Maple Sundaes & CIder Donuts

by Olivia Gaines

  JAKE FOLEY WORKED FAST. The anchors were set and the house attached, and the outer brick wall made an interesting conversation piece in the connecting space between the houses. He would sheetrock it later, but for now, it worked as a nice transition between the old house and the newer addition.

  “Whaddya think, Evan?” Jake asked.

  “I like it. What’s next?”

  “In the morning, we shut off the water and tie the lines into the city sewer. While my guys are working on connecting the plumbing, I’m going to remove this window and cut you a door. Anything special you want?”

  “A cased opening with white trim would be nice as an open walk through instead of a regular door,” Evan said.

  “I like that and it’s cheaper, we can make it happen,” Jake said, walking away and then coming back. “Evan, I’m not sure how much you know...about me and ...”

  Evan held up his hand. “That is between you and his God,” Evan said with a wink.

  “You don’t seem to be very judgmental about the lives of others. I mean, you have worked that job for a long time and have never said a word about any body’s life choices,” Jake said, looking Evan square in the face. “At one point, I kind of hoped you were playing on our team.”

  “No, I don’t play like that,” Evan said, “but you’re free to run all over the playground. I don’t even want to watch.”

  “You’re funny. Never knew that about you. I’m learning a lot since she showed up,” Jake said.

  “You mean my wife Leta?”

  “Yes, Leta,” Jake said, allowing his eyes to lower to Evan’s crotch. “Being able to please a black woman in bed means you have some skills. Most of the ladies in town are all abuzz, especially Darla. She feels like you’ve been holding out on the ladies.”

  “I don’t play like that either. Let me know if you need anything else. I’ll let Leta know the water will be shut off while you guys connect the water lines,” he said, backing away from Jake, knowing more than he’d ever say, and keeping the knowledge he had in his pockets.

  It was safer that way.

  Chapter Fifteen – Benignity

  The quietness of the evening soothed them both like a much-needed rubdown after a physically strenuous workout. It had been less than a week and it felt as if they both had run a marathon, uphill both ways in torrential winds during a snowstorm in July. Evan lay in bed looking up at the ceiling.

  “Benjamin,” he said out of nowhere. “If it’s a boy, I want to name him Benjamin. It sounds like a smart kid’s name, Benjamin Edward Eaton. I like it.”

  “And if it’s a girl?” she asked, rolling over on her side to look at him.

  “I like Aimee. Aimee Elizabeth Eaton,” he said, rolling to his side to face her. “She’s going to be gorgeous and sweet-natured. He’s going to be a hellion who wants to tame the lake. I’m going to show him dude stuff like fishing and hunting and how to use power tools.”

  “The only thing missing is you beating your chest,” Leta said, smiling. Her hand reached out, the index finger trailing down his jawline. “Does the idea of me lying next to you possibly pregnant freak you out a little?”

  “Oddly enough, no, it doesn’t,” he said. “However, if either Benji or Aimee arrives in December, then I have to make sure the extra room is truly winter proofed. Don’t want the babies getting the croup or a bad cough.”

  “Listen at you being all Daddy-ly and stuff,” she said, smiling.

  “What about you? I heard you talking to your belly the other day. Are you scared of becoming a mother, living in the cold, and adjusting to life with me?”

  “Oddly enough, yes, I am scared, but in a good way,” she told him. “It terrifies me to think of Claudia’s reaction when she finds out. I want to bite my nails to the nubs when I think of calling my folks this weekend to tell them that I’m married. I truly don’t know how that is going to go over.”

  “Do you think the issue will be with the geography or the color of my skin?”

  “Both!” she said, “but I’m already pregnant, so there’s that.”

  They laughed for a moment, then stared deep into each other’s eyes, toying with the possibility that Coraline had cast a spell and she was in fact four days pregnant. Evan leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips, his hand reaching low to touch her belly. Slowly he ran his fingers across her stomach.

