High Plains Hearts (15 page)

“But I didn’t make you do something you didn’t want to do,” she reminded him. “And there’s a humongous difference.”

“I’m trying to figure out how they got this story. I talked to the real estate agent handling the deal, and he claims he didn’t talk to the paper, and I believe him. So who—?” He slapped his forehead. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

“You figured it out? Who told the reporter?” She leaned forward eagerly.

“I did.”

“Jake!” How could someone with his business savvy sabotage his own project? “What on earth are you talking about?”

“People from the newspaper come to Panda’s all the time,” Jake said, “and I spent a lot of time on the phone with the real estate agent there. The reporter probably overheard us talking about it.”

“But, even so, this is still slimy journalism. Did they ever contact you to verify the story?”

He wouldn’t meet her eyes, and she knew something was wrong. She persisted until he explained he had cut back his time at Panda’s and had missed the reporter every time.

Her stomach rolled over and sank. She was the one who had been encouraging him not to go to Panda’s so frequently. He’d been spending a lot of time with her, and yet she had kept him away from the coffeehouse even more by telling him he needed to stay home and not go to work so often.

Had she, in a roundabout way, caused this problem with her misguided interference in his life?

As if he were reading her mind, Jake said, “I don’t know if it would have mattered if I’d been there or not. This kind of writing is tabloid trash at best, full of half-baked truth that’s more fiction than reality.”

He had a point there, and she felt her heart lighten, although her stomach was still in turmoil.

“Still, he shouldn’t have run the story without checking it out. And he never asked me anything,” she said proudly.

She picked up the paper again and reread the article, forcing herself to go through it slowly. “I guess we can’t sue him for slander or libel or anything like that since it’s all sort of true in a basic sense. Besides it’s not a signed article. It’s just in that Shop Talk column, which is really no better than some tabloid coverage of the town’s merchants.”

“I could easily find out who wrote it,” Jake said, “but I’m debating that. My mom always told me, ‘Least said, soonest healed,’ or something like that. I might just leave it alone and see if it blows over.” He tried to smile. “So, kiddo, do you still want me as a neighbor? I’m probably
persona non grata
in my own neighborhood. They’d no doubt be glad to see me go now.”

She dropped the paper and hugged him. “Anyone would be lucky to have you.”

He hugged her back, but she could tell his heart wasn’t in it. “I’m a member of the Community and Business Organization in the End. This was a terrible way to let them know I was thinking about leaving them, having to read it in the paper, especially in a column like this.”

“You’re starting to back down now, aren’t you?” she asked quietly, holding his hand in hers.

He looked miserable. “I’ve always prided myself on being civic-minded and a good boss and a caring person. Think how many people feel betrayed this morning, reading this in the paper. I feel lower than a snake’s belly.”

He stood up and walked over to the window, shoving his hands in his pockets. “So Reverend Barnes wants us to prioritize what we want this week, does he? Why didn’t he add the warning: ‘Be careful what you wish for—you might get it’?”

She didn’t know what to say, if in fact there was anything she could say. With all her being, she wanted to take his pain away, but right now it seemed beyond her power. She felt limp and weak as her helplessness overwhelmed her.

She started in the only way she knew. Silently she began to pray:
Dear Lord, help us pass through this time of trial. Guide us and heal his hurting soul. Take us through this valley of—

“Are you praying?” His words rang out sharply. “Is that what you’re doing? Praying?”

“Yes.”

“Well, don’t bother.”

She stared as his sudden burst of anger contorted his face. “Don’t you get this, Tess? This isn’t about anything God can help with. He can’t take those words off that newspaper page. He can’t take them out of the minds of the folks who have read the article. It’s done. It’s all over. Every bit of it. And don’t tell me prayer will help anything. It can’t.”

He snatched up his coat. “Because if there is a God, He sure has it in for me. How can I believe in a God who doesn’t believe in me?”

With a slam of the door he was gone. And with him he took her heart.

She proceeded through the day numbly, smiling mechanically at her customers as she rang up their sales. Her sales didn’t seem to have dropped, and she couldn’t see any difference in the way people acted today from the way they’d acted all week long.

No one seemed to have noticed the article, and she took courage from that.

That is, until late in the day when the door swung open and Mayor Lindstrom strode into Angel’s Roost.

She was wearing her trademark bright yellow wool coat and brilliant red boots, a burst of sunlight in the white of winter. At the commission meetings she had often said she was going to visit Angel’s Roost, but this was her first time in the store. Somehow Tess didn’t think she was there Christmas shopping.

At first Tess thought her worries were for naught as the mayor commented favorably on the store and the inventory. But then she launched into a discussion of the mayor’s commission.

“I’ve appreciated everything you’ve done for us. You’ve been a tireless worker and a valuable asset to the commission. But we’re looking at restructuring the committee now.” Mayor Lindstrom straightened a rack of bookmarks cut out in the shape of angels, with Bible verses printed on the wings.

“You want me to leave,” Tess said flatly.

“No. I don’t. And that’s why I’m here.” The mayor was known and admired—or hated—for her way of speaking directly. “But the question of your way of operating is going to come up.” She picked up a ceramic birth angel and studied it casually. “Pretty. You saw the paper, I gather. Did you influence him?”

Tess decided to answer as honestly as she could. “Jake and I have known each other for a very short time. He asked what I thought about whether he should move Panda’s downtown, and I admit I was encouraging. But I was not the one to suggest it, nor did I in any way bribe or finagle him into this decision. As a matter of fact, it was a total surprise to me. I learned it by reading it in the paper this morning.”

“Tess, it’s not quite as simple as it might appear. The End is part of the city, too, and if Panda’s moves, that’ll have an impact on the End’s economy just as it will on downtown’s.” The tension in the mayor’s voice was sharp enough to snap.

