“I just met your friend Jack,” she said with widened eyes and an inclination of her head toward the end of the porch. “Nice! You really stepped in it. This is totally different than your life in Jersey.”
“Well yeah, that’s another long story.” She laughed.” We’ll have plenty of time to talk tonight after things calm down. If you want to get your stuff, you can put it in the bedroom at the top of the stairs on the right. No, wait a minute.” Vicky looked over the crowd on the lawn until she spotted the person she was looking for. “John, hey, John Van Wart,” she called.
He heard her and left the pretty girl he was conversing with, eased away from his Mustang, and came trotting up to the porch.
“John, this is my friend Marsha Chandler. She’s staying with me for the weekend. Could you give her a hand with her stuff? I think her car is right behind yours.”
Van Wart’s eyes made a lightning quick appraisal of the extremely attractive woman next to Vicky. Her hair was long, the color of honey and her eyes were large and bright blue, her complexion a summery peaches and cream. She wore a light blue dress, which made the most of her full breasts and shapely legs.
“I would be honored and pleased beyond measure to be of assistance Vicky. Consider it done. Marsha, come and show me what you need carried in, and welcome to the Grove. Beautiful day isn’t it?”
Marsha followed him down the steps with brows raised in a quizzical look over her shoulder. Vicky just grinned. In a minute, John came trotting back, gaily whistling some unidentifiable tune. He carried a small suitcase and overnight bag on one shoulder. Marsha followed behind with her purse and laptop bag, threading her way through the crowd on the lawn.
As she passed by Vicky again, she murmured, “Some sleepy little town. Is this everyone in town or what?” Laughing she called out, “We’ll talk. Right now I’m going to get this stuff upstairs, then relax with one of those blueberry muffins and coffee.”
* * *
Vicky took the sizzling pan from the oven, while Marsha looked on, inhaling the fragrance of roasting meat and herbs. “What is that Vick? It smells incredible.”
“One of Grandma Buonadies favorite one dish suppers. It’s usually just called ‘Chicken, Sausage, and Potatoes’, but it also contains a bunch of onions, garlic, olive oil, and a generous sprinkling of basil, parsley and oregano. It’s really one of the easiest things to put together. I love this, but be warned, it’s not exactly low calorie.”
“I didn’t come up here to go on a diet, Vic. I’m going to open a bottle of the wine I brought. Red with that, or do you want white?”
“Either one. You choose. It’s chicken, but then again it’s robust peasant food and the red would be fine.”
“Red it is,” said Marsha and went to work with the corkscrew.
A gentle rapping sounded at the porch door. “Is that you Jack?” called Vicky.
“Yup, got a minute?”
“Come on in. Marsha and I are about to have some dinner.”
Opening the door, he inhaled deeply. “That smells great. I’m on my way into town to meet Van Wart for a beer at Paulding’s. Just wanted to know if you need anything at the Henry Hudson, or anywhere else?”
“Thanks, but I don’t think so Jack. You had a pretty successful morning. It looked like most everything was scooped up.”
“I appreciate all your help, the muffins and everything. It’s a good thing we decided to take Sundays off. The gardens are about tapped out for a day or two. Might get some rain tonight, which will be good for the squash and cucumbers.” He leaned in, looking at the bubbling pan of meat and potatoes, emanating herbal goodness. “You think there might be a little of this leftover tomorrow?”
Vicky smiled. “Marsha and I can’t eat all this. It’s an Italian thing, you know. You have to have enough food on hand for three times the number of people eating, at a minimum.” I’ll save you some.”
“Great. I’ve got to run. Marsha, nice meeting you again. Probably see you tomorrow.” He was out the door and in a minute, they heard his truck rumbling down the drive.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! Vicky, Sweetheart! That is one good-looking hunk. Did you check out his ass in those jeans as he walked out of here?”
Looking demurely at her friend, she said, “I admit I may have checked out the ass and the rest of him too.” She set two plates of food and a marinated green bean salad on the table.
