Pamela Hearon – His Kind of Perfection (страница 12)
As long as it was only the once, Bree thought it would be okay if her brother didn’t know. “I won’t tell him, but it can’t happen again. Do you have somewhere else you can go? To a friend’s?”
Lanie shook her head.
“Back to live with your dad?”
“No.” The girl was adamant about that one.
“Well, let’s put your stuff in my office for now.” Bree got up and placed the stack of clothes into the open gym bag, her mind spinning for possibilities. “Maybe you could stay with Thea and me until we find someplace else.” She knew she shouldn’t be volunteering that idea until she’d talked with Thea, who
“I don’t want to be in the way.” Lanie slipped the jacket on, then took the bag from Bree and zipped it.
“We’ll figure out something,” Bree assured her as she led the way to her office.
No sooner had she gotten the door open than Lanie grabbed her stomach and cried, “Oh, shit.” Then she leaned over and puked into the trash can by Bree’s desk.
Bree looked on, horrified by this quick turn of events. “Lanie...are you?”
Lanie straightened and wiped a shaky hand down her ashen face. “Pregnant. That’s why Iz kicked me out.”
STELLA COULDN’T GET Lanie off her mind.
Needing someone to talk to other than Gil, Bree had unloaded to Stella about her coworker during lunch. And, although she appreciated her daughter’s kind heart, her own mother’s heart couldn’t keep from worrying about Bree’s plan to give the girl shelter with her and Thea.
A father who kicked her out? A boyfriend who sent her packing as soon as he learned she was pregnant? This was a different type of person than those Bree was used to. What if the boyfriend wanted Lanie back and she’d decided she didn’t want him? Was he the violent type? Abusive?
Stella’s stomach twisted. She didn’t want Bree involved in any of that.
But Lanie needed help. To add insult to injury, the poor girl’s car wouldn’t even start now, which was why Stella was headed to Ollie Perkins’s house to talk with Ray Cyree.
It still seemed strange to Stella, seeing cars on East Main at two o’clock in the afternoon on a Thursday. There had been a time when any traffic here would’ve been limited to pedestrians—the reason being the townspeople had wanted to help Ollie, who was legally blind, keep a bit of his independence after his mother had moved to the nursing home. Everyone had stayed off the street and allowed Ollie to drive his car the three blocks to the nursing home to visit his mom one day a week. Even Sheriff Blaine had looked the other way.
But Ollie had given up driving completely now, the macular degeneration having stolen enough of his eyesight that even walking could be a problem.
Well, what could possibly be the reason for poor Lanie’s situation?
Ray wasn’t outside when Stella pulled into Ollie’s driveway, but the sawhorses were set up, laden with boards and a power saw. A pile of sawdust beneath served as evidence the man was still hard at work on the renovations.
The hammering was so loud, she doubted anyone could hear her knock on the front door, but she tried anyway. When that didn’t work, she opened the door a crack and stuck her head in.
“Ollie? You home?”
The hammering stopped. “That you, Ms. Stella?” Ray’s familiar voice answered. “C’mon in.”
By that time, she
Ray came from the back of the house, wiping his hands on his faded jeans, his warm smile a pleasant greeting.
“Hi, Ray. How are you?”
“I’m fine. And you look good, as always.”
Stella should have been used to Ray’s ever-present compliments, but they still made her blush like a schoolgirl.
“Are you looking for Ollie?” he went on. “’Cause I took him over to visit his mom.”
“No, I came looking for you.”
Ray’s blue eyes twinkled. “A pretty woman’s never said that to me before.”
“Lawd, Ray,” Stella drawled in her best Southern belle imitation. “How you do go on!”
“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled back. “Now, what is it I can do for you? I know you weren’t just hankering for my smile.”
“I’m hankering for your mechanic skills,” she confessed. “There’s a young woman who works at the new gym whose car won’t hit a lick. We can call somebody else if you’re too busy, but I thought I’d start with you.”
Since they’d met, Stella had thrown any kind of business Ray’s way that she thought he could handle, which was pretty much everything. He was always grateful for the work.
