Cold Heart

by Sheila Dryden

  First things first though, she wanted a better look at what was under those sheets that were covering everything. She began pulling them off one by one and then stepped back to have a look. Wow, the sofas were covered in taupe leather. This was wonderful. There were several occasional chairs also. They were covered in a fabric that she was not crazy about though she liked the style of them. The pattern was pretty outdated and not something she would have chosen even then. It was too bad too because they really had no wear on them. Hopefully she could have them reupholstered and since there was so many of them she could get a good price.

  Lexi hauled all the sheets into the laundry room. She would deal with them later. She went to get some of the cleaning supplies she had purchased yesterday and hauled the vacuum cleaner down from upstairs. She was puffing from the exertion by the time she had it in the great room. She would definitely need to purchase another one as no one was going to want to haul this heavy thing up and down stairs. Maybe even another one for the cabins.

  She set to work dusting and polishing and vacuuming and a couple of hours had passed before she knew it. She was just going to head into the kitchen area when she heard a bark from Tucker and went to the door to see what or who he was barking at. She caught a glimpse of herself in the hall mirror as she passed and cringed. Her hair was falling out of her ponytail and her face was smudged with dirt. She was a bit of a sight. Oh well. Hopefully it wasn’t Carter. Then she chided herself. So what if it was Carter, what did she care if she wasn’t looking her best?

  When she opened the door and saw Carter giving Tucker some cuddles she groaned inwardly anyway, upset that she wasn’t looking her best. Carter sauntered over to the stairs and up onto the porch.

  “Good morning,” he said. “Doing a little cleaning I see.”

  Lexi tried not to let her embarrassment show. “Yes,” she said.

  “You know, there are people you can hire for that,” he said.

  “I’m not afraid of a little hard work,” Lexi said defensively, then seeing him cringe ever so slightly she said. “Besides I am sort of taking stock of everything at the same time.”

  “So what’s the plan?” he said and he walked right past her and headed into the entry and on into the great room. People certainly made themselves at home out here in the sticks

  “I see you’ve already had a gift from Montgomery,” Carter said nodding at the box of wine that still sat on the dining table. “Did he come himself or send one of his lackeys?”

  “It was a guy named Mitch,” Lexi said a little miffed at the forwardness of his just walking inside without an invitation. “Tucker did not like him one bit either.”

  “Well Tuck is a good judge of character, aren’t ya boy?” he said giving the dog a pat on the head. “Just watch out for Montgomery and his boys. He’s had his eye on this place for a really long time and kept pestering Max about it.”

  “Well I knew he wanted to buy it as I was approached almost the moment I learned I had inherited it,” Lexi said. “I was told by Bert Beatty, Uncle Max’s lawyer that Max was intending to sell it to Montgomery.”

  “Well, that’s just not true,” Carter said and continued to look around the great room surveying the work that Lexi had already done.

  “Really?” she said. “Why would he lie?”

  “Because he’s a bottom dwelling, low life, scum bag just like Montgomery, who by the way, keeps him on a very sizeable retainer to do his bidding for him. Max was sick to death of being pestered to sell. He said he’d never sell it to that no-good you know what,” Carter said turning to face her, his face a little red.

  “Well, tell us how you really feel,” Lexi said, smiling for the first time since Carter had shown up.

  Carter laughed a little. “I guess you can tell I don’t think much of the works of them.”

  “Yes. That does kind of show. It’s funny though, the more I check out the place, the more I don’t understand why Uncle Max never opened for business. It’s got everything really and is pretty much ready to go. I just don’t understand why someone would spend all that time and money and then not do anything with it.”

  “I hear you,” Carter said. “Afraid I don’t really have any answers to that question. I did ask him one time and all he said was it was a dream he had shared with someone else. Then she left town. He thought that if he built it maybe she would come back and share it with him. But she didn’t come.”

  “Oh my, I wonder who that someone was,” Lexi said.

  “Beats me,” Carter said. “We only talked about it that one time. Which makes me remember what I was going to ask you yesterday, why’d your family stop coming here?”

  “I have no idea, really” Lexi said, “Just that there was a big fight between my father and Uncle Max and I remember all the yelling and my mother was crying. I was twelve. No one would tell me anything. After that visit, everything changed and we never came again. I learned not to ask about it because it got things all stirred up between my mom and dad and I would hear them fighting again. I never got to see my Uncle Max again. It wasn’t until my Mom and Dad’s funeral that I saw him and I barely even got to talk to him then. I always intended to come out here and visit him after that and well I ...” Lexi’s eyes began to well with tears, “I was always too busy with work and then it was too late.”

  “I was very sorry to hear about your parents, by the way,” Carter said. “I wonder what the fight was about.”

  “I should get back to work,” Lexi said brushing a tear aside and wishing she hadn’t confided so much personal information to him.

  “Sure,” Carter said. “Just wanted to check on you and make sure everything was going okay with Tucker and all.”

  “Thanks, its fine,” Lexi said, feeling bad if she had sounded unfriendly. “It’s kind of nice having him here.” Tucker had come and sat down beside her and she was suddenly aware than she had been gently patting his head while she and Carter had been talking.

