Stuck in the Middle, page 20
“You can’t fool me. You do plenty just taking care of me and Mom.” Joan hugged her. “Now I’d better go change clothes before they arrive.”
Gram followed her down the stairs and into her bedroom. “Are you sure you won’t have something for supper?” Her voice cracked with worry. “Maybe a sandwich and a bowl of soup?”
“I had a late lunch,” Joan told her. “And besides, there’s no time. They’ll be here any minute. I don’t want to eat in front of them.”
She brightened. “I can fix them a sandwich too.”
Joan clasped her grandmother’s shoulders. “That’s not necessary. They’re just coming for a meeting.” She leaned forward and kissed a wrinkled cheek, reveling in the powdery smell she always associated with Gram. “Thank you for taking care of me, but I’m not going to wither away from lack of food.”
The doorbell rang. Joan glanced at her watch. The first person was five minutes early.
“Would you get that, please? Tell whoever it is I’ll be right up.”
Gram’s brow cleared as she scooted out of the room, intent on her mission. Joan grinned as she donned jeans and a blue shirt. By the time Joan got upstairs, she’d be stuffing brownies into whoever had just arrived, regaling them with the history of her recipe and the story of the first time she made them for Grandpa.
As she mounted the stairs, the doorbell rang again.
“I’ll get it,” she shouted.
Eve and a familiar-looking brunette stood on the stoop.
“You remember Marissa?” Eve nodded toward her friend. “She’s been to church with me a couple of times.”
“Sure.” Joan stepped back so they could enter. “Hi, Marissa. Glad you could come.”
“Thanks.” Marissa returned Joan’s smile with a shy one.
Behind her, Gram said, “Come on in, girls, and tell me what you’d like to drink. I have lemonade, sweet tea, milk, and 7UP. Or I could make coffee.”
Joan turned in time to see her step into the living room with a tray of cheese and crackers. Apparently the brownies weren’t her only project. She had prepared a full buffet of snack food. Joan chuckled as she swung the door closed. Leave it to Gram.
An arm shot through the doorway. She pulled the door back open and looked up into Ken’s smiling face.
Would her stomach ever stop fluttering at the sight of those breathtaking green eyes?
“I’m not late, am I?”
“You’re right on time.” She stepped back to let him inside. “I’m glad I finally get to hear your secret idea.”
All week long during their morning walks, he’d been hinting that he had a great idea for the group but wouldn’t tell her what the project might be. He slipped inside and stood looking down at her, his face barely six inches from hers. Definitely inside her hula hoop, but Joan had no desire to step back.
“I hope you’re not disappointed after all the buildup.” Disappointed in anything to do with Ken? Not likely.
By 7:40 everyone had arrived, and they had to bring extra chairs from the dining room. Joan did a quick count. Eight, counting herself. Not bad. All the Sunday morning regulars had showed up, and Brittany called Crystal, who attended sporadically. Joan realized there were a couple of others she should have thought to call and made a mental note to do that before their next meeting.
Gram’s brownies were a hit, and she was obviously enjoying herself, flitting in and out of the room refilling everyone’s glasses if they got more than three sips low. Joan realized she would have to get things going. She felt like they should begin with a prayer.
She had never prayed in public! Blessings before family meals didn’t count. Praying wasn’t something that came naturally to her, not prayers like the one she heard from that preacher at the Open Bible Church. Or Ken, even. When he had said the blessing at dinner, he made it sound so easy. Not professional, like Rev. Jacobson’s, but more like a normal conversation. Maybe he would do it, if she asked.
No, this was her idea. It was up to her. She cleared her throat. “We ought to get started, you guys. I, uh, guess I’ll open with prayer.”
The chatter fell silent and everyone bowed their heads. Joan gulped a breath. Just talk to him. “Dear God, thank you for the great turnout tonight. We’re here because we’re hoping to come up with ways to support each other, and also to do some good in our church and maybe in our town. We hope you’ll give us some ideas and that, uh . . . ,” her eyes squeezed tighter, “that your Holy Spirit will lead our discussion. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
A huge wave of relief washed over her. That wasn’t so bad. In fact, it felt sort of good, especially the part about the Holy Spirit leading them. Ken must have thought so too, because he smiled at her.
