Blue Moon Haven, page 5
“He’s not my son. He’s—”
“She should’ve slapped your face!”
The woman shot Todd a stern look over her shoulder, and he transferred his glare from Seth to her.
“And I’m sick of you saying that,” Todd spat. “Why don’t you tell the whole world! Shout it right out of that window? Cuz, Lord knows, I don’t want anyone thinking Daisy and I are yours! You’re a wimp. You let that guy walk over you yesterday, and now, you’re letting him bully Mae Bell. He deserves to have someone whoop his a—”
“Don’t say it.” She held up a finger. “I mean it.”
Even Seth hesitated to speak. The woman might be small, but that strict tone of hers could stop a man in his tracks and force him to think twice.
“And you’re behaving no better,” she shot in Seth’s direction. “Antagonizing Todd like that. Calling him names. Starting an argument right here in Mae Bell’s room. He’s a boy, but you’re a grown man and should know better. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re both behaving like, like . . . inst . . . inst-uh-ga . . .”
When she faltered, Seth narrowed his eyes. “Instigators?”
Todd harrumphed.
“Whatever.” She waved away the correction. “I haven’t made it to the I’s yet.”
Seth frowned. “What?” She refused to elaborate, and those big brown eyes of hers looked up at him with intense disdain. Which was entirely new for him. No woman had ever looked at him like that before. Pride stung, he pursed his lips. “That kid deserves a spanking.”
“Well, so do you.”
Automatically his attention darted to her hands, his own neck burning at the image her words conveyed. She felt the same apparently, her wide eyes meeting his, then flicking away as she shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
Seth cleared his throat and tugged at the collar of his T-shirt, which suddenly felt too tight around his hot skin.
“Well, what do you know?” Mae Bell glanced from Seth to Kelly and back, her tone gleeful. “You’ve just been taught lesson number one, Kelly, without the aid of one of my trunk tapes. Welcome to a real-life Blue Moon meet-cute.”
* * *
Kelly froze, her pulse throbbing so loudly in her ears, she could barely hear her own thoughts, much less Mae Bell’s words. A meet-cute? Meet-cute? Between her and this . . . this . . . Neanderthal?
“No.” She returned Mae Bell’s gleeful grin with a somber glare. “Nope. No way. That”—she gestured between herself and her Neanderthal neighbor—“is most definitely not what this is. This is an argument between two people who—”
“Have two completely different agendas and dispositions,” the hunk—er, jerk—said. He glared at Mae Bell, too.
Undeterred, Mae Bell motioned toward the man. “Kelly, this is Seth Morgan, my neighbor for almost two decades. Seth, meet Kelly Jenkins, Blue Moon Haven Drive-In’s new assistant manager, and her two guests, Todd and Daisy. I trust you’ll both manage to tolerate each other’s existence throughout the duration of our restoration project.” She smiled wider. “Which brings me to my first question, Kelly. Have you had a chance to view any of the films I left in the trunk for you?”
“Uh, no . . . but I very much want to.” Kelly shifted from one foot to the other. “It’s just, well, I didn’t bring a TV with us during the move, and there’s not one in the trail—”
“Mansion, dear.”
“Yes. Mansion. And I—”
“And have you grown fond of the Mansion now that you’ve had a chance to settle in?”
Kelly smiled. “I have. Very much, thank you.” Movement caught her eye. Todd had made his way over to Mae Bell’s record player and was thumbing through her collection of albums. “Todd, please don’t rifle through Mae Bell’s things.”
“Oh, let him look. What harm can it do?” Mae Bell crossed the room, dragged out a second box of records and set them in front of Todd, who tackled them instantly.
He frowned. “What are they?”
Mae Bell laughed. “Gracious, what delights young ones have missed out on. These are records—vinyl discs, or just plain vinyl if you prefer to refer to them in a hipper manner. They’re the physical equivalent of music as opposed to those abstract tracks you kids play in the clouds nowadays.”
Todd looked even more confused. “Huh?”
