Blackberry Crumble

by Josi S. Kilpack

  Jolene smiled. “We’re really looking forward to it.”

  “So, um, your treatments will be finished by then?” Sadie asked.

  Jolene looked into her Jell-O and nodded. “I’m actually done with this round. I should be feeling a lot better in a few weeks.” For some reason, her tone didn’t match the optimism of her words, but maybe that was just because she felt so lousy right now.

  “Enough about all that,” Jolene said. “Tell me about you. You live in Ohio with May?”

  Oh biscuits. Sadie hated having to make up details. She skimmed over the pretended place of residence and instead talked about her life and her children.

  “You never remarried,” Jolene commented when Sadie finished her brief explanation. “Why not?”

  Something in the way Jolene asked the question caught Sadie’s attention. This was a married woman who, though apparently on the road to recovery, had faced her own mortality and the inevitableness of her spouse continuing on. That made this question of particular importance, despite what seemed like Jolene’s intent to ask it as casually as possible. Pete flashed through Sadie’s mind, and yet Pete had nothing to do with Sadie’s feelings for Neil.

  Giving Jolene the answer she deserved required Sadie to dig deeply into her convictions and the feelings she kept in the dusty corners of her past. “Neil was my soul mate, if you believe in that kind of thing,” she said with a tenderness that didn’t necessarily surprise her. Rather, the act of saying it out loud reminded her all over again of just how well suited they had been for one another. “He was everything I had ever hoped for in a partner, and the years of our marriage were the very best years of my life. I’ve found his influence particularly difficult to replace.”

  Jolene blinked at her, appearing almost stunned by Sadie’s words. Perhaps she hadn’t expected such a personal answer from a woman she’d just met. Sadie smiled to cover up the vulnerability she felt at having been that honest, while ignoring the ache those words had ignited in her chest. She missed Neil on a regular basis, but sometimes the pain was more intense than others. Certainly, it was intense tonight.

  “What a beautiful thing to say,” Jolene said, smiling slightly. “I can relate, you know. I mean, not to having been widowed, but to everything else.” Her face softened even more. “Gary and I will have been married twenty-four years in November. Sometimes it feels as though I didn’t start living until he entered my life.”

  Sadie felt her throat thicken at the sentiment as Jolene’s comments added another layer of grief to the situation. She hoped with every ounce of her being that Jolene’s doctors weren’t feeding her false hope about her future.

  “He’s a lucky man to be loved that much,” Sadie said, meaning every word. She was reminded of Pete again, about a particular conversation they’d had in regard to the good marriages they had had and the fact that it honed their goals to find something similar in each other. She couldn’t help but wonder where she was with her relationship with Pete. He’d clearly been disappointed with the decision she’d made to take this case. But then he’d withheld their relationship from his children, so she was questioning him as well.

  “I’m a lucky woman to have Gary,” Jolene said. “We’ve experienced so much together, but we’ve had each other through every twist. I can’t imagine life without him.” She looked at the clock above the stove and squinted, making Sadie wonder when she’d last had an eye exam. Did cancer treatments affect eyesight? “I wonder where he is,” Jolene said. “He called after you guys left and said he’d be by to get me around 7:30.”

  Sadie looked at the clock as well. It was almost eight o’clock.

  “Would you like me to call him?”

  Jolene pushed herself off the barstool, albeit slowly. “I have my cell phone in my room; I’ll call him myself. Thank you for the Jell-O.”

  She’d only taken that one bite and hadn’t taken a single sip of water. Sadie smiled. “You bet. If you need anything else, just let me know.”

  “I thought you were leaving?”

  “Oh, right,” Sadie said. “I guess I am. You’re okay here until May comes?”

  “Gary will probably come first,” Jolene said. “How long will you be staying in Portland?”

  Sadie shrugged. “I have to admit I’m a bit bewitched by the place,” she said with a chuckle. “Maybe I’ll never leave.”

  Jolene smiled. “You wouldn’t be the first. I hope I’ll see you again.”

  “I hope so, too,” Sadie said with sincerity. “I enjoyed getting to meet you.”

  Jolene headed toward her hallway with slow steps.

  Sadie looked after her and let out a breath. Life was not fair sometimes.

  After a few more contemplative seconds, Sadie headed toward the study for the files she’d left on the desk. Only then was she reminded of Jolene having been in the study, something Jolene had not mentioned and probably assumed Sadie didn’t know.

  The study light was off and the door open just as Sadie had left it. Sadie flipped the light on and surveyed the room. Nothing looked out of place. She stepped into the room, realizing it was likely impossible for her to determine what Jolene had been looking for in here.

  The files still sat in the same tidy stack where she’d left them. Her eyes moved to the computer monitor. There were no lights on the display, but she when looked at the computer tower under the desk, a green light was on. Only the monitor was turned off, and she’d heard tapping when she’d been on the other side of the door. She pushed the power button on the monitor, and it flickered to life, showing the desktop.

