by Tonya Kappes
There were a few customers in there doing their laundry, but I didn’t pay attention to how many since I was on a mission to get a paper. Some of them were sitting on the dryer watching the television while a few more were at the puzzle table trying to piece together the five thousand-piece killer Betts had picked up at a garage sale. I wasn’t so sure all the pieces were there, though she said the owners told her they were. Well, I was told that Happy Trails Campground was a thriving community before I had a real chance to see it and we all knew how that went.
“Queenie,” I said in a hushed voice when she didn’t even bother to look up to see who’d come in the door. There was a dingy bell and she never missed a good ding. “Queenie.”
She lifted up her head and peered over the paper, her eyes big.
“I was hoping it wasn’t you I saw coming down the street. I was praying it wasn’t you coming in here when the bell dinged. But here you are.” She slowly dragged the paper down.
“What?” I looked at the paper. The tension gathered in my forehead right about my eyes. “What does that paper say?” My eyes lowered.
“Well. . .” she hesitated. “Let’s just say that your rowdy bachelor made the paper.”
She folded the paper inside out to where the full article Alison had written was located and more than half the page was a chronological photo spread of the incident with William and Ranger Corbin Ashbrook. The last photo was me dragging William away.
“Grrrr.” My teeth gnashed together and my nose snarled. “I’m gonna kill Alison!” I grabbed the newspaper and plunged my fists down to my side. “There’s no shutdown. She’s single-handedly going to turn away tourists with this one article.”
Just as I sucked in a deep breath, Mayor Courtney Mackenzie was crossing the street from Deter’s Feed-N-Seed to the grassy median that was located in the middle of the one-way streets of downtown.
“What’s happening there?” I asked.
“Something about the Cookie Crumble making a cookie named after the mayor that’s going to be released today.” Queenie shrugged and tried to tug the paper out of my grip, but that wasn’t happening.
“Is that Alison Gilbert I see?” I leaned a little closer to the window and didn’t even comment on the special cookie Christine and her sister had made.
“What are you thinking?” Queenie questioned.
I gave her a quick glance and without putting too much thought into it, I bolted out the door and ran across the street.
“Alison! Yoouuu-hoooo, Alison!” I yelled and flailed the paper above my head. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you!”
Alison bit her lip and looked away. I could tell she was trying to figure out a getaway route.
“I can run faster!” I screamed when she started to fast walk into the crowd that was gathered in front of the amphitheater.
The grassy median was in the middle of two streets along downtown. It was its own little park with an amphitheater, picnic benches, a covered space for reunions or get together, and plenty of trees. It was a perfect place to host celebrations and apparently, there was a cookie celebration today that was crowded with people. I was well aware that I’d gotten some attention with my demonic screaming and all the flailing I was doing, but when I saw Alison take off, I knew she knew she’d did wrong.
“Leave me alone!” Alison stood cornered in the covered shelter. Her eyes as big as a beach ball. “Don’t come any closer to me.”
“You act like I’m going to harm you.” I glared at her. “Or is it your guilty conscience? I don’t care if you throw me under the bus, but Happy Trails? You could destroy the very thing that got this economy going.”
Yeah, I was feeling that whole mama bear saying about how you can talk about me, but not my kids’ thing. I never really understood that until this very moment.
“There was no other way for me to get the word out. If there’s a drought, there’s money in the budget to get some supplies to the area.” She spoke of something I knew nothing about. “I proposed it at the last chamber meeting.”
“The last chamber meeting was the luncheon for businesses,” I reminded her. I didn’t go because I was busy holding down the office while Dottie took the day off. The luncheons were casual and nothing was discussed there, so it wasn’t a big deal to miss. Or so I thought.
“I know it was. I appealed to the businesses, but Mayor Mackenzie shut me down and fast.” Alison’s shoulders softened and pulled down away from her ears. She didn’t seem to be in defense mode anymore. “I knew they’d listen to you if you said something and this is how I wanted to get your attention because you sure didn’t say anything at your party yesterday when I yelled it out.”
“It didn’t go unheard,” I told her. “I had to take care of the drunk guy and get him out before he ruined the party.”
“Well, I know you haven’t been here before in a shutdown, but it’s not pretty.” She tilted her head to the side, her brows rose, and she leaned in and said, “The wrong kind of people flock to the parks when they shut down because they know there’s not a ranger on duty and this lets them do anything they want.” She huffed. “One thing leads to another, fires are set, parks are burnt down. It’s a mess.”
“Exactly how can I get their attention?” I asked, because what she said couldn’t happen.
“You singlehandedly helped the economy. This will take it down. Trust me.” She sucked in a big deep breath. Her eyes slid past my shoulder. I turned my head to see what she was staring at. It was Mayor Mackenzie, smiling and shaking hands. “It’ll all come out soon.”
There was a tone in her voice that told me this was something much more than just a shutdown due to a drought. When I turned back around, Alison had somehow slipped away without me even noticing. Unfortunately, Detective Hank Sharp was coming my way. When we met eye contact, I knew I couldn’t do a Houdini act like Alison.
