Daydream Retriever (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 10)

by Susan C. Daffron

  “I hear music, so that’s promising. Maybe they decided to get to work,” Lisa said.

  Bev put down her mug and looked up at the ceiling. “They’re probably plotting some nefarious scheme to get out of doing anything. I swear, if they put half as much energy into working as they do trying to get out of it, my life would be a lot simpler.”

  “How old are they?” Pete asked.

  “Kenny is fifteen and Robbie is thirteen,” Bev said.

  “Those are difficult ages for the male of the species.” Pete took a sip of coffee. “When I fourteen, I decided to see if I could ride my bike down the slide at the playground near our house. I dragged the bike up the ladder, and I got to enjoy a massive thrill for about three seconds before the crash landing.”

  Lisa said, “I guess the whole Evel Knievel thing didn’t work out well, huh?”

  “It wasn’t that different from my skiing experience, now that I think about it,” he said.

  “Yeah, that smash, crunch, ouch gets you every time,” Lisa said.

  Bev looked at Pete, then at Lisa. “Holy hogs on fire, would you look at this? You two are as thick as fleas on a farm dog. I’m thinking that you aren’t just roommates, are you?”

  Lisa quickly touched her hand to her cheek, even though she knew full well that it was an incriminating shade of crimson. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure, you do, although at this point, I’d say that’s a gray area.” Pete set down his mug, “You may as well give it up, Lisa. Bev already said she knows all your secrets.”

  Bev nodded. “He’s right, sweetie. And I’m pleased as punch that this secret is finally a good one.”

  After finishing his coffee, Pete went out to the back porch to throw tennis balls for Harley.

  Lisa poured herself another cup and returned to the table. “Pete says that part of the reason Harley was such a problem when I got him is because he wasn’t getting enough exercise. Now he’s like a different dog.”

  “That’s nice. So are you going to tell me what’s going on with you and this maybe-not-only a roommate guy?”

  “I’m not sure what’s going on.”

  Bev set her mug down and leaned forward. “I think you can do better than that. What does he mean by ‘gray area’? That’s cryptic. I want details.”

  “Well, last night we were talking and then we kissed. And it was…I don’t know.”

  “It was what? You’re killing me here. Spill it. Was it good?”

  “Very, very good. But then he said us getting involved was a bad idea.”

  “Yeesh, Lisa, not again! Did you tell this guy you’re dying or something?” Bev shook her index finger at her. “I told you that’s a turnoff.”

  “No, he knows all about the cancer, my accident, everything. We talk all the time about my past because we’re going through all this stuff in the house. He doesn’t have much else to do most of the time, so he’s been stuck learning probably more than he ever wanted to know about me and the entire Lowell family history.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “I think it’s something with him, not me.”

  Bev made a wry face. “Okay, I’m not sure I believe that, but in any case, what do you plan to do?”

  “I have no idea.” Lisa sipped her coffee. “Just see what happens, I guess.”

  “This is you being passive and wimpy again. Are you interested in him? What do you want?”

  “Mostly for this house to be finished, sold, and out of my life.”

  “And after that? Then what?”

  Lisa shook her head. “I hate it when you hassle me like this. How many times do I have to say ‘I don’t know’?”

  “Until you make a decision about…well…anything.”

  Rather than blurting out the nasty comment she desperately wanted to hurl at her friend, Lisa fell back on her mother’s advice that if you couldn’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. She unloaded the dishwasher in silence. Sometimes she wished Bev didn’t know her quite so well.

  Bev put down her mug. “It’s too quiet up there. I’m going to go upstairs and crack the whip again.”

  Harley bounded into the kitchen, followed by Pete a few moments later. He stopped and looked at Lisa. “What happened to you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Whenever you say nothing, it’s usually something.”

  “Bev was badgering me, that’s all. She says I never make decisions.”

  “You don’t.”

  Lisa put the last dish into the dishwasher and slammed the door shut. “Not you too. Of course I make decisions! All the time.”

