“I still don’t understand what happened. You were just starting to get excited about it, and then suddenly you don’t want to go. What changed?”
“I wish I knew.” Holly kept her eyes on the meeting agenda as she folded it precisely. “Maybe it’s because I’m afraid it will be just like when we were in high school. They’ll all see a homely, chubby farm girl with a total of two good friends.”
Tessa reached over and stilled Holly’s movements. The paper was folded into a small triangle. “I’m telling you, the very people who used to act like you didn’t exist are going to be blown away when they see you. You are beautiful, inside and out. They’re going to regret that they didn’t realize it sooner.”
Holly knew her friend was trying to help, but she was only succeeding in making her feel even more self-conscious. “I’m going, anyway, Tess. I promised Luke, and after all he’s done for me, I’m not about to let him down.”
Tessa scooted forward in her chair. “Well, let me tell you what Jen said. Brent Dasher owns a chain of restaurants across the state of Alabama. Do you know what he calls them?”
“I can’t imagine.”
“Fast Food for Giants.” Tessa giggled. “You know, unless he’s grown a foot taller and bulked up, he was about as far from a giant as a man gets. Remember when he climbed…”
Tessa’s words faded into the background as Jack Wallace’s hate-filled voice echoed, “Guess your giant hero man can’t be everywhere you are, can he?” She’d forgotten that. Was he talking about Luke? But he wouldn’t refer to a man he towered over as a giant. Even Mitch, the largest man in Holly’s circle of friends, was probably an inch or two shorter and not quite as muscular. Maybe she was exaggerating Jack Wallace’s size; after all, she’d been terrified.
“Hey, Holly.” Tessa’s voice startled her. “You okay?”
Holly looked into the concerned eyes of her friend and started to tell her about the giant. But, then she thought of all Tessa had gone through with her. Why bother her with what was probably a reference to the sheriff? “I was daydreaming, I guess. Sorry.”
Thankfully, Tessa was too excited about the upcoming reunion not to accept Holly’s answer at face value.
“So, Jen said Tom Dwer called just to ask if Kevin Tripp was coming. You don’t suppose those two will be up to their old tricks, do you?”
Holly pictured the two boys, so alike in appearance, yet complete contrasts in personality. “You know, I always kind of felt sorry for Kevin. He seemed so shy, and Tom was obnoxious. Maybe Kevin felt like he had to pull those pranks just to keep the only friend he had.”
“Weren’t you his project partner in adult living our senior year?”
“I’d forgotten, but I was.” Holly remembered now. “Mrs. Wilcox paired us, and she made sure we were with people we wouldn’t choose.”
Tessa leaned back and rubbed her neck. “We didn’t have enough boys in the class, remember? I was paired with Jeannie Singer, She Who Knew Everything. Her speedy checkbook balancing method almost made me flunk that semester.”
Although she hadn’t thought about it in a long time, Holly easily recalled the war zone in Tessa and Jeannie’s corner. And wasn’t there something… “I remember Tom went right up to the front of the classroom and got on his knee to propose to Mrs. Wilcox. He sang some silly song about her being her his widow woman bride.”
“He thought he was so funny.” Tessa frowned. “How did you get through that class? I can’t imagine Kevin saying enough to help with any assignments.”
Holly searched her memory. “I don’t think he ever said too much, but I’m pretty sure he did his share. He must not have done too poorly since I earned straight A’s that year.”
“Well, I just hope he and Tom don’t go stringing somebody’s underwear up the flagpole.” Tessa reminded Holly of a bulled-up child, sitting with her arms crossed tightly in front of her. “Then, Jen got on a kick about Wes Stevens being married so many times already, and how it was too bad that you and I are still single.” Tessa uncrossed her arms, and a contrite expression appeared on her face. “You know what? I shouldn’t have stood there and listened to so much gossip.”
Holly couldn’t help but grin. “Talking to Jen is an exercise in avoiding gossip. Don’t punch your nose too hard.”
“Excuse me.”
