Felix placed his stubby hands around his stomach and sighed in happiness.
“Dad, mom wants to know if you want truffle now or later?”
“God, Dee, later. I don’t know about you, but I’m stuffed.”
“Later, Mom.” Dee grinned and plonked herself down next to him. “So true. Do you hear the sofa groaning at the added pounds I’ve put on?”
Felix winked at his daughter. “Your mom is one fine cook. You should take lessons.”
“Nah, I like to grow things not cook them to death, and believe me that’s what happens. Gene won’t let me even make her a sandwich for lunch…she said my talents are better suited elsewhere.”
Felix raised his eyebrows, “Aye, and what would that be?”
Dee shifted on the sofa.
“Don’t be silly, Felix, Dee loves those plants of hers. Don't you remember when she was five and Harry Sinster next door trod down all the daffodils in the front lawn? She was inconsolable.” Megan walked into the sitting room.
“Harry was only seven. It was a fool prank.” Felix shrugged.
“He never did it again though, did he, ’cos you tore a strip off him for upsetting Dee.”
“Well I had to protect my little girl.” Felix winked at Dee who rolled her eyes.
“Got to say I can’t remember but thank you, Dad. That doesn’t solve the current problem of saving Desrosiers though, does it?”
The heavy sigh accompanying the question caught Felix on the back foot. He wanted his little girl to be happy and knew she was working hard for Desrosiers. Truth be told he was too, had been since his first day of work. Back then his friends who worked at the lumber yard had laughed at him for working for an outfit that made perfume. Some had gone so far as to sever years of friendship. It didn’t matter because he needed the work and he wasn’t going into logging. His grandfather and dad had both died too early in that industry, leaving a devastated family. He had been called a gay, waster, weak, not a true man, but he’d outlasted them all. In a few months he’d have worked forty-five years at Desrosiers, as long they had been established in town.
“Dad, are you listening? What do you know about the situation at work?”
Felix stood and turned to the two women he loved the most in life and frowned. “Desrosiers, from what I can see, is on the brink of bankruptcy. I’m not even sure we can help.”
Dee gasped.
“Oh, surely not, honey, there is always something that can be done. I believe in hope. Dee, who can we add to our fight?” Megan placed a hand on her husband’s.
Dee frowned. “There was a woman today who needed our product. She works for Sutters.”
“Sutters—that’s one of our best customers, probably the best from the amount of stuff we have dispatched to them in the last couple of years.” Felix relaxed and relished the supporting pressure from his wife.
“Then, Dad, we work that angle. If they want what we provide and are prepared to pay, it might give Gene a break.”
“How are we going to do that? She’ll only talk to management and neither one of us is that.” Felix shook his head.
“She doesn’t know that. Gene hates the management side, we can do this.” Dee excitedly stood up.
“Do what exactly? Defraud someone? I won’t do that and won’t let my daughter entertain such an idea either.”
“It isn’t fraud, if we give them product. We have the best perfumes anywhere in the world...okay, certainly in the USA. They need us; I know it in my bones. That’s why they sent someone, no one else has.” Dee headed for the door.
“Going so soon, love?”
“Sorry, Mom, right now I have a mission. I need to do some executive planning and get ready for the action tomorrow. Dad, I’ll see you at seven sharp in your office.”
Felix groaned. “That’s half an hour earlier than normal.” He stood and walked over to Dee and kissed her cheek whispering, “Give your mother a hug. She worked hard on dinner for you.”
Dee rolled her eyes and bit her lip. “Sorry, Dad.” She headed back to her mother and bent to kiss her cheek and give her a swift hug. “Thanks for the wonderful dinner, Mom. I’ll try to get over again at the weekend.”
Megan smiled. “Love you, Dee, go careful on the way home.”
Dee nodded and winked at Felix as she left.
“We have a good kid there, but I think this might be out of her league, Meg. That woman Christine did a number on the business from what I can see.” He sat next to Megan on the sofa and she turned to him.
“Let her try. Dee loves Desrosiers and those plants. Sometimes love is enough to solve any problem.”
Felix smiled, pulled her close and kissed her gently.
“Then love it will be that saves the day.”
†
Max stood at the doorway of the kitchen and stared at Alice who was pounding to death some unfortunate vegetable, interspersed by muttering or it might be cursing, though Alice rarely cussed. Her partner of twenty-five years had a relatively placid personality, usually she smiled all the time and was considerate to all folks, but if Alice got a bee in her bonnet and someone upset her, that was it. The poor vegetable rack was her first port of call…thankfully. A sharp amber gaze caught hers and she felt like a deer in headlights.
“Hi, I see the pumpkin pie will be well squashed tomorrow.” As the gaze narrowed, Max wished she hadn’t attempted levity. It might actually be a glare now. “Shall we discuss what upset you tonight?”
“Nothing upset me. I just decided that tonight I wasn’t in the mood for the quiz.”
Max knew the sharp words were an untruth. Alice loved the quiz and never missed one unless she was sick. “Okay, are you ill?” Max didn’t move from the doorway; a pumpkin projectile could be dangerous.
“No!” Alice stopped her pounding and leaned back against the oven and sighed. “I don’t like your new friend’s attitude.”
Kind of knew that, love. Slowly she moved into the room and stood opposite her partner with the width of the counter between them.
“I asked what she said that upset you. Quinn used some big words that I found difficult to understand. That’s a New Yorker for you.” She gave a tentative smile.
Alice’s expression was wary. “She doesn’t understand what Desrosiers means to Grady and all who live here. Her tone was dismissive. Max, we can’t lose Desrosiers. What will Grady become…a ghost town in a few years. It isn’t right. Our people don’t deserve it.”
