by Krista Davis
By midafternoon, I was pleased with my progress and ready for a bite to eat. I closed my sketchbook and returned to the phone store.
They proudly brought out a new phone with all my old information on it. One item accomplished!
All day long, I had dreaded the starlight concert in the park. Normally, it would be the sort of thing I enjoyed, but the pressure was on to be warm and welcoming to Veronica’s new beau. I wasn’t my sister’s keeper. And I didn’t want to be like Olivia and Priss. If this mystery man was the man of Veronica’s dreams, the least I could do was welcome him into the family. Right now, I reminded myself, they were only dating. So all I had to do was be civil.
In the early evening, I wrapped up the brownies and coconut cupcakes I had baked. I packed them into a picnic basket along with two large thermoses of fruit spritzer. Eric and Edgar arrived just as I was pulling out an old blanket to sit on.
I opened the door and did my level best to sound cheerful. “Ready to relax under the stars?”
I handed the picnic basket to Eric and the blanket to Edgar. As I was locking the door, I spied Mr. DuBois looking out the window. Excusing myself, I hurried to the back door of the mansion and knocked on it.
Mr. DuBois opened it. He was leaning on his crutches. “We’re headed to the park for a starlight concert. Would you care to join us?”
Mr. DuBois gazed at Eric and Edgar. “Thank you for your kind invitation, but I must decline.”
I raised my eyebrows. “We can help you walk.”
“Miss Florrie, I abhor leaving the premises after dark. Sitting in a field on the ground among hundreds of other sweating people is not my idea of a pleasant experience. Concerts are to be enjoyed in a concert hall with finely constructed acoustics. One dresses for such an event and sits in a chair without the smacking noises of one’s neighbor consuming potato chips.”
“Aww, come on. I think you would enjoy it.”
“I fear you have a wildly misguided notion about what would please me. Have a pleasant evening.”
The three of us walked away, but not before we heard the bolt on the door snap shut.
“What’s with him?” asked Edgar.
“He’s very proper, but I have a suspicion that he’s somewhat agoraphobic.”
Edgar glanced at me, evidently confused.
“He likes to stay home,” explained Eric.
The park wasn’t far from the Maxwell mansion. Eric and I spotted Veronica and my mom immediately. They had staked out one of the best spots. It was out in the open where we would be able to see the stars and the orchestra.
And then I spotted Veronica’s new boyfriend. The one she had made such a fuss about. The one she wanted Mom and Dad to meet.
Percy McAllister.
Chapter 25
I could feel my cheeks growing pink. Maybe it wasn’t fair of me to categorize Percy as a dolt. I knew he was wrong about books. And bringing me a homemade copy of the book everyone was looking for was peculiar at best. I wanted to bang my head against a wall. How could Veronica fall for him? I sucked in a deep breath. All I had to do was say hello and make a point of sitting as far away from him as possible.
I forced a broad smile. “Hi, Percy.”
I introduced Edgar to everyone and spread the blanket on the grass. It was the first time Eric had met my dad. I knew Eric was a great guy, but even if my dad wasn’t as impressed with him as I was, Percy would make Eric look like Einstein.
The sun was setting, and the orchestra began tuning. Mom set out an array of olives, pickles, dips and chips, and baskets of her famous fried chicken. I passed her my brownies and coconut cupcakes to add to her spread as she liked.
We sat around in a circle, noshing on the goodies.
“So, Percy,” said Dad. “I hear you handle estate liquidation. That must be an interesting job.”
Percy picked up a chicken leg. “You’d be surprised what I find going through people’s personal stuff. One lady had a buckeye in every drawer in the house!”
“That’s so sweet,” said Mom. “They’re for good luck.”
“I threw them away,” said Percy. “The dumpster is my best friend. There was a man who filled sketch pads with pictures. Dozens of them. He had a ton of paintings on the walls, too. Nobody wants that junk.”
I caught Veronica’s desperate look in my direction. Ordinarily, I might have said something, but I didn’t need to bother. Percy was doing a fine job digging his own hole.
