Shop On the Corner, page 8
“Well, Waynesville has a lot of history and they’re proud of it,” Becky put in. “People are getting worried about what could be targeted next. The town is full of historic businesses, buildings, churches, and homes on the Historic Register. A lot of them have statues, artifacts, museum rooms, and more. People are worried if this is going to become a crime trend. The flag theft seemed like only a prank, but this tends to show it might be the beginning of a broader problem.”
Their dinner arrived, and they changed their conversation to more easy chatter, catching up on their lives, sharing bits and pieces about happenings in the town that Laura enjoyed hearing about.
“This has been fun,” Becky said as they finished their dinner and began to get ready to leave. “We need to get together another time soon.”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Rob added. “It was a pleasure getting to know you, Laura. I hope you’ll enjoy living in Waynesville.”
It was dark now as Laura and Mitchell made their way back to the shop.
“You were a little quiet tonight,” Mitchell commented.
She laughed softly. “With three old friends, all sharing memories of the past, I just enjoyed listening.”
“I’ve seen you’re good at that.” He reached over to take her hand as they walked along. “I hope we’ll enjoy more good times together like we’ve had today, Laura. I really like being with you.”
She tried to think what to say. “I appreciate you sharing your day with me. And thank you for taking me out to lunch and dinner.”
“It was my pleasure,” he said as they arrived at the shop door.
She wondered if she should ask him in again.
“I’ll blink the lights for you again later to say goodnight.” He grinned at her and then stood looking at her in the moonlight. “Whatever this is between us sure is sweet, Laura. I know you feel it, too.” And this time Mitchell leaned in to kiss her.
Laura felt a little pleasure jolt flash through her and she thrilled at the feelings when he pulled her closer, letting his fingers drift into her hair and his lips slide over her eyes and cheeks.
He stood back after a time, breathing heavily, and smoothed a hand down her cheek. “I won’t ask you to invite me in,” he said huskily. “But this has been a sweet day. We’ll just see how this goes, Laura O’Dell. Sleep well.”
He leaned over to give her one more kiss, winked at her, and then walked away. As Laura let herself in the door, she could hear him whistling in the dark.
CHAPTER 6
March slipped away, after dumping a late snowstorm on Waynesville near the end of the month, which made April even busier catching up. It seemed like the first of the month was always one of the busiest times at Quinlan’s.
“I guess with the spring here, everybody’s decided to get out of the house and find a job.” Rosemarie laughed at her own words as she brought Mitchell a pile of new mail. “We sure have been busy these first weeks of April. How’d your interview go with Howard Childers?”
“I had to give him a pretty stern talk. His casual attitude about every job we’ve found for him is wearing thin with me. In the last two jobs we placed him in, he was late so often—with so little repentance—they let him go. The word is getting out around town that he’s an employee to avoid.”
“That’s a shame, because he’s so well-educated and personable when he puts a mind to it. I wish he’d quit self-sabotaging himself.”
Mitchell shook his head. “Some days I feel more like a psychiatrist than a staffing agent or recruiter.”
“Well, get ready for another challenge. Betsy Moreau is here for her second interview with you. She’s the one we found with a smattering of false information on her paperwork. Norma found it while checking her references and her educational credentials.”
He shook his head. “Why do people do that? Don’t they realize with the Internet the way it is today, that any incorrect data will be ferreted out?”
“I think they hope most people won’t really look at their references and credentials closely, and you know many employers don’t. You read all the time about some attorney practicing law who falsified passing the board or some doctor in practice without an appropriate medical degree.”
“It does take time and money to check references, educational credentials, and backgrounds closely. Most employers work with us, and keep working with us, because we do check well. Saves them potential problems and lawsuits as well as time.”
Rosemarie turned to leave. “You want me to send Betsy in now?”
“Yeah. I’ll try to get a sense for why she lied like she did, see if we can still work with her or not.”
He glanced through Betsy’s paperwork that Rosemarie had placed on his desk earlier. Most of the problems on her application were with overestimating the years she’d worked at certain jobs, but the worst was noting she finished a training program she never really completed. He’d need to talk with her to discern why she decided to fudge on her credentials. One of his applicants had used that very word: fudge. “I just fudged a little to make myself look better on paper,” he’d explained. “Everybody told me you should do that.”
Mitchell shook his head looking at the notes Norma had made throughout Betsy’s paperwork. He liked giving people a second chance to get it right, but he worried about the attitude and ethics of people who would basically lie on their applications. If they lied and crossed ethical boundaries at their work site later, it would come back on Quinlan’s and make the business look bad to the employers they worked with.
He met with Betsy a few minutes later, who got mad and hateful when he pointed out the discrepancies in her paperwork. He smiled and told her he didn’t think she was a good fit for Quinlan’s at this time. She left in a huff, telling him she’d find herself a job on her own. He hoped she would and he also hoped she’d realize in future that she needed to be more honest about her credentials and training.
“You did the right thing,” Rosemarie said to him, coming around the corner. “She was a nasty piece of work, left talking hateful like we’d done something wrong rather than the wrong being on her own door step. You can’t do anything with people who won’t acknowledge when they’re in the wrong.” She shook her head. “She’s young though. Maybe life will teach her some needed lessons as she goes along.”
