Finding Me (17 page)

Tired as she was, she spent the next twenty minutes putting things away and scrubbing dried sauce off the plates, table, and counters. She felt like bursting into tears as she walked up the stairs, so great was her exhaustion. David was snoring as she tiptoed into their room and made her way through to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas as quietly as possible, then crept through the dark bedroom.

The snoring stopped, and David rolled over and yawned. “How’d it go?”

She bit back an angry response, which wasn’t going to help anything. “All right, I guess.” She climbed into bed. “Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you clean up after dinner?”

“I was tired.” He reached over and pulled her to him, obviously not quite so tired anymore. “Besides, that’s your job.”

Alison pulled away and moved to the far edge of the bed. “Not tonight. I’m exhausted.”

He flopped over onto his back hard enough to shake the bed.
“You’re always too tired. What’s a guy have to do to get some attention around here?”

Alison almost told him he might have started by being on time and then cleaning up the kitchen, but she didn’t. She put her back to him and hoped things would get better. Someday.

20

Y
ou say you’re planning to stay there the entire summer?” Opal’s voice carried the shrill quality of a woman who’d just seen a large cockroach.

“Yes. Until late August. Then I’ll be back to open up the restaurant with my friends.”

“Right, the restaurant. May I ask why you are not back here now, preparing for the opening? I don’t think you should be squandering your time like this.”

“There’s really not all that much for me to do there yet. And when I came to visit this little town, I found it to be so beautiful and peaceful. I thought it would be a nice area to stay in for a while and begin the healing process. Then I found a job and a little duplex to rent temporarily, so it all just fell into place.” Opal had never been overly concerned with Kelli’s comings and goings, so her reaction was quite a bit stronger than Kelli had expected.

“Tell me again, how did you end up in that particular town in Tennessee? You have a friend who lives there, is that what you told me?”

Kelli considered her answer for just a second. “I know some
one who used to live here. She’s not here anymore, but I grew so interested in the place because of her that I wanted to come check it out.”

Opal’s breathing was slow and deliberate on the other end of the line. “I hope you are being smart—about the way you’re spending your time, I mean.” There seemed to be a warning in her tone.

“I am, Opal. I’m just doing what I need to do.”

“I see.” A couple more deep breaths. “At least give me your address there so I can drop you a line every now and then.”

“Sure, I’ve got it written down here somewhere.” Kelli fished it out of her purse, but even as she did so she wondered at the reason. Opal had never in her life sent a “line”—not even birthday cards. “Okay, here it is, you ready?” Maybe it was just a formality, or perhaps Mimi’s death had caused Opal to grow nostalgic.

“All right, then. You stay safe and keep in touch. You’ll let me know . . . before you make any kind of major decision, right?”

Major decision? Opal had to be talking about the past—what else could it be? Well, now was a good time for Kelli to begin practicing her discretion. “Sure, Opal, I’ll let you know if anything big comes up.”

“Good-bye for now.” Opal hung up the phone with a surprising swiftness. The woman was in panic mode.

Beth pulled up at the Richland Inn, fruit bowl in hand. She walked into the lobby and was happy to find Donna Renfro at the front desk. “Hey, girl, how are you doing?”

“Splendid, just splendid.” Donna’s tone and expression were as perky as ever. “I’d heard you just moved back to town. How are you?” Beth had known Donna since grade school. After graduation, Donna had married her high school sweetheart while Beth
had gone away to college. The only way they’d been in touch over the past decade was Christmas cards—Donna’s showing two adorable children.

“Couldn’t be better.” Beth’s left hand went to her stomach out of reflex. “Listen, I brought by a little gift for Kelli Huddleston. I think she’s one of your guests here. Can you tell me what room she’s in so I can take this to her?”

“According to the rules, I’m not allowed to give out room numbers. It’s a safety issue—”

“Are you kidding me? I mean, you’ve known me all my life. It’s not like I’m a murderer or anything. I’m just bringing by a fruit bowl.”

“Judging from the black eye you gave Jason Harley junior year, your status as a potential murderer could be debatable.” She grinned. “I’m just telling you what the rules are. But”—she nodded toward the lobby—“I do need to straighten the newspapers over on the table over there. If I just happen”—she winked—“to leave the room number written on a piece of paper right here, it wouldn’t be my fault if you happened to see it . . . by accident.”

“Right.” Beth nodded. “Thanks, Donna.”

“Thanks for what? I’m not doing anything.” She pulled out a Post-it note, wrote
204
in big numbers, then walked into the small lobby and neatly arranged the
Lawrence County Advocate
right next to the
Tennessean
. “There, that looks better, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely it does. Thank you so much.” Beth went through the lobby, out the door, and up the stairs. When she reached room 204, there was a
Do Not Disturb
sign hanging on the knob. Beth looked at her watch. It was almost ten o’clock, but she supposed Kelli could still be asleep. She went back to the car. She’d run some errands and then stop back by.

