The Sugarhouse Blues Page 18

  “I don’t hear anything, do you?” Des asked.

  Allie cocked her head to the left as if listening. “No, I . . . wait, yes. I hear Buttons barking. If no one opens the door, we’re going to—”

  The door opened quietly, and a tall, thin man with a shock of thick white hair stood inside.

  “May I help you?” he asked.

  “We’re Barney Hudson’s nieces,” Des replied. “We think she stopped over—”

  “Yes, she’s here.” He opened the door wider. “Come in, come in. We were just out back.”

  He led them through the hall that went from front to back. “She’s right out here. Bonnie,” he called as he opened the back door—arched to match the front—“your nieces are here seeing to your safety.”

  “Are we that obvious?” Des felt color rise in her cheeks.

  “I’m afraid so.” He offered a hand first to Des, then to Allie. “Tom Brookes.”

  Des and Allie introduced themselves.

  “Hello, girls.” Barney stood at the end of a stone patio surrounded by a low randomly set stone wall. Twenty feet behind the patio, a carriage house matching the main house was almost completely covered with ivy. “Thank God you’re here. You just saved me from . . . well, whatever heinous thing Thomas was about to do to me.”

  “I’m still debating whether to bore you to death with tales from my war experiences, or a slide show from my trip to Iceland last year,” Tom deadpanned.

  “You went to Iceland?” Des asked.

  He nodded.

  “What was it like?”

  “Cold. And not quite as icy as it used to be. A lot of it’s melting.” He flashed an easy smile. “Your aunt and I were just catching up on old times. And between times since we last saw each other. Care for a beer?”

  Des immediately declined, but Allie appeared to think about it for a moment before saying, “We’re not staying, but thank you.”

  “You’re welcome to stay,” Tom assured them.

  “I think we’re okay here.” Des leaned over to pet Buttons. Even the dog seemed relaxed in Tom’s presence.

  Allie smiled at Tom. “Nice to meet you. Will you be staying in Hidden Falls for a while?”

  He nodded. “I should have come back to stay for a while last year after my mother passed away, but I’d already had plans for a couple of trips I’d been looking forward to. Emily, my sister, was going to come over and start to clean out the house, but her daughter was having a rough pregnancy and she was needed there. But I’m here now and hopefully will get the house in order in no time.”

  “You’ll be selling it, then?” Des asked.

  “I can’t see any reason to hold on to it.” He looked up at the ivy-covered back wall of the house, not near as impressive in size as the Hudson house, but stately in its own way. “Emily’s not coming back to live, with her children and grandkids settled in London.”

  “And you’re living where?” Des asked.

  “Right now, I’m here.” He smiled. “My wife and I raised our family in Boston. She’s been gone for almost four years now, and our son and his wife wanted to buy our family home. I’d been thinking about selling it, but didn’t have the heart to see it go out of the family. Charlie and Jeannie are happy there, and I’m happy to have passed it on to them. Win-win.”

  “So you’re more or less homeless right now.”

  He laughed. “I guess you could put it that way.”

  “Well, welcome back to your old neighborhood,” Des said. “If we can help you in any way when it comes time to haul things or whatever, just let us know. We’re right across the street.”

  “Bonnie was just mentioning that she had a full house these days.” He turned and smiled at her. “I’m glad for you. It’s nice that Fritz’s girls have come to keep you company for a while.”

  “Well, the stinker didn’t leave them much of a choice, but that’s another story.” Barney smiled back.

  “Knowing Fritz, I can only imagine.” He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

  “You’ll have to come over for dinner one night,” Allie said. “The story’s a killer.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  The thought crossed Des’s mind that there was still a bit of the story that Allie hadn’t heard yet. For the first time in years, they were getting along—most of the time—and Des didn’t want to bring up anything that could potentially lead to a disagreement. Since she didn’t know how Allie would react, she thought the letters between Fritz and J were a topic best left for another time.

