“Absolutely,” Ivy said. “I heard it first over at the Laundromat, from the principal of the high school, a very reliable source and brother to Donald.”
“Wow.”
They slouched side-by-side on the slatted seat, legs outstretched on the grass, and licked their peppermint ice cream. Teenagers threw Frisbees and balls to one another, kids played on some swings, adults sat on the scattered benches enjoying the sunshine.
“So what’s new at the house?” Ivy asked.
“Oh, not much really,” Amanda said in mild sarcasm. “I kept Tess out too late yesterday, which made Brett burn.”
“It was his idea to give you the responsibility. Did he think you’d taken off for good?”
“He especially didn’t care for the fact that I had the kid’s toenails painted and her hair cut and curled.”
Ivy’s mouth dropped open. “You did all that on your own?”
Amanda was startled by her friend’s dismay. “It was my idea to get the pedicure—to celebrate losing my bandage. But it was Tess who insisted on the hairstyle.”
“Adults don’t automatically do what children tell them to!”
“Really? Adults always obeyed me at that age—probably you, too.”
“Well, yes. Hired help obeyed us. Speaking as a wizened schoolteacher now, I know full well it’s never a good idea.”
“Even so, he overreacted. Then he stalked off without trying to talk it over.”
“He does go overboard about Tess on occasion. I suppose being a single parent makes him unreasonably nervous.”
“He seemed out of line even under those circumstances.”
“So how do things stand between you today?”
“Nowhere. I set my travel alarm for eight, hoping to run into him in the kitchen. But he was already sailing out the back door with one of Della’s brown sack lunches and his medical bag.”
“He’ll cool off. Eventually.”
“I suppose you really disapprove of my staying there now.”
Ivy bit her lip as she always did when suppressing a retort. “It’s your life.”
“Yeah, but it’s your town. Really haven’t meant to stir up any trouble.” Amanda turned to toss the remainder of her cone in a trash bin. “But I do think I’ve done something right for a change.”
“What?”
“Beatrice was pushing me about starting my book project and I dragged her into it.”
“No kidding.”
“You told me she’s shown an interest in writing herself, so I thought, Why not make her take some action on a dream for a change? She dove right into the idea. We spent last night outlining some scenarios for our ‘city girl done wrong’ premise.”
Ivy was pleased. “Way to go. Though you realize that if it amounts to anything, you’ll have to share the credit with Bea.”
“I have no interest in being a novelist. I hope to tutor her along until she can fly on her own.”
“Who’d have thought one of your skimpy cover stories would ever turn into a good deed?”
“Hey, I’ve been trying to do all sorts of good deeds during my stay in Fairlane. Working hard at the clinic, trying to understand Brett, win his trust. It isn’t my fault that some of my attempts have backfired.”
“It is too bad he doesn’t have a better sense of humor about it all.”
Amanda stared off into the bright blue sky. “Yes. It would do him a world of good to relax, be more impulsive.”
“If things get too chilly at the boarding house, I suppose you’ll have to consider leaving, for everyone’s sake. You could probably move into my place for a while. Oliver seemed prepared to bend his no-guest rule.”
“Hope it doesn’t come to that. He’s too much like that cinematographer we met in Spain our sophomore year. Kissing up to everyone, all the while trying to prey on their weaknesses. And he took pictures of everything, too, like Oliver Pratt.”
Ivy scowled. “Did Oliver prey upon you?”
“Let’s say he was aggressively nosing into my space, looking for an opening.”
“How exactly?”
Amanda struggled to explain. “Oh, hinting that I was more than met the eye. I would make a better blonde, looked familiar.”
“Oh, damn.”
“Has he given you any trouble that way?”
“Not much. His extra upstairs apartment had sat empty for quite a while before I came along. Apparently he was a bit of a freak in his youth and while his talents as a photographer were immediately appreciated when he came back to Fairlane, no one actually wanted to live under the same roof with him.”
