Look Always Forward (Bellingwood Book 11) (7 page)

"No." Polly stuck her lower lip out.

"And I don't know what you think you'd do with him at the inn. You don't even have a manager."

"Whoops," she said.

Henry put his menu back down again. "What's whoops?"

Their waitress stopped, took their order, and Henry looked at Polly again. "You said 'whoops.' What does that mean?"

"We hired Alistair Greyson to manage the inn."

Henry had started to take a drink of water and instead, put the glass back down on the table. "Who is the
we
in that equation?"

"We. You know. Me and Jeff. I had a crazy idea and he ran with it. It's the same deal we made with Eliseo. We'll try this for a month. If it goes well, great, we move forward. If it goes horribly bad, then everyone moves on and we start over. But I like him, Henry. He's a good man."

"I thought you said he was odd."

"Well," she chuckled. "That doesn't change whether or not he's a good man. He just happens to have a few odd affectations."

"Does he have any experience?"

"Did I?"

"Well no, but you were building a business, not running someone else's."

"And I had no business background, no idea what I was going to do once I started. I didn't know anyone in town. I had no connections."

He put his hand up to stop her. "Okay, okay. I get it. It just seems strange to hire someone like that right off the street."

"You mean like Eliseo? Or even Jeff for that matter. He walked in for an interview and hired himself."

"But Jeff had the education. And Eliseo is just ... Eliseo."

"And Grey is Grey," she retorted. "It's going to be okay. I have a good feeling about this. And besides, Obiwan liked him."

"If the dog likes him, I guess he's acceptable, then," Henry said.

"That's right," Polly said. "It's going to be fine. You'll see."

Henry smiled at her. "Your super power is finding dead bodies, not reading people or having good feelings."

"Don't start with me. There are going to be no more dead bodies." Polly glanced up and said, "Well, oh my. I wonder who the pretty boy is with her."

"That's mean. With who? I hate it when you look at things behind me and make cryptic comments."

"With her," Polly said, grinning and standing up. "Hello Beryl, how are you? You look wonderful this evening." She gave her friend a hug and waited while Henry stood.

Both Henry and Polly waited an uncomfortable moment for Beryl to introduce the man who was standing beside her.

He shifted on his feet and Beryl finally broke the silence. "It's nice to see you two this evening. I hope you enjoy your meal."

She tugged a beautifully knitted black shrug around her shoulders and turned to follow the hostess.

"Oh no you don't," Polly said, grabbing her arm. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh honey, there are so many things that I would dare. Maybe you ought to clarify." Beryl lifted Polly's fingers one by one and then squeezed her hand gently before dropping it.

Polly put her hand out to the man and said, "I'm Polly Giller and this is my husband Henry Sturtz."

He shook her hand and then Henry's and finally looked at Beryl, laughter in his eyes.

Henry couldn't stand it. "Would you two like to join us this evening? We've only just placed our order with the waitress. I'm sure they can put our food on hold until you've ordered."

"We couldn't," Beryl said. "We have too much to discuss and it would be rude." She took the man's arm and led him away from the table, looking back over her shoulder at Polly with an immense smile on her face.

Polly and Henry sat back down and Polly just looked at him. "I don't know what to think about that," she said.

"What just happened?"

"Is she on a date?"

"Surely you would have heard about a hot date. Wouldn't you?"

Polly craned her neck to see where they'd been seated. "You'd think. Was she just being rotten by not introducing him to us? And how did he avoid the introduction so gracefully? I gave him a perfect lead-in and he ignored it. And I think he enjoyed ignoring it!" She pursed her lips. "I'm calling Lydia."

The waitress came with their salads and after she left, Henry picked up his fork. "Let's enjoy our supper and you can talk to Lydia tomorrow. Maybe Beryl is just messing with you and soon she won't be able to stand it. Then she'll tell you what's going on."

"I suppose you're right," Polly said. She glanced back at their table again. Beryl was laughing and touching the man's forearm. "But she's flirting with him."

"Eat your food," he said.

"If she was trying to hide him from us, she wouldn't have brought him to Davey's. They could have gone anywhere else and been more discreet than this."

"Exactly. It's probably nothing. Eat."

Polly looked down at her salad and then up at him. "This has been a weird meal so far. We should probably have played the story-telling game. It would have been easier."

Henry raised an eyebrow.

"Making up fictional stories about the people we see here. This real stuff is enough to make me insane."

CHAPTER SEVEN

Huffing out an exasperated sigh, Polly called Lydia as soon as they were back in the truck.

"Hello dear, how are you?" Lydia asked.             

"Confused."

Lydia chuckled and asked, "Well, that's a new response. What's going on?"

"You tell me," Polly replied. "I just sat through dinner at Davey's watching Beryl and some strange man together. She was all dressed up and it looked like she was flirting with him. Who is it?"