“Music, dear. It’s simply good, old-fashioned music with a soothing scratch in the background and nothing between you and the intimate croon of the performer’s voice.” She sighed wistfully. “Technology is a wonderful thing, but it does have a curious ability to steal as much beauty out of life as it gives.”
Todd rifled through a few more albums. “I don’t know any of these bands.”
“Visit me more often and you will,” Mae Bell said, opening the top drawer of her dresser and withdrawing a checkbook. She walked over to Kelly and placed it in her hand. “You’ll find the balance is accurate—I checked with the bank this morning. The forms have been signed and filed and you are an authorized user of this account. I’ve already written you a check for groceries and a few odds and ends, and you’ll find a list of priorities to follow after your first task of watching the films. Unfortunately, my stepdaughter threw out my TV and VCR.” She made a face. “Seems she thought my vintage audiovisual devices were too vintage. Feel free to use another check to purchase a suitable TV and VHS player to view the films. That’s still priority number one, okay?” Mae Bell glanced at Seth and lifted her chin. “You see, Seth? I have a checkbook of my own.”
Seth dipped his head, an expression almost like embarrassment flickering over his expression. “More never hurt anyone,” he said quietly, taking a wide berth around Kelly and Daisy to the door. “If you change your mind, you know where I am.”
Daisy, watching Seth closely, hid behind Kelly’s leg as he left. Then the child tugged Kelly’s hand and pointed at the pile of records Todd was picking through.
“Go ahead, but please put things back where you got them,” Kelly said.
She smiled as Daisy joined Todd to explore the records, then eased over to the window and watched as Seth hopped into his truck, cranked the engine and left. He spared one last hard glance at Mae Bell’s window.
“How do you put up with that man?” she murmured.
Mae Bell’s shoulder brushed Kelly’s as she joined her at the window, her soft perfume settling around them both. “Oh, he’s not that bad, dear, and he has his reasons.” Her voice softened on her next words. “He has a story, as we all do. His is just more tragic than most.”
“What happened to him?”
Mae Bell tugged a strand of her hair and smiled. “The best way to get accurate details and a straightforward answer is to ask the source directly rather than a third party.”
Kelly slumped against the window. As curious as she was, she knew there was no way in the world she would do that. She did, however, have another urgent matter pressing on her mind, and she supposed she should do as Mae Bell suggested and go right to the source for an answer.
“Mae Bell, about those VHS tapes . . .”
* * *
Four hours later, Kelly hadn’t found a VCR player—not a single one. After leaving Mae Bell with a promise to start viewing the films she’d left in the trunk for her, Kelly had bundled the kids in the car, driven to Blue Moon’s Main Street and started shopping for a TV and VCR player. The task had been far more difficult than Mae Bell had suggested earlier.
TVs were in abundance in both Al’s Electronics and the larger big-box retailer she’d visited. But they’d all been high-definition TVs, with the only peripheral choices being DVD or Ultra HD players. There was no point in spending a couple hundred dollars or more of Mae Bell’s money on an HDTV she couldn’t use if she couldn’t track down a VCR player. Even the bank teller at Blue Moon Investments, who’d verified her identity before cashing her generous advance check from Mae Bell, had answered Kelly’s VCR questions with a healthy dose of sarcasm and skepticism.
“A VCR?” the teller had asked. “Restoring the drive-in?” He had counted out her money onto the counter with the tips of his fingers, as though the bills themselves had offended him. “The only hindrance to Blue Moon being recognized as Small Town of the Year in Best Homes and Towns magazine is that outdated blemish on Mrs. Larkin’s property. Unfortunate as the truth may be, Blue Moon Drive-In’s time has come and gone. I wish you well in your endeavor, but I can assure you, it will be fruitless.”
Less hopeful than she’d been initially, Kelly had summoned up her last ounce of optimism and visited every store in Blue Moon, only to discover not a single one carried a VCR. She’d even enlisted Todd and Daisy’s help in searching Bitsy’s Antiques and Consignment Shop from top to bottom, hoping to come across one. But when she’d asked Bitsy, the very talkative owner, if one had ever been traded in, Bitsy had outright laughed, then walked away, leaving Kelly standing there empty-handed, with two very tired, grumpy kids.
