Almost Home (14 page)

“What were you going to do with the hose?” Berry frowned.

“I was going to clean off the ladder.” He stood and dropped the nozzle. He went to the spigot and turned off the water. “Berry, are you all right?”

“Of course I am.” She appeared puzzled. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“That’s the second time in this conversation that you seemed to miss a beat.” He shook his head.

“What are you talking about?” Her eyes narrowed and shot a laser beam directly to his.

Well
, he thought,
she hasn’t forgotten The Look
.

“First you asked me why I needed a ladder, and I told you it was for Steffie, who’s painting the kitchen in her house,” he said gently. “Then a few minutes later, you asked me to remind you why Steffie needed a ladder.”

Berry shrugged. “So?”

“So then I said I was going to wash the cobwebs off the ladder, and two minutes later you asked me why I needed a hose.”

Berry waved a hand as if to dismiss him. “I’m a little distracted, and a little tired. I’m not used to having such a young one in the house. Not,” she hastened to add, “that I’d have it any other way. I adore that boy, as I suspect you know.”

Wade nodded. “I do know that, and I’m grateful that you’re putting us up for a while.”

“I’m not rushing you, of course I don’t want you to go, but I’m just wondering when you’re leaving for Connecticut.”

“I was planning on leaving next week, but I think now I’ll wait until after Dallas’s birthday party.”

“That’s only the weekend after this one coming.”

“I know.”

She started across the yard, but the uneven terrain made Wade nervous that she might fall. She didn’t seem as steady on her feet as she used to be. He left the ladder leaning against the carriage-house wall and locked the door, then took Berry’s arm and together they started across the lawn. Ally ran ahead to chase a dozen or so Canada geese from the grass. The birds squawked as they scattered and sought refuge on the river.

“It’s a lovely morning,” she said. “Can you sit with me for a few minutes over there under the trees?”

“Sure.” He glanced up at the house. Austin was still napping and Dallas was inside reading. She’d let him know if his son woke up.

There were several white Adirondack chairs, and Berry lowered herself into the closest one.

“Don’t you love to watch the river on days like this?” She smiled and gazed out across the water. “I know that fall is in the air and I know what the calendar says, but on days like this, I just want to hold on to the very last threads of summer. The sky is always so blue this time of the year.”

“It’s a beauty of a day, Berry.” Wade nodded and sat in the chair next to hers.

“So.” Berry turned to him. “You’ve agreed to use your brewmaster talents to make someone else’s beer. How do you feel about that?”

Wade shrugged. “It’s not what I thought I’d be doing at this point in my life, but then again, a lot hasn’t gone as I’d planned.”

“You didn’t answer the question, dear. I asked you how you felt about someone else using your expertise to make their beer.”

He winced. “Do I like the thought of my beer being bottled under someone else’s label? No. Not one damned bit.”

“Then why did you agree to work for someone else?”

“I closed up shop and sold the building and all my equipment, Berry. There were a lot of debts to be paid. I don’t have a business of my own anymore.” Even though he’d thought he’d accepted this fact, he
still found it hard to talk about. “But I do have to work. I agreed to work for someone else because I need a job.”

“Forgive me if I sound dense, dear, but why don’t you start another business? Why do you have to sell all your secrets to another brewery?”

“For one thing, it takes a lot of money. For another, it just seems, I don’t know,
disloyal
maybe, to start over again without Robin. The company had been her idea. She financed it.”

“But you actually made the beer, am I right?”

Wade nodded.

“I see no reason why you shouldn’t be making beer again. From all you’ve told me, Robin was a very level-headed young woman. Certainly you don’t think she’d have wanted you to leave the business behind forever.”

“Probably not,” Wade admitted.

“Who’s the fellow you’re going to work for?”

“A guy I met at a couple of brewers’ conventions.”

“Oh? A former rival?”

Wade grimaced. For someone who’d momentarily appeared not to have followed a conversation a few minutes ago, she was right on point now.

“I guess you could call him that,” Wade conceded, recalling the time when he and Robin had called Ted Billingsly that and more. “The guy made me a good offer, and like I said, I need a job.”

“Maybe you should take more time off to think things over a little more carefully. You’ve been through a lot over the past few months, you know. Decisions made in haste, and all that.”

“In all fairness to Ted, he has a business to run. He
can’t wait indefinitely for me to show up. He wants to get this new line of beer into the stores for the holidays.”

“He wants to get
your
beer into the stores for the holidays. With his labels on the bottles.”

Wade nodded.

Berry poked him playfully on the arm. “You know, St. Dennis has never had its own beer. You could call it ‘Berry Beer.’ ”

He laughed in spite of himself. “I’m afraid Berry Beer doesn’t have a particularly manly ring to it.”

“Perhaps not.” Berry smiled. “But I still wish you’d stay awhile longer in St. Dennis.” She sat back in her chair and gazed out toward the Bay. “I haven’t had nearly enough of you or of that boy of yours.”

“Don’t you miss having your house to yourself? With Dallas and Cody here, and now Austin and me …”

“Bite your tongue. I wasn’t aware of just how quiet things were around here until they no longer were. Frankly, I’m enjoying it. And look at it this way”—she leaned over to confide—“it’s keeping me young. Why, it’s almost like having Ned back again.”

“Ned? You mean my father?”

Berry nodded, a faraway look on her face. “What a delightful boy he was. From the moment of his birth until the day he left us, he was the greatest joy of my life.”

“Were you there, when he was born?” Wade asked.

“What?” Berry slowly turned to him.

“Were you there with your sister, when my dad was born? You said, from the moment of his birth …”

“I meant, from the time he was a newborn, of course.” Berry turned her face back toward the Bay.

