“Me? Where the hell have you been?” Jay walked up to him and grabbed Charlie’s hand. “It’s been too long, man.”
They shook hands and Jay slapped him on the shoulder. Charlie shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m actually looking you in the eye. You were always way taller than me.”
“It looks like you took your grow vitamins like a good boy.” Jay laughed and patted him on the head. “I saw Lark at the rink last weekend and she said you were back. I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop in for a little visit.”
“Rink?”
“Yeah, I own the rink now.”
“That decrepit old place? I thought you were going to be a big NHL star?” Charlie took off his gloves and leaned against the garage door rail.
“Yeah, that was the plan. I got hit really bad in the juniors and busted my knee and leg to pieces. I couldn’t pass the physical after that and put my energies elsewhere. The rink is no longer that decrepit old building. We’ve remodeled and business is pretty good. Do you have any kids that need skating lessons?”
“No, no kids.”
“Well, every Saturday night we have a broom ball match. The kids play first and then the adults get out there and tear up the ice. I expect to see you there.” Jay arched his eyebrow and
stared at Charlie.
“That sounds like fun. I’ll mark my calendar as soon as I get this place up to snuff.”
“I was a little surprised that you bought this house. Are you trying to make yourself nuts?”
Charlie looked at his old friend and laughed. He explained to Jay about his reasons for coming back and they spent about an hour getting caught up. Jay filled him in on all the local gossip about the jerks from their school days and Charlie told about his journeys across America. They agreed to get together soon for dinner and then Jay took off.
Charlie turned around and looked into the garage. One side was cleared and swept. He did find a broom. The other side had pieces of furniture that would have to go to the dump. Since he spent most of the morning in the garage and it was after two o’clock, he put off going under the house. The furnace people would blow out the air ducts on Monday and he could wait until spring to go below.
He walked up to the shed and pulled the door open. The building shook a little and he could tell there was a lot of mold.
“Charlie, are you around her somewhere?” he heard Gran’s voice call from the breezeway.
“I’m here, Gran.” He turned and moved to the back of the house.
Breaker ran to the end of the walkway and wagged his tail with wild abandon. Gran appeared and bent over the wolf, scratching his neck and back. The pup was in heaven and seemed to be smiling. He rubbed up against Gran’s legs making a strange squeaking noise.
“I saw you out front working your butt off. I didn’t realize the garage was such a mess. Was that Jay Hager I saw pull up in the Jeep?” she asked and walked up to him.
“Can’t get anything past you, can I, Gran? Yeah, I guess Lark told him I as back. It was good to get caught up with him.” He smiled. “Hey, I have a question. How many years has it been since someone lived here?” he asked.
“I guess that family left about four or five years ago. He worked over at the prison, but got laid off at some point. They stayed as long as they could, but eventually just packed up and left.”
“They left a ton of stuff behind. It’s really crazy. I have almost a complete kitchen set up. I just need to get a toaster and some glasses and silverware. Although, I haven’t gone through all the boxes, I may still find those things.” He laughed. “It’s sad to think they just left it all behind. I don’t get it.”
“Well, they had three kids. Sometimes it’s too expensive to move furniture and everything else. I remember they had a U-haul trailer. It was probably just the beds and personal stuff.” She looked around the back yard and then at the shed. “Is there more in there?” She pointed.
“I don’t know. I was just going in, when you called. Want to see if there are any more families of field mice in there?” He grinned at her.
“You bet,” she answered.
They went to the door and looked. It was dark in the shed, but Charlie had his flashlight in his pocket. He turned it on and pointed it in. It was full of gardening equipment, more hoses, a lawn mower and outdoor furniture.
“You know, when I bought this place, I thought I’d have to spend a lot of money on this kind of equipment.” He shook his head. “I think all I’ll need is bedroom furniture and a couch.”
“I saw a couch in the garage. Can’t you use it?” Gran asked and backed away from the door.
“Ah, no. There a couple of families of critters living in it and I’d have to evict them. If you pull up the cushions there’s not a much underneath except springs.” He looked at Gran and grimaced. “It smells pretty nasty, too.”
“Well, why don’t you get finished and clean up. Then bring Mr. Breaker and yourself over for dinner. I’m making meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It will be a ready in about two hours. Lark should be back from the warehouse by then.”
“Gran, you’re going to spoil me rotten. I’ll agree if you and Lark will let me take you out for dinner tomorrow?”
“I don’t see any problem with that, but I’ll have to check with Lark.”
Chapter Eleven
When Lark reached the warehouse, the packing crew was hard at work getting orders ready for mail-out on Monday. She walked up the stairs toward the offices and found her partner, Nancy Frye, sitting in her office.
“Hey, Nan. I was just down on the floor and Mac mentioned about not getting the delivery of tins for the hot chocolate mix. What’s up?” Lark asked and stood in the doorway.
“I’m not sure. I’ve been trying to reach Frank all morning, but I only get his message machine. Hopefully, he’ll call back. I checked the orders and it looks like we’re going to need two trips to the UPS on Monday. There are over 150 orders just for the hot chocolate. We need to get the tin problem sorted out today, or tomorrow at the latest.” Nancy stood up from her desk.