“What’s the most interesting item you ever sold?” asked Edgar.
“That’s easy. A restored 1964 roadster Mustang. Coolest car I ever saw. I’d have bought it myself if I could have afforded it.”
“Are your parents in the estate sales business?” asked Dad.
“Nope. My mom works at the Department of Labor.”
“And your father?” Mom asked sweetly.
“He split before I was born.”
“Kind of like my dad,” said Edgar. “He didn’t split, though. He just disappeared.”
“I’m so sorry for both of you,” said Mom. “I’m sure they would have been proud of you.”
The music started as the first stars became visible. An hour later, most of us were on our backs or leaning on our elbows gazing at the night sky. I could hear Percy telling Veronica how beautiful she was. Barf.
Eric lay on his back between Edgar and me. Eric had just turned on his side to look at me when we heard a bang like a firecracker had been set off. In the night sky, I watched a glowing missile soar upward, arc, and drop, heading straight for us.
Everyone scattered. I grabbed Eric and rolled him away into the spot where Edgar had been. For a moment, I thought the firecracker had missed us. But Eric jumped up with a howl and flicked the burning remnant off his bare leg and onto the grass. The grass caught fire immediately. The music screeched to a halt.
I could smell singed hair burning and promptly dumped an entire bottle of ice water onto his leg.
Edgar grabbed the blanket, threw it on the grass, and stamped out the flames.
My dad took a closer look at Eric’s leg. “Son, I think we’d better get you to the emergency room.”
I could hear my mom calling 911.
A stranger ran over. “I’m a doctor. Everyone okay?”
We all pointed at Eric’s leg. I could see that he was in a lot of pain. He was trying hard to be brave about it. But I felt enormously guilty. If I hadn’t rolled him in that direction, he might be all right.
The EMTs arrived within minutes. They had Eric on a stretcher in no time. I grabbed his phone and wallet, and promised to meet him at the hospital.
Veronica volunteered to open the store in the morning. Leaving the blanket and picnic basket to my mom and dad to take care of, I rushed out of the park and hurried home. I opened the carriage house only to grab my car keys, and then I was off for the hospital.
By the time I got there, the place was swarming with cops. I asked if I could see Eric, but the nurse merely said, “Get in line, honey.”
Eric had a lot of friends. I could hear them talking about it.
“It had to be illegal. None of the legal fireworks could cause that kind of burn.”
“It was probably some idiot kid who had no idea what he was doing.”
“I was there. It took everyone by surprise.”
It seemed like an eternity, but a doctor finally appeared. “I’m looking for a Florrie Fox?”
I could feel the heat rising in my face when I jumped up with everyone watching me.
He led me into the emergency room. Eric lay on his back. I walked over to him and clutched his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
He murmured, “They want me to stay.”
I could tell he had been given a heavy dose of something.
“Eric will be fine,” said the doctor. “All things considered he was lucky. He sustained a third degree burn on his left leg. We’re keeping him overnight as a precaution and to mitigate pain, but most likely, assuming all goes
well, he’ll be released tomorrow. He’ll have to stay off that leg for at least a week. We’ll give you detailed care instructions tomorrow.”
“Okay. Can I stay with him?”
“Sure. But you might want to head home and get some sleep. He’ll be out of it most of the night.”
“I think I’d feel better if I stayed.”
The doctor nodded knowingly and left. An orderly smiled at me. “I’m taking him upstairs now. Don’t you worry, we’ll take good care of him.”
I followed along to his room. In a matter of moments, the nurse came in and checked his IV. While she did that, I peeked through his wallet. Ordinarily, I would have considered it the height of rudeness, but I needed to call his parents. I supposed it was unlikely that he had their phone number, but it was worth checking. I was fairly sure I had a card with my parents’ names in my wallet so they could be contacted in an emergency. No such luck in Eric’s wallet.
