by Amy M. Reade
“I hate to see her like that,” Noley murmured.
“Me, too. But I guess it’s part of the disease. There are some days Mom is just like her old self, and some days when she can’t remember what year it is.”
“I suppose the best thing to do is to enjoy the good days,” Noley said.
“You’re right. Listen, I have an idea. Why don’t you and Bill and Hassan and I take Mom out for dinner the weekend before Valentine’s Day? She would enjoy that.”
“Sounds good,” said Noley. “I think Bill is off Saturday night.” As a member of Juniper Junction’s police force, Bill had unpredictable hours, depending on what was going on in the decidedly small criminal underbelly of the town.
“Are you two doing anything for Valentine’s Day?” Lilly asked.
Noley sighed. “I don’t know. Bill hasn’t mentioned it.”
“Don’t wait for him to mention it,” Lilly advised. “He’s not always the brightest when it comes to stuff like that. Remember that awful teddy bear he gave you last year?”
Noley laughed. Lilly had called Bill on his way home from work the previous Valentine’s Day to remind him that it was an important day. He panicked. He stopped at a drugstore that evening and picked up one of the only Valentine’s Day items left in stock, a small red teddy bear holding a pink plastic flower. A white vinyl heart on the bear’s stomach read “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Noley had shown the appropriate appreciation, but later confided to Lilly that it would have been better to have nothing at all, since she now felt obligated to display the hideous little bear in her house. They still laughed about it.
“You think I should plan something?” Noley asked.
“Definitely. It’s got to be better than last year.” Lilly chuckled.
“I’ll get to work on it.” The women hung up and Lilly dialed Tighe’s number.
As usual, he didn’t answer, so she left him a message asking him to text her to confirm that he was still alive. Then she curled up on the sofa with a good mystery and read until bedtime. When Hassan called she asked if he would be in Juniper Junction the weekend before Valentine’s Day.
“I’m afraid I can’t get there before Valentine’s Day,” he said.
“Rats. I was hoping you could join Bill and Noley and me to take Mom out to dinner on Saturday night.”
“I’m sorry, Lil. I’ve got so much to do here.”
“Here” was Minnesota, where Hassan kept an apartment near his parents. He had bought a house in Juniper Junction not long after meeting Lilly, so he had a nice place to stay when he was in town. Luckily, that was often.
Chapter 5
The days that followed were clear and cold with little wind and no extra snow, and they sped by as more and more people visited Juniper Junction Jewels looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for that special someone. Lilly was happy for the customer traffic, not only because it was good for business, but because it kept Harry busy almost constantly. He had been getting increasingly agitated at work and Lilly knew it was due to nerves over his Valentine’s Day plans.
On Saturday morning, two days before Valentine’s Day, Vanessa and her older sister picked up Laurel to go out for breakfast, then prom dress shopping. It was something Lilly had hoped to do with her daughter someday, but Laurel informed her that Vanessa’s mother wasn’t going, either, so it would be “weird” if Lilly went. So Lilly watched them go, having made Laurel promise not to put any money down on a dress until Lilly could see it, too. If she was going to pay for at least part of it, she had no intention of having absolutely no say in the choice of dress. In her mind’s eye, she could see Laurel picking out something with a neckline down to her navel or a dress that had sheer material all the way up her legs, making underwear a non-issue. She shuddered at the thought.
The jewelry shop was open on Saturdays, so Lilly went in to work after Laurel left. She and Harry were setting out displays when there was a knock on the window.
Lilly turned around to see who was there. “Hassan!” she cried. He stood outside the window in a long wool overcoat, carrying the biggest bouquet of roses Lilly had ever seen.
She ran to unlock the door for him and threw her arms around his neck before he could even get inside the shop. He laughed. “What a welcome! I should arrive in Juniper Junction like this every time.”
Lilly grinned and accepted the flowers, then hurried to the back office, where she kept vases on the off chance she had fresh flowers to display.
