,” Murray commented from his seat behind the counter. “He’s gonna let me know when she is leaving which will give you two a couple of minutes heads up if you’re not done yet.”

  “And if you need, I can always call her and make a distraction,” Frank proposed as he stood up from leaning on his hand that was resting on the outside of the counter. I was over there and finished fixing the roof, so I can always call her and make something up.”

  “Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Joe said smirking to the team.

  “We only use our powers for good, not evil, Joe,” Hetty clarified while smiling. She continued “Great, now, I want to get her decorations out of her apartment.”

  “I’ve got the key to the building. I helped Art, the owner, do some repairs a few months back. He said to keep the key in case anything else came up,” Frank added.

  “Dottie doesn’t lock her front door unless she’s sleeping,” Murray divulged.

  “How do you know that, old man?” Hetty challenged.

  “None of your business,” Murray turned away. They all stared at him. “Fine. She told me about a year ago that she needed a new doorknob that didn’t automatically lock. She wanted something she could leave open. Growing up out here in the country she got used to not locking her house, so she would forget to take keys
, and lock herself out. I told her the way to flip the settings so it wouldn’t lock. Then,” his informative tone changed to reassuring, “I gave her a lecture that she should lock her door. She reminded me that no one can get into the building without a key. But after giving her my sternest look,” Murray demonstrated the face, and they all stifled a laugh as he continued, “that if nothing else, she should lock her door at night when she’s sleeping. She promised,” he finished looking smug.

  “And… you know she’s doing it because…” Hetty led him to answer.

  “That girl does what people tell her to. She’s a good gal,” Murray said.

  All but Murray bust out laughing. Tears started falling out of Hetty’s eyes from her gasping guffaws. “You know that’s not true,” she choked through their chuckling.

  “Yeah,” Joe agreed. “Dottie is worse than either of us when it comes to doing what she’s told. She just makes you think she’ll do it.”

  Hetty turned to Joe, “Great, so wear all black, and we will sneak in during the night and nab the ornaments.” They laughed harder.

  “I’ve totally got your back,” Joe took on a serious tone but played along and even squatted down on one knee with his back to her, making a gun with his finger and thumb.

  Hetty took his lead and with her back to his lunged out and made a gun with her hand; both took on spy poses.

  “Are you two done clowning around?” Frank asked.

  “Sure, sure,” Joe said as he got up groaning. Then rubbed his knees out of habit.

  “Those knees of yours, they gonna last another season?” Murray questioned.

  “Doc says they’ll last me a while longer, but the knees say otherwise. We’ll just pretend it’s from all the work on the house,” Joe said.

  “You trying to get the inside scoop on the season,” Frank pointed at Murray.

  “No, no. Just making conversation,” Murray retreated. “Can’t a guy just care about his friend’s well-being?”

  “I don’t trust you, ya old coot. Everyone knows you’re a gossip,” Frank accused.

  Murray picked up the silent store telephone. “Hello?” he spoke into the phone, dial tone loud enough they all could hear it. He handed the phone over to Frank a moment later, “Hey Pot, its Kettle to tell you, you’re black.”

  “What does that mean?” Frank asked.

  Murray rolled his eyes and hung up the phone without breaking eye contact, “It’s like the pot calling the kettle black,” Murray explained slowly.

  “I... don’t get it,” Frank played stupid. “Explain it again, would ya? A little slower this time.”

  “You two are incorrigible!” Hetty exclaimed.

  “So,” Joe changed the subject, “do you think she has a tree stand?”

  “I think that we should take one from here just in case, and maybe a couple of new sets of lights,” Hetty suggested. “It’s always a pain when you start to decorate, and you only have one set of lights that works.”

  “I’ll go grab them,” Frank hustled off.

  “Hey, Joe,” Hetty changed to a cautious tone, “This is a great thing you’re doing, but I hope you’re doing it with the right intentions.”

  “What do you mean?” Joe raised an eyebrow, questioning her.

  Murray jumped in, “Son, everyone can see how you feel about that gal, well everyone who is paying attention. She won’t admit it, but she broke like an over turned bureau of delicate china when you left town.”

  “There’s no way that Dottie—” Joe started to protest

  “It’s true, Joe.” Hetty confirmed by stepping closer to her friend and putting her hand on his shoulder. “She might not know it, but she has harbored feelings for you for years. You didn’t come back until now, so she pushed them way down deep inside and ignored them. All the while telling herself for years that Harold was the one. This is a very delicate situation.”

  Starting to protest, Joe’s breath hitched as things seemed to snap together. Dottie’s appealing eyes appeared in his mind. He thought about all of their interactions lately. She was always waiting for him to say… something.

  As if answering his thought, Murray said, “She’s waiting for you. Even though she doesn’t know it.”

  “So, think long and hard, because after this, there is no going back, Joe,” Hetty agreed. “You know you should have done something back in high school, but—”

  “I’m in it for the right reason, Hetty. We’re going through with it,” he determinedly clenched his jaw.

  “What did I miss,” Frank walked back feeling the tension.

