A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) Read online

Page 30

Mark had picked her up at four o'clock and had taken her to get wood shavings and feed. She laughed when she'd gotten into his truck. "Do you live like this at home?"

  "What?" he protested. "I have everything in here that I need."

  "Where's your other glove?" she asked, picking up a filthy work glove that had fallen between the passenger seat and door. "Obviously you don't have too many human passengers." Before she could even get in the truck, he gathered up papers and empty containers; she recognized a bridle and halter, which he set on the floor behind her seat.

  "Don't worry," she laughed. "I won't take up much room." She scooted things with her feet on the floor, so she could get in and pull the door shut.

  He laughed abashedly, "Okay, so I don't ever have anyone else in my truck, but my house is perfectly clean."

  Mark had introduced her to several people at the feed store, most of whom had plenty of advice and offered help if she needed it. They'd loaded the bed of his truck with bags and bags and when they got back to her barn, he showed her how to lay down bedding in the stalls. They hauled the feed into what he now called her feed room at the end of the barn and he went back to his truck to find a piece of paper and pen. What he found was the back of an instruction sheet for some medication for sheep.

  He started writing out a list and said, "You need to go down to Boone tomorrow and pick these things up. Can you take care of that in the morning?"

  Polly chuckled and pulled out her phone, then began entering the items into her notes program.

  "Fine," he laughed.

  "You know, something like this might save you a lot of hassle and mess in your truck."

  "I know, I know. Marnie has been yelling at me. I keep telling her it's because she wants flashy gadgets at the office."

  "Listen to her. You hired her to keep you put together, didn't you?"

  "Shut up," he laughed.

  Since Jason and Andrew were watching her dog, they brought him out to the barn before leaving.

  "Are you really getting horses, Polly?" Jason asked.

  "I am. Are you ready to learn how to help me?"

  "I am! I am!" Andrew replied.

  Mark ruffled the boy's hair, "You boys can help Polly a lot. That will be wonderful."

  "Mom is waiting for us. Do you want us to take Obiwan back upstairs?" Jason said.

  "Leave him here with me. Thank you and I'll see you tomorrow?"

  "Will the horses be here tomorrow?" Andrew asked.

  "They probably will."

  "I can't wait!" Andrew turned around and started to run back to the parking lot, but stopped and said, "Come on, Mom's waiting!"

  "I'll see you tomorrow, Polly," Jason said and handed her the leash. "Mom said the horses are sick. Will they die?"

  "Not if we can help it," Mark replied. "Don't worry. You're going to watch four horses become happy and healthy again right before your eyes."

  "Cool. I'll be here every day after school if you need me."

  "Thanks, Jason. I'll see you tomorrow." Polly watched the boys walk away and she realized how big her family had gotten.

  Mark pulled the outer doors shut on the barn and said, "Let Obiwan loose so he can get accustomed to the smells around here. He's going to have to make friends with these new additions to your life. You do know you are about to spend enormous amounts of time with these beasts."

  "I know. Maybe when we get all the fencing up, I won't worry about him running out onto the highway and can let him run out here on the property, too."

  "That’s great. Now, first things first. Once the horses are here, you're going to start calling this a pasture. Got it?"

  She giggled. "I'll try. What did that farmer tell you about these horses?"

  "He wasn't ready to talk to me at first. I think he thought I was going to have him arrested for neglect, but he got himself in a bad way with the drought last year. He didn't have the nerve to ask Madeline Black for any more money and he just kept feeding them less and less as things got more expensive. He was also spreading feed out to some of his own animals. I'm glad you caught this."

  "Did he tell you why her husband even bought the animals?"

  "Once you get these farmers talking, they don't stop, so yes, I heard some of the story."

  "Dean Black worked with some of the few horses in Korea during the war and fell completely in love with the animals. I guess he had two when they were first married and had kids, but somewhere along the line when the kids were small, the boy, what was his name?"

  "Laurence the twit," Polly said.