“I don’t know if this vase is even big enough,” she exclaimed, carrying it to the front of the store. Hassan had taken off his coat and was talking to Harry. His handsome Middle Eastern features were heightened in the early morning light coming in through the window. He looked tired, though.
“What time did you get in?” Lilly asked, arranging the flowers in the vase. It looked like they would just fit.
“I got the earliest flight out of Minneapolis and drove here from Denver as soon as I landed,” he said with a wink. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“This is the best surprise ever.” Lilly gazed at him. Harry walked quietly into the back office and Hassan gathered Lilly to his chest and kissed her properly.
After several seconds she stepped back. “You look exhausted. Why don’t you head to your house and get some sleep?”
“I am pretty tired,” he admitted. “I’ll give you a call when I wake up and I’ll see you tonight.”
“Sounds good. I hope you’re able to get a good rest. No coffee this morning,” she warned as he pulled his coat on.
He kissed her again. “No coffee, I promise. All I needed was to see you and now I’ll be able to relax.”
He left, hurrying down the sidewalk in the cold, and Lilly watched him go with a smile on her lips. Harry returned to the front of the shop.
“That was really nice of Hassan,” he said. “I’ll have to watch him to pick up some of his moves.”
“He doesn’t have moves,” Lilly said. “That’s just the way he is. And I have a feeling you don’t need to take notes from anyone.”
Harry chuckled.
Saturday was shaping up to be a good day.
Lilly closed the store early on Saturdays, so she went home with plenty of time to get ready for dinner. Laurel came home with a phone full of pictures and a head full of excitement over the prospect of getting one of the dresses she had tried on. She and Lilly sat on the sofa next to each other and Laurel swiped through all the photos. There must have been a hundred of them.
Laurel pointed to one, tapping to enlarge it. “This one was my favorite,” she gushed. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”
Lilly took the phone and looked closely at the photo. She had to admit it was a beautiful dress, and Laurel looked beautiful in it. The dress was a stunning fuchsia satin with wide straps at the shoulders, a reasonable V-neck, and a full, sweeping skirt.
“That is beautiful,” Lilly agreed, handing the phone back to Laurel. “Do I dare ask how much it costs?”
Laurel looked down at her phone. “I think that one was about eight hundred dollars,” she said, clearing her throat.
“You’re kidding.”
Laurel looked at her mother with a mixture of sadness and frustration and heaved a loud sigh. “I wish I was kidding. Too much?”
“I think it’s too much,” Lilly said. “We’ve got college to think about, and if you want a car you’re going to have to figure that into the budget, too.”
“It was at Ruby’s.”
“In that case, I bet we can find one that’s just as nice without spending so much.”
“That would be great.”
“Did Vanessa find anything?”
“She found a cream-colored dress that makes her look like a Greek goddess,” Laurel said wistfully. “If she puts her hair up, she’ll look just like she stepped out of ancient Greece.”
“How much is that dress?”
“Only six hundred dollars.”
Only six hundred dollars.
Lilly shook her head almost imperceptibly. Where is Vanessa getting that kind of money?
As if sensing what Lilly was thinking, Laurel spoke up. “Vanessa’s parents are paying for half and she’s paying for the other half.” Lilly nodded. Once they had looked at all the photos and Lilly had agreed that Laurel’s favorite was, indeed, the best of the bunch, Laurel went upstairs, her steps a little slow and her shoulders slumped.
Lilly wished she could buy the dress Laurel wanted, but it was out of the question.
Laurel spent the rest of the afternoon moping around the house until Lilly finally couldn’t stand it any longer. “Laurel, please take Barney for a quick walk outside or read a book or do something. You’ve got to stop obsessing over that dress.”
Laurel scowled, snapped the leash on Barney, threw on a winter coat, and left the house, slamming the door behind her. Lilly heaved a sigh and longed for the days when Laurel’s biggest problem was how to figure out the area of a rectangle. Had that really been only three years ago?