“Well, well, well, if it’s not Mae West.” There was a glint in his green eyes. He held out a napkin with a couple of cookies on it. The napkin had the Cookie Crumble logo on it. The logo looked like a doily, with “Cookie Crumble” in the middle, the outline of a cupcake below it, and the outline of a donut below it. “I’ll share.”
And of course I took it.
“Thanks.” I bit down into it knowing this was just an opening for the reason he really walked over to see me. “Why are you being nice?”
“Are you saying that I’m not nice?” His eyes lowered, the fall sunlight beaming down on his nicely combed black hair and casting a mysterious shadow down his face.
“I’m just saying that you’re being extra nice sharing your cookie.” It was suspicious. Not that we didn’t like each other, it was that our paths seemed to cross only when there was, well, a murder. “Is someone dead?”
“What?” He laughed. “If there was, do you think. . .”
“Okay, what do you want?” I stopped him because it wasn’t a good idea to get into a fussing match with him.
“What were you and Alison talking about?” He finally asked.
“So, you’re spying on me now?” I asked and shoved the rest of the cookie in my mouth, biting down into a small peanut butter morsel. Delicious, a satisfying sigh escaped me.
“She’s been stirring up a lot of trouble around here lately. I’ve gotten a couple of complaints and I just like to keep order.” He shrugged and ate the rest of his cookie.
“We were discussing me, Happy Trails, and the beautiful fall weather we are having.” I took a deep inhale through my nose and released it as a smile crossed my face. He didn’t appear to be too amused. “I mean these seventy-degree temps. The leaves on the trees are like a painted picture and the birds are alive with the sound of music.”
“Okay, Julie Andrews.” He wiped his mouth off with his napkin and put it in his pocket.
“You know Julie Andrews?” I admit to being a tad bit shocked.
“Hasn’t everyone seen that goofy musical?” He shrugged and strolled past me. “If you
don’t tell me what she’s up to, then I’ll just have to keep digging myself,” he nonchalantly said over his shoulder.
“Isn’t it illegal to be checking on someone when they’ve not done a single thing wrong?” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut because I knew the Mayor had probably put him up to coming over to me because she was staring right at us.
Now I was even more curious as to what Alison knew.
My phone chirped a text, bringing me out of my thoughts. I pulled it from my pocket.
Ty: Are you here? I’m a little early.
“Crap,” I gasped when I noticed the time on my phone glowed it was close to twelve forty-five p.m., I had fifteen minutes to get back to the campground before our one p.m. hike date. Quickly, I texted back that I was on my way and be there shortly.
“What?” Hanks asked with a deep-set curiosity in his eyes.
“Nothing. I’ve got to get back to work.” I didn’t even bother telling him about the real reason I had to get back. I didn’t feel like listening to his smart aleck remarks about Ty.
Thank goodness the campground was just a quick five-minute drive from downtown. When I pulled in, Dottie and Ty were sitting on top of one of the picnic tables near the office.
Instantly, anything I was thinking about with the Mayor, Hank, and Alison melted away. In fact, his amazing smile made me melt like a marshmallow being held over the campfire.
“Hey, there.” I rolled down my window. “You going my way?”
“Nope. Just gonna sit here and wait until William Hinson shows up.” Dottie took a deep inhale of her cigarette.
“What?” I threw the gear in park and jumped out of the car. “What’s up with him?”
“William.” She duck billed her lips and as if there were a string attached to her eyebrows, they lifted to heaven. “Apparently, after you tucked him in yesterday, he took off.”
“The guys said they waited for him all night because they were headed to the city for the titty bar.” By city Dottie meant Lexington and by titty bar. . .well, that’s a little self-explanatory. “They went without him. Got back this morning and he still hasn’t been there.”
“Did you call the ranger station?” I asked.
“Yep. I talked to Corbin. He said he’d be out. Over there’s his Jeep.” She pointed the cigarette towards the tree line where he’d taken the liberty to park in the grass at the front of a trail. “Not sure what time he got here because I was busy distributing the firewood for tonight’s cookout,” she referred to the event where all the campers make a fire and cook something different for all the other campers to walk around and taste. It’s a lot of fun, but it won’t be tonight if William didn’t show up.
I gnawed the inside of my jaw and looked between the Jeep and Ty.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Ty pushed off the top of the picnic table to stand. He had on a pair of navy shorts, white t-shirt, and hiking boots. “We can go on the trail. I know you are itching to help.”
“You’re the best.” I turned back to the car. “Do you want to go with me so I can get my clothes changed or do you want to stay here?”
“I’ll go with you so I can see Fifi.” He was a sucker for her. They’d instantly bonded when I was babysitting her before she came to live with me full time. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” I forced a smile. There was something deep down that really bugged me about William missing.
Before we got into the car, I scanned the tree line and the entrance to the Red Fox Trail, the trail William’s friend thought he’d hiked.
“You’re thinking something,” Ty said after he shut the passenger car door.
“I’m worried about my camper who is all of a sudden missing.” I put the car in drive and drove around the lake. “I want to stop by the bungalow and check on the guys. I feel like it’s my duty since I’m the owner.”
The bungalows were nestled in the far back of the campground in a whole bunch of huge oak trees.