  “I came up with the idea for letter ‘a’ because you couldn’t think of anything.”

  “So what?”

  Pete set his crutches aside and leaned on the counter. “What are you so afraid of?”

  “Nothing.”

  “That’s not true. I already know you’re afraid of skiing.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you that one.” Lisa gestured toward the window. “But you know why I have good reason to be afraid.”

  “Maybe it’s time you face that fear. When you found me, you skied before you remembered you were afraid.”

  “That was an extreme situation and I’m a long way from ‘s,’ anyway. And we all know how well skiing worked out for you.”

  “Go skiing with Bev. That’s a good use of the letter ‘b,’ I think.”

  Bev walked into the kitchen. “What about Bev?”

  Lisa glared at her. “Your name starts with ‘b.’”

  “Thanks for clearing that up, sweetie. I learned that in elementary school,” Bev said with a smile.

  Lisa gestured toward Pete. “He has list of things he does in alphabetic order. Skiing was ‘s,’ although it morphed into ‘t’ when he broke his tibia.”

  “For the letter ‘a,’ Lisa is going to buy an anklet. But we’re waiting until the next time it rains, so she can hold an umbrella for me,” Pete said.

  “The umbrella is for his ‘u.’ There aren’t many options for that letter, so he’s going to walk in the rain with an umbrella,” Lisa said. “I have to hold it though, so he doesn’t fall over.”

  “Aww, that’s adorable. I love this idea,” Bev said, “They have some gorgeous anklets at Bea Haven gifts. Check out the jewelry cases in the back of the store.”

  “For ‘b’ I suggested that Lisa go skiing with you,” Pete said.

  Bev clapped her hands together. “Well, let’s shoot out the lights, that’s a fan-dam-tabulous idea! I’ve been trying to get her to do that for years! How’d you finally talk her into it?”

  “He didn’t and I don’t want to. The whole idea of the list is to do things you think might be fun,” Lisa said. “And that’s not my idea of fun. I don’t want to go skiing.”

  “No way! You’re absolutely not wimping out on me this time,” Bev said.

  Lisa turned to Pete. “This isn’t fair. What’s your ‘v’ supposed to be?”

  “I’ll go with you and call it a vacation, since my last attempt at a vacation was a bust,” Pete replied.

  “I’ll have to get back home and deal with the family, but y’all could stay over at the lodge.” Bev wiggled her eyebrows and batted her thick lashes flirtatiously. “Kevin is too cheap to take me there, but I’m told it’s really romantic.”

  Lisa gave Pete a questioning look, not sure how he’d react. “Well, maybe…”

  “I could hang out in front of that huge fireplace and drink hot cocoa while you ski,” he said evenly.

  Lisa wondered if he hadn’t completely thought through what going away together might mean. Did he think they would stay in separate rooms? “We’d need to board Harley.”

  “Aww, come on. The hero dog doesn’t get to return to Snow Grove?” Pete said.

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea. When do you want to do this?” Lisa asked, with some trepidation. Was she really agreeing to ski and go off on romantic weekend with
Pete? Talk about facing fears. She turned to him. “Are you sure you’re up for this? It would involve a lot of walking around.”

  “I’ll be okay. It would be nice to get out of the house for a couple days,” he said.

  “I can go next weekend,” Bev said.

  “Okay, I’ll call Kat and see if she has room at the kennel for Harley.” Lisa wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but she couldn’t get the memory of last night’s kiss out of her head.

  It had been decades since she’d been infatuated with a man and unsure of what he was thinking. Lisa was way out of practice. If nothing else, going away for the weekend would resolve the issue one way or another.

  It was a long day, and Bev and her kids finally left late in the afternoon. Bev said she had to get home, make dinner, and drag her husband away from the televised sports events he had undoubtedly been watching all day. The wallpaper was almost gone from the walls, and Bev had made the boys promise to return after church the next day to remove the last dregs of it.

  Lisa had been festering about Pete’s “gray area” comment all day. What was that supposed to mean? After dinner, she knocked on Pete’s door.