It seemed longer than that.
Chapter 6
At four thirty that afternoon, Hassan knocked on Lilly’s back door and let himself in. Lilly greeted him with a kiss and a glass of wine. They sat and talked for a little while, then at five o’clock they left for Bev’s house. Bill and Noley were already there. Bev had decided the day before that she wanted to go to Treetops, so Nikki had made sure that Bev was dressed up and ready to go. Lilly had invited Laurel to join them, but Laurel had declined, saying she was too tired to go anywhere.
Treetops was a small, posh restaurant located just outside Juniper Junction. It was called Treetops because it was a three-story bed and breakfast situated on a bluff overlooking a deep gulch. Tall pine trees grew in the gulch and the restaurant of the bed and breakfast was on the third floor, above the tops of the trees. It commanded a gorgeous view of the mountains surrounding it.
The group was shown to a table near a plate glass window, as Lilly had requested when making the reservation. Normally such a coveted spot would be hard to reserve, but since they were eating pretty early, the table had been available.
It was a round table, so conversation would be easier. Unfortunately, it started out on a sour note.
“You really should have invited Nikki and Beau,” Bev scolded Bill and Lilly. Bill looked at Lilly as if to say You’re in charge here.
“Mom, the last person I want to share a Valentine’s Day meal with is my ex-husband.”
“You’re just bitter, Lilly. He’s really a fine young man.”
He’s neither fine nor young, Lilly wanted to say. Hassan gave her a sympathetic look.
Lilly tried a different approach. “Well, we all wanted this evening to be just about you, Mom.”
“If it was all about me, shouldn’t you have invited other people that I’d like to have here?” Bev asked, sticking her chin out.
“No.” Lilly wasn’t going to spend the evening arguing about why Beau hadn’t been invited. “Mom, why don’t you take a look at the menu?” She buried her face behind her own menu so her mother would stop talking.
Bev pushed the menu away from her. “I already know what I want.”
“What would you like, Bev?” Hassan asked.
“I’ll have cottage cheese and pineapple.”
For this we came to the most expensive restaurant in three states? Lilly thought. Her mother had made her grumpy and she immediately regretted her ill-mannered thought.
“Wouldn’t you like something more than that?” Bill asked.
“No, I’m not very hungry,” Bev replied.
“Maybe you’d like to order something to take home and you can have it tomorrow night for dinner,” Bill suggested.
“That’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll be hungrier tomorrow night. Can we get something for Nikki to eat with me?”
“Sure, Mom. What do you think she would like?” Lilly asked.
Bev picked up her menu. “Maybe some chicken,” she said. “I’ll have chicken, too.” She chose chicken cordon bleu and when everyone ordered, Bill ordered the chicken to take home after dinner.
All attention was focused on Bev, as Lilly had hoped it would be. As the meal progressed, Lilly became less and less grouchy over the spat with her mom and tried to enjoy their time together.
They were halfway through dinner when Bill’s phone buzzed. He answered it quickly and excused himself from the table to take the call in the lobby of the restaurant.
When he returned everyone looked at him expectantly. “No big deal,” he said. “Just someone from the station to let me know what I’ve got on tap for my shift tomorrow morning.”
“They couldn’t let you have dinner in peace with your family and your lovely wife?” Bev asked in disgust.
Everyone froze. Bill looked like a deer caught in headlights. It was Noley who spoke up after several seconds of uncomfortable silence. “Bev, Bill and I aren’t married, remember?”
“Oh, nonsense.” Bev leaned toward Noley and asked in a loud whisper, “When are you two going to start having babies? I’m not going to live forever, you know.”
Bill cleared his throat. “Not appropriate, Mom.” She seemed to take the hint and changed the subject.
“So why can’t they leave you alone and let you have dinner with your family?” Bev winked at Noley. Bill closed his eyes and shook his head. Lilly watched Noley try to keep a straight face.
