by Jessica Beck
It was bad enough as it was.
The top branches had crashed into the shop, shattering my front window and damaging some of the bricks that made up the front and left side exterior walls. I could easily see inside without going through the front door, something that was pretty alarming to view. As Grace and I stood there, the tree shifted a little, and I found my best friend tugging at my arm. “Suzanne, we can’t go in there. It’s not safe.”
“It will be fine,” I said as I pulled against her grip, trying to release it.
“Of course it will, because we’re both staying right here until we can get someone to help us deal with this.”
She pulled out her cell phone, and I said, “Grace, I told you before. We can’t call the police chief.”
“I’m not calling Stephen,” she said with a grin. “I’m going even higher up the chain of command.”
“You’re phoning the mayor?” I asked, knowing that George Morris had to have his hands full as well.
“I’m going even higher than that. I’m calling your mother. If anyone can get us some help over here on the double, she’s the one.”
I knew that Grace was right, and I probably should have thought of it myself, but I was still in shock, not only from the damage to my shop, but more importantly, finding the man sitting across the street who’d lost his life in the ice storm. “Hand me the phone,” I said. “I’ll talk to her.”
“You’re going to ask her for help, aren’t you? I shouldn’t have to remind you that this is no time to be stubborn.”
“I can’t afford to be stubborn at the moment.” When she picked up, I said, “Momma, I need your help.”
“Are you all right, child?” she asked.
“I’m fine, but the donut shop got hit by a falling tree during the storm.”
Momma didn’t even miss a beat as she took in the news. “Are you there right now?”
“Grace and I are standing outside,” I said, not mentioning the body we’d just found in the park. There would be time for that later.
“Don’t go in. I’ll have a crew there in ten minutes.”
“How can you promise that?” I asked her. The streets were quickly absorbing heat from the sun, and most of the ice was now beginning to puddle, but I couldn’t imagine having that kind of pull with anyone.
“Don’t you worry about that. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Did you two survive the storm all right?” I asked her, remembering how I’d felt when I thought it might have been Phillip we’d found earlier.
“No worries on that count. We’re both fine,” she said. After a closer examination, I’d known that it hadn’t been her husband dead on that park bench, but I still felt a wave of relief having it confirmed. “Now let me get off the line so I can get busy.”
“Thanks, Momma.”
“It’s my pleasure,” she said. “Be sure to take plenty of pictures. You’ll need them for the insurance company.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. “That’s good advice.”
“That’s what a mother is for,” she said, and then she was gone.
Ninety seconds later, a squad car pulled up in front of us. It was good to see that it could maneuver on the wet pavement. I’d done as my mother had suggested, and I’d taken a few dozen photos of the building with my phone. After calling my insurance agent, I was assured that as long as I documented everything, we should be fine. The poor man was up to his eyebrows in repair estimates, but Momma had known him for thirty years, so there was a level of trust there that went far beyond what he might have had with a regular client. Besides, I had a hunch that my mother’s business with her many properties kept him highly profitable, so that surely helped as well.
Chief Grant got out, looked at the donut shop, and whistled softly to himself. “I’m so sorry that happened, Suzanne.”
“It’s being dealt with,” I said. “The man we called about is over there.”
The police chief nodded, smiled at Grace for a second, and then he told us both, “I’ll see you two in a few minutes. Don’t go inside the donut shop, no matter how tempted you might be to go in and look around.”
“We weren’t about to,” I said, maybe a little too testily. Softening my tone of voice, I continued. “Sorry. I’m a little on edge. Momma’s mobilizing a crew even as we speak.”
“Then I’m sure that you’re in good hands,” he said, and then the chief walked over to the bench where we’d found the frozen man, still sitting up and staring at exactly nothing.
“Who do you suppose it is?” Grace asked me as we watched Stephen approach the body.
“I have no idea, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. These storms can be really scary, can’t they?”
“I thought it was fun last night, but this morning it’s lost a lot of its joy for me,” she admitted. Grace must have realized how she’d sounded, because she quickly added, “You mustn’t worry. I’m sure Donut Hearts will be fine.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said. As we stood there, two other police cars arrived, along with an ambulance. “I wonder if they’ll be able to thaw him out enough to get him on the gurney?” I asked her.
“I don’t even want to think about that,” Grace answered, shivering for a moment, but not from the chill still in the air. “Wow, I don’t know how she did it, but your mother came through in aces. Here comes the cavalry.”
I looked down Springs Drive and saw that Grace was right. Barreling toward us was a large truck from a tree-removal service in Maple Hollow, followed by two smaller work trucks that had been bashed and battered over the years.
“Which one of you is Ms. Hart?” a burly-looking man asked us as he got out of the big truck.
“I am,” I said. “I’d offer you donuts while you work, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to do that today.”
