by Tonya Kappes
We both laughed.
“What was she talking about?” Mac asked on our way to the car.
Both of us had a good laugh when I told him about it on our drive to the new Italian restaurant.
“Paisanos.” I read the name of the restaurant out loud. “You can’t get more Italian than that.”
“From what I hear, you have to go to Italy to get anywhere near this good.” He had put his hand on the small of my back as we walked into the restaurant.
It was unlike any restaurant in Sugar Creek Gap, and I had to wonder if it would make it. Only the mom-and-pop diners were big hits around here, but I’d love to see more growth in our town.
The lighting was dim. It sort of reminded me of old Hollywood or what I thought old Hollywood was like. There were tables all around the perimeter of the room, with a few more located in the middle. The white tablecloths made the atmosphere feel very romantic, as did the lit candles in the red votives in the center of the table. A wine chiller stand was also located at each table.
“Reservation for Tabor,” Mac held up two fingers and told the hostess.
“Fancy.” I gave him a big-eyed look. “What’s the occasion?”
Boy… did I ask a loaded question with an answer I wasn’t prepared for.
“You’re special.” His hand, which was flat on my back, was now giving me a little scratch.
I gulped.
“Right this way,” the hostess said just in time for me to take a few steps and get out of my head, which was saying, Oh crap, oh crap.
Was this a real date? Was this…
“First time here?” the hostess asked.
“Yes.” Mac looked at her and then walked over to my chair. He pulled it out for me.
I gulped. My mouth and lips were dry. The water on the table couldn’t’ve been poured fast enough.
“Let me give you a few suggestions on wine.” The hostess’s words ran together as I gulped down the water. “And some dinner options.”
She told us the specials, and we picked the spaghetti, figuring it had to be their best dish.
When she walked away, I noticed Mac looking at me.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink water so fast.” There was an amused look on his face with a little twinkle in his eye that told me he knew I was nervous.
“Tasting the batter from the bonbon cookies really has me parched,” I lied and picked up the water carafe to refill my glass.
“Are you sure that’s it?” he asked.
“Mm-hhmm,” I ho-hummed while taking another gulp of water.
“Mac. Bernadette.” Luke Macum interrupted us, and I couldn’t’ve been more thrilled to see him. “Mac, I must apologize for my uncle’s behavior.”
“Oh no. He owns the house. It’s his property.” Mac’s reaction to Luke’s question didn’t really surprise me. Though I knew Mac thought differently, he wasn’t one to make waves, and he just went with it.
“That’s funny.” Luke shot Mac a perplexed look. “My uncle called me saying how Walter Ward and Carla were driving him crazy about how bad his property looked. He rambled on and on about how much the stuff meant to him, but when I asked why it meant so much”—Luke frowned and looked down at his hands—“he couldn’t remember.”
“Oh no.” I couldn’t stop the words from coming out of my mouth. “Luke, I’m sorry, and I don’t mean to overstep, but I did overhear you talking to Vivian Tillett at the nursing home this morning. Were you talking about Lee?”
“I’m afraid he’s not as sharp as he used to be.” Luke’s eyes dipped. “I’m his only relative here, and I try to stop in once a week, if not more, but he doesn’t let me through the door. Today”—his voice cracked—“I went over there after he called me, and that was when I noticed it’d gotten worse. He’s got boxes piled high from his hoarding. There’s nothing in most of them, but he won’t throw them away. I even had to go back and spray for bugs, though he didn’t know what I was doing.”
“I sure hate to hear that.” I felt a pain in my heart. “I’ve enjoyed taking stamps to him over the years.”
“He always said how kind you are to him. In fact, I think you’re the only person he likes around here,” Luke said jokingly, but I knew it wasn’t a joke.
“What about Buster? Is he being taken care of?” I asked, feeling desperately sorry for the pooch if he wasn’t getting proper care.
“Somehow he still remembers to take care of Buster.” Luke smiled. “It’s not that he’s forgetful all the time. It’s some of the time. Then the hoarding. It’s not helping.” He turned to Mac. “Again, I’m sorry. Walter took me out to breakfast at the Wallflower, and he really wanted me to do something. Apparently my uncle’s home isn’t helping his bottom dollar to sell your house. But I can’t just rip him out of the house in the next few days just so Carla can win some beautification award before she retires.”
“No problem.” Mac stood up and put his hand out for Luke to shake. “I understand. We only want the best for Lee.” Mac gestured between him and me.
What was that? We?
Luke said his goodbyes when the hostess brought our food, and Mac sat back down.
“That was kind of you.” I reached for the wine glass, needing a little more than water. “And to include me in the we.” I found some sort of courage to be vocal.
“You know when I told you how Iris has been a really good friend to you, and you said how I’ve been a really good friend to you?” Mac asked. The candles between us flickered, making it hard for me to see the look in his eyes that would tell me where his questioning would be going.
“Mmhmmm.” I curled the noodles around the tines on my fork like people did in the movies, trying to be a little more ladylike.
“I want to be more than a friend to you, Bernadette.” Mac put his hand on top of mine. Either the warmth of his hand or the words he said put my head and heart into a tailspin.
