Look Always Forward (Bellingwood Book 11) (14 page)

"What?" he asked in desperation. "Is something wrong?"

She grinned and winked at him. "I'm kidding. It's great. Thank you."

Rena stood behind him, quietly laughing.

"That was mean," he said. "I was going to tell you that Rena made it."

Animated chatter reached Polly's ears before she saw Andrew leading three women from the bakery. Sylvie and Sal were listening to a tall, regal black woman describe a dish she made in her own kitchen.

Camille stepped out from behind the counter and took the woman's arm, stopping the conversation. "Mama, I want you to meet Polly Giller." She turned and said, "Polly, this is my mother, Abigail Specht."

The woman stepped away from her daughter and took both of Polly's hands in hers. "I've been hearing much about you. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Polly said. "We're fortunate to have your daughter here in Bellingwood."

"Yes you are," Abigail said. "She's one of a kind." She turned to include Sylvie and Sal in the conversation and said, "Your friends have been showing me your facility. This is quite some adventure you all are on. And Milty here tells me that there's already been a death. That's too bad. I hope it doesn't affect your business."

Polly glanced at Camille. "Milty?"

The young woman shook her head. "My brother anointed me with that name and it stuck. Please forget you ever heard it."

"Does Jeff know?"

"Know what?" Jeff asked. He'd been wandering the room, greeting guests.

"My girl is known as Milty when she's with friends and family," Abigail said. She brushed her daughter's hair back from her face. "It doesn't seem right that the only time she'll hear that name is when she is with us in Omaha."

"Mama," Camille protested.

"If they're going to be your family, they need to know everything about you." Abigail Specht took Polly's arm and pulled her aside. "I'm a tad worried about this dead girl that was found in the alley. Are there any suspects yet? Is my little girl safe here?"

Polly rubbed her chin. This was never easy to explain. "I'm certain that she's perfectly safe. We have a wonderful police department and the county sheriff and his deputies are quite professional. Even though they might not know much right away, they're working on it."

"She's looking forward to this position," Abigail said. "I'd hate for her to regret her decision to move to Bellingwood."

Polly looked into the woman's stern eyes. Nope, she didn't want to ever cross her. "She's safe and we're looking forward to her time with us, too. She'll be working most closely with Sylvie and I think they've connected already."

The woman smiled warmly and said, "Thank you. I just wanted everything to be out in the open between us. She's a special girl and since I can't be here to watch over her, I want to know the people who will."

"Mama, quit scaring Polly," Camille said, pulling at her mother's arm. "You aren't that intimidating. Stop it."

Polly gave her head a quick shake. Abigail Specht was definitely intimidating.

"How are things coming in the kitchen?" Polly asked Sylvie.

"I'll be in here on Monday," Sylvie replied. "I just want to play and make messes and bake before I bring staff in." She looked around the room. "There's no clock in here," she said.

"It's ten thirty," Jeff said. "You're okay."

"No I'm not. I told Rachel I'd be back by now. She's probably worrying." Sylvie nodded at everyone and said, "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Specht. I hope to see you again."

Before anyone could respond, she ran for the front door and was gone.

"She said it was okay that I go with you," Andrew said quietly. "Are we still doing an adventure?"

"Let's see what we can find," Polly responded.

They said their goodbyes and went back to the truck.

"People are going to like that place," Andrew said.

Polly pointed at his cup. "What did you get to drink?"

"A strawberry smoothie," he responded. "It's too warm for hot chocolate."

"How are their smoothies?"

"Great. You want to try it?"

Polly smiled at his offer. "No thanks. I'll order one another time. Where shall we begin?"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Browsing through the bookstore and then wandering through the museum and gift shop at the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad had taken the entire morning. As they walked back to the car, Andrew asked Polly about lunch. He was starving.             

"Where shall we go?" she asked.

"I don't care. Not McDonalds. I'm not a kid anymore."

Polly laughed. "No. You're not. Do you want to drive over to Ames?"

He looked at her, his face alight with expectation. "Really? That would be awesome."

"Maybe when we're done with lunch, we'll go to Goodwill to see what they have for used books. There are always interesting finds at the thrift stores."

"That's where Rebecca and Kayla were going," he said, his shoulders slumping as he thought about his friends.

Polly pressed her fob to unlock the doors on the truck and watched him walk to the passenger side. Once they were in and buckled up, she said, "I suspect they're done at Goodwill. Stephanie was planning to get an early start."

"I don't want to see them anyway," he grumped.

