Chapter 5
5
At seven o’clock sharp, I was out of the motel and at the Down Home Diner. It was already open, and half the tables were full. My stomach started rumbling as soon as the smells hit me. There was bacon and coffee, that was for sure, but there were other things that had me almost salivating. The protein bar I’d had at four o’clock that morning wasn’t cutting it.
I walked up to the hostess station and grinned. The little old lady sitting on the stool beside the station grinned back at me, then she frowned.
“Wait just a dog-gone minute. Is that you, Beau?”
I tilted my head and looked at her. My heart beat a little faster. “Beau?”
“Don’t be giving me any of your sass, boy. I might be old. Real old, but my eyesight is just fine.” She gave me a mischievous grin. “Well, good for a girl one-hundred-and-one years young. Now you answer me, Grady Beau Beaumont. Have you finally decided to come home? Because it’s about dang time.”
“Ma’am, my name isn’t Beau. My name is Kai Davies. To my knowledge, I’ve lived up in Alaska my entire life, but I found this photo in my aunt’s possessions after she passed.” I pulled out my wallet and handed her the photo that said Grady and Brady, Jasper Tennessee.
She sucked in a loud breath as she looked down at the picture.
“Little Grandma, are you going to let us in, or what? We’re hungry.”
I turned around to see five people standing behind me. One man looked very impatient, and I recognized him from yesterday afternoon at Pearl’s. He was the gravy guy.
“Hold your horses, Harvey. This is important.” Little Grandma waved her hand at him.
She looked down at the picture in her hand, then looked back up at me. “Kai Davies, Brady Beaumont disappeared almost thirty years ago. So did his daddy, Arthur. Arthur was a mean sumbitch. We never did know what happened to him, or that little boy. Beau joined the Marines when he turned eighteen. He came back a few times to sort out his mama’s things and start renting out his house on Dogwood. After that we ain’t never seen hide nor hair of him again. That’s been nigh on fourteen years. You’re the spitting image of Beau.”
“Little Grandma,” Harvey growled.
“Lettie,” Little Grandma hollered out. “Come seat Harvey before he gnaws a leg off a chair. Then seat the others. Will you, Darlin’?”
A pretty, curvy, middle-aged woman came over and plucked some menus out of Little Grandma’s hand and glowered at Harvey. “This way, you overgrown horse’s behind. Just for causing trouble, you’re not getting a cinnamon roll with your meal.”
“Lettie, that’s just not fair,” I heard him whine as she took him to a table near the back of the restaurant.
Little Grandma looked up at the others. “Here’s the menus. The rest of you can seat yourselves. You’ll get a free cinnamon roll with your meals today for waiting so patiently, so eat hearty.”
I was in a daze as I watched her customers thank her profusely, take the menus, and go into the dining room. All I could really think about, all I could really concentrate on, was that I had a brother. And his name was Beau.
“What’s your daddy’s name?” Little Grandma asked.
“Ronald. Ronald Davies. His sister’s name was Sheila. She died three years ago.”
“That’s a shame, son. I’ll say a prayer for her. Do you have a picture of your daddy?”
I shook my head. There was never a reason to take a picture of Ronald. Never.
“Well, welcome home, Brady Beaumont.”
She reached up and enveloped me in a hug that smelled like cinnamon and roses. I found myself hugging her back. When she released me, it was like my entire world had turned upside down.
I have a brother.
My name was Brady Beaumont.
I have a brother.
The woman in front of me seemed to understand.
“Lettie,” she called out.
Lettie finished up pouring cups of coffee for a table, then rushed over. “Yes’m?”
“Clear off that table in the corner. Get this boy a full breakfast. And I mean everything.”
“French toast, or pancakes?” she asked.
“Both. I don’t know what he likes, but I want him to have a choice.”
Lettie headed for the table.
“Make sure he gets a cinnamon roll too,” Little Grandma called over her shoulder as she slowly got off her chair and then pulled me toward the table in the corner in front of the window. Lettie led the way and started clearing the table.
“Little Grandma, why does he get a cinnamon roll and I don’t?” Harvey whined again.
“Your wife told me that your sugar is high. Plus, you were rude. You’re lucky you’re getting syrup, so hush up.”
My lip kicked up. Even in Dillingham, which was a much smaller burg than this place, people weren’t this deep into one another’s business.
“It’s clean. What do you want, Little Grandma?” Lettie asked as she stood up straight.
“Tea and a biscuit with honey. No butter.”
“I’ll have your orders up in a jiffy. Do you want coffee?” she asked me.
I nodded. She turned over the coffee mug on the table and poured me a cup.
I looked around the diner and saw a few people looking over at us. They were definitely curious about what was going on. Apparently, it wasn’t often that Little Grandma sat down with a customer.
“You have questions, don’t you? Go ahead and ask.”
It took me a minute. All of my brain cells were firing at once. I took a deep breath, then another. Just as if I had a target in sight as I was holding my sniper rifle. I nodded at the old woman in front of me.