Holly looked beside her to see Mr. Roper, the maintenance man, standing there.
“Hi, Mr. Roper.” Holly liked the nice man. She didn’t know what his salary was, but with his duties, it couldn’t be enough.
“I just wondered if I could talk to you for a minute.” He looked awkwardly at Tessa. “In private.”
Holly gave her friend an apologetic look and stood up. Every so often, her job extended to counseling faculty members. Mr. Roper had never asked for help before. “I’ll see you in a while, Tess.”
“Sure.” Tessa turned around and joined a group at the next table.
“Why don’t we go to my office?” Holly suggested.
“That’ll be fine.” He walked beside her until they reached her office. Then he waited while she unlocked the door.
“Have a seat,” she invited him once she was behind her desk.
Mr. Roper looked at the floor and shuffled his feet before meeting her eyes. “I’ll just stand.”
“Okay.” There was something truly troubling the man in front of her. “How can I help you?”
“If I talk to you, it stays between us, doesn’t it?”
“Unless it’s endangering you or others, or it’s illegal, whatever you tell me will not go beyond these four walls.”
“That’s what I thought.” The older man sank into the chair, his bushy gray brows lowered in a frown. “You see, I have a problem. I may have misplaced a few things, and now I can’t find them.”
“What have you misplaced, Mr. Roper?” He was much too sharp to be suffering dementia. Maybe he had been working too hard.
“I always store the unused shop class equipment. Right now, Mr. Glendon is teaching the students about electrical appliances. He needed all the auto mechanic equipment out of the shop. There’s a big room under the gym where I store it.”
Holly was confused. “And you seem to have misplaced some of the equipment? I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.”
“I have a photographic memory, Miss Morris.” Sudden sadness overtook his features. “Or at least I used to.”
“And...” she prompted him.
“I took art supplies into the room yesterday. Storing them for Mrs. Boynton. And when I walked in, the equipment wasn’t right.”
“What was wrong with it?”
His eyes sharpened. “There are empty spaces where equipment should be.”
“Perhaps Mr. Glendon needed some things and didn’t want to bother you,” Holly suggested.
The maintenance man shook his head. “The shop was the first place I checked. There isn’t any automotive equipment in there.”
“Could somebody have just walked in and moved stuff around?”
Mr. Roper pulled a heavy-laden key ring from his pocket. “The room stays locked, and there’s only one key besides this one. The principal’s secretary keeps it in her desk.”
Holly would offer to help search the building, but a lug wrench and jack were the only automotive tools she could identify. She would be no help. “What do you think could have happened to it?”
“I don’t know,” he sadly admitted.
Something wasn’t making sense, but one thing Holly was sure of. “Mr. Roper, I don’t believe for one minute you’ve misplaced that equipment. I think somehow, somebody is playing a trick on you.” Luke would commiserate with him. “My friend is going through something similar.”
“I suppose I’ll be put on leave when the superintendent finds out it’s gone, though.” His sad expression nearly broke Holly’s heart. “With Maude needing her treatments, I can’t afford to miss my salary.”
Holly thought for a minute. Unless somebody in the st
aff or administration had decided to get their jollies by tormenting the janitor, the culprits had to be students. “Let’s not say anything just yet. Let’s do the same thing we’re doing to try to help my friend. We’ll listen to the students. If some of them have done this, they won’t be able to resist bragging.”
Mr. Roper’s gratitude was immediate. “Thank you, Miss Morris. I figured you’d know what to do.”
“You’re welcome.”
After assuring her he wouldn’t tell anybody else and would pay extra close attention to the students while he cleaned during late afternoons, he left to get busy at his job.
What on earth was going on in Shadow High School? If Mitch was correct, a group of students was vandalizing Luke’s farm, and now there was an excellent chance students had removed or relocated shop tools. Holly started to pick up the phone. Maybe Luke would have a suggestion for what she could do. But then she thought of all he was dealing with. Besides caring for her safety and doing his farm work, he was dealing with his own pranksters. No. She would enlist Tessa on this one and not put it on Luke’s shoulders.