  “I guess we’ll be seeing you around.” Allie turned toward the door. “We’ll see you back at the house, Barney. Don’t forget we have the cocktail party tonight.”

  “I’ll be along shortly,” Barney assured her.

  “That nickname.” He grimaced. “Definitely something that a younger brother would tag his big sister with. She’s always been Bonnie to me.” He looked over his shoulder at Barney. “I remember even as a boy thinking that a pretty girl deserved a pretty name.”

  Des thought his expression was in fact boyish, as if he was remembering that other time.

  OMG, was Barney blushing? Des did a double take.

  Tom took a few steps forward as if about to show Des and Allie out.

  “We’re good,” Des told him. “We can let ourselves out.”

  “It’s no bother.” He escorted them to the front door. “I can’t wait to see what you’re doing in the theater. I have fond memories of that place. Bonnie was just starting to tell me what’s going on.”

  “You’ll have to stop in and see our progress.” Allie was the first one out the door after Tom opened it.

  “I will definitely do that. Nice to meet you both. I’ll see you again, I’m sure.”

  Des followed Allie down the path to the driveway. Once on the other side of the pines, Des grabbed her sister’s hand and said, “She was blushing, did you catch that?”

  “When he said that about her name? Yeah, it was a cute moment. He’s cute.” Allie wiggled her eyebrows as they crossed the street. “There’s a history there, trust me.”

  “Barney was in love with Gil. She said he was the love of her life, the only man she ever loved, yada yada.”

  “Yeah, well, I’d bet anything Tom’s feelings for Barney—excuse me, Bonnie—weren’t platonic back in the day.”

  “You think he had a thing for her?”

  Allie nodded. “Unrequited, maybe, but yeah. I think he had a big-time crush on her. I bet he still does.”

  “Could be. Remember, Barney said Tom and Gil were good friends. Maybe Tom didn’t want to upset his friendship with Gil, so he kept quiet and just let Gil have the girl.”

  “Especially if he knew how Barney felt about Gil, I could see a guy putting his own feelings aside.”

  They reached the front porch, where Allie dropped dramatically into a rocking chair and Des sat on the porch railing.

  “It’s sort of romantic, don’t you think?” Allie picked at her nail polish.

  “It could be. She can’t—she shouldn’t—spend the rest of her life mourning Gil. Maybe Tom is the ticket to getting her to go forward with her life in a more meaningful way than merely updating the kitchen.”

  “That would be a kick, right? Barney in love? Can you imagine?”

  “I don’t know if it needs to go that far.”

  “Why not? Tom’s a nice-looking man, he seems interesting and smart, and definitely interested in Barney.” Allie smiled. “I do like a good second chance at a love story.”

  “You’re getting way ahead of yourself. He’s just here to clean out his family’s house and get it sold.”

  “Right. So he says. Plans can change.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “I think I should sit in the front seat,” Allie said as Barney backed Lucille out of the garage. “My dress is shorter and tighter than either of yours.”

  “Your choice, not ours,” Des replied.

  “I
didn’t plan it. I’m just tall and my legs are really long,” Allie said.

  The car stopped next to them and Barney rolled down the window.

  “Hop in, girls. We’re running late.”

  “We’ve been ready,” Cara reminded her. “We had to wait for you.”

  “It isn’t every day you get to catch up with an old friend you haven’t seen in . . . oh, I don’t even know how long it’s been.” Barney watched Cara and Des slip into the back seat. “We think it may have been since Gil’s funeral.”

  Allie got into the front seat and closed the door, smoothing the skirt of her dress over her thighs, then turned to her aunt.

  “Barney, you look hot, if I may say so.”

  “You may.” Barney smiled as she turned onto Hudson Street.

  “You do look good in white,” Des added. “It complements your blond hair, and you’re starting to get a bit of a tan.”

  “The tan is from all the time I’ve been spending in the garden, but these days, the blond is from a bottle. I’m not ashamed to admit it.”

