Betsy lived inside the village near my house, which was located just outside of town. It was late fall, my favorite time of year, and the air was crisp and the leaves were changing colors. It was perfect weather to ride my bike to her house. But first, I wanted to ride by Cast Iron Creations, both to get a little more of a workout—I’ve always been one who has to exercise constantly to be able to eat what I want, not to mention I quickly put on weight—and to see our restaurant. I already missed it. Lord knows I could use it after the morning with my family.
A cool breeze blew through my hair as I walked to my bike rack to unlock Gertrude, the name I had given my bike. As I entered the village, I cycled down the layered brick art walk paths and slowed down, moving past the restaurant with the “Temporarily Closed for Death in the Family” sign we had made. I lowered my legs to the sidewalk, coming to a halt, and back-shuffled to the front window of the restaurant. Stepping off Gertrude, I leaned her on the wall of the shop and sat at the bench we put outside the door.
As I leaned my head back, I thought back to the day we opened the restaurant. Tears welled up in my eyes when I thought about prepping the front of the store with the Victorian cast iron table bases and glass tops, adding fresh flowers daily to each table. Delilah painted a beautiful mural of our village across one wall while the other wall had a cute bay window with a built-in bench and comfy cushions to sit on and read, relax, and sip some tea. Most of the Leavensport villagers frequented our restaurant, stopping in for baked goods and coffee or tea in the mornings, take-out daily specials for lunch, and dining dates or family gatherings for dinner. Ava and I prided ourselves in making it as homey as our village had felt our entire lives. Waves of fear rushed through me as I thought about Ellie’s murder and how that would affect the business. Next, guilt blanketed my soul—why was I worrying about losing the business when Ellie was dead?
“Jolie?”
I was jerked out of my reverie to see Rex, Roxi’s brother, standing over me. Rex was the quarterback for Tri-City’s college football team. While Roxi had just finished high school and now was at the community college, Rex had received a scholarship at the big city college.
“Hey, Rex, how are you doing? I haven’t seen you in a while. Are you okay? It’s a little cool out here and you seem to be sweating.”
“I’m okay. Sorry if I scared you. He held up a duffel bag. “I was just at the gym; that’s why I’m sweating.”
“I was lost in thought,” I said, standing to give him a hug. He was a few years older than me, but we all knew each other around here. “What brings you back to town?”
“Roxi, she’s been having some trouble with her college classes. She’s taking a psychology class and I’ve already had to do that one, so I figured I’d come back and visit the family for a few days.”
“Big brother duties, huh?”
“Yep,” he said looking down as his phone vibrated. “Actually, duties call. This is Roxi texting me now. It was good to see you.”
“You too, Rex, take care.”
Yikes, I thought to myself, seeing the time on my watch. I hadn’t realized how long I had been daydreaming. I needed to head toward Betsy’s place.
I hopped back onto Gertrude and biked past the Moore Dance Studio, where colorful graffiti commissioned by the owner filled the walls on the outside. I looked to my left at the Nuu Art Gallery, where Delilah worked, with its red barn appearance. Next, I glanced to my right at Sir Scratch a Lot’s veterinarian clinic, with its pastel-colored dog and cat paws that covered the old brick building.
I slowed again as I saw Lydia walk into the hospital with Bradley. The hospital only had three floors, since the population of our village was small, but the building fit in with the look of the rest of businesses. It was a warm shade of cream with dark brown wooden shutters around all the windows. Lydia and Betsy both worked as nurses at the hospital. I couldn’t understand how Lydia and Bradley could have just had that drag-out fight in the alley and now they seemed like bosom buddies walking into the hospital.
I thought about that as I cycled through one of my favorite places—Leavensport Community College Campus. The lawns were lush and green, and the plentiful trees were beginning to change with the season, showering red-orange, yellow, and bright green leaves on me as I rode. The brick buildings towered over the trees, making me think of all the wonderful books that filled them. My mind immediately flipped back to wondering what Bradley and Lydia would be talking about.
I continued riding for a few minutes more before arriving at Betsy’s apartment near campus. I hopped off my bike and leaned it against Betsy’s outer wall, looking longingly over at the Leavensport pool. It would be several months before I could again sunbathe the weekend afternoons away.
“Jolie, what’s up?” Betsy said. I hadn’t noticed she was sitting on her patio. Betsy took after her Aunt Ellie with her green thumb. Her patio was filled with pots of orange and rust-colored mums. There was a flower garden with looming lilies and oriental grass trimmed back to the exact right length for the tiny area.
“Sorry, Betsy, I decided to take a bike ride and was just looking at the pool, thinking about how quickly the seasons change.”
“Yeah, that’s so true,” Betsy said. I could tell she had been crying by the swollen skin around her eyes. As I moved toward her, I noticed a box of tissues. Many of them were wadded up on the ground. I leaned over to hug her.
“I hope it’s okay I dropped in on you; is your mom here?”
“No, Keith and Lydia took me to my mom’s house yesterday, and I stayed a few hours. That was all I could handle. Mom and Aunt Ellie were close but not as close as I was to her. You know how she was always there for me when Mom and I butted heads over the years. She was our bridge, and now that she’s not here I don’t know what to do when Mom drives me nuts. Who do I go to?”
“You can come to Ava or me, Betsy. Really. You don’t have to go through this alone,” I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
“I appreciate that. I feel bad not being there for my mom but . . .” She started crying again.
“You need to take care of yourself too,” I finished for her as she nodded her head in agreement.
“You want to help? Be like Aunt Ellie and take my mind off this, please. She was always so good at taking my mind off my troubles.”
