Daydream Retriever (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 10)

by Susan C. Daffron

  “It’s a tibial plateau fracture, isn’t it?”

  He looked up in surprise. “You certainly know your knee injuries.”

  “I can easily imagine what happened. That type of fracture often happens when you have a bad landing. You shot off that ridge, then smash, crunch, ouch.”

  “It’s all kind of a blur, but yeah, that sounds about right. Some snowboarder cut me off and I swerved to avoid him, went through a mess of trees, and the next thing I knew I was airborne. Then the crunch and the ouch.”

  Lisa smiled. “I wiped out pretty spectacularly too. My rehab took more than a year.”

  “I don’t want to hear that. I thought I’d get a cast and in a few weeks be walking again, no problem. But from what they’re saying, this is going to take months and months to heal.” He moved his hand from Harley and flopped both palms on the bed in exasperation. “It’s not like I can go home either. I can barely even walk on crutches yet.”

  “Where do you live?”

  “Phoenix.”

  “Do you have family there? When I had my accident and later when I was sick, I really depended on my family’s help, especially my mom. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”

  “Nope. I already had this conversation at the hospital. That’s why I’m trapped here.”

  Given the look on Pete’s face, Lisa wasn’t going to touch that topic. “I see.”

  “All I wanted was a ski vacation. That turned out to be a dumb idea.”

  “You must have skied before if you were on that trail. It’s not a beginner run.”

  “Sure I have. I love to ski and I wanted to get out of the city and see some real seasons. At this rate, I’m going to end up seeing every season Alpine Grove has to offer.”

  “Winter is pretty, but I’m afraid mud season isn’t a big tourist draw.”

  “I guess I’ll find out.”

  Harley uttered a snorfly snore and moved his muzzle closer to Pete’s chest.

  Lisa grinned at the expression of canine contentment. “Are you sure you don’t want a dog? This guy has completely fallen in love with you.”

  “I don’t think so. Weren’t we discussing the fact that I’m trapped here and I can’t walk?”

  “I know, but he’s so completely smitten with you. Could you watch him for a minute again? I have to take this box to Betty and see if it spurs some memories this time.”

  Pete ruffled Harley’s ears and smiled. “All right. I suppose I can do that.”

  With more than a little trepidation, Lisa walked down the hallway with her box of knickknacks. The last two visits with her aunt had been confusing and mostly made her feel like a rotten niece for not understanding what Betty wanted her to salvage from the house. And now the place was being torn apart, so it wasn’t going to be any easier to find whatever it was Betty was so desperate to have.

  Betty was Lisa’s grandfather’s sister. Grandpa had died of cancer when he was only in his sixties, so apparently Betty got the family genes for longevity. At this point, she was probably in her early nineties, although no one was completely sure, least of all Betty. Lisa’s mom always said Betty was too weird to die.

  Lisa remembered that when she was little, Betty often wore yellow because, as she said, it was a “happy” color. Her love for laughing loudly and often was why she spent so much time telling jokes and watching old comedy movies. Back in the days when Betty was a little more clear about who Lisa was, she used to refer to her as “baby doll.” Although Lisa was never sure why Betty had given her the nickname, her obnoxious brothers never let her forget it.

  When she reached the doorway to Betty’s room, she found her aunt lying on the bed, curled up and facing the wall, away from the doorway. Maybe she was asleep. Lisa tapped on the door lightly and Betty shot straight up into a sitting position with a small yelp.

  Lisa smiled weakly and held the cardboard box out in front of her. “It’s me again. I have some more things for you to look at. Is it okay if come in?”

  “Linda, why did you have to scare the stuffing out of me?”

  “Lisa.”

  “Well, whatever your name is, come over here. What’s in the box?”

  Lisa walked to the bed and placed the box in front of Betty. “I thought maybe you’d be interested in looking at these. They’re a few things I found around the house.”

