"Admit what?" Polly turned on to the gravel road that went past the B&B.
"Andrew was my courage."
Gulping as she turned into the driveway, Polly blew out a breath. "That isn't true."
"Yeah. It is. When we were together, it was like there was nothing we couldn't do as a team. If I had an idea, he helped me figure out how to make it real. If he had an idea, I usually tweaked it a little and then we did something with it. We used to spend hours talking about where we would like to go and the things we wanted to see. We talked about museums and attending big crazy events like Burning Man and Carnival in Brazil."
"I didn't know that."
"We laughed because it was never going to happen."
"You'll meet someone who wants to do those things with you."
"I already have."
Polly pulled in beside Henry's truck. "You don't know that for sure. I won’t tell you that Andrew isn't the man of your dreams. He might be. But I’d ask you to keep your eyes open. See if there isn't someone who is interesting and exciting."
"That's the thing. I look all the time. Justin Waters likes me and you think he’s cute, right?"
"Absolutely."
"Compared to Andrew, he's boring. He's cute and he’s nice and I like him a lot, but he doesn't love to read, and he isn't interested in cultural things. He likes cars and sports and hunting. Nothing is wrong with any of that, but it's just not for me."
"What about Barrett Evans?"
"He's a good guy, but Polly, he's boring, too. All he ever wants to talk about is the kids at school and what everybody is doing. He's up on everything. But that's all we talk about when we're in the same room. And then Andrew shows up and he's got something witty to say. He knows what's happening in the real world, not just high school world. He has opinions and they're always well thought out even if we don't agree. And that!" Rebecca said, slamming her index finger in the air. "If I disagreed with either Justin or Barrett, they got mad at me and told me that I just didn't understand. When I disagree with Andrew, he might frown, but then he thinks about it and we discuss why we see things differently. We might fight a little bit, but it's not really a fight. It's more like a heated discussion. If we don't see eye to eye, it’s okay. It doesn't mean anything. We're different people. He lets me be different than him."
Rebecca pointed behind Polly’s head just as Henry tapped on her car window.
"We'll keep talking about this," Polly said.
"It's okay. We don't have to. I've been thinking about things lately. When he texted me about that job, it was the coolest thing he could have done. He didn't have to, but he did. That's the kind of person he is."
Polly squeezed her daughter's knee. "I love you. It's going to be okay. Let's see what they have going on here." She opened the car door and stepped out to Henry staring at her.
"What did you do?" he asked.
"I had lunch with Rebecca, Beryl, and Lydia."
"No. Your hair. When did … What did … Wow."
She'd forgotten about her hair.
"It's gorgeous, isn't it," Rebecca said. "You're supposed to jump right to agreeing with me, by the way."
"No," he said, shaking his head. "I mean. Yes. It's gorgeous. Polly, you look amazing. You always look amazing, but this is … wow."
"Go ahead," she said. "Touch it." She had watched his hand creep up, then drop back to hang at his side. "It's soft."
Henry stroked the back of her head. "Is the color going to stay long or is this temporary?"
"It's temporary, but it will be in there for a while. Then I can do something different or repeat this."
"This is beautiful. And I love the way it lies on your head. Did Mina do this?"
Polly smiled. He was the man of her dreams. "Yeah. This morning. I didn't tell anyone because I was scared you would talk me out of it."
"I'll never talk you out of doing something like this. I'm …" He kept shaking his head in wonder. "Wow."
"You're the best, Henry," Rebecca said with a laugh. "That's exactly how a man should act when his wife gets her hair done."
"The ground is pretty beaten up over here," Henry said, still smiling at Polly, "but we have boards down so you can walk. Come on over and see what we have."
"Will we see rooms?" Rebecca asked.
"The basement walls are just starting to go up," he replied. "In a couple of weeks, you'll see the upper level framework." He peered at Rebecca's skirt. "Why are you so dressed up? You look very nice, too."
"But not wow," she said. "I got a job."
He flashed his eyes to Polly, who shrugged.
"Where?"
"At Greene Space. I start tomorrow so he can teach me what to do while I still have time off. I'll work mostly on Saturdays and Thursday evenings. Whenever I know that I can be home early after school, I'll tell him so that we can decide if he's going to be open. Then I'm going to work a lot this summer. I didn't even say anything about being a night person and he told me that he won't ever open before ten o'clock in the morning. That's my kind of a guy. He said that he likes working out here at the forge early in the mornings, so if I feel comfortable, he might let me open the studio. That way he can keep working when he wants to."
"This was fast," Henry said. Then he stopped. "Congratulations, though. That's terrific."
"Andrew saw him put up a sign on the front door this morning and sent me a text," Rebecca said. "Polly thought it was a good idea, so we ran up. I didn't even have time to get nervous."
"Always better that way," Henry said, and stopped in front of the hole that had been greatly expanded after the original house burned down last fall. "Here you go."
"It's kinda big," Rebecca said. "This house goes forever. It takes up a lot of the yard that used to be on that side." She pointed toward the west side of the lot.
Many of the old trees that had once been there had been so badly damaged by the fire, that they'd all come down. A nice canopy still separated the lot from the highway, but it was going to take quite a bit of work to replant what had been lost.
