Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
“Ford, I don’t have time for this shit.” I struggled to roll up the blueprints without spilling my coffee while listening to Ford giving me shit over the phone.
“Apparently you do have time for this shit. Rumor has it that you spent quite the evening over at Zoe Avery’s house the other night. You even brought James with you. The way I remember things, is that you never wanted James to meet any woman you were dating.”
“I’m not dating Zoe.”
There, the blueprints were in the tube, and my coffee was safe. I could now head out of the office and hopefully make it to my meeting on time.
“That’s not the way I heard it. I heard that you had even arranged for our local actress, the brunette, to act as a babysitter.”
I paused as I was locking my door. “Just how small is Jasper Creek?”
“Pretty small,” Ford laughed.
“No, seriously Ford, how could you possibly know that I’m going to call Angelica to babysit James?”
“My fiancée is the manager of the local coffee shop. She knows everything that goes on. She’s almost as plugged in as Little Grandma at the Down Home Diner. Almost. Not quite.”
I locked my door and ran down the steps to my truck parked on the street. That was another thing that I wasn’t thrilled about with this house—no garage. The house was built in 1924, and it had been lovingly restored, but a couple of modern conveniences would be really nice.
“Are you listening to me?”
“Yeah, Ford. I am. Ruby is the manager of the local coffee shop, and she knows everything that goes on in Jasper Creek. Gotcha.”
“So, when is your next date?”
I got in the truck and started the engine, blasting the heater. At least there wasn’t any frost on the window.
“I haven’t figured that out. First I have to ensure that the Kraft family is satisfied with my drawings for their house in Brentwood. This is the third try. But finally Mrs. Kraft is meeting with me instead of just sending her husband as intermediary.”
“That should speed things along,” Ford agreed. “What else you got cooking?”
“I’ve met with a realtor. I’m putting the house on the market.”
Ford whistled. “You’re finally doing it, huh?”
“Yep. It’s time.”
“Adam, I’m really glad to hear it. I know that house was yours and Marie’s dream, but I think it’s time for something new.”
“Yeah. That’s what I think too.”
“Have I talked you into Jasper Creek, yet?”
“You’ve talked me into renting in Jasper Creek. I’m not ready to buy. I want to make sure that the next house James and I purchase is where we’re going to stay until he graduates high school. I moved around too much as a kid to do that to him.”
“Why not Jasper Creek?”
“Because this development is only an eighteen-month project.”
“Adam, there’s going to be more things after that. Probably not as big, but Jasper Creek is close enough to Knoxville that the commute would be easy, and Knoxville is growing.”
“Ford, I don’t need a sales job. Find me a place to rent, okay?”
I listened as my friend gave out a long-suffering sigh. “Fine.”
The Kraft meeting had gone better than I’d hoped.
When I’d got to the Kraft’s house, Margaret Kraft was actually there for once, and it was clear she was ready to rumble. I had no idea why her husband had kept her sidelined if she was the one who was ultimately in charge, but there it was.
Mr. Kraft, for his part, sat at the end of the kitchen table with his head down staring at a cup of coffee that his wife had poured at the beginning of the meeting and didn’t say a word.
Not even when I started to mention prices.
If I hadn’t spent three weeks spinning my wheels for nothing, it would have been pretty funny.
At least I got good homemade coffee cake out of the deal. And finalized blueprints.
I was still riding high when I turned off I-65 and into the neighborhood where my in-laws lived. They’d been there for forty years. It was the house where Marie was born and raised. The streets narrowed and the trees got older the closer I got to their house.
I checked the clock on the dash. Six-fifteen. Sandra would have picked up James from pre-school hours ago and have him fed and working on some sort of project. She was good at that. He was probably covered in glitter glue or finger paint and blissed out.
I pulled up in front of their house and sat for a moment, leaving the engine idling. I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation, even thought I’d been running it through my head for days. No matter which way I sliced it, they were going to be hurt.
Marie’s mom and dad were integral parts of James’ life. Sandra Nash had been picking James up from pre-school on Tuesdays and Thursdays ever since I lost Marie . Hell, she had a closet dedicated to James’ toys and craft supplies. The kid was adored by the woman. Bill loved him, too.
Sitting here, procrastinating, was not going to make this any easier. I sighed and got out of the truck.
Sandra answered the door before I even knocked, which meant she'd been watching for me. She was a small woman with Marie 's coloring and her way of looking at you like she already knew what you were going to say. I could hear James deeper inside the house; it sounded like he was playing dinosaurs.
"Adam." She stepped back to let me in, and I kissed her cheek as I stepped into the hallway.
The house smelled like it always did. Coffee and something baked and a faint trace of the same lotion Marie had used. I hated that, but I’d never tell Sandra.
"Bill's in the den," she said. "He'll want to see you."
"Let me say hi to James first, then I want to talk to both of you."
James was at the kitchen table with what appeared to be an entire community of small plastic animals arranged on a huge piece of butcher paper covered with a landscape that he must have drawn with Sandra.
“Look. It’s Texas. Back when there were dinosaurs. And right next to it is Africa, because I told grandma big dinosaurs would have been in Texas and Africa.”
