“I’m Willow Finley. You made copies of two of my mother’s journals for me?”
“Oh yes! Did you get my letter?”
“I did.”
“Have you considered my suggestion regarding publication?”
Willow shrugged. “I’m not sure. I had planned to pull the pages I knew I wouldn’t share and then see how the rest looked.”
“I’m sure they’d be great. Most entries could flow or stand alone. It will work.”
The woman’s words were true. Very few entries were dependent upon one previous—particularly those that were the most personal. “People I’ve shared them with have all said that they enjoyed them, but sharing with strangers… I just don’t know.”
“Well,” Michelle encouraged, “I know that this stranger has started reading her Bible again after meeting Kari Finley through her journals. I’m becoming acquainted with a God that I didn’t know existed.”
“That is a compelling argument. Mother was a very private person, but if opening up would introduce someone to Jesus…” Her eyes rose to the clock. “Wow! It’s already twelve-thirty? No wonder I’m starving. I’ll have Chad drop off the journals. I really appreciate you taking care of them for me. Thank you.”
Chad slid his phone shut. Willow was coming to town. He couldn’t put it off any longer. Pulling into the square, he parked the car and jogged across the street to Joe. “Care to trade?”
“You want the beat?”
“I feel antsy. I need to walk. I’ll take it.” Chad waited, trying not to look too hopeful. “That was true anyway. Just say yes, I can’t think on my feet when my stomach is in knots.”
Joe shrugged and held his hand out for the keys. “All yours. I’ve got some office paperwork I need to do anyway.”
Once Joe drove away, Chad started toward Prissy’s Hardware. He worked hard to keep a casual air of indifference as he glanced in the windows on the way, pausing now and then. This was Fairbury. If anyone suspected he was even considering looking in a jewelry store window, it would be all over town by morning that Chad Tesdall was going to propose. Like most small town rumors, there’d be enough truth to make the tale supportable and enough inaccuracy to make it irritating.
His first pass barely showed him where the rings were in the window. He directed a woman to the bed and breakfast, sent a late student back to school, and issued a parking ticket before he could make another pass by the jewelry store. This wouldn’t work. There was no way he could possibly be able to look carefully at anything, but Willow deserved a ring—even if she couldn’t wear it for two and a half months. His heart sank at that thought—two and a half months.
Maybe Cheri could advise him. Did he want to deal with his little sister’s constant teasing? Was it worth it? “Oh, it’s ridiculous. Who cares anyway?”
“What did you say, Officer Tesdall?”
He slowly raised his head and sighed. The town gossip, otherwise known as Earlene Young. “Just talking to myself. I was going to come see you at lunch, but I’ve gotta run Willow back home. I guess she’s coming into town to do some shopping.”
“I saw her going into Michelle’s a minute ago. You catch who broke into her house?”
“Not yet.”
“I bet it’s that Hudson boy. He’s bad news. She shouldn’t have let him come back after that stunt he pulled.”
Chad knew it would do no good to argue. The town considered Willow the ultimate victim and Ryder the hoodlum who betrayed them, and no amount of logic would change that opinion until they caught the true culprit. “We’ll catch the jerk, and he’ll wish he hadn’t messed with us—her.”
His phone rang and Chad waved at Earlene as he turned to answer it. “What’s up, Joe?”
“We’ve got to bring in Ryder Hudson. I just spoke to a neighbor. Chad, he was home all weekend. He didn’t go out of town. I confirmed it with his mother.”
“I’m coming in,” Chad insisted. “I don’t think he did it.”
An awkward silence hovered over the airwaves before Joe’s apologetic voice broke through. “I’m sorry. The chief says no. Conflict of interest.”
“What!”
“I’ve got more bad news.”
Certain that nothing could be as bad as this, Chad quipped, “Just try to beat that one.”
“You drew short straw with Judith. You guys are going to the ball.”
“Together!”
Joe’s chuckle rankled. “I don’t think so. I heard her muttering something about refusing to go with a boy almost young enough to be her son.”