  “Why would you be? Nothing wrong with some chemical enhancements, I say.” Allie lifted her hair to flow over one shoulder.

  “Not that you’ve had to resort to such things,” Des said. “Your hair has always been that beautiful shade of blond.”

  “Mine was like that back in the day,” Barney noted. “Almost the same shade as Allie’s.” She glanced in the rearview mirror. “You all look lovely. I’m proud to introduce you as mine.”

  “Thanks, Barney,” Cara began. “We—”

  “Hold on.” Barney hit the gas, and Cara’s thought was lost in the wake of Lucille’s V-8 engine as the car took off for the highway.

  Des put her head back and stifled a laugh. They never quite knew what to expect once Barney got behind the wheel of her beloved Cadillac. She pushed back a few curls that had found their way onto her forehead, grateful Barney hadn’t decided to put the top down. Her hair was tough enough to manage without all the wind damage she knew from experience would ensue.

  It was a perfect early evening in June. The air was fragrant with the scent of roses as they drove through the tall stone entrance to the college and past several well-kept native limestone buildings backlit by the sun that had begun to set. The road through the campus was lined with maples in full leaf that shaded the walks. At the entrance to the main building, tall black iron urns overflowed with ivy and geraniums. The campus was quiet, most students having left at the end of the semester, and the summer classes not having yet begun. Barney parked Lucille in a—what else?—no parking spot. She hung her trustee tag on the rearview mirror and got out of the car. She beckoned her nieces to follow her down a cobbled path that led to a wide green, then gestured to the statue of the woman for whom the college had been named.

  “There she is, girls. Your great-great-grandmother.”

  Des, Allie, and Cara stopped in their tracks and followed Barney’s pointed finger. The statue stood eight feet tall and depicted a woman in a long, flowing dress wearing a wide-brimmed hat, holding something in her outstretched right hand.

  “My, she was tall,” Cara quipped.

  “All the better to keep an eye on the students’ doings, my dear,” Barney replied.

  “Why is she dressed like a pioneer?” Des frowned. “And what is she holding in her hand?”

  “She’s supposed to represent the pioneer spirit that beckoned our ancestors to the Allegheny mountain range.” Even Barney looked amused. “She’s holding a lump of coal, representing the rocks that funded this esteemed center of learning here in the wilds of the Poconos.”

  “Think she ever actually saw a piece of coal?” Allie walked toward the statue. “And I doubt she ever wore anything like that daughter-of-the-prairie smock she’s got on. Hardly the thing one might wear with emeralds.”

  “Oh, that’s the artistic interpretation by the sculptor.” Barney laughed. “She wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing something like that, I’m sure, and the story was she never wore a hat because she liked to show off that gorgeous hair of hers.” She elbowed Allie. “So like our own.”

  “Which building is the party in, Barney?” Des looked around, ever conscious of the fact that the blond gene had missed her completely.

  “Hudson Hall, right behind us. Shall we?”

  Barney herded her nieces into the building and up a short flight of steps to a lobby where several others were gathered.

  “We sign in, we get our name tags, we head for the champagne,” Barney whispered from one corner of her mouth as they walked toward a long table.

  “Ms. Hudson, so nice to see you again.” A gray-haired woman wearing a tidy white blouse buttoned to the neck and a gray skirt several inches too long greeted the group. She oozed efficiency and order. “And these must be the nieces.”

  “Margaret, nice to see you as well. Meet Allie, Des, and Cara. My brother Franklin’s daughters.” Barney made the first of many introductions she’d make that night.

  Des stepped forward to shake the woman’s hand.

  “Margaret is Dr. Post’s right hand,” Barney explained, “and has been for many years.”

  “Dr. Post being the president of the college.” Des recalled the school’s hierarchy as Barney had explained on their way to High Bridge.

  Des pinned on the name tag Barney handed her and looked around the lobby. Artwork of varying degrees of proficiency hung upon the walls, and a flag of the United States stood between that of the commonwealth and the college banner in front of a pair of double glass doors. Another set of doors opened to a room on the right from which Des could hear violins playing just below the sound of lively chatter.

