"Can I tell you something and you won't ever tell anybody else, not even Henry?" Andrew asked. "Because this is really, really private."
"Okay?"
"I think I love Rebecca," he said. "Not just as a friend. But someday when we're out of college and grown up, I want to ask her to marry me. You can't tell anybody I said that. Promise?"
"I promise," Polly responded, doing her best to keep her eyes on the road.
"That's why it hurt. She doesn't love me back."
Polly reached out and put her hand on his knee and gave it a squeeze. "Thanks for telling me. Now will you listen while I say a few things?"
"Yeah. You're going to tell me I'm too young and that I don't know what the future will be and yada, yada, yada."
"Well, that's true, too," Polly said with a chuckle. "And that whole too young thing is a big deal."
"I knew it."
"Andrew, you're too young to take this all so seriously. Let it be what it's going to be. Enjoy your time with your friends and with Rebecca. If you want to dance with her at the dance, do it. But I can promise you that if you try to make her all yours right now, she will run away from you."
"Why? We've been friends for ever and I was there for all of her stuff."
"I know. But Rebecca has just been through a horrible loss. She spent the last couple of years not knowing what was happening next. Every morning when she woke up, she knew without a doubt that it was one day closer to her losing her mother. That was on her mind all the time, even if she didn't say anything. As much as she misses Sarah, now she's looking forward without fear. She wants to do everything. She doesn't have to worry about rushing home because she might miss precious moments with her mother. You have to let her live."
"But I could die at any minute, too," he protested weakly.
"Andrew," Polly scolded.
"Well, I could," he said under his breath.
"Is that the tack you want to take with me right now?"
"No," he said sheepishly. "Sorry."
"Give her some rope. Be her friend, but don't strangle her with your friendship. Be the person she trusts. Be there when she needs you. You can do that, right?"
"I have been," he said, still grumpy.
"Yes you have. You've been a great friend. Don't stop now just because of one stupid dance."
"You're not very fun," he said.
"Why's that?"
"Jason complains about it too."
"Jason complains about me?" Polly was stymied.
"He says you always make sense, even when it makes him mad."
"Oh," she said with a laugh. "I can live with that."
Polly pulled into the parking lot at Hickory Park. "Are you ready for barbecue?"
"I guess."
"Are you planning to sulk all the way through the meal?"
"Maybe just until they bring us our drinks?" He looked up at her and grinned.
"Okay. I'll let you have that." She got out of the truck and saw her phone on the console. She was tempted to leave it in the truck, but knew that would just be asking for trouble. She reached back in, snagged it, and jammed it down in her back pocket.
Andrew looked at everything as they walked up to the front door. "This place is huge," he said. "There's a lot of cars here."
"Yes there are," Polly said, wanting desperately to correct his grammar. She chose to let it go. "Let's hope there's room inside for us to sit down."
The host at the front of the restaurant told them there would be a short wait.
"Rats," Polly said as they moved away to make room for others. "That was stupid of me."
"What?" Andrew asked.
"College kids are coming back to school this weekend. Every kid and their family is in town."
"Cool," he replied.
As she leaned against the wall, she thought she heard a familiar laugh. "He did not," she said quietly. She looked at the host and asked, "I think I hear someone I know. Can I just go in and look?"
He smiled and waved her ahead. Polly walked around a corner and saw Henry and Nate sitting at a table. "What are you two doing here?" she demanded.
Henry stood up and guilt flooded his face. "Well, uh, I figured that if I was ever going to eat here, it would have to be with someone else and we're just coming back from a run to Ankeny for parts and there it was just off the highway and we were hungry and thought it was a good idea and..."
She put her hand up. "You need to stop while you're ahead. If you want to redeem yourself, you'll ask us join you."
"We've already placed our order," he said.
"It's okay. We'll read the menus fast and place our order as soon as the waiter arrives. Right, Andrew?"
Andrew looked back and forth between them and then nodded. "I'll read fast."
