41. ~ Char ~
CHAPTER 41
~ Char ~
I woke up with one of my many park lists stuck to my cheek. I yanked it off my face and squinted at the morning light blinding me, trying to figure out where I was.
The Backstrohm’s kitchen.
Did I have work today?
Was James still in love with me? Or had Estelle finally taken him away?
There was someone in the house. My heart thundered, and I clutched the edge of the table, listening, ready to bolt in the opposite direction of the scuffling sound.
“Char?” a male voice called.
It was James. I sagged into my seat. “In here.” I scrubbed my hands down my face and tried to wake up.
I swivelled in my chair, waiting for him to appear in the doorway. Moments later, there he was, fresh-faced and as handsome as ever. My heart lifted as he came over to kiss me.
He still liked me.
I smoothed my shirt, then wiped my fingers under my eyes in case my mascara had travelled in the night.
“Did you sleep here?” He took a chair close to me, swinging it around to sit backward on it, studying my rumpled appearance. It was way too early in our relationship for him to see me like this, especially when he looked fresh, as though he’d been up for hours and was having the best day of his life.
Then again, we were doing this. We were doing real. And right now I was a very real mess and completely me. I snatched him by the hand and tugged him closer. Catching what I wanted, he leaned in, letting me kiss him again. Slowly, wonderfully. He pulled me to my feet, wrapping me in his arms, angling his jaw to deepen the kiss. Someone once told me there was always space between particles or matter. I didn’t believe it. Or at least I didn’t want to. I wanted no space between me and this man.
When we broke apart, I asked, “Want coffee?”
James was grinning, and he had sort of a wired, bouncy energy, like he’d already had seven cups.
“What’s with you this morning?”
“Remember how I applied for grants so we could buy a play structure for your park?”
“Yeah?” When the lots had been seized by the police, we’d made contingency plans in the hopes that we could still build the park, even though our initial timeline was clearly scrapped. We’d also applied for every long shot and sent in every possible proposal to every possible sponsor we could think of.
A smile broke across James’s face. “We got one.”
“We did?” I was suddenly wide awake.
He nodded. “And I found a company who can install the equipment in a week.”
I squealed and launched myself at him, my socks slipping on the polished tile floor. He caught me, holding me tight. But I was holding him even tighter while trying to jump in his arms.
“I love you! I love you! I love you!” I yelled, my joy spreading through me, leaving warmth and sunshine everywhere there’d ever been clouds.
I stopped jumping, James’s breath on my neck sending shivers up and down my spine, suddenly very aware of the muscular man holding me in his arms. The man who was always here, always in my corner. Solid. Reliable.
My boyfriend.
The man I’d wished upon and received. The man I’d then wished away, but was still here. The man whose life had been influenced by my wishes, but didn’t seem to care.
And I’d just told him three little words I’d honestly never thought I’d find anyone to say them to.
I slid from his arms, embarrassed, smoothing my shirt down over my waist. “Sorry. I’m just really excited.”
He pulled me into his arms again, gently lifting my chin with a finger. His warm eyes met mine, and in them I saw all the caring, affection and tenderness that I’d ever wanted. “I love you, too.”
* * *
I was in love with James.
James was in love with me.
It was perfect.
And it had been for almost two weeks.
But Estelle. My fairy godmother. Magic glitter and wishes. Unicorns, rainbows and no clue what was real.
I needed to talk to Estelle. She had to be back from her vacation by now, even though the witchy receptionist at Your Fairy Godmother kept insisting Estelle wouldn’t be back for some time. Our calendars were different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was lying to me, and I knew it. There had to be a rule about her keeping me from my fairy godmother.
I tightened my hand around James’s, listening to the kids play on the newly installed playground and letting the sun’s heat seep into my pores along with the feeling of happiness. I needed this to last forever. I needed to know how to make the leap from wishes and magic into reality.
“We’re literally watching cement dry,” James cracked, and I smiled.
“Yeah. It’s great, isn’t it?”
“Because it’s free?”
James’s dad played poker with the owner of a local concrete company, who offered the leftovers he had from various projects. The only stipulation was that there probably wouldn’t be enough for what we needed, and that he wouldn’t know if he had any extra until the last minute, etcetera, etcetera. Lots of caveats.
But then today he’d shown up with enough to not only create the paths in one go, but to also put in a basketball area. I had a feeling his huge surplus from today’s earlier job had actually been intentional, and I was beyond grateful.
And not just for the concrete company, but for James, too. He’d helped me make forms for the concrete last week so they’d be ready whenever the cement was, and now he was helping me guard the wet stuff against mischief. We were hot, grubby, and tired.
Happy.