“Then he can’t afford to antagonize you.”
“Nor you. I will put a quick stop to it.”
“No, Ivy. Anything you say will only encourage him.”
She pondered that. “Guess you’re right. But keep me updated on his moves.”
Amanda beamed like a kindergartner. “Yes, Miss Waterman.”
“What is a teacher to do with a sassy girl like you?”
“Take her to the Blue Parrot Lounge for a fun-filled night of karaoke?”
“WHAT ON EARTH are you doing, Doc?”
Brett frowned when he realized Della had followed him into the living room that evening. “I am bending my knees. I am sitting in this chair.” With that he dropped into a favored recliner and grabbed the folded newspaper off the end table. “Now I am going to read this paper in peace and quiet.”
“It’s Saturday night! Time for fun!”
Brett sighed. “Give me a break. The clinic was nuts today. The Carter girl fell out of a tree and broke her collarbone. Old man Sims cut his finger trying to sharpen his lawnmower blade—”
“I thought his son was taking care of his grass. Not the son with the lisp, but the other one who commutes to Portland.”
“Della! The issue didn’t come up.” Brett rubbed his forehead. “On top of everything else, half of Scout Troop 780 got into some bad weeds on a hike this morning that caused their skin to burn. Calming their mothers proved tougher than treating the boys.”
“Didn’t you have any help?”
“Sarah Draper. But she is only a twenty-one-year-old nurse’s aide. She knows the textbook drill but handling wild mothers is something nobody can prepare you for.”
“Does sound unusually rough for the weekend stint.”
“It was. Now all I want to do is sit here in a semiconscious state.” Brett snapped open the paper on his lap and gazed down at the headline concerning the president’s latest tax proposal.
“But you usually go over to the Blue Parrot on Saturdays.”
“I go about once a month.”
“So you’re due. And didn’t you speak to Mandy about going over there to see Ivy yodel her heart out?”
“I haven’t spoken to Mandy since last night. Since she brought Tess home with that awful haircut.”
“Don’t you think you may have been a little hard on Mandy?”
When he replied, his voice was hard. “She was supposed to take Tess to the dentist. Back and forth. Easy. It meant so much to me to try and draw her a little closer into our circle here. And she promptly managed to flub it up.”
“Tess can be very persuasive when she wants something. And Mandy is sort of fresh game to the child, not knowing your boundaries yet, or just how much Tess likes to cross them at every opportunity.”
“Standing there on the porch last night, watching them cross the lawn all fixed up with triumph on their faces, all I could see were the striking similarities between the pair.”
“What a precious observation!”
Growling, Brett turned a page of newspaper, and spotted a photo of a seal jumping through a hoop. When it came to females like Mandy—and his own child—he felt a lot like a trained seal, doing what was expected of him for small rewards. Rather than a fish treat, in his case it was a small, sweet smile or a kiss or a hand squeeze.
All in all, he was settling for too little. He deserved his daughter’s o
bedience and Mandy’s cooperation, not to mention overall consideration for his feelings from both of them!
Della moved to sit on the arm of the sofa to his right. “You know full well that Mandy has no way of knowing where you’re at with Tess. How you’ve altered her life, how important it is that she not wear that mass of corkscrews.”
Brett looked to her with a flash of vulnerability. “Did you do anything to fix it?”
“Despite her wiggle-worm protests, I got her into the shower first thing this morning, lathered her hair and washed away every trace of curl. Her hair is still short, of course, but it’s straight again.”
“So where is she now? Upstairs drawing pictures of her bad daddy?”
“No, she’s at Hailey Corday’s house.”
Brett paused. “Christopher and Erin Corday’s daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Jack recently treated the girl for an earache or something last week. They live blocks from here, though, don’t they?”
“Not that far away. The girls struck up a friendship at school. I didn’t think you’d mind. Beatrice knows Erin Corday quite well, as they work together at the library. And Frank knows Christopher from his bowling league.”
