Teaberry Class Reunion

by R A Wallace

  “Hello, Linda,” Claire said. She was nervously twisting the strap of her purse in her hands.

  Linda took a deep breath and thought about what Hilary had said. Maybe Claire really was interested in mending broken fences.

  Linda set her menu down and motioned with her hand for Claire to take the other seat.

  “I ordered a glass of wine for Hilary, but she can’t make it. Are you interested?” Linda asked as she studied Claire.

  Claire nodded to the waitress that she would take the wine as she sat across from Linda.

  “White wine sounds nice, thanks.” Claire studied Linda in return. “You look good.”

  Linda laughed. “You’ve gotten better at fibbing in your old age.”

  Claire smiled. “No, seriously. How have you been?”

  Linda looked at the wine glass she was holding between her hands. After a moment of silence, she lifted her eyes back to Claire’s.

  “I always wondered what I would say to you if I ever had the chance,” Linda said.

  “Linda, I…”

  “No, let me, please. I want to say this.”

  Claire sat back in her seat and nodded once but dropped her eyes to her own wine glass.

  “I think you should have had better taste in men. That way, at least when I’d stolen your boyfriend, he would have been worth our friendship.”

  Claire’s eyes flew back to Linda’s. Linda was giving her a half smile. Claire looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. Then she began laughing.

  “He was a loser, wasn’t he?” Claire said.

  Linda nodded. “Big time. What were you thinking?”

  “Hey, you went after him too,” Claire pointed out.

  “I know.” Linda stopped smiling and looked at Claire. “I’m sorry. I was an idiot.”

  “Yeah, you were.” Claire frowned.

  Linda narrowed her eyes at Claire when she saw the sadness in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  Claire shook her head and reached for her wine glass. “My taste in men didn’t improve. My husband was cheating on me too.”

  “Oh, Claire. I’m so sorry,” Linda murmured.

  Claire looked at Linda. She hadn’t told anyone else about her husband cheating on her. She’d just told her mom that it hadn’t worked out. She wondered why she’d chosen Linda to confide in. Funny how all the years just seemed to melt away and they were like kids again, sharing secrets.

  “Anyway, it was time for a change and I ended up back here. How about you?” Claire asked as the waitress returned.

  Linda glanced at her menu. “We can catch up while we eat. That line out there keeps getting longer. It’s like everyone knows that most of the restaurants in town will be closed tomorrow and they want to get their fill tonight.”

  Claire smiled her agreement and picked up her own menu. Suddenly, she had an appetite.

  ***

  Tyler took his eyes from the road for a moment to glance at his sister in the passenger seat of his truck. Holly looked happy. He was glad of that but worried that the reason she was happy wouldn’t last.

  “You know you can’t keep doing this, right?”

  Holly looked over at her brother. “Mr. Douglass said he doesn’t mind.”

  “Yeah, but Holly, he’s probably just being nice. Cy Douglass isn’t going to want you showing up at his house every day after work to visit a cat.”

  “And her kittens,” Holly added.

  “Not the point,” Tyler said as he pulled into the driveway of Cy Douglass’s farm. They had just closed up the Jammin’T for the day and wouldn’t be reopening until Friday. That gave them one day off and it was a holiday. Not the best time to find another place to live.

  Tyler hadn’t wanted to stop at the Douglass farm before checking out the addresses he’d gotten from Stan Jiblonski, the real estate agent who often frequented the Jammin’T. But Holly had insisted. Five years younger than Tyler’s twenty-seven, Holly had always wanted to have pets of her own. The nomadic life they’d led with their parents as they traveled the country working food trucks had not allowed that luxury.

  Now that Tyler was acting as a surrogate parent, he had moved them to Teaberry hoping for a more normal life where they lived and worked in one place for an extended period of time. Like, forever. Holly was embracing that new-found normalcy with excitement, eager to put down roots. Ever since the homeless cat had given birth to the kittens behind the Jammin’T, Holly had been going out of her way to care for them as though they were now part of her family. That included daily trips after work to visit them now that the cats lived at the Douglass farm.