“Okay,” she said, looking around the room. “Has anyone come up with any brainstorms?”
On the sofa, Brittany raised a hand. “I thought we might paint the Sunday school classrooms. It’s been years since the last time anybody did it.”
“I wondered about planting fall flowers around the churchyard.” Eve glanced around the room. “And in another month we could rake leaves for some of the elderly people in our congregation.”
Beside her on the love seat, Ryan laughed. “There are plenty of those, that’s for sure.” He ducked his head as Gram made another pass through the room with the tea pitcher.
“What a shame it’s not closer to Christmas,” Brittany said. “We could do the Angel Tree.”
“What about volunteering at the food pantry?” Crystal absently swirled her soda, ice tinkling against the glass. “They need help all year-round.”
Gordy’s head swiveled toward her. “Does Danville even have a food pantry?”
She shrugged. “If they don’t, Lexington does. Or maybe we could start one here.”
Joan tapped a finger against the arm of her chair, listening to the ideas being thrown out. These were some good projects, but she was holding out to hear what Ken had come up with.
“I like the idea of doing something for the community,” Ryan said. “The church I went to in St. Louis when I was a teenager used to print labels with John 3:16 and put them on cold bottles of water. Then we’d go out as a group and pass them out to homeless people.”
Eve sat up in her seat, her face brightening. “What a terrific idea.”
“Except I don’t know of any homeless people in Danville.” Gordy reached for a handful of peanuts from a dish on the coffee table. “We could maybe go to Lexington or Louisville, though.”
Joan’s gaze slid to Ken, her eyebrows arched. Was he ever going to speak?
He caught her looking at him, and grinned. “What do you know about Shadow Ridge?”
“The housing project?” Gordy scowled. “It’s a place for low-income families, most of them on welfare. And it’s a dump.”
“Yeah, some scary people live out there.” Brittany shuddered. “There’s a high crime rate. I hear a lot of drugs are sold in Shadow Ridge.”
Ken nodded slowly. “I figured that. A couple of weeks ago I met a boy who lives there. He’s not a bad kid, but if the only role models he has are the people selling drugs in his apartment complex, where’s he likely to end up?”
Silence fell on them as everyone considered the question. Joan looked at Ken. “What did you have in mind?”
“I’ve been out there a couple of times. You’re right.” He nodded at Gordy. “It’s a dump. Trash everywhere, beer bottles all over the place, even on the playground. And the equipment is broken down and dangerous.” He leaned forward, his forearms resting on his thighs as he looked around the room. “I thought maybe we could clean it up, make it safe for the kids who live there.”
Ryan shook his head. “It’s not a bad idea, but I don’t see how cleaning up their playground will help keep those kids off drugs.”
“Maybe it won’t, but doing it says somebody cares about them.”
“You know,” Crystal said thoughtfully, “I’ll bet some of those kids have never had an adult take the time to do anything just for them.”
Ken stared at the floor in front of him. “If we demonstrate Christ’s love in a real, practical way, it will make a difference. I know it will.”
Joan watched him, saw a muscle in his jaw flex. She felt certain he was speaking from personal experience. Had someone done something for him as a kid, something to influence his life? Maybe after his parents died?
A smile brightened Eve’s face. “I like the idea.”
Joan caught his eye and grinned. “I do too.”
She saw nods around the room.
“But are we allowed to go in there and do a cleanup project?” Ryan’s eyebrows drew together as he looked at Ken. “I mean, are there permits we have to get or permission or anything?”
“None. I spoke with the complex manager a few days ago.” Ken held up a hand to forestall any argument. “I didn’t commit us to anything, not before we decided as a group, but I asked him what we’d need to do to get permission. He seemed thrilled.” His lips twisted as he caught Joan’s gaze. “But he wanted to make absolutely sure we understood the complex couldn’t pay for anything.”
