Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
For the next twenty-four hours, Taylor checked the pockets of the coat every hour, not wanting to miss another note, hoping another would magically appear.
On Friday, when the pockets remained empty, she wondered if she had to be wearing the coat for the notes to appear. Shrugging it on, she wore it around the house while doing her chores. Taylor kept it on when she went outside to rake leaves.
She’d just positioned the last of the tall paper bags filled with leaves near the curb for pickup when she heard a buzz. Startled, she dove her hands into her pockets, her heart tripping over itself.
And then she realized that the sound had come from her phone, and her jacket pockets were still empty.
It was a text, not from her mother, though that one would undoubtedly arrive before the end of the day. This one came from Polly.
Taylor eagerly read the text.
Sorry we couldn’t connect yesterday. Life has been crazy busy. This weekend looks to be more of the same. I’ve got Scouts coming after school for a pumpkin-decorating event, but the leader should do most of the work. I’d love to see you and maybe we could “carve”—haha—a few minutes out to talk. P
Taylor glanced at the time. School should be getting out any minute. Hopefully, if she left soon, she’d have a chance to tell Polly all she’d discovered.
See you soon, Taylor texted back before heading inside to clean up.
Twenty minutes later, she turned onto Polly’s street to find the curb leading up to her house lined with cars.
As she walked the block to her friend’s house, Taylor knew she was already too late. When Polly’s house came into view, her heart sank.
Several long rectangle tables dotting the front yard held pumpkins and tools for decorating and carving. Little boys and girls stood or sat at the tables, laughing and talking. A tune she recognized as “Monster Mash” blared, though it wasn’t loud enough to cover the laughter and excited shrieks.
Taylor slowed her steps as she drew close, feeling like she was being drawn into a parallel universe, one she didn’t understand and wasn’t sure she wanted to enter. Maybe if she’d grown up in a large family, this chaos would seem normal, but the noise made her want to put her hands over her ears.
She spotted Polly across the yard and wove her way through the chattering mass, stopping a few feet away when the Scout leader approached Polly.
Though the woman wore a red puffer coat, her cap and neckerchief indicated she was in charge of the Scouts.
“I’ve got treats for them once the pumpkins are carved,” Polly told the Scout leader. “I really didn’t want to give them anything sweet so close to dinnertime, but I promised my boys cupcakes. I went with a pumpkin theme.”
“You always bake the most amazing treats.” Admiration filled the woman’s voice. “I can’t wait to see what you did this time.”
“I went simple.” Polly waved away the praise, but Taylor saw the compliment had pleased her friend. “White cupcakes topped with orange frosting to resemble a pumpkin, a little green frosting to create leaves and vines and a small piece of pretzel in the center to mimic a pumpkin stem.”
The leader clasped her hands together. “Sounds wonderful.”
“Mrs. Polisky,” a girl called out. “Can you help me with this?”
“Be right there.” The woman turned to Polly. “Duty calls. Thanks again for hosting.”
Seizing the opportunity, Taylor reached Polly’s side in seconds.
“Taylor.” Polly gave her a swift hug. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
“I—”
At that moment, the music switched to “Ghostbusters,” and all the kids yelled out, “Ghostbusters!” when singer Ray Parker Jr. asked, “Who ya gonna call?”
Taylor blinked, her ears ringing.
Polly grinned, looking completely in her element. She swept a hand over the crowded yard. “Welcome to my world.”
Three hours later, Taylor was enjoying the quiet with a glass of wine in Chloe and Emily’s backyard. Fairy lights strung over the patio added a golden glow, and a heat lamp removed most of the chill from the night air.
“These appetizers are amazing.” Taylor stabbed a bacon-wrapped scallop with a toothpick and popped it into her mouth.
“We can thank Jaclyn for them.” Chloe turned to her dark-haired friend, who’d arrived only minutes earlier with a platter of tempting treats.
During the introduction, Chloe mentioned that Jaclyn was assistant manager of catering at the Grand Manse.
“There was a special party at the Manse today, and there were lots of appetizers left over.” Jaclyn looked up from pouring herself a glass of wine. “The customer didn’t want them. They'd have gone to waste if I hadn’t taken them.”
Taylor remembered when the historic home and grounds were left to the city with the stipulation that the house and gardens be used for special events that would enrich the lives of GraceTown residents.