The sound of the kids playing in the playground was bliss. Success. We’d done that. We’d brought them this happiness. The play equipment had been installed a few days ago, with James and I, along with Josie, Gabby, Lamonte, Tamara, Samantha and Malachi spreading several truckloads of donated pea gravel underneath the new structure. We’d had to rush, so the eager kids, who kept sneaking onto the slide before it was ready, could play safely. I was amazed at how busy the park was already. The word had spread and wow. Had there really always been this many pre-school aged kids in Everstone? It was amazing.
This was what I’d dreamed of. This was the community I’d wanted to help create. Moms talking to each other, kids playing outside and making new friends. It was perfect. Not quite done, but perfect.
And things were coming along at a quick clip even though the park’s bank account was empty. Everstone was so close to having something pretty amazing. We just needed to secure landscaping, a fence, and some benches and the park would be complete.
Samantha, despite her reluctance, had decided to own up to her good deeds to Clarisa, and had asked her to take a pitch to her gardening club to help us put in flower beds.
I had faith that the rest of the project would all happen, even though so much still needed to be done. Top soil and sod. Trees. Benches. A fence. Gardens. Basketball net.
Eyes still closed, and with my head resting against the brick wall behind me, I trusted James to keep the kids and sticks out of the fresh cement. I clutched my ice-cold water bottle, lining it up against the blisters that had formed at the base of each finger from all of the gravel raking and manual labour that my little typist hands were definitely not used to.
“Uh, oh,” James whispered.
I opened my eyes to see what was wrong. I glanced at the curing cement, then at him for hints. His nose was more tanned than the rest of his face in the most endearing way. Slowly, I followed his gaze. Officer Beddoe was walking toward us, and my stomach dropped. If there had been a shred of evidence on the lots regarding the still-open museum’s theft case, we had destroyed it weeks ago.
“Char. James.” The officer gave us a nod as we stood, dusting the dirt from our backsides. “Do you have a moment?” he asked me.
I nodded.
“You’d mentioned you order pottery pieces online.”
“Yes. Not lately, but I have.”
“Have you ever had a piece arrive broken?”
I shook my head.
“Or one that was a fake when it was listed as a verified artifact?”
I shook my head again, and the officer sighed. “We seem to have a shipping insurance scam that could be based out of Calgary. Do you know anyone who could be selling and shipping pieces from the city?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“I was hoping you might have insights.”
“Sorry, I don’t think I do.”
I shot a fake scowl at a kid edging closer to the sidewalk. “I see you, Kendra! Get away from that wet cement with your stick!”
“I want to put my name in it!”
“I know. So do I.”
“But you did already,” she whined.
True. I also added the date. My prerogative. James had wanted to put our initials inside a heart, but I’d stopped him. I probably shouldn’t have. I would have loved to be able to come back later and look at the evidence of our summer romance.
“She owns the park,” James told Kendra. “She’s allowed.”
“Does not!”
I laughed. “I actually do. But once it’s done, I’m giving it to the city so it’ll be everyone’s.”
The girl gave me a look of distinct disbelief and returned to the play structure.
“Sorry.” I turned my attention back to Officer Beddoe, who looked bemused.
“I see your park is coming along.”
“Yeah. We’ve had some amazing support from sponsors and various grants.” I loved the park, but it wasn’t what I wanted to talk about with him. “Do you think this scam is related to the museum theft?”
“Could be. The fact that both of them happened here in Calgary is unusual. And no. We have no new leads,” he added, cutting me off before I could ask about the museum. He unfolded a piece of paper from his breast pocket and showed it to me. “Have you ordered from this store before?”
“Grandma’s China?” I nodded. “Yeah. I thought it was a weird name since they don’t sell China. Some nice pieces, though. All original artifacts.” Something flickered in my mind. I’d ordered a piece online that I’d seen in the museum gift shop. It had been cheaper online, but who had I ordered it from? And did the timeline fit? “I haven’t bought anything since April or May.”
“Do you have detailed receipts of the items you bought from Grandma’s China, along with the online description?”
“Yeah. I think that should be in an email receipt. Hang on.” I pulled out my phone and did a quick search through my email, showing the officer several, my mind still whirling, unable to focus. When had I seen the online pieces in the gift shop? Had it just been one? That could be explained. But more than one? Possibly not.
“Could you forward those to me?” Officer Beddoe handed me a fresh business card.
I was still focused on a receipt and its attached image of the item I’d ordered. A small, somewhat indistinct fragment of a commonly found sandy-coloured urn. Easy to reproduce and switch out for the real one in the gift shop. But had I seen this exact one in the museum before spotting it online? That would be a lot of work for a few bucks, seeing as this wasn’t rare, and therefore a relatively inexpensive piece.
“It feels like I might have seen this in the museum’s gift shop at one point,” I said to the officer. “But I can’t be sure.”
His gaze sharpened. “Any others?”
