All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (28 page)

"I'm going out tonight, guys. Sorry about that. There
are frozen pizzas in the kitchen and plenty of chips and pop. There's also
candy and stuff in there too."

"What time are you leaving?"

"Probably about 6:30, why?"

"Do you care if we bring some friends over to
play video games? We'll be done by eleven or so ... maybe midnight," Billy
assured her.

"That's fine, but I don't want people on the
floors upstairs and I don't want people in my room
or in Henry's stuff over there." S
he gestured to the room Henry had claimed as his
workshop. "You can have free run of the kitchen, though."

"Great! We're going to head out and get our stuff
for the night and we'll be back before you leave, we promise!"

"Guys, you are being awesome about this. I'm
sorry you have to play baby sitter to an old lady."

"Are you kidding? It's like we're on vacation! Our
parents aren't bugging us to help around the house, you have great food,
we
can play games and watch
TV
whenever we
want. This is great!"

"Well, one of these days
I will take you out for dinner,” she said. “
Anything you want."

"Cool!" Doug said, "We'll be back in a
bit." They took off and shut the door. She locked it behind them and went
back ups
tairs. She lay down on her bed,
her eyes burning from exhaustion. She
set
her alarm for 5:45
and dropped off to
sleep
.

It had only taken a few minutes for Polly to pull out
a feast of goodies and put them on the counter in the kitchen for the boys and
their friends. She had also brought in some extra soda from storage and filled
the refrigerator. The guys had spent enough time in the kitchen with her and
were comfortable with the stove and knew where to find everything, so she wasn't
too worried about them having a party. From what she could tell they were more
interested in playing games than getting drunk, so she didn't even have to
be concerned
about that. However, when she saw them coming in the door with card tables and
chairs, she was more than a little curious.

"Exactly how many people are you planning to have
here tonight?"

"Oh, no worries," Billy said. "There
are only going to be eight of us, but we decided to hang out here in the
hallway in front of the food. We'll get everything hooked up, the guys are all
bringing their own laptops and it'll be cool."

"Alright," she said, "
I'm trusting
you."

"Really, Polly, no worries.
We're only playing games."

"Okay then. I'm outta here. Let me know if
anything explodes, alright?"

"Cool. Wait," Doug stopped. "Where are
you going?"

"I'm going to the Giggling Goat in Boone. It
looks like everyone is going down there tonight. I'll see you later."

"Cool." And with that he was setting up
chairs and tables and pulling extension cords to the wall sockets. Polly hoped
they didn't blow her school up, but
it did make her smile. This was one of the things she
looked forward to in the future. Hopef
ully
a lot of people would find
reasons to use
her school for different activities, even if it was just the boys coming in to
play games.

She got in her truck, headed up to the county road,
turned west and drove until she ran into the next
one
leading
directly into Boone. She'd driven this road enough it was s
tarting to feel familiar. She
turned south on Story Street. One of these days she
was going to have to ask some questions about the big, old, beautiful homes in
this town. Sometimes she drove around just to look at them. But, tonight she
was too distracted to do anything other than acknowledge their existence.

She stopped and waited while a train
passed
in front
of her, then crossed quickly over the tracks when the arms went back up and
headed for the restaurant. She parked her truck and went inside. Joey was
already at a table and stood when he saw her. He walked over to greet her,
kissed her on the
cheek and took her arm
to escort her to their table. The waitress showed up immediately with a glass
of water and asked if she wanted anything else.

"No thank you, water will be fine," she said.

"Are you sure you don't want a drink?" Joey
asked.

"No, water is fine," she repeated. The last
thing she wanted to be was out of control tonight.

"I ordered onion rings. It seemed like something
I could recognize on the menu."

"Oh, don't be a snob, Joey."

"I'm sorry,” he said.
“
Have you eaten
here before?"

"No. But, everything should be good. This place
is always busy. You should probably have the steak. You're right in the middle
of the country, where beef and pork actually live."

"Alright," he laughed. "I'll have a
steak sandwich. What about you?"

"Have you ever had
a pork
tenderloin before?"

"Maybe," he responded.

"Not like this! I'll order one and you can try
it. You can be guaranteed that if that is on the menu in an Iowa restaurant it
will be great. These people like their pork tenderloin sandwiches."

When the waitress returned with their onion rings,
Polly asked for a cup of ranch dressing and Joey placed their order. She had
gotten used to him ordering for her, so she let it happen without saying
anything.

"It's good to see you, Po
lly. You look amazing tonight,” he said.

"Thank you, Joey. It was nice to get dressed up.
I've been so busy with
construction,
I haven’t done
this
in a while." She paused. "
I
went out with some friends a couple of weeks ago, but that was only girls, so
maybe it didn't count."