  “You’re pregnant with my child, so there is that,” he said, chuckling a bit as the laughter rumbled in his chest. “Lady, I don’t remember the last time I laughed or smiled this much, and for you, I am thankful.”

  “Are you thankful enough to not name a black girl Aimee Elizabeth?”

  “Yeah, I was wondering if you let that go by too easy. As long as she’s not an Isha, I can go with it,” he said, chuckling.

  “An Isha, what is that?”

  “When I was at Colombia, there was a girl name LaQuisha in my management class and a Keisha in my sociology class and they were both pushy as hell,” he said. “I just don’t want anybody to see my baby’s name and go ah hell. She’s an Isha.”

  “What about an etta?”

  “Like Moquetta, Bonetta, or Jacketfacingetta, but it’s pronounced Jacketta?”

  “Now that is just plain racist,” she told him, playfully socking him in the stomach. “You do realize that you’re going to be the father of black children.”

  “Don’t matter none. You’re going to be their Mom and I dare a man, woman, or child to come up against you and your babies. You are one Mama bear they aren’t going to want to face down in the cold of winter,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her again. He held her hand looking at the ring he placed on her finger. “Leta, do you like this ring?”

  “Of course. This guy I met last Friday gave it to me. You know that man asked me to marry him. I barely know that dude and he wanted to marry me. Can you imagine that?”

  “I’m imagining more and more each day,” he said, snuggling close and allowing his eyelids to droop and carry him off to sleep.

  Leta didn’t sleep so easily. She’d made the decision in haste. She moved all of her belongings in haste. Now she was potentially pregnant and throwing a bar-b-que on Friday, a week after her wedding. She didn’t even know what kind of music her husband liked. They hadn’t gotten that far yet. She’d searched for red flags, potential triggers that Evan could have been prone to violence, but nothing so far indicated that he was prone to easily anger.

  She’d looked for evidence that most of the women in town knew him Biblically, but they didn’t. Neither did the men, which was also a good thing. Her husband was respected and liked by most people she met, yet, there was something that didn’t feel right.

  It was that uncertainty that made her uneasy.

  THERE WERE TWO THINGS Leta hated more than anything, and one of those was learning about a situation the hard way. The other was that her husband seemed remiss in divulging important information in a timely manner. The latter she discovered at the end of her shower in the middle of rinsing her calf when the water suddenly stopped flowing.

  “Evan,” she snarled through tight lips. Jumping from the shower, she wiped the soap off her legs and dried as hurriedly as possible. The men were scheduled to cut through the wall today and take out the window to make a doorway.

  Midway through getting dressed, she heard the crash of glass and ran out to find the window is gone, the opening wider than she had expected and Jake standing in the yard talking to the pastor. Rick. Richard. Dick. Evan’s cousin, what is his name?

  Jake waved as Pastor Rick turned his back to Leta, completing his words to Jake and suddenly turning his face towards her. The uneasy feeling had returned and she felt a sense of foreboding while watching him walk toward the house. He didn’t move like a man of the cloth, not that she knew firsthand how ministers got their strolls on, but this dude walked like an Apex predator. She didn’t like him and was starting to understand why her husband may not care for his own blood as well.

>   “This is a day the Lord has made Leta,” Rick said, showing a toothy smile that seemed forced.

  “Let us rejoice and be glad in it, Pastor Rick,” she said, giving back the same shit-eating grin. “What brings you out this way? Surely, you’re aware that your cousin is in the office, or were you coming to see me to try your hand at getting my husband in your church pews?”

  Rick threw his head back in laughter. “No, none of that. Word is spreading about this private gathering you are having on Friday. A cookout,” he said, flashing the smile again.

  “I have nothing to do with that,” she said honestly. “Evan walked in and told me we were having guests. My brother will be here of course, so it should be a fun time.”

  “Evan and I have had such a tumultuous relationship over the years. I really hoped that with his marriage he would be interested in mending those damaged fences and we can be a family,” Rick said, “so our children can grow up together like Evan and me did. I know Darla, that’s my wife, would love to get to know you better, especially since you don’t have many friends here.”