  "Well, Laurence fell or got hurt and absolutely threw a tantrum every time he was around the horses. It got so bad, Madeline made her husband get rid of everything and he forgot about it. Then one day after his kids were long gone, he realized he was missing part of his soul, so he started looking for some horses and found a good deal on these Percherons.

  "He was over there every day, right up until the day before he died. The farmer said Madeline couldn't bring herself to sell them until several months ago. He was hoping to have a good year and bring them back to good health. He knew what was happening, but didn't know how he could fix the problem."

  "Did you talk to Amy?"

  "Just for a few minutes. She was completely baffled by the fact that her mother never said a word."

  They had finished up and Mark left. Polly took Obiwan back upstairs, popped some microwave popcorn and was ready to call that supper when there was a knock at her door.

  Henry was there with a bag of sandwiches. "I figured you might not make supper for yourself tonight," he said.

  Polly pointed to the bowl of popcorn and said, "Well, I kind of did, but thank you. Come in!"

  "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you today. I jumped to a bunch of conclusions and that wasn't right."

  Polly unwrapped her sandwich. He'd even made sure to put cucumbers on it. "That's okay. I know all of this came way out of the blue."

  "You know I'll help you if you need it."

  "I know that. But, you can't freak out if Mark is here a lot."

  "Well, if I freak out, I will try not to tell you about it. How's that?"

  "Better, but not perfect."

  She told him some of what Mark had said about the horses and he asked, "Did you find out what their names are?"

  Polly put her sandwich down and dropped her head into her hands. "What kind of moron am I? No, I didn't ask." She looked at him and rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll find out tomorrow."

  She pushed the sandwich away and sat back in the couch. "Tomorrow is going to be a hell of a day. I have to train Shawn Wesley, then I have to go to Boone to get supplies for the barn, Mark has people coming to string up a quick electrical fence, I have to talk to you about putting a real fence in, the first load of hay is coming and four horses are coming to a new home. If I think about this much longer, I'm going to totally freak out."

  "Give me your phone," he said.

  Polly handed him the phone and he handed it back saying, "Cute. Unlock it, please."

  She giggled, unlocked the phone and handed it back. He scrolled through her calls list and pressed dial, "Jeff? Sorry to bother you buddy, but will you manage training that Shawn Wesley for Polly in the morning. We're heading down to Boone to get supplies for the horses and I want to have her out of here and back before too late in the morning."

  He waited for an acknowledgment, then said, "Thanks. See you tomorrow."

  Handing her back the phone, he said, "You need to remember that you hire good people and then you have to let them do the work. He's glad to do it."

  Polly shoved at him with the feet she'd pulled up on the sofa. "Thank you, but I could have taken care of that call. You don't have to manage everything in my life, you know."

  "I like it. It's fun."

  "Well, stop having so much fun. You make me crazy."

  "And not in a good way, I'm guessing. Are you done with this?" he pointed at the last half of the sandwich.

  "I think so.
Eat it if you want it." She reached down for the bowl of popcorn and placed it in her lap. "Do you want to watch television or something?" She had the remote in her hand and turned the power on to the system.

  "Are you going to fall asleep on me if we watch a movie?" he asked.

  "Maybe," laughter bubbled up from her belly. "You know your way out of here."

  "I'm not walking your dog tonight."

  "If I say please?"

  He tossed the empty sandwich wrapper at her and it landed in her popcorn bowl. She flung it back at him and when he ducked, the wrapper hit Leia who jumped up and ran.

  "See what you did," she said.

  Henry's only response was to toss a pillow, which she deflected to the floor. At that point, Luke scrambled off the back of the couch and ran for the bedroom.

  "You meanie, you're upsetting my cats."

  He laughed and sat back and she tossed the remote to him, set the popcorn back on the table and picked up her laptop. "I'm learning about horses. What would you like to know?"

  "I have no idea," he said.

  "Well, did you know that in the late eighteen hundreds, Iowa was home to one of the largest draft horse importers in the U.S.?"

