Small Town Angel

by K'Anne Meinel

  “I am so sorry Amy, I had no idea this panel existed and I should have, but I’ll have the children pay for any damages.”

  Amy shrugged. “There is no damage, but we better make sure that we seal that so that we have no more surprise visits.”

  Abby nodded as she turned to the two children who hung their heads. “You know better than to go onto other people’s property. What do you have to say for yourselves?” she said in a steely voice.

  “Sorry,” both of the children said as they looked down at their shoes.

  Amy tried not to laugh but the twitching in her mouth belied that. Fortunately neither of the children saw it.

  “Come on you two, out, through the front door!” Abby roared as Bailey made a gesture like he was going back through the panel. Both children turned from the cramped store room and headed out into the main store. “I’m really sorry Amy, I had no idea that either of them were doing this. Bonnie was supposed to be watching them while I was at work.”

  “No harm no foul, at least we didn’t have to get the police involved,” Amy said cheerfully and was startled at the odd look that Abby gave her.

  “Yes, that,” she said in return as she ushered the two children out. “They will be punished I assure you,” she said as she closed the front door that had been changed from the old single door to a double French door look.

  Amy hoped that Abby wouldn’t be too harsh on the children. The puppy returned and she realized Toby had run when Abby raised her voice, she wondered where he had gotten to and then she shrugged. She looked around and found a sheet of laminate she knew was extra and wouldn’t be missed and she propped it up against the wall in the storage room and pushed the boxes stored there against it so the children couldn’t get back in. It was a temporary fix but for now it would work.

  * * * * *

  With all the training and traveling she had to do to find things for the store the rest of fall passed quite quickly. Winter didn’t catch her unprepared though. The frequent trips to the bigger towns and then the city meant that she could stock up and she took advantage of it to buy flats of canned vegetables which she placed in her basement. She had managed to assemble some plastic shelves down there, she had chosen plastic because basements were frequently damp and she didn’t want them to rust. This gave her plenty of space to stack her supplies. Toby yapped at the scurrying’s now that he was older and she wondered if she had rodents moving in for winter.

  She saw Abby from time to time as she went to and from the store as the work progressed. Terry had expressed his delight in having work this late in the season as snow plowing was another of the many jobs the contractor did to help make ends meet. By having her remodel to do he and his crew had an unexpected bonus of work before Christmas. He assured her that he and his crew would be done right after New Year’s and that would allow her ample time to open for the spring rush of tourists who came up to use the snowmobile trails and go ice fishing or cross-country skiing. To Amy that sounded so far off.

  Amy discovered that Wisconsinites had a wonderful tradition of Friday night fish fry’s and she soon found herself welcomed as a ‘regular’ at Chuckies as she sampled cod, haddock, trout, and other fish that was deep fried and served hot. She found herself making friends and was delighted when they allowed her to bring Toby in as the season turned colder. He learned to make himself as small as he could and to hide under her chair to avoid anyone treading on his paws or tail. He wasn’t an only dog to this ‘family’ affair and soon made friends with other townies who brought their pets to this socialization. Amy loved it as she got to know her neighbors and they tried to get to know her. The southerner was notoriously quiet about her own history though. The rumor was that she was a widow and had moved far away from her past, but no one knew that much about her. They knew about the cabin and the store, but other than that her past was a blank. Amy deliberately avoided personal questions and adroitly changed the subject whenever anyone asked questions she didn’t care to answer.

  “Why is that cruiser always parked in Abby’s driveway?” she asked after being there for a couple of months. The work on the store was slowing down for Christmas and their first light snowfall had fallen. She was talking to a few friends she had made at Chuckies as she sipped a beer and waited on her beer battered fish.

  “You don’t know?” Kerry asked in surprise.

  Amy shook her head wondering what she had missed. The cruiser looked like a cop car but she had never seen lights on it, it just gave her a bad vibe every time she saw it. That Abby drove an identical car to it hadn’t occurred to her. Maybe Abby’s husband was a cop?

  Just then Abby came into the bar with her children and mother-in-law, Bonnie. People greeted her as they did in a small community where everyone knew everyone else. Even some of the out-of-towners, the tourists, some of whom had been coming to this community for years were frequently greeted like this. It made Amy feel she belonged here as she watched the family welcomed. They were soon seated at a booth and the server took their order as Abby came up to the bar and greeted some of the patrons.

  “Not working tonight Abby?” Kerry asked her with a grin remembering the question Amy had asked her a few minutes before.

  “No, not tonight Kerry.” She looked up at the bartender. “Two rootbeers, two drafts please,” she called and he nodded to show he had heard her.

  “No patrol?” Kerry persisted with a grin and looked at Amy who was wondering what her friend was talking about.

  “No, no patrol, not tonight,” she answered and frowned at the grin. She saw Amy sitting there with some of the regulars and smiled. “Hi Amy, here for the fish fry?”

  “Yes thank you, it’s one of the best.”

  “Yes it is, Chuckies recipe must have been in his grandmother’s grandmother’s family, we always came here,” she chuckled at her own joke.

  “Abby, Amy was just asking about you,” Kerry teased.