“It doesn’t happen often, or at least not often enough for me.” Chloe’s eyes sparkled. “But when it does, we celebrate. Right, Jaclyn?”
Jaclyn lifted the wineglass to her lips. “Absolutely.”
Jaclyn’s smile, while friendly, wasn’t quite as bright as Emily’s. Here was a woman who didn’t jump feetfirst into friendships. She waited, assessed and then made her decision.
Taking a seat in the chair next to Chloe, Jaclyn peered at Taylor over the rim of her glass. “What is it you do, Taylor?”
“I’m an attorney. Until recently, I was a tax attorney for a firm in Chicago.” Taylor took another sip of red wine, finding the taste very much to her liking. “That firm was recently acquired, and my position was deemed redundant. That happened a couple weeks before my father’s death.”
From her lack of reaction, Jaclyn hadn’t known Bob Higgs. The mention of his passing didn’t elicit so much as an eyelash flicker.
“So you don’t have a job.” Jaclyn, obviously a call-it-like-she-saw-it kind of gal, commented.
“That’s right.” Taylor wanted to be honest, not only with them, she realized, but with herself. “I was in the process of updating my résumé when I got the news about my dad. Now I’m back in GraceTown.”
“Are you considering staying?” Jaclyn asked.
“I am,” Taylor admitted. “I’m not certain jobwise what I’ll do, but this is home now.”
“Enough of the serious,” Chloe said. “Fill your plate with a few more of these amazing appetizers.” She picked up the platter and moved from person to person while a playlist of classical instrumental music floated softly in the air.
As she ate and drank, Taylor fully relaxed. Though no more notes had appeared, she wasn’t worried. She felt certain more were on their way.
Chloe and Jaclyn were conversing about some event that the Oasis would be hosting, leaving Emily and Taylor to chat about innocuous neighborhood events, like which neighbors were planning on being home to hand out candy on Halloween.
Nothing exciting, just a comfortable conversation with another adult.
Taylor expelled a contented sigh. “Compared to the event I attended earlier today, this is like heaven.”
Emily leaned forward; her eyes bright with interest. “I didn’t realize you’d already been to a party.”
Taylor chuckled. “I’m not sure a Scout pumpkin-carving-and-decorating event qualifies as a party…unless you’re ten years old and determined to carve the meanest face you can imagine on your pumpkin.”
The laughter Emily emitted held a musical edge. “I bet it was fun.”
“If you like tons of kids and a sound system blaring ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Monster Mash,’ then yeah, it was a blast.” Taylor’s lips lifted in a wry smile.
“Do you not like children?” Emily took a sip of wine, her tone holding no judgment.
“I do. I just find them overwhelming en masse.” Taylor gave a little laugh. “My friend Polly is so comfortable in that world, and I’m amazed at how easily she handles it all, but it struck me this afternoon that it isn’t my world. Not the one I want, anyway.” Taylor took a long drink of wine.
When Emily said nothing, only offered an encouraging smile, Taylor found herself continuing. “I’m happy for Polly. I love my friend. She’s the best, and she’s an incredible mom, but her life, well, it isn’t for me.”
“You don’t want to have kids?”
“Yes, probably, someday. But Polly has five kids, and it’s just so much chaos.” Taylor shrugged. “Not every woman is satisfied with being a mom.”
Her mother hadn’t been satisfied with being a wife and homemaker. On the heels of that thought, another more disturbing one rose unbidden in Taylor’s brain. I’m like my mother .
Conversation over the next hour covered everything from stories about their workplaces to events going on in the community.
“The Paw Stroll is tomorrow,” Chloe informed the group. “Who’s going?”
“I’m not sure what that is…though maybe I’d know if I had a pet,” Taylor responded when no one spoke.
“It’s a way for the downtown and River Walk businesses to get extra traffic and tout their establishments’ pet-friendly policies.” Jaclyn wrinkled her nose.
“Tell us how you really feel,” Emily teased.
Jaclyn expelled a heavy sigh. “I understand that people love their pets, but can’t they just leave them home when they go out to dinner?”