I shook my head. “I can’t confirm they were the same piece. Sometimes smaller fragments from the same dig site flood the market, and if they’re not very distinct, it’s difficult to tell them apart unless you see them side by side. It could be that both this seller and the museum bought artifacts from the same sale. Maybe check this piece against the gift shop’s inventory?”
The officer nodded. “Will do. Could you come in and look at some evidence? I’d like your opinion, as well as to possibly verify the authenticity and age of a few pieces.”
I gasped in pleasure. “Yes!” A thousand times, yes! “When?”
“As soon as you can.”
I looked at my grubby clothes. I was dirt from head to foot.
“Tomorrow,” Officer Beddoe stated.
I nodded. “Tomorrow.”
He walked back to his car, stopping to talk to some kids who asked if he was a real police officer. He assured them he was, showed them his badge and even his handcuffs. The sight warmed my heart.
“Wow. That’s cool.” James was smiling at me, looking proud.
I nodded. Finally, my weird arcane knowledge might be worth something to someone.
“Char? Do you have more cookies?” Avery, a small boy I met yesterday, came over and leaned against my leg, his body weight pushing into me as he gave me the most adorable look of hope. His messy ringlet-like brown curls brushed his eyebrows, his mouth smeared with melted chocolate chips.
My heart flipped over at his utter cuteness. “You ate the last one an hour ago, Avery.” I showed him the empty container that had held close to the end of Sally’s cookie stash from the freezer. I’d made a lot of friends thanks to the treats, but I wasn’t sure what I’d do when I ran out. Sally and Otto weren’t due home again for a few more weeks.
“Bake more,” Avery said.
“Sally made these, and she’s away, but I’ll ask her when she gets home.”
“I like chocolate chip cookies.”
“I’ll let her know. But it’s going to be a week or two.”
“My mom said she’d buy some. She stole a bite.”
“They’re pretty good, right?”
“Sally should open a cookie store! I have five cents and I could buy one for my mom so she can have her own.” Avery was doing his very convincing puppy dog expression with his big brown eyes. Little did he know I’d already grown immune to it.
Nah, I wasn’t immune. I was a total sucker where Avery was concerned.
“I’ll pass that idea on to her, okay?”
“I’ll bring my money tomorrow!” Avery shouted, racing off to tell his friends.
“Looks like your mom has a new career if she wants it,” I told James.
“She looked into opening a bakery once.”
“Really? Why didn’t she?”
He shrugged. “I was born.”
“You ruined her dreams.” I sighed dramatically.
“I’m better than a bakery,” James pointed out playfully.
“Well…”
He bumped me with an elbow. “Meanie.”
I giggled and bumped him back.
Avery returned, feet dragging, head down.
“What’s wrong, Avery?”
“I have to go home now. My mom says it’s too hot out.”
“You know what?” James leaned over as though he had a secret to share with Avery. “Char’s trying to buy trees for the park, so there’ll be shade for the moms and babies to sit in. Then kids like you will be able to play longer.”
Avery’s eyes lit up, and I nodded when he looked at me for confirmation.
He took off across the bare dirt to where his mom was sitting in a lawn chair. He was back in seconds.
“Here.” He laid a nickel on my palm.
“What’s this?”
“For a tree.” He watched me expectantly. “Or a cookie.”
“That’s very sweet. But I think you should keep it.” I tried returning it to him.
He shook his head, hands locked behind his back. “I want to play longer.”
“Right.” I studied the nickel, aware that the truth about the cost of trees might break his heart. That and the fact that I couldn’t get one here in the next minute. “I’ll, uh. I’ll get a tree here as soon as I can, okay?”
“Today?” He rubbed his cheek, leaving a smudge behind. His shorts were dirty and so was he. We all were. Every kid playing here was going to need a bath. I needed to get them some grass.
“I can’t today, but soon. Okay? And in the meantime, you hold on to this.” I took his hand and placed the warm nickel against his grubby palm. “When I have a tree, then you can pay your share. Or buy a cookie.”
“Okay.” Avery turned, hollering at everyone at the playground. “I just bought a tree! We’re going to have shade here tomorrow! And Sally’s bringing cookies. Bring your money tomorrow!”
“Oh, no,” I mumbled to James.
He chuckled. “The kid’s adorable.”
“You bought a tree?” a kid asked Avery.
“And you can’t climb it!” Avery yelled back.
“Hey!” I hollered. This was turning dark quickly.
“The park is for everyone,” James said, standing up as though worried he’d have to break up a fight. “Nobody owns anything. Not even the trees. We’re all working together to make this park so everyone can share it. Understand?”
The kids muttered under their breath and sulked off. Within seconds, their grudge was forgotten as they raced for the slide, while Avery’s mother tried to coax him out of the park.
“Not sure that helps the argument for parenthood,” James grumbled as he sat beside me again.
I laughed and hugged his arm. “You’ll make a great dad.”
And for the first time, I could envision being a mom. As long as James was at my side.