A large group of people were already discussing what types of trees they'd like to plant. Some fast-growing trees would go in immediately, giving them time to grow the others.
The sycamores they'd planted along the drive at Sycamore House were already so much different than they'd been nearly six years ago. Time did wonders for vegetation. It wouldn't take long for things to return to the lush landscaping that had once been a hallmark of this location.
"What is what?" Rebecca asked, bending over the open pit as she held on to Henry. "This is just so cool."
He pointed to the back. "That will be the entertainment room. The bar and mini kitchen will be along that wall." He pointed off to their right. "In the middle will be the stairs leading up and then this front area is still kind of up in the air. Maybe another suite; maybe more entertainment space."
"Do you have the house design on your tablet?" she asked, looking at Polly who was looking at her phone. "Are we supposed to be somewhere?"
Polly shook her head. "I worry about Henry's time."
"Oh," Rebecca said. "Yeah. I'm sorry. You're probably busy. This is way cool."
Henry had been tapping on his tablet and then held it out to Rebecca. "I have a few minutes. It's okay."
"So we're standing, like, where the steps up to the front porch will be?" she asked. "That's the dining room?"
"We’re moving the dining room to the back by the kitchen. Because it’s a B&B, this will be an additional bedroom."
"Oh," she said. "That's right. I can't wait to see the walls go up."
He grinned. "It’s one of my favorite parts of the process. Your imagination has fun as you see through the framework."
"Henry?" One of the men called out to him. "Sorry to bother you."
"I should get going," he said to Polly and Rebecca. "I'll try to be home for dinner."
"It's okay."
"No, with Heath helping this week, I'm doing better t
han I was. I'll really try." He accepted the tablet back from Rebecca.
Polly took his hand, squeezed and released it. "I love you. Let me know."
"Thank you. You are beautiful; and Rebecca, congratulations." Henry climbed down a ladder and headed across the basement floor.
"I didn't mean to ask him to spend so much time with us," Rebecca said as they picked their way across the yard to the car.
"It wasn't that long and he wouldn't have invited us to come out if he didn't have it available."
"You really love him, don't you."
Polly pulled her seatbelt on and stared at Rebecca. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"It's just cool to see it. Libby's parents don't show very much love at their house. He's always in front of the television and kind of grunts when anybody talks to him. I've never seen him say anything nice to Mrs. Francis, much less do sweet things for her. He wouldn't even have noticed if she got a new hairstyle. I don't want to end up like that."
"You don't have to," Polly said. "It's a choice every day."
"You mean there are some days you have to choose whether or not to love Henry?"
Polly laughed. "No. That isn’t what I mean. But there are days I have to choose to be nice to him. Sometimes I'm just plain grumpy and some days he's really made me angry. That’s when I have to choose whether I'm going to stay angry or if I'll let his apology be enough."
"Why wouldn't it be enough?"
"Because I'm angry," Polly said with a chuckle. "I didn't say it made sense. It's the same way you interact with your friends. You choose whether or not you want to keep the relationship healthy."
They were driving through the north end of town and Rebecca pointed at a house and said, "Like that relationship. I don't like her and have no desire to have any kind of relationship with her."
"That was Maddy Spotter's house, right?"
"Yeah. She is just a bit …" Rebecca cut the word off. "I do my best to ignore her, but she's always talking about me. And it's not even behind my back. It's right in front of me, like she wants me to haul off and slap her or something."
"You'd never," Polly said, a hint of warning.
"Of course not. But I can still want to when she makes me mad. I just shake my head and do my thing. That's the worst part about sitting in the front row of band. There's no one around me that I can escape to when she decides to get mouthy. So, I just practice my fingerings and try to ignore her."
"I'm sorry you have to deal with that."
"Oh well. Would you believe that one day I even thought about just giving her first chair so she'd get off my back?"
"How long did that last?"
"About thirty seconds. I realized she'd still be nasty to me and I’d be in second chair." Rebecca took her phone out. "So, you know I saw that Gia's dad was that guy who was killed? I didn't tell you the rest of it."
"Rest of it?"
"Her brother is here in Iowa, too. Do you think he could have killed his father? I mean, why would Gia think you suspected her?"
"Wait. Her brother moved back to Iowa?"
"Yeah. But I only put it together because I was kind of stalking her."
"Exactly why were you stalking her?"
Rebecca let out an annoyed sound. "Just because. It's not that hard. When she didn't show up to do our manicures the other day, I remembered that I'd followed her online, so I went to see what she was doing and then I kind of tracked back through her pages and there was this guy that's been there from like before she moved to Des Moines to go to beauty school."
"Wow."
"No, seriously. It isn't that hard to see this stuff. People don't even think about their really old photographs. Then I saw one where they were little kids together. Same name. Same guy."
"Where does he live?"
"In Boone. They live together as far as I can tell. I was going to tell you after she left, but then Beryl and Mrs. Merritt came in and then we came out here and then I was talking about Andrew and I just thought of it again."
"You're as bad as I am when it comes to investigating. What's his name?"
"Well, he doesn't have the same name as she does."