  “Yeah,” Carter said. “It looks like you two have hit it off just fine. Well I’ll be on my way. I can let myself out.”

  “Okay, bye,” Lexi said, then, trying to sound a little friendlier, added. “Thanks for coming by.”

  Tucker followed him out and then returned to the barn. Before going back to her cleaning Lexi made a call to the company that had helped her with the business plan she had done when she opened the deli. They agreed to get together in a couple of weeks. Someone from the firm would come up to the property and meet with her there. With that settled she went back to work and began cleaning all the surfaces in the kitchen but instead of thinking about all the exciting dishes she would like to put on the menu, which she might have been earlier, instead she was wondering who Uncle Max had been building Wildwood for and why Bert Beatty had lied about Uncle Max wanting to sell.

  Maybe Carter was wrong and Uncle Max had just recently decided to sell and hadn’t mentioned it to him. Just because he didn’t like Mr. Montgomery didn’t mean that they were being dishonest. Still, it was all a little puzzling and Lexi found she was thinking about it for most of the afternoon. She didn’t come up with any answers that made any sense. By three thirty she decided she’d had enough. She went upstairs to shower and it felt good. She was looking a lot more presentable when she came back downstairs at four. She went looking for Tucker and found him in his usual spot in the barn.

  “This can’t be much fun for a young dog like you Tucker.” Lexi said. She wondered how old Tucker actually was. She was assuming that he had been a puppy when Uncle Max had got him but she realized now that she didn’t really know. She would ask Carter the next time she saw him. In the meantime, maybe Tucker would go for a walk with her. She coaxed him up and he followed her out of the barn and she headed off to see if she could find the pond. Tucker followed along closely behind.

  She found the pond easily and was surprised to find it was quite large. Definitely large enough that you could have a few paddle boats or canoes for people to ride a
round in. There was even a little dock that went out about twenty feet or so into the pond. It might be nice to have a pathway that went around it. Perhaps a paved pathway and then it would be wheel chair accessible. She liked that idea. Lexi laughed at herself. She was going to have to be careful. She had quite a bit of money to put towards the upgrades but she would have it spent ten times over if she kept coming up with ideas.

  Tucker dropped a stick at her feet. She picked it up.

  “You want me to throw this?” she asked.

  Tucker barked. Lexi laughed and threw the stick as far out into the pond as she could. Tucker ran down the dock and leapt into the water swimming as fast as he could to the stick and grabbing it in his mouth. Then he swam to shore and brought it to Lexi and dropped it at her feet and proceeded to shake water all over her. Tucker began barking and backing away. When she picked up the stick, he started for the dock looking back several time to see if she was about to throw it. Lexi moved a little closer to the water this time and let it fly. Again Tucker dove in and retrieved the stick swimming to shore and bringing it right to her. This was repeated about ten times until Lexi was nearly soaked from Tucker’s shaking and her arm felt like it might fall off. She was laughing though and it had been awhile since she had done that.

  “Okay Tucker, I think that’s all for now,” she said.

  Lexi turned to start walking back to Wildwood and he picked up his stick and trotted beside her. Once they got back she picked up Tucker’s bowls from the porch and went in and filled them. When she returned to the porch he was waiting and started eating immediately. Lexi went back inside and as she passed her phone she unplugged it and noted there were two more missed calls from Michael. She put it down without listening to see if there were any messages. She got herself a glass of wine and took up her usual spot on the bench on the porch. She wondered what Michael had said in the messages, then told herself that no, she didn’t care. It didn’t matter, they were done. He could not be trusted. She had a new life now and she felt good. She realized that she had missed lunch again but it had been a pretty productive day. Tucker came and lay down next to her. She said a silent thank you to Uncle Max for her new home and for Tucker.

  4

  Lexi was about to go in and cook her dinner when an expensive sports car drove up. She sighed. Not another visitor. She was pretty sure she knew who it was because the winery logo on the door of the car was a dead giveaway. She was a little nervous after her conversation with Carter earlier. Surely they weren’t going to start pressuring her to sell. A tall, barrel chested man in an expensive suit pulled himself up and out of the vehicle and headed for the porch.

  “Trying out a sample of our wine?” he asked.

  “Well not actually. I already had this one open but I’m sure I will be soon,” Lexi said. “That was very kind of you.”

  “Geoff Montgomery,” he said extending his hand to her. Lexi shook it reluctantly.

  “Lexi Thomas,” she said.

  “Are you settled in?” he asked. His dark hair was greying at the temples and it highlighted his darkly tanned face.

  “Getting there,” she replied.

  “Good. Well we are having a little shindig on Saturday evening, thought I’d come down and invite you personally. It will give you a chance to meet some of your neighbours and some of the folks from town as well.”

  “Well thank you. I’m not much of a partier these days,” Lexi said.

  “Well it won’t be anything too fancy,” he said. “Food and wine and a little music starting about seven o’clock, so I hope you’ll think about coming.”

  “Thank you,” Lexi said. “I’ll think about it.”