“Corbin will find him. He’s probably passed out along the trail somewhere and his friends have no clue where they are or what they’re doing.” Ty didn’t make me feel better, but he was right.
I’d been living here about four months and I barely knew my way around the campground, much less the trails. It was something that came with time and experience. These guys truly didn’t look like hikers or campers with their fancy equipment and brand-new hiking boots.
“Hey, there,” I hollered out the window of the Escort to get their attention. “They don’t look too worried,” I said when I noticed they appeared to be having a liquid lunch. And I didn’t mean milk or soft drinks.
“They’re just celebrating.” Ty snickered.
“Without the groom.” I sighed and opened the door. “Have you heard from William?”
“No,” the one who was hanging out the window when they first pulled into Happy Trails answered me while the rest just looked at me.
“I’m Mae. The owner.” I stuck my hand out.
“I’m Jamison.” He shook my hand with a very solid grip. “I’m the best man. I called Penelope to see if she’s heard from him. But she hasn’t.”
“Is Penelope his fiancé?” I asked. He nodded. “Did he have a cell phone?”
“Yeah. It’s in there charging.” He pointed to the bungalow. The page of the paper with William and Corbin fighting in the newspaper was taped on the front door of the bungalow. “We went out looking for him, but decided we’d better tell your manager, Dottie, instead of us getting lost.”
“To clarify,” I had to get all the facts. “When you guys got back from hiking, he wasn’t here. Or was he here but left?”
“Not here. He left the trail because he cut his hand. He was coming back to get a bandage and according to the newspaper, he got into a fight with that cop.” He smiled. “William is always creating chaos.”
“I see that you’ve decided to post the newspaper article on the door.” My brows lifted.
“Yeah. We are going to take it with us to show everyone at the reception during our portion of the speeches.” He shrugged with a laugh. “We think it’ll be funny.”
“Yeah, well. I don’t want any of you back on the trails. Got it, Jamison?” I didn’t bother waiting for him to answer me. “Or you’re going to be responsible for this group. Until we find William, you’re locked in right here.” I stomped my foot in the grass.
“Yes, Ma’am.” He saluted me. “He’ll show up. He always does.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“You know.” He winked. Chills ran up my spine. “Getting married, tying a last notch on his belt. Probably with a local.”
“Let’s hope that’s the case.” I couldn’t believe them. They were awful friends. I turned around and headed back to the car and slammed the door when I got in. “They are awful. They think he’s having a last fling, a one-night stand with a local.”
“He could be,” Ty said.
“Really?” I gripped the wheel and slowly turned into the concrete pad where my camper was located. “That’s terrible.”
“I’m not saying it’s something to be proud of. I’m just saying that it’s truly possible. I know guys who did that before they got married.” He looked over at me. “Guys stink.”
“I know,” I said sarcastically. “The last thing we need for publicity is if a camper goes missing on top of the shutdown.”
We got out of the car. I threw the flamingo key ring over top of the car while I got the deposit slip and bag from the back seat. I completely forgot to put those in the office when I first pulled in.
He already had the door unlocked and Fifi out to potty.
“Poor, baby.” Ty used his best baby voice. “She looks miserable,” he noted.
“She should go into labor any day now.” I bent down when she heard me and waddled towards me as fast as her little legs would carry that big belly with her tail wagging. “I think I might take her to get her groomed after she has the babies.”
“A new mom does like to get pampered,” Ty joked. He walked over. “Why don’t you go on in and get changed. I’ll watch her.”
“You’re the best.” I took him up on his offer and couldn’t help but think if this hike was going to lead to a romantic kiss. A moment I’d been dreaming of.
After I dressed in a Happy Trails short-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts, I laced up my hiking boots that were as new as the bachelor party boys’. Quickly, I sprayed myself with bug spray and refilled Fifi’s bowl with some extra kibble. Little mama was going to need all the energy her little body could muster up while in delivery.
“Ready?” Ty walked in, carrying Fifi. She was panting. “I wish she’d have these babies.”
“Me too.” I reached into the cabinet underneath the sink and took a treat from the box. “Sweet baby girl.”
She snatched it out of my fingers before Ty even put her on the ground.
“I’d say she’s happy.” We watched as she gobbled up the treat and made her way over to her bowl. “Let’s go.”
“Got the keys.” He dangled the flamingo key ring from his finger. “I thought we could just walk down.”
“Sounds good.” I left the deposit bag on the counter so I wouldn’t forget to take it to the office later. Even though it was my afternoon off, I never really was off. Somehow, I’d always made it back to the office at some point.
I wasn’t complaining. Life as the owner of Happy Trails was pretty simple life. Well, as long as all the lots were rented. The bungalows were just a bonus. And with William missing and a drought, I wasn’t ready to give up the simple life.
We talked about his dad and his brothers. His dad had really cut back at the diner. It was Ty’s younger brother’s senior year. His dad had been real involved with him and all the stuff that went along with graduating high school. Plus, preparing him for his last baseball season with the high school by getting him into batting lessons. Then there was his youngest brother, Timmy. Ron had joined the PTA at the elementary school. I didn’t know much about his family and I loved hearing him talk about them.