Chapter Thirty-Seven
“I need to sit for a minute,” Beth said as she all but collapsed on the front porch. “Just give me a minute.”
“You shouldn’t be doing any of the heavy work, Beth. I told you before, you can supervise. Just sit on something and direct the two of us.” Kit twisted the cap off a bottle of water and handed it to Beth.
“As much as I’d love the opportunity to boss my big sister around for an entire day, I signed up for this, and I’m not going to whine my way out of it now. I just need a minute or two.”
“You need a chair and something to put your feet up on, Aunt Beth.” Abby came outside with a kitchen chair in her hands. “Mom’s right. This is stupid. You’re done for the day.”
“I want to do my share.” Tears formed in Beth’s eyes. When one started down her cheek, she angrily swatted it away. “This was my idea.”
“Actually, it was mine. You jumped on board, and I’m happy that you did. But I’m not happy that none of us took into consideration that you need time to build up your stamina.”
“I can at least carry out the rest of the kitchen chairs and pack up the dishes from the cupboards.” Beth stood and brushed off the seat of her jeans.
“You may pack but you may not carry another damned thing.” Abby turned as Benny came onto the porch dragging a broom.
“And you can be Benny’s best friend this morning.
” She looked at her mother. “I should have asked Mary Gail if she knows of a good babysitter. Someone’s going to get bored, want a s-n-a-c-k, and then he’ll be tired before too much longer. ”
“I can watch Benny,” Beth said.
“You can pack up dishes or you can watch my boy-child, but you cannot do both.”
“For now, I’ll watch him,” Beth agreed. “But for tomorrow, let’s see if we can find someone to amuse him up at the house.”
“I bet Greta would love to if she’s not busy,” Kit suggested. “I can call her.”
“That would be great. Do that, please. Benny, I want you to stay out here and play with Aunty Beth for a while, okay?”
Benny nodded and dragged the broom across the porch. “Helping,” he said.
“Yes, you’re helping.” Kit took off her work gloves and dug her phone from the pocket of her vest. She stepped away to make her call, and when she returned several minutes later, she was smiling.
“Greta’s in,” she announced. “She’ll be over after lunch.
Her grandkids are in summer school, so she’s free during the day.
” Kit frowned. “She said something odd, though. She said, ‘I was wondering what I could do to help you out there.’ How did she know we were starting work on the cabins? Did one of you tell her?”
“Nope. I haven’t seen her,” Beth said.
“Neither have I,” Abby told her. “Maybe she just figured it out since she knew we would eventually look into reopening the camp.”
Kit shrugged. “I guess. Okay. Back to work.” She pointed at Beth. “Not you.”
Beth held up both hands and settled back against the porch railing. “I’m on Benny duty.”
Thirty minutes later, when all the kitchen furniture was out of the cabin and onto the grassy patch across the path from the porch, Kit was in the process of dragging one of the chairs from the great room through the door when she paused and tilted her head.
“What was that?”
“What was what?” Beth looked up from the handful of acorns Benny had brought one by one for her.
“I don’t know.” Kit frowned. “It sounded like car doors.” She stepped out onto the path and looked toward the house. “Do you hear voices?”
Beth came down off the porch and stood quietly next to Kit. “I do. I’ll walk up and see who . . .”
“What in the world . . . ?” Kit stared as the procession began to move toward the path.
Abby joined her mother and her aunt to watch a dozen or more familiar faces approach.
Hal Anderson, Joel from the gas station, Peter and Mick from the general store, and others gathered on the path in front of cabin number one.
“We heard you could use a hand,” Hal said. “Or a couple of dozen hands.”
Kit opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.
“Mary Gail called me a while ago. Said you guys could use a little help. So I called a few friends and here we are. What do you want us to do first?”
“I—I—” Kit turned to Abby.
“Hey, Teddy,” Abby called to a tall young man in blue-and-green flannel and jeans.
“Hey, Abby. Heard you could use some electrical know-how.”
“We could. Thanks.”
“Let’s take a look.” He walked toward her, a grin on his handsome face.
Abby grinned back. “Oh, Mom, Aunt Beth. This is Teddy Parker. We met when Elly and I were out last Friday night.”
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Porterfield. Abby’s Aunt Beth.” He nodded to them both. “Well, then, Abby . . .”
“Right this way.” Abby went up the cabin steps, Teddy close behind.
Kit and Beth exchanged a look. “She works fast,” Beth whispered. “But at least he’s useful.”
Kit elbowed her sister.
“You know Esme’s boys from the general store,” Hal told her.
“We heard you need some heavy things carried out of there,” one of them said. “Let’s take a look and see what you’ve got.”
“I can carry some things, too,” Joel told her.
Beth motioned for them to follow her, then held out a hand for Benny, who took it as he stuffed something in his pocket. “I hope that wasn’t alive, Benny. Guys, we have some old kitchen appliances . . .” Her voice trailed away as she stepped into the cabin.
“Ms. Porterfield, I’m George Tepper. Me and my brother and sisters all worked here when we were in high school.
Maxine was really good to my family when my dad lost his leg at the paper mill.
The insurance didn’t cover a whole lot but Maxine made sure we all had something to do here.