  "Really," he said, clearly unimpressed.

  "Look," and she pointed to a horse, "they had an immense Percheron that was at the World's Fair and was a Champion Stallion."

  "Wow. That's a big horse. And you're going to have four of them in your barn."

  "Yes I am," she declared, “and I'm going to have the best time ever with them. You wait and see."

  "You know you can't bring them up to your apartment and snuggle with them at night, don't you?"

  "You're pushing it tonight, aren't you?"

  Henry reached into the bag which had held the sandwiches and pulled out two chocolate chip cookies. "Will these help?"

  "Gimme!" she said and reached over. He held it out of her reach and said, "What's the magic word?"

  "Now?"

  "No, the other magic word."

  "You're going to make me say please?"

  "Maybe."

  Polly swung her legs off the couch and set the laptop on the table. Then she put on her best pitiful face and said, "Please sir, may I have a cookie?"

  Henry brought them back in front of his body and she grabbed both of them, ran for the bedroom and shut the door. She slammed the door shut between her bedroom and bathroom and sat down on the bed. Although both cats had been sitting in their tree looking out the window, they watched as she ate one of the cookies. When she didn't hear anything and hadn't roused a response, Polly made her way to the door and peeked out a crack she opened. Henry was quietly sitting at his end of the couch eating a cookie.

  "Hey!" she said, swinging the door fully open. "That's not right!"

  "I'm not stupid. You have the craziest sweet tooth I've ever met. I bought extras."

  She dropped back down on the couch and said, "Well, that made it less fun to hide and eat it in my room."

  Henry just smirked. They'd ended up watching an old Cary Grant movie and he had left around ten o'clock. Polly was glad for the company to distract her from worrying over another new venture. But once he left and she took Obiwan for a walk around the barn and out through her pasture, her fears seemed a little overwhelming. Maybe she wasn't going to be able to do this. These were big animals and what if she couldn't get them to respect her? What if one of them couldn't be brought back to health? What if Obiwan didn't get along with them? What if her guests complained about horses? What if everybody thought she was crazy?

  As she heard her mind think that last sentence, she smiled. They probably already thought she was a little nuts and so far that hadn't bothered her. She was ready to do something new, why not embrace it with everything she had.

  Polly had stood for a while in the alley of the barn looking at the open stalls. Tomorrow night she would begin bringing four beautiful creatures back to health. Once that finally happened, she'd worry about what came next. She went back to her apartment and was now in bed, absolutely terrified at what tomorrow would bring.

  Her alarm went off the next morning and she moaned. The night had been restless, filled with dreams she couldn't remember. Polly rolled over and sat up, dangling her feet to the floor. "Come on, Obiwan. Let's get this day started." She got dressed, ran downstairs and started the coffee maker, then decided they would take a different route this morning. She crossed the road to the wooded area separating the swimming pool from the newer neighborhood to the south. Beyond that was Bellingwood's industrial park. One of these days she needed to wander through and see what was going on in there, but for this morning, Obiwan was excited to explore new territory.

  She picked up the pace and though he tried to stop and sniff every low hanging tree branch, he seemed to sense her emotions and finally just ran with her. He was panting and she was sweating when they trotted up the stairs to her apartment. Polly fed her animals and took a shower, and then since she still felt as if she had energy to burn, decided that this morning would be a good opportunity to try out a fruit coffeecake recipe. She warmed the butter and began creaming it with the sugars, while pulling out the rest of the ingredients. One look in the freezer told her it would be a strawberry kind of day.

  While the cake was baking, she checked her phone and saw that there was a text from Henry. He was going to be ready to go to Boone at eight o'clock. It was seven thirty now. She texted him back: "Coffeecake in the oven. You're going to want some. Come to the kitchen when you get here."

  "See. I told you. Epic sweet tooth," was his texted reply.

  "Brat."