  Betty peered into the box and pulled out a blue and white Delft candle holder, clasping the little round handle with two fingers as if it had a communicable disease. “I hate this kind of crap. Why use candles when we have electricity? That was a good invention, you know.”

  “Yes, I’d have to agree.”

  Betty dropped it back into the box and pulled out a small silver elephant figurine. “So why did the lifeguard kick the elephants out of the pool?”

  “It has something to do with trunks, I assume.”

  “Okay, you heard that one before. But any joke that includes dropping your pants and mooning people is a good one!”

  “If you say so.” Lisa picked the wooden box and a miniature ceramic pony out of the box and held them up in her hands. “How about these?”

  “Why would I need want a little wood box? To store toothpicks?”

  “Um, you said…”

  Betty grabbed the pony. “Or this homely clay thing. Does it have a cough?”

  “What?”

  “He sounds a little hoarse.” Betty chuckled and pointed at Lisa, “Oh, come on. Get a sense of humor, Linda. Don’t you get it?”

  “Betty, could you please focus for a minute? I need you to really look at this stuff. The contractors are there ripping out carpet today. I’m going to have to start selling and donating the things in the house soon. I need you to tell me what you’re looking for in the house, so I can give it to you. Time is running out.”

  Betty dropped the pony back into the cardboard box. “You’re a party pooper. And you know what that means.”

  “Stop. No poop jokes. I mean it.”

  “Fine.”

  “What do you want from the house?”

  Betty peered down into the box. “None of this crap. Your mother has the most hideous taste.”

  Lisa wasn’t going to argue that point. “What do you want me to bring?”

  “How many times do I have to tell you, Linda? I want the stuff in the house. I put it there so it would be safe.”

  “What stuff? The house is full of stuff! Furniture, kitchenware, everything! Half the toys we had when we were kids are still in those closets. What do you want? You have to be more specific. I can’t bring everything out here for you to look at.”

  Betty seemed to curl up into herself. “You never listen. I’m tired of talking to you. Go away.”

  Lisa reached out to touch her shoulder, but Betty shrugged off her hand as she slumped back down onto the bed and mumbled, “Get out.”

  Not sure what else to do, Lisa picked up the box. “All right. I’ll bring some more things by soon.”

  Betty rolled over and faced the wall again. She was done talking. Lisa left the room and went back down the hall to collect Harley from Pete. She felt as if she’d been cruel to her aunt, but she was getting nowhere and she wanted to scream. Maybe in the process of drafting the documents, Larry had figured out what Betty was talking about. It was time to give her little brother a call and get some answers.

  Lisa glanced at a painting of perky yellow sunflowers on the wall. Was Betty of sound enough mind for any of that paperwork to hold up under scrutiny? That might be another question to ask Larry. If he didn’t have answers, she was running out of ideas. Betty was going to have to live out the rest of her days without her mythical stuff.

  Lisa stopped at the doorway to Pete’s room and found that he and Harley were almost exactly as she had left them. Harley raised his head and thumped his tail a few times in greeting. Pete set his book aside and smiled at her. “How’d it go?”

  Lisa set the box on the floor and sat in the chair near the bed.
“Not well. This is absurd. I have contractors tearing apart the house and there’s no way I’m going to figure out what she wants before I have to start clearing things out.”

  “What are they doing?”

  “At the moment, ripping out carpet, I hope. And some task that involves an unbelievably loud air compressor. It’s awful.”

  “Don’t you have to get rid of the furniture first?”

  “They said they could work around it for a while, since I’m living there. I can’t get rid of everything yet.” She slumped down in the chair. “I’ve been avoiding going through all the old stuff. I could say I’ve been too busy, but to be honest, I’m having trouble forcing myself to do it. Every time I open a closet door, I feel overwhelmed and close it again.”

  “You also had a big date, as I recall.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  “So it didn’t go well? You never said.”

  Lisa crossed her arms and glared out the window. “No, and I don’t want to talk about it. Suffice it to say I have given up on dating and sworn off men entirely. It’s not worth it.”

