by Linda Wisdom
“Welcome to the real world, Keely,” she murmured, going back to bed.
Keely and Steffie went into town the next day to pick up groceries and do some exploring.
Keely looked around the small town with fascination as she and her daughter noticed the old buildings blending with the new. Steffie was more fascinated with the drugstore that still sold a little of everything.
“Wow,” Steffie breathed, picking up a bottle of tonic bearing a label explaining it was for “lady’s complaints.” “You mean they knew about PMS even back then?”
Keely looked at the bottle that stated the tonic had been manufactured since the late eighteen hundreds. “I’m sure this is a surprise to you, but that was a bit before my time.”
“Hi!”
They turned to find a girl of about Steffie’s age looking at them with a bright expectant expression on her face.
“You’re the Harpers, aren’t you?” she said, looking from one to the other, her gaze lingering on Steffie. “I’m Lisa Barkley. I live up the road from you. We heard you’d just moved in.”
“I’m Steffie Harper, the more interesting member of the family, and my mom’s Keely,” the girl explained, sending her mother a teasing look. “Are you in the tenth grade?”
Lisa nodded.
“How are the teachers up here?”
“Some great, some make you work.”
“How terrible for you kids!” Keely laughed. She looked around the store. “Is your mother here with you?”
Lisa shook her head. “I just have my dad,” she explained. “He’s around somewhere.”
Steffie looked at her mother. “Is it okay if Lisa shows me around?”
“Wouldn’t it be nicer if Lisa volunteered?”
“I’d love to!” Lisa looked around then waved at someone. “Hey, there’s my dad.”
“Well, Lisa, you sure didn’t waste any time, did you?” The male voice was slow and husky to the ear.
Keely turned around and found she had to tip her head back. She was tall, almost five feet nine inches, but this man was easily taller. She gauged he had to be close to six-two. Graying brown hair was cut short, as if the owner preferred minimum care; he had brown eyes that she’d bet didn’t miss a thing and a nose that looked as if it had been broken once or twice. Chiseled lines in his face showed every month of his forty-something years, which told her time had not always been kind to this man. The khaki shirt covering his chest and the worn jeans that didn’t go with it seemed to suit him. Her gaze fastened on the star pinned to his chest. No wonder. Lisa’s father was the town sheriff.
“Dad, this is Steffie Harper and her mom, Keely. And this is my dad, Sam Barkley.” Lisa practically bounced with her enthusiasm, as she added unnecessarily, “They moved into the Reynolds’ house. Is it okay if I show Steffie around?”
Sheriff Sam Barkley kept his attention focused on Keely’s face. “If it’s all right with her mother.”
“How do you expect to get back home?” Keely asked Steffie.
“I’ll be around the rest of the day. Either myself or one
of my deputies can run them home when they’re ready,” Sam offered.
“How many people can say they have the town law for chauffeur service?” Steffie asked her mother.
“Don’t get her started,” she said with a sigh. “All right.” She barely had the words out when her daughter and new friend had taken off.
“They’ll be fine,” Sam assured her. “We’re still pretty much a small town around here and Lisa knows if she tries anything she shouldn’t, someone will be on the phone in thirty seconds tops to tell me what she did.”
“I guess some things don’t change.” Keely smiled.
He glanced around. “Well, I better get back to work. Don’t worry about your daughter. She’ll be home as soon as Lisa makes sure she sees everything and meets everyone.” He smiled, tipped his hat and walked away.
Keely turned to watch him walk out of the store.
“Don’t be offended. While Sam’s the best sheriff a town could have, he’s never been known for his social skills.”
The man appeared to be in his late forties with a smile that said he knew just how charming he was. His white pharmacist’s jacket set off his deeply tanned skin and dark hair heavily threaded with silver. She sensed he knew just how well the white jacket suited his dark good looks.
“John Harris.” He held out his hand. “And you’re Keely Harper, who’s decided to return to the fold. Although, why you’d want to come back here is beyond me. Not much goes on around here.”