  He looked up from his book. “What’s up?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  Patting the mattress with his palm, he said, “Have a seat.”

  Lisa got on the bed next to him, suddenly unsure of what to say. “I feel sort of funny asking about this.”

  “I’m guessing this is not ha-ha funny.”

  “Not really. So we decided to go away for a weekend next weekend. What does that mean?”

  “It means you’re going to ski.”

  “Not that.” She turned to face him. “When I make reservations at the lodge, am I reserving one room or two? Because I don’t know what you mean about a gray area.”

  “Well, like I said, if you’re smart, you won’t want to have anything to do with me. Not to mention that I’m not exactly in the greatest physical shape right now.”

  Lisa moved closer to him and slowly ran a fingertip down his chest. “I’d like to point out that I was injured in a similar way and managed to get pregnant while I was recovering. Let’s just say that it’s quite possible to work around any physical limitations you might have.”

  “Well, that’s intriguing…” He pulled her hand from his chest, kissed her knuckles, and looked into her eyes. “If you’re sure about it, I’m certainly not going to argue, so I’m thinking one room will be sufficient.”

  The next week flew by in a blur of construction annoyances. The only bright spots for Lisa were talking to her daughters on Sunday and getting out of the house to take Pete to physical therapy. He found going to the Alpine Grove Care Center significantly less enjoyable than she did, but they both had a good time on the trip to Bea Haven Gifts in the rain.

  They walked through town slowly and carefully because the sidewalks were wet. Pete had become remarkably adept at using his crutches and it was only a matter of time before he’d be able to switch to using a cane. Lisa was impressed at his progress and at how little he complained. She knew how uncomfortable and unwieldy crutches were and how much your hands, shoulders, and other muscles hurt, especially in the beginning. However, most of the time he seemed to be able to manage his impatience and aggravation about the situation. Maybe there was something to be said for meditation.

  Bea Sullivan was one of Lisa’s favorite people in Alpine Grove. She’d owned the gift store for years and knew everyone, including Lisa’s parents. Bea spent ages chatting with Lisa about everything from the current retail climate in Alpine Grove to land conservation while she helped Lisa select the perfect anklet.

  The trip to town turned out to be far more fun than Lisa had expected it to be. They’d left Harley in the truck right outside the store so they could keep an eye on him. The dog had slept most of the time and managed to refrain from chowing down on any automotive parts, so Lisa viewed the excursion a complete success. And whenever she looked down at the pretty beads encircling her ankle, she smiled. Pete was onto something with this whole alphabet-of-fun idea.

  Every night after dinner when the house was quiet, Lisa stopped by Pete’s room to say goodnight. She had started to look forward to her evening chats with him. Somehow it seemed like they had tacitly agreed not to do anything beyond a goodnight kiss during these rendezvous in his room. It was like they both were waiting for the trip to Snow Grove to solidify something first. Lisa wasn’t sure why exactly, but it felt right.

  Maybe he wanted her to get over her fear of skiing. Maybe he wanted some more time to get used to the idea of being involved with someone. Whatever it was, he didn’t seem to want to elaborate, and Lisa was finding it more and more difficult to leave his room at night. It was like high school, with make-out sessions that went late into the wee hours, until one or the other of them finally pointed out that maybe they ought to get some sleep. Reluctantly, Lisa would go upstairs to her bedroom, but half the time she would lie there staring at the ceiling, wishing she were still downstairs with him.

  Lisa had negotiated with Kat to drop off Harley Friday afternoon, since they were leaving for Snow Grove early Saturday to meet up with Bev. Her friend was eager to get up to the mountain when the lifts opened like they used to when they’d skied in high school. Lisa was significantly less enthusiastic, but Bev kept calling her and reciting the weather statistics, which showed that all the rain that week in Alpine Grove had been snow at the resort. The ski reports from the mountain claimed the conditions were outstanding, and Bev was raring to go.