  “Darla, as in the friend of Jean’s?” she asked, arching her eyebrows slightly.

  “Yes, have you had an opportunity to meet them yet?” He asked also arching an eyebrow.

  “Of course. Jean is the reason Jake is here installing half a house,” she said, smiling at him. Everything Sandra had said came back in a rush of information. Darla’s husband was having an affair with Jean’s husband which meant that Pastor Rick and Jake were...Dear Lord.

  “Did you hear me Leta?” Rick said, watching her face. “I said with so many oil deposits on the land, I’m certain you and Evan will be reaching out to the fracking companies to sell off part of the 10,000 acres to make a nice nest egg for you and your family. My mother owns 5,000 additional acres of the land near the lake, but none of it has any oil deposits. Just loads of rocky land and sporadic trees. Nothing as lush as this.”

  “No, no plans that I know of,” she said as the hairs on her arms stood on end. This man was dangerous, and she could feel it. “Maybe you should talk that over with Evan.”

  “Maybe I will do that. I can imagine its kind of lonely out here so far away from everyone. You haven’t made any friends yet. I’m sure back home you had lots of close friends. Are any coming to visit anytime soon?”

  “I think a good friend will come this way pretty soon, and it will be good to see her,” Leta said.

  “Ah yes, Claudia will love the view of the lake,” Rick said, looking out at the water. He didn’t see Leta’s face, and by the time he’d turned back around her expression returned to normal. She showed no signs of being disturbed by his words.

  “I’m sure she would,” Leta said, grabbing her keys. “It was so good seeing you, Rick. Please drop by Evan’s office and run those ideas by him when you get a chance.”

  “I was hoping to score an invite for Friday night,” Rick said, smiling again.

  “When you see Evan, bring it up to him. Good seeing you,” she said, pulling the front door closed and heading towards the rental.

  With the comfort of the closed, locked doors, she let out a whoosh of air. In the one conversation she had with Jake and the one conversation she had with Darla and Jean, not once had she mentioned Claudia. She needed to see Evan and see him now.

  She drove down the hillside, barely making it the turnoff, when from the passenger side of her vehicle, an antique Chevy pick-up truck broadsided the rental car, flipping it on its side. It felt as if a big whoosh of wind followed the flop and flicked the car over on its roof. Leta hung upside down in the vehicle, praying that it would not roll down the hill and into the water. This was the same turnoff where Jake had lost the half of a house and it had rolled down the hillside into the lake. Leta wasn’t a strong swimmer, and if she hit the water strapped inside of the car, her chances of survival were decreasing by the second. She had to get out of the vehicle and now.

  Struggling, she unfastened the seat belt and dropped to the roof of the car. Her anxious hands grabbed for the door handle, pulling hard, and she used her feet to kick it open. She rolled out of the side of the car just as the truck backed up, disconnecting itself from her rental. Crunch, crackle and croak were the sounds of old metal trucks as it pulled back from the car, breaking the momentary embrace. Leta rolled sideways, almost hiding in the bushes. Terrified, she watched from the shrubberies trying to see the face of the driver in the truck, but it appeared as if he wore a mask and a hoodie. Fear filled her lungs as the truck shifted gears backing up and then lurched forward, hitting the back end of the car, sending it on a descent down the hill.

  The vehicle did a slow roll down the side of the steep shoulder and landed in the lake. At the top of the hill, police sirens were seen coming on at full speed. The truck, now facing traffic in both directions did the unthinkable. The vehicle rolled forward towards the edge of the hill. The old fashion heavy Chevy nose, loaded with good old-fashioned American steel, raised and lowered the front end of the truck, sending it over the shoulder. The driver held the steering wheeling like he was trying to hogtie a bull steer for branding, wrestling back and forth, guiding, aiming for the low ground, and making it with little effort. The Chevy touched the beach near the waterfront, shifted gears and drove onward to the main road.

  An officer, wearing a shirt that appeared two sizes too small for his muscled frame stepped from the vehicle, walking to the edge of the hill. He looked over the edge and then around the surrounding area, and his eyes stopped when he spotted the black woman in the bushes. The shock on his face he ran forward calling her name.

