Part 6 (1/2)

Through his adult eyes, the chair was nowhere near as big nor the stairs as long, and his father's hand had shrunk from disuse; still, the memories warmed him. Zee was Antonio Pozzi. Oliver's father, whose experience with Italians was limited, had started using the nickname as a way of anglicizing the barber, and If longevity of service meant anything, the 134 nwpasgoxw Of cbehmn IKL~MW uccessful. Zee had been cutting hair in was s Notch for forty-five years. The fact that he still broken English didn't seem to bother Oliver, rge, or Emery any. They didn't want him to . He was little more than an accessory to their tings, not much different from the clock on the the time every I with its cymbalists clapping out hour. ”Economy stinks,” was Oliver's reply now, spoken with a minimum of mouth movement so as not to isturb Zee's blade. ”Economy stinks,” George mocked under his breath. In a fuller voice he said, ”Th'economy doesn't affect us. Norwich Notch is solid as a rock, always has been, always will be. You shoulda waited, Ollie. You shoulda checked with us b'fore you did something so crazy.” His eyes narrowed on the green. ”But you rushed out and grabbed the first dollar you could find, and now we got a d.a.m.n woman to deal with. Chances are we'll have an uprising at the quarry. That right, Judd. Judd s.h.i.+fted against the wall. ”The men listen to me. I can keep them calm.”

”Better get a look at ' before you say that,” Emery advised. But Judd had already- gotten a look. The very first day she had come to the Notch he had seen her close up. She'd been fixed in his mind ever since. ”That's some dress,” George said. ”No one around here wears dresses like that.

What's she thinking, doing that?” Emery snorted. ”Doesn't know right from wrong is the trouble. What's right for the city is all wrong here.

You've been to the city, Judd. You got to teach her the difference.

Better still, Ollie'll teach her. He's 135 the one brought her here.” I ”I'm not teaching her a d.a.m.n thing,” came a grumbling from the chair.

”I'm just using her money to get my business moving.” George stuffed his hands under his suspenders and rested them on the ledge of his belly.

”She keeps walking around like that and she'll get more than your business moving.”

”Can say that again,” Emery put in. ”I thought you said she could do her part of the job out of Baltimore, Ollie. So what's she doin' up here?” Oliver grunted. ”How should I know?”

”You're the one's dealing with her,” Emery said. ”My lawyer's the one's dealing with her.” Emery was unimpressed. ”So how long's she stayin'?” - ”Go ask her.”

”I'm not askin' her. She's your partner.”

”That doesn't make me her keeper.”

”It sure does,” George declared. ”She's your partner.

You're responsible for her. You have to tell her to leave.”

”You tell her to leave,” came the directive from the chair. ”Judd'Il tell her,” Emery said, shooting a look Judd's way. Judd didn't say a word. He had been Oliver's foreman for nine years. Increasingly, but for the iron hand Oliver kept on the purse strings, he had run the company. He hired and fired, doled out praise and punishment, made a.s.signments, taught technique, repaired equipment, squired buyers, and kept a close eye on Hunter. He'd had to do many unpleasant things. Telling Chelsea Kane to leave town wouldn't be unpleasant, 136 he had little use for slick city women, but it d be stupid. Plum Granite needed her money. It ed her connections. Much as it galled him to t it, she had what the company lacked. i,.-He had to hand it to Oliver. Signing her on had a shrewd move. All Judd had to do was keep e men ahead of the work she brought in, and'd be gone in a year. ”You gonna tell her, Judd?” George asked.

[email protected] ”Not yet,” Judd said. He wasn't intimidated by rge, or Emery, or even Oliver. When it came to um Granite, he was indispensable, and they knew ,:Tl '. ”Not until we've taken advantage of what she's offering.”

Emery, who had shaken out a large handkerchief, took off his gla.s.ses and began to polish the lenses. ”She's trouble. I can feel it in my bones.

You really done it this time, Ollie.”

”I ain't done a thing.”

”You sold half the company to her,” George whined. ”I didn't sell,” Oliver snapped. ”She invested. Because you wouldn't give me any more money.”

”Is it my fault the FDIC is keepin' a hawk's eye on the banks?”

”Is it my fault you gave out a bunch a bad loans?”

”Is it my. fault you can't keep business coming? Is it my fault you're already borrowed to the limit?”

”Limit's too low.”

”So who's talkin' of bad loans?”

”Hold on just a minute. I make my payments.”

”What I want to know,” Emery said, stuffing his handkerchief back in his pocket, ”is what's in It for her?