  Polly took the pan downstairs and while it was cooling, set plates, napkins and forks out for those who were working today. The coffee was finished brewing. She drew off a cup and let it cool down while she cut the coffeecake and arranged the pieces on a platter. One of the edge pieces popped into her mouth. She giggled and put a full piece on a napkin and leaned on the counter. Henry walked up when she was chewing and he pointed at her mouth.

  Rather than spit crumbs at him, she put a piece on a napkin and pushed it across at him, then took a drink of coffee and said, "Whatever."

  "Are you ready to go?" he asked. "I need to get down and back."

  "I don't know for sure why you're going with me. I could do this on my own. I'm pretty sure I can ask questions and get them to help me."

  "Oh, I'm simply going for entertainment. Come on, let's get out of here."

  She grabbed her coffee, pushed the last bite of cake in her mouth, and joined him. The morning sunlight hadn't pierced through the grey sky and she asked, "Are we expecting snow?"

  "No. It's going to be fine. And it can't snow. Not until we’re finished with the roof."

  "Okay. Well, you're the boss then. Speaking of being the boss, what do you think the odds are that this Shawn Wesley will show up for work today?"

  "Even money says he won't. If you were scary enough yesterday, maybe he will; if he's got something else going on, maybe he won't."

  "I don't get it," Polly said. "It isn't like the work is going to kill him and why would he try to screw up his first job offer in six months?"

  "People have a million reasons for the things they do. I never know what to think about them."

  "You know. He's going to show up today and then he's going to be a pain in my ass over and over and over again, isn't he? He'll push me right to the edge every time and stop before he topples over it."

  "Tighten the leash, Polly. Make sure he can't do that to you. He's had his one chance and he has to know that there are no others."

  "Gah. That makes me sound like some kind of tyrant. Why can't people just do the right thing?"

  Henry laughed at her, but when he saw the look on her face, he said, "Sorry. You were joking, right?"

  "No, I wasn’t. I get up in the morning knowing that I'm going to do my best for the day. Why is that so difficult?"

  He patted her hand, "It's not that difficult
for most, but the few who think they're entitled to an easy life make it seem like that's the way of the world. Let it go. If he works out, you've done a good thing. If he doesn't work out, it still doesn't change what you did. He has to deal with his own issues."

  "Got it. Don't like it, though."

  "I know. No one does. Welcome to the world of managing people. You were lucky with Jeff and Sylvie."

  "And you."

  "And me. You were downright blessed by me."

  They laughed as he turned the corner and drove down Story Street in Boone. An hour later and Polly was sure the poor young man helping them at the Farm and Home Store would need a nap. His manager had approached and when she saw that they were buying four of most everything, began asking questions.

  Polly explained about the rescue of the Percherons and the woman said, "Oh my gosh! We have some stable blankets in the back that would be the perfect size for you. We brought them in for another customer, but they ended up not wanting them. Can I give them to you and call it my good deed for the morning?"

  Polly glanced at Henry, who nodded. "Thank you! That’s very thoughtful." No matter how long she lived here, she was never going to be used to the easy generosity of people.

  They checked out and then loaded everything into Henry's truck. When they got back to Sycamore House, Polly saw that there were already people working on the grounds around the barn.

  "You know I want a really nice fence, don't you?" she said to Henry as he drove up to the barn.

  "I know. This will do until the ground thaws. Then we'll build whatever you want. I promise." He laughed and said, "You are going to keep me busy for years, aren't you?"

  "I hope you never get bored working here," she said. "I have more plans than you can even imagine!"

  "It is never boring. Just about the time I think we're nearly finished and I'm going to have to start looking for other work, you come up with a new idea."

  "I'm not keeping you from something else you should be doing, am I?"

  "Doug told me you were worried about that. Maybe I'll have to expand and hire some more people. What would my Dad say about that?" He turned in his seat, "No, Polly, you're not keeping me from anything. I like that I can give my guys lots of hours and I like that I can think about bringing on more help. Don't worry."