  “Leta? Leta is that you?” he asked, holding out his hands for support.

  She looked at the name on the uniform and saw “Greybar.” Sandra’s husband, the police officer. Her hands shook as she reached for him.

  “Virgil, someone ran me off the road,” she told him, standing close and shaking like a leaf. “I don’t think they saw me get out of the vehicle and make it to the woods. Why would anyone want to hurt me?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like the looks of this,” Virgil said, keying the mic on his radio. He called into the dispatch office. “Lucy, this is Virgil. Send someone over the Town Clerk’s office to fetch Evan Eaton. His wife’s been in an accident on the turn road right above Cressway Hill. She doesn’t appear to be hurt, but she’s shaken and has some cuts. Send the ambulance to check her out.”

  “Oh my God, Virgil, you said Leta’s not hurt. right?” Lucy the dispatcher came back.

  “That’s what I said, Lucy. Now stop burning daylight and get Evan and an ambulance here pronto,” he said.

  “Virgil, I don’t think I need an ambulance,” she said softly, but in the same breath, she tried to inhale and it hurt. Leta only had one thought as everything around her went black. Evan.

  LUCY STALLING RAN INTO the Town Hall office, winded, out of breath, and sweating like she’d eaten a plate full of hot, seared meat. Magda stared at the woman as she tried to collect her words. The words Leta and accident were all the secretary needed to hear, and she yelled for Evan.

  “Hey Lucy, what’s going on?” Evan asked, his heart rate increasing incrementally as he stared at the dispatcher.

  “Leta. Accident. Cressway Hill. Not hurt. Ambulance en route,” Lucy said to the back of Evan’s head as he bolted for the door. Tom Foredan came from his office asking what happened, but poor Lucy had collapsed in a chair from the excitement.

  “Leta’s been in an accident on Cressway Hill. I swear Tom, there need to be new guardrails put up in the curve,” Magda told him. “That is the same place Jake lost half of that house, not to mention the number of drunk teens who’ve lost or nearly lost their lives there. I don’t know what it’s going to take for somebody to do something about the curve!”

  Tom ignored her, focusing on Lucy and giving the woman a bottle of water. “Is Leta alright? Was she hurt?”

  Lucy shook her head no. “Virgil said she was shaken u
p and had scrapes and bruises, but she’s okay. The vehicle is in the lake though, and somebody tried to run that girl off the road,” Lucy said. “Who would do such a thing?”

  Tom knew. He knew the whole drama between Anderson Eaton and his sister Evelyn, Rick’s mother, who had fostered the hatred among their sons. She’d married poorly to a man who took everything she owned, forcing Anderson to buy out her ownership of the land to keep it out of Taylor Goodson’s reach. Anderson left his sister Evelyn 5,000 acres of the original twenty. The other five Anderson Eaton sold to the town of Meredith for annexation. However it was the husband of his sister which was the cause of the separation in the family. Taylor Goodson was the epitome of no good.

  Rumors swirled around the family and the goings on in the home. Several times Rick had been hospitalized with unusual wounds that no one in town wanted to discuss. Anderson brought his nephew home to the little house on the better side of Lake Winnisquam to heal, but once Rick was on his feet, he returned home, saying he needed to protect his mother. It was unclear to many of the residents what happened from that point forward. Taylor Goodson starting getting sick.

  The sicker he became, the more Rick and Evelyn stayed in church. The day the man passed, both son and wife were in church, praying for his immortal soul. Rick took a summer job with the parks and recreation department but the more he was around Evan, the further apart they grew. After the Summer of 1998, at a camp offered by the Parks Division, a young woman nearly drowned with Evan and Rick as counselors for the program. It was never clear what had happened to the young woman, but Evan had performed CPR and saved her life.

  “You know, Evan and Rick have never really spent any time together after that Summer Camp when Ellie Morrison nearly drowned,” Tom Foredan said softly.