“Sounds right to me.”
“Do you want to help?”
“Not right now, I’m going to talk to Grandma and Grandpa for a few minutes in the living room. You keep on doing what you’re doing.”
“Okay. I have to figure out where the ter-duck-tails fly from. Are they related to the ducks in the pond near our house?”
“I don’t know, buddy. Those pterodactyls were pretty big, and our ducks are pretty small.”
“But they both fly, and they both have the word ‘duck’ in them.”
Sandra and I both laughed at the four-year-old logic. “Good point.”
“I’m gonna draw a pond for them in Africa.” James pulled out a blue crayon.
“Good idea.”
James turned back to his task as if Sandra and I no longer existed. We moved to the living room. Bill looked up as we walked in, then stood up.
“How’d your meeting with the Krafts go?” he asked.
“Really well. We finally have things nailed down.”
He grinned. “Never doubted it. Have a seat.” Bill gave me a longer than normal look. “Do you have something on your mind?”
The man had always been sharp.
“I’ve decided to list the house.”
I heard Sandra’s audible intake of breath. Bill’s expression turned thoughtful, then he nodded.
“When?" Bill asked.
"I've got the realtor coming this week.”
“You want to sell, not rent?” Sandra asked. “We could manage the property.”
I paused before responding. “I really appreciate the offer. I do. But no, I’ve never wanted to be a landlord.”
“We could do all the work, that way if you ever want to come back, you have a place,” Sandra said. Her eyes were pleading.
Bill leaned over and put his hand on his wife’s knee. She stopped talking.
“What brought this all about?” he asked.
“Two things. One, I have a long-term job that’s come up in Jasper Creek, right close to Pigeon Forge. The other is that I need a change. I loved Marie with my whole heart, but wandering around in that house that she decorated, conjures up too many memories.”
“But what about James? Do you want him to forget his mother?”
This was even harder than I thought it would be.
“Not at all,” I told Sandra.
“Sandra, the boy has a right to his feelings. And he would never allow James to forget Marie . You know that.”
I gave Bill a quick, grateful look before turning back to Sandra.
“Marie is James’ mom. I don’t ever want him to forget her, but he was just two when she died. His memories are foggy. When he asks about her, I have to bring out our family photo albums. And I do.”
“So do I,” Sandra concurred. “And there are pictures all around the house of her, so he sees her every time he comes over.”
“And that’s wonderful.” I nodded. “He’ll continue to see that when he comes for visits.”
“So you’ll still bring him for visits?”
I leaned forward. “Of course I will, Sandra. James and I wouldn’t have it any other way, it’s just not going to be every week. And what’s more, I’ll make sure what we get will be big enough for you to stay over.”
“If it’s close to Pigeon Forge, then we’re covered, Adam. They have great places to stay,” Bill inserted. “Think of it, Sandra, we would have little mini-vacations.”
She gave her husband an almost lost look. “But—”
“Honey, it’s going to be all right. James was going to start kindergarten in September, things were going to change anyway. We’ve always talked about taking a trip to Hawaii, but you didn’t want to leave Adam in a lurch. Now we’ll be able to.”
She looked between the two of us. “I suppose.”
“What can we do to help?” Bill asked.
“Just continue to do what you’ve been doing. I always felt like I won the in-law sweepstakes when I married Marie.”
“She felt the same way about your folks, Adam.” Bill smiled. “When do you have to start the job in Jasper Creek?”
“I’ve already got a friend looking for a place for me to rent. They want me there the week after next, but I can comfortably do what needs doing from here for the next four weeks.”
“It sounds like you have this planned,” Sandra said weakly.
“It’s a real good opportunity, and I’ll be working with some people I really like and respect.”
“That’s important.” Bill nodded.
“It is,” I agreed.
Sandra sat up straighter on the couch. “We’ll support you anyway we can, Adam. You’re our son as much as James is our grandson.”
I felt my throat tighten. She was a good woman.
“Thank you, Sandra, that means everything. You’re really going to like Jasper Creek.”
“I’ve never been there. When you find your place, maybe I can help get you situated. You know Marie had to have inherited some of her design skills from somewhere,” she laughed.
“That’s true.”
“Don’t let her near the antiques store, otherwise you’ll have nothing but mismatched antiques all through your house,” Bill warned.
“Oh hush, old man. Our house is lovely.”
“Only because I know when to say no.”
I started to laugh. The crisis was over. “I better go get James home. I have chicken marinating.”
The three of us stood up. Bill shook my hand, and Sandra gave me a much longer hug than normal. “I’m glad you’re doing what is right for you and James, even if it does make me sad.”
“I’m still going to see you a lot Sandra, and so is James.”
“I know. I also know it’s only three hours. So this is good, all things considered. Let me wrap up some cobbler I made for the two of you.”
“I thought some of that blackberry cobbler was for me,” Bill interrupted.
“You thought wrong. I made it for Adam and James, you were an afterthought.”
“In that case, when I buy tickets to Hawaii, you might just be an afterthought.”
“In your dreams, Bill. In your dreams.”