It was the first time I had used my new phone. I hoped there weren’t many people named Jonquille in Paris, Virginia.
Unless . . . taking a chance, I rode the elevator back down to the main level and hurried to the emergency waiting room. But the cops were gone.
I stepped outside for a breath of air and spied two uniformed officers chatting in the parking lot. I hurried toward them. “Excuse me. You wouldn’t happen to have come here because of Sergeant Jonquille?”
“Yeah,” said the one with a mustache. “How’s he doing?”
“He’ll be okay. But I need to call his parents to let them know he’s here, and I don’t have their phone number.”
Both of them pulled out their cell phones. Between searching the net and calling the station, it was only minutes before one of them dialed the number and handed his phone to me.
“Hello?”
It was a man’s voice. “Mr. Jonquille?”
“Yes.”
“This is Florrie Fox. I’ve been dating your son, Eric? I’m so sorry to tell you this, but he was in an accident tonight.” I hurried to say, “He’ll be fine but he’s in the hospital. They want to keep him overnight.”
I could hear a woman in the background asking him questions.
I gave him the name of the hospital. He promised they would be there as soon as possible.
After thanking the cops, I returned to Eric’s room. He was sleeping peacefully. An hour later, the nurse came in to let me know that Eric’s parents had arrived. “Only one at a time in the room with him,” she warned.
I had hoped to meet them under better circumstances. It was two-thirty in the morning, and I was beginning to look like something the dog dragged in. Taking a deep breath, I marched out to the waiting room to meet them.
“Florrie?” Eric’s mom flew at me. “Is he okay?”
As calmly as I could, I said, “They tell me he will be fine. In fact, the doctor said he was lucky.”
“What happened?” asked his dad. “I thought he wasn’t working tonight.”
I told them about the concert in the park and the firecracker that had come out of nowhere.
“That should be illegal,” his mom exclaimed.
“It is.” His dad reminded me of Eric.
I worried that his mom might hyperventilate. In spite of her panic about her son, she was sweet. Someone I thought I would like. “The nurse said you can go back to see him but only one at a time.”
His father was clearly the stronger one of the two, or maybe he was simply trying to keep a stiff upper lip for his wife’s sake. “Go ahead, sweetheart.”
Eric’s mom wasted no time leaving to check on him.
A willowy woman about my age with long blond beach waves appeared to be with them. She blinked at me. “I always thought there was a height requirement for nurses. And aren’t you supposed to wear a uniform?”
Uh-oh. I had met her type before. I held out my hand to her and forced a smile. “Florrie Fox. You must be one of Eric’s sisters.”
She pulled her hand toward her chest as if shaking my hand would be repulsive. “I’m the fiancée.”
Chapter 26
What? What did that mean? Who called herself the fiancée? I didn’t have to fight back the temptation to demand clarity. I wasn’t the type to engage in a catfight. And I certainly didn’t want to have this discussion in front of Eric’s father.
“Do you know there’s blood on your clothes? Don’t they make you change if that happens?” she asked.
I looked down. She was right. But I could barely speak. Was she Eric’s fiancée? “Everything happened so fast that I didn’t realize it.”
Eric’s father had drifted to a window. He stared out at the night, his hands in his pockets.
“You’re not a nurse?” she asked.
“No.” I desperately wanted to get away from this woman. The conversation was surely going to take a nasty turn soon. But I couldn’t return to Eric’s room. Nor could I wake him and ask what the deal was with the fiancée. “Excuse me,” I muttered as politely as possible.
I did my level best not to run down the hallway. I found a ladies’ room but there weren’t any paper towels, only an electric hand dryer. Great. Just great. I dabbed some water on my shirt but only succeeded in making a mess. I might as well have smeared it with mud. I immediately regretted looking in the mirror.
There wasn’t much I could do. On so many levels this had been the worst possible way to meet his parents. But then, if the willowy mean girl was Eric’s fiancée, it really didn’t matter anyway.
I inhaled a deep breath of air and returned to the waiting room. Eric’s dad had disappeared, but his mom had returned.