  “Just making sure Joe knows he is reigniting fires by putting up this tree,” Murray said.

  “Oh, good,” Frank said to Murray. Then turning to Joe and putting a hand on his shoulder, he said, “Yup, that gal loves you. I’m glad you’re doing this.”

  “Great, so we have a plan,” Joe tried to end the awkward conversation. “What do I owe you for the lights?”

  “I’ll put it on your tab,” Murray waved off the cash Joe started to hand over. “Now get out of here and get going. You’re losing time.”

  “Thanks,” Joe smiled and put away the money. He grabbed the lights and tree stand. “Should I pick you up?” he asked Hetty.

  “Nah, I’ll take my car. We can both go to the apartment, then I’ll follow you home. You park at your house. I’ll follow you and drive us and the tree up. This way if she does come to the museum, it won’t be suspect. I’m there all the time,” Hetty explained.

  “Great.” Joe nodded.

  They both started to walk out of the store when Frank called out, “If you need to get into the museum, there is a key above the kitchen door directly above the door knob. Just make sure you put it in the exact same place, or she’ll think something is up.”

  “Thanks,” Joe and Hetty hollered in unison.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  It was surprisingly easy to sneak into Dottie’s apartment and into the museum. Joe and Hetty had no real problems. At her apartment, her next-door neighbor, an agreeable old man who came over when he saw the door open. He was standing in the doorway when Hetty turned around to take the first box of ornaments downstairs. She jumped.

  “Oh hey, Mr. Norman,” she tried to regain her breath and heart rate.

  “Hey Hetty. Did Dottie leave me those cookies?”

  “Oh, uh,” Hetty struggled with the box, and tried to look over her shoulder into the kitchen. “Um, I don’t see anything, but you’re welcome to go take a look.”

  The man that was a foot shorter than she. He was dressed in a brown sweater vest with his long seventies collar popping out of the top. His brown corduroy pants and brown suede slippers completed the outfit as he blinked through his rectangular wire rimmed glasses that doubled the size of his eyeballs. It seemed they had a standoff in the doorway.

  “Mr. Norman, this container is kinda heavy could you—” Just then Joe rescued her as she tried to get out and he waited to get in.

  “Let me take that, excuse me sir,” he said taking the box from Hetty and turning started to walk down the stairs with it.

  “Hey, I know you,” the old man shouted as he shuffled to look over the railing. “You’re that baseball kid.”

  Joe stopped and looked up, “Yes sir, that’s me,” and stood frozen as if he were caught and was thinking up an excuse to get out of trouble.

  “We’re helping Dottie decorate the museum,” Hetty told a little white lie to Mr. Norman. She crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped he wouldn’t see through it.

  Squinting an eye at her, Mr. Norman finally said, “Well that’s nice of you. Tell her I’m waiting for those cookies,” and he shuffled back inside his apartment.

  Hetty quickly took a picture of the train set with her cell phone, and then started to gently put all of the pieces in the box, carefully wrapping each up in tissue. Joe came back up and helped her. They were done in no time and headed to Joe’s house to drop off his car, then drove up to the museu
m. Hetty pulled up close to the kitchen door. They saw the “Closed” sign on the front door and decided just to go in through the kitchen. The key was just where Frank said it would be.

  After loading all of the decorations into the ballroom, they began. The thing that took the longest was getting the tree straight. Hetty spotted it by holding it at the top, while Joe was underneath. After about fifteen minutes and both of them taking turns to stand back they decided it was straight enough.

  “There is power over here,” Hetty said walking over to the left of the fireplace. She opened a box and pulled out an extension cord.

  ‘How did you know that would be there?”

  “When they do events with music, they have the band set up here in front of the window. So, Dottie just leaves the extension cord here to make it easier to plug the keyboard and speakers in,” Hetty explained.

  “Maybe we should divide and conquer. If I work on the tree, you can set up the village underneath,” Joe suggested.

  “Sure, that sounds good. Why don’t I help you do the lights so you’re not tripping over me, and then I’ll dive into the trains,” Hetty replied.

  “Great!” he said.

  “Fantastic!” she agreed.

  They set to work. It wasn’t as much fun as it was setting up his tree with Dottie the day before, but it was great to be this close for this long with Hetty again. They caught up on all kinds of things, his career, her diner, his apartment, her attempts at having children.

  “So, tell me about this girlfriend of yours,” Hetty prodded.

  “Not much to tell. We met at a celebrity fundraiser gala. She was there and a mutual friend introduced us. A few pictures were snapped of us together laughing. Her publicist called me the next day and suggested we go on a date,” Joe disclosed.

  “So… not a fairy tale. No horse, no castle, no swooning,” Hetty teased.

  Joe chuckled, “Nah, nothing like that. She was just so driven to get the career she wanted. I knew all along I was a stepping stone. A good public relations move. At the time, I didn’t care. I had lost my parents and was tired of being the party boy. I was also tired of women trying to throw themselves at my feet. So, in a way she was my protection while it lasted,” Joe mused.