Willow took the news hard. “I know he didn’t do it, Chad.”
“I know. I agree.”
“So how do we prove it?”
“No, no, no. There’s no ‘we’ here. You forget that the real culprit is still out there and is going to feel incredibly confident when the word gets out that they’re holding Ryder for questioning.”
With a sigh that seemed to fill the cab of Chad’s pick up, Willow agreed to stick to the house as originally planned. “I’m only doing it because I bought the paint,” she insisted, gesturing toward her makeshift armrests.
“How about shopping. Aren’t you and Cheri supposed to do some shopping soon?”
“Yes. I think we should go before her classes start. I don’t want her missing classes because of me.” The idea that anyone would voluntarily skip classes they’d paid for made no sense whatsoever to her.
“How about buying a formal dress while you’re at it?”
She grinned. “I thought you said no one was supposed to know until—”
“I wasn’t talking about a wedding dress, but yeah, you should keep an eye out for those things too.”
“I thought maybe my white one I made last year—”
Appalled, Chad spoke a little more sharply than he intended. “No!”
Miffed, she muttered, “Sorry. I like it.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that I didn’t like it. I just meant you should have a regular dress. Mother is going to have so much fun with this. She’s been dreaming of Cheri’s wedding for years, and maybe this’ll help stave off the matchmaking that occasionally ruins her good sense.”
“Are you afraid she’ll encourage something with Cheri and Chuck?”
Shaking his head, Chad admitted ruefully, “No, I’m afraid Cheri doesn’t need help with that one. But we’re off topic. We drew straws for the Policeman’s Ball today. Judith and I got the short straws. I was hoping you’d come with me.”
“Just what is the Policeman’s Ball?”
“The Chief’s way of ensuring that Fairbury is the laughing stock of the greater Rockland area.”
Confused, Willow wrinkled her brow and cast a sidewise glance at Chad. “Um, you lost me.”
“He wants as many of us to be there as he can spare to ‘represent Fairbury.’”
“What’s wrong with that?”
The look of pained disgust on Chad’s face would have been comical had it not been so genuinely miserable. “We look desperate for ‘something to do.’”
“So if it’s so horrible, why do you want to make me go too?”
He backpedaled quickly. “Well, I thought since I had to go, I might as well have fun. I don’t have to take someone necessarily, but I thought you’d enjoy it, and I know I’d have a lot more fun if you were there.”
As she pondered the choice between agreeing, refusing, or making him sweat before agreeing, Willow handed Chad her key to the mailbox and asked him to check it for her. He returned with a few letters and a seed catalog. She accepted them silently and then giggled as he glared at her waiting for an answer. “Oh all right. I’ll go. What do I buy?”
“Have Cheri show you. She knows that stuff better than I do. It’s formal. I have to wear a tux or a dress uniform, which Fairbury doesn’t have. That means tux. And a fitting. Great.”
“When is it?”
“What?”
Willow’s laughter rang out in the muffled silence around h
er house as she pulled the paint cans from the cab. “The ball, silly. When is the ball?”
“February fifteenth.”
Willow’s eyes rolled. “The planners are determined to make you love it, eh?”
“Yeah. Love.” Chad winced miserably. “It could be worse.”
“How?”
He shrugged. “It could be St. Paddy’s day. Then it would have conflicted with Luke’s wedding.”
“Well, you couldn’t miss that—”
“Tell that to the chief. This is mandatory, Willow. We go. Period.”
Chapter Seventy
“Ok, this is my favorite store. I got my senior prom dress here.” Cheri’s excitement bubbled over as she dragged Willow into another store. Their arms laden with bags from their mall whirlwind, made her feel revoltingly materialistic.
“Well, whatever we do, we need to find protein after this one. Between the coffee and the cinnamon roll, my body is screaming for real food.”
With a sharp glance, Cheri said, “Do you need to eat now? I didn’t mean—”
Willow laughed and shook her head. “What I need most is to get rid of all these bags.”