“Florrie, thank you for calling us. I feel much better now that I’ve seen him. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay with him the rest of the night. Eric’s dad will drive Rebecca home and come back for me in the morning.”
It was only right for her to be the one staying with Eric. If it were me in that hospital bed, my mom would want to be with me. I smiled at her. “I’m sure Eric will appreciate that. It will be reassuring for him to see you when he wakes. It was nice meeting you, even under these terrible circumstances. Good night.”
“Good night, Florrie. And thank you.”
I walked out with my head held high. What else could I do? But in the parlance of Ricky Ricardo, when Eric was better, he was going to have “some ’splainin’ to do.”
* * *
My phone woke me at eleven minutes past eight in the morning.
When I answered, Eric whispered, “Please rescue me. I have to talk fast because Mom will be back any second. Please, please, please let me sleep on your sofa for a couple of days. She’s trying to spoon-feed me Cream of Wheat. Gruel, Florrie! Gruel!”
“Sure.” The word slipped out of my mouth before I remembered Rebecca. Why did tall, leggy women always have romantic names like Veronica and Rebecca? And why wasn’t he going to Rebecca’s place if she was his fiancée? That discussion was one better had in person, I decided. “What time should I pick you up?”
“Come as soon as you can. The doctor has to swing by to check on me before they can discharge me, but I need to get out of here. Thanks, Florrie. I owe you.”
I heard his mom’s voice and the phone went dead.
Peaches jumped up on me and purred right in my face. Cat talk for “I’ll have my breakfast now, thank you.”
I crawled out of bed, flung on a bathrobe, and stumbled down the stairs.
I was feeding Peaches when someone knocked on my door.
“Miss Florrie? Miss Florrie?”
I recognized Mr. DuBois’s voice and opened the door.
“A police officer was injured last night at the concert. That wouldn’t have anything to do with your middle of the night arrival at the carriage house, would it?”
“Tea?” I asked.
“I knew it! You see what happens when people wander about in the nighttime?”
I made tea for both of us, loaded it on a tray with coconut cupcakes that I hadn
’t packed the night before, opened the French doors to the garden, and invited Mr. DuBois to the table. “It was an accident.”
“Nonsense. It’s all over the news that they’re seeking a boy who was seen by several people.”
“It was still an accident. It could have happened to anyone.”
“Miss Florrie, you will please take note that it did not happen to me because I had the good sense to stay home. How is Sergeant Jonquille?”
“He has a fiancée.”
“Oh my! Actually, I meant his injury, but that is rather disturbing.”
“Yet he wants to stay with me while he recuperates.”
“Oh, Miss Florrie! You didn’t agree?”
“I did.”
“Well, I’m not serving him. Are these coconut cupcakes?”
“Yes.”
“Is this what you think is an appropriate breakfast food?”
I tried not to smile, but I did bait him. “Yes. Are you intimating that one does not eat cupcakes for breakfast?”
“There is no need to be a smarty. They’re rather tasty. Eggs, butter, flour. All reasonable breakfast ingredients commonly consumed in pancakes. You have simply rearranged them into a delicious little package. One always learns new things. Back to Sergeant Jonquille. He carries a gun and if I am not mistaken, he will be expected to have it here with him, so I have no objection to his presence on the premises. Particularly since there was another garage break-in and Maxwell has been keeping irregular hours.”
“I just don’t understand what someone would want in a garage unless he was after the car. Did he steal the car?”
“He did not. But what he stole is irrelevant. It was only two houses away!”
“Mr. DuBois, you have that fancy security system we had installed earlier in the summer. Whoever is breaking into garages would be a fool to come here.”
Mr. DuBois appeared pleased and sipped his tea. “Especially now that we will have our own armed guard on the premises. What time did you say you were picking him up?”
When Mr. DuBois went home, I stood under a hot shower for longer than I should have. I was hoping it would wash away the tiredness I felt, but it didn’t work out that way.