Why would a fancy city girl want to diddle with usr 137 Dounshy ”She's rich and bored,” Oliver growled. ”Got nothing better to do with her time.”

”So what are we goln'to do with her?” George pursed his lips, his eyes on the green. ”I'm thinking of one thing. So'll every man in this town who gets a look at her unless she starts wearing a proper skirt.”

Piqued by the power of suggestion, Judd's imagination started to roam.

It had been doing that a lot, mostly in the dark of night when his body was hot and restless. At those times he imagined Chelsea Kane without clothes. Using greater self-discipline now, he Imagined her dressed.

”Have her to dinner,” Oliver mumbled from the chair. ”You have her to dinner,” George shot back. ”The way I see it, I didn't invite here here, I don't need to be accommodating.” To Emery he said out of the comer of his mouth, ”Wait'll Margaret gets a look at her.” Oliver, s voice rose.

”You leave Margaret out of this.” ”Does she know about your deal?” Emery asked. ”Of course she knows. She's my wife. How would I go about making a deal like this without telling her?” Very easily, Judd thought. Oliver Plum had three soft spots in an otherwise hard heart. The first and most obvious was for the business. The second was for Margaret. After nearly fifty years of marriage, he treated her like fine crystal that might shatter at a hint of shrillness. If he decided that Chelsea Kane's investment in the business would upset her, he might well try to hide it. The third soft spot in Oliver Plum's hard heart was for Hunter Love.

Rumor had It Hunter was Oliver's son, born of an affair Oliver had with a 138 n's wife, but no one had ever confirmed it n found wany ever would. The boy had bee five and alone in the woods when he'd been een raised by a family in Cutters Corner. )liver helped Hunter out of a sense of duty ly ( d Of One of his former workers, but given chil long ris nature, that sense of duty should have pired. Hunter Love had a streak of the rebel He tried a Man's soul. y asked. what did Margaret say?” Emel e.” e said irs fine,” Oliver barked, ”just fin use shebasn't seen Chelsea Kane,” a -That s Wc ht to shoot that rge put in, then snarled Oug n dog.” e twitch of his hiked his spectacles with th ery wel- right up to her, Judd. A royal e. ”He's gone Must sniff the city.

you got Buck e committee. the city, didn't you - x had been when re did, , said. But tha remembered ck was a pup. He doubted the dog women. He sure as h.e.l.l hoped not. much of city nice”

George said; grunt- ”Fool thing's being real ded on an Ing. ”Old coot of a dog. He paused and ad appreciative note, ”He's got a good eye, th ough. She's sure a looker.” Emery scolded, ”you're too s, George, ”Lord sake old for that-” orge argued- ”A man is never too old for that,” Ge Ooting anoth- Ot too old,” Emery said? sh ”Judd's n -you gonna keep er, more speculative took his way. on her for us, Judd?” an eye e didn't deem )ve a muscle. H Judd didn't m( s suggestion worth the effort. Emery' it.

”There's an idea. But Gei;[email protected] picked Up On her bet- could get to know You're the right age. You 139 mwrbmu nemhakv ter'n we could. Find out what she's thinking. Make sure she don't get in the way.”

”Judd's sworn off women,” Oliver called from under the towel that Zee was using to wipe his face. Shows how much you know,” Emery called back. ”He's got sweet Sara over in Adams Falls to scratch his itch. That right, Judd?”

”City women,” Oliver specified, sitting up on the chair, s.n.a.t.c.hing the towel from Zee, and wiping his neck himself.

”City women. He's sworn off city women.” ”Well,” said George, ”he can swear right back on for the sake of the company, can't you, Judd?” There were many things Judd would do for the sake of the company, not so much out of loyalty to Oliver as out of loyalty to the men and the town, but cozying up to Chelsea Kane wasn't one. He had long since learned that certain women were Wens, luring men to destruction with their songs.

Chelsea Kane had a song. It had been singing in his blood since he'd first seen her, but he'd be d.a.m.ned if he would heed its call. He preferred his women simple and soft, and it that meant sacrificing an element of excitement, so be it. He didn't care what erotic fantasies Chelsea inspired; he wasn't playing with fire. ”Can't you, Judd,” George repeated, not so much questioning this time as commanding. ”Not me,” Judd informed him. ”I don't want any part of her.” George looked back out the window. ”You don't know what you're missing.” Judd knew exactly what he was missing. During his years in the city, he had known plenty of Chelsea Kanes. h.e.l.l, he'd been married to one. That 140 ift rawfons of che1wwa!!W t him good. orge rocked back on his heels. ”Walker 11 like her. He's from New York.” ery disagreed. ”Walker can't talk to women. He taft to his computers.” Summers, then. He did his training in a hosin Was.h.i.+ngton.” is too tall for the doe.” en Stokey French. He's got the b.a.l.l.s for it.” ery considered that, finally conceding, ”Maybe French.”

