Chapter Eleven #2
“Oh. Well, I’ll catch him tomorrow.”
“Oops, Benny’s coming downstairs. Something woke him up. Talk to you later. Gotta go.” And just like that, Abby was gone.
Disappointed to not have anyone to share what she’d learned that day, Kit headed into the shower, thinking about Maxine and Miles and their doomed love affair.
She was still thinking about the burned-down cabin and the plane crash and the end to all Maxine’s dreams of happy ever after when she climbed into bed later and turned off the light.
Kit made it a habit to rise early and grab a quick breakfast at Ruthie’s, where she wasn’t totally displeased to find herself being shown to the same table she’d had the past few times she was there.
“You’re becoming a regular, Kit,” Mary Gail had greeted her.
“Don’t fix it if it isn’t broken, my mama used to say.” Kit sat and waved away the menu, to Mary Gail’s amusement. “I’ll have the breakfast special.”
“Coffee, two creams.” Mary Gail tucked the menu under her arm. “You got it.”
“Thanks, Mary Gail.” While she waited, Kit plotted out her day.
Today she would begin cleaning out the bedrooms on the second floor.
She’d start with her grandparents’ room because that would be the easiest. While there was some market for vintage clothing, she wasn’t sure if Tom’s and Annalee’s old clothes would be of any interest. She’d use the boxes in the front hall to pack everything up, and she’d call Liam and ask him to pick them up at his convenience.
Mary Gail had just set her breakfast in front of her when her phone rang.
“Good morning, Russ,” she said pleasantly.
“Good morning to you. Sorry I missed your call last night. I got in around ten and I thought you might be asleep.”
“I called around nine. Abby said you were out with some friends after work.”
“Yeah, I met up with this group . . .” He paused.
“A group of who? I thought you were with some people from the office.”
“Ah, no. These were some people I met online.”
People he met online?
“What people?”
“Just a bunch of people from the area who are into bicycling.” Seconds later he added, “And hiking.”
“Biking and hiking.”
“Yeah, you know, hop on the bike, go for a ride. Or put on your serious hiking boots and go off into the woods. You know I love to ride my bicycle, and you don’t.
I love to go on long hikes, you don’t, and since I’m going to be retiring, I thought it would be a good idea to meet other people who enjoy those things as much as I do. ”
“So it’s like a biking and hiking club?”
“Yeah, more or less.”
“Oh. Well, I guess that’s a good thing.” She paused. “How long have you been in touch with these hikers and bikers?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Couple of months, maybe.”
A couple of months? And this was the first time she was hearing about it?
“Is there something going on that you’re not telling me?”
“Of course not. What could be going on that I wouldn’t tell you?”
History told her there could be plenty, and Kit knew what could happen if history were ignored. But it was clear Russ wasn’t going to be more forthcoming with information about his newfound friends. She’d let it go. For now.
“How’s Wally? Is he getting enough attention? Have you been taking him for walks?”
“Wally is Wally. He’s okay.” Russ sighed as if annoyed. “He’s getting as much attention as I can give him. But of course Abby’s here, so he’s doing just fine. She and Benny have had him out for walks a lot.” He paused. “Did you think I wasn’t going to take care of him?”
“Of course not. But I know he gets a lot of attention when I’m there all day. I just thought with you at work and Abby’s schedule being somewhat erratic and me being gone—”
Russ interrupted her with a whine that set her nerves on edge. “So when are you going to come home? You’ll be back by next week, right?”
“I don’t know. I kind of doubt it, Russ.”
“You said you’d only be there for a week.”
“I never said a week, Russ. I think I said maybe a week or two.” She honestly didn’t recall exactly what she’d said, but she knew it hadn’t been one week.
“Well, what else do you have to do? You’ve looked everything over, right? You can have the house cleaned out in a day or two. Just send everything to Goodwill or something. Hell, you can send it all to the dump. Who’s going to care?”
Prodded by a bolt of anger, Kit sat up straight.
“I care, Russ.” Remembering where she was, she lowered her voice.
“I care whether things that have been in my family for generations stay in my family or end up in a landfill. I care that I have an opportunity to get to know members of my family I hadn’t met. ”
She heard him exhale a long, exasperated breath. “Okay, so a few more days at the most. It can’t be all that difficult. It’s not like you’re going to keep anything.”
“That’s an assumption on your part, since I don’t know what all is there. I have found some photos I want to keep, but I’m sure there are many more. It’s a big house, and I’ve barely scratched the surface.”
“Hey, you don’t have to be so touchy. I just assumed you’d be as eager to get home to us as we are to have you back.” He cleared his throat. “Besides, my retirement party is coming up and you have to be here for that.” He paused. “You will be back for that, won’t you?”
“Of course I will. I know how much your retirement means to you. But I don’t know how long it’s going to take here. Besides the house, there are twelve”—she corrected herself, given what she’d learned about the cabin Miles had stayed in—“eleven cabins I haven’t even looked at.”
“What’s the big deal? They’re cabins, right? All the same? So you see one, you’ve seen them all.”
“I don’t know if they’re all the same. I don’t know if they’re all in the same condition. Do some of them need to be repaired? Demolished? I don’t know.”
“Why do you have to know?”
“Because if I’m going to sell the camp, I should know what condition it’s in so I know what a fair price is.”
“That’s why God invented Realtors.” He was practically shouting.
“What’s your problem? I haven’t even been gone a full week.”
“Seems like a lot more than a week,” he grumbled.
Kit rolled her eyes. Where was this coming from? “Is there something going on I should know about? Is Benny getting on your nerves?”
He waited a beat too long to respond, so that his “Not really” rang insincere.
She sensed it was time to change the subject and give them both a moment to take a step back. She knew Russ’s temper and always knew when he needed a moment to cool off. “What’s Abby doing?”
“She’s upstairs with Benny. He was at day care all day yesterday and he was zonked.”
“Tell her to give me a call, would you?”
“Sure.” He took a deep breath. “Kit, sorry about jumping down your throat. I’m a short-timer at work now and can feel the door starting to close behind me on my way out, if you know what I mean.
I’ve been there for so long, it’s going to be strange, you know?
And I met my replacement yesterday.” His laugh sounded nervous, uncertain. “I guess there’s no turning back now.”
“Would you want to turn back, stay on for another year or so?”
“Good Lord, no. I’ve waited a long time for this. I have plans.”
“Plans to do what?”
“I guess you’ll have to be at the retirement party to find out.” He sounded smug, something that never failed to annoy her. “So make sure you’re back at least in time for the big announcement.”
“What announcement?”
Silence. Then: “Hey, I have a call coming in. Talk to you later.”
The line went dead, leaving Kit to wonder what had gotten into her husband, and whether his big announcement had anything to do with his new friends.