Chapter Six
Monday afternoon, Jake was returning calls on his answering machine when the doorbell rang. He left the appointment book open on the table and went to see who was there.
Irrationally, he’d hoped it might be Maureen. But it was Holly on the landing, her backpack lopsided on her shoulders. He checked his watch. School had let out about an hour ago. “What’s up, Holly?”
“I brought back your articles.”
He’d been feeling vaguely uneasy about having lent them to her. So this was good. He stepped aside for her to enter.
Holly dumped her backpack on the floor, then pulled out the piles of articles.
“Just put them on the hall table. Want a soda?”
“Sure.” Holly slipped out of her boots. In her stocking feet, she was especially tiny. If she was going to match her mother’s height, she still had a lot of growing to do.
Jake led her to the kitchen. Holly settled at one of the chairs and pushed back at her hair with a gesture he bet she would have avoided had she realized it was so like her mom’s.
“Did you find those articles interesting?” he asked as he opened the fridge door.
“Yeah. I made copies, too, for my own records.”
He hid a grin as she reminded him, yet again, of her mother, then he tossed her a cola, which she caught with one hand.
After popping the tab and taking a long drink she said, “I’m planning to study criminology when I go to college. Maybe go to work for the FBI.”
He sensed her watching, waiting for him to scoff. “That sounds like a cool career choice.”
She visibly relaxed. “Or I could get a job with a sheriff or police department. Kelly says it takes a while to become a detective. My dad said I’d be a good investigator since I’m observant and analytical.”
“And what does your mom think?”
Her thin shoulders rose and fell. “She doesn’t like the idea. She thinks it’s too dangerous.”
“Sometimes mothers can be overprotective. You know it’s because she loves you, right?”
When Holly didn’t respond, Jake got up from the table and went back to the fridge, where he opened the freezer compartment.
“I’m thinking spaghetti for dinner. Want to join me?”
“Sure.”
“How about your mom?” He told himself it was just a neighborly invite. “She knows where you are right?”
“I told her I had some research to do. She probably thinks I’m still at the library. She was going to pick me up at five.”
Jake felt a jolt of dismay. “It’s past five now.”
Holly shrugged then pulled her cell phone from her back pocket.
“Hey, Mom,” she declared when the call was answered. A long minute passed while she rolled her eyes in a show of boredom.
“Chill, Mother. I’m fine. My phone was still on mute from school. I’m at Jake’s,” she said finally. “He’s making us dinner.”
Not exactly the way he would have issued the invitation. He didn’t imagine Maureen was impressed.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Holly said. “Come over whenever you want. Yes, I’ll be helpful. Gosh, Mom, I’m not a baby.” She ended the call and tucked her phone away. “What can I do? Chop veggies? Set the table?”
He handed her a wooden spoon and gestured to the pan where minced onions and garlic were browning along with a half-pound of ground beef. “Can you keep this from burning while I open a can of tomato sauce?”
As they worked he asked, “So is your mom coming for dinner?”
“Yeah. She said to thank you for the invitation.”
Jake dumped the sauce in with the meat, then added his favorite Italian spices. “Why did you do that to her?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know she worries about you. You could have phoned her earlier, yeah?”
“I forgot. And I don’t think she was really worried. She was just annoyed I made her wait. My mother does not like waiting. Her time is too valuable.”
“Come on, Holly. Is that fair?”
Holly blinked rapidly then glanced down. “No, I guess not,” she mumbled.
Had Holly been this hard on her mother before her father died? Kids were prone to oversimplification. To him it sounded like Holly had decided her father was the good guy and her mother the villain. In real life, roles were never that simple. But it might take Holly a while to figure that out.
The sound of the doorbell was a mixed blessing. He was eager to see Maureen, but a little worried about Holly’s reaction. He pulled open the door cautiously.
*
Be calm, Maureen counseled herself. Jake stood in the foyer, smiling but obviously concerned.
“Is she here?”
He nodded, then stepped aside. “Come in. I’m glad you didn’t already have plans for dinner.”
“Yeah, about that. What is Holly doing here?”
“I’d lent her some reading material and she returned it. The dinner invitation was my idea. Come on in.”
She sighed, then set her purse and jacket on the bench next to the front closet.
“Holly’s in the kitchen.”
He sounded so cool and breezy as if all of this was normal behavior.