  Tyler parked the truck between the barn and the house and turned to his sister.

  “Make it quick. You can check on the cats and then we have to go.”

  Holly slid a guilty look at her brother.

  “What?” Tyler demanded.

  “I told Mr. Douglass we would check on the other animals too.”

  Tyler shook his head as he opened the door of the truck. Holly shot out of her side and quickly headed to the barn. Tyler followed her more slowly, looking around as he walked. He wasn’t as familiar with the place as Holly was. He’d just driven her today because they needed to look at places they might be able to rent together.

  Holly was already in the barn by the time Tyler reached it. He found her crouched down in a middle room with kittens climbing all over her. The mother cat was nearby, watching them closely, but didn’t seem overly upset at their presence.

  “What else do you need to do while you’re here?” Tyler asked. It looked like someone had already used a tractor to offload a large bale of hay in the field for the cows. They had a pond, so they didn’t need watered. Tyler was feeling hopeful. Maybe this wouldn’t take too long after all and they could be on their way soon. All they had to do was make sure the cats had food and water.

  Holly’s face lit up. “We get to check on the horses.”

  Tyler felt his hopes dashed. He knew that look. Holly loved horses. When they’d worked the county fairs, she’d spent all of her free time in the barns with animals. She loved all animals, but horses were her favorite.

  Tyler was trying to figure out a way to get them out of there quickly when he heard another vehicle outside. Worried that someone might think they were trespassing, he walked outside to see who it was. He found Cy Douglass getting out of his truck with a carry-out bag.

  Cy hailed Tyler. “I was hoping Holly would still be here.”

  Tyler breathed a sigh of relief. At least the old guy wasn’t mad at them.

  Cy slapped Tyler on the back when he reached him. “Is she still in the barn?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t know you had horses.”

  Cy continued walking into the barn. Tyler followed behind him. They found Holly in a stall with a horse. It looked like Holly had already fed and watered the horses and was now cleaning out one of the stalls with a pitchfork.

  “Your sister is the only person I’ve ever met that sings when she mucks out a stall,” Cy said to Tyler.

  Tyler looked down at Holly’s boots and made a face. She was going to need to clean them off before he let her back in his truck.

  Cy caught the look. “Holly, there are some old rubber boots in the house that might fit you. You could slip a pair on before you work in the stalls.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Douglass,” Holly said cheerfully.

  Tyler didn’t want to stop Holly’s fun, but they needed to get going. “Holly, we should probably head out now. Mr. Douglass needs to eat his dinner and we need to find a place to live.”

  “Oh, I have enough here to share with both of you if you’re hungry,” Cy said. He’d made sure of that when he’d placed the order. He knew Holly would be stopping by to check on the animals. “We could go in the house and you can tell me about your search for a place to live.”

  Tyler was about to politely decline the older man’s offer when Holly spoke up and agreed to share his dinner. Tyler lost all hope of getting out of t
here any time soon and followed the others to the house. He listened to Holly explaining things along the way.

  “We’ve been staying at the campground, but they close for the season in mid-December. The owners head south and don’t return until spring. We need someplace else to live before they leave.” Holly slipped out of her boots when she entered the back door of the house.

  Cy led the way to the kitchen, flipping on lights as he did.

  “You have a beautiful house, Mr. Douglass,” Holly said.

  “That’s actually what I wanted to speak with you two about.” Cy set the bags of food down and began pulling out plates and silverware.

  Holly went over to the sink and washed her hands, then returned to the table and began setting the food out.

  “About your house?” Holly asked as she worked.

  Cy sat down at the table. “Yes. As you know, I’m spending most of my time with my wife at the Swindell place now. I need someone to stay here and take care of this place.”

  Holly stopped what she was doing and stared at him. “Oh, Mr. Douglass.” Holly shook her head, her eyes opened wide. “We could never afford to live here. Your house is beautiful.”