“That’s fine with me,” she replied. “I’m looking for some peace and quiet.”
She didn’t like the way he held on to her hand longer than necessary or the intense way he looked at her, as if she were a specimen under a microscope. She reminded herself that lechers were everywhere, even in small towns.
Not to mention she saw him as someone honestly too old for her. She kept her smile intact as she slid her hand from his grasp.
“Well, I carry pretty much anything you can find in the big city,” he assured her. “And quite a few things you might not find there. If you need anything I don’t have, I’ll be only too happy to order it for you.”
“Thank you.” She kept her smile firmly fastened on her lips even as her unease grew. She couldn’t pin her feelings down, but there was something about the man that bothered her. “If you’ll excuse me, I still have several errands to run.”
“Come by anytime.” His smile grew broader.
“Thank you.” She nodded at him and quickly left, pushing the glass door with a bit more force than necessary.
“I hate to think he hits on every woman who goes in there,” she muttered, tossing her packages in the back of her Blazer.
As Keely continued her errands, she noted she was receiving discreet but decidedly curious stares as she wandered through the town’s bookstore in search of reading material. She put it down to typical small-town curiosity and quickly escaped to the shelves promoting recent bestsellers.
“Don’t mind the gawkers. It’s a small town and good manners are usually forgotten. As for me, I’ve never considered good manners all that much fun, so I’ll be crass and just approach you. You must be Keely Harper.”
Keely turned to the speaker. She looked to be about Keely’s age, dressed in navy blue leggings, navy leather fiats and a red-and-navy geometric print, hip-length cotton shirt. For a moment Keely could swear even her eyes matched her outfit
The woman laughed. “I’m Chloe Webster, owner and general slave of Echo Ridge’s bookshop. Don’t be surprised I figured out who you were. We don’t get a lot of newcomers in town and besides, Sheila over at the Realtor’s is one of my best customers and loves to brag about her new clients.”
Keely smiled. “Did you hear anything else about me that I might find interesting? I always enjoy hearing what people think about me.”
“You’re divorced, you have a teenage daughter, you lived here thirty years ago, you’re now leasing the Reynolds’ house until you can get yours ready for habitation and you’re a graphic designer.” She ticked off on her fingers. “Have I left anything out?”
Keely chuckled. “At least no one talked about the alien I keep locked up in the hall closet. I’d hate for that bit of gossip to get out.”
“I’m sure that little tidbit will come up in the next day or so,” Chloe assured her, her dark blue eyes dancing with laughter. “So, what kind of trash reading are you looking for?”
“What do you suggest?”
“I’m what you call a book slut. I read a little of everything.” Chloe picked up several paperbacks and handed them to Keely. “You can’t go wrong with these.” She turned her head as someone called out her name and asked a question. “Tell Amy I sold the last copy yesterday, but I did reorder it. It should be here by Thursday.” She looked at Keely. “Come by either Tuesday or Thursday. Those are my slowest days and we can sit in the back and have coffee.
If you’re a wonderful person you’ll bring something filled with sugar, preferably chocolate, and I’ll be your friend forever.”
“I’ll remember that.” Keely hefted the books in her hand and headed for the checkout counter. She turned around to ask a question but said nothing when she noticed an odd look flash across Chloe’s face. If she didn’t know any better she’d swear it was pity. She managed to give the woman a bright smile that indicated she hadn’t seen her expression and she hurried to the register. In the end, she dismissed it as perhaps Chloe’s being unable to imagine why someone who had spent so many years in Los Angeles would want to come back here.
As she wandered through the grocery store stocking up on staples and anything that looked good, she was aware of more curious glances thrown her way. She expected that. After all, Echo Ridge wasn’t that large a town. But what she couldn’t understand was some of the expressions on the faces of the older residents. She was almost sure she saw sadness there before they hastily turned away. She never felt so glad as when she finished her grocery shopping and was ready to return to the house.