Maureen wished she could feel the same way, rather than close to boiling point.
She made her way to the kitchen where Holly didn’t offer a hello, let alone an apology.
That she was making herself useful by setting the table was ironic. She was never this helpful at home.
“Holly, you didn’t go to the library at all, did you?”
“Yeah. For a bit. Before I came here.”
Maureen sank into one of the stools at the counter. Where to begin with this girl?
“How about a glass of red wine?” Jake said.
“That would be wonderful.”
He had a bottle uncorked already. He filled two glasses and handed her one.
She sipped at it slowly, frankly surprised at the domestic scene before her.
Tomato-and-meat sauce simmered in a Dutch oven; a large pot of boiling water sputtered next to it.
On the counter was a bowl of tossed salad and, next to that, a hand-sliced loaf of Italian bread in a pool of crumbs.
“I forgot to call Poppy and let her know we wouldn’t be home for dinner,” she realized belatedly.
“I’ll do it.” Holly took out her phone then wandered into the adjoining living room.
Maureen let the air out of her lungs in a long whoosh. “What’s going on here, Jake?”
“I wish I could tell you.” He leaned over from the kitchen side of the counter. His smile was reassuring as he raised his glass and clinked it gently against hers.
“To teenagers,” he said softly.
Maureen choked out a laugh. “Holly isn’t even thirteen yet. Please don’t tell me this is going to get worse.”
She’d panicked big-time when she hadn’t found Holly waiting at the public library. Who could have guessed she would end up at Jake’s? Why had she ended up here?
Jake must have seen the questions in her eyes, because he grabbed a damp cloth and started wiping the already clean counter. Recognizing the evasion, Maureen decided against pushing him for information, but she couldn’t stop a flood of bitter resentment.
Now Jake was on the inside with Holly, too. Maureen was the outsider, the only one her daughter didn’t trust. Bending over the glass of wine, she pretended to enjoy its bouquet, while she fought a sudden urge to cry.
“This is nice,” she said. Truthfully, she’d barely tasted the wine. Its warmth as it hit the pit of her stomach, however, was something she appreciated.
“Did you put an offer in on that town house?” Jake asked.
“Yes. Beth wrote it up last night. Two hours ago she called with the news that the owners accepted.” She lifted her chin and smiled, pushing her negative thoughts to the back of her mind. “Looks like we’re going to be neighbors, Jake.”
*
The atmosphere at the table was tense. Jake concentrated on drawing Holly out, and was struck by how intently Maureen listened as her daughter talked about joining the volleyball team with her friend Mads and working on a science project with a really smart guy named Adam.
He got the impression she was settling into her new school well and while Maureen looked relieved, she didn’t add a comment or insert a question, as if afraid that one word from her would shut her daughter up.
By the time Holly had finished her second helping it was seven. “Can we watch a movie? Do you have Netflix?” she asked hopefully.
After Maureen’s nod of approval Jake said, “Sure, you pick something while I clear up these dishes.”
He hadn’t intended to go so far as to load the dishwasher and hand-wash the awkward Dutch oven. But when Maureen stayed behind to help, he was happy to prolong their time together.
With Holly gone from the room, Maureen relaxed visibly.
She removed a clip from her thick blond hair and let it settle around her face.
No makeup or glam clothes today, he noted approvingly.
Still, Maureen would look classy and poised no matter what she wore.
Including the jeans and white-and-blue-striped shirt she had on today.
“What made you decide to start a heli-skiing business, of all things?” she asked, as she rinsed the silverware and passed it to him to put in the dishwasher.
“As a kid I wanted to be a cowboy,” Jake confessed.
“But I also learned to love skiing when I was young. Since we didn’t have much family Mom liked to go to fancy ski towns for the holidays.
Our favorite was Jackson, Wyoming. She enjoyed the ambiance, the shopping and the dining.
I was totally into the hills. Signing me up for ski lessons was something I’ll always be thankful to my mother for doing. ”
Those were happy memories. Tainted only by the recollection of how miserable he’d felt at the end of each holiday when it was time to return to Philadelphia and school.
“Did you go to college?”
“Yeah, here in the valley. I took a business degree. I figured it would come in handy when I started my own business. I always knew I was going to be an entrepreneur. It was Dylan who heard about the heli-ski business up for sale. He and his mom helped me get the financing together so I could buy it.”
“Weren’t you nervous?”