“I guess you and my dad were really close. I remember seeing pictures of him here in this house when he was really little.”

“He stayed with me from time to time, when I was between pictures. Sometimes I took him to California with me, and several times to Europe.”

“But not so much his sisters?”

“They were a pair of twits.” Berry dismissed them with the wave of her hand. “Neither particularly smart nor interesting as children, less so as adults. Unlike Ned.”

“How did your sister and brother-in-law feel about that? About you taking their son on trips but never their daughters?”

Berry shrugged as if it mattered to her as little now as it must have back then.

“So, in other words, you didn’t care what they thought about that.”

“Not in the least.” She slanted a glance in his direction. “Why all the questions? Why the sudden interest in your father’s early days?”

“I’m just curious. And it’s not so sudden. I’ve always been interested in my dad. I was only seven when he died, remember?”

“I remember. Your mother brought you and Dallas here in the middle of a thunderstorm—at night—and essentially just dropped you off before she headed back to New Jersey.” She smiled at Wade and added, “Which was perfectly fine with me, since Roberta and I never got along all that well.”

“Why was that? I mean, I know my mom can be difficult at times …”

“Truthfully, I just never thought that she …” Berry paused, as if remembering that this was Roberta MacGregor’s son she was talking to. “I never felt that she and I were on the same page much of the time. Conflicting personalities, and all that.”

“How did she get along with Grandma Sylvie?”

“About what you’d expect,” Berry sniffed. “My sister wasn’t involved as much with Ned as she was with her daughters.”

“You and Grandma Sylvie were twins, right?”

She nodded. “Physically, we were identical, but our temperments, our personalities, couldn’t have been more different.”

“How about Grampa?”

“Duncan went along with pretty much whatever Sylvie wanted, as far as the children were concerned. I believe he thought that taking care of the children was her realm.”

“Even when it came to having his only son spend more time with you than he did with them?”

“Even then.” Her eyes narrowed. “What brought this all on today? Has someone said something to you about your father that you’d like to discuss with me?”

“No.” Puzzled, he shook his head. “What would someone have said?”

“Nothing of any consequence, I’m sure.” She turned her wrist to check her watch. “Oh, look at the time. I told Dallas I’d pick up the sale papers for the warehouse she’s buying from Hal Garrity when I was in town today. I’m meeting a friend for lunch at Captain
Walt’s, but I wanted to get the paperwork on the property resolved. It’s going to make a fine movie studio for Dallas. I suppose I needn’t tell you how thrilled I am that she’s formed her own production company and she’s going to be making her own movies.”

“Would you like me to drive you?” Wade asked.

“Why on earth would I want you to do that?”

“I just thought maybe you’d like the company.” He couldn’t bring himself to say the words, that he was concerned about her. This morning had been the first time since he’d been home that Berry’s memory had seemed a bit short-circuited. He’d have to ask Dallas if she’d noticed anything similar since she moved back.

“Dear, these days, I have all the company I need.” Berry stood and stretched her back, then called Ally back from the dock. “Besides, one would almost get the impression that you think I might not be capable of driving myself.” Her eyes narrowed. “I may get distracted from time to time, Wade, but I am not getting senile. Please feel free to ask Dr. Harmon, who keeps a close eye on such things. It may be hard to believe, but I have a number of things on my mind right now, any one of which would distract—dare I say it?—even someone
your
age.”

“I’m sorry that the kids and I—”

“Oh, pooh on that.” She shot him The Look again. “I’m talking about real distractions. For one thing, I’m preparing to return to the screen in my first film in … well, in more years than I like to think about.”

“
Pretty Maids
. The film Dallas is going to make.”

Berry nodded. “There’s going to be a tremendous
amount of pressure on me. Everyone in Hollywood will be looking to see if I screw it up.”

“You won’t screw it up, Berry.”

“Well, of course I won’t, but it takes a lot of focus to get into a character like Rosemarie.” She rested her arms on the back of her chair and looked toward the Bay. “I don’t want to let Dallas down.”

“You won’t.”

“And we’re having a huge party here for Dallas’s birthday, and then I suppose we’ll be planning a wedding at some undisclosed future date. And there are … other things. Things I don’t need to be discussing with you here in the backyard.” She tried to smile. “At least, not yet.”

“Are you okay? You’re not sick or anything …?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. Just … things I have to work out for myself. Decisions to make.” She turned to the dock. “Ally, leave those poor geese alone. Come along, pup. It’s time to go in.”

The dog flew to her side, the geese apparently forgotten, and Berry bent over to stroke her head.

“You are such a good girl, Ally. Such a good and obedient girl. Let’s go inside and see if we can find a treat with your name on it.”

She tapped Wade on the head before starting toward the house. “And you’re a good boy. A bit misguided at times, but a good boy all the same. Perhaps we’ll find a treat for you in the kitchen as well.”

Wade laughed in spite of himself, and set off for the carriage house to fix the ladder.

“Oh, and Wade?” Berry called to him. “Please don’t make dinner plans for tomorrow night. We’re having a guest. Someone I’d like you to meet.”

“Sure. Who’s coming for dinner?”

“My beau.” Berry smiled and continued on to the house.

“Your
beau
?” Wade repeated, then called to her retreating form, “Did you say, your beau?”

Whether Berry had not heard him, or had heard and was ignoring him, he wasn’t sure, but she never acknowledged his question.

“Berry has a beau,” he muttered as he picked up the hose. “Does anyone even say ‘beau’ anymore …?”

B
ERRY
was still on Wade’s mind when Dallas came into the kitchen while he and Austin were eating lunch.

“What’s this about Berry having a beau?” Wade asked.

Dallas grinned. “Oh, so she told you about Archer.”

“Who’s Archer?”