Chapter 8
8
“Brady, I have a table near the window waiting for you.”
“Little Grandma, how’d you know I was coming in for lunch?”
“Just a feeling I had.”
I shivered. I hated feelings like that. They reminded me too much of my dreams, too much of that woman Blessing. But I forced myself to smile.
“And who are you?” The old woman smiled at Marlowe.
“I’m sorry. I forgot my manners. This is Marlowe Jones. She’s renting Beau’s place.”
Little Grandma smiled. “You’re the new math teacher. Aren’t you pretty as a picture?” She turned on her stool. I knew she was getting ready to holler for Lettie, but her granddaughter was already beside her, grinning.
“Hey, you two. Your table is waiting. Follow me.”
Lettie seated them in the far corner, like we needed privacy. I appreciated it.
“What can I get you two to drink?”
“Iced tea for me,” Marlowe answered.
“I’ll take water.”
Lettie plopped down the menus and left us, and Marlowe laughed. “We’re going to be the talk of the town.”
“Huh?”
“The two of us eating here, both of us not wearing jeans? It’s looking date-like. Yep, this will be all over Jasper Creek by tomorrow morning.”
“I think you’ve got this wrong. People have better things to do with their lives than gossip.”
Marlowe laughed again, and I couldn’t help but be affected. It was low and husky and it hit me in my gut.
“You were in the service, right?”
I nodded.
“How long?”
“Fourteen years.”
She tilted her head and grinned. “Are you telling me that there wasn’t scuttlebutt flying around base when people hooked up?”
“Scuttlebutt? What are you doing using a Navy term?”
“My dad was in the Navy,” Marlowe said quietly. “I lost him, my mom, and my sister in a car wreck when I was in college.”
“Aw, Marlowe, I’m so sorry.” I looked into her eyes, and could see how her brown eyes were almost black. There was a shine to them, as if she were getting ready to cry. Then she took a deep breath, and as if by magic, her eyes were their normal warm brown, and no sign of tears.
“Yeah, it was rough, but I’ve mostly moved past it.” She gave me a smile.
I shook my head. “You never get over something like that. It haunts you, and then something will trigger you and it will come up and hit you in the heart.”
“Have you lost someone?” I saw an imperceptible tremble of her lower lip, but then she pushed them tightly together.
I thought about Sully, and I nodded. “It was nothing compared to you. But one of our teammates suffered a stroke while we were on leave. We were in Hawaii for a couple of days before heading to Japan to go skiing on Mt. Fuji. Sully had a massive stroke and he never woke up.”
Marlowe bent her head, then looked up. “That’s rough.”
I nodded. She must have noticed my fist clenched on the table, because she put her hand over mine. It felt strange having someone trying to comfort me. Strange and good. But how could it be possible when what happened to her was ten times worse? I turned my hand over and tangled my fingers with hers. She let me. This felt even better.
“Here’s your iced tea, Honey.” Lettie placed our brimming glasses down on the table without spilling a drop and Marlowe took that moment to pull back her hand.
I wanted her hand back. I wanted her touch.
I was beginning to like this woman.
“So have you decided what you want to order?”
“Do you have fried chicken?” Marlowe asked.
Lettie grinned. “Haven’t had time to look at the menu, have you? Your best bet is to go with the buttermilk brined fried chicken with our spicy maple syrup, served up with the fluffiest waffles you can imagine.”
“She’s not lying,” a man’s voice shouted out.
I looked over to see Harvey sitting two tables over.
“After watching you eat at Lettie’s potluck, I know you know your food. So, I trust you, Harvey.” Marlowe grinned.
“Actually, you can’t trust him. If I served him pig slop, he’d eat it, as long as I covered it up with enough gravy.”
“You wound me, Lettie. I might have to take my business elsewhere,” Harvey complained.
“Don’t lie to me, Harvey Sadowski. Pearl cut you off for two days, seeing as how you told her the eggs were too runny and the bacon was burnt.”
Marlowe and I were doing our best not to laugh. She was having better luck. Harvey was reminding me of one of my old Sergeants, and I was about to lose it.
“Lettie, what could I do? Sam’s been off his game, I had to bring it to Pearl’s attention. She didn’t want her customers to be upset.”