“Couldn’t they have played here?”
Della placed a hand on her heart. “I pitched the idea. But I don’t have an awesome swing set.” When he remained silent, Della went on. “It was bound to happen. Tess hit school and discovered that children venture more than a block away from home.”
“I would have liked a little say in the matter.”
“I tried to call you at the office but no one picked up. So there stood Erin on my stoop, telling me Hailey and Tess had made these plans yesterday in class. I didn’t know what to do. In the end I figured a few hours’ play wouldn’t upset the course of the universe.” She reached over from her perch on the sofa arm and patted his back. “You’ve always seemed to welcome my input in the past, so I’m going to be straight with you now. It’s high time you loosened the strings on Tess so she can mingle with her own kind. Being around adults so much has made her almost diabolically clever. Perhaps being with her more naive peers will distract her in a good way, steer her on to more childlike pursuits.”
Brett sighed. “You’re right. When we moved here, my main concern was sheltering her from the public, all the while hoping she never revealed too much.”
“No matter how mischievous that child gets, she’s never once broken her word about your secrets. She knows how much that one condition means to you.”
Brett felt a wave of relief and remorse. “Of course, you’re right on all counts. It’ll do her good to spend some time in another girl’s home. Maybe pick up some good habits,” he added hopefully. “Like staying out of other people’s bedrooms, knocking on closed doors, things like that.”
“Don’t expect her to come home reprogrammed after one visit.”
“Well, let’s hope the time is well spent.” He glanced down at his newspaper only to hear his landlady take a hesitant breath. “What else, Della?”
“I didn’t mean for things for go any further, believe me. But Erin called a little while ago. Now they wonder if Tess can spend the night. I told them I’d get back to them.”
“Tess doesn’t even have a toothbrush along!”
“I could call with the okay. And you could drop off some of her things on the way to the Blue Parrot.”
“What’s all this talk about the Blue Parrot?”
“It’s bound to be a bit more fun than usual tonight, as Ivy rolled through here to pick Mandy up for a crack at the musical limelight.”
“Oh, I see,” he crowed. “I’m supposed to rush over there and make amends with Mandy in that smoky fantasyland.”
She blissfully ignored his sarcasm. “See now. You aren’t as socially dense as they say!”
“Have you any idea how annoying it is to listen to people with absolutely no talent singing their hearts out?”
“I run a boarding house,” she said, enunciating slowly as if speaking to a half-wit. “With four bathrooms. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t hear a tinny rendition of some beloved song in a shower. If nothing else, I’m satisfied that anyone who is singing a peppy tune is happy. Besides, you spend plenty of time at the Blue Parrot, so you must get some fun out of it.”
Della always had a way of cutting to the truth with a surgeon’s precision. It was simple pride holding him back. He was Doc Hanson, Fairlane big shot, revered by at least eighty percent of the town. Generally, in a verbal tug of war, people ended up apologizing to him. But Mandy wouldn’t do that. Not after he’d dashed off rather than confront the issues. She’d made her attempt and wouldn’t make another. That much he knew about savvy city girls. If he wanted her back in that hot, expectant place where lovers danced, he’d have to make the first big move. But to a karaoke beat? In front of half the town?
“So, Doc, what do you say?”
He continued to fight his desires with an awkward protest. “Uh, Frank, there, is probably expecting me to play cards.”
Della leaned over to nudge her husband, snoozing in an upright position one cushion over on the sofa. “Frank!”
Frank snorted and twisted his neck, then opened his eyes. “Huh?”
“You have your heart set on rummy tonight with the doc?”
“I’m watching TV.” With that garbled reply, he thrust a limp arm in the direction of the droning television.
Della turned back to Brett. “Twenty years’ experience as Mrs. Francis Scherer tells me there will be no cards dealt by Frank tonight.”
“There’s Beatrice to consider,” Brett maintained. “She’s always up for a Saturday night video and some microwave popcorn.”