  Abby glanced at Kerry before looking at Amy again inquiringly. “You were? What’d you want to know?” she asked.

  Amy felt put on the spot and glared at Kerry who was grinning unrepentedly. “She wanted to know why there is always a patrol car in your driveway.” She laughed.

  Amy looked apologetically at Abby for having asked about her like that. She tried to explain; “I thought perhaps your husband drove it…” she began but stopped when Kerry spewed the beer she had just taken a drink of. She turned in alarm as the spray hit her arm and leg. “Kerry! What in the world?”

  Abby called to the bartender, “Bar rag!” and was thrown one which she adroitly caught and handed to Amy who delicately blotted at her arm and leg cleaning up the sprayed beer. “No, it is not my husband’s,” she spat the last word. Amy looked up to see some sort of defiance in the brunette’s eyes as she continued, “I’m the local police and I need the patrol car for work,” she explained.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize,” Amy sputtered, stiffening at the information. Only Abby realized it as she watched the pretty redhead turn red in the face.

  “Furthermore, I never had a husband,” she spat out that word again as she watched the redhead closely. Almost challengingly.

  “I’m sorry, you introduced Bonnie as your mother-in-law?” she asked, now thoroughly confused and wondering how she had made such a mistake.

  Abby nodded and continued, “Bonnie is my mother-in-law, she was my wife’s mother.” She watched as Amy became aware of what she was saying…exactly.

  Amy’s green eyes opened wide at the information of what Abby was implying. She tried to hide her shock, but had been unsuccessful. Kerry was laughing openly now. Amy flushed in embarrassment over the mistake she had made and the assumptions. No wonder the children didn’t look any bit like this brunette. She had assumed that they took after Abby’s husband and now realized the enormity of her mistake.

  Abby smiled suddenly as she watched Amy squirm. “It’s okay, not everyone gets that around here either.” She gathered the four mugs
the bartender had put down and headed back to her table. She only threw one regretful glance at Amy before she sat down with her family.

  “That was probably one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time,” Kerry wheezed.

  Amy looked at her friend and wondered how she hadn’t seen how mean Kerry could be. That was really an awkward situation and she hadn’t made it any easier. Not only Amy had been embarrassed, but so had Abby. She had never suspected that the woman was a cop or that she was a lesbian. She felt very bad at how that had made her feel, much less how Abby must feel explaining it to her.

  “Bob, could I get that order to go?” she asked the bartender who nodded.

  “Go, you have to go?” Kerry asked in alarm. She hadn’t enjoyed herself more in a long time.

  “Yes, I remembered some research I needed to do for the store. I have to get home to my computer and catalogs,” Abby said to her in her pearliest southern tones. She had been raised to be a lady; she wouldn’t strike out at this rude woman who had laughed at her expense.

  “Can’t that wait, it’s Friday night, and you have the whole weekend?” Kerry tried to be reasonable but Amy wouldn’t be turned from her plans and she took her fish fry home with her.

  Amy was shaking when she got home. She felt somehow betrayed as she thought over the evening and her new found friends. She felt like Abby had lied by omission, but at the same time she had never actually asked what she did for a living. It felt…odd. She had gone into a land-contract with the local police officer and didn’t even know it. The fact that Abby was also a lesbian didn’t even faze her. It was the fact that she was a cop that had her reeling.

  She heated up her now cold fish fry in the new microwave oven she had installed in the kitchen and ate a lonely dinner for one with Toby trying hard not to beg. She looked over at him and asked, “You aren’t begging are you Toby?” and then nearly laughed as he looked determinedly away. He was so smart and such a great companion that she had loved their months together as she taught and trained him to be the perfect roommate. His early chewing’s had ruined more than one pair of shoes and other things, but she kept him well supplied with many things that he could use his puppy teeth on and he learned to behave.

  Going to bed that night she heard the rustlings that meant she had some housemates she didn’t desire and she wondered about getting a cat. Then she wondered if she was taking on too much with the cabin, the store, and starting this new life. If she left tomorrow, packed up her SUV and the dog and left, she would lose so much. Not just the material things but the friends she has made. She had already crossed Kerry off her ever growing list of friends.

  She cried into her pillow that night and Toby tried once again to get on the four poster bed and comfort her. It was her concern over the dog, or so she told herself, that slowly quieted her tears.

  * * * * *

  The village was picturesque as the town got together and decorated. They put up large oversized candy canes and strung lights. Tourists still came despite the cold that took ones breath away. Amy bought herself a snowsuit and the jacket was worn all winter long as she went out to her training and stopped in at the store for deliveries, for progress reports and to gaze about at the store that was coming together. Terry and his men really took pride in their work and had really understood the concept of what Amy wanted to put together and had more than surpassed it.