“Not only is he a hunk, but he seems like a very nice guy. Are you sure, there’s nothing between you two. All that chit chat about needing anything from the store, and the weather, you sounded like an old married couple.”
She eyed Marsha for a moment. “No, no there’s nothing between us. We’re friendly to one another...most of the time we’re friendly. We get along okay.”
Marsha speared a piece of potato and a bite of sausage and chewed thoughtfully, took another bite, then sipped the wine. “Mmmm, Vick. Oh my god, this is delicious. You’re absolutely a magician in the kitchen. I can’t cook worth a damn. Mom showed me how to do things, but I just don’t seem to have the knack, know what I mean?” She spooned some of the green beans onto her plate.
“You have to like doing it, that’s all,” she replied. “You’ve got other skills and life experience I don’t. In fact, I guess I’m kind of an introvert, even reclusive. I’m beginning to think I’m better suited to living in a place like this, instead of the big city. Here, let me pour you some more wine.”
“Thanks Vick. I heard what you said, but I don’t believe you. There’s gotta be something between you and that big dark handsome thing with the pumped up arms and shoulders. He’s got the most beautiful eyes. The two of you are what, sharing this farm? I’ll bet money there’s more to this than you’re telling me.”
Blushing, Vicky didn't answer, but drained her wine, and refilled their glasses. She avoided eye contact with Marsha, just shaking her head, and busying herself with her food.
As they were cleaning up and putting leftovers away, she shredded some chicken onto a saucer. She called out, “Romeo, Juliet,” and rapped on the saucer with a spoon. This apparently, was a signal the kittens understood. They came racing from the living room where they’d been napping on the furniture. She set their dinner down in a corner and they made straight for it. Two little tails stood straight, quivering with excitement.
“Romeo and Juliet, that’s cute,” said Marsha.
“They’re very good kitties. They were a gift from Doc and his wife. They came by with them just after I had the car accident. I’ve got to tell you all about that, Van Winkle and a lot more. Let’s get comfortable in the other room. I’ll open some more wine.”
They settled themselves in the living room, Marsha in an easy chair and Vicky on the couch. Purring and licking their whiskers, Romeo and Juliet joined them.
“So, I told you that Jack thought he’d inherited this farm from his uncle who didn’t actually own it and couldn’t will it to anyone. The real owner was of course my Nanna, who’d long ago been briefly married to his Uncle Charley, right after World War II.”
“I think I remember all that,” said Marsha.
“What I never told you was how Jack and I first met. I had a key to the house and let myself in. The guy who was Nanna’s lawyer was supposed to meet me here, but he was held up for some reason. So, very innocently, I come in and look around. It’s my house after all, right? I go upstairs and open a bedroom door and out of nowhere pops this totally naked guy. It’s Jack, and he’s just stepped out of the shower.”
Marsha leaned forward, becoming interested. “Okay okay, so you’ve seen him without a stitch, the Full Monty?”
“Yup, completely totally naked and he was…, he really was mad,” she said hesitantly. “I was surprised to say the least. You can imagine, right? I panicked, tried to run, but only succeeded in falling and knocking myself out.”
“Oh my God, then what?” said Marsha, sipping her wine.
“Apparently, Jack picked me up and carried
me to a bed. I was only sort of half conscious, but when I realized there was this ferocious-looking, big hairy naked guy running around, I was scared to death. I thought I was going to be mugged or raped. So when he was out of the room I called nine-one-one.”
“Be still my heart. Let me get this straight Vick, while he was still totally starkers, he carried you into a bedroom? Oh my God.”
“Yes, it was a little disconcerting. No, actually I was terrified. Don’t think I’ve been that scared, ever. I didn’t know it then, but while I was calling nine-one-one, he was downstairs calling Doc Sweeney to come look at me. Doc is an old friend of his. He’s a semi-retired doctor. Real nice guy. Anyway, the cops showed up along with Doc and his wife, while Jack was still prancing around completely naked, and I’m getting ready to defend myself from a rapist. I had a concussion and I was really dizzy and nauseous. At the worst possible moment, I barfed all over the shoes of poor Doc and the cops. Wasn’t funny at the time, but now….”