“I think she’s otherwise engaged.”
“But it’s her weekly routine. And I just spotted her in the dining room not long ago, scribbling in a notebook.”
Della sang out in a coy way that instantly set Brett on edge. “Beatrice! Can you step in here for a minute?”
There was a lapse in time before the plump woman bounced into the doorway. “I’m rather busy. What is it?”
“Doc has something to ask you,” Della said, gesturing to him.
“Yes, Brett?” Beatrice asked briskly.
“Well.” He drummed his fingers on the wide armrest of the chair. “I was sort of wondering what Saturday night movie you had in mind?”
Beatrice positively glowed. “Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“I am working on a novel.” She held up the pen in her hand.
“You?”
“Don’t look so stunned. I am quite capable of writing things.”
“I know that. You’ve done some great poems. I only meant that Mandy was the one with a book in mind.”
“Well, we’re in it together, Mandy and I.”
Brett glanced back at Della to find her beaming. “Isn’t that nice, Doc? The way Mandy has included Beatrice in her project?”
“Yes, Della. It was very thoughtful of her.”
“I’m being an enormous help,” Beatrice said rather defensively. “For a girl on a mission, Mandy seems terribly disorganized. But I’ve seen to the seed jobs, like creating characters, naming them. It turns out I’m quite good at it!”
Brett glumly cut to the bottom line. “So you’re not watching a movie tonight.”
“No, sorry. My muse is quite the insane taskmaster.” She fluttered pudgy fingers. “As it is, I’ll be up all hours jotting down outline ideas.”
Della leaned over to the chair, crowding Brett’s space. “Now can I interest you in a bit of smoke, drink and karaoke?”
Chapter Eleven
“So this is where the town hot spot sits, just down from the dental office.” Amanda surveyed the Blue Parrot Lounge as Ivy pulled her Saturn off County Road 6 and into a gravel parking lot out front. It was a one-level structure of gray cedar boasting a glowing neon blue parrot in the front window. “No wonder the
police patrol this road so diligently. It’s where the action is!”
“I am so happy you didn’t get a speeding ticket yesterday, hon,” Ivy said. “If that cop had asked to see your driver’s license and you’d produced that fake ID for Mandy Smythe, there would have been big trouble.”
Amanda knew her smile was faint. “I know it. I shouldn’t have let loose on the accelerator, but that Vette handled like a dream. Too bad its owner isn’t as easy to handle.”
Ivy dug a compact out of her purse and opened it to have a peek in its mirror. “These tensions between you aren’t a bad test, really. I mean, Brett’s finding out now if he can manage your kind of impetuosity before he gets in any deeper.”
“So you do think there’s a chance for us then?”
“You’ve always gotten exactly what you want, Amanda.”
“True. Though I’m beginning to suspect my problem lies in wanting the wrong things.”
“My experience exactly.” Ivy applied fresh lipstick. “If it can happen to me, it can happen to you.”
“Don’t get misty just yet. I’m not about to go as radical as you have.”
“It just happens here in Fairlane,” Ivy cautioned her. “You slow down, start appreciating people not for their connections but for their human qualities.”
Amanda borrowed the compact for a look at her own reflection. There was no argument that this past week she’d discovered a gentler slant to her features that shone through even now in full makeup. Spending hours in the clinic’s file room had given her the opportunity to think. Always the type to run from her troubles, from her true self, she had needed courage to examine herself, the mistakes she’d made, the goals she’d chased, where she hoped to steer her future. It felt rather satisfying to hash things through. And she wasn’t nearly finished with the project.
The women emerged from the car, Ivy dressed in white slacks and a red knit top threaded in gold, Amanda dressed in a black miniskirt and pale blue silk tank top with narrow straps. They’d shopped for shoes in town that morning during their walk and bought identical black sandals with chunky heels, which they wore tonight, as well as some gold jewelry.
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