Cheri grabbed them from Willow’s hands and arms and loaded herself with them. “You go through the store and see what you think you like. I’ll take these to the car.”
“Why did we buy so much stuff again?”
“You had the gift cards! What were you going to do, let them go to waste?”
The perky tone and bright-eyed look Cheri gave her kept Willow smiling as she wandered through the store examining dresses. Some were instant rejects. Anything not floor length, Cheri pronounced inappropriate. Willow, despite Cheri’s constant admonitions that “Chad would love that,” skipped all strapless and backless gowns saying, “I’d feel like I had to stand in a corner with Chad shielding me.”
Cheri’s retort, “Like I said, Chad would love that,” made no sense to her whatsoever. The man surely would not love standing in a corner shielding her from the room.
When Cheri returned, Willow shoved three dresses in her arms. “I really like the neckline on the pink and that midnight blue has a neat hemline, but I wish that tangerine wasn’t so—um—tangerine.”
“Try it anyway.” As she spoke, Cheri zeroed in on two gowns and held each of them up to her.
Shaking her head, Willow rejected the white. “I’m stuck wearing one of those come spring, I don’t want two.”
“You so don’t deserve my brother,” Cheri teased as she ushered Willow into the dressing rooms.
“There I agree with you. I’ll be out in a minute. Which one first?”
Cheri showed Willow the doorway where the store had a short runway for shoppers to show off the clothes they tried on. It was great advertising for the passersby and made the shopping experience fun for the younger crowd. “I’ll be waiting out there.”
The second Willow disappeared behind the swinging doors to the rooms Cheri dialed Chad’s number. “I think I’ve found the place. She’s got six dresses in there. I’ll be sending pictures as she comes out on the runway.”
“You didn’t take her to that place—”
“I did too. Now be ready. I want to know which one you like.” The background noise confused her. “Hey, where are you? That sounds awfully busy for Fairbury.”
“Had to come into the city for something.”
“Why don’t you meet us at the mall for lunch?”
“Call me when you’re done, and if I can make it over to you—”
Cheri whispered quickly, “Here she comes, gotta go.”
Willow stepped out on the walkway tentatively. “I don’t like how this, um, squeezes things.”
“You’d have to have the next size up altered, but—”
“The color is awful. I can just see me in a room decorated in red and pink wearing bright orange!”
With a surreptitious click of her cell phone, Cheri sent Willow back in to try on another gown. “Might as well scare Chad a bit,” she whispered to herself as she sent the picture to his phone.
A text message arrived just as Willow stepped out in a red dress Cheri hadn’t seen. “Where’d you get—”
“It was hanging in there, and the lady suggested that I try it. I like it, but it’s a bit glittery…”
That was an understatement. She looked like an emcee for the Country Music Awards. The sunburst pattern across her chest, accentuated things that Willow did not need accentuated. “You know, for someone as um, ‘blessed’ as you are, you don’t really look out of proportion really.”
“But I am. Mother used to say that I looked like God slapped two cantaloupes on a tall, gangly ten-year-old.”
“Oh my!” All her attempts to keep her snickers under control failed. Cheri giggled to herself as she attached the picture to a text message and sent it to Chad’s phone with the words, ASK W HOW HER MOM DESCRIBED HER PHYSIQUE.
Willow arrived wearing the pink dress just as Cheri finished sending the message. There was barely time to switch to camera mode and snap a picture before Willow stepped closer. To distract her, Cheri said, “Chad said something about having to come into town today, so I’m going to see if he can meet us for lunch. By the way, I like that best so far. It looks great on you.”
“I like the color and the chiffon. Pink isn’t a color I wear often but—”
“You should wear it more then, it’s your color. That reminds me of a stripped-down My Fair Lady dress.”
“It’s too revealing then?” Disappointment tinged Willow’s voice.
“Oh no! Stripped-down means without all the extra frills. The dress I’m talking about had a high neck, ruffles here and there—” Cheri, with hand gestures, demonstrated enough extra embellishments to ruin the dress Willow wore.