“I never thought of that,” Tess said. She felt like a schoolgirl being called on the carpet by the principal.

Mayor Lindstrom examined a wind chime made of shells carved into the shapes of angels. “The worst part of this situation is that reading about it in the morning paper is a rotten way to let people know. I’ve had phone calls from the End’s CBO members, from Panda’s regular customers, from the families of Jake Cameron’s employees. It’s not as simple as it seems.”

Tess agreed with her, and the mayor turned to face her straight-on.

“Then why did he choose that way to let us all know? Why didn’t he tell us first?”

“He didn’t have any control over the story.”

“Balderdash,” the mayor said bluntly. “He talked to the reporter, didn’t he?”

“Actually, no, he didn’t.” Tess began the explanation, detailing what Jake had told her earlier. When Tess had finished, Mayor Lindstrom was clearly angry. Her face had grown pale with a bright spot of red on each cheek.

When she spoke, each word shot out as if it had been bitten off. “I’ve never liked that business column to begin with. The use of unsubstantiated rumor and insinuation is irresponsible at best, but this is it. I’ve reached the end of my patience with that column.”

As the mayor swung out of the store, Tess was certain she saw sparks flying from her heels.

T
ess watched the mayor stride down the front walk of Angel’s Roost and step into her car.

She certainly didn’t want to be the editor of the paper when Mayor Lindstrom arrived, although the snoopy part of her would have loved to be a fly on the wall.

The newspaper was only a few blocks from Angel’s Roost, not time enough for the mayor to cool down if she headed straight there from the store. And Tess thought she probably would.

Tess knew the editor would get a piece of the mayor’s mind when she arrived. As much as Tess was a nonconfrontational person and dreaded conflict, she was glad Mayor Lindstrom had stepped in. There were lines in ethics that needed to be drawn, and the mayor was the person to do it.

She picked up the phone and called Panda’s. When she asked for Jake, the young woman on the other end said, “Um, he’s, um, like not here—I don’t think. He’s, um, in a meeting … or something. I could, um, like, take a message if you want.”

It did Tess’s heart good to hear someone who was so obviously ill at ease with lying.

“He’s there, isn’t he?” she asked gently.

“Um, I, um, no, not really.” The young woman’s hedging was getting worse.

“Would you please tell him Tess called and that it’s very important I speak with him?”

“Sure. Um, wait a sec, okay?”

The woman must have put her hand over the speaker part of the receiver because the background noise became muted. She could hear some mumbled conversation; then Jake came on the phone.

“Tess, I’m really busy.” He sounded tired again and harassed.

“Is your staff fielding your calls?” Tess asked.

“Yes. It was their idea, but I gave in. It’s easier this way.”

“Phone’s been ringing off the hook, huh?”

“Endlessly. People congratulating me on making a good decision. People ready to kill me. People wanting to know who this woman is who influenced me. People suggesting I do all sorts of interesting things I have no inclination for, nor are any of them physically possible—thank you very much.”

“Then screening your calls is a good idea,” she said.

“What about you?” he asked. “Has there been a lot of backlash at you?”

“I must not be as high profile as you,” she said ruefully, “because I don’t think anyone recognized who I am. Oh, wait. One person did. Mayor Lindstrom.”

“Whaaat?” he asked in astonishment. She had his complete attention.

“Yes, indeedy. The mayor finally found the time to stop by Angel’s Roost.” She was unable to resist voicing what had bothered her since the mayor’s visit—that she hadn’t found the time to stop by Angel’s Roost until there was trouble. She knew the mayor was busy, but Tess didn’t like hollow promises.

“And did she buy anything?” he inquired.

“Are you checking into the mayor’s purchasing habits, or do you want to know what happened?” An edge of testiness crept into her words, and Tess fought to keep the snappishness away.

“I want to know what happened. Can you tell me?” His voice filled with anxiety and a sprig of hope that seemed to bloom in the winter.

“Not on the phone. I’ll tell you tonight,” she said.

“Tonight? I can’t wait that long. Please tell me now,” he pleaded.

“Can’t. Won’t. Actually I don’t know myself that anything happened. You know the mayor. She doesn’t abide foolishness, at least not with her town.”

“What does that mean?” he asked, thoroughly confused now.

She grinned into the telephone receiver. “Come by around five. By then it may all be old news. And, by the way, bring food.” She hung up before he could say more.

She turned to Cora, who had been watching the telephone cord dangle, apparently trying to decide if it was worth her while to get up, cross the room, and try to catch it. Idleness must have won out because the cat hadn’t moved at all.

“I hope I’m not getting him over here under false pretenses,” she said to Cora, who yawned. “But I’ve been so concerned about him this week. First he’s so tired, almost to the point of exhaustion, and now this. Body and soul can bear only so much, sweet pea, and I’m worried. Really worried.”

She felt that she needed to be there for him, but what words could she say that would bring comfort, let alone advice? What kind of wisdom did she have, or could she call upon, that would lead her into the right way to address the situations he was facing?

The shop was empty of customers, so she left Cora guarding the store while she popped into the back of the house.

One place she could count on for finding an answer. It was a book that had been her guide for many years now, and it had never let her down.

Just holding her grandmother’s Bible brought her an immediate sense of calm. Tess brought it close to her heart and let it soothe her more.

She took it to the store and sat on the chair behind the counter. As she did so, something fluttered to the ground.

It was a thin sheet of paper. The handwriting on it was familiar; she’d seen it a hundred times when her grandmother was alive. She’d never seen this paper, though, and she read it eagerly. It was a list of Bible verses appropriate to certain needs, and her eyes focused on one in particular: “For speaking wisely, read Colossians 4:6.”