Silt, Denver Cereal Volume 8 (16 page)

Jeraine looked Jacob up and down. Jacob
raised an eyebrow at him.

“
How about a friend?”
Jacob asked.

“
Since when are you and I
friends?” Jeraine scowled.

“
Since you’re standing in
a house I own and fixed up for you?” Jacob asked.

Jeraine nodded. He thought for a moment, and
then laughed at himself.

“
Would you take a look?”
Jeraine asked.

“
Sure.” Jacob leaned over
the maps. “I don’t know if I can
help . . .”

“
Just another pair of
eyes . . .” Jeraine said.

“
Would you look at
that . . .?” Jacob pointed to a deep underground
fault zone that ran down the center of Lipson Constructions’ large
project.

“
They say
here . . .” Jeraine picked up a book and put on his
reading glasses. “They say they use those
fissures . . . uh . . .” Jeraine’s
changed his voice to a geek voice. “To promote the expansion and
release of petrochemicals.”

Jeraine took off his glasses and looked at
Jacob.

“
What the hell does that
mean? Any fool who looks at this can see that you put pressure in
over here . . .” Jeraine pointed to the location of
the current fracking sites.

“
It’s going to come out
over here.” Jacob pointed to the underground fault.

“
That’s what I’m saying.”
Jeraine nodded. “Isn’t that where Rodney’s been
working?”

Jacob nodded.

“
What’s this?” Jill put
her finger on the map.

Jacob leaned over to look.

“
Isn’t that the outline of
the project?” Jill said. “I mean, it looks like it. It’s configured
here—road, buildings, area for a subdivision.”

Jacob groaned.

“
That isn’t it.” Jeraine
leaned over to take a closer look. “I’ve gone out there to meet
with my . . . uh . . . friend, Aden.
Where you’re pointing is about thirty
miles . . .”

“
Northeast,” Jacob said.
“Right. I wonder how it got moved.”

“
Probably couldn’t get
this land,” Jeraine said.

“
No, that’s not it,” Jacob
said.

“
How do you know?” Jeraine
scowled. “It could be it.”

“
It’s not,” Jacob
said.

“
Now how do you know?”
Jeraine asked.

“
I own this piece of
land,” Jacob said. “I bought it a few years ago along with some
neighboring farms.”

“
Jake transferred all his
property holdings into Katy’s name when we got married,” Jill said.
“The land belongs to her and the boys.”

She gestured to her belly.

“
Why would you buy some
farms in the middle of nowhere?” Jeraine asked.

“
Dad took a contract for a
sewer project out there,” Jacob said. “It was before I came back to
Colorado. I was helping him finish up these projects. We were
working out there and . . .”

Jacob blushed. Jeraine raised an eyebrow and
gave the same look Jacob had just given him.

“
You can tell a friend,”
Jeraine said.

Jacob pointed to the map.

“
There were three houses,
pretty close together, on three farms,” Jacob said. “The houses
are . . . gorgeous. Original fixtures, hand crafted,
beautiful old growth wood, leaded windows, everything in perfect
condition . . . The families had fallen onto hard
times and they were going to lose the land to the bank. I bought
them to save them from a . . ..”

Jill and Jeraine looked at him. He
flushed.

“
They wanted to build a
subdivision on them,” Jacob said.

“
You mean
this
subdivision.”
Jeraine pointed to the one Jill found on the map.

“
Probably.” Jacob
nodded.

“
So why didn’t they build
it?” Jill asked.

“
The owner wouldn’t sell?”
Jacob wrinkled his nose.

Jeraine and Jill laughed at Jacob.

“
Hey, thanks.” Jacob held
his hand out to Jeraine. “This is very helpful.”

“
You bet.” Jeraine shook
his hand. “Any idea what I should tell my dad?”

“
Hold off for now,” Jacob
said. “Let me see what I can figure out.”

Jacob helped Jill to her feet.

“
Let us know if there’s
anything else you need fixed,” Jill said.

