Finders Keepers (11 page)

Elizabeth wheeled the orange dolly up to the cabinet and touched Zachary’s arm. Without a word, he loaded his purchase and headed for the front door.

“You weren’t interrupting anything, Pearlene,” Elizabeth said. “Zachary was picking up his cabinet. That’s all.”

“You heard the woman,” Zachary said to Pearlene. “That’s all.”

S
IX

“There’s Zachary,” Nick announced for all to hear as church let out after Sunday morning services. “He came, Mom! I told him he couldn’t be my daddy unless he came to church, so he’s here.”

“Zachary Chalmers is not here because he wants to be your father, Nick.” Elizabeth took her son’s hand and slipped quickly through the crowd filing out the front door of Ambleside Chapel. “Say hello to the preacher, and let’s get going. Boompah’s expecting us.”

“But I want to talk to Zachary.”

“No!” she snapped. Bad enough she’d had to endure Pearlene’s lengthy inquiry the day before. Then Bud Huff had commented on his own sighting of Elizabeth and Zachary as he drove out with Al to do some fishing at the family’s farm. When Elizabeth stopped at the drugstore to buy party napkins and paper plates for the upcoming church picnic, Cleo Mueller had asked how she and the “new boy in town” were getting along. And Ruby McCann had quirked an eyebrow at Elizabeth as she stepped into the Sunday school classroom that morning. Ruby kept the attendance roster, and she made it her business to know the doings of everybody in town—for ministry reasons, of course.

“Good mornin’, Elizabeth,” Pastor Paul said, taking her hand. “And how’s Nikolai today?”

“The nachos tried to kill Boompah’s family,” Nick stated.

“Well, well, how about that?” The kindly bald-headed preacher smiled as if in perfect understanding. His eyes twinkled from behind his round-framed glasses. “You doing all right, Elizabeth?”

“Fine,” she mumbled. “I’m fine.”

“You know, you could do with a rest, young lady. Why don’t you take some time off this summer? Have a little fun.”

“I don’t need any more fun than I’m already having,” she said, her voice harsher than she intended. She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Pastor, I’ve been stressed out lately.”

“The Lord asks to bear the load of the heavy laden, Elizabeth.”

“I’ll try to give it to him.”

“No,
don’t
try so hard. That’s the idea.” With a smile that radiated beyond his heavy brown beard, the pastor turned to greet the next person in line. “Good to see you here this morning, Mr. Chalmers. Did you sign the guest card?”

“Sure did.”

“Then I’ll be paying you a visit. Better get your ducks in a row.”

“My ducks are in a row—and I know how to have fun. Unlike some people.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she hurried down the steps to the sidewalk. What was the big deal about having fun? She had always enjoyed running her business, and she loved being a mother. That was fun enough.
Lord, please let that be enough.

“Hi, Zachary!” Nick called over his shoulder as his mother fairly dragged him across the street. “We’re going to Boompah’s house to take him some lunch. He’s still sick.”

“Tell him hello for me. I’ll be by to visit him later this afternoon.”

Unwilling to even look at the man, Elizabeth hurried her son up onto the sidewalk of the courthouse. She could hear Zachary’s footsteps behind them, quickly closing the space. What did he want now? Hadn’t she made it clear where she stood? There would be no more flirtation, no more banter, and no more kisses.

“Hey, Elizabeth,” he said, taking his place at her shoulder. “I put the cabinet in my kitchen. The teacup looks great.”

“I’m so happy for you.”

“Ooo, cold.”

She glanced over at him.
Shouldn’t have done that!
He was wearing a white shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, his navy-and-gold striped tie hanging loose. A shock of dark hair fell onto his forehead. His green eyes twinkled.

“Did you need to ask me something?” she queried.

“Nope, I just wanted everybody to see the two of us walking together. Sort of spice up the local gossip, if you know what I mean.”

“It’s spicy enough, thank you.” They arrived at the street corner. “Excuse me, but Nick and I have an engagement.”

“A date?”

“It’s Boompah.”

“Well, if he gets to see you, why shouldn’t I?”

“Because he’s Boompah, and you’re you.”

“How about Dandy Donuts? You and I could eat breakfast there some morning before we open up our respective places of business.”

She paused before stepping down into the street. “Zachary, please.”

“It’s just a thought. I’m going to take another week’s vacation to work at the Corner Market. We’ve both got to eat breakfast early. Why not do it together?”

“It’s a good idea, Mom,” Nick put in. “You like donuts. You like the ones with chocolate on top. I know you do, even though you tell me that donuts don’t have any tradition.”

“Nutrition,” Elizabeth corrected. “And Nick, this conversation is not your business, is it?”

“But if Zachary is going to be my dad …”

“Oh, Nick!” She glared at her son. “Do you need to sit in time-out for a few minutes?”

“But I didn’t mean to block the hole in the drain.”

“What hole? Which drain?”

“That drain in the backyard. It was leaking through the hole, so I put a rock in it.”

“Drains are supposed to leak! Water drains out of them; that’s why they’re called drains.” Her heart in her throat, Elizabeth gave Zachary a cursory glance. “I have to get home and check my pipes.”

She could hear the man chuckling behind her as she hurried her son across the street. So, who needed fun? With Nick, she had about all the excitement she could handle.

Visiting Phil Fox was the last thing Elizabeth wanted to do. The
Ambleside Daily Herald,
which came out once a week these days, had carried the report of the May city council meeting held the past Monday night. As Elizabeth read it, her veins ran with ice. Phil had proposed moving the cannon from the town square, cutting away the entire lawn, and putting in a parking lot. But to Elizabeth, it was an impossible plan.