..Judd could have laughed, the suggestion was so urd. Stokey French lived over the bridge, past hospital, in Cutters Corner. Like most others in Corner, he was ji quarryman, and though he had ossed eyes, pockmarked skin, and a perpetual ad of tobacco in his cheek, he thought himself a Kane s gift to women. He might go after Chelse . right, but if she was the kind of woman Judd sus- cted she was, he wouldn't get far. She'd mow him N, down with a look. Laughable indeed. But Judd remained silent. It A ..il .'had been a long time since he had laughed.

He wasn't sure he remembered how. Chelsea stood on the edge of the green with her hands folded in her lap and her face to the sun. Its warmth felt good against the chill that enveloped her each time she thought of Baltimore. All her life she had wanted ties, needed ties, and she'd had them with Abby and Kevin, with Carl, with Harper, Kane, Koo and her work, with an army of friends. Now Abby was dead, Kevin was off traveling, and Carl was marrying Halley. As for the army of friends, 141 Barbam Definsky it had dispersed without her quite realizing how or when. She was still in touch with most of them, some more closely than others, but even the closest had branched off into their own lives. Only now i standing still for the very first time in months, did that hit her. She took a deep breath in an attempt to settle herself, and it helped. The air was fresh, rich with the scent of good things green and growing. The gra.s.s on the common was lush, the white blossoms of the mountain laurel fragrant. Lining the street were gnarled maples and oaks that rose into lavish canopies of leaves, giving the town a fertile feel. Front lawns hosted lilac bouquets yet to be picked. Flowers spilled in bright profusion from every porch in sight. Summer was imminent ' Its harbinger, spring's ripe scent, filled her senses and was heightened by the sleepiness of the town. Nothing stirred.

Contentment seemed to hang in [email protected]! air along with the humidity, slowing life to a crawl. Bird sounds mingled with bee sounds, which mingled with the trickle of water from one tier of the birdbath on the green to another. There were happy child sounds, gentle sounds coming from a place she couldn't see ' but beyond that there was only the silence of the sun warming the air. Nowhere was there anything mechanical-no air conditioner hum, no lawn mower buzz, no pickup growl-and although she knew that all those things would start up in time, for now she basked in rural purity. All was quiet and calm, simple and serene. She needed that. Deep inside she must have known it, when she had packed and left Baltimore so precipitously the day before. The past year had 142 The Pa.s.sions of Chelsea Kane ght one upheaval after another. She needed a in the storm. Fate had brought her here. She drew in another deep breath, released it owly, then, slowly too, turned to take full stock of town center. Behind her, at the base of the en, three large Federal-style houses, corded by t picket fences, looked to be still used as homes. ft and right, rising toward the triangle's apex, i4ere the buildings she had seen before. Viewed at .1eisure, in the glow of the sun, they had the appeal ,:,she had only been able to imagine in March. The library, housed in a small yellow Victorian, had charin, The bakery, its windows filled with fresh [email protected] breads, cakes, and cookies, had spice. The post office had dignity, the general store quaintness, the bank gentility.

And then there was the church, the focal point of the town, to which her eye climbed time and again. Though its wood siding was painted white, the shade of the pines cast it a pale blue. Spilling onto the hill at its side and above, past a small white fence, were the tall, thin slabs that anch.o.r.ed the dead to the town. She wondered who of her flesh and blood was buried there. She wondered who of her flesh and blood wasn't buried there but was alive and well and living in town. She wondered if any of them knew who she was. A dog appeared from behind the law office, caught sight of her, and broke into an easy lope. It was a golden retriever, looking as well kept as the town. Long tail wagging, it nuzzled her waiting hand. ”You're a handsome one,” she cooed, stroking the dog's head, then its throat when it smiled up at her. It was a friendly animal. Cydra would call that a sign. 143 Though making friends hadn't been one of her tmotives for coming to Norwich Notch, with everything hat had happened in Baltimo she was feeling detached. She could use a friend. re' With that thought in mind, she headed for Farr's. BELL ABOVE THE DOOR TINKLED WHEN entered the store.

