“I can hardly wait,” James muttered crossly.
Chase rose, clapped him roughly on the shoulder, and then strutted through the lobby and disappeared down a hallway leading to the guest rooms. James’s lunch hour was running out, so he moved toward the display of wooden shelves containing dozens of area attractions and searched for the brochure on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He needed to determine the milepost marking their meeting place. He scanned the upper rows and, only seeing pamphlets highlighting the area’s caves and caverns, squatted down to look at the lowest shelf. Just as he was reaching out to grab the brochure showing a photograph of a two-lane road winding through the Shenandoah Valley’s beautiful, blue-hued mountains, he heard the murmur of familiar voices.
“She’s always found us both wanting.” James recognized Chloe’s customary whine. “Why shouldn’t we be compensated after living a life filled with suffering? You lost the man you loved, and I feel more comfortable with sea mammals than I do with people. Mom ruined us both.”
“You’re young, dear. Plenty of time left for a sunny day,” Wheezie replied in a childish singsong, which James could only assume was simply an odd character trait. “Anyhow, I got what I wanted. Al and I are spendin’ nearly every minute together. I wanna catch up with Milla and then go back home and try to be happy. You should try that too.” She began to hum.
“What about you, Willow?” Chloe demanded petulantly. “How are you going to start over again without any money? Chase owes you too!”
“That’s true. I’m still owed my salary for the month of December. Your brother promised to pay me and give me an extra month as a bonus for being so devoted Paulette, but now it seems as though he’s forgotten how to sign a check,” Willow remarked sourly.
Her voice was so close that James realized the three women had settled into the cluster of lobby chairs he and Chase had previously occupied. How am I going to get out of here? he thought as he glanced at his watch.
“We can’t let him treat us like this!” Chloe hissed. “He doesn’t deserve to be rewarded. He’s a greedy, lying, cheating son of a bitch. I’ve lost my husband, my house, and any hope of security. If I had half of what Chase had, I could start the marine life tour business I’ve been dreaming about and pay off my bills.”
“Everything’s going to be just fine,” Willow assured her coolly. “I’m going to get my money and you can look to your future without so much anxiety. Trust me. If I could handle Paulette Martine, I can handle her son.”
James listened as the women moved away. As he drove back to the library, he couldn’t quell a feeling of uneasiness. How did Willow plan to get the better of Chase Martin?
It’s just Murphy’s book that’s bothering me, he told himself. The supper club will get through this uncomfortable experience just like I’ll get through this last family get-together tomorrow morning. After that, I can finally expect some peace in my life.
The firehouse looked the same on the outside, but by the time James and a troop of other volunteers were done, the garage looked like a scene from a high school prom. Colorful streamers and glitter-encrusted gold and silver stars hung from the ceiling. Bunches of festive balloons were tied to the backs of folding chairs positioned around the room’s perimeter and a huge banner reading Congratulations Bennett hung above a wooden podium.
“Luis had the risers and the podium brought over from school,” Lindy proudly informed James. “He’s also got the drama teacher rigging the sound system. We’re going to have a dance after the mayor’s speech. Look! They’re putting up the disco ball!”
“And here comes the food!” Lucy announced as she carried in a commercial baking tray filled with cookies. “Aren’t these awesome?”
James waited until she set down the tray and then moved alongside her. Confused, he asked, “Why are the cookies shaped like keys?”
“Because the mayor’s giving Bennett the Key to Quincy’s Gap,” Lucy answered happily. “These are snickerdoodle cookies covered with golden icing. Megan and Amelia Flowers have made hundreds of them. I had to quit the decorating committee just to help ice them.”
“I didn’t realize our town had an official key,” James said, reaching out to take a cookie.
Lucy slapped his hand away. “We didn’t, but the mayor came up with one to present to Bennett as a prize.”
“Did you bake cookies in your uniform?” Lindy teased.
“No. And I just put the frosting on, though I stopped to lick my fingers at least twenty times.” Lucy smiled. “Well, I’ve got to run. I’m part of the escort bringing Bennett back here. If I was in a cruiser without being in uniform, Bennett would be suspicious. See you soon!”
James straightened a wrinkle in the tablecloth as Lindy placed two flower arrangements in the centers of the longest buffet tables.
“Any word from Gillian?” he asked her.
“Just an e-mail. I’ve been calling her all day, but I guess she didn’t feel like talking. She wrote back that she needed to take her time getting ready but that she’d be here tonight and we shouldn’t be worried.”
The two friends continued their preparations. By the time they were done decorating, dozens of women had arrived bearing dishes of food. There were side salads of every variety including green salad, Waldorf salad, ambrosia salad, three-bean salad, and three kinds of potato salad. There were huge aluminum trays filled with fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, tuna casserole, baked beans, collard greens, and mini corn cobs. There were baskets of bread including French baguettes, Italian bread, garlic bread, onion rolls, pumpernickel rolls, and buttered white rolls.
The dessert table was so full of pies, cakes, cupcakes, and cookies that the yellow tablecloth was barely visible. James strolled along the table, examining the homemade treats with a lecherous eye. He wasn’t alone. Most of the men in the room were discussing which sweets they’d be choosing once the women allowed them access to the food.
Bit by bit, the large garage filled up with revelers. Bottles of cold beer were handed out, glasses of cheap white wine were distributed, and the noise rose exponentially as more and more townsfolk arrived.
James surveyed the faces of his fellow community members. He said hello to teachers and beauticians, Mr. Goodbee the pharmacist, Doc Spratt, the Fitzgerald twins, the employees from the liquor and grocery stores, Sam and the other bartenders from Wilson’s Tavern, the wait staff from Dolly’s Diner, the excited postal workers, Dr. Ruth and her sons, Custard Cottage’s Willy Kendrick, and even Joan, his ambitious real estate agent.
“The sheriff just called!” someone yelled. “Bennett’s five minutes away!”
As James turned to identify the exuberant messenger, he was flabbergasted to see the last person he’d ever expected to find inside the Quincy’s Gap firehouse. It was Jane, his ex-wife.
Blinking to clear his eyes of what clearly was a hallucination, James looked again. Without doubt, it was Jane. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize her wavy brown hair, which she had cut short into a carefree bob, her angular jaw, or her luminous skin. Her figure had grown fuller since he’d seen her last, but the extra weight had made her softer. The areas of her body that had once been tight and sinewy with muscle were now curvy and alluringly feminine. The Jane he had known for over four years had always dressed to the nines in form-fitting skirts and glitzy accessories, but the woman smiling at him from the other side of the room wore jeans, a white blouse, and cowboy boots.
“She’s beautiful,” James spoke aloud and began to weave his way toward her.