His hands gripped his hips and his face grew serious. “Where’s her car?”
“At the gym in Benton.”
Ray glanced at his watch. “I’m supposed to pick Ollie up at five, but, take away the driving time, that gives me a couple of hours. Guess if I don’t know what her car needs by then, I doubt I’d ever know.”
Ray’s old truck wouldn’t give Bree or Gil much confidence in his ability if they saw it. “I can take you,” Stella suggested, and he surprised her by accepting her offer.
“That would keep me from having to dismantle things. Let me get my tools.”
Ray led her through the house, stopping long enough to show her the upgrade project he’d been working on.
Two walls had been knocked out to open up the kitchen to the living room, forming a large great room that would allow Ollie more space. The original oak floors would be leveled next. That would require working under the house on floor joists, which sounded like a cold job.
Ray assured her it wouldn’t take too long, but he also planned to refinish the floor. He showed her the halogen lighting fixtures that would replace the old relics that had been in the house since Ollie’s dad built it eighty years ago. They would brighten dark corners and help eliminate shadowy areas that could cause Ollie problems.
Stella was amazed at the depth of the project...and of Ray’s skill. “I swear, Ray Cyree, you really can do everything.”
“I can fix anything but a broken heart.”
She smiled, remembering his sign from the first day they met.
They stepped into the backyard, and she saw why he’d so readily accepted her offer of a ride to the gym.
The back of his pickup/home was now also serving as a makeshift toolshed with lumber and tools scattered about. A large cord connected at one end to the truck and plugged into the foundation of the house at the other.
Ray saw her looking at it. “Yes, ma’am, I’ve set up camp here on a more permanent basis. Ollie lets me plug into his electricity, so I’m not having to run that loud generator...for which his neighbors are grateful, I’m sure.”
Stella was pleased, too, though she didn’t say so. She’d heard Sue Marsden complaining about the noise a couple of days ago to Mary Jenkins, a member of the town council. Sue wasn’t one of Ollie’s neighbors, but she was complaining on their behalf.
If anybody ever needed a champion to do their complaining for them, Sue was the go-to.
Ray loaded a greasy toolbox into the trunk of Stella’s pristine car, and the two of them headed toward Benton. Ray’s face had become a common sight in Taylor’s Grove, so he was no longer the main focus of talk around town. But a few eyebrows were raised when he appeared in the front seat of Stella’s Cadillac, she was sure.
They passed the time making small talk and catching up on the news since they’d last seen each other.
“You told me once, you wanted to stay around these parts.” Stella cast him a sidelong glance as she drove. “It looks like Ollie’s project will keep you busy for a while.”
“To tell you the truth, I think he likes me being there. He invites me in for supper most every night. And sometimes we play cards afterward.” Ray barked a laugh and held his hands out about a foot apart. “Got the dangdest set of cards I ever seen. Huge boogers, so’s he can see ’em.” Then he sighed, and his voice held a somber note. “Ollie’s a good man. Terrible lonesome for companionship, though.”
Guilt gnawed at Stella’s insides. “I never thought much about how lonely he might be. He’s often out and about town, and he always seems to have something to do.”
She saw the movement of Ray’s shrug out of the corner of her eye. “But going home to an empty house is never easy,” he said.
How well Stella knew that. Sometimes when she left her own home, she would leave the TV or radio on just so there would be some noise when she returned.
She learned years ago that the silence in an empty house could be deafening.
Ray chose to stay outside when they got to the gym, so Stella went in to get the infamous Lanie, curious to meet the young woman who vexed Bree so.
The place was a beehive of activity, and Stella couldn’t keep from thinking how pleased Isaiah would be to have so much going on in this place he’d loved so much. And to think that both of their kids worked here—well, that was just a dream come true. Gil was in the weight room helping a young man doing heavy bench presses. His back was to the window, so he didn’t see her. Through another window, she spotted Bree, teaching what looked to be a yoga class. Bree’s eyes went wide when she saw Stella. She excused herself and came rushing out into the lobby. “Is everything okay? What are you doing here?”