As Keely’s bright red Blazer headed for the outskirts of town, quite a few people watched her. And all had their own views about her.
“I was surprised to hear she was willing to come back here after what had happened,” a silver-haired woman confided in one of her Tuesday afternoon bridge partners. “Do you think she remembers what happened that night?”
“She sure doesn’t act like it. She was very ill after the incident and some say she lost her memory of what happened. She still might not know the truth. I can’t imagine her grandmother ever told her. Evelyn was pretty broken up afterward, if you remember.”
A third woman joined the conversation. “I know I wouldn’t want to remember something like that. My Barney still has nightmares about that night. I still remember him coming home after he was at the crime scene. He said he had to take a shower. But I heard him in the bathroom and he was sick as a dog. He told me the room looked like the inside of a meat-packing plant. Willis should have gone to the chair for what he had done to them instead of living in prison for the rest of his life.”
“I heard she’s fixing up her parents’ house and plans to live there. Maybe her ex-husband ended up with everything and she had no choice but to come back here,”
“I heard she has her own business. She asked if there would be a problem if she had four phone lines installed. Now, what does a woman need with four phone lines?”
“Maybe it has to do with her business. You know, their deaths was something we all kept quiet for about the short time she was here before Evelyn moved her away. I always thought a lot of Evelyn. She was a good woman who helped out anyone who was in need. I’m sure not going to say anything about it.”
It wasn’t just the women who wondered about Echo Ridge’s newest resident Men standing around the gas station had their own opinions to offer.
“I’m surprised Evelyn let her come back here.”
“The woman is an adult, so it’s not as if she had any say in it I was always surprised Evelyn hadn’t sold the house years ago.”
One man lit up a cigarette and drew on it deeply. “With that kind of history, do you think she could have sold it? I know I wouldn’t want to live in a house where such a horrible murder happened. I have to say she grew up into a fine-looking woman. Someone looking like her won’t be single for long. Too bad she’s got that kind of history on her plate. It could make a man think twice, even if it had nothing to do with her.”
They all shook their heads in sympathy. Even thirty years later, the unspoken vow taken back then still held— the townspeople would never bring up the terrible murder of Keely’s parents.
Not all felt sympathetic toward Keely. One had watched her, feeling the hate build up inside like a bitter bile. That witch had ruined lives thirty years ago, by breaking up a family and eventually sending innocent children into foster care. If she intended to stick around, she would soon find out what payback meant.
“Lisa’s really nice,” Steffie informed her mother as they ate dinner in the early evening. “She’s lived here all her life.”
“All those years,” Keely said dryly. “The poor dear.”
Steffie wrinkled her nose. “Give me a break, Mom. Her mom died when she was nine and her dad became sheriff when his dad retired. She says he’s not as geeky as he looks.”
“I don’t think Sheriff Barkley looks geeky,” she said absently.
Steffie’s blue eyes took on a dangerous gleam at her mother’s statement. “I didn’t think so either. Lisa said she’ll take me around at school and introduce me to everybody.” She toyed with her green beans.
Keely resisted the urge to be a mother and say she was glad her little girl was making friends and all sorts of mom statements like that.
“I’m glad the two of you hit it off. She seems like a nice girl.”
“I told her if she was that open and nice at my old school, she’d be blackballed before homeroom was over.”
“That’s right dear, don’t hold things back. Tell the truth.” Keely shook her head at her daughter’s blunt words. “And she’s still talking to you?”
“Sure, she believes in telling the truth, too.”
Keely inwardly shuddered at the thought of another Steffie wandering around. The girl frowned at her mother, catching the meaning of her action.
“You don’t mind if she comes over day after tomorrow, do you? I thought we’d have lunch.”