  “Swearing off an entire gender is significant, and I’ll try not to take it personally. Okay. New topic. You said the house is big. Does it have a bathroom downstairs?”

  “Yes, there’s a full bath next to my father’s office. It has possibly the ugliest wallpaper ever made. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, while Harley and I were hanging out here, I had an idea.”

  Lisa turned to look at him. “About the house? Or Betty?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Then what?”

  “I’d like to hire you.”

  Lisa leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Hire me? To do what? I already told you I have no skills.”

  “This would involve skills you already have.”

  Lisa sat up and leaned back in the chair, flopping her hands onto the armrests. “I’ve just spent the last half hour trying to extract information from my aunt, and I’m not in the mood for riddles. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Rent me a room in your huge house, feed me, and drive me to my physical therapy appointments. And if I trip over something, please call nine one one. I’ll pay you, and as a bonus I can help keep an eye on Harley so he doesn’t get in the way of the contractors.”

  Lisa was so surprised she didn’t know what to say. “You want to move into the house? Are you crazy? It’s a mess.”

  “I don’t care. I have to get out of here or I’ll go insane. You already seem to know everything about my injury. If you could handle raising twins, feeding and driving an old gimpy guy around should be no problem.”

  “I guess that’s true, but I barely know you. And you don’t know me either.”

  “Roommates never know each other at first. You can help me, and I’ll do what I can to help you.” He pointed at the box. “I could help you go through the stuff in the house. That doesn’t require walking. Park me in a chair and I’ll sort through anything you want.”

  “You’d really pay me?” Lisa said, trying to read the expression on his face. He did look sincere. The idea of not having to ask Mike about money for a new car was appealing. With her own source of income, maybe she could save enough to get a used car and avoid ever having to talk to her ex about the demise of the Volvo. It wasn’t like she could drive Larry’s piece-of-junk pink pickup forever. Eventually she was going to have to deal with her sad automotive situation.

  Pete said, “How much does it cost to rent a room in Alpine Grove?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Find out and I’ll double it. Plus food. I’ll pay for you to do a background check or credit check or whatever you want, so you can find out everything you ever wanted to know about me. Because I was a cop, I’ve been fingerprinted by every agency out there. Please?”

  “I’m not sure about this. Shouldn’t you talk to your doctors? The house is being torn apart. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and I doubt it’s good for someone recovering from surgery to be living in a construction zone. It’s horribly noisy and dirty.”

  “Like I said, I don’t care about that if it gets me out of here.”

  Harley woofed once to show his support and Lisa laughed. “I guess Harley likes the idea.”

  Pete thrust his fists in the air. “I’m free!”

  The next day, Lisa and Harley returned to the Alpine Grove Care Center to confer with Pete’s doctor about the idea of him staying with her. Lisa couldn’t decide how she felt about it, but she had to admit that she was lonely out at the house. Every member of her family had made it clear they wanted nothing to do with the remodeling project, so she felt trapped with a lot of memories she didn’t want to deal with alone. Having Pete around would help her to go through all the old stuff that she’d been avoiding. He was right about that. She was getting nowhere trying to do it on her own.

  Lisa and Harley walked into Pete’s room, but it was empty. She sat down in the chair near the bed and Harley sat in front of her, looking up at her expectantly.

  Ruffling the fur on his neck, she bent down and whispered, “Don’t worry. Pete couldn’t have gotten far. He’s too slow.” Harley wagged his tail and slid down to the floor to wait. Lisa grabbed a book off the nightstand. Othello? Apparently Pete wasn’t kidding about his affection for the Bard.

  She flipped the book open and riffled through the pages. That was a whole lot of footnotes for one play. How could anyone stand to read this stuff when every-other word required a footnote? The petite nurse wheeled Pete into the room, and Harley jumped up to greet him. Lisa hurriedly closed the book and placed it back on the nightstand.

  After helping Pete back into bed, the nurse said, “The doctor will be in to talk to you in a few minutes.”