“I have Frank’s personal number. I’ll try that and if it doesn’t work, I’ll call Sheila. She always answers her phone. I thought you were going to take the weekend off?”
Nancy smiled at her. “I have a son that will want to go to college in a few years. I need the money.”
“Right. I’ll go make a call.” Lark turned and continued down the hall to her office.
Once she’d settled in, she looked through her Rolodex for the cell phone number she
wanted and dialed it. The line rang a couple of times and a female voice answered.
“Hey, Sheila. How are you doing? This is Lark,” she said.
“Hi there. We’re getting ready for the holidays. Frank’s mom and dad are coming down from Montana for Christmas and then my brother and his wife and kids will be here over New Years. They’re hoping to get some skiing in and I guess there’s a storm front moving in for next weekend, so there should be plenty of snow. How are you and your grandmother?”
“We’re fine. Same as you, we’re just getting ready for holidays, but without all the company. Is Frank there by any chance?”
“Yeah, I’ll get him.”
She heard the phone put down and Sheila’s voice at the end of the line started to shout for her husband. Lark laughed. Frank must have forgotten she was one of Sheila’s bridesmaids at their wedding and they were friends since high school.
The phone picked up. “Hi, Lark.”
“Hey Frank. I won’t keep you on the phone long, but what’s up with the tins? Can we expect them to arrive soon? We’ve got a lot of cocoa orders,” she asked.
Lark heard a brief silence on the line and Frank cleared his throat.
“I’m not sure. Listen, I was ov
er at the BPO lodge the other night having a beer and there’s a rumor going around that Mile High is either getting bought out or closed down,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what to think. I called Frank Sebastian up in Denver and he said he’d heard the same thing. He said he was holding back stock for now.”
“Who did you hear the rumor from?”
“A couple of different people were talking about it. One of them works at the savings and loan. What’s going on, Lark?”
“As far as I know, Frank, we’re not going anywhere. There’s nothing in the pipes except getting orders out and believe me, there are a lot for the hot chocolate. Can you please deliver the tins either today or tomorrow? If we don’t get the orders filled by the end of the week, they won’t arrive in time for Christmas and my customers will be very unhappy.”
“Sure, I’ll get them over there tomorrow afternoon. Lark, please, don’t keep us in the dark. If I’m going to lose your business, it will hurt,” he said.
“I assure you Frank, there is no problem and if something comes up, my suppliers will be the first to know. Thanks for the information. I’ll talk to you soon.” Lark hung up her phone and stood.
She walked down the hall to Nancy’s office. Her partner looked up at her and Lark explained what she’d just heard.
“I guess that explains why the suppliers up in Denver were holding back. I wonder where that rumor got started. We’re doing great for the year and are totally in the black,” Nancy said and leaned back in her chair.
“Frank will have the tins here tomorrow. I’ll call Mike Strom at the bank on Monday and see if he’s heard anything. This is really weird though. I can’t figure it out.”
Lark did some work in her office for a couple of hours and then went down onto the floor to help box orders. She spent a few more hours down there and then called it a day and headed home.
When she walked into the house, she smelled Gran’s meatloaf cooking in the oven. It was one of her favorite meals and her mouth started to water.
“Hey, Gran, I’m home,” she said and took her boots off at the door. She found her
grandmother in the living room watching the weather report. “What’s Mr. Weatherman reporting?”
“There’s a storm front that’s going to be moving in during the week. The worst of it should hit on Saturday or Sunday. They’re calling for eight to ten inches of snow and it’s supposed to get really windy. They’re saying possible blizzard conditions. I hope it holds off until Sunday. I’m supposed to make a lot of pies for the dance on Saturday and already have most of what I need.” She looked up at Lark. “If it hits on Saturday, we could be eating pies until Valentine’s Day.”
Lark smiled at her. “I could handle that. Your pies every day until February, sounds like heaven to me.” She looked at the Christmas tree and saw her grandmother was busy with the scissors and tape. “Oh, damn, Gran, you’ve been wrapping. I haven’t even had a chance to think about Christmas shopping,” she whined and went to the tree. “We are going to put up our stockings for Santa this year, right.” She turned and looked at Gran with a goofy grin on her face.
“Lark, you’re silly,” Gran said and stood up. “Charlie’s coming over for dinner again tonight and he wants to take us out tomorrow night. You’re not doing anything, are you?”
She could see by the way her grandmother looked at her that they were going out for dinner tomorrow night. When Gran wanted something, it didn’t take much to get Lark to agree and Gran did like to get out of the kitchen every now and then. “I think that sounds just fine, Gran.”
Chapter Twelve
Lark was in bed reading. She felt tired, but her brain was going in fifteen different directions. She tried to piece together this rumor business and couldn’t make heads or tails of it. She couldn’t figure out who would have started the rumor and why. She thought about Charlie and his wonderful, warm lips and then tried to not think about him, but it was difficult. She thought about Thomas and found she really didn’t want to think about him. She realized she’d read the same page for an hour and put the book on her night stand and turned off the lamp.