"Well, you are absolutely beautiful. I've really
missed you."

He seemed to be waiting for her to reciprocate, but
fortunately, the waitress stepped in with
the
dressing and a pitcher to refill Polly's water. "Anything
else?" she asked.

Polly shook her head and Joey ignored her, so she
walked away.

She looked back at Joey and he reiterated. "I've
really missed you. I couldn't believe you left town. I wish you would have
called to let me know you were thinking about leaving."

Polly looked at him a little perplexed. "Joey, we
were no longer together. Why in the world would I have called you?"

"Oh, come on, Polly. We both know that was only a
little bubble in our timeline. I'd been waiting my whole life for you and when
I met you, I knew there would never be anyone else for me."

"
Oh, Joey,”
Polly sighed
. “
How is that
even
possible if I'm just as certain
you’re
not the
one for
me?
"

Joey's eyes got hard and his mouth set into a thin
line. "Are you telling me there is someone else in your life already?"

"Stop it. Just stop it." Polly's voice got
low and threatening. "There is no one else, but I am damned well certain
you aren't the person I'm supposed to be with for the rest of my life. I don't
know why you are here and I don't like it. I broke up with you and left Boston
behind. I'm starting a new life here and you aren't part of it. Don't yo
u dare get pushy with
me.
"

"I'm not getting pushy, Polly. I want you to
understand how important you are to me. I will do anything to make you happy,
as long as you don't send me away."

"Do you hear yourself, Joey? I'm telling you we
aren't together and you keep ignoring me!"
Polly was certain that her frustration with the situation was going to
explode all over him if he didn’t begin to hear what she was saying to him.

"Polly Gil
ler!
How are you this evening?"

Their conversation was interrupted by the overwhelming
presence of four people surrounding their table.

"Who's your friend, Polly? Are you going to
introduce us?"

She released the anger that had been building inside
her
and said,
"Sure! Everyone, this is Joey Delancy, a friend of mine from Boston. Joey,
this is Beryl Watson, Andy Saner and Lydia and Aaron Merritt."

She pointed at each of them as she introduced them. Joey
stood up and shook the hand of each of the ladies and then Aaron. If he
recognized the name, he didn't flinch or say a word.

"Joey," Polly said, "These are friends
of mine from Bellingwood. These ladies have been taking great care of me and
it's been fun getting to know them."

Beryl cut in, "She didn't have a chance. We made
sure she was going to get to know us. Since she started renovating that old
schoolhouse, all sorts of excitement has been happening in
our little town. We tell her she's our entertainment. And
look, here she is again with someone new! It looks like we might
have even
more
entertainment!"

"No, not tonight,
you goofball
.
We're going to get our own table over here and enjoy
a good dinner. What are you having tonight, dear?" Lydia asked Polly.

"I haven't had
a pork
tenderloin since I
got back to
Iowa. Any chance I get to have one, I'm taking it, at
least for a while." Polly said.

"Well, that sounds terrific. In fact, that's
probably what I'll have as well. You two enjoy yourselves this evening!"
Lydia turned to Joey. "We've taken a liking to this little
girl,
you take care of her, okay?"

"Alright," he said, a little shaken. "I'll
… I’ll
do my best."

They scurried away to their table, out of Joey's line
of sight, but Lydia and Beryl planted themselves at the table so they could see
everything that was happening as well as make faces at Polly.

Joey sat back down and said, "Those are your
friends? Aren't they a little old?"

Polly looked across the table at him, letting disgust
fill her eyes. Then, she took a breath and said, "You never did tell me
how you managed to find me. I know that none of my friends have talked to you."

"Honestly, Polly, it wasn't that difficult."
he replied. "Once I had the Sheriff's name, the rest came together pretty
easi
ly. Your little friend at the l
ibrary thought it was great fun to track you down. She
told me it was a shame we were no longer together, especially since I'm so
gorgeous."

Polly made a mental note to call her old supervisor.
Good heavens, it was astounding how stupid people could be.

"Joey. Do you hear
how this sounds
? You’re stalking
me and asking others to help you. This isn’t normal. This isn’t how normal
people have relationships."
She was
doing her best to maintain some level of patience, but this latest bit of news
was almost too much.

"
Polly,
you left me, your friends and your home in Boston! You
had a great job … a job you loved. You had a great little home and when we get
married you are going to have the opportunity to make a beautiful home. Our
children will be happy and you'll never miss living out here in the middle of
wherever we are."

Polly stood up
.
She had finally reached her limit
. "That's
it. I came down here to try to talk to you and get you to see some sense. I
wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt and I wanted to believe you really
had been going to counseling and
would be
sensible about what had happened between us
.
What I see now
, though,
is that you are even more delusional than you were
last spring."