SIX
The evening with Mac ended with him dropping me off at the farmhouse. We had no dramatic ending. Not that I was looking for a kiss or even a “That was great,” but when he’d told me he wanted to be more than friends, I was figuring on some sort of romantic gesture at the end of the night.
Even Rowena agreed with me when I told her about it as I was getting ready for bed. Or at least she appeared to be interested. Or… she could’ve been interested in the leftover chicken leg that I was eating while changing into my pajamas. Either way, the poor baby had to hear my woes. When I couldn’t fall asleep so quickly, I used the rest of the leftover chicken I had to make the soup for Julia and Grady.
I didn’t bother calling Iris because I knew she’d call me in the morning, dying to know the details. And I was right.
“More than friends? Is that what he said?” Iris asked from the other end of the phone. “Then no kiss? No nothing?”
“Mmm-hhmmm,” I ho-hummed on my way into the post office, where I was getting an early jump on the day.
Most times when I tried to get the mail delivered earlier than usual, it backfired. Something always popped up. Julia was on my mind, and I wanted to be sure to get those soups over to her. I also made a note to pick up something special from Leotta at Social Knitwork, since Julia had been spending some time there. A small gift always paired well with food. And it gave me a check in the awesome mother-in-law category.
“Not even a lean over?” Iris referred to Mac not trying to lean over the console to kiss me.
“Not even a lean over,” I confirmed. “Listen, I’m at the post office and going to get a jump on things. When you told me you saw Julia going into the doctor’s building, it got me a little concerned she was getting the flu. When I couldn’t sleep after the no-kiss and I-want-to-be-more-than-friends thing…” I hesitated when I noticed someone rush by the post office door from the outside.
“You there?” Iris asked.
I looked out the glass plate door. Nothing was there.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Just at work, a
nd like I said, I want to get a jump on things so I can drop off the soup I made because I couldn’t sleep.” I took one more look outside, where the LLVs were, but I saw nothing and no one.
“That’s sweet.” Iris continued to talk. “Say, did you and Mac talk about Lee Macum at all? I still have a funny feeling about him.”
“Not that I have a lot of time, but we did see Luke at the restaurant. He did confirm that Lee had been a little more forgetful.” It was so sad to watch my customers get elderly. “It’s a shame. I’m going to be sure to give him extra attention while he’s still living in the house on Little Creek.”
“He’s moving?” Iris asked. “You know, I can totally see you living in that house.”
“I don’t think so.” I laughed as I walked into the sorting room to pick up my first loop bag, which Monica Reed had already sorted for me. “Thank you,” I mouthed to Monica and headed back the way I’d come.
“That is a great idea. You’re nuts. You should ask him.” Iris made it sound as if it were already a done deal.
“It’s not even for sale.” I pushed the door open to walk outside. “Besides, if I wanted to live on Little Creek Road, I could buy one of Mac’s houses.”
“I don’t know.” Iris was now sounding odd.
“You need another cup of coffee.” I sighed and jerked my head when I noticed something run past the side of the post office parking lot. “You sound delirious. Listen…” I craned my neck to see what the shadow was that was moving around. “I’ve got to go. Call you later.”
If I didn’t hang up right then, it would give Iris a small window of opportunity to ask another question, keeping me on the phone.
“Who’s there?” I stopped and called out when I heard some sort of jingling. “We have cameras back here, so if you’re trying to steal one of the LLVs, well, first off they are crap, and secondly…”
The shadow moved and showed itself. The lights in the parking lot shined down.
“Buster?” I asked when I noticed it was a dog that certainly looked a lot like Lee’s dog Buster. “Busssster. Here, boy.”
He twisted his head and started to wag his tail when I called out to him, so I began to call him more.
“Come here, sweet boy.” I tugged a dog treat out of the pocket of my coat and bent down to greet him when he rushed over. “What on earth are you doing over here?”
He gobbled up the treat and then a couple more.
Then it dawned on me.
“Oh, buddy,” I groaned, my heart hurt. “Did your daddy let you out and forget about you?” I sighed and pushed myself up to stand. “The first loop is going to have to wait.” I smiled at him He was looking up at me with those big brown eyes and wagging his tail like I was the best thing he’d seen all night. “Come on.” I patted my leg. “Let’s get you home.”
Instead of taking the long way down Main Street, left on Short, and then a left on Little Creek, I had decided to take the short cut between the Sugar Creek Gap Veterinarian Clinic and Social Knitwork, which were located right across the street from the post office. I took that path by way of the foot bridge that crossed over Little Creek and directly in front of Lee’s home.
On our way over the bridge, I asked Buster, “Did you give my duck a hard time?” There, I heard the water in the creek moving from my duck friend paddling underneath the bridge, probably away from the dog.
Buster didn’t obviously answer, but the wag of his tail and the mud on his feet told me he had not been very nice to my friend. I’d be sure to make it up to the duck when I met him at our usual time and at the other end of the street with a spectacular treat from the Wallflower Diner.
Buster rushed across the street and through the open gate, which I found to be particularly odd. I’d never seen Lee’s gate open in the ten years I’d delivered his mail. When Buster disappeared into the house, I knew something had to be horribly wrong. I knew for sure Lee didn’t leave his door open.