He grinned at me. “No worries, ma’am. We’ve been up working since four a.m., so we’re all set. We’ll have this taken care of in no time.”
“I really appreciate you coming out on such short notice,” I said.
“Thank your mother. The woman is difficult to say no to, isn’t she?”
“Tell me about it,” I answered with a smile. “Try growing up as her kid.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” he replied with a grin.
The team was as good as the man’s word, working quickly and efficiently in taking care of the segment of tree that had battered my shop, separating the part that had fallen on my land from the balance of the tree that was still blocking the road. Once the main branches were removed, I could see that a small section of the front left corner walls and the roof were both on the floor, which was also littered with shards of glass from the broken front window. It made me sick to my stomach to see my beloved donut shop in such a state of disrepair.
“Boss, should we take care of the part of the tree that’s still in the road?” one of the young men asked him.
“Well, she’s not going to be able to get anyone else in here until we do, now is she? Let’s go, guys. We need to be back in Maple Hollow in thirty minutes, so hustle.”
They cut up the log breaching the road and moved the larger pieces with a boom arm on the back of their truck, stacking it all neatly beside the pavement. “The city will take care of the rest,” he said as the last of the branches went into the wood chipper. The machine made a sudden grinding noise every time a new branch went in, and I felt myself flinching a little as the wood was instantly turned into chips.
They’d even started to sweep up when I interceded. “That’s fine. Do I pay you now, or will you bill me later?”
“It’s already been taken care of. Have a nice day, ma’am.”
“You, too,” I said. “Sorry for the extra work.”
He laughed. “Do
n’t be. Our kids are going to have some pretty wonderful Christmases with all of the overtime work we’re getting.” Then his smile died as they rolled the body to the ambulance. At least they’d been able to get the faux Santa strapped in and lying prone. “That’s a real shame, isn’t it? The homeless don’t have a chance in this kind of weather.”
Was he homeless, though? That Santa suit hadn’t been poor quality. Someone had spent good money on it. I decided not to point that out, though. “Thanks again.”
“Happy to help,” he said a little more somberly. “Let’s go, guys. We’re burning daylight.”
After they were gone, I had a better chance to assess the damage to the donut shop, and what I found there was almost overwhelming. I knew somehow, I’d get through it. What pained me the most was not being able to call Jake and tell him all that had happened. I had a feeling he was snowed in where he was in the mountains, and I wouldn’t see him for several days, despite the fact that he had my Jeep.
As things stood, I knew that I’d just have to soldier on without him.
Chapter 5
It was a real mess.
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting to see once the tree had been removed completely, but seeing the raw damage was something else entirely. A good portion of the front left corner of the building, made up of a combination of brick and wood, was on the floor of the shop, along with a section of roof. My couches and chairs where my customers sat and enjoyed their donuts and coffee were ruined. The concrete floor, painted long ago in a plum tone, was wrecked as well, chipped in several places and scratched in quite a few more. The tables and chairs out front had been destroyed as well, and the awning was in a heap on the ground near the front door.
The good news? The glass display cases where we displayed our donuts were miraculously unscathed; nothing bad had happened in the kitchen that couldn’t be fixed; and Emma and I were alive. If that tree had hit while we’d been open for business, I hated to think of what might have happened to any customers who’d have been unlucky enough to be in my shop. I decided to focus on the fact that Donut Hearts had been empty and be happy that no matter what the rest of the day might bring, I could still call the day a success.
The tree-service folks had been gone all of two minutes when I heard horns honking outside. The street noise was incredible, which I should have expected, given the fact that my donut shop had been torn open like a lemon-filled pastry. I looked out through the opening that had once housed my front window to see George Morris in his truck, along with folks in four other vehicles. The mayor pulled up right in front of the shop, while the others scattered their cars along the drive and joined him.
“What’s going on?” I asked him, bewildered by the sudden activity.
“We’re your work crew,” George said with a grin. “Your mother called me.”
“I really wish she hadn’t,” I said. I didn’t mind her calling in favors from people who were paid for their labors, but these people were all my friends. I noticed several good customers among the group and shared their condolences for what had happened.
“We’re happy to be here,” the mayor said. “Don’t worry. We’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
I looked at my damaged building. “No offense, but I don’t see how that’s possible.”
“Oh, it won’t be as good as new, but it should hold you until you can get some real craftsmen in here to fix the place up. We’ve got plywood, timber, nails, roofing paper, and some Plexiglas. You’ll be set before you know it.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I replied, nearly choked with tears over the kindness of my friends. I was certain they had their own problems to deal with because of the ice storm, but they’d put them all aside to pitch in and help me get back on my feet.
“Just say thank you, and we can move on,” the mayor said happily. Disaster relief was clearly one of the bright spots of his job, not that I minded.
“Thank you,” I said loudly. “When I get going again, there will be donuts for everyone, on the house.”