“Well, I think I need the next size up. I feel squeezed like I’m going to pop!”
Cheri led Willow off the “runway” and stood on the step to give her Chad’s height. “Definitely double problems. I’ll bring you the next size.”
“Double?” I look that bad?”
Cheri pointed at Willow’s chest. “It’s squeezing you so much you’ve got double-deckers. That’s all.”
As Willow changed, Cheri sent the next picture and opened Chad’s responses.
I DON’T DANCE WITH ORANGES IN DRAG.
Followed by,
IS THAT DOLLY OR WILLI?
And finally,
I’M AFRAID TO ASK.
Giggling, Cheri sent a message back faster than even she knew she could text.
DIDN’T SHE HAVE A GOAT NAMED WILLI? YOU’RE BUSTED. THINK STICKS WITH FRUIT.
Chad’s next message was,
THAT PINK IS GREAT. YOU WOULD PICK PINK.
Willow arrived in the larger pink and the bodice fit perfectly. However, the skirt hung like a sack from the chest, making her look shapeless and pregnant.
“It looks awful now!” Cheri wailed. “I wanted that dress, but Chad can’t be assaulted by your breasts, and you’d never breathe through more than one dance anyway. Try this one,” she insisted, handing Willow a sleeveless mock turtleneck gown made from the slipperiest fabric she’d ever felt.
“If you think it’s the best dress, I’ll make it fit. I’m done shopping. I want to eat.”
“Can you alter it that much?” Cheri stared at Willow in disbelief. It was the second time in one day that Willow had chosen a dress too large and decided to adjust it for her body.
“Yes.” Willow left the platform and disappeared behind the curtains.
As Cheri opened her phone to read Chad’s reply, her eyes narrowed. “Coward,” she proclaimed as his text appeared on the screen.
CAN’T FIND WHAT I NEED. CAN’T DO LUNCH. HAVE FUN.
Exhausted from chasing the two women all over the mall, Ben relaxed in front of the window of the latest store and watched as Willow appeared in gown after gown. This had to be big. He whipped out his disposable phone and dialed Solari. “Ok, check this out.” Ben sent a
picture of Willow in the pink gown to his boss.
“Shopping for formals, hmmm...” Several seconds passed before Steve asked, “Who is she with? Do the gowns look like a bridal party or a regular party?”
“I’m not thinking bridal. She’s still with that cop’s sister.”
“Cop… Find out if she’s going to the Policemen’s Ball.”
“Right.”
Ben disconnected and made a few calls. Once he discovered the location for the ball, he dialed the Fairbury Police Station. In an effected effeminate lisp, he said, “This is Ben from over at the Marriott. We don’t have your attendance list, and I have to send it off to the calligrapher today.”
A young officer—rookie it sounded like to Ben—immediately informed him that Chad Tesdall, Willow Finley, and Judith Crane were attending. Ben paused. “I assume that’s in addition to Chief Varney and his wife? We have them down as guests as well.”
“Yes, of course.”
Ben smiled. It was too easy. “And Ms. Crane. Will she be escorted?”
“Hey Judith, you bringin’ anybody to the ball?”
“Not on your life.”
Ben hung up smiling. The cops should know better. They really needed to work on their security issues.
“Boss?”
“What!” Solari growled.
“Confirm on the ball. She’s on the guest list as the cop’s date.”
“Get off her tail and get to the house then. Shake her up just a bit. Nothing too major. Just enough to make her doubt that kid’s guilt.”
Solari disconnected the call. He had a police commissioner to call but later. With a smile that only his wife understood and feared, Solari picked up the office landline and called home. “You’re going to need a new dress, my dear.”
Chad zipped along the highway to Rockland after dropping Willow off at the bus station. How she hadn’t considered it strange for her to ride the bus to the city when she knew he was going too astounded him. It was precisely the kind of “why” question she always asked. Still, he thanked the Lord for a momentary lapse of curiosity and prayed for a successful trip.
Past Forward- A Serial Novel: Volume 3 Page 2