“I work for a hardware supplier.” Ryan cocked his head sideways. “Maybe I can get the owners to donate at least some of the material we’ll need.”
“Hey!” Brittany clapped her hands together. “I can call some other businesses in town and see if they’ll help too. I’m good at that.”
“You know what we might do?” Marissa blushed as everyone looked at her. She ducked her head and swallowed, but continued. “We could put up a notice in advance. Maybe some of the parents would want to help us if they knew what we were doing. That way we’d have an opportunity to work alongside them, to get to know them.”
“That’s a great idea,” Eve said. “There are bound to be caring parents in that complex, people who are just down on their luck. Maybe this will help them too.”
Excitement vibrated throughout the room as each of them voiced enthusiasm for their first project. Joan couldn’t help grinning at Ken.
“I don’t want to forget about the other ideas we’ve discussed,” she told everyone. “We’ll keep a list and do some of those things later. But it sounds like we’re all in agreement that our first project will be the Shadow Ridge playground?”
They all agreed.
“Good. Let’s start ironing out the details.”
Joan went to the kitchen for a calendar and a notepad. Time to make a list. She might be lousy at calling people for donations, and she didn’t know what good she’d be repairing broken playground equipment. But details were her forte. She could organize anything.
She didn’t bother to hide an excited grin. Allie said she needed a goal. Looked like she was right.
~ 19 ~
Bark, bark, bark, howl.
Ken reluctantly let go of his dream and struggled to consciousness. His eyes felt weighted down. He labored to open them and peer at the clock. 10:36 Saturday morning. He groaned. Last night at the hospital had been a killer. Seemed like they ran nonstop, and he’d even had to bring in the on-call doc to help. When he finally got home after a fourteen-hour shift, he’d barely been able to make it to the bedroom before he collapsed. He didn’t even get to take his morning walk with Joan, which was fast becoming a highlight of his and Trigger’s day.
What was wrong with that obnoxious dog, waking him up after only two hours’ sleep?
Bark, bark, bark, howl.
With a groan, Ken launched himself out of bed, stumbling against the doorjamb as he headed toward the back door. Drat Trigger. Drat Karen for making him get Trigger. Drat the whole world for not letting him sleep!
He opened the door to the back porch, bracing himself for Trigger’s enthusiastic greeting.
“What is the matter with . . .”
Odd. Instead of leaping on him in uncontrolled joy, as he normally did, the dog ran out the doggie door. Ken watched through the window as he raced across the yard, barking like crazy. Probably going for his ball, the irritating mutt. Ken felt sorry for the poor thing, alone all night long and ignored for much of the day, but he had to get some sleep, didn’t he?
Trigger ran back to the porch and stood just outside, barking and watching Ken through the window.
“I know, fella, and I’m sorry. We’ll take a long walk later, I promise.”
Trigger ran to the doggie door, stuck his front half through and barked frantically. Extremely odd. If he didn’t know better, Ken would think Trigger was acting like Lassie, trying to get his master to follow him.
Ridiculous thought. Trigger was a mutt, not a rescue dog.
Still, when he backed out of the doggie door and zoomed across the yard to stand barking at the side fence, Ken knew something had gotten the pup’s attention. Probably a cat. The quicker he checked it out, the quicker he could get back to bed. Giving in to a huge yawn, he followed through the back door into the yard. The pitch of Trigger’s bark rose. The dog leaped up on the fence, his front paws resting against the chain link, barking toward the house next door.
Joan’s house.
A fist of alarm squeezed Ken’s gut. Joan and Carla weren’t there. He’d noticed their cars gone when he came home from the hospital. That meant Grace was alone.
Ken’s feet went into motion. He ran to the gate and unlatched it, Trigger racing through ahead of him. Sure enough, the dog ran straight around to the back of Joan’s house and up onto the deck. Ken dashed up the stairs after him. In a barking frenzy, Trigger stood on his hind legs, front paws on the glass French door.