The passionate outcry had Max scramble around the counter and hug Alice close.
“Ain’t gonna happen, darling. I promise while I can draw breath, I will do everything possible to save Grady from that prospect.”
Alice sank into her hold and Max bit down on her lip as she began to cry. A part of her wanted to cry too. I love this town and the woman who has made me whole. I’ll do whatever it takes.
“I’m sorry I walked out tonight. I know you love quiz night.” Alice pulled away and with a teary look nodded.
“Never be sorry, love, never.” Max kissed her lips gently. “I love the quiz because you do. It makes you happy so I’m happy.”
“We might have won tonight. Old man Franklin is out of town,” Alice announced sheepishly.
“Darn. Still I want to beat the Drovers with a full team otherwise it isn’t a win. Right?” Max laughed and held Alice an arm’s length away.
“Exactly. I’m sorry to have embarrassed you with the Quinn woman.”
Max exaggeratedly drew her eyebrows upwards. “Me? You’ve known me twenty-five years, have I ever been embarrassed? Not in my makeup, darling, ever.”
“True. We do need to do something about Desrosiers, Max. Something is terribly wrong.”
“Then we will find out what it is. I’ll chat up all the regulars and see what they are saying.”
“I’ll speak to Felix.” Alice paused as Max frowned. “I know you don’t want his help in anything, but he will know the true position. Besides, Dee will lose her job too and she loves it so much.”
Max snorted. Then a soft amber gaze melted her opposition. “We haven’t seen Dee for a couple of weeks, let’s invite her over for dinner Friday.”
“Great idea.” Alice smiled. “You know I’m beat, want an early night?”
“Always with you, darling.” Pointing to the debris she asked, “What about the mush on the counter?”
“Oh, right. Half an hour then. Let’s have a beer and you can tell me the big words Quinn said that you didn’t understand.”
“Did I say that? Hmm, well it was more the statement…analyzing my appreciation of what was happening at Desrosiers, who talks like that?”
“New Yorkers. Get the beer, want something to eat with it?”
Max hunched her shoulders and grinned. “Sure, we were supposed to eat at Ray’s but,” she held up her hands. “I much prefer whatever you have for me.”
Alice giggled as she headed for the refrigerator and pulled out two packages. “My backup, steak and cheese pies. They only need to be warmed up.”
Max laughed as she gently moved Alice away from the fridge and pulled out two beers. “I thought you wanted an early night?”
Alice grinned. “It will be, unless you decide to watch a movie. It was ‘The Hobbit’ last time.”
“You know me so well.”
“If you put any movie on, it has to be ‘Fried Green Tomatoes.’”
Max shivered, “Oh I love you so much. You know it’s our fav movie.”
†
“So, Quinn, what are you doing in town?” Charlie rested his back against the wooden wall.
“Business with Desrosiers. We have had some delivery problems. Should be on my way by midafternoon tomorrow.”
“Desrosiers, huh. I work there.”
“Who doesn’t?” Quinn shook her head and sighed. “Are you going to get up and walk out on me too?” The words drifted heavily in the air and Charlie shook his head.
“Nope. Hell, I’m currently a janitor, pays the bills.”
“I don’t get it…you are one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met. How come?” Quinn’s eyebrows rose as she stared at him.
Charlie reached for his half empty beer and drank a mouthful before answering. “Just because I’m a good quizzer doesn’t mean that I’m that intelligent. I might just be good at remembering facts.”
“Sure.”
“I used to be the business administrator at the logging company that moved on. My wife was sick. I had to take time away for a couple of years. When I got back into the employment world, I took what I could to keep the bankers from repossessing my house. Francine wouldn’t have been happy with that.” The quiet words created a silence for a time.
“Francine?” Quinn asked, taking a sip of her beer.
“My wife. She died three years ago from cancer. I loved that woman from the first moment I saw her when she was sixteen and a trainee clerk in the office at Henderson Logging Company. Took me two years before I had the courage to ask her out and I wasn’t sure she would. I was a bookworm kind of guy. She was beautiful…I’d never seen anyone with such a vibrant life-force like she had.”
“She accepted then?”
“Not at first, but I wore her down. We got married a year later.” Charlie smiled whimsically. “I wasn’t going to let her get away, that’s for sure.”
Quinn shifted in her seat and smiled. “I’ve never met anyone that I’d consider spending my life with, but I keep looking.”
“Maybe you’ve been trying too hard. Don’t mean to be nosey but how old are you?”
“Oh, well that’s a question and a half to ask a lady.” She chuckled. “I’m thirty-eight.”
Charlie whistled softly and winked. “We would have been married thirty-eight years on Saturday, heck of a coincidence.”
“Yes, actually, yes it is. Do you have any children?”
Charlie’s face sagged. “No, we were never blessed.”
“Well that will probably make two of us. I’m not the mothering kind…in fact I’d have difficulty with my choice of love interest.” Quinn caught Charlie’s soft brown gaze.
“Doesn’t mean you have to forgo the pleasure and pain of children.” He grinned and nodded at their glasses. “One for the road or have you had enough?”
“What about you?”
Charlie glanced at his watch. It was almost eleven and he’d promised Ms. Desrosiers to be in the office early.” I will if you will, but only if you join me for breakfast at Maxali’s at say seven thirty?”
“Seven thirty? Okay, you got it, though we might not get served. I don’t think I’m their best friend right now.”
“Leave that to me.” Charlie stood. “One more for the road it is then.”