“Can I get a triple burger, onion rings, a jumbo milk shake and a large order of fudge?” Todd, seated opposite Kelly in a window booth located in Tully’s Treats, drummed his fingers on the table. “Hello? Kelly? Can I get a trip—”
“I heard you the first time.” Kelly narrowed her eyes. “And after you eat, do you plan on walking out of here, or will you just lie down on the floor and wait for me and Daisy to roll you out of the door?”
His nose twitched. “I’m hungry. You made us walk five thousand miles today looking for that stupid VCK player, and we still didn’t get one.”
“VCR player,” Kelly corrected.
“Or a TV.” Todd slumped back in the booth and crossed his arms. “We still don’t have a TV, so there’ll be nothing to do when we get back to the trailer but sleep anyway. Besides, you said Daisy and I could get whatever we wanted for supper if we were patient all day.”
Yep. She had said that.
“You promised,” Todd stressed for good measure.
Kelly propped her elbows on the table and buried her face in her hands. Well, that’s what she deserved for bribing kids with food: a sleepless night soothing a boy with a junk food–induced stomachache.
Daisy rose to her knees on the seat beside Kelly and whispered in her ear, “Can I get what Todd’s getting, but with honey taffy instead of fudge?”
Make that soothing a boy and a girl with junk food–induced stomachaches. Not one to break her word, and somewhat soothed by the healthy wad of dollar bills in her pocket, Kelly lowered her forehead to the table and mumbled, “Sure.”
“Everything okay here?”
Kelly rolled her head to the side and cracked one eye open. A waitress, tall with long blond hair and a kind smile, stood by the booth, studying Kelly with a concerned look on her face.
“Yeah.” Kelly peeled her cheek off the table, sat up and plastered a smile on her face. She should at least try to look presentable for the kids’ sake. “I think we’re ready to order.” She gestured weakly toward Todd. “Go ahead.”
Her eyes glazed over as Todd rambled off his and Daisy’s long order, certain the waitress must think she was the most negligent guardian in existence for letting two children eat such a greasy, sugar-laden spread for supper.
But the waitress only smiled wider. “Sounds like a celebration. Did something wonderful happen today?”
Todd made a sound of disgust. “We spent all day wasting time looking for a VCK.”
“VCR,” Kelly corrected. Todd was too smart to make such a careless mistake repeatedly. He was doing it on purpose to rub her the wrong way.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “No one has one anyway. And since we don’t even have a TV, this will be the most exciting thing we do all day.” He made a face at the waitress. “Which isn’t saying much.”
Mortified beyond words, Kelly dug a handful of quarters out of her pocket and tossed them on the table in front of Todd. “Pinball machine.” She pointed at the unoccupied machine on the opposite side of the small restaurant. “Go. Now.”
Todd hesitated briefly, then scooped up the quarters, hopped out of the booth and tugged Daisy along with him to the pinball machine. “Come on, Daisy.”
Kelly winced at the waitress in apology. “I’m sorry about that.”
“No problem.” She laughed. “I love how honest kids are. They don’t leave you guessing about their thoughts or intentions. I understand them a lot better than I do adults, most days.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Kelly shook her head as Seth Morgan’s dark frown sprang to mind. “My new neighbor’s like that. I don’t even know the man, but he barged in on me yesterday and was just as rude to me again this morning, all because he wants the property I just moved onto. He didn’t even bother to introduce himself before he jumped all over me. And worse”—she gestured toward Daisy, who stood by Todd’s side, smiling as he played pinball—“he made sweet Daisy cry. Scared her half to death.”
The waitress’s smile dissipated. “Where is it you just moved to?”
“Just outside of town. Mae Bell Larkin hired me as the new assistant manager to help renovate and reopen the Blue Moon Haven Drive-In.” Kelly glanced up at the waitress and braced herself. Goodness knows, outside of Mae Bell’s welcome, she hadn’t had many enthusiastic responses to her presence in Blue Moon. “I assume you know of it?”
The waitress nodded slowly. “I do.”