The inside lights were on, but when I pushed open the door a little more with the toe of my shoe, the shadows from all the piled-up boxes made it so dim and dreary.
“Mr. Macum?” I called into the house without stepping in. I waited for a few seconds to see if I could hear him. “Lee?” I called again, thinking he was not answering since he’d insisted I call him Lee. That wouldn’t be out of his character.
There was still no answer.
“I bet he can’t hear from all these boxes in the way.” I took one step inside. “Lee!” I yelled a couple of times.
I heard a few whimpers that sounded a lot like Buster and not a human.
“Lee, I’m coming in,” I warned like it was going to make him answer me. “It’s Bernadette, your mail carrier.” I talked as if we were playing some sort of game. I weaved around the boxes, having to turn around a few times at various dead ends. “Buster was at the post office, and I just thought I’d bring him home.”
The whimpering got a little louder as I made my way through the maze of boxes.
“This is gross,” I muttered to myself and decided I’d call Luke about this when I’d found Lee safe and sound. “How does anyone live like this?” I let out a deep sigh.
Buster’s whimper got a little louder which made me think I was getting closer. The closer I got, the more I started to hear a TV, which made me feel somewhat better. Lee had to be asleep in front of the television, and Buster probably wanted to eat.
At least, that was what I told myself.
“Lee?” My eyes focused on a pair of shoes, sticking straight up in the air, with… legs attached. The television played the morning news, and Buster was sitting next to the feet. “Lee?” I gulped and moved around the stack of boxes that covered my full view of what once was probably the living room of his home.
There, in plain view, was Lee, lying face up in the middle of the only open floorspace. His eyes were open, and his hand was outstretched in a strange open space with boxes built up around it as if something once there was now gone. Kind of like that Jenga game my family loved to play. One wrong move and they would all come tumbling down.
“Lee?” My voice cracked. My eyes stung with the tears that were starting to collect. “Lee? Please tell me you’re alive.” I couldn’t bring my focus off the stamp Lee had in his open palm. It was the stamp I’d given him yesterday from my dad.
My head dipped when I noticed no movement from Lee, and my heart sank when Buster licked his beloved owner’s cold face.
SEVEN
I immediately left the house and maneuvered my way back out the door to call the sheriff’s department. I didn’t want to disturb anything, and I left Buster in there, but he came out a few minutes later.
I gave the poor guy some more treats because I didn’t know how long he’d been without food or water. It wasn’t like I was going to go in there to find him some food, so I continued to give him what I had as we waited on steps of Lee’s front porch for a deputy to show up, which didn’t take long since the department was located one street over on Main Street.
“Hey, Bernadette.” Sheriff Angela Hafley herself had come.
“Angie, I’m surprised to see you here.” Not that she didn’t have a right, but when people died of what appeared to be a heart attack, such as in Lee’s case, the sheriff’s office generally sent a deputy and the coroner.
“We are the only ones in the office this early.” She reached out her hand for Buster to sniff and then patted him on the head. “I got the information from dispatch that you found the dog at the post office and walked over to bring him home. When you noticed the door was open, you went in?”
“Yes.” I stood up on the step. The deputy with her walked into the house, leaving her there with me. “First Lee’s gate was open, which is odd. Then the door of the house was cracked, and Buster ran in.”
“Why is it odd the gate was open?” She looked back over her shoulder at the gate.
“Lee never left that gate unlatched. He was very private and didn’t want people comin
g on his property.” I snorted in a bit of sadness when I remembered Carla trying to get in his gate and him drawing back his curtains. “And he’d never leave his door open.”
“Why is that?” Angie asked me with a curious eye before she looked up at the deputy who was now standing in Lee’s doorway.
I looked back. He shook his head, frowning with a sadness in his eyes. I noticed her give him a slight nod, and some sort of body language went on between them before the officer disappeared back into the house.
“I’m sorry. Why is it odd?” Angela didn’t miss a beat as she reminded me of the question she wanted me to answer.
“Again, in the last ten years, when I’ve needed to hand him something, he would take forever unlocking all the chains and locks he had on his door.”
Then I suddenly remembered what Luke had told me last night.
“Though I guess he was getting forgetful.” A long deep sigh escaped me.
“How do you know that?” Angie was darting me with questions that made me pause. “Not that I’m not saying he’s died of natural causes, but I can’t help but think about all the grief I’ve been getting from people in the community who wanted me to arrest him for not keeping his property in pristine condition for various reasons.”
She didn’t have to tell me who she was talking about. I knew she meant Carla and Walter. I didn’t say a word.
About that time, Jigs Baker, the coroner and funeral home director, showed up with his hearse. And the SPCA van pulled up right behind him.
“What’s going on?” I asked, more about the SPCA van than anything, and put my hand on Buster’s head.
“We need to take Lee Macum to the morgue and make sure he died of a heart attack.” Angie avoided looking at me. She knew I was an animal lover, and there was no way I’d ever let her take Buster to the dog pound.
“I mean with the SPCA.” I grabbed Buster by the collar. “You’re going to have to use that gun on me to get my grip from around his collar.”