Ken hauled the dog back. He knocked on the glass.
“Grace? Are you in there?”
He couldn’t hear a thing over Trigger’s barking. The blinds were closed so he couldn’t see in. He twisted the handle. Locked. And he knew they kept the front door locked as well. The tiniest gap at the side of the blinds gave him a crack to peek through.
His stomach clenched into a knot. He saw a movement inside, down low. A white head. Grace! Lying on the floor!
“Grace! Grace, are you alright?” He jerked the doorknob frantically, his gaze sweeping the back patio. He’d have to break in. But with what? There, lining the back flowerbed, dozens of big landscaping rocks the size of his head. He ran down the stairs, grabbed the biggest one he could find, and raced back up on the deck.
“Grace, I’m coming in.”
He raised the rock high above his head.
Joan sat in the back office, going over next week’s labor schedule. Since school started again, the two high school students she’d hired at the beginning of the summer could only work weekends. Rosa agreed to pick up some extra hours next week, but she still hadn’t decided whether or not she was moving to Las Vegas with Luis.
A twinge of loneliness struck Joan at the thought. If Rosa did go, where would Joan find someone to take her place? And not just at work. Her gaze fell on the colorful picture of Cinderella taped to the wall above the desk, the left edge ragged where Tiffany had torn it from the book. Rosa was more than an employee. She and Tiffany had become her extended family.
She tightened her lips and typed Rosa’s name into the Tuesday–Thursday evening schedule next week. Better not to think about that until she had to.
Actually, what she really wanted to think about had nothing to do with work. She’d much rather plan the Shadow Ridge playground project. Her finger tapped the notebook containing her lists. Brittany called last night, ecstatic with her success in securing a truckload of playground mulch. The lumberyard that agreed to the donation wanted to know if there would be any free publicity involved. Brittany wondered if they should contact the Advocate-Messenger, letting them know about the project and the generosity of local vendors. They might even send a reporter to cover the event. Joan had to smile at that. She might actually be the subject of a newspaper headline!
She gave in to the silly grin that kept twitching her lips. Things were really starting to look up. True, Ken hadn’t asked her on a date yet, but she was getting to know him, and so far she really liked what she saw. No matter what Tori thought, he was a great guy, and completely normal. His faith only enhanced his appeal, in Joan’s opinion. And he seemed to be enjoying her company as well. This morning was the first time he’d missed walking with her in almost a week.
And this church project was fun, exciting even. It gave her something in common with Ken. But more than that, she felt like she’d finally stumbled onto something she could get enthusiastic about.
Brrring, brrring.
Joan clicked the Save button on the computer before she picked up the phone. “Good morning, Abernathy’s.”
“Joan?”
Her heart stuttered at the sob in Allie’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Eric just called. It’s Gram.”
Gram? Joan’s ears stopped working. Blood roared in her head, and for a moment her senses shut down. The office, the computer monitor, everything dimmed as a gray shroud descended over her vision. Something wrong with Gram? Was it a stroke? Joan closed her eyes, guilt threatening to drown her. She hadn’t been checking the blood pressure medicine. Mom said she would do it, so Joan didn’t. But she should have!
Allie’s voice came back into focus. “. . . ambulance, and Ken will meet us at the hospital.”
Joan’s grip on the receiver tightened. “Ken’s at the hospital?”
“Aren’t you listening?” Hysteria tinged Allie’s voice. “Ken found her. He called 9-1-1 and got Eric.”
“Mom?” Joan’s voice came out in a croak. “Has someone called Mom?”
“Ken did. He called the hospital and had them get her from the fourth floor. She’ll be waiting in the emergency room when the ambulance arrives. I’m leaving right now.”
“Me too.” Joan jumped up from the chair and threw the receiver in the general direction of the desk. She slid the drawer open and grabbed her purse, fumbling for her car keys as she ran through the loading dock area and into the showroom. Customers dotted the store, all of them turning to stare when she shouted at Pat, “I’m going to the hospital. It’s my grandmother.”