“I hate dealing with issues like this some days.” He scowled.
“Remember other people’s problems aren’t your problems unless you let them be.” She smiled at him. “Reed Barlow just popped in the door and wanted to know if you had a minute to say hello. Can I send him back? Maybe he’ll cheer you up.”
“Sure. Send him back.”
He heard Reed laughing before he came in the office.
“Hello stranger,” Mitchell said, getting up to shake Reed’s hand. “What brings you into town today?”
Reed grinned. “It’s good to see you, boy. You’re looking good. I know your daddy would be happy to see how well you’ve done taking over his business.”
Mitchell sat back down and gestured Reed to a chair. The man, who lived out in the country beyond Hazelwood, was dressed, typically, in an old green T-shirt tucked into work overalls. Crammed on his head was the battered felt hat he usually wore and rarely took off, even indoors. However, looks were deceiving in Reed’s case. All the Barlows, if rough around the edges, were smart. Reed, his brother Crockett, and their sons, along with Reed’s dad Obion Barlow, managed a successful construction company and owned acres of land outside Waynesville. They also owned a wide array of rental homes tucked around the mountains nearby that they’d bought at auctions and foreclosures over the years and fixed up to put on the rental market. Their business office near Hazelwood sat near the Old Balsam Road not far from the gun and ammo store. Reed’s wife Leona ran it with a tough iron hand and a brusque manner, but underneath it, Mitchell knew she had a heart of gold.
“I sure miss fishing with your dad,” Reed said leaning back in his chair to prop a booted foot over his knee.
“Dad loved getting out in the backwoods to fish with you.” Mitchell’s thoughts wandered back in time. “I still remember how you and Crockett found Dad that day, out on the bank by the reservoir, when he’d had a heart attack and how you brought him home to us.”
Reed shook his head. “There’s a bad memory I don’t care to recall. I saw him leaning up against that tree on the bank and thought he was asleep. He’d hiked a long way to the backside of the reservoir to fish. My dad said he stopped by the house earlier to ask if he could cut through our property.”
“None of us even knew where he’d gone that day. He simply left a note to say he’d gone fishing, wanted to get outdoors.”
Reed looked out the window for a moment. “A lot of days Crockett and I went with your dad fishing. You probably remember we all three went to school together. We’d known each other since we were kids.”
He rubbed his neck. “That’s why it hurt so much to find him.” He paused. “Sometimes when my mind wanders back to that day, I like to think your dad at least died happy, doing what he loved. Even if we all lost him too young. I think of him whenever I fish back on the reservoir.”
“We’ll always be glad you and your brother decided to go fish yourself later that day and found him, Reed. If you and Crockett hadn’t brought him back, it might have been days before anyone tracked him down him out there.”
“Aw, we just did what anyone would do at a time like that.”
Mitchell shook his head. “No, that’s not true. Most people would have called the cops and not gotten personally involved. You brought Dad home to us though, stayed with us, and helped us call the funeral home. Your wife Leona sat with my mom, comforted and hugged her while she wept. We won’t ever forget it, Reed.”
He waved a hand. “Well, that’s the past and this is today. We move on.” He pulled a flier out of his back pocket. “Me, Crockett, and the Waynesville Boys are playing next weekend at The Strand’s stage on Friday night. I was across the street giving Nolan Harbeck some fliers to put around and he suggested you might put one up on your front door or beside it. We’re hoping for a good turnout now that spring is here.”
Reed, his brother Crockett, Reed’s son Gideon, Nolan Harbeck, and another local man named Skeener Tate all played together in a bluegrass group. Mitchell’s dad had gone to see them play whenever he could and usually Mitchell tagged along when allowed.
Reed winked at Mitchell as he stood to leave. “Nolan says you’re dating the girl at his shop. Bring her along. Introduce her to some good bluegrass and mountain music.”
“I’ll do that,” Mitchell stood to see Reed out. “Did you read about the courthouse flag and the old school bell being stolen?”
Reed gave a disgusted snort. “We read the papers. You couldn’t miss hearing of it. Folks everywhere are talking about it.”
“What do you think is behind pranks like that?
“Heck, I don’t know. Maybe some kids with nothing better to do, maybe some weirdo that collects historic artifacts, or someone with a grudge against the mayor or the city. I’ve heard a lot of ideas on it.”
He turned to leave. “Leona said for me to tell you to not make yourself scarce. She said to tell you to stop by the house sometime or by the business when you’re out our way.”
“I’ll try to do that,” he said.
Mitchell’s mind turned to thoughts of Laura as Reed left. He imagined she’d enjoy going to The Strand for one of the local events the theater held. He and Laura had been dating somewhat regularly now, but he still felt she was keeping things from him. Even when they’d gone out again with Rob and Becky last week, he could tell from looks she and Becky exchanged, when Rob asked her a few questions about where she’d lived before, that Becky knew more about Laura’s past than he did. Why? He couldn’t figure it out.
