Seventeen

Cell phone pressed to his ear, Tanner stood at his Denver hotel window and admired a view of the snow-covered Rockies. Sunlight touched only the highest peaks, dazzling white steadily chasing away the deep purple shadows. He couldn’t decide which was more spectacular: the view before him now or last night’s moonlit view. God certainly knew how to have a good time.

“Hello.” Rusty’s gravelly voice answered on the other end. “Valley Oaks Times.”

“Knew I’d catch you there.”

“Tanner? What are you doing up already?”

“The mountains are calling my name. I’m spending the day on the slopes.”

“Well la-de-dah.” She chuckled. “You must be playing pilot today.”

“Flew into Denver last night and have to hang around while my charges attend some business meeting. Is the little elf in yet?”

Rusty barked a laugh. “I knew she reminded me of something! No, not yet.”

“Then I’ll give the scoop to you.”

“I’ve got one for you. Mind if I go first?”

“Not if it’s really good gossip.”

“It’s not gossip, and I don’t want anybody hearing about it.” Her tone was dead serious.

“Then why are you telling me?”

“Moral support.”

Rusty was asking for moral support? Further proof that God was real. “My lips are sealed.”

“Thanks. I’ve got a shot at a job back in Chicago. The political sands have shifted. Long story short, I’m leaving.”

He whistled. He knew she had considered her chances of returning next to nil. “Congratulations, Rusty. That’s got to feel good.”

“It does. Now for the moral support.” She hesitated.

He knew she had no family and was getting up in years. What could the problem be?

“I’m leaving next week. I need the little elf to become editor for the time being.”

“That’s going to be a problem.”

“Tell me about it. She’s fully capable, but she only has one foot in the door here as it is.”

“Any prospects on hiring someone else?”

“No, and there’s no guarantee the owner can find one in two months.”

“What can I do?”

“You could marry her.”

Tanner hooted. “That’s a bit drastic, don’t you think? And you don’t really believe that would tie her down.”

“Nah, probably not. You two seem like friends.”

“We are.”

“Will you just be on hand when I break it to her? Keep her from slugging me? Or worse yet, crying?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks. Oh, here she is now. Kate!” Rusty’s voice grew fainter. “Tanner’s got a scoop for us. Why don’t you take it from him? Tanner.” She was back on the line. “Don’t be a hotdogger and break a leg now. Okay, here’s the elf.”

“Elf!?” It was Kate on the phone, the timbre of her voice threatening. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Uh.” He owed Rusty one. At least she hadn’t repeated “little,” which was probably redundant with the word elf. “You just…just kind of remind me of one. In a good way. You know, energetic, fun-loving…”

“Keep going.”

“Cute. Irrepressible. Big pointy feet. Into making toys.”

“You’re burying yourself, Carlucci. It’s a good thing you’re in Denver. What’s the scoop?”

He looked again at the mountains. A reminder? “I’m going through with it.”

Kate whooped. “Yay! Rusty, he’s buying the video store!”

He imagined Rusty’s expression of disbelief.

“When?” Kate asked.

“I sign the papers Friday. And…” He took a breath. “I’m moving into the apartment.”

She laughed loudly. He thought her incredibly easy to delight.

“Want to help me on Wednesday?”

“I’d love to. Why don’t you call me that morning? I’ll get my schedule figured out.”

“Okay. So go ahead and put the sale in this week’s edition.”

“But it hasn’t happened yet, which means it’s not news. We’ll get it in next week with photos of you inside the store.”

“But if it’s in black and white, I…” His voice trailed off. Maybe if he didn’t voice his fears out loud, they’d go away.

“Tanner, you need to hire people, right? Take out an ad. They can pick up applications on Saturday at the store. We could put in a tentative opening date.”

“Put my money where my mouth is.” His breathing returned to normal. “Okay. That sounds good. Say late March.”

“Maybe a Saturday? That’d be a good grand-opening day. The thirty-first?”

“All right.”

“What size do you want?” She gave him a range of sizes and prices.

“You’re better at this. Go ahead and choose something.”

“Rusty can probably get you a good price. No, never mind. She’s giving me a thumbs-down on that thought.” She laughed. “We’ll take care of it and try not to break your budget.”

“All right. Thanks, Kate.”

“You’re welcome. Have a good time hitting the slopes. And, Tanner?”

“Yeah?”

“People always believe the ads they read in the newspaper. You will go through with this.”

Kate, his personal cheerleading elf.

“Katy-girl, you handled that well,” Rusty said. “This is a huge step for Tanner. I didn’t have a clue anyone was buying the place. He must have mentioned it to you?”

“He swore me to secrecy.” She carried her coat to the pegs next to the door. “He’s moving into Lia’s apartment too.”

“Things are changing for our boy. You two are getting to be good friends.” There was a hint of pleasure in her voice.