  “So you planning on opening up this place to the public?” he asked.

  “Yes I am. It was my Uncle‘s dream. I intend to follow through on it.”

  “Well he told me he was going to sell it to me. We even talked about a number that he thought he could live with.”

  “Well the plans have changed and I’m not interested in selling Mr. Montgomery.”

  “Never say never,” he said, “sometimes things aren’t as easy as they look.”

  “Thanks for coming by,” said Lexi, anxious to be rid of this man. “Maybe I’ll see you Saturday.”

  “Alright then, I hope so,” Montgomery said. He walked down off the porch and over to his car, climbed in and drove away.

  “Liar,” Lexi said to Tucker. “I’m definitely not going to any party he’s throwing.”

  He was one of those pompous types Lexi thought. He was too darn sure of himself, for his own good. Well wouldn’t he get a surprise when she did get Wildwood up and running which she had every intention of doing just as soon as she possibly could. Her mood now spoiled, she decided on another glass of wine while she cooked a chicken breast and prepared a salad to go with it. To her delight Tucker decided he would follow her in to the kitchen and she rewarded him with a biscuit from the box on the counter.

  Lexi took her dinner out to the dining room and sat down. She replayed the conversation with Montgomery. Carter said Uncle Max was not selling the property. Surely if he was there would be some documentation about it. She cleared her dishes to the kitchen when she was finished and put a kettle on the stove to make a cup of tea. Leaving the door ajar to the kitchen, so she could hear it when it whistled, she went into Uncle Max’s office to take a look. His desk was tidy, everything neatly in place. She started with the centre drawer and found just the usual items a stapler, some tape, paper clips, a few pens and a whole lot of keys all carefully labeled. Uncle Max was a man after her heart.

  Nothing there so Lexi moved on to the drawers on the right. The top drawer yielded nothing but a bunch of printer paper and the next was some telephone books. The bottom drawer had hanging files and all were carefully labeled and contained personal tax information, bills for Wildwood plus receipts for purchases he had made but nothing about selling the property and no clues to the identity of this mystery woman.

  The kettle whistled and Lexi hurried to make her cup of tea then brought it back with her to the office and tackled the drawers on the left. While she did find more hanging files with warranties and instruction booklets there was nothing else that would help. Disappointed, she went back out to the great room.

  Lexi had hauled Tucker’s bed in from the porch earlier and she found him lying on it but as soon as she entered the room he rose and headed for the door.

  “Want to go out buddy?” she asked. The wagging tail was her response.

  Lexi decided since it was still fairly light out she would take a walk outside and then see if maybe she could coax Tucker to come back in with her. She opened the door for him and followed him out. He headed straight for the barn and after relieving himself on his favourite fencepost he nudged the door and went inside. Lexi followed him in. She looked around the barn. There were several stalls but no indication that animals had inhabited them for a very long time. She could remember a couple of old horses, one she had ridden. She thought Uncle Max may have had goats at one time when she was really small.

  The stalls were certainly large enough to accommodate horses but she knew nothing about caring for them. Still it might be nice to offer trail rides and Carter apparently had horses maybe he could give her some instruction on how to care for them. No, put that thought out of your head Lexi, you don’t need to be involving Carter in your business. Still, he did seem willing to help and she was basing her assessment of him on the impressions of a smitten twelve year old girl.

  Lexi decided to have a look in the loft and climbed the ladder. There were some boxes in the corner of the loft. She should have a look in those one of these days. She walked to the edge and looked over. It was a long drop probably sixteen feet, onto a concrete floor. She could see why Max had been fatally injured. The railing seemed low and she wondered why he would have been so close to the edge. She decided to get down from there now. Tucker was waiting when she stepped off the last rung of the ladder and beg
an wagging his tail.

  “It’s okay Tucker,” she said. “Were you worried about me? I sure wish you could talk cuz I bet you could tell me exactly what happened to Max, couldn’t you?” The dog just looked at her.

  “Well I think it’s bedtime for me Tucker, are you going to come in with me?” she asked.

  As she headed to the barn door Tucker lay down in his spot so when Lexi returned to the house she put his bed out on the porch again. She turned off all the lights, locked the door and headed upstairs. She wandered down the hall and into Uncle Max’s room. She looked around at the photos that covered the dresser and a shelf under the window. It seemed so sad that he would look at these everyday and yet never saw his family again for all those years, well except her and only for that brief visit. If only she had come up here like she planned to.

  Lexi switched off the lights and went to her room. It wasn’t that late but she was tired. She got ready for bed and then she got a pen and paper from her briefcase. She climbed in and began making a list. Tomorrow she would tackle the rooms upstairs and figure out how to work the big industrial washers and dryers that were in the laundry room. She needed to wash all the sheets that had been used as dust covers. She would probably employ them again since it would be several months before Wildwood actually opened for business.

  Lexi was dozing a little when she heard the pounding of the big knocker at the front entry and Tucker barking. What the...? Could a woman get no peace in this place? She climbed out of bed and started for the door then remembering she was in her pajamas, went to her suitcase and rummaged through it until she found a robe. She really must unpack.