Marsha was laughing out loud at the thought of it. “So that was how you and Jack met each other. How romantic.”
“Speaking of romantic, you were going to tell me about that hot guy in the legal department who turned out to be not so hot.”
“Yeah, Frank Balducci. He hadn’t cut the umbilical yet, and he was at best, mediocre in bed. So I dumped him. That was over a long time ago, before Christmas. No great loss, but once again, I’m back to square one in my love life.”
“You’ll find someone else before long, I’m sure.”
“Hey Vicky, what’s with the crowd of people here this morning? You were going to tell me about that.”
“Oh right. Well, you saw that black mess down by the road when you came in?”
“Yeah, I wondered about that too.”
“Jack had this vegetable stand down there and he’d just started selling stuff he grows, like all the veggies you saw today on the porch. The other night someone set fire to it. At least Jack is sure it was vandalism, and he thinks he knows who did it. I got the idea to just sell things from here at the house.”
“Good idea.” Marsha leaned over and filled her glass.
“You met John Van Wart this morning. It was his idea to spread it around that Jack was still open for business and he put up notices in town and well, everyone just showed up to support Jack and let him know that they weren’t going to let some nut case ruin it for everybody. Then John casually told me that he’d also put in his notice that there’d be free coffee and muffins for all customers, so I had to get busy. Van Wart is a bit of a loose cannon. You never know what he’s going to do or say.”
“I see.”
“Mainly this place is all apple orchards, but Jack decided to plant a whole lot more veggies this year. That’s where tonight’s green beans and potatoes came from.”
“That’s kind of nice, everyone showing up and pitching in that way. Guess that’s what it’s like in a small town,” said Marsha.
“People here are really nice, Marsha. The only exception is this Van Winkle character. He’s the one that has the legal case, claiming he’s the real owner of this farm. Then there’s the old guy who periodically shows up, claiming he’s a Willet relative and that it actually belongs to him. My lawyer, Mr. Douglas, says that Van Winkle doesn’t have a case any longer, but I don’t know any details. The whole thing is complicated and I’m still wondering if I could lose the farm in the end.”
“Sounds crazy, but getting back to my original question which you haven’t yet answered, what about you and Jack? Tell me again, how you and Jack are just casual friends. Tell me he hasn’t tried to get in your pants, because I don’t believe it for a minute.”
She blushed once more, hesitated, and then made as though to speak, but opened her mouth only for a sip of wine.
Marsha didn’t press the point, but instead asked, “Is your Tori Baxter secret still safe. Am I still just an old friend from the city?”
“Marsha, I think Jack has figured it out. He makes me so mad sometimes.”
She told Marsha about the book club and Jack giving her that knowing look from across the room as Carol and Penny raved about Rendezvous Romance.
“It was as if somebody knocked me on the head. There I was standing in the kitchen and my two friends are in the dining room telling each other how much they love to read Tori Baxter. They’re asking each other if they’ve seen the latest, Rendezvous Romance and they were actually giggling about the hot sex scenes in front of Jack.”
“Oh my god,” Marsha laughed. “I told you Tori was popular.”
“I was so shocked that I dropped a cup and saucer. Jack was looking right into my eyes from the dining room, and I thought maybe that he’d guessed the truth. Then, we had dinner together that night, and when he was leaving, he tried to kiss me. That’s when he said, ‘Goodnight Tori’ and I definitely knew for sure. Damn him, he had to let me know that he knew I was Tori Baxter.”
“It looks as though your cover is blown. Have you and Jack talked about this?”
“He hasn’t mentioned it since, and I’m certainly not going to bring it up, but I’m sure he knows.”
“Vick, Honey, I doubt if you can keep your identity undercover forever. I think he’s a nice guy though, nice enough to keep his mouth shut if he knows that’s what you want. I saw him looking at you when he stopped in tonight. He was here only a minute, but I could tell. That man adores you. Trust me on this one, Vick. That man is in love. I think I know men pretty well, and I’ve got good love radar. You still didn’t answer my question. Jack’s never made a move? Never put his hands on spots that make you go all tingly? Come on Vick.”