When she pulled into the parking lot of Kroger, she noticed a
small lime green car with California plates. It wasn’t like there were California plates in this area all that often, so she went inside, grabbed a cart, and made a point of looking down every aisle she passed.

When she turned down the produce aisle, Kelli was just putting some grapes in her cart. “Hello there. I just came by to see you.”

Kelli looked up, clearly startled. “Oh, Beth, hi.” She paused for a moment. “You came by to see me?”

“At the hotel. I brought you a little welcome gift, but I saw the
Do Not Disturb
sign on your door, and I thought you must still be asleep.”

“Oh. How’d you know where to find me?”

“It wasn’t that hard. The Richland Inn is the newest hotel in the area—it’s an obvious choice.”

“What were you doing there, again?”

“Bringing you by a bowl of fruit, as a sort of welcome-to-town present. I’m not much of a baker or I would have made you some banana bread or cookies or something. I was just trying to be neighborly.”

Kelli smiled. “Well, thanks for that. The need for fruit is what brought me here today. I’ve been eating nothing but junk food since I’ve been in town.”

Beth looked at her cart. “Well, you can keep those grapes, but if I were you, I’d put those apples and bananas away. I don’t think you’ll be needing them.”

“Thanks.” Kelli grinned. “Well, I guess these grapes and some juice are all I need, then.”

“My fruit bowl is still in the car, and I’ve got a little more shopping to do. Can I stop by the hotel after I’m done here?”

“Sure, that would be nice.”

Beth hurried through her shopping, and when she finally stood outside room 204 again, the
Do Not Disturb
sign was still on
the knob. Surely Kelli was back by now. She hadn’t mentioned another stop.

Kelli opened almost immediately upon Beth’s knock. She looked at the bowl in Beth’s hands. “Thank you so much for that. It’s really sweet. Do you want to come in?”

“Just for a second. I’ve got groceries in the car.” Beth reached for the sign. “This is still out, do you want me to bring it in for you?”

“No. I leave it there all the time.”

“You’re kidding. Why?”

“So the housekeepers don’t come in here.”

“You don’t want the housekeepers in your room?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want anything to get stolen. I go down and change out my towels at the front desk when I need to, but other than that, I’m only going to be here for a week. It’s not like the room is getting filthy during that small amount of time.”

“What makes you think they would steal your stuff? There’s a safe in here for valuables, right?”

“Yes, but that only holds smaller things.”

Beth started laughing and couldn’t stop. She supposed she was getting to the point of being rude, but she just found it so funny. Finally, she caught herself, straightened up, and said, “Do you always do that when you travel?”

“Always. My father was a stickler about it.”

“Really?” Beth giggled again and shook her head. “I, on the other hand, leave the door to our house unlocked about half the time. I guess different families have different ideas about things, huh?”

“I guess so.” Kelli blinked and turned away. Beth had the distinct impression she wanted to cry.

On the drive home, she called Rand and told him about it. “I don’t know what it is, but Kelli is nursing a great big hurt.”

“I know what that means.”

“What?”

“That you’ve found another one of your projects.”

“Now that you mention it, yes, I think I have.” Beth smiled as she pulled into the driveway.

After a long day, Alison looked forward to this evening of good food and relaxed conversation. She was only halfway up the driveway when the front door swung open and Shane hurried out to meet her. Before Alison even knew it happened, he had the casserole dish out of her hands and into his. “Oh, Shane, you don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but Pop told me you were bringing your famous squash casserole. I decided I wanted to be personally in charge of the safety of this dish. You can’t be too careful with these things, you know.” He grinned his usual mischievous grin.

“Yes, I’d heard there have been several casserole burglaries in this area recently.”

“My point exactly.” He led her through the house and out to the back porch. “I just heard from Rand that he and Beth are running a couple minutes late. Pop should be home any second.” He poured her a glass of iced tea.

“Thank you.” Alison looked at her watch. 7:40. “He’s there late, is everything okay?”

“Now that Frieda’s gone, it takes him a little longer to get closed up.”

“Oh right. I’ll bet he’ll be glad to have Kelli there to help him out.” She motioned toward the table. “Speaking of help, what can I do for you?”

“Kelli? You know her?” Shane dropped onto the bench seat of the picnic table.

“I met her at church last Sunday. Your father had asked me to keep an eye out for her because he thought she might be coming. Then he actually asked for my opinion before he hired her.”

“You are kidding me.” Shane folded his arms and leaned back. “Does he usually do that?”

“Ask my opinion about work? Never. I found it rather odd.”

“There’s a lot I find odd about this Kelli situation. None of it makes sense. Pop has never been one to act impulsively like this.”