  “This way, girls.” Barney led the way toward the music. “Let’s see who we can see, who we can corner to chat up the theater project. You never know when a casual conversation might lead to something beneficial.”

  Over the course of the next forty minutes, Des was convinced Barney introduced them to every faculty member, board member, and donor in attendance. She wandered over to the enticing table of food and was looking over a tray of pastry-wrapped hors d’oeuvres when she felt a light hand on her shoulder.

  “Des.”

  She turned and smiled when she met Seth’s eyes. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Alum.” He shrugged. “I’m just another loyal son of Althea, what can I say?”

  “You clean up really good,” she said with a grin.

  He did. In dark slacks and a light gray shirt, he’d pushed the sleeves of his navy linen sport jacket almost to his elbow, showing off the tattoo that wound its way from his wrist toward his shoulder. His dark shades hung from the V made at the neckline of his shirt, and he looked better than just good. He looked hot. He looked adorable. Manly and adorable at the same time. Just looking at him made her smile.

  “Thanks. So do you.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. “Not that you usually look like you need cleaning up. What I mean is, you always look good.”

  “Thanks.” She laughed. “I appreciate that.”

  “Glad we got that straightened out.” He rolled his eyes and looked slightly chagrined.

  “I meant to call you today,” she said. “How’s the new girl?”

  “Still shadowing Ripley, but he doesn’t seem to mind. She’s doing okay.”

  “No problems, then?”

  “Nope. None at all.”

  Des stared at him for a long moment. “You’re going to keep her, aren’t you?”

  He shrugged. “It’s just one more dog, and Rip seems to like some canine company. Besides, she’s a good dog, a sweet dog. I feel terrible about what must have happened to her. She’s skittish and that bothers me. She needs to know that every human isn’t going to hurt her or abuse her in some manner.”

  “You need to be careful. You’re starting to sound an awful lot like someone who rescues,” she said, teasing him. “Have you named her yet?”

  “I’m working
on it.” He leaned back, as if taking her in, and smiled. Des felt her pulse race under its warmth. “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “She’s a pretty girl, so it should be something pretty.” Gah. Did I really just say something that lame? What is wrong with me?

  Seth didn’t seem to notice.

  Allie joined them, champagne in hand.

  “So, Seth. I hear you bailed out my little sister again. Better watch out, she’ll have you running a kennel before too long.”

  Seth shrugged. “There are worse things that could happen.”

  It appeared Allie was about to say something else, but her attention seemed to be drawn to the doorway. Des turned to look as Cara, Joe, and Ben walked toward them.

  “Can I go anywhere without the local law showing up?” Allie grumbled.

  “You flatter yourself, princess. I’m just here for the festivities.” Ben toasted her and glanced at Des. “Looking good, Des.”

  “Thank you, Ben. You’re looking pretty sharp yourself.” Des returned the toast. There was no denying that dark-haired Ben was a stud in a light blue shirt and a seersucker suit.

  Allie rolled her eyes. “By festivities, you mean free wine and free food?”

  “If you say so.” Ben’s expression was unreadable, but Des thought there might have been a glimmer of a smile in his eyes.

  “What is it with those two?” she muttered to Seth, who laughed softly. Movement across the room caught her eye, and she tapped Cara on the arm. “There’s Dr. Lindquist. You want to tell her about your conversation with her friend at the Balfour Group, or do you want me to?”

  Teresa Lindquist was dressed in a long, flowing yellow dress, her hair in a tight bun, tortoiseshell glasses on the top of her head. She appeared to be scanning the room, and when she saw Des and Allie, she started toward them.

  “I’ll talk to her.” Cara took a few steps forward.

  “Please, allow me.” Allie put out a hand to hold Cara back. “I’ve got this.” She turned and walked to meet the woman in the middle of the room.