"I know you don't. Where shall we eat?" She could almost see his mind spinning as he considered the possibilities.

Andrew knitted his brows together. "I don't know," he said.

"You have a few minutes to think about it. Be creative. We can go anywhere."

"Is there somewhere you've never gotten to eat?" Andrew asked.

Polly laughed. "There is. Every time I've tried to eat there in the past, something comes up. Do you want to try it?"

"Okay, where?"

"The big barbecue restaurant. Hickory Park. They have ice cream for dessert."

"Yes!" he said with great enthusiasm. "Everybody talks about how awesome it is and I've never gone. That would be so cool." He opened the bag of books he'd purchased at the bookstore and held up a book for Polly to see.

She glanced at it and smiled. "Xanth?" she asked.

"Yeah. Is it good?"

Polly nodded. "It was a classic in its time. Have you figured out what Xanth is?"

Andrew gave her a strange look. "The place?"

"Yes, but say the author's name," Polly replied.

"Piers Anthony?" Andrew asked.

"Say it all together as one word."

"Piersanthony." He heard it. "Xanth! I get it. That's pretty cool."

"It took me a while," she said with a laugh. "If you keep reading his stories, you'll find more and more puns like that. He had fun with it. You will too."

Andrew opened the book, glanced up at her and then started to read.

"You don't want to talk about Rebecca?" Polly asked.

"No," he muttered.

"Did you think about what you might have said to offend her?"

"No. Whatever." He slouched toward the truck door, trying to put more space between them.

"So you want to just keep this all bottled up and be uncomfortable around Rebecca?"

Andrew slammed the book shut - pretty ineffectually since it was a paperback and didn't make much noise. "Sorry," he said, sheepishly. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Andrew, this isn't like you," Polly said. "Your mother said you were rotten the other night. You aren't talking to Rebecca and Kayla and now you're exploding at me. You can't do this. You're sucking all the fun out of your life."

"She hurt me," he said. "I thought she liked me and then she just said no. I get it that I'm a boy, but we have feelings too."

It was all Polly could do not to laugh out loud, but she heard the pain in his voice and remembered that even at this age, love just hurt sometimes.

"Oh Andrew, this is not the last time you are going to be hurt by a girl. It might not even be the last time you get hurt by Rebecca. But you can't let this destroy your whole life."

"It's only bad when I have to talk about it. Maybe we shouldn't talk about it."

"But you aren't speaking to your best friend. That's no fun. You'll need each other this year."

"Can I tell you something and you won't ever tell anybody else, not even Henry?" Andrew asked. "Because this is really, really private."

"Okay?"

"I think I love Rebecca," he said. "Not just as a friend. But someday when we're out of college and grown up, I want to ask her to marry me. You can't tell anybody I said that. Promise?"

"I promise," Polly responded, doing her best to keep her eyes on the road.

"That's why it hurt. She doesn't love me back."

Polly reached out and put her hand on his knee and gave it a squeeze. "Thanks for telling me. Now will you listen while I say a few things?"

"Yeah. You're going to tell me I'm too young and that I don't know what the future will be and yada, yada, yada."

"Well, that's true, too," Polly said with a chuckle. "And that whole too young thing is a big deal."

"I knew it."

"Andrew, you're too young to take this all so seriously. Let it be what it's going to be. Enjoy your time with your friends and with Rebecca. If you want to dance with her at the dance, do it. But I can promise you that if you try to make her all yours right now, she will run away from you."

"Why? We've been friends for ever and I was there for all of her stuff."

"I know. But Rebecca has just been through a horrible loss. She spent the last couple of years not knowing what was happening next. Every morning when she woke up, she knew without a doubt that it was one day closer to her losing her mother. That was on her mind all the time, even if she didn't say anything. As much as she misses Sarah, now she's looking forward without fear. She wants to do everything. She doesn't have to worry about rushing home because she might miss precious moments with her mother. You have to let her live."

"But I could die at any minute, too," he protested weakly.

"Andrew," Polly scolded.

"Well, I could," he said under his breath.

"Is that the tack you want to take with me right now?"

"No," he said sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Give her some rope. Be her friend, but don't strangle her with your friendship. Be the person she trusts. Be there when she needs you. You can do that, right?"

"I have been," he said, still grumpy.

"Yes you have. You've been a great friend. Don't stop now just because of one stupid dance."

"You're not very fun," he said.

"Why's that?"

"Jason complains about it too."

"Jason complains about me?" Polly was stymied.