There was a loud cheer from the group, and then George took over. “Sam, Jim, Bobby, let’s get that furniture loaded in the panel vans. You can take everything over to the city hall basement to dry out. Gina, Tom, Vince, Carl, let’s get started on framing up some temporary walls so we can put on a new section of roof. Don’t worry about it being sexy; it just has to keep everything inside safe and dry.”
“What should Grace and I do?” I asked the mayor as I watched everyone getting busy.
“Unless I miss my guess, you’re going to be busy in a few minutes yourself.”
“Doing what?”
He nodded to a man I hadn’t noticed before down the street, and suddenly, the power came back on as the emergency lights flickered in the donut shop and then came on. “Making donuts for the work crews,” he said with a smile. “You’re going to have a chance to make good on your offer this morning.”
“Nothing would make me happier.”
“I’ll help, too,” Grace said as Momma, Phillip, Emma, and Sharon showed up. “We’re here to be a part of the donut brigade,” Momma said after she hugged me. In a soft voice, she whispered in my ear, “I’m covering your expenses today, so don’t worry about what anything costs. We need to make donuts for the entire town, on the house. Everyone’s digging out, and your goodies will lighten a great many spirits. What do you say? You supply the labor, I supply the materials, and we’ll have crews deliver the goodies for us. Is it a deal?”
“It is,” I said, hugging her briefly before I started sobbing. “You are amazing.”
“I take after my daughter,” she said, and I’d never been prouder of her than I was at that moment.
Grace said, “Not that I’m not willing to help you make donuts all morning, but why don’t I organize things out here? I’ll get folks to deliver the donuts you make. I always was better at logistics.”
“That sounds like a plan to me,” I said as I hugged her too. I was going to have to stop hugging people, or I was never going to get anything done.
Emma, Sharon, and I walked back into the kitchen. I flipped on the fryer and started mixing up batter for our cake donuts. There wouldn’t be any yeast offerings today. Not only were they quite a bit fussier, but they took longer to make as well. Today, quick and dirty was going to be the order of the day.
After that, it was all a blur. The moment we’d made four dozen iced cake donuts, we started getting into the spirit of things as Emma, Sharon, and I started whipping out a wide range of donuts using banana, orange, Kool-Aid, pumpkin, and anything else we had on hand.
After two hours of solid donut making, I turned the reins over to Emma and Sharon to see what kind of progress they were making out front. I’d heard a great deal of hammering during the entire time that I’d been working, but I had no idea if they’d made much progress at all.
What I found there simply amazed me.
Temporary walls were now in place, covered with light-shaded sheets of plywood on the outside. Not only had they buttoned up the corner of the building, but they’d also done a nice job rough-framing the roof, and knowing George, they’d probably already sheathed it with tarpaper as well. A large piece of Plexiglas now covered the opening where the window had once been. It was incredible what they’d managed to do in such a short time. Several people were standing around eating donuts and drinking coffee as I walked out, and George grinned as I approached him.
“We aren’t loitering. We just finished up. It’s not glamorous by any stretch of the imagination, but it should hold you until you can get it fixed right. There’s tar paper on the roof, so rain won’t be an issue.” He looked at the battered floor and shook his head. “Sorry, we couldn’t do anything about that. You’ll have to get that seen to as well.”
“You want to know something? I’ve been thinki
ng about changing the color anyway,” I said with a smile. “I’m in the mood for something not plum, if you know what I mean. This is magnificent.”
“So are your donuts,” the mayor said. “There are four crews running them all over town. How long can you folks keep it up back there?”
I thought about the supplies we had on hand, did a quick calculation in my head, and then answered. “We can make about a hundred dozen more before we start running out of flour. That’s the main thing. Should we keep at it?”
“If you wouldn’t mind,” he said. “Listen, we’ll try to help you cover your losses today, one way or another.”
“No worries, Mr. Mayor,” I said with a smile. “Momma’s already taken care of it.”
“That woman is a saint,” he said.
“Sure. Why not? She’s a saint,” I said with a laugh. I knew, better than anyone, that my mother had some excellent qualities, but I never would have used the word “saint” to describe her, and that was to her credit, in my mind.
“You know what I mean,” George said, realizing the magnitude of what he’d just said. “I don’t even have to feel bad about eating another one of these now,” he said as he snagged a blueberry donut from the tray on the counter.
“Wow, you really are living on the edge,” I said. “Usually you’re an unglazed cake man.”
“What can I say? Today is the day to live dangerously. At least your front door is still intact, so you’ll be able to lock the place up when you leave this afternoon.”
“Any word on the man we found in the park?” I asked him quietly, taking the conversation in a more serious direction.
“Haven’t you heard?” he asked me.
“How could I have heard anything? I’ve been locked up in back making donuts all morning.”