“I don’t have any chocolate on me.”
Betsy laughed; it was great to see her smile momentarily. “Yes, you’re right; chocolate was an easy way to my heart. You know I was thinking about leaving the hospital to take over Chocolate Capers for Aunt Ellie?”
“I had no idea. You’ve only been a nurse for a year, right?”
“Yeah, who knew? Honestly, I didn’t like the job that much. Lydia is a way better nurse than me. I loved working with her, but to me it was just a job, not a calling. When Aunt Ellie said she was thinking about retiring, I asked her who would take over her chocolate shop. She said she had always hoped I would take over, but since I was a nurse, she wanted to sell the shop.”
“I didn’t know she was thinking of retiring. I wonder if my grandma knew.”
Betsy had started sobbing again. “I’m not sure. I had given it a lot of thought and decided I wanted to take over the business. I hadn’t had a chance to tell her yet.”
I grabbed her hand again, “I’m sorry; I’m doing a horrible job at taking your mind off it. Ellie would swat me on top of my head.” That brought back another smile.
“She’d also be on you about it being time to get a perm.”
“You don’t need to tell me that. Grandma and I just had this conversation.”
“Those two were relentless when it came to appearances,” Betsy said with a giggle. “I’m sorry; I haven’t offered you anything to drink. I made some fresh sun tea this morning. It reminded me of Aunt Ellie. Would you like some?”
“That sounds great, but why don’t you let me go get us some? Ellie and Grandma would tell you to clean yourself up,” I said, grinning at her.
“That they would.” She laughed again.
Like the patio, Betsy’s kitchen and living room held many potted plants in full bloom. It looked like she had some herbs growing in small pots by the window too. While I was making our glasses of tea, I looked for a spoon to stir some sugar into mine and noticed some of the dog and cat molds my grandma had mentioned last night. I picked up one in each hand. They were really cute, and it was a great idea to make chocolate cats and dogs for the auction. That was one of the many reasons I loved living in a small village. We all came together annually to do an auction to help the strays that ended up in town. Dr. Libby, the local vet at Sir Scratch a Lot, and her staff ran it, but most of the folks in town volunteered and helped out too. I was getting ready to put the molds back in the drawer when Lydia barged through the door.
“Why are you snooping around in Betsy’s kitchen?” she said with a glare.
I was a little shocked by her rudeness. “Hi, Lydia, Betsy just ran back to the bathroom to clean up. I came by to see how she was doing and we decided to have a glass of tea. I was looking for a spoon so I could put some sugar in mine. Would you like a glass?”
“Here, let me get my own,” she said, reaching into the next drawer and pulling out a spoon for me. “How is she doing?”
“She was crying when I got here, and she’s been crying most of the time I’ve been here. I did get her to laugh a couple of times, though.”
“Well, that’s a good thing. I just can’t believe that this happened. Ellie and I had our differences, but I’d never wish this on her.”
“I always thought you and Ellie loved each other.”
“Oh we did, at least she loved me when I was a kid, not so much as an adult.” Lydia stared off into the distance.
I felt like a change of subject was needed. “Hey, I rode my bike over here and saw you and Bradley walking into the hospital together. Is everything alright?”
“Of course everything is alright. I work there, you know?”
That wasn’t the answer I was hoping for.
“I just thought it was weird to see the two of you together after the scene in the alley yesterday,” I pried.
“That’s in the past,” Lydia said.
“What’s in the past?” Betsy said, grabbing her glass of tea as I held up the sugar; she shook her head no and we all moved back to the patio.
“Oh, nothing, it’s just Jolie nosing around.” Lydia grinned like it was a joke, even though her words stung a bit. “How are you?”
“About as well as can be expected. I don’t want to talk about it right now. I just splashed some water on my face. So, why were you with Bradley?” Betsy asked.
“You heard that, huh?” Lydia said, eyeballing me. “Bradley wanted to apologize for the other day. I guess he’s learned about the importance of family and keeping good relationships since he’s had a falling out with Delilah,” Lydia said, still glaring at me.
“Ava tried to tell Bradley she wasn’t interested in him but he wouldn’t listen,” I said in her defense.
“I think she could have been more straightforward and told him she was interested in his sister instead,” Lydia said, crossing her arms.
“Well, I would think that would be a difficult thing for Ava to do. It’s not her fault Bradley fell for her and was so persistent. It wasn’t like she was leading him on or anything. It seemed to me she was trying to spare his feelings,” Betsy said.
Betsy’s words got Lydia to back off. Ava had boyfriends when we were growing up, but she never took much interest in them. When we became teenagers, she came out to me first, then I went with her to tell her family. They were great; my family was great. Actually, the entire village had been great. No one knew Bradley had carried a crush for her for years. When he found out she was gay, he seemed to refuse to believe it and pulled all kinds of romantic stunts. That was one problem; the bigger problem was that Ava was in love with Bradley’s sister, Delilah, and vice versa. This had caused a huge division between the three. The entire situation started toward the end of our senior year of high school and progressed as Ava and Delilah began dating, to Bradley’s dismay. Last I heard, Bradley and Delilah weren’t talking.
“I need to head out to the credit union,” I said, wanting to get out of this conversation.
“Thanks so much for stopping by; you cheered me up,” Betsy said.
“Yeah, thanks for watching out for Betsy,” Lydia said, getting up to take my glass inside.
“Anytime, and I meant what I said earlier, Betsy, feel free to reach out to Ava or me if we can help with anything.”
“She’ll be fine, Jolie, but thanks,” Lydia said.