It was a screen door this g tly slapping closed behind her. Glancing en nd, she saw that summer was here, too. plays promoted picnic hampers rather than le syrup, colors were brighter, scents lighter. the newsstand, posters touted an upcoming red dish supper, a junior-senior softball game ”,benefit the Norwich Notch Historical Society, and Fourth of July Fest. The store looked empty, as Chelsea had hoped it Id be.

Indeed, she had seen Matthew Farr leave a van when she'd first pulled up to the green. She ..',”could do without Matthew. Donna was the one she wanted to see. A small movement behind the cash register caught her eye.

With a smile, she crossed to the counter. Donna looked exactly the same as she had in March, except that the blouse that was tucked into her skirt had short sleeves and the wisps of hair escaping her topknot were curlier. She was frowning at a computer screen, totally engrossed in her work. 145 res ”Hi there,” Chelsea said, then, when there was no Ponsey ”h.e.l.lo?” Only when she stepped closer d14 Donna look u .. lier eyes im ediately lit. Her face broke into a srnile that held excitement and pleasure, or so Chelsea imagine because she needed both. liow are you?

she asked, feeling pleasure of her Own. Donna nodded i a way that said she was just fine, then raised her ows; in return of the question. M great.” Chelsea ughed. ”I'm back.” Mocking grirnness, she dropped --voice an octave and s * ald, ”On business.” Then-she smiled again and to, ssed a glance behind her. ”Everything looks greeat. I JOVe your straw hats.” They stood on a hat tree not far from the picnic hampers and conjured up tholights of long, gauzy dresses, Brie, bread, and Wine, and lazy afternoons on the banks of a stream. ”Are they locally made?” Donna waved a hand to suggest yes and no. While Chelsea waited for her to explain, she looked torn. Finally with a resigned grimace, she pointed to her ear an'd shook her head. In that instant it struck Chelsea that Donna was deaf. She was stunned, alternately chiding herself for riot having guessed and feeling an overwhelming sorrow. She opened her mouth to say something, then, not knowing what to say, closed it again. Donna came to the rescue, gesturing her around u , e' d e ' a way r ows in sea ' )1)1)[email protected] the counter. She cleared the computer screen of the inventory list she'd been working with and deftly typed in, ”I'm sorry. Everyone in town knows. It's a shock when people don't expect it.” Chelsea reached in and typed, ”I'm the one who's sorry. I should have guessed.” In hindsight she saw 146 The Pa.s.sions Of cbasm Kane signs that she'd missed. na's fingertips tapped the keys. ”I read lips. n't have to type.” ke to type. What about the hats?” e in Vermont. Not quite local, but almost.” ey're super. Very romantic.” When Donna at her, she rolled her eyes in a wistful way. that's something else,” she said.

”I really am on business.” know,” Donna mouthed. figured you would. I figured everyone would. can't be many secrets in a town like this.”

Donna typed, ”You'd be surprised.” Chelsea looked from her somber profile to the ”creen and back. Nudging her hands aside gently, e typed, ”Sounds intriguing. Anything you can 7” ' if I don't want to be stoned on the town n.” Chelsea smiled. The days of public stonings were er, but there was a message in Donna's words. s like Norwich Notch didn't air their dirty launfor the world to see, and although Chelsea didn't consider herself ”the world,” since she'd been born in the Notch, Donna didn't know that. There would be time for sharing secrets. ”I understand,” she typed, then, ”Can you help me with something else?” When Donna looked at her lips, she said,. ”I'll be spending a lot of time here for the next year. It'll be silly for me to stay at the inn every time I come. I was thinking of buying a place.” Actually she'd been thinking of renting one, but she didn't correct herself when the other word slipped out. ”Can you recommend a good realtor? The bulletin board at the inn had the business cards 147 Barbara Dehnsky of three.”

Taking a notebook from her purse, she read, ”Mack Hewitt Brian Dolly, and Eli Whip'@ Donna's fingers'moved on the keyboard. ”Mack Hewitt will talk your ear off, Brian Dolly won't say a word, and Eli Whip will tell you only what he thinks You want to hear. The best realtor in town is a woman. Rosie Hacker. Her office is on West Street.” Chelsea liked the way Donna thought. ”Thanks,” she typed in. ”How about a health club? Is there one nearby?” No health club. There are aerobics cla.s.ses every morning at six-thirty in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the church. They're open. You could come if you like.” 7ve never done aerobics.”