We were all sorry to hear the camp would be closed.
” He turned to the man and the three women behind him, all of whom nodded.
“When we heard you’d be reopening if you could get the cabins up to speed, we couldn’t wait to come on out here to give you a hand.
We’ll do whatever it is you need us to do. ”
“My daughter—inside—” Kit pointed to the cabin. “She’s more or less taken charge. She might need some help getting furniture down from the loft . . .”
“We’re on it.” The five filed past Kit, smiling as they went.
“Paul Winston, Ms. Porterfield. I was Maxine’s plumber, out here and in the big house.” The elderly gentleman, next in line, held out his hand. “If anything needs to be replaced or repaired in those bathrooms, nobody but me’s going to do it.”
“I wouldn’t want anyone else, Mr. Winston.” Kit came to her senses and finally was able to respond in a complete sentence. “Thank you.”
“I’m just going to go on in, then,” he said, “and take a look at that bathroom. Water’s on?”
“It is.” Kit turned to Hal. “I can’t believe all these people—how did they know?”
Hal laughed. “Where did you have breakfast this morning?”
Kit covered her face with her hands. “Oh my gosh, Mary Gail must have told everyone who came into the restaurant that we needed help.”
“She’d be out here herself if she could be,” he told her.
“I just can’t believe they all came out to help.”
“You need to understand what this camp meant to this town, Kit. Campers brought money into Tolerance, money they spent at the general store and the restaurant and the shops. Before Maxine had her stroke, she’d been keeping the camp open pretty much twelve months of the year.
She did that not because she needed the money, but because they did.
The shopkeepers and the inn and the restaurants.
At one time, Ruthie’s was only one of four restaurants in town.
Two of them closed last year, and the Italian place is now just pizza only. ”
“When I see Mary Gail, I’m going to give her the biggest hug,” Kit told him. “She’s saving us days, weeks even. With all this help, we might actually make it by the first of July. Permits permitting, that is.”
“Oh, don’t worry about the permits. George Tepper’s brother Ivan is the inspector. He’ll be looking over things as he goes along. He’ll let you know what you need.”
“I don’t know how I’ll ever repay these people for their time.”
“Don’t even suggest it. Everyone who shows up today and tomorrow and next week has their own Maxine story. This is their way of thanking her, so don’t insult anyone.”
“The least I can do is maybe run down to Ruthie’s and buy some sandwiches so I can give everyone lunch.”
“Mary Gail has that covered.”
“What?”
“I don’t know if I was supposed to tell you that, but yeah. She’s closing up for a while this afternoon to bring out a nice spread for everyone.”
“She doesn’t have to do that.”
He looked up at the cabin, then back down at Kit. “Did you know Ruthie—the real Ruthie—was Mary Gail’s mother?”
“No. But I did wonder who the restaurant was named for.”
“Ruthie had opened that restaurant and ran it on her own, raised her two daughters by herself after her husband ran off. Then when Mary Gail was in her early twenties, her mom had a heart attack and died. Went to bed one night and never woke up. Mary Gail had to take over the restaurant and make sure her sister stayed in college. When she ran into money troubles during that 2008 recession, it looked like she might have to sell the place.” Hal took Kit’s arm and moved her out of the path of two men who were carrying a sofa down the steps.
“Maxine gave her the money to keep open and to keep Andrea, her sister, in school. Not a loan. A gift. She said it was because the town needed a good restaurant, but everyone knew it was because she cared about people. Just about every other person in Tolerance can tell you something Maxine did for them or someone in their family. So if Mary Gail wants to feed half the town on your behalf—”
Kit nodded, understanding. “Let Mary Gail feed the town.”
“Ah, she gets it.” Hal gave her arm a squeeze.
“I should get back in there and do my part. Are you staying?”
“I’m working this afternoon.” He looked over her shoulder in the direction of the lake. “So is your husband joining you this week?”
“He’s in Europe doing his thing, and I’m here doing mine.” Kit took a deep breath. “We’ve decided to go our separate ways. I spoke with my lawyer a few days ago. He’ll be working on the divorce papers while Russ is away, and we’ll settle things up when he gets back from his trip.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Divorce is never easy, even when you really want it and you know it’s the right thing to do.”
Kit was about to reply when she heard, “Hi, Kit. Hal.”
She looked up to see Caroline and Liam coming down the path.
“Hi, Dad. Hi, Ms. Porterfield. Are we too late? Where’s everyone?” Liam looked around.
“Inside cabin one.” Kit pointed.
“You staying, Hal?” his ex-wife asked.
“Just on my way out,” he replied.
Caroline continued her stride toward the cabin, her son right behind her.
Hal’s eyes met Kit’s. “Especially hard when you live in the same small town.”
“I can only imagine.” Kit started to walk toward the cabin, Hal following her.
“Well, I’ll leave you to your work, and I’ll get on with mine. I’ll stop back later and see how you’re doing, if that’s okay.”
“That would be great. Thanks.”
Hal turned to leave, then looked back at Kit. “Did I ever tell you my Maxine story?”
“No, but I’d love to hear it.”
“I’ll tell you one night over dinner,” he told her. “One night very soon.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” A smile on her face, Kit walked up the cabin steps and disappeared inside.