“You yelled it across the restaurant so everybody could hear. Including Sam. He’s going through a lot, and there you were poking at him. It wasn’t just rude, it was mean.”
Lettie’s voice had lowered at the last sentence. Apparently, what she had to say was relatively private. I took in Harvey’s face. He was beginning to look upset. He got out of his chair and stood next to our table so he could talk to Lettie privately.
“Lettie, what’s wrong with Sam? Now that you’ve said this much, you’ve got to tell me the rest. You know it will go no further than me and Missy.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. I know Missy and she’ll be over at his house offering him meals and her help an hour after you hang up the phone with her. You and I know Sam won’t want that.”
This entire conversation was fascinating. Missy had to be Harvey’s wife, and she knew who Sam was and where he lived. Sam had to be sick and she would be going over to his house to help him, just based on one conversation. This place really was something special.
“Lettie, cut it out and just tell me. I’ll make sure that Missy stays put until you, Pearl or Little Grandma gives me the go-ahead. How ‘bout that?”
Lettie sighed, then nodded. “Sam had a stroke four weeks ago. That’s why he wasn’t in the kitchen for a couple of weeks. He insisted on coming back, but he’s struggling. Pearl wanted him to only come back part time, but he wouldn’t hear of it.”
“Pearl’s scary,” Harvey muttered. “All she needed to do was put her foot down.”
“She’s set up like we are,” Lettie said. “We have insurance for the few full-time folks we have, but our sick leave and vacation is minimal. Pearl was paying over and above for Sam. Hell, he’d been working for Pearl since damn near day one. That’s why he insisted on coming back. He knew she was paying him out of her own pocket, while paying someone to come in and cook.”
“Damn, Lettie, why didn’t she tell us? You know we would have been over like a shot. The man doesn’t have any family.”
“You know Sam’s too proud for that. But Pearl told me and Ma and Little Grandma, so we went over in shifts when Pearl had to stay at her restaurant. It was easier for us, since we close the diner at four.”
Harvey nodded. “How bad was the stroke, Lettie?”
“It wasn’t good, but you know how it is these days. They boot you out of the hospital as soon as you can blink on your own.” Lettie sighed. “Okay, it wasn’t as bad as that, but Sam lied to them and said he had someone at home who would be there to take care of him. His left side isn’t good, he’s having trouble with his left leg still, his left shoulder and arm are getting somewhat better. Pearl gives him and her other two full-time employees insurance, but it’s not the best, so rehab was out of the question, so I got him exercises off the internet to do.”
I winced. The longer Sam went without doing proper physical therapy, the more likely he was to not recover his full range of motion. What’s more, his pain could get really bad if his muscles atrophy and joints contracture.
Fuck!
Kai, you’re not here to get involved. You just wanted to find out where you came from and maybe meet your brother. You didn’t want to get involved. Remember?
“Is there a physical therapist in town who could work with him?” I asked.
Harvey and Lettie’s gazes swung to me. It was obvious they had forgotten that Marlowe and I were sitting at the table.
“No, no physical therapist,” Harvey answered. “There’s only Doc Evans who’s about Little Grandma’s age. For anything more than a sliver removed, you need to go to Gatlinburg.”
“Shame on you.” Lettie glowered at Harvey. “He’s my mom’s age, and he’s delivered most everybody here in Jasper Creek.”
“Which explains why most of the population of Jasper Creek is a few bricks shy of a load.”
“Starting with you, Harvey Sandowski. Starting with you,” Lettie muttered, shaking her head.
“Nah, I was delivered when he was still at the top of his game,” Harvey chortled.
“Apparently you weren’t, if you’re dumb enough to be talking about me when I’m three tables away from you.”
Am I in a fucking soap opera or what?
I watched as a gray-haired old man walked over to our table. Despite the gray hair, he seemed pretty spry. Actually, he was moving a whole hell of a lot better than Harvey was. I bet he wasn’t eating the cardiac kicker for every meal.
“Lettie, I have to say I’m very disappointed in you, your ma, your grandma, and Pearl for not telling me about Sam. I could have helped some.”
“You were taking care of Carrie and her son. You didn’t need anything more put on your plate,” Lettie protested.
Doc Evans ran his hand through what was left of his white hair and sighed. “Carrie and Rick were out of the woods last week, and you know it. You could have brought me in then.”