“
You know I’m going to buy
this house,” Jeraine said.

“
Never doubted it,” Jacob
said.

Jeraine walked them to the door and they
left.

“
This is really a great
house,” Jill said.

“
It is.” Jacob nodded. He
opened the passenger door and helped her into the jeep. He checked
the back to make sure his tools were there and got in the driver’s
seat.

“
So what’s going on?” Jill
asked.

“
What do you mean?” Jacob
asked.

“
Why didn’t they use your
land?” Jill asked. “I mean it’s funny to think you didn’t sell
but . . .”

“
They never asked,” Jacob
said.

“
What the hell?” Jill
asked.

“
Exactly.”

Chapter Two Hundred and
Thirty-One
Tea

Tuesday afternoon—4:35 p.m.

“
I wanted to check to see
you needed anything else done?” Ivy asked.

Standing near the bottom of the basement
stairwell, Ivy’s arms were full of Noelle’s old clothing.

“
What do you mean?”
Delphie asked.

“
She wants to know how to
pay for everything,” Honey said.

“
Oh.” Delphie smiled. “You
helped clean out the room.”

“
That was fun,” Ivy
said.

“
Fun or not,” Delphie
said. “You helped us move one step closer to figuring out what’s in
this house. Now we have some things to give away, some items to
return, and . . .”

“
We’ve finished one more
room!” Valerie said, as she came down the hall toward them. “Whoo
hoo!”

Valerie put her arm around Delphie’s
shoulders, and they went up the basement stairs.

“
Can I help you up the
stairs?” Ivy asked Honey.

“
I can take the lift,”
Honey said.

She slid from her basement wheel chair to
the chair lift. Remembering what it was like for her when she moved
to the Castle, Honey turned back to the girl.

“
Why don’t you come up and
help me fold Maggie’s clothes?” Honey asked. “The kids will be home
from martial arts soon. They go running with Jacob about five. Did
you get some workout clothes?”

Ivy shook her head.

“
I bet they won’t go
running today since you’re here,” Honey said. “But don’t quote
me.”

Ivy walked beside Honey up the stairwell.
Honey plopped off the stairwell lift and into her upstairs
wheelchair. When she turned around, she saw how full Ivy’s arms
were.

“
First, let’s get you
something to hold all of those clothes in,” Honey said.

“
I’m okay,” Ivy
said.

Honey smiled and wheeled to the closet where
they stored luggage. She rolled out a suitcase.

“
I don’t know where I’m
going, Miss Honey,” Ivy said. “I don’t think I’m going to stay at
Mrs. Heather’s house. They’re going to see if I have any family
and . . .”

“
That’s all right,” Honey
said. “We can always get another.”

Honey set the suitcase on the couch and
unzipped it.

“
I lived in the motels on
Colfax when I was a kid,” Honey said. She patted the couch. “It was
weird when we moved. I was . . . mmm eight or nine I
guess when my mom got a good job.”

“
I never lived in the
motels.” Ivy set the clothing down on the couch cushion. Honey
picked up a shirt, set the hanger on the couch, and folded the
shirt. “I lived with my grandmother until a couple of years
ago.”

“
What happened to your
grandmother?” Honey asked. She set the shirt into the suitcase and
picked up another. Ivy copied Honey’s actions.

“
She died,” Ivy
said.

Honey glanced at Ivy with surprise.

“
What?” Ivy
asked.

“
Didn’t they take you into
social services? Try to find your family?” Honey asked.

“
Sure,” Ivy said. “But the
place was weird and . . . Everyone was a lot happier
if they got the money from the state, you know for fostering me,
but they didn’t like me there so much.”

“
Wow,” Honey
said.

“
Plus, I wanted to find
my . . .”

Ivy stopped talking and focused on the
clothing. In the silence, they made quick work of folding her
clothing and putting it in the suitcase.

“
You know, I bet you could
wear some of my clothes,” Honey said.