Henry pulled the chair out beside him for Polly and Andrew slid in beside Nate. The waiter walked past, stopped and looked at them, perplexed.
"We're adding two more," Henry said.
The young man smiled, took their drink orders and walked away.
"Just about the time he thought his day wouldn't toss any curveballs at him," Nate said.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Polly asked them.
Nate shook his head. "The guy thought he might have some brake parts in his warehouse, but nothing. It was fun to dig through his junk, but frustrating all the same."
"Have you heard from Joss?" she asked.
"They got on the road earlier than she expected." He looked at his watch. "They should almost be there."
The waiter stopped back with drinks and took Polly and Andrew's order. Andrew, true to his word, had scanned through the menu quickly and made a decision.
"This is fun," Polly said. "I can't believe we found you here. The host said it was just a short wait, but there were a lot of people ahead of us."
"Move-in weekend," Henry said.
"That's what Polly said," Andrew exclaimed. "If I go to college here, will I have to live with Mom in Bellingwood, or do you think she'll let me live in a dormitory?"
"You want to live in a dorm," Nate said. "That's where all the fun is. You meet great girls and there are parties and you make friends."
"And you still have to study," Polly interjected.
"Exactly," Nate said, nodding furiously. "You study all the time, in fact."
Henry leaned forward. "Especially if you are going to keep that full-ride scholarship you'll have for being so danged smart. Right?"
"Right," Andrew said. "Girls?" He turned to Nate.
"Lots of great girls. They're everywhere. I met Joss in college."
"How about you, Henry?" Andrew started. Then he looked at Polly. "Oh, I guess not."
The waiter came back and put plates down in front of Nate and Henry, then glanced at Polly. "Yours are coming right out. It should only be a minute."
She nodded. "Thanks."
Henry handed her a French fry. "Want one?"
"You're my hero," she said. Her phone buzzed in her back pocket and she groaned.
"What?" he asked.
Polly reached into her pocket and pulled out the phone. Jeff was calling her. "It's like he knows," she said. She glanced at the diners and scooted her chair back. "I'm going to take this. He knows I'm out adventuring with Andrew." She swiped the call open as she walked back to the foyer of the restaurant.
"Hey Jeff, what's up?" she asked.
"Where are you?"
"I'm not telling. It's better if you don't know," she responded. "Is something wrong?"
"Well, not necessarily wrong, but I need you."
She chuckled. "Of course you do. What's going on?"
Yelling in the background grew closer and Jeff whispered loudly. "Just come back. And hurry."
"Jeff, what?" Polly asked.
"It's not that big of a deal, I guess. But I can't talk right now. Hurry back, will you?"
"Okay. It will take about twenty minutes. I'll leave right away."
"Thanks Polly," he said. "Sorr
y."
She stared at the phone after pulling it away from her ear. She was never coming to Hickory Park again. It was always something. Every single time.
Polly went back to their table and salivated at the plate in front of her. "I have to go," she said.
Henry looked up. "You're kidding."
"Nope. Now you can be sure of two things about me. First, if there's a dead body, I'm the one who will find it and second, if I try to eat at Hickory Park, some crisis will occur."
"What's going on?" Andrew asked. He put his fork down on the plate and scooted out of the bench.
"No, you stay here," Polly replied and turned to Henry. "Can you two bring him back to Bellingwood? And either enjoy my meal or bring it home with you?"
Nate put his hand on Andrew's shoulder before the boy could stand up. "You'll have as much fun with us as you will with Polly. I promise."
"But my books," Andrew said.
"I'll put your backpack in Henry's truck," Polly said.
He relaxed and slid back in front of his food.
Polly leaned over to Henry. "I promised him ice cream."
"Of course you did. We'll take good care of him. Let me know what's going on."
She nodded and ran out of the restaurant to her truck. One quick stop to drop Andrew's backpack in the back seat of Henry's truck and she was on the highway heading for Bellingwood.