"Don't tell me you didn't introduce yourself," Lydia said.

"Of course I did. I even caused an awkward silence hoping that one or the other one of them would cave in and introduce him to me. Beryl just ignored it and he wasn't helpful either. Who is it?"

"Hmmm," Lydia said. "I don't know of any special man in Beryl's life. Is she hiding a new beau?"

"They're hardly hiding if they're eating together at Davey's," Polly retorted. "Now do you know something about this or not?"

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Lydia said.

"Mine? I don't have anything interesting going on."

"That's not the rumor I've heard. You and Jeff have gotten awfully busy over there at Sycamore House. You hired a manager for the coffee shop and it appears you've rescued another poor soul and hired him to manage the inn."

Polly sighed. Nothing got past this woman. "You already know everything. Yes and yes. What more is there to tell you?"

"I want to hear all about these people. What do you think of them? Why did you hire them? Was it your decision or Jeff's? What does Henry think about all of this?" Lydia took a breath and before Polly could respond, she rushed ahead. "Not because Henry has any say in it, I'm just interested in his opinion. I know that he doesn't tell you what to do."

Polly laughed. "I knew that. Maybe we should have coffee or lunch in the next couple of days and hash out all of the gossip in town."

"We should get together," Lydia said firmly. "Another dinner with the five of us. What do you think?"

"I'm game. The only person we need to worry about is Sylvie. She's going out of her mind. I can't force her to hire someone, but until she does, she's stretched pretty thin."

"Let me work on her and we'll find a time. We can do it at my house again. It's been too long and I miss having you all come over."

"That sounds great."

"It's a plan, then. I'll make the calls tomorrow and work on a plan. I love you sweetie, have a good night."

With that, Lydia was gone.

Polly looked at the phone in her hand and then at Henry. "She hung up," Polly said.

"Did you find out what you were looking for?"

"No. She hung up. I don't know whether she deliberately ignored the reason for my call or if she was distracted by the party. And I don't know what to do now."

He laughed. "That'll teach ya. You're too nice. You won't call her back either, will you?"

"I can't. If she's deliberately avoiding my question, she'll just keep doing it. If she was being ditzy, I hate pointing that out. I don't know anything more now than I did before I called. Well, except that we're going to have another party."

Henry pulled into the driveway and pressed an overhead button to raise the garage door. "Another drunken night of revelry?"

"Oh please no." Polly shuddered. "That was a once-in-a-decade kind of thing. None of us ever want to go through that again." She opened the truck door and turned back to look at him. "But it was fun. As much as we don't want to repeat it, all of us had a blast. Even Lydia, and she was the one going through hell at the time." Polly leaned back on the seat. "Can you believe that was just six months ago? So much has happened. Everything keeps changing."

"It does," he agreed.

"Henry, we have a daughter who is going to be a seventh grader. She's only going to be with us for six more years and then she'll be making decisions about her future. How am I supposed to prepare for that?"

He put his hand on the console, palm up and she placed hers on top of it. Henry squeezed it lightly. "You know you're getting ahead of yourself, right?"

"I try not to think about it too often," Polly said. "It scares me to death.  I don't want to miss anything, but I want to be ready for all of the big things that are ahead for her."

"You'll always be ready. Just slow down and enjoy the moments. Right?"

She nodded. "It's a nice evening. Do you have time for a long walk with the dogs?"

"I have all the time in the world for you." He jumped out of the truck and ran around the front so that he was beside her by the time she got to the door. He kissed her cheek and she took his hand and leaned in to kiss his lips.

"Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by my life," Polly said. "You're my only constant. When everything else is in chaos, you're steady and solid."

He broke from the embrace and opened the door. "Well, that sounds boring."

"Not boring. Never boring."

"Good. Because if you think I'm boring, I'm going to start making waves." He opened the door at the bottom of their steps and flipped a light on. The dogs were on the landing, waiting to be called. "Come on down, boys. Your mama has been much too philosophical tonight. She needs to get outside where grass is green, skies are blue and life is real."

Polly snagged two leashes and bent to kiss the top of Obiwan's head. Han bumped the older dog out of the way and she rubbed his neck, and waited for him to send his tongue across her cheek.

"He's a sloppy kisser," she said. "You need to teach him to be neater about that."

"I don't think so," Henry said. "That little boy has learned so much from Eliseo. I don't feel like I have much of a say in what he does after that. He's a goofy, goofy dog."

"We have the strangest little family, don't we?" she asked.

Henry snapped the leash onto Han's collar and they walked back outside. "Our family might look different than others, but we're happy. Now which way shall we go?"

"We aren't in a hurry. Let's go north and wander through town," she responded.

He nodded and clicked his teeth much like Eliseo did and Han stopped pulling and dropped in beside him.

"It always amazes me," Polly said.