“
Do you have normal
clothes?” Ivy asked. Her hand went to her mouth. “I’m sorry. I
didn’t mean anything bad. I . . .”

“
Most people in
wheelchairs wear regular clothing,” Honey said. “At least I do.
Come on, let’s look and see what I have.”

Honey picked up the suitcase and wheeled to
her apartment.

“
Be very quiet,” Honey
said. “MJ and Maggie are sleeping in her room.”

Honey gestured to the baby monitor hooked
onto her wheelchair. Ivy heard MJ snore and gave Honey a bright
nod. Honey opened the door to the apartment and wheeled up the ramp
to her wheel-in closet.

“
You can really have
anything. Most of this stuff doesn’t fit me now that I’ve had
Maggie,” Honey said. “If I were you, I’d get some of the nice
stuff. You don’t have anything to wear to dinner or
whatever.”

“
Do you think I’ll need
it?” Ivy asked.

“
If you stay around here,
there’s always something,” Honey said. “We’re virtually going to
Valerie’s premiere next week.”

“
Virtually?” Ivy
asked.

“
By the computer,” Honey
said. “It’s something the movie producers set up so that family can
go. We’re getting dressed up. MJ’s wearing his dress uniform. It’ll
be Jackie’s first outing.”

Ivy nodded. Honey took a dress out of the
closet and held it up to Ivy.

“
You were saying something
about finding someone?” Honey tried to ask the question in the most
nonthreatening way possible. “Oh here’s a nice one.”

Honey pulled out a pair of black silk pants
and a silk top covered in pink roses. Ivy took the hanger from
Honey.

“
Jill got this for me for
our honeymoon. We didn’t end up going,” Honey said.

“
How come?” Ivy
asked.

“
I got sick,” Honey said.
“Try it on.”

Ivy pulled off her top and Honey went back
to looking at clothes.

“
My mom had an older
sister, like twenty years older,” Ivy said. “She told my dad all
about her. My dad promised he would find her so that my mom would
have some family, besides us, I mean. Then Mom died. We moved here
so that my dad could keep his promise but then he had to go to
Iraq. Grannie moved to take care of me while Dad was gone and
then . . . She got kinda stuck with me.”

While Honey pretended to be absorbed in her
clothing hunt, Ivy buttoned the silk blouse.

“
Grannie and I,” Ivy’s
voice clouded with sorrow, “we used to have the most fun looking
for my mom’s sister. Grannie would do all this research during the
week, online and stuff. On the weekends, we’d go on these grand
adventures. We went to Leadville. We’ve been to almost every
graveyard in Colorado looking for my mom’s sister. Grannie thought
it was a great mystery. That’s what she would say, ‘This is a
mystery for the record books.’ She was a lot of fun.”

“
You must miss her a lot,”
Honey said.

“
I do,” Ivy said. “I
really do.”

“
Did you ever find her?”
Honey asked.

“
My mom’s sister?” Ivy
asked. “No. I don’t really think she existed. I think it was just a
fun game my Grannie would play with me.”

Ivy pressed herself into the hanging
clothing so that Honey wouldn’t see her cry. Honey gave the girl
her space.

“
Let’s see,” Honey said.
“I have a few running shoes. I bet we’re about the same size. Do
you want to try them so you can go running?”

Ivy wiped her face and nodded.

“
Let’s get you dressed in
some of my workout clothes,” Honey said. “I have a lot. You can go
with them if they decide to run.”

“
I’d like that.” Ivy
grinned. “I’m pretty good at running from the police.”

Honey chuckled. She took some workout
clothing from her closet and gave it to Ivy.

“
It’s just a lot,” Ivy
said. “Are you sure you want
me
to have it?”

“
Most of this stuff I
bought with my own money from work,” Honey said. “If you want, you
can always babysit to make up for it or whatever.”

Ivy brightened. She liked the idea of having
a way to pay back. She sat down to put on the shoes. They were a
little big. Honey took a look and agreed that they were okay for
now. Plus, she would probably grow into them.