“By that time, Sam was back at work,” Lettie disagreed. “There wasn’t anything you could do.”
“I could have helped with his exercises.”
“You needed some downtime. Anyway, the last time someone needed PT, you sent them to Gatlinburg, and Sam doesn’t have the money for that.”
I cleared my throat, and all three of them looked down at me. “I could help with the PT.”
“Are you a physical therapist?” the doctor asked.
“No, but I spent six months at Walter Reed getting physical therapy on my back, arm, and leg. I know how important it is, and I know how to do the exercises properly. I can talk to my physical therapist and ask him which exercises Sam needs, and then help him do them properly.”
I watched as Doc Evans again ran his hand through his sparce hair. No wonder he was almost bald. “So, you’re the missing Brady Beaumont, huh? How long are you planning on sticking around for?”
I shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew who I was. Apparently, everybody knew everything about one another in this town.
“I go by Kai.” I stood up and offered my hand. “Kai Davies.”
“I didn’t deliver you and your brother. I was worried about delivering twins, so you were delivered in Gatlinburg.”
I nodded. That filled in some blanks.
“So, your son-of-a-bitch father took you?”
I nodded.
“He hurt you?” The doctor gave me a piercing look.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
I heard Marlowe gasp. “The bastard hurt you.” The doctor made it a statement. A statement I couldn’t dispute. “He was worse than a son-of-a-bitch. He was evil. Left town before he could be arrested after what he did to your brother. I assume because you’re calling yourself Kai Davies that you didn’t know about that.”
I shook my head. “Only reason I’m here is that I found a photo of Beau and me when we were maybe three years old in the front yard of our house. The one with the red porch swing. On the back of the photo, it said Brady and Grady, Jasper Creek.”
“If he was calling you Kai Davies, what was he calling himself?”
“Ronald Davies,” I answered.
“Hmmm. I expect the statute of limitations is done for kidnapping you, then again, maybe not.” Again, he rubbed the top of his head. “We’ll have to call Nash.”
Now I wanted to scrub the top of my head. The last thing I wanted to do was file charges against Ronald/Arthur. I wanted him in my rearview mirror, and I wanted to stay here long enough to meet my brother, which might take more than a minute.
“Eh-hum, you both have forgotten what’s important. Sam is who we were talking about.” Lettie looked over at me. “When can you start working with Sam? He gets off at seven o’clock.”
“I’m thinking since I’m a stranger, somebody better talk to him about me first, don’t ya think?” I worked hard to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, but from the way Lettie rolled her eyes and Doc laughed, apparently I didn’t succeed.
“He’s got you there, Lettie,” the Doc laughed.
“All right. Leave your number at the checkout stand when you leave. I’ll call you tomorrow on how to get to Sam’s house.”
I just nodded. She was a steamroller, and I knew I was hired. Not that I was going to get any money, and not that I cared. Uncle Sam was giving me disability pay, and I’d never been a big spender so I had a nice nest egg that I still needed to figure out what to do with.
“Now the rest of you lot, get to your seats, your food is getting cold.”
“So, does that mean Missy and I can take some food over to Sam’s?”
Lettie slammed her fists on her hips and looked up at Harvey. “No. Weren’t you listening, you big lug? He needs to be feeling better about himself before he can take anybody knowing that anything went wrong. Let Kai here do his magic. Get back to your seat.”
I watched as Harvey and Doc went back to their seats then turned my attention to Lettie.
“I’m not sure what I’m actually going to be able to do,” I objected.
Lettie glanced over at me. “I know your type. Always hiding your light under a bushel. If you said you know something about physical therapy, that means you could probably hang out a shingle.”
Marlowe laughed.
“See, even Marlowe agrees with me, and it’s only your first date.”
“How do you know everything?”
“It’s the way it is around here. Get used to it.” She turned to Marlowe and smiled. “So, do you want the fried chicken and waffles?”
Marlowe had the widest smile on her face that I’d ever seen. Man, she was pretty.
“Lettie, you sold me. I’d love that.”
“What about you, Kai?”
“Surprise me.”
Lettie and Marlowe both chuckled.
“I like it. A man of adventure,” Marlowe crooned.
The tone of her voice streaked straight to my cock. Then she put her straw in her iced tea and took a delicate sip, and I knew I was in big trouble.