“It’s okay, Mom,” he explained. “Sometimes they let me know what to expect so I go to a different site in the morning instead of to the station. That’s all.”
Bev reached for her purse and drew out a deck of cards. Lilly looked at Hassan in a panic, wondering if Treetops had ever seen a guest do that. Bev looked around at her fellow diners brightly.
“Does anyone want to play Texas Hold ’Em?” she asked.
Bill had adopted the deer-caught-in-headlights look again. He really needed to work on his facial expressions, Lilly thought. Noley gave Bev a curious look, clearly not understanding that Texas Hold ‘Em was a poker game.
Hassan, thankfully, came to the rescue.
“Bev, I would love to play once we get back to your house, but I was hoping to hear some stories from you about when Lilly and Bill were kids.” Lilly sighed in relief. Hassan’s request had been perfect. Not only would it likely stop Bev from playing poker in a fancy restaurant as if it were an Old West saloon, but Bev was good at remembering stories from the long-ago past and would probably relish the chance to tell stories about her kids.
Bev laid her cards aside. “Boy, do I have stories!” She spent the next half hour, all through dessert and coffee, regaling the table with stories of when “Billy and Lilly” were little. She seemed to forget about the poker game and Lilly found herself wondering if poker would have been preferable to Hassan and Noley knowing about all the stupid things she and Bill had done as kids.
Bev didn’t mention poker again once she got back to her house, so no one else mentioned it to her. Nikki had gone home after Bev left for dinner, so she wasn’t there when Bev got home. Lilly and Hassan waited in the living room while Bev got ready for bed, then as she was drifting off to sleep they left, locking the front door behind them.
“What a night, huh?” Lilly asked. “I’m always so exhausted after I spend time with Mom. I don’t know why that is. We were just sitting there. And yet, I know I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I went to bed right now.”
“It’s because mental anxiety is as hard on the body, if not harder, than physical stress,” Hassan said, “and you’re anxious when it comes to your mom.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Lilly took his hand. “Want to go for a quick walk? Maybe that would help me to relax a bit.”
They joined hands and struck off down the street. Since Bev’s house was close to the house Hassan’s parents had bought the previous summer, they walked in that direction. Following an arsonist’s strike on the house just before closing, Amir and Basra had decided to go through wi
th the sale, then they fixed up the home and made some improvements to it. Their first stay in the house had been over Thanksgiving, and their whole family had come to help celebrate. Now, when Hassan and Lilly walked by, they had wonderful memories of the Ashraf family’s first Thanksgiving there. The house looked quaint and charming from the street—lights were set on a timer inside, so it looked like someone was home. Curtains hung in the windows and winter greens in a large galvanized bucket graced the front porch. One of the neighbors had promised to keep an eye on the house when Amir and Basra were in Minnesota.
When they walked back to Bev’s house to get in the car, all was quiet. Lilly turned to Hassan. “I worry about Mom at night. I’ve become really dependent on Nikki being there for her.”
“Your mom doesn’t seem to mind being by herself, so that’s what’s important right now,” Hassan said. “There may come a time when she’ll need care at night, too.”
“And we can’t get Nikki to do it, because she’s already there all day. We really need to get someone to relieve her once in a while,” Lilly fretted. “She needs a life too, even if it is with Beau.”
Hassan grinned. “His loss is my gain.” He squeezed Lilly close to him. “Nikki can have him.” Lilly looked up at Hassan and kissed him.
“How did I get so lucky?” she asked. He squeezed her closer.
“I probably won’t see you tomorrow,” he said when he dropped her off at home a few minutes later. “I’ll be on calls overseas most of the day. I’ll talk to you tomorrow night between calls.”
She kissed him again and went inside. Only Barney came to greet her, so she hoped Laurel was asleep. That girl had not been getting enough sleep lately.
Lilly let Barney out, then got ready for bed. She peeked into Laurel’s room to check on her before she went to her own room.