Once more she colored deeply, picked up her glass and realized it was empty. Quickly she refilled it and drank. She felt the wine warming her and felt her inhibitions slipping away. If I can’t trust Marsha, then who?
She took one more sip and set the glass down.
“Well Marsha, there was that one day. It was about six weeks ago. It was a rainy day and Jack was helping me get some of Nanna’s things down from the attic.”
“Uh huh, okay, a rainy day. I’m listening,” said Marsha.
“We opened up this old trunk and there was a framed picture on top of a lot of other stuff in there. It was a wedding picture of his Uncle Charley and Nanna. I’m not sure what happened, but suddenly he was kissing me. When we came up for air, it was as though there were electric sparks sizzling in the air around us. I swear Marsha; I think my vision actually went all blurry. Next thing I knew we were on the bed and he was taking my clothes off or I was taking them off. I’m not sure what happened.”
“Oh my God Vicky. I knew it. You road tested him already didn’t you? Come on, tell me the rest. He was good, wasn’t he?”
“There’s not much to tell. We uh, we made love. It was crazy and wonderful. Then we lay there for an incredibly long time. He talked to me then about the farm and the apple orchards and everything he wants in the future. He wants nothing more really, than to be a farmer in a small town. Then we were touching each other, and we made love again very long and slow. I couldn’t even begin to say how long we were at it. He took his time with me and, oh God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”
She sniffled and went to the kitchen for a box of tissues.
“Vick,” Marsha called after her, “I’m telling you that man is in love with you. I can see it plain as day. Why are you sniffling? What could possibly be the matter? It was good right?”
“Marsha, after that he ignored me for weeks. He said he wasn’t ready for commitment yet. He didn’t want me thinking he was just trying to romance me into giving him part ownership of the farm or something stupid like that. I was just a one-night stand for him. We keep arguing about this and that. We’re not really suited for each other I think.” She blew her nose and reached for another handful of tissues.
“When he tried to kiss me that night I blew him off. Don’t know why. What should I do?”
Her friend didn
’t answer right away. Instead she divided the remainder of the wine between their two glasses and took the empty bottle to the kitchen. Returning she sat opposite Vicky who was still dabbing at her nose with a wad of Kleenex.
“I put water on for tea Vick. Cup of tea sound good?”
Vicky nodded and wiped her eyes. “What should I do Marsha?”
“If he doesn’t do something soon, you might just have to initiate things yourself. You know, put the moves on him?”
“What do you mean?” she sniffed.
“Seduce him. That guy’s in love with you and one aggressive move from you and he’ll crumble. I know what I’m talking about. He wants you, and you want him. It’s obvious to anyone except for the two of you. Sometimes Vick, people are stupid when it comes to love.”
“I don’t know Marsha. Do you really think he feels that way?”
* * *
Vince, John, and Jack were huddled together around their favorite corner table at Paulding’s Rest. The three companions had agreed to meet there to discuss options for security at the farm in the after math of the fire. Though Jack was still reluctant to alarm Victoria, he felt he needed to make the farm as safe as possible for her. Vince and John liked the idea of security cameras.
“This is the way to go, Jack. Don’t buy anything on your own, because there are tons of systems on the market with different features,” Vince said. “You start looking at all that stuff and your head will spin. I’ll go out first thing tomorrow and get just what you need and you can pay me later. Should cost you maybe three or four hundred bucks for a good one. A system with a least four cameras, one for each side of the house, is what you need.”
“Get whatever you think is best Vince. I don't care what it costs.”
“A year ago I bought a system for the Shell station,” Van Wart said. “They’re not hard to install.”
“Sure,” said the police officer. “I’ll pick one out that covers all the approaches to the house. I’m not on duty tomorrow. John and I can get the system installed and operational in an hour or two.”
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