"He says you always make sense, even when it makes him mad."

"Oh," she said with a laugh. "I can live with that."

Polly pulled into the parking lot at Hickory Park. "Are you ready for barbecue?"

"I guess."

"Are you planning to sulk all the way through the meal?"

"Maybe just until they bring us our drinks?" He looked up at her and grinned.

"Okay. I'll let you have that." She got out of the truck and saw her phone on the console. She was tempted to leave it in the truck, but knew that would just be asking for trouble. She reached back in, snagged it, and jammed it down in her back pocket.

Andrew looked at everything as they walked up to the front door. "This place is huge," he said. "There's a lot of cars here."

"Yes there are," Polly said, wanting desperately to correct his grammar. She chose to let it go. "Let's hope there's room inside for us to sit down."

The host at the front of the restaurant told them there would be a short wait.

"Rats," Polly said as they moved away to make room for others. "That was stupid of me."

"What?" Andrew asked.

"College kids are coming back to school this weekend. Every kid and their family is in town."

"Cool," he replied.

As she leaned against the wall, she thought she heard a familiar laugh. "He did not," she said quietly. She looked at the host and asked, "I think I hear someone I know. Can I just go in and look?"

He smiled and waved her ahead. Polly walked around a corner and saw Henry and Nate sitting at a table. "What are you two doing here?" she demanded.

Henry stood up and guilt flooded his face. "Well, uh, I figured that if I was ever going to eat here, it would have to be with someone else and we're just coming back from a run to Ankeny for parts and there it was just off the highway and we were hungry and thought it was a good idea and..."

She put her hand up. "You need to stop while you're ahead. If you want to redeem yourself, you'll ask us join you."

"We've already placed our order," he said.

"It's okay. We'll read the menus fast and place our order as soon as the waiter arrives. Right, Andrew?"

Andrew looked back and forth between them and then nodded. "I'll read fast."

Henry pulled the chair out beside him for Polly and Andrew slid in beside Nate. The waiter walked past, stopped and looked at them, perplexed.

"We're adding two more," Henry said.

The young man smiled, took their drink orders and walked away.

"Just about the time he thought his day wouldn't toss any curveballs at him," Nate said.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Polly asked them.

Nate shook his head. "The guy thought he might have some brake parts in his warehouse, but nothing. It was fun to dig through his junk, but frustrating all the same."

"Have you heard from Joss?" she asked.

"They got on the road earlier than she expected." He looked at his watch. "They should almost be there."

The waiter stopped back with drinks and took Polly and Andrew's order. Andrew, true to his word, had scanned through the menu quickly and made a decision.

"This is fun," Polly said. "I can't believe we found you here. The host said it was just a short wait, but there were a lot of people ahead of us."

"Move-in weekend," Henry said.

"That's what Polly said," Andrew exclaimed. "If I go to college here, will I have to live with Mom in Bellingwood, or do you think she'll let me live in a dormitory?"

"You want to live in a dorm," Nate said. "That's where all the fun is. You meet great girls and there are parties and you make friends."

"And you still have to study," Polly interjected.

"Exactly," Nate said, nodding furiously. "You study all the time, in fact."

Henry leaned forward. "Especially if you are going to keep that full-ride scholarship you'll have for being so danged smart. Right?"

"Right," Andrew said. "Girls?" He turned to Nate.

"Lots of great girls. They're everywhere. I met Joss in college."

"How about you, Henry?" Andrew started. Then he looked at Polly. "Oh, I guess not."

The waiter came back and put plates down in front of Nate and Henry, then glanced at Polly. "Yours are coming right out. It should only be a minute."

She nodded. "Thanks."

Henry handed her a French fry. "Want one?"

"You're my hero," she said. Her phone buzzed in her back pocket and she groaned.

"What?" he asked.

Polly reached into her pocket and pulled out the phone. Jeff was calling her. "It's like he knows," she said. She glanced at the diners and scooted her chair back. "I'm going to take this. He knows I'm out adventuring with Andrew." She swiped the call open as she walked back to the foyer of the restaurant.

"Hey Jeff, what's up?" she asked.

"Where are you?"

"I'm not telling. It's better if you don't know," she responded. "Is something wrong?"

"Well, not necessarily wrong, but I need you."

She chuckled. "Of course you do. What's going on?"

Yelling in the background grew closer and Jeff whispered loudly. "Just come back. And hurry."

"Jeff, what?" Polly asked.

"It's not that big of a deal, I guess. But I can't talk right now. Hurry back, will you?"