“That’s fine with me. I’ll probably still be setting up my office. I want to get that artwork off to Mainwaring Engineering. Although I also want to go over to the house and see what needs to be done first,” she said. “All I ask is you don’t try to cook something complicated that leaves the kitchen looking like a war zone.”
“Come on, Mom, give me some credit.” Her next statement warned Keely to prepare herself for a shock. “I’m going to be fifteen and a half in two months.’?
She peered closely at her daughter’s face. “Yes, I can see the crow’s-feet already beginning to form. Perhaps we should find a good anti-wrinkle cream for you.”
She shot her mother a “get real” look. “Ha, ha, very funny. I’ll be able to get my driver’s permit then and before you know it, my driver’s license.”
Keely shuddered at the thought of her baby behind the wheel of the truck. Racing down the road. It was enough to give a mother nightmares.
Steffie looked off into space. “What kind of car do you think I should get?”
“A Big Wheel sounds perfect.”
Keely was glad Steffie had met someone so quickly since it helped her adjust to her new life. While she knew she didn’t need to worry about the girl, she did. She felt guilty for taking her away from her friends and familiar surroundings, but when she had broached the idea of moving up here, Steffie was all for it Deep down, she knew if her grandmother had been alive, she would have vehemently protested Keely’s idea and probably tried to persuade her to move to San Diego.
Keely could never understand her grandmother’s vehemence about the town, although she’d spoken fondly of old friends. She had never questioned her grandmother’s opinion because one thing the older woman had always
been very tight-lipped about was anything to do with the town of Keely’s birth and the time of her parents’ deaths. Keely, as a child, decided it hurt her grandmother too much to talk about her only daughter’s death so she stopped asking. The adult Keely wished she hadn’t stopped. Perhaps she would have learned something by now.
Keely was busy hooking up her computer equipment when Lisa arrived. The girl greeted her with a bright smile and loped off with Steffie to the latter’s bedroom. Within moments, rock music vibrated throughout the house.
“I’m sure it could be worse,” Keely murmured, as she returned to setting up her office.
Keely wasn’t too sure about the idea when the two girls volunteered to make lunch until she realized
they had planned on not making anything more demanding than grilled cheese sandwiches. She didn’t know about Lisa’s cooking skills, but Steffie’s were minimal at best.
“I heard Mike Palmer’s coming out to see you,” Lisa announced to Keely as they ate their sandwiches.
“Why would he want to see me?”
“He works for our local paper.” She made a face. “He thinks he’s really hot stuff because he used to work in Sacramento and once interviewed the governor. Some say he got fired because he was caught in bed with his boss’s wife.” She giggled. “He’s been divorced twice and he’s dated every single woman in town.”
“He doesn’t sound all that difficult to resist,” Keely commented.
“She’s been out with some real jerks,” Steffie confided to her new friend. “I told Mom at least she got it out of her system first thing.”
Keely rolled her eyes. “Am I to have no secrets?”
“Not a one,” Steffie cheerfully declared, popping a potato chip in her mouth and crunching down. “Maybe now you’ll find some nice guy.” She shared a sly glance with Lisa.
“I just figured I’d warn you about Mike,” Lisa said. “Last year, everyone was talking about Chloe Webster’s affair with Mike. Some of the women were so nasty to Chloe she almost cried. Dad got so mad, he told them if they didn’t knock it off, he’d see if the old statute about women being publicly dragged through the town for malicious mischief was still on the books. That really shut them up.” She giggled again.
“Your father sounds as if he doesn’t put up with anything or anyone,” Keely commented, finding herself curious to know more about the taciturn man in khaki.
“He doesn’t He said he was made sheriff to protect everybody and he intends to do that. Old Mrs. Stone says he’s supposed to protect the good people.” She made a face. “He told her not to worry. That he’ll protect the old biddies the same as anyone else. She didn’t like that She thinks she’s the real leader in this town, but everyone knows it’s Miz Nan who knows everyone’s secrets and if anyone gets out of line she puts them back real fast. She used to be a teacher.”