“And do you know the guy who lives next door?”
“Seth Morgan?” At Kelly’s nod, she said, “Yes.”
“Then you know what I’m talking about, right? He’s easy on the eyes—I’ll give him that—but he comes across as a complete Neanderthal.”
A look of empathy crossed the waitress’s features. “I know he can be very difficult at times. I’m sorry he was rude to you.”
Kelly almost sagged with relief, hot tears pricking at the back of her eyes. “Thank you. I mean, I tried to see his side of things, tried to come up with a reason for why he behaved the way he did, but I just couldn’t think of a justifiable reason for his being so horrible. And things didn’t go any better today. No one thinks Mae Bell and I should even try to get the drive-in back up and running, and Todd and Daisy aren’t excited about it at all. I’m beginning to think I made a huge mistake coming here.” She gestured toward the peaceful sidewalks outside of the window. “I love Blue Moon. It’s beautiful. It’s just . . . I’d hoped for a better welcome, you know?”
“Blue Moon is ordinarily a very welcoming community,” the waitress said softly. “I wish we’d given you a better first impression.” She held out her hand and smiled. “Please let me welcome you properly.”
Kelly brushed the back of her hand across her eyes, then squeezed the other woman’s hand, grateful to have met at least one friendly person who hadn’t judged her. A person she could get to know better and possibly befriend.
“I’m Kelly Jenkins,” she said. “Thank you so much for being kind to me. You’re such a nice change from that awful man who lives next door to me.”
The woman’s smile faltered as she said, “I’m Tully Morris. Seth Morgan’s sister.”
CHAPTER 4
Seth slid a four-inch leather strap around the bottom of the elevated hive stand of a Langstroth beehive and looped it back over the top of the outer cover, securing the medium and deep supers together. The Langstroth beehive was one of four stationed in a neat row along the far side of his backyard nearest the orchard. Tending the hives had quickly become one of Seth’s favorite tasks.
Having established his apiary several years ago, Seth had fed, protected and nurtured his nuclear colony meticulously and added additional colonies over the years. He’d discovered the side hustle of selling local honey had not only been a profitable business in its own right, but it also complemented his pecan business.
Seth wrapped a second leather strap around the Langstroth beehive, then drove two thin metal posts into the ground on both sides of the beehive to anchor it. He used additional leather straps to tie the beehive to the posts for extra support and protection against rough weather.
His task finished, Seth straightened, tilted his head back and studied the dark clouds milling overhead. During his drive back from visiting Mae Bell in the nursing home yesterday, he’d managed to shove aside his frustrations long enough to focus on the weather report droning from the satellite radio in his truck. Spring was on the way, the weatherman had announced, and the first round of March storms would be rolling in the next day.
And just as the weatherman had predicted, the wind had strengthened overnight, rattling branches in the orchard and whistling along the eaves of Seth’s house as he’d hopped in his truck to tend to his orchard at dawn. By lunchtime, the storm clouds had piled up enough to alert him that the spring storms predicted on the news were well on their way and that his hives would benefit from additional protection.
He wiped his sweaty brow and neck with the hem of his T-shirt, propped his fists on his lower back and stretched, exhaling with satisfaction at the slight ache in his muscles.
“Nothing like a good day’s work, huh?”
His mouth curved into a small smile, his chest warming at the cheery voice. “It certainly offers a nice sense of accomplishment.” He straightened and turned to find his sister standing a few feet away in his backyard, her arms holding a box of empty glass jars. “Back for a refill already?”
Tully grinned. “What can I say? My customers love your honey. They ask for a dab of it on everything—ice cream, pie, toast, you name it. They ’bout eat me out of house and home up there, thank goodness!”
And that was to be expected. For as far back as Seth could remember, Tully had loved to cook. His mom used to keep a step stool by the stove so his little sister could reach the counters and mix cake batter or create a new confection. Tully, now thirty-three years old, had a flair for creating delicious candies and baked goods, as well as main courses, so it was no surprise to Seth when her restaurant and candy shop, Tully’s Treats, became a Blue Moon overnight success more than a decade ago.