“I guess everyone else my age in town already has a full life. He, on the other hand, is always available.”

Rusty smiled. “I imagine he’s getting cold feet.”

“You’ve got him figured out. He wanted his decision in black and white, right now. As if that might keep him from backing out of the deal. Why is he like that? He’s so down-to-earth friendly and talented. Everybody likes him. He was popular in high school, athletic. You’d think he’d be confident.”

“Lack of healthy parental love will cut that right out from under you.”

Kate sat back at her desk. “He hasn’t said anything about that.”

“His dad bailed out of the family when Tanner was thirteen. Hasn’t had much to do with them since, except for buying them whatever they want. I think his mom didn’t handle things well raising three of them on her own.”

That explained a lot, even Beth’s remark about him hanging out with the wild crowd in high school. Poor Tanner.

“He’ll be all right. He’s got good instincts.” Rusty leaned back in her creaky desk chair.

Kate noticed she was chewing gum.

“So tell me about the shindig at Britte Olafsson’s yesterday.” She referred to the postnuptial shower for Britte’s brother Brady and his new wife, Gina. “Joel around?”

“Oh, yes. You would have thought he was the host in her house.”

Rusty laughed. “The man is smitten.”

Kate told her about Brady’s outrageous gift to Gina. “He gave her this little bejeweled elephant and everybody in the place knew exactly what he’d done. He’d bought her a real one! Do you believe it? The animal currently lives at the St. Louis Zoo. Brady and Gina want to open a petting zoo on the property adjacent to theirs.”

“Wouldn’t that’d be something. A petting zoo might grow into something more. I imagine there’s some controversy brewing over all that. A lot of people wanted a housing development out there.”

“Isn’t that historical property?”

“The original founder of Valley Oaks lived there. Charles Crowley.”

“Seems to me history and a zoo give the place more depth than a housing development. Otherwise, you’ve just got a bedroom community with people working and playing elsewhere.”

“Sounds like an editorial in the making.”

“You’d let me do one?”

“Sure. You’re ready for anything, kid.”

“How about a social column?”

Rusty raised her bushy gray brows. “Something beyond wedding announcements?”

“Oh, yeah. We could write about things like Joel Kingsley taking coats at Britte’s door and cutting cake. I thought you said that guy was a Marine. Or Gina receiving an elephant. Or Tanner moving into Lia’s apartment. Or Adele and the stranger in town holding hands in church. And you know Joel’s going to propose publicly. I mean, the guy was at home there.”

Rusty chuckled and swiveled her chair around to face the desk. “You are getting into the swing of Valley Oaks.”

Swing of Valley Oaks? Given the fact that she’d just devised on her own—all by herself, without any prompting whatsoever from anyone else—a social column, she had to say “swing of Valley Oaks” was an understatement. It had to be nothing less than the magic of the place.

“Mr. Jennings.” Adele called down the corridor and hurried to catch up to him.

The wheelchair stopped and he peered over his shoulder. “Adele.” He smiled broadly.

“Hi. How are you?”

“Better now, after seeing your pretty face.”

“Oh, you are too charming. May I push you somewhere?”

“If you call me Rand. I was going to the library.”

“I’ll take you there, Rand.”

“Wheel away, Addie.”

“It’s funny how you call me that. No one has called me that in years.”

“Why is that?”

“My parents used that name. I dropped it when I, uh, left home. Now it’s how I sign my artwork.” They entered the library. “Where would you like to be?”

“By the newspapers.”

She set the chair brakes.

“You seem a bit down, young lady.”

“Do I?” Perceptive man. She attempted a perky tone. “Graham came over last night. We made pottery.”

“Graham made pottery?” His shoulders shook as he laughed silently.

“His bowl has corners in it.”

“Is that why you’re down?”

“No.” She smiled. “We had a…” Lovely, fun, fantastic, heart-thumping, unbelievable… “A good time together. It’s my teenage daughter.”

“What’s Chelsea doing?”

He knew her name? Graham must tell him everything. “She’s pulling away. Not communicating.”

“Ah, she’s just growing up. She’ll come around.”

It wasn’t the first time Adele heard the trace of an eastern accent in some of his words, and she wondered where he had grown up. “I just don’t want her wasting time making the mistakes I made.”

“What were those?”

“Getting pregnant too soon.”

“Then Chelsea’s the mistake?”

His response startled her. “No, of course not.”

“Have you given her a good life?”

“I do the best I can. She doesn’t always have the material things ‘everyone else’ has.”

“Those aren’t worth a plug nickel. Just be honest with her. She’ll be fine. Of course, I’ll be long gone before I see how she turns out.” As usual, he was direct and matter of fact.

There was a rap on the door. Nate, a young aide, stepped into the room. “Adele, phone for you. It’s the high school. Chelsea didn’t show up for school today.”