  Amy didn’t do it on purpose but she managed to avoid Abby as Christmas approached. She bought her fur kid a surplus of toys which he ripped open gleefully from under the tree she had purchased and put up. His tail knocked more than one ornament off the tree she had decorated. He seemed to know that most of the presents under the tree were for him and when she allowed him to ‘open’ them on Christmas Eve he tore into them like any child would. It wasn’t until each one of them had been opened and the few she had bought for herself and opened, that he went back to the toys and sat down with them to gnaw and play with them. Amy carefully gathered up the torn packages and wrapping paper and put it into the fireplace where it flared up as she sat on her couch drinking a local red wine and gazed at the little tree and remembered past Christmases. She had baked some cookies and taken them to Terry and his men in gaily wrapped little packages. She left a small hamper on Lenora’s doorstep with a card and a larger one on Abby’s. She had more cookies than she could possibly eat as she gazed around her cozy little cabin and watched the snow fall outside with only the lights of the Christmas tree on. She must have dozed off because suddenly Toby was barking and someone was knocking on her front door.

  “Hello?” she called as she went to open the sturdy door. She had replaced the screen door with a weather door so she had a second door to open but she could see through this one and saw to her astonishment a bundled up Abby, Heather, and an obviously reluctant Bailey standing on her porch. “Come in, come in,” she said as she opened the doors.

  “Merry Christmas,” she heard both Abby and Heather murmur through their wraps as they came in. Bailey didn’t say a word as he came in and she closed the doors behind him.

  “Merry Christmas, why this is a surprise,” she said as she began to help Heather off with her wraps and watched as Bailey and Abby began to take off theirs.

  “I hope you don’t mind, I knew you would be alone this Christmas and Heather thought we should bring you a present.”

  “You did?” she said surprised as she took the last of Heather’s wraps away from the child and hung them over the end of the couch.

  Heather nodded as she held out an obviously child wrapped present to the redhead.

  “Do I have to wait until Christmas day or may I open it now?” she asked the child.

  “Well I think you should open it now,” Abby said with a grin as she removed the last of her outdoor clothes and plopped them over her daughters on the couch where Amy had laid them. Bailey followed suit. He also sat on the couch and petted the eager puppy who was greeting him effusively, trying to bring him one his new toys but turning away teasingly when Bailey reached for it.

  Amy smiled at Abby and looked down at the little girl waiting for an answer from her. “I think you should open it now,” she said shyly.

  Amy opened it and found a picture of the store; it must have been from the 1800’s as it was in black and white and looked so old. She gazed at it a moment before she beamed down at the child and said, “Why this is wonderful, where in the world did you find it?” she asked excitedly.

  “We were going through old trunks of my grandparents and came across the pictures, there are others, but that’s the best,” Abby explained.

  “Why this is fantastic. I know exactly where I’m going to hang it too!” she exclaimed in delight.

  Heather smiled and it was obvious she could barely contain herself as she danced in place.

  “I wanted to thank you for the hamper, that was really sweet, and totally unnecessary,” Abby told her as she looked at the genuine enjoyment over the picture.

  “Oh that’s okay, you are most welcome, I hope you enjoyed all the little treats,” Amy smiled in response as she picked up the picture and put it over the mantel above the fireplace. She stood back to enjoy it and then put the wrappings aside to burn later when her guests were gone. It would have been rude in her mind to burn them in front of her guests.

  “I did, what little I got of them, this glutton here ate all the cookies,” Abby said affectionately as she rubbed Bailey’s hair.

  “Stop,” he protested annoyed as he tried to play with the dog. He started to blush.

  Abby laughed at him as Amy smiled at the family picture. “Well, I have more if you are interested?” She could tell her guests were interested as three heads came up in response to her question. She walked into the kitchen and flicked on a light. She went into a cupboard and removed a large plate piled high with cookies and brought out the entire plate for her guests to pick and choose.

  “Only one for you Bailey!” Abby warned in a joking manner as he reach
ed for one, but no one was fooled, she meant it.

  “So how have you been?” Amy asked as she took a seat on the matching chair to her couch set and watched the children pick over the cookies. When he thought Abby wasn’t looking Bailey snatched a second cookie.

  “Just the usual, lots of people don’t know how to drive in the snow so I go out on calls like that a lot,” Abby said as she munched around a cookie shaped like a Christmas tree. “How’s the store coming along? Since you put up the papers on all the windows no one can see in,” she teased.

  Amy laughed; she had known that doing that would engender more curiosity and that would be good for the store. “Well Terry and his crew are almost done, then it’s up to me to hire some staff and get the store in shape for its grand openin’.”

  “Do you know when that will be?” Abby asked, genuinely interested as she helped herself to another cookie.

  The children were soon playing with the delighted puppy who showed them all his new toys one by one. They rolled them across the floor and tossed them before Abby could stop them, nearly knocking the Christmas tree over. Amidst all the chaos created by children and pet the two adults managed to carry on a civil conversation as Amy told her what she had been up to.

  “That’s smart bringing all that into the store, no one had thought of doing that before. I wondered when Ben McCormick said they would be closing his office what he meant.”

  “Who is Ben McCormick?” Amy asked concerned.

  “He ran the phone store down in Egg Harbor; they must be transferring the business up to your store then.”

  “Oh no, I meant to create jobs not take his away!” Amy said troubled.

  “No, no, he was retired and was glad to hear they would be closing it, he hadn’t wanted to work there anymore for years but they didn’t listen to him, now he can truly retire,” Abby reassured her.