Please, Father, help me with this problem. It seems like my life is never going to get back to normal. I ask you to help me remember you’re always with me. Please help Mr. Roper accept your comfort, too. Thank You. Amen.
Chapter 28
“This is really yummy.” Holly used a sing-song voice. “Are you sure you don’t want to try it?”
Luke looked at the spoonful of tapioca pudding Holly was offering him and shuddered.
“I thought we agreed to disagree about that stuff.” He shifted his gaze, intent on eating the good old peach cobbler in front of him.
Holly laughed and stuck the spoon in her mouth. As soon as she swallowed it, she scooped up another bite and waved it under his nose. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”
What he did know was the little lumps in the stuff looked too much like tiny fish eyes. And the one time—clear back when they were in grade school—she persuaded him to try it, he actually gagged.
Luke tried to look stern as he returned her gaze. It was a lost cause, though, when he saw the mischief lurking within her smile.
“Okay, okay.” She ate another bite of pudding. “I’ll eat this scrumptious dessert while you sit there and eat boring cobbler.”
“I didn’t know food had to be exciting to be good.” He was not an adventurous eater. If he liked something, he stuck with it. He decided to change the subject. “So, are you glad we went ahead and came out to eat tonight?”
“Yes,” she answered with no hesitation. “If I stayed home, Tess and I would have just ended up parked in front of the TV. And she probably would have talked me into trying a new hairstyle or something.”
“I understand why you wear your hair up when you’re at work, but I really like it this way.” Maybe he needed to compliment her more often. Besides, the long, flowing strands looked like spun, coffee-colored silk. He knew firsthand it was as soft to touch as it looked.
Holly gave him a self-conscious smile. “It’s just too easy to pull back into a ponytail. I don’t know why I don’t brush it out and leave it like this more often.”
“You should.”
“Walker? Luke Walker?” A man standing at Luke’s side was addressing him.
“Yes.” He looked vaguely familiar.
“Man, you haven’t changed a bit.” The lean man had hair too blond and skin too tanned to be natural, in Luke’s opinion, but he tried not to judge people by their appearance.
“I’m sorry.” He just couldn’t figure out who the other man was. “I can’t seem to place you.”
The man grinned. “I’m Clay Richmond. We graduated together. Remember?”
Clay Richmond. The guy every girl seemed to go for. “Of course. How are you?”
“Great.” He glanced behind him. “I’m here with Jen Ewing and her husband. She found out I arrived this morning and insisted I join them for dinner.” A slight grimace marred his handsome face. “She sure hasn’t changed, has she?”
Luke couldn’t think of a prudent thing to say, so he indicated Holly. “You remember—”
“Hey.” Clay had just taken his first good look at Holly. “You’ve gone and found yourself quite a beauty. Please tell me she’s not wearing a ring.” Before either of them could respond, he spoke to Holly. “Let me tell you, your fellow here has developed much better taste since high school. Lots of girls went after him, but he just hung out with some homely girl nobody would date.”
Luke’s first instinct was to slug the guy for insulting Holly. She had a weird look on her face. He had to fix this.
“I spent time with that girl because I liked her. And this is her, Clay—Holly Morris.” He hoped he didn’t sound as aggravated as he felt.
“Holly...” Clay grinned again. “You’re not that pudgy little girl. No way.”
Luke abruptly stood. “Look, Clay, I don’t know where you’re living now, but in Shadow, gentlemen still have manners. If you’re going to talk to Holly that way, I see Jen and Dennis sitting over there. Maybe you should just join them.”
The other man had the grace to look ashamed. He turned to Holly, and Luke watched as right before his eyes, the rude, cruel-mouthed man became the Romeo who enticed girls in high school.
“I’m sorry.” His smile would melt butter. “I’m just nervous around beautiful women, and baby, you are beautiful.”