One of the first things she'd learned to do in the truck was how to pair her phone to the main system. She pulled up Sylvie's phone number and placed the call.
"Hello, Polly," Sylvie said. "Is everything okay with Andrew? Is he being respectful?"
"He's fine. Where are you?" Polly asked.
"In the kitchen. Why?"
"Jeff just called and told me to hurry back to Sycamore House. What's going on?"
"Oh that," Sylvie said. "Yeah. He needs you. We're in the middle of a perfect storm here right now."
"What do you mean?"
"He's got a furious bride and her mom and there's a mess going on with that boy who is moving into the addition with Mrs. Morrow. Aaron's here, the boy's mother is here. There was yelling and screaming. The bride is screaming and crying and Jeff's alone. Well, I'm here. But it's not much better in the kitchen. The oven quit working and I'm waiting for a repairman. They didn't deliver the right meat this morning and Rachel's on her way to Ames to pick up what we need. I'm sure I could tell you more if you'd like."
"What about Eliseo and Jason?" Polly asked.
"One of the donkeys is sick. Mark is here."
Polly shook her head. How could so many things have fallen apart in just a few short hours?
"I have to go," Sylvie said. "I think my repairman is here."
The call ended and Polly shuddered. She pressed down on the gas pedal, pushing it as fast as she dared. Thank goodness they were as close as Ames. She turned on the radio, hoping that music would help her tune out all of the questions swirling in her mind. But that didn't help. The last thing she wanted to do was listen to DJs hawking a new product.
Once in Bellingwood, she sped past the winery and the Inn, giving a fleeting thought to how Grey was doing today. She really liked him. He made her smile even though she was worried about him. She pulled into her driveway and parked in the garage, jumped out and ran inside to the kitchen.
Sylvie looked up. "That was fast," she said.
"I was already on my way. How are things in here?"
"There isn't much more I can do unless I move everything up to the bakery and I'm not ready to do that yet."
"You can always use my stove if you need it," Polly said.
"That's okay," Sylvie said with a laugh. "It wouldn't fit. But Emmett will have me up and running pretty soon."
The man with his head in the oven waved a free hand.
Polly patted Sylvie's shoulder. "I'm going to see how I can help Jeff. Where do you think I'll find him?"
"The screaming and flailing about moved into the office. I think he tried to hide them in the conference room. Aaron is back in the addition and today's wedding party is in the auditorium decorating."
"So. Chaos?" Polly asked as she crossed the threshold of the kitchen into the main foyer.
"Pretty standard," Sylvie called behind her.
Jeff and Sylvie were good at keeping things moving without falling apart, so even though Sylvie tried to make a joke of it, chaos was not the usual order of the day at Sycamore House. She walked into the office and didn't see Jeff anywhere, so knocked on the conference room door and opened it. Two women - a young bride and her mother were seated at the table, the bride sobbing with her head down in her arms. The older woman's face was furious, her arms crossed in front of her.
She looked up at Polly and snapped, "Who the hell are you? Do you want to make this situation even worse?"
Polly shook her head, backed up and shut the door. That situation wasn't going to be fixed in a jiffy.
"Yeah, she's pissed," Jeff said, coming into the main office.
"What happened?"
"I'm still trying to figure that out, but the girl is getting married in two weeks and while they say that they scheduled things with us, I can't find any information to verify that."
"Did we miss something?"
"I can't tell. There aren't any emails and I don't have a signed contract. There's a beginning of a contract in Stephanie's pending file, but nothing was ever completed. I haven't met either of these people and when I asked Sylvie if she'd talked to them about catering, she drew a blank."
"What are you going to do with the crazy people?" Polly asked. "I assume they don't care whether or not you get to the bottom of whose fault it is they aren't on the schedule, they just need a location for the reception."
Jeff took a deep breath and let his shoulders fall back into place. "You know what? You're right. They just need me to fix this for them. I'll call J. J. over at Secret Woods. They're still trying to expand their wedding receptions."