Henry chuckled. "To be honest, it amazes me, too. It's like it's an on-off button. Eliseo should teach classes. We'd have a town filled with obedient dogs and even better, smart pet owners. You were lucky with Obiwan, but I'm pretty sure this one left his brains in New Mexico."

"Come on," she said as they crossed the highway. "He's a great dog."

"Yes," he agreed. "He's a great dog. But intuitive he isn't." They got to the other side and Henry bent down and slipped a treat out of his pocket. "I love you though. You're a good boy."

Han wagged his tail, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Henry handed another one to Obiwan. "You're just a good dog all around."

"Wow," Polly said. "They even have you trained."

It was still early enough that there was plenty of activity in and around the restaurants and bars. People waved from their cars or smiled and said hello. She enjoyed being out on summer evenings. Next week the stores would stay open in the evenings as people prepared for the start of school. Then she had one more community band concert over Labor Day weekend. It was hard to believe they were coming up on three years in Sycamore House. So much had happened and she'd gotten to know more people than she could have ever imagined.

This was her home now. Story City was her dad's home and Boston was just a place where she used to live. Bellingwood was home. She no longer relied on Henry to tell her who people were in town. There were a few that she didn't immediately recognize. For the most part, though, even if she didn't know people well, she was familiar with who they were.

"What's that about?" Henry asked, startling Polly out of her thoughts.

"What's what?"

"Is tomorrow a big day at the coffee shop?"

"I don't think so. Why?" Polly asked.

"Lights are on. Do you have your keys?"

Polly patted her pockets. "No. You don't?"

"I dumped all the keys in the tray before we left for dinner."

She gave a one shoulder shrug. "Maybe it's Camille."

They crossed the street and stopped in front of the door to the coffee shop. Henry tugged on it and both of them were surprised when it opened.

"What in the heck?" he asked.

Polly put her hand on his arm. "I don't want to go in."

"How bad do you not want to go in?"

She looked down at the dogs. "Bad enough that I want Obiwan with me."

"Fine." Henry took her elbow. "Let's see what's going on."

He pulled the door open and Polly stepped in first, calling out "Camille? Are you here?"

The light coming from the bakery showed a mess in the main room. Books had been pulled off the shelves, tables and chairs were overturned and mugs that had been neatly stacked on the counter were broken on the floor.

"Damn it," she said. "What happened?"

"I'll call Ken," Henry responded.

"Let's see what the rest of the place looks like first," she said. "I don't want to tell Sal about this. She's going to freak out."

Henry flipped the main lights on. The damage wasn't awful, but it was apparent that someone had gone through the place.

"I can't believe no one saw this," Polly said. She strode across the floor and looked behind the bar. Everything was still in place.

Henry used his phone to capture pictures of the damage and she went down the back hallway to the kitchen, terrified of what she might find. Obiwan followed along quietly and stopped beside her in the doorway. She breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing there. It still looked as fresh and new as it had when she'd been here earlier. At least she didn't have to give bad news to Sylvie. One friend in distress at a time was plenty.

The back door was open and Polly crossed the room to pull it shut. Who left things like this? They'd have to find out who had been the last person in and out of this place. Yes, Bellingwood was a small town, but obviously there needed to be some security.

When she got to the back door, Obiwan tugged on the leash. He pulled her outside to the back dock, filled with empty cardboard boxes and pallets.

"You aren't giving me a lot of confidence, Obiwan," she whispered as she let him pull her. She went down the steps to the alley and the dog walked to the end of their building. He sniffed at a stack of pallets and looked up at her.

"What's there?" she asked.

"Polly, are you out here?" Henry called from the back door.

"Just a second," she said and walked in front of Obiwan. It was pretty dark in this corner, so she took out her phone and turned the flashlight on. "Crap," she said, then bent down to rub Obiwan's neck. "
You
are the good dog. Thanks for finding her."

Polly called back to Henry. "Don't bother with Ken. I'm calling Aaron."

"Wh..." he started, then walked along the dock to where she was standing. "I shouldn't even ask, should I? What did you find?"

She pointed at the body of Julie Smith, one of the new employees, lying behind the stack of pallets.

Han tried to leap off the dock, but Henry held tightly to his leash. Polly and Obiwan walked back over to the stairs, she sat down and swiped a call open.

"Don't you have someone else to call when this happens?" Aaron said upon answering the phone.

"Maybe I'll buy you a cape and bright red oversized underwear you can wear over your uniform," Polly said. "You're my hero."

"You're about to mess up my perfectly calm evening, aren't you?"

"I can call Ken," she replied.

"Okay, why don't you do that?"

"Hey! I call you when I find a body. I call him when other things happen. I like to spread the joy."

She heard Lydia's voice in the background and Aaron said, "Yes, Polly found someone." He hesitated and said, "No, you can't come with me. You can talk to her tomorrow."