  After the contractors left on Friday afternoon, Lisa and Pete loaded Harley into the truck for the trip out to the kennel. Exhausted from a long retrieving session in the backyard with Pete, Harley was quietly snoring between them on the seat.

  Pete had his hand on Harley’s back. “So this place you’re taking him is okay, right?”

  “Harley loves it. There are lots of other dogs, and he gets to go on long walks in the forest.”

  Pete didn’t respond and stared out the window as they passed miles of soggy evergreens that were dripping with moisture.

  “You’re unusually quiet over there. Are you having second thoughts about this trip?”

  “You need to get past your problem with skiing, so you can move on.”

  “I wasn’t talking about me. Are you sure you’re feeling okay? Is your leg swollen again? We probably shouldn’t have walked so much around town yesterday.”

  “It’s fine. Going out makes me more impatient to get my life back. I would do almost anything to be able to get off these stupid crutches.”

  “I know.”

  “It feels like it’s taking forever to walk like a normal person again.” He stared out the window again. “So where is this place? Are you sure you know where you’re going?”

  “It’s just a ways out of town, that’s all.” She took her eyes away from the road to glance at him quickly. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I probably should have spent more time meditating this afternoon while you were at the store.”

  Lisa pulled into the driveway and up to the kennel. Realizing where they were, Harley stood up and began doing an excited tap dance on the Naugahyde seat.

  “This won’t take long.” Lisa said.

  “I’ll hang out here and stare at the trees. They’re massive.”

  After unloading Harley, Lisa slammed the door and smiled at Kat, who had emerged from the kennel building.

  “Hi again,” Kat said as Harley launched toward her. She dodged out of his way and took the leash from Lisa. “Harley, sit. Your special kennel awaits you.”

  Harley complied and Lisa sighed inwardly. Everyone seemed to be able to make this dog sit routinely, except for her. Pete was right. It was like Harley was laughing at her pathetic efforts at obedience training, acknowledging her commands only when the spirit moved him. She said, “I got the invitation to the party. Thank you. I noticed there was no mention of costumes, so
I guess you succeeded in nixing that idea.”

  “Yes, thank goodness. I remain concerned, however. Maria’s parties have been known to get a little bit out of hand.”

  “Way back in the dark ages when I got married, I didn’t have a party, but that’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it? A bachelorette or hen party is supposed to be one last big blast with your girlfriends and all that, right?”

  “Why didn’t you have a party?”

  “We eloped.”

  “I am in awe of your brilliance. Unfortunately, I told some people we were getting married and decided I wanted a honeymoon. Things sort of escalated from there.” Kat petted the smooth fur on Harley’s head. “I’m wishing I could fly off to Hawaii and skip all the preamble that has to come before it.”

  “I think it’s sweet that your friend wants to celebrate.”

  “I’m trying to look at it that way, but the last time Maria threw an office party, there was a “Queen” tribute band with a guy dressed up as Freddie Mercury, stage lighting, audio equipment, and a cake with a cell phone rammed into it like a wedding-cake topper.”

  “All that for an office party?”

  “Yes, I can’t even begin to imagine what she’s going to come up with for a bachelorette party. I mean, those are supposed to be wild. Every time she starts talking about it, I cringe and want to crawl into a hole somewhere.”

  Lisa laughed. “I was worried that maybe I shouldn’t come, but it sounds like I don’t want to miss this, do I?”

  “Probably not. People are likely to be talking about it for years.”

  Lisa put her hand on Kat’s shoulder. “I’m afraid you’re wrong about that. This is Alpine Grove. They’ll be talking about it for decades.”

  Kat put her palms over her face. “Oh my God, you’re right. I’m never going to live this down.”

  “We all have our crosses to bear. You may as well get used to it.”

  Kat went back into the house, where she was greeted by the unmistakable sound of feline hairball expulsion. The all-too-familiar rhythmic urka, yurka, blerk, aaaack sounds were emanating from her bedroom. Kat launched through the kitchen and dining room toward the bedroom, but not before the hairball had landed.