"How big is the reception?" Polly asked.
"It isn't even that big," Jeff said, rolling his eyes. "You'd think it was six hundred people the way they're carrying on. But the numbers on the contract show fifty."
"The coffee shop is another possibility. Think about how fun that could be. A coffee bar and jazz on the stage."
More of his body relaxed. "Thanks. I've got this. I'll help them fix it and none of us have to search for blame."
"That might be most of the mother's anger," Polly said. "If she knows her daughter hasn't been dealing with the details, she is probably out-of-control furious."
"Thanks."
"Have you talked to Eliseo?" Polly asked.
"The donkey? Jason came up when Sylvie freaked out in the kitchen. He didn't want to tell her that Eliseo couldn't run up and take care of her stove, but Mark had just gotten to the barn."
"She freaked out?"
Jeff nodded. "It was ugly. Seriously Polly, when I called you, I felt like I was on a firing range. Everything fell apart at the same time and I didn't know where to start, so I stepped into your office, shut the door and made the call."
"I'm glad you did. Okay, the Sutworth's?"
"There's something bad happening over there." Jeff visibly sagged. "I didn't want to get involved in it, but Leslie was crying, Evelyn tried to keep them all calm, the Sheriff wanted to speak with the boy. It's something to do with Julie Smith's death."
"What?" Polly asked. "How are they connected?"
"I have no idea. I had my own crises to manage."
She glanced toward the side door.
"You're going to get involved, aren't you?" he said with a sly grin.
"Would I be the Polly Giller you know and love if I didn't?"
"That's my girl. Thanks for coming back."
"I haven't done anything yet."
"But you came. That was all I needed to know."
"I'll always come," she said.
"By the way, what were you doing?"
As soon as she t
hought about it, her stomach growled. "Believe it or not, ordering lunch at Hickory Park. It's the last time I ever even try. I'll do takeout, but I can't risk our sanity."
He laughed. "I can always count on you."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Run away,” Polly muttered to herself when she opened the door to the addition. Loud wailing coming from the room Evelyn Morrow would use announced the fact that Denis Sutworth had moved in. His mother was letting everyone know that she was present. Polly quietly tapped on the door, hoping no one would hear her.
But the door opened immediately and Aaron Merritt looked at Polly, frustration evident on his face.
"Polly," he said, taking her arm. "Please come in."
"Miss Giller," Leslie Sutworth wailed. "Will it never end? How much more should Denis have to suffer?"
Polly held her finger up to the woman and silence fell. She turned to Aaron. "Where's Evelyn?"
He tilted his head to the other room. "She's in with the EMTs getting Denis settled."
"And why are you here?" Polly asked.
"He has questions about that girl's death," Leslie cried. Her voice went up and down the pitch register. In just a few moments, Polly's nerves were on edge. She couldn't imagine what Aaron was feeling. Leslie went on. "Denis was in the hospital fighting for his life when she was killed. How could he think that my poor boy would be involved in something so awful? Denis wouldn't kill someone."
Polly put her hand back up, silencing the woman once again. "How is Denis connected to Julie Smith?" she asked Aaron.
"That's why I want to speak with him. This morning Stu discovered the two had been dating..."
"But that was over," Leslie wailed. "They broke up. It nearly destroyed him. That was probably why he went off his medication. He has been so distraught. But you can't think that he had anything to do with her death. You just can't. I've spent all my free time with him. He can't walk, much less drive. This is the worst thing that could happen today, when everything is supposed to be so joyful. My boy is out of the hospital..."
"Please stop talking, Mrs. Sutworth," Polly said, interrupting what promised to be an unending flow of words from the woman's mouth.
"But..." Leslie whined.
"No. You aren't helping." Polly stopped before she said anything more. Words like 'incessant whining' and 'helicopter parenting' were swirling around, but she didn't think that she needed to escalate the situation any more than it had been.
Look Always Forward (Bellingwood Book 11) Page 14
