“I don’t know. It’s like church or something. Being respectful for the beauty or something.” I was glad it was dark, because I blushed from his smile. “I know it sounds stupid.”
“Mae West, you are far from stupid. That’s what scares me.” He tugged something out of his pocket. “Three months rent.”
“You didn’t have to pay tonight,” I said.
“Just because we are having a moment, doesn’t mean you can go soft on me.” He stuck the money on my stomach and laid back down. “Are you going back to the city once the campground is back on it’s feet?”
He was smarter than I thought.
“Are you going to go back to wherever you came from once your dad gets on his feet?” I asked.
“Awe, see.” He snapped a finger at me. “You are smart.”
“Mmmhmmmm.” I chuckled.
“I love the city and I love cooking. When I decided to leave Normal and my dad, plus those little squirts, it was the hardest decision of my life.”
“Where did you go?” I asked.
“San Francisco. So many young people there. I had a farm to table gig going.” his voice harmonized with the sound of the grasshoppers. “Say, have you ever caught lightening bugs?”
“No.” I started to laugh. “Is that a thing?”
“Yeah. Thank you for doing the sign.” He jumped to his feet. “Let’s grab a couple of jars. I’ll show you.”
He reached down for me to take his hands to be pulled up. When our fingers touched, my heart did a flip flop. We quickly let go when I got to my feet.
“I have some jars in the camper left over from the previous owners.” I tilted my head towards my RV. “It’s closer too.”
“And we don’t have to tell my brothers what we are doing or they’d want to join us.” There he went again with that smile.
“What do we need?” I asked to keep the conversation going and not have that odd silence, even though I’d caught lightening bugs many times as a child.
“First we will put some grass in the bottom of the jar. Then we try to catch them as they light up.” he made it sound so easy.
“Like in our hands?” I asked.
“Yes. It’s not like they are fast.” He laughed again at me.
I opened the door to the camper and it was just stinky.
“Oh gosh.” I fanned my hand in front of me. “What is that smell?”
“Musty. You really need to clean out this thing if you’re going to live in it.” He stepped in behind me. “You’re going to need new bedding, new curtains, and a good cleaning.” He opened the window over the kitchen sink to let air in. “And clean out the window sills. I have a good cleaning solution for it, for you.”
The knock at the door made us look at each other. When I opened it, I was shocked to see Detective Hank Sharp standing there.
“I thought I’d bring this by as sort of a peace offering since I razzed you so much about the investigation.” He held a box with a bow on top. “It’s a coffee maker. I figured if I stopped by, you can make a pot instead of that Keurig thing.”
“Oh.” I was in bit of a pickle, wondering if I let him in or tell him I was about to catch lightening bugs with Ty Randal.
“I’ll get you that cleaning solution tomorrow.” Ty made the decision for me. “Hank.” He nodded as Hank stepped out of the way, making room for Ty to leave the RV.
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure what to say. “What about the jar?”
“I’ve got to get my brother’s in bed. I didn’t even notice the time.” I heard him call in the dark, but couldn’t see him.
“So, want to break it in?” Hank asked. “I also brought decaf and regular.” He also had a bag in his hands.
“It’s been a long day.” I sighed. “Tomorrow is going to be longer.”
“Fine.” He handed me the box and bag. “Did I disturb anything between you and Ty Randal?”
“Nope.” I shook my head.
“Around here, we don’t really call before we come by. We just kinda show up and I’m sorry if I caught you off guard.” It was nice to see Hank’s softer side. “I also wanted to make sure you were okay. Now that this is all behind you, you can move on with your life.”
“Yeah. My life.” I laughed. “I don’t even know what that looks like myself.”
NINETEEN
“Who’s the new kid?” Henry had walked around the lake and lit the tiki torches the next day before it was time for the fundraiser to begin.
“That’s just another person I’m trying to help from the fall out of Paul’s bad decisions.” I pull my hand up to my brows to shield the sun as I looked across the lake at Jr. getting all his dodgeballs in the bourbon barrel for one of the games he’d gotten for the kids. “His dad was the one I found in the storage unit.”
“The guy that killed Paul?” Henry asked.
“Yeah. His wife and son lost everything. Like everyone else and the best I could think of was to give him a job to help pay back some of the college fund that Paul had talked his dad into giving him.” The magnitude of what Paul had done to these families were still just unimaginable to me. Every time I thought about it, I had to force it out of my head or the guilt would stop me from doing what I was trying to do. Help everyone.
“That’s a noble thing, but you’ve got to stop burdening yourself with it.” Henry patted my back and continued on his way.
I knew that his words were true and now that Paul’s killer had been brought to justice, it was time for me to continue on with my business plan of bringing business back to Normal and the National Park like old times when the town was thriving by hosting a good fundraiser.
“Whatcha’ thinkin’ ‘bout?” Dottie walked up with an unlit cigarette in her fingers.
“Looking at what we accomplished in just a few days.” I pointed to the lake. “Can you believe what a little fountain and irrigation can do?”
“I believe what can be done with a smart woman like yourself has found herself again. Even after a tragedy.” Dottie put the cigarette in her mouth and extended her arms to give me a hug. “Who’s that?”
I pulled away and looked over my shoulder at Jr. He had the dodgeball area all set up next to the recreation building.
“That’s Grady Cox’s son.” I looked back at her.
“Honey, you ain’t going to be able to save them all,” she said what everyone had been saying lately to me.
“He’s a good kid and he deserve to go to college and start over.” I watched as he put the hula hoops out on the ground, wondering what he was going to do with those.
He looked over at us, took off his hat and gave a good wave in the air. I waved back and noticed Dottie had given him a slight gesture with her hand.
“I’ve seen that kid somewhere.” She squinted, tilting her head to the left and the right.
“On TV.” I hated the news coverage of Happy Trails after it was announced that Grady was found in the storage shed. “His mom is the one who gave the interview on that Friday night national news show.”
“I bet your right. Poor kid.” She shook her head.
“I’ll introduce you to him because he is going to run the children’s activities when we get enough campers in here. I think it’s a great idea to offer the kids something while we have a parent activity.” I wasn’t sure what those activities could be, but I’d planned on making it just as much fun as the children’s program.
“You are exactly what Happy Trails needed. I didn’t have the energy or the getty-up that you’ve got to keep something like this crazy place up and running.” She cackled.
“Are you not going to light that cigarette?” I asked when I noticed she’d just been holding it between her fingers.
“Nah. I’m trying to quit. I went to that stupid Jazzercise class with Queenie. I couldn’t make it through the first grapevine,” she said. “I did like the strike class.” She did some sort of jabbing.
“Good for you.” I tried not to bust out laughing. I could only imagine what she and Queenie looked like. “I bet you feel better.”
“No. No I don’t,” she grumbled. “Hi, there,” she called to Jr. when we got closer. He dragged his hat off his head and smiled at her. “I swear I know you.”
“We do?” he asked. “Have you been to the BBQ Joint in Lexington? I work there a few days a week.”