Summoning her resolve, she pushed open the barbershop/bus-station door and stepped inside. Cavernous, dimly lit, and smelling of old luggage and shaving cream, the building carried a dankness that oppressed the spirit.

“Phil?” She glanced at the line of three swivel barber chairs, upholstered in cracked red vinyl. Empty. Turning, she scanned the bus-station section. Its row of chromed steel chairs joined at the legs was empty as well. The counter was deserted, its surface stacked with bus schedules. On the wall behind it hung torn, dingy maps. The loose linoleum beneath Elizabeth’s feet made a slapping sound as she walked toward the soda machine and blinking pinball game on the far wall.

“How can I help you?” Phil came through a door she hadn’t noticed. “Oh, hey there, Liz. What’s up?” A dollop of mayonnaise hung from the corner of his mustache. He’d been eating a chicken salad sandwich, no doubt—even though he was the one who claimed Ez left the mayonnaise jar out too long.

“I read the city council story in this week’s
Daily Herald,
” she began. “I don’t want anything to happen to the cannon. I don’t want a parking lot at all! If you take out a corner of the courthouse lawn, Ambleside’s not going to have a town square. It’ll have a town
L.
”

He laughed and licked at the mayonnaise with his tongue. “Aw, Liz, you’re quite a gal, you know that? An
L?
Who but you would’ve thought of that?” He motioned her toward the ticket counter. “Come here and let me show you something. Pearlene told me you’ve been on a tear lately. She says you’re too young for it to be
that
time of life, so it must be love. Now I know you and Zachary have been having your little troubles, but let me tell you something. He is one fine young man. Look here at what we sketched out one day in his office. Come to think of it, it was the day you came by looking for Nick and his little redhead friend, remember? Take a look at this, and see if you don’t change your mind about things.”

He unrolled a large sheet of paper and spread it across the ticket counter. Elizabeth leaned over, peering at the grid work of lines and squares and tiny labels. It was Ambleside.

“Now this here’d be the square with the parking lot,” Phil said, running a stubby finger over the center of the sketch. “See how many cars a body could fit in there? And then if we move out some of these businesses that don’t have any place in a modern town, we can move in some up-and- coming operations, Liz. We don’t want Ambleside to fall behind the times.”

Elizabeth tried to listen as the man rambled on about his plans for the town, but her focus had wandered to another part of the sketch. Finders Keepers was gone. A sprawling architecture building filled half the block, and a ladies’ boutique filled the other half. There was no antiques shop. No attached apartment at the back. No yard with a swing and a sandbox.

“Where’s my store?” she cut in, jamming her finger on the Walnut Street location. “What have you done with Finders Keepers?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, this was drawn in a hurry, Liz. We didn’t have time to put in
every
store. I’m sure you’ll be there, though. You might want to think about moving out to the edge of town one of these days. You’d catch the traffic going to and from Jeff City. And your customers wouldn’t be fighting with Pearlene’s for parking spaces.”

“Phil, I want you to put me on the agenda for the next city council meeting,” she said. “I want to talk to the council about this plan.”

“This plan isn’t before the council yet, Liz. It’s just an idea. Just something Zachary and I whipped out the other day. I thought you’d get the vision for it.”

“Put me on the agenda. I’ve made my home in this town, and I’ll fight to keep it just the way it is.”

“Drats.” He began rolling the paper. “Zachary said you were a pain in the neck, but I didn’t believe him till I saw it for myself.”

“He said that?”

“Something like it. And Pearlene, too.” He wound a green rubber band around his plan. “You know what you need? You need to relax. Have a little fun.”

“Fun? I’ll tell you about fun. Fun was when Grace was alive, and Zachary Chalmers hadn’t set foot in this town, and you weren’t cooking up your ridiculous plans. That was fun, and that’s how it’s going to be again—if I have anything to do with it.”

Tucking her purse under her arm, she swung around and headed for the door.

“You’re never going to bring Grace back,” Phil called after her. “You know that, don’t you?”

Zachary pressed the button that released the newly refurbished green-striped awning and began to roll down the shade over the Corner Market’s big windows. Though he had to get up at these early morning hours and he’d given up his vacation in order to help Jacob Jungemeyer out of a bad spot, he actually enjoyed running the little grocery store. Not only was it interesting to keep up with the constantly changing stock and to manage the flow of finances, but he liked the contact with all the folks who stopped by to purchase their groceries each day.

And in Ambleside, people didn’t do a week’s shopping all at once. They shopped every day.

The morning began with Ruby McCann arriving for her pint of fresh milk. Pretty soon, Ez dropped by to pick up a jar of mayonnaise or an extra can of coffee for the Nifty. Then the stay-at-home moms began to filter in with their preschoolers in tow. Zachary followed Boompah’s tradition of giving each child a lollipop.

At noon, people would wander into the market to pick up a newspaper or buy an apple to go with their sack lunch. Teenagers appeared shortly after school let out, and they’d purchase sodas, gum, sticks of beef jerky, and bags of potato chips. In the evening, the working people would make their stops for last-minute dinner needs—a can of peas, a head of lettuce, a carton of ice cream. And then it was time to roll up the awning, lock the doors, and head to the car.

But it was the visits with Boompah that probably meant the most, Zachary realized as he pushed the fresh-fruit cart out the front door. At first, the old man had focused on filling in his substitute on the details of running the market. Before long, however, their conversations had turned to telling stories, trading jokes, and reminiscing on the past. Zachary liked Boompah. Liked him a lot. And he was hoping his friend could get back on his feet before long.