  Sadie slid into the desk chair and opened an Internet browser window. She went to the line where she would normally type in the website she wanted to find, but clicked on the arrow next to it instead. A list of websites that had been visited appeared, but didn’t say when. She clicked on the most recent URL.

  Hillsboro Hospice. A community of caring.

  Hospice?

  Sadie blinked and tried to make sense of the conflicting information she’d been given. Jolene had had a treatment yesterday, and she’d told Sadie minutes earlier that not only was she beating the disease, but she and her husband had a dream vacation planned for next month. Was her research on a hospice only Jolene’s way of being proactive and making sure she had her ducks in a row should things take a turn, or was she not as convinced of her recovery as her doctors were?

  Sadie bit her bottom lip, trying to imagine how May would cope with Jolene’s death if, in fact, she was sicker than the doctors said. A heavy breath escaped her lungs as she lamented again the pain this family had experienced that seemed to have no end in sight.

  Chapter 33

  Hello? May?”

  Sadie looked toward the door of the study and pushed away from the computer. The male voice was coming from the front of the house, and she didn’t think it was Hugh. She was partway down the hall when she realized it must be Gary, Jolene’s husband, coming to pick her up. She turned the corner to see a man sending a text message on his iPhone.

  He glanced up at her and smiled before finishing his note and then sliding the phone into his pocket. He immediately put out his hand and moved toward her. “Gary Tracey,” he said easily, not seeming the least bit surprised to find a stranger in the house.

  Sadie took his hand and tried to return his firm shake with one of equal confidence. “Sadie Hoffmiller.” His hand was warm and, if she wasn’t mistaken, manicured. Few men had such soft hands, and she was instantly aware of her own tendency toward dryness. “May’s friend.”

  “That’s what I figured,” Gary said. He smiled widely, revealing unnaturally white teeth. Considering the teeth and the fingernails, she guessed that his hair was not only colored but also highlighted to make it look more natural. His face was pleasantly tanned, his brown eyes bright, and his overall physique well tended, other than a bit of a belly that pushed against his department-store polo shirt. He was likely in his mid-forties, but could easily pass for late-thirt
ies if he tried. Sadie wondered if he ever did. The only thing missing was a gold chain around his neck. “Is May around?”

  “She’s across the street at the summer picnic.”

  Gary nodded. “Right. Too bad I wasn’t able to get away in time to make an appearance. I hear she was taking Jim’s bacon ice cream.”

  “It went fast,” Sadie said, still disappointed not to have even had a taste.

  “I wish I could have found the time to stop in,” Gary said. “Long days at the office, you know.”

  “What is it that you do?” Sadie asked. Unable to stand still, as usual, she went to the sink and began rinsing dishes—all four of them that had already been rinsed twice. Gary followed her into the kitchen.

  “It’s hard to pin me down with a title,” Gary said, chuckling slightly at the comment. He rested his hips against the counter a few feet from Sadie. “I have ownership in a few different businesses. I suppose you can call me a jack-of-all-trades because I do whatever it takes in whatever arena I find myself in to get the job done.” His smile sparkled.

  Sadie smiled back, but she found herself hesitant to form a positive opinion about him. There was something about him that screamed “used car salesman.” Plus, he was supposedly here to pick up his sick wife, but he hadn’t asked about her at all. Instead, he was chatting up a friend of May’s whom he’d never met and had little reason to think he’d ever meet again.

  “What kinds of businesses do you own?” Sadie said, feigning more interest than she felt.

  “Well,” he said, smiling again and moving around the kitchen island in order to slide onto a barstool. “I’m part-owner in a thriving direct-mail company, and I also serve as CEO for a car dealership in town.”

  “A car dealership,” Sadie repeated, keeping her expression from showing her smugness at having correctly determined why he came across the way he did.

  “But mostly, I handle investments.”

  “Like financial planning?”

  “Exactly,” he said, giving her a good-girl smile for having properly figured it out. If she leaned forward, she felt sure he would pat her on the head. “I help people capitalize on their financial futures by building upon their current financial foundations, which allows them to one day attain the freedom from the day-to-day money worries that so many of us are plagued with.”

  Sadie had no doubt that he rattled off that speech a few times a day. She continued to nod and appear interested.

  “For instance, what do you do for a living? If you don’t mind my asking.”

  “I’m retired,” she said.

  Did she imagine the sudden straightening of his posture, the increased focus in his eyes?

  “Oh, surely you’re kidding,” he said, dropping his chin and raising his eyebrows. “No way you’re old enough to be retired.”

  Oh, he oozed with salesmanship, but she saw no reason not to play along. She might not yet have formed an opinion about him, but he was definitely intriguing.