“I found Rose Beaumont’s death certificate. It said her maiden name was McBride. My dad always said my mother’s maiden name was McDonald.”
“Arthur was an asshole. Pardon my French.”
“The death certificate said she died of cancer. Did she suffer long?”
“Six months before Beau graduated from high school. She was in a bad way. She’d been depressed for a long time. It was hard on Beau. All of us tried to help her. Get her professional help, but she refused. She clung to Beau and then, when she got the cancer, he nursed her. Again, all of us tried to pitch in, but she didn’t want us around, and he said he could handle it.”
“When was she diagnosed with cancer?”
“When Beau was fifteen. For the last five months of her life, she refused treatment. Just stayed at home and forced Beau to take care of her. But me and some of the other ladies in town forced our way into the situation so that Beau didn’t miss school. It would have been a shame if he hadn’t been able to graduate.”
“So that’s why Beau never comes back to Jasper Creek.”
She nodded. “I hear tell he’s busy climbing mountains and such when he does take leave. He keeps in touch with Bernie Falks. Bernie usually takes care of the whole renting process for Beau since he owns the house free and clear, but since Bernie married Mora, he hasn’t had time to do it for him. I heard tell that Beau took care of the renting by the internet.”
Climbing mountains and such?
“Besides climbing mountains, do you know what else he does?”
“Jumping on a base or something. Lettie’s daughter might know. She was all excited about it when she heard about it.”
Jumping on a base?
“Could it be base jumping?” I asked.
“Maybe. You’ll have to ask Theresa. She doesn’t come over until after her classes, about two o’clock. She helps to clean up and do prep work for the next day.”
“Okay.” I grinned. Seemed like I had a lot in common with my brother. I needed to get in touch with this Bernie Faulkes character to see if he could arrange for me to FaceTime with Beau. I was anxious to see my old house, too. Maybe it would spark some memories.
“Besides joining the Marines, renting his house, and base jumping, do you know anything else? Has he ever married? Does he have a girlfriend? Kids?”
“I’m sorry, son. I don’t know anything like that. It’s best that you talk to Bernie. Let me have someone give you?—”
“Order up!”
Four plates were put in front of me. One had waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. One had French toast with a side of something. Another had a stack of at least five pancakes. The main plate had biscuits and gravy, some eggs with cheese, peppers, and tomatoes. There were grits and home fries. If I had come off a mission, I could do justice to this breakfast, but coming out of the hospital, I just couldn’t.
“I’ll be right back with your tea and biscuit, Little Grandma,” Lettie said in a loving voice.
“Don’t forget Brady’s cinnamon roll.”
“I wanted to get him a fresh one. Mom’s icing it right now.”
“Good thinking.” Little Grandma smiled.
My stomach growled. Well, maybe I might be able to put a dent in the food. Not the waffles, though. All the whipped cream just seemed too much like dessert for breakfast, but I’d make an exception for the cinnamon roll.
Because.
Well.
Cinnamon roll.
I started to dig in, thinking about what I wanted to do besides contacting Bernie. Then it came to me. I wanted to see the porch that was always in my dreams. The porch where there had been a red swing.
“I have Beau’s address in my navigation system. I can just drive by after breakfast.” I said after I had swallowed a big forkful of liberally buttered grits.
“Do those actually work?” Little Grandma frowned. “In case they don’t, take First Street out of the town square. After the railroad tracks, you’ll start hitting the tree streets. Dogwood is after Maple. If you’ve made it to Ash, you’ve gone too far.”
She poured a little bit of milk into her tea and stirred. Then took a tiny sip and smiled. She nodded at my plate of pancakes. “You better start in on them before they get cold. Nothing worse than cold pancakes.”
“Yes’m.”
I continued to eat my food.
“Lettie?” Little Grandma called out.
Lettie hustled over and smiled. “Is everything okay?”
I nodded because my mouth was full.
Little Grandma spoke. “Everything is fine. Why don’t you call Sherray in to cover your shift? Brady here wants to look at his old family home. You live on Dogwood, you could guide him to the old Beaumont place.”
“I was just talking to the gal who rented the house. I’d be glad to take you. Let me get Sherray in here to cover my shift, then you can follow me.” She looked down at the table. “I’ll also get you another cup of coffee.”
I nodded because my mouth was full again.
Seriously, did they add crack to this food?
Little Grandma didn’t say anything while I continued to eat. She looked out the window and occasionally smiled and dipped her head at someone who passed by, but mostly she just sat there, contentedly sipping her tea and nibbling on her biscuit. After I finished all of my French toast, three of my pancakes, and almost everything on my main plate, I looked up at her and shook my head. “I can’t believe I ate that much.”
“Where are you staying?”
“The LeeHy motel.”
“I do hope you didn’t check in last night. Young Derek works nights, and despite coming from a wonderful family, he just came out wrong. All of his brothers and sisters are upstanding citizens, but young Derek is the bane of Roger and Harmony’s existence.”
“Yeah, I met him.”
“You might want to think about changing venues.”
“You’ve read my mind.”