“That sounds like your mother.”
I could see Roma smiling. She’d met my mother earlier in the fall when she filled in as a last-minute director for the New Horizons Theatre Festival.
She pulled into my driveway behind my truck, put the car in park and shifted around to look at me. “My dad says that marriage works as long as you both don’t want to pour a bucket of water over the other person at the same time.”
I thought about the bumpy path Marcus and I had followed before we ended up together. More than once I’d thought about pouring my coffee on his shoes. I laughed. “I think your dad’s onto something.”
I gestured to the house. “How about some hot chocolate?”
Roma made a face. “I’ll have to take a rain check. There’s a German shepherd at the clinic I really need to check on. But you and Maggie are still coming out for lunch tomorrow, right?”
“Absolutely,” I said.
I undid my seat belt and slid across the seat. “Thanks for coming tonight.”
Roma smiled. “It was fun.”
“Somewhere in the state of Minnesota we will find Rebecca a dress,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She waved and I headed around the house to the back door.
Marcus called just after ten o’clock. I was curled up in the big chair in the bedroom reading, with Hercules sprawled in my lap.
“How was practice?” I asked.
“Good. But I ended up going into the boards, headfirst.”
I straightened up, disturbing Herc, who sat up as well and glared at the phone. “Are you all right?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” he said. “My cheek’s a little swollen, and I have a couple of bruises. Brady said it makes me look a little more menacing.”
“Brady Chapman’s on the team?”
“Uh-huh.”
I could hear him shifting in his seat and guessed that he was stretched out on the sofa.
“We needed a goalie. Derek starts college after Christmas. Remember?”
Officer Derek Craig was finishing his degree with the long-term goal of law school. He’d borrowed every LSAT prep book I’d been able to get for him. He was smart, observant and focused. I had no doubt he’d make a good lawyer.
“Did you finish going through Olivia’s kitchen?” I asked. Hercules had settled himself again, his head against my chest. I started stroking his fur and he began purring.
“How did you—never mind. We’re just about done,” he said.
“You didn’t find anything, did you?”
“You know I can’t answer that.”
I could picture him smiling and I could hear it in his voice.
“You know you just did,” I pointed out.
He yawned.
“You’re tired,” I said. “Go have a shower.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll do that. You and Maggie are going to Roma’s to paint tomorrow afternoon, aren’t you?”
My hand had stopped moving, and Hercules gave it a nudge with his head. “Uh-huh,” I said. “And you’ll be here for supper?”
“Ummm, I’m looking forward to it.”
That sound, a little like the cats purring, made me weak in the knees. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” I said softly.
“Good night, Kathleen,” he said.
I hung up the phone but sat there for a moment, thinking about how good Marcus smelled, how much I like threading my fingers through his dark brown hair and kissing his warm mouth. After a moment I realized Hercules was staring curiously at me.
“Sorry, I just got a little sidetracked,” I said. He gave me a look that if he’d been a person I would have called “yeah, right.”
I leaned back in the chair and stretched my arms over my head. “I forgot to tell Marcus I’m going to Fern’s in the morning to have breakfast with Burtis,” I said.
The cat’s expression grew even more skeptical.
“I really did forget,” I said. I made a mental note to tell Marcus as soon as he arrived for dinner tomorrow night. I really was trying to stay out of his cases. I just wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it.
* * *
I didn’t want to get up in the morning. It was so warm and comfortable under my heavy quilt and woolen blanket. It had snowed, but only a little, so I was able to clear everything away with just the broom. Owen came out with me, chasing snowflakes as I swept them away, jumping around and generally having a good time. Hercules came only as far as the top step. He looked around, shook his head and went back through the door with a sour expression on his face. (Hercules hated snow.) And when I say through the door, I mean literally through it. The air seemed to shimmer, ever so slightly, and he was gone. Seeing that happen still made the hairs come up on the back of my neck and I couldn’t help looking around to make sure no one else had been watching.
I fed the boys breakfast, pulled on my down-filled jacket and heavy-soled lace-up boots and grabbed my purse.
“I’ll be back,” I said.
Hercules looked up and meowed. Owen made a low “murp” and didn’t even bother lifting his head from his bowl.
Burtis was sitting at the counter at Fern’s when I got there, his huge hands wrapped around an equally huge mug of coffee. I’d never gone to Fern’s for breakfast and gotten there before him. I had no idea what time he got up in the morning, but it was clearly very, very early.
I slid onto the stool next to Burtis. The place was empty except for four long-distance truckers sitting together at one of the middle booths.
Peggy Sue turned and smiled at me. “Coffee?” she asked.
“Oh, please,” I said.
She poured me a cup a big as the one Burtis had and set it in front of me along with a pitcher of cream and a little metal bowl filled with sugar packets.
I could feel Burtis’s eyes on me, but he didn’t speak until I’d added cream and sugar to my cup and taken a very large sip. “Morning, Kathleen,” he said then.
I leaned my right elbow on the counter. “Good morning, Burtis,” I replied.
He looked over at Peggy and held up two fingers. She nodded and went through the swinging door into the kitchen.
“Big Breakfast okay with you?” Burtis asked.
“Yes, thank you,” I said. I took another sip from my oversize mug. My fingers were beginning to thaw out.
“I hear your boyfriend didn’t find anything over at Olivia Ramsey’s kitchen,” he said after another stretch of silence.
“I heard the same thing,” I said.
Burtis took a long drink of his own coffee. “Dayna and I were just kids when we got married. You probably already heard that.”
I nodded. “I did.”
“She came here with her parents on vacation. Probably vain of me to say it, but I cleaned up pretty good in those days.”
I smiled at him. “I believe it.”
He ran a hand over his stubbled chin. “For me, it was just going to be a summer fling. I know that’s kind of a shameful thing to admit, but it’s the truth.”
His mouth moved and I waited without speaking. “She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen and she looked at me like I could pull the stars down and hand them to her.” He looked at me. “That’s a powerful feeling, Kathleen.”
“I can see how it would be.”
“She ran away,” he said. “She came back here. And we got married.” He turned back to his coffee cup. “Brady came along nine months and a day after the wedding.”
Peggy Sue came out then with our breakfasts: scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, fried potatoes with onions and yellow peppers because tomatoes were out of season and two thick slices of raisin toast. We ate in silence for several minutes. When Peggy filled up our mugs again, I set my fork down and shifted a bit on my stool so I could look at Burtis. “You said that Dayna was allergic to pistachios.”
He nodded. “That’s right. We spent one night in a hotel in Minneapolis. She had some kinda dessert with those nuts on it. She would have died on the spot if there hadn’t been a doctor having dinner at the next table.”