  “Nearly thirty years with the school district.” She almost said “in Colorado,” but stopped herself. Admitting she was from a different state than May would blow her cover. “I taught second grade.” She lifted her shoulders as though to indicate that she couldn’t figure out how it was she was old enough to retire either. In all actuality, she’d taken an early-retirement window and had therefore only worked twenty-four years, but it didn’t seem an important detail to bring up right now.

  “So, you’re drawing a pension.”

  Sadie nodded.

  “Excellent! That’s a perfect scenario. What’s your percentage—three-quarters of your outgoing salary?”

  “Two-thirds of my median income based on the last five years I taught,” Sadie said. She turned off the water, dried her hands, and leaned back against the counter, suspecting that her interest would simply encourage him to continue.

  He shook his head and tsked. “I’ll keep to myself my personal views on how the education systems of our country ought to reward those committed to the cause of future generations.” He smiled at Sadie in reverence for their shared connection to the virtue of education before continuing. “Besides, we play the hand we’re dealt, right?”

  “Absolutely,” Sadie said, checking the sarcasm in her tone before realizing he wasn’t catching any of it anyway.

  “So, you’re given two-thirds your outgoing salary to live on for the rest of your life. What if I were to tell you that there was a way to double that amount?” He looked at her eagerly, perhaps waiting for her to clasp her hands together and gasp in astonishment.

  “How?” she asked simply.

  “Through the intricacies of compounding interest, maximization of real estate values, and some savvy investments on your part, this time next year you could be bringing in twice the income you’re pulling now. Not only would your quality of life improve exponentially, but you’d have the kind of security that no pension could offer you.”

  “Wow,” Sadie said. “That’s really amazing.”

  He winked at her. “And that’s only the beginning,” he said slyly. He pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to her. She noticed the corners were bent. The logo consisted of a crown sitting above the words “King Me!”

  “‘King me’?” she asked, looking up at him.

  He was still grinning. “Like in checkers. You make it to your opponent’s side and your stature doubles. That’s exactly what I can do for you, Mrs. Hoffmiller. You and I having this discussion qualifies as you having made it across the board.”

  “But I don’t even live in Oregon.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he said with a confident shake of his head. “With King Me on your side, the world is your oyster, and all the pearls belong to you. It would only take a few hours to work out the details, and you would be on your way to the real American dream.”

  “Which is?”

  “Financial security,” he said simply. “That’s what we all want more than anything in the world—the promise that we will be cared for regardless of what challenges we might face.”

  “And that’s what you’re selling,” she said, almost biting her tongue when she realized how antagonistic that sounded.

  He didn’t notice her tone. “Exactly. So, do you think May will let you out of packing long enough to explore the possibilities with me?”

  “Um, well, I’d have to ask her,” Sadie said, backpedaling quickly. “And talk to my brother, of course. He’s an accountant and has managed my financial affairs for years.”

  Gary’s smile faltered only a little bit. “But they are your financial affairs, right?”

  “Of course,” Sadie said. “But he’d need to be involved since he’s far more aware of where I stand than I am.”

  “Well, sometimes—and I mean no disrespect to your brother—but sometimes those trained in the more rote methods of finance, such as the training expelled through most educational institutions, have a difficult time thinking outside of the box in regard to opportunity. Certainly talk to him, that’s only fair, but be wary of him dismissing the idea out of hand. It wouldn’t hurt for you and me to sit down so I can show you the opportunity first and prepare you for that discussion; put you two on equal ground, so to speak. There’s also the added consideration that—and again, I mean no disrespect—but sometimes things as petty as jealousy can get in the way. Relationships are often based on a hierarchy, and if he’s the brother who takes care of his retired sister and that role becomes threatened, well, that’s something to consider.”

  Sadie nodded and kept her thoughts to herself. Jack would laugh his head off when she repeated this pitch to him. “I see your point.”

  “So, what do you think, tomorrow? I could even make room for you on Saturday if you’d prefer.”

  Sadie happened to glance at the clock, shocked to see it was already 8:10. She was meeting Richard in less than an hour. She held up the business card. “I’ll let you know,” she said before putting it in her back pocket. “I’m
actually on my way back to my hotel, though. In fact, I’m running late.”

  “Well, maybe you could give me your cell phone number, and I could follow up with you tomorrow.”

  He had his phone out of his pocket within moments.

  “Oh, well, I—”

  He reached out and put his hand over her own. She looked down, noting that he most definitely had had a manicure recently, and then back up at him. “With all you’re doing to help May right now, the least I can do is take one more worry off your shoulders. Let me give you a call tomorrow, and we can set up a time.”

  Sadie had a sudden desire to run his name through some of the sites her new book told her about. He was slick as oil on a rain-washed street, and she wondered what a basic background search on him might bring to light. “Sure,” she said, then gave him her number after he pulled his hand back.