Okay. This wasn’t what Luke intended to happen, either. He most certainly did not want Clayton Billings Richmond III to flirt with the woman he loved. “Clay—”
“Sir, your party is ready to order. They’ve asked you to join them.” A waiter had arrived in the nick of time.
Clay’s smile was for Holly. “I’ll look forward to seeing you at the reunion tomorrow.” He gave Luke a cursory glance. “See you, Walker.”
Luke sat back down, uncertain of what just happened, but aware of the fact he didn’t like any part of it.
“I’m sorry, Holly.” What was the look on her face?
She smiled dreamily. “Clay Richmond just called me beautiful.”
Yes, he did. After he called her a homely, pudgy, little girl nobody would date. This wasn’t right. “Of course you’re beautiful. You’ve always been beautiful. You are the most beautiful woman in the world, as far as I’m concerned.”
Instead of responding to his compliments, Holly was surreptitiously looking over her shoulder at the table Clay had gone to. Luke’s world tilted on its axis. Where was his level-headed, practical Holly? Where had this...schoolgirl come from?
“Luke?” Mitch’s voice coming from his other side startled him. He probably looked deranged when he turned to his friend.
“What?”
“Tess told me I’d find you here. I need to speak to you.” Mitch looked at Holly, who had turned back to face them. “I’m just going to borrow him for a few minutes. Okay?”
No way would Holly let them talk without her. She’d want to be involved if it had anything to do with the pranks being played on him.
“I’ll wait here.” She was already looking over her shoulder again.
It was a bewildered man who followed Mitch into the quiet hall joining O’Leary’s dining room with its private banquet rooms.
“I don’t understand.” And he didn’t.
“What?” Mitch seemed as confused as Luke felt.
“Holly.” Maybe his friend would be able to shed some light on the situation. “Clay Richmond shows up and insults her like crazy. Then after one compliment, she can’t take her eyes off him. I don’t understand.”
“We’ve got more important stuff to worry about than Holly making eyes at Clay Richmond.” Mitch’s brisk demeanor finally got through to Luke.
“What’s going on now?”
“It’s Wallace.” Mitch shifted on his feet. “He’s confessed to a lot of stuff; he was close to Holly even more times than he first admitted. But, he’s adamant he doesn’t know where you live
, and he only made the one phone call.”
“He’s probably lying.” It was the only thing that made sense to Luke.
Mitch shook his head. “I don’t think he is. He stole that old junk truck of Harvey Mead’s and has been holed up in a deer shack on George Gibbons’ place. There’s no electricity, running water, or telephone.” The sheriff shifted on his feet. “Luke, he says some guy is after him.”
Luke didn’t like the expression on his friend’s face. “You can’t think it was me. If you even believe the maniac.”
“I know you’re not who he’s talking about.”
“But you believe him.”
Mitch’s solemn expression concerned Luke. “Remember what scared Holly so badly she didn’t look in her backseat? The man she heard running toward her?”
Luke mechanically nodded, his mind trying to absorb this situation.
“Wallace will testify in a court of law that even though he didn’t see the man’s face, the guy chasing Holly that night came after him. Jack showed me a nasty cut on his shoulder, where he says the guy he’s calling Holly’s ‘hero giant’ almost got him. He’s only alive because of a good hiding place and he was pretty sure that man wouldn’t do anything in broad daylight.”
The impact of what Mitch was saying hit Luke like a ton of bricks.
“The stalker is still out there.”
Mitch looked grim. “I’m afraid so, Luke. I think he’s been so focused on the man who tried to hurt ‘his Holly,” he hasn’t taken the time to call.”
A hot coal began burning in Luke’s chest. “And now with Jack Wallace behind bars, he’s free to come after Holly again.”
“Yes.” The sheriff looked at the door they’d come through. “The description I have is a man my size, maybe a little bigger, and stronger than Wallace. There’s no way to identify the man.”
“So, we’re right back where we started.”
“And I don’t know what the best way to handle it is.”
Just go get Holly and lock her away someplace where nobody could get to her. Keep her safe. That’s what Luke wanted to do.
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