She scrunched down into the covers and looked up at the ceiling. Gran’s dinner tonight tasted so good. She thought about going downstairs and having another slice of meatloaf, but decided she felt too comfortable in her bed. Gran was the best cook and always prepared something tasty. She could even make Brussels sprouts taste good.
Charlie was very charming during dinner and scored all kinds of points with Gran. Lark smiled to herself. He’d volunteered to help wash the dishes after they ate and looked great with a kitchen towel tucked into the top of his pants. After he’d gone home, she’d heard Gran rearrange the plates and silverware in the dishwasher. Lark asked her what she was doing.
“Okay, so I’m a control freak about my dishwasher. If it’s organized properly, the dishes wash better, and if you put the spoons with spoons and forks with forks in the silverware tray it’s quicker to get them put away.” Gran smiled at her and laughed. “So I’m overly-efficient with my dishes. Does that make me weird?” Lark laughed about that one and told Gran no she wasn’t weird.
She thought about Charlie again and smiled. He’d asked her if she could run him out to Bicken’s ranch tomorrow. He wanted to get reacquainted with his horse, Fox. He said he’d pay her back for the years she’d paid to have the horse boarded, but she wouldn’t accept anything monetarily from him. Fox become one of her friends over the years and she went out to the ranch as often as she could to ride him up into the mountains. He was sure-footed and a very smooth ride. Lark always felt that horse possessed a gentle soul and she loved him more than anything.
Charlie also asked if it would be possible to go into town to the furniture store. He wanted to find a couch and some bedroom furniture. Gran mentioned that Lark’s old set was stored in the garage and he was welcome to it.
Charlie frowned. “Do you mean all that white furniture and the bed with the pink canopy?”
Gran smirked at him and rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to use the posts. You’d have a double bed frame and all you’d need to get is a mattress and box spring. And as far as the white night stand and chest of drawers goes, you could refinish those and I wouldn’t be unhappy. They’ve been sitting in the garage for years. Would you mind if he repainted them Lark?”
No, she wouldn’t mind if he refinished it. After she’d graduated from college she’d bought a new bedroom set in blonde wood and never wanted a pink canopy again. If Lark took him into town, it would be a good time to start her Christmas shopping.
There was a light tap coming from somewhere in the room and it took her a second to realize the sound came from her window. She sat up and looked. Charlie was on the outside
tapping and waving. He wore a huge grin on his face.
Lark got out of bed and went to the window. She unlocked it and slid the window up. When they were kids, Charlie spent millions of nights with her. They’d have sleep overs all the time and it kept him safe from his father’s rage. When they’d turned fourteen or fifteen, Gran got a little weird about him staying in Lark’s room. She put the foldout couch together for him and insisted he sleep in the living room. Gran never explained why and Lark couldn’t figure it out until now when she was older. She didn’t want them to get physical at such an early age and Lark appreciated the sentiment now.
“Charlie, what are you doing? Are you crazy?” she whispered.
He climbed in through the window, peeled off his coat and boots and crawled into her bed.
“What are you doing?” she asked and closed the window.
“I’m free..zing.” He shook under the comforter. “The fire went out dur..ing dinner and the wood I..I..I brought in is wet and won’t light. The house is a freezer,” he said and his teeth chattered. “We...we used to do this all the time when we we
re kids. I couldn’t think of anyplace warmer.”
“You could have broken your neck out on the roof.”
“Naw, it was like riding a bike.” He shook again and pulled the over tighter around his neck. “The cinder block wall is still goo...good, but there was a little ice on the roof. I slipped a couple of times, but made it okay.” He looked at her. “Please, get in here and warm me up.”
She walked to the other side of the bed and started to get under the comforter. “Where’s Break....oh, my Lord, you’re an ice cube tray. I can feel your feet through your socks and mine.” She snuggled close to him and let him wrap himself around her. “Why didn’t you get in your truck?”
“I thought about that, but by the time the thing warmed up, the neighbors would have complained to the police about the noise. To keep it warm, I’d have to leave the engine running. I didn’t want to wake everyone up.”
“Where’s Breaker?”
“I left him outside. He does well in cold weather with his fur coat.” He shivered. “God, you feel good.”
His face was pressed up against her chest and her arms held onto his back. “This really brings back memories.”
“Yeah, all those times I slept over here...you saved me, you know?”
“Charlie, come on.”
“No, you did.” He propped himself up on his elbow and took her hand. “Those nights when my dad was drunk, it really helped to know there was a safe place I could go. You and Gran never turned me away. I have so much to thank you for; I don’t know how to get started.” He kissed her hand and scrunched back down under the comforter.
“Well, you saved me, too. Back in our school days, when that bitch Sally Hoskins and her buds made fun of my name and called me Meadow Lark, you kept me grounded. I was never much of a fighter, but I really wanted to beat her up.” She put her hand in his hair and snuggled closer.
Love's Embers (Canon City Series) Page 8