  Harley eagerly jumped up to join Pete on the bed, who shrugged at Lisa. She folded her hands in her lap, trying not to be nervous. Somehow talking to doctors always made her feel like she was being sent to the principal’s office for bad behavior. To Lisa, it felt like doctors looked at her extra pounds and lack of muscle tone with a critical eye. Yes, it was irrational, but it didn’t make talking to medical professionals any less anxiety-inducing.

  A man in a white coat walked into the room. He bore a striking resemblance Dustin Hoffman, except he was much taller and skinnier. An involuntary rendition of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” ran through Lisa’s head and she bent her head, repressing a smile. Why did her brain turn to mush around doctors? No wonder she’d ended up married to one.

  “Mrs. Ryan? How nice to see you again. It’s been a long time.”

  Lisa looked up. “What?” Who was this guy?

  The doctor put his palm on his chest. “Roger Burgmann. We met at the orthopedic conference in San Diego back in 1993. Listening to your husband discuss erythrocyte sedimentation rate after total hip arthroplasty was a real highlight of the event for me.”

  Lisa didn’t remember meeting someone who looked like Dustin Hoffman, but she’d been so bored and met so many doctors that weekend, maybe she’d blocked it from her memory. “Of course. San Diego.”

  “How is your husband?”

  “Fine, although Mike and I aren’t married anymore. He lives in New York now. I’m single and planning to stay that way.” Lisa gave herself a mental head slap. Why did she blurt that out?

  “Oh, ah, I’m sorry. I suppose we should talk about Mr. Harmon.”

  Pete lifted his hand off Harley’s back and raised his palm as if he were in grade school. “So can I move out of here? Like I told you yesterday, I really want to leave.”

  “Well, I need to discuss the medical issues with both of you. If she’s going to be taking care of you, Mrs. Ryan needs to be apprised of your condition.”

  Imitating Pete, Lisa raised her hand. “It’s Lisa Lowell now. Please call me Lisa.”

  The doctor looked down at the clipboard in his hand and focused his attention back on Pete. He cleared his thro
at. “At this juncture, your leg appears to be healing well. But I showed you the x-rays yesterday, Mr. Harmon, so you know what we’re dealing with here. You suffered a significant impact injury.”

  “I know. My leg is full of screws and plates. I’m trying to forget about the fact that you put things that look like railroad spikes into my body,” Pete said.

  “It’s imperative for the next six to eight weeks that you put absolutely no weight on your knee and leg. That means you will need to use a wheelchair or crutches at all times,” the doctor continued.

  “I know,” Pete said, looking glum. “That’s why I want to hire Lisa. I can’t cook anything while I’m on crutches or do much of anything else.”

  The doctor turned to Lisa. “So you’ve talked about this and you understand what’s involved?”

  Lisa nodded. “We have. When I was eighteen I had a similar accident, so I know what the recovery is like. My mother took off work to take care of me. Back then, we converted my father’s office into my bedroom because it’s on the first floor near a bathroom with a walk-in shower. Pete can stay there like I did. We just need to move the desk out and rent an adjustable hospital bed. I’ll need a complete list of Pete’s medications and an outline of his physical-therapy protocol.”

  Dr. Burgmann flipped through the sheets on his clipboard. “All right. I can get that for you.”

  As the doctor droned on and on, Lisa remembered why she hated attending those medical conferences with Mike. No wonder she didn’t remember Dr. Burgmann. MDs had a fondness for using long, complicated medical terms that were hard to follow, so the doctors all blended into a blur of Latin monotony. It was so much easier to talk to nurses, who tended to focus on how someone was actually feeling.

  When the doctor left, Pete flopped back onto his pillow, which caused Harley to stir from his slumber. Pete said, “I feel like a science project. And not one of the fun ones like building a working model of a volcano. I thought he’d never leave.”

  Lisa chuckled “At least Harley got some rest.”

  “Lucky him.”