  “Well, that’s the thing.” Cy turned to Tyler. “I need someone to run the place too. You know, take care of the animals for me so I don’t have to come over here all the time. I’m kind of getting a little old for all of this, but I’m not yet ready to give it all up. Maybe you two could help me out.”

  Cy quoted a price that Tyler knew was ridiculously below what it should be but, before he could open his mouth, Holly had already squealed in excitement and flown across the room to hug Cy Douglass.

  “We’ll take it!” Holly exclaimed. After stepping back from Cy, she turned to Tyler. He took one look at her face and knew that he couldn’t argue. For whatever reason, the man was giving them an unbelievable deal. The barn at Cy Douglass’s farm would probably offer better accommodations than whatever they might have been able to afford on their own. He couldn’t believe Cy was offering them his amazing house.

  Chapter Six

  He stood in the living room admiring the live tree as he finished his first cup of coffee. This would be his first Thanksgiving as a resident of Teaberry since he’d left for college. After working in the corporate world in Seattle for several years, he had ditched the suit and tie and returned to his home town. The house he lived in now was just a rental, but its location made it the best place in the world for Jax to live. It was conveniently located right next door to a woman that meant a lot to him. Lately, he’d been thinking that even that amount of distance between them was too much.

  Since Trina also worked with him part-time with his landscaping business, they were often together anyway. But over time they’d begun spending all of their free time together as well. It had happened without any design on his part at first. Jax would pop next door to say hi or to help Trina and her mom, Didi, with something around the house. From there he began spending more time with Trina’s two-year-old daughter, Jasmine, and eventually he was watching Jasmine when Didi or Trina couldn’t do it. They were now like a family to him. Somehow, just having them in his life meant that all was right with his world.

  Didi had an artificial tree that she put up each year for Christmas. She’d said that she didn’t want to deal with the mess of a real one. Jax had known that Trina wanted a real tree which was why he’d gotten one for his place. He’d simply wanted to make her happy. Like any new couple, they were also juggling how to handle family at a holiday. Trina had always spent the day with her mom. This year, Jax had wanted her to have dinner with his family. He’d invited Didi as well, but she’d insisted that she wanted to spend time with friends instead and that she wouldn’t miss all of the work of cooking a turkey dinner.

  To compromise, Jax had suggested that he could cook them a Thanksgiving breakfast so that they could be together in the morning. After that, they would go their separate ways. Didi could enjoy herself with her friends and Trina and Jasmine would be with Jax and his family. Hopefully, everyone would be happy. Jax took one last look at the tree he planned to decorate with Trina and Jasmine, then headed for his kitchen. If he wanted to feed anyone anytime soon, he’d better get cooking.

  ***

  Seth turned on the basement light and descended the stairs. Following Jessilyn’s directions, he turned to the left and began looking on the shelves for the large electric roaster oven. She’d told him that she’d put it in a large black garbage bag but that there were probably other things piled on top of it by now. He stood back and checked out the shelves. She wasn’t kidding. Everything was piled on top of everything. The shelving unit was way too small for what she needed.

  Shaking his head, Seth added building a new shelving unit to his to-do list. He began taking off the smaller items and setting them off to the side until he finally dug out the roaster. Putting the other items back on the shelf in precarious piles, he lifted the roaster and carried it upstairs.

  “Found it,” he said as he elbowed the basement door closed.

  Jessilyn turned from the sink. “That looks like it.”

  Seth untied the ends of the garbage bag and pulled it off before throwing it away.

  “It’s going to need washed,” he said as he placed the roaster oven on the counter.

  “Yeah, as soon as I finish putting the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher.”

  “Let me know when you’re ready to put the turkey in to cook. I’ll do the heavy lifting.” Seth reached around Jessilyn to rinse his hands.

  “Hopefully, the turkey will be big enough,” Jessilyn said with a frown.

  Seth laughed. “It will. That thing is huge.”