Polly frowned. "What?"
"I know. So, I bet that Mina doesn't know they're related. He does hair, too. His name is Jud Abelo. He's kinda cute, but I think he's gay from everything I've seen."
"Wow," Polly said. "He looks nothing like Gia. I met him at the coffee shop last week with Nonni and some other girl."
"I'll bet that's Alayna. I think she lives with them too."
"Do you know this much about everyone in town?"
"If they're online and they're kind of interesting, I probably do."
"And how do you have time to go to this much effort? We restrict your phone usage."
"It's not like it takes very long. And I can do it while I'm talking to Cilla or Kayla or Libby or anyone. You know you can do more than one thing on your phone at a time."
"I do. I didn't think you knew."
"Come on. I'm smarter than that."
"Yes you are and I don't like it."
"You can’t change me."
"Did Jud and Gia talk about their dad's murder?"
"Not online. They aren't acting like they're brother and sister. I don't know why, I just know that they aren't. I wouldn't have known except that I was flipping through photographs and saw them together and then I added things up and made an assumption. But if you look at them, really look at their faces, you can see the similarities. They’re definitely related."
"You are good at seeing those types of things," Polly said. "This is all so convoluted. Why are those two kids back in the same area that their mother ran away from all those years ago?"
"Duh, to find their dad. If I had any way of finding out who my dad was, I'd be all over it."
Polly pulled up in front of their house, turned off the car and sat back. "You would?"
"Sometimes I think I want to know. But Mom didn't want me to ask questions. I wouldn't even know where to start."
Polly had a folder that Sarah Heater had given to her before she'd died. She hadn't spent time looking through it. Sarah had asked her not to show Rebecca until she was eighteen, so it had gotten tucked into a safe deposit box. She'd forgotten it, except for those few moments when she paid the annual fee on her boxes at the bank. Then, as soon as she thought about it, it was gone again. Their lives had been too busy for her to wonder what types of things Sarah wanted Rebecca to know someday.
"Maybe when you're older, you can do some searching and find him."
"It's not like it would change anything," Rebecca said. "He had a lot of years to look for us when Mom was still alive." She shrugged. "I'm just curious." She put her hand up. "Don't try to do anything yet, though. I'm really not ready for that. Maybe when I'm settled down and my life is boring, I'll spice it up by investigating my own past." She smiled. "Sometimes I imagine crazy stories about him. You know?"
"Like what?"
"Like he's an international spy or maybe he's an assassin who works for the government. Or he's a famous artist and that's where I get my talent from. Or maybe he's a tech magnate and lives in a great big house overlooking the San Francisco bay." She shrugged. "Or he's some schlub who doesn't do anything but mooch off of people."
"Someday you might be ready to know who he is."
"But until then I will come up with fun stories."
"Good idea."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"Absolute craziness. I can't believe your parents expect you to be there today," Polly said. "You don't have time for this."
"I'll make time," Henry replied, filling his thermos with coffee. "Second thermos for you?"
"No way," she said, brushing him away. "You can suffer through homemade coffee, but I'm stopping at Sweet Beans. I'd be glad to pick up breakfast items."
He shook his head. "I'm sure Mom will have that taken care of."
Polly reached up and kissed him. "A little more notice would hav
e been nice, but we'll get through it. Hopefully I rounded up enough help last night."
Mrs. Naylor, who lived next door to Bill and Marie Sturtz had been moved to a nursing home close to her daughter in Southwest Iowa three weeks ago. The family wanted to sell her house but needed it emptied. They'd contacted Marie and asked if she could deal with it, a request that infuriated Henry. How could they just refuse to take responsibility for their mother's home? They'd moved out the few items that she wanted to keep, ransacked her belongings for what they wanted, and left the rest in a mess.
Yesterday, the daughter had called Marie to tell her that the house needed to be cleared out before the weekend because they were bringing in painters and carpet installers to get it ready to sell by the first of the month.
Polly would have told the daughter to stick it. Henry wanted to call her back and tell her to find someone else to empty the house, but Marie wasn't having it. The thing was, Henry and Bill had spent years taking care of Mrs. Naylor's home, charging her nothing when they fixed things for her. Marie had looked in on her nearly every day and had been the one to alert the family of the woman's declining health. Even then, they'd taken a long time to move her somewhere safe. Because she cared so much for the woman, Marie considered this her last gift.
When Marie called Henry yesterday, he'd just gotten home from work and was looking forward to dinner with his family. Even Heath was home for the evening. They were home late, but he'd called Polly early enough that they fed the littlest ones a snack and held dinner. It was nice having everyone in the dining room at the same time.
After dinner, when they should have been playing with the kids, he and Polly were on the phone, looking for people to help today. Marie had done a quick run through the house. She thought maybe some of it could go to the thrift store and some could go to Simon Gardner's antique shop.
Henry was off to pull a dumpster from one of his locations and Polly was taking Cassidy to Jessie Locke's apartment to play with Molly. Since it was all hands on deck, the shop would be closed.
Hayden came tearing down the stairs as Henry hit the back door. "Henry," he called. "Let me go with you. I can help."
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