“The way the Paw Stroll works,” Chloe explained, ignoring her friend’s comment, “is that you take your pet out for dinner with you, or you simply stroll the historic business district and the River Walk that evening. Booths will be set up with treats for the pet and other items for sale. Most will be pet-related, others focused on the business.”
“It sounds like fun.” Taylor hoped it was an annual event. She could picture her and her future pet strolling the River Walk on a gorgeous autumn evening. “When did you say this is happening?”
“Tomorrow,” Chloe told her. “Elite is in that area. Do you know if they plan to set up a table with treats and information about their services?”
“No idea.” Taylor brought a finger to her lips. “I’ll ask Jameson.”
“Jameson Fox?”
Something about Jaclyn's delivery of the name had Taylor shifting in her seat. “That’s right. Do you know him?”
“We knew his family. That was enough for most in this town.”
“Jaclyn.” Chloe’s voice held a warning.
A warning Jaclyn ignored. “It’s true. My dad lost over a hundred thousand to that scammer. Money that neither he nor anyone else who invested will ever get back.”
“Jameson scammed your father out of a 100K?” Taylor couldn’t imagine her father going into business with someone who’d done something like that.
“Not Jameson,” Chloe answered before Jaclyn could. “His parents. They ran a big Ponzi scheme, or something like that, and they got all these people to invest. It turned out it was all a scam.”
“They seemed like part of the rich crowd—you know, country club members, active in all the right civic stuff.” Jaclyn waved an airy hand. “Jameson even attended Crestwood Academy, until they kicked him out when it all came crashing down his sophomore year. His parents had skipped town, so no one was around to pay his tuition.”
Taylor wondered why her father had never mentioned this history to her. “What happened to the parents?”
“They were eventually caught,” Jaclyn said. “It took nearly a year for the police to track them down, which is ridiculous if you ask me. Then again, they had to be good at what they did to fool my father.”
“They left their child behind?” Why did that one point slice like a knife? Perhaps because Taylor could remember vividly the day her mother had packed her things and moved to California.
She didn’t think the two situations were the same, but she understood how much it hurt to be left by someone who was supposed to love you no matter what. Thankfully, she’d had her dad. From the sounds of it, Jameson hadn’t had anyone.
“The police questioned Jameson, but he insisted he didn’t know where his parents were or anything about what was happening.” Jaclyn shrugged. “No one believed him, but he was a minor, and there was no proof he was involved, so?—”
Once again, Jaclyn lifted a thin shoulder and let it drop.
“You said Crestwood kicked him out.” Taylor focused on Jaclyn. “Where did he go?”
“One of the public high schools. I don’t remember which one—just not ours, thankfully.” Jaclyn nodded toward Chloe and took another sip of her wine.
“I wonder why I never heard about this,” Taylor murmured, even as it struck her that Jameson’s parents would have skipped town around the time her own mother left.
“Everyone tried to keep it quiet. People were embarrassed to have been fooled.” Jaclyn’s lips twisted as if she’d just tasted something sour. “I know my dad was. If you ask me, though, the only ones who should have been embarrassed were the Fox family.”
Emily expelled a heavy breath. “Poor guy. Being forced to leave everything familiar to go to a new school had to be difficult.”
Chloe took a sip of wine. “I bet it would have been more difficult for him to stay at Crestwood.”
“Why would you say that?” Taylor couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to lose not only your parents, but all your friends.
“The school was likely full of kids whose parents were scammed.” Chloe shook her head. “I wouldn’t want to stay there.”
“You have a point,” Taylor agreed.
“The point is that your father made a huge mistake in hiring someone tied to that mess.” Jaclyn waved her glass of wine. “His business would probably be two or three times as large now if not for Jameson Fox.”
Taylor told herself Jaclyn was merely giving her opinion, which many people in GraceTown likely shared. And she might be right that having a Fox as a partner could cause clients to shy away.
However, one thing Taylor knew about her father was that he had been an excellent judge of character and nobody’s fool. If he’d thought enough of Jameson to bring him on board and eventually partner with him, that was good enough for her.
Taylor took a calming breath before saying, “From what you’ve said, Jameson was an innocent. It was his parents who were guilty.”
“But—”
“My father would have gone into business only with someone with the highest moral standards.” Taylor offered a tight smile. “He believed in Jameson enough to work with him, to make him a partner. My dad’s endorsement is good enough for me.”