  “Yeah, but so is my family.” Jessilyn turned around to face Seth. “Just remember what you promised.”

  Seth laughed again. What was she worried about? “Babe, every family is dysfunctional. That’s what holidays were designed for. To remind us why we don’t live with our relatives once we get old enough to live on our own.”

  “Yes, but I don’t want mine to make you run for the hills screaming.” Jessilyn bit her lip.

  Seth wrapped his arms around her and pulled her toward him. “Are you kidding? I’m planning to video the whole event and post it online. We could have our own reality show. We’ll be famous.”

  “Oh, you!” Jessilyn couldn’t help smiling. She just hoped he would still have his sense of humor at the end of the day.

  ***

  Rhys drove slowly through the streets of Teaberry in his patrol car checking for any anomalies as he did. Most of the businesses were closed for the holiday and the streets were pretty empty of pedestrians. There was a lot of traffic, however, as people moved around visiting relatives. He hadn’t been scheduled to work but had volunteered to take the day shift so that someone else could spend the day with their family.

  Rhys didn’t have any family in Teaberry, but he was looking forward to spending his evening with Ava and Bella. Ava had promised a home-cooked turkey dinner. That was something he hadn’t had in several years. Not since before he’d gone to the service. He was getting a lot of home-cooked meals since he’d been paired with Jerry while Erica was on family leave. Working the day shift had given him a more normal schedule.

  In addition to the amazing things that Ava and Bella made for him, he was getting pretty good at cooking as well. Now that he rented the house that Dan Palmer had lived in before his marriage to Megan, Rhys took advantage of both the large kitchen and the grill on the back deck. He’d even cooked some meals for Ava and Bella.

  He turned a corner and slowed when he saw a car in front of him with the flashers on. The car was blocking the lane and would interfere with any other traffic that may come along. After following standard procedure, he exited his patrol car and approached the other vehicle. The occupants inside didn’t notice him at first, so he tapped on the driver’s side window. The elderly gentleman inside rolled his window down. He looked over at the passenge
r side and assumed the elderly woman with the driver was his wife. Both looked to be somewhere in their seventies.

  “Sir, is there a reason why you’re stopped here?” Rhys asked politely.

  The older man looked relieved to see Rhys. He kept his hands loosely on the steering wheel, but uncontrollable tremors that plagued him were obvious. “I think we have a flat tire. Front passenger side.”

  Rhys walked around the front of the car and checked it out. It was flat all right. He returned to the driver’s side.

  “Do you have a spare in the trunk?” Rhys asked.

  “Yes. I was just about to get out and change it when you came along.”

  Rhys looked at the lightweight jacket the older man was wearing. Although not a blizzard, they were getting some snow. It was that hard, frozen stuff that pelts at your face and stings when it hits. It was windy out and colder than what had been predicted.

  Rhys leaned down to see in the window better. “Can you pop the trunk from inside? I can change the tire for you.”

  The elderly woman spoke up. “Oh, that’s so nice of you.”

  Rhys smiled and walked to the rear of the car when he saw the trunk lid open. It didn’t take him long to change the tire. He reminded them to get the original one taken care of to ensure that they still had a spare and sent them on their way. Their effusive thanks kept a smile on his face for the rest of the morning.

  ***

  Tyler pulled the camper into the long driveway of the Douglass farm and parked it on the far side of the barn. Holly shot out of the truck before he had it in park. She’d been talking non-stop ever since Cy had offered to rent them the farm. He’d told them that he’d already packed his personal things and removed them from the house. He’d handed them each a set of keys after they’d signed an agreement. Although Holly had never questioned why the man had an agreement ready to be signed, Tyler was starting to suspect that the man had been planning something all along.

  Still, Tyler wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The place was awesome. Cy had toured them around the house and explained that the furniture would remain. All that Tyler and Holly would need to do was move in. He glanced over at the house, wondering where Holly had taken off to first. Looking down at the light layer of snow, he followed the tracks to the barn.