Laura ought to realize that with him the owner of a staffing service, it was easy for him to do a background check on her, to find out where she’d lived before, if she had a troubled past or a criminal record. But all he’d learned in checking was that she’d come from a small town in Mississippi called Amory. He found some newspaper notes on the imminent domain order that took a group of downtown businesses to widen the highway. He’d located the address and saw old photos of the Shop on the Corner. She hadn’t lied to him about anything from what he learned, but he couldn’t figure out why she wanted to be secretive about her past—simple as it was. It made him uncomfortable.
His mother stuck her head in his door. “Do you have time for lunch, Mitchell? I’ve been teaching a class over at the Arts Council and thought I’d get a salad or something at the Sweet Onion before I head home. Rosemarie said you didn’t have another appointment until two.”
Mitchell nodded and shut down his computer. “That sounds good, Mom.” He was glad she’d missed Reed Barlow’s visit. His mother knew and loved the Barlows, of course, but seeing Reed would have brought back a sweep of sad memories.
At the Sweet Onion Restaurant two doors from Quinlan’s, they were soon seated at a table for two by the window. “I’m glad to look out at the sunshine after that snow last month. I still can’t believe we had four inches of snow in late March.” She smiled. “The kids loved it though. They got out of school and had a blast sledding with you and Laura.”
“Laura had rarely seen snow where she lived, even in the winter months.”
His mother frowned. “I took her to lunch one day and over to the Arts Council to meet everyone. I can’t seem to remember where she said she lived before though.”
He made a face. “That’s because she hasn’t said where she lived before. Not even to me, but I think Becky Ray may know. She handled her real estate transactions.”
“That’s odd.” She lifted an eyebrow. “However, knowing you, I imagine you’ve checked her out.”
Mitchell felt a guilty twinge of conscience at her words. “It’s not hard to find out a few basic things about anyone these days.”
“Especially if you run an employment and staffing service and run checks on people every day.”
The waitress stopped by, saving Mitchell from an immediate response.
His mother smiled up at the waitress. “I want the salad with the smoked chicken, cheese, bacon, and cranberry sauce,” she told her. “Leave off the jalapeno though. And just bring me water with lemon to drink.”
“I’ll have the BBQ sandwich with coleslaw and iced tea,” Mitchell said when the girl turned to him. “And add a side of macaroni and cheese to my order, too.”
“They make the best macaroni and cheese here.” His mother sighed.
He grinned at her. “Why don’t you order some? But if you don’t, I’ll give you a bite of mine.”
“Life is wretchedly unfair that you can eat anything you want and never gain weight.”
“If it makes you feel better, I don’t eat out most of the time. And you know I’m active.”
She changed the subject as the waitress left. “I visited at Laura’s shop last week after her grand opening. Everything looks good. Rita said old business is returning and a lot of new people are stopping by.”
The waitress brought their drinks and his mother stopped to squeeze lemon into her water and take a few sips. “Laura took me upstairs to see her apartment, too.”
“I like the three paintings of yours she owns. Your Waynesville scenes are some of my favorites. You know we have them all over the office here, too.”
“Laura seemed pleased with them, asked me questions about each. I talked to her about the artists I knew who had done a few of the other paintings and prints she owns.” She looked out the window toward Laura’s shop across the street. “Why do you think Laura is being secretive about her past?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you asked her specifically? The two of you are growing close now. There really shouldn’t be big secrets between you.”
“I hear you.” He drank some of his tea and looked across the street again. “I guess I haven’t pushed on her to tell me more about her past. I simply assumed she would as we got to know each other better. Instead, she’s been oddly silent about her past.”
“Hmmm. Invite her to church for Sunday and to Nannie V’s for lunch. After Laura has spent much of the day around your family, simply confront her in a natural way, and ask her about her past more specifically.”
“What if she evades my questions again?”
“If Laura evades your questions again, you’ll need to be more direct. Be candid and tell her you’ve noticed she’s shied away from answering any personal questions about where she lived before she moved to Waynesville and about her family. Remind her she’s met most of your family and that you’ve been open with her. If you want, tell her it hurts you that she isn’t sharing with you, that you’ve noticed even Becky seems to be more in her confidence than you are. Tell her you’d like an explanation.”
He considered her words.
She raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t mention that you checked her out, though. She might resent it.”
“I’m falling for Laura pretty hard,” he told his mother after the waitress brought their lunch.
“So are the children, and I’m rather fond of Laura myself.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Mitchell added, “It does hurt though that she’s keeping things from me.”
“Well, then it’s time to talk about it,” she said matter-of-factly. “Speaking of talking about something, I meant to tell you that Sam Jacobs, the children’s grandfather and Hudson’s father, wants me to bring the children down to Savannah for spring break. You know he still has the house where Hudson grew up on Tybee Island. He has plenty of room and the children love the beach. I’ve taken them there a few times before to stay. He wants to keep a relationship with them. When Alise and Hudson died, he was kind and supportive about us taking the children to raise, with Hudson’s mother gone. Working as he does and traveling in pharmaceutical sales, it would have been difficult for him to raise them.”
