Love Finds You in Hershey, Pennsylvania (8 page)

“Whatcha lookin’ at?”

Dmitri jerked in surprise, just now realizing that someone had come to stand next to him. He turned and looked into the expectant face of a young man who appeared vaguely familiar. Dmitri cleared his throat.

“I’m, er…just…looking,” he lamely answered, feeling foolish for having been caught daydreaming.

But the younger man nodded as if this made perfect sense. Dmitri watched his face as he continued to stare at the edifice before them with an inexplicable absorption. Hesitantly, the Russian’s gaze returned to the front of the building.

“Was there something
you
were looking at?” Dmitri couldn’t help asking, not quite understanding why his building should hold such fascination for this stranger.

The other man shrugged and turned toward him. “Nah. Just looking.”

“Ah.” Dmitri wasn’t sure what to do next, but he decided to be friendly. Extending his hand, he said, “I’m Dmitri Velichko.”

The boy accepted the gesture. “Jimmy Craley. I work at Suncatchers.” He tossed his head in the direction of the café across the street.

“Yes! That explains why you look so familiar.”

“I’m a line cook there,” Jimmy proudly announced, his thin face exuding a glow of satisfaction.

Dmitri smiled. “It’s a wonderful establishment. I particularly enjoy the breakfast menu.”

“Dude, totally. Sadie gives us a discount, you know, for working there. ‘Course Karl—he’s the head chef—says I should spend less time eating and more time working.” Jimmy shrugged again.

Dmitri scratched the back of his head, trying not to let his amusement show. “I’m sure he’s only teasing. Sadie must have faith in you to have given you the job.”

Jimmy’s head bobbed with enthusiasm. “Sadie’s the best. She never yells, like other bosses. She just, like, sighs and then tells me to try again. Or if she’s really upset, she pinches her nose, like this—”

Jimmy proceeded to demonstrate by gripping the bridge of his nose in between his fingers and sighing in imitation of Sadie on a bad day.

“But she’s always really cool about it, you know? She rocks.”

Dmitri coughed into his hand to hide his smile. “She’s a good employer, then. And she seems very successful. I’ve noticed that her customers are extremely loyal—many of them come in several times a week.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jimmy agreed. “She grew up here, you know? So she knows a lot of people in town. I guess her mom was really well-liked or something—always helping people out and stuff. So maybe everyone feels like they’re returning the favor, even though Amelia’s been dead for a couple of years now.”

“Mmm,” Dmitri vaguely offered. He hesitated only a moment before saying, “Sadie…she seems, how would you say…” He searched his vocabulary for a suitable English description and finally touched on one a college professor had once employed. “Mercurial.”

Jimmy blinked, clearly out of his range. Dmitri gave it another attempt, again searching for the proper English application. “Erratic?”

“You mean like unhinged?”

Dmitri looked at him, puzzled at this description. “She is without a hinge?”

“Like, a little nuts? Well, sure, but, dude, can you blame her? I mean, have you met those two old biddies that come in every week— Smith and Jones? Total harpies, man. They’ll complain about anything, but they’re so sneaky about it.”

Jimmy glanced stealthily around before leaning in to confide, “They’re always stiffing Willow on her tips—cheapskates. Still, Willow’s super-nice to them, for Sadie’s sake. But Sadie, she feels so bad about it that she always gives Willow extra tips on Tuesdays—out of her own pocket.”

Dmitri softened at this. “That is very kind of her,” he observed.

“Yeah. Like I said—Sadie’s a cool boss.” Now Jimmy turned the tables as he nudged Dmitri. “So what about you? You’ve been coming into Suncatchers a lot lately, right? All the girls talk about it.” He rolled his eyes. “When they’re on break and stuff, they’re always like, ‘Isn’t his accent hot?’ and ‘You’re so lucky, Willow, that he sits in your section!’ ”

Jimmy scoffed, and Dmitri felt a warm blush work its way up his neck. He looked away, resting his gaze on the building before him as he reluctantly responded, “Oh, well…as I said, I enjoy the food at Suncatchers.”

“Dude, I know. Man’s gotta eat, right?” He waited for Dmitri to speak once more, and when he didn’t, Jimmy probed further. “You just moved here?”

Dmitri nodded at this question. “Yes, I have purchased a house.” He gestured vaguely in the other direction. “As well as this establishment…” He glanced up at the structure before them. It showed only mild signs of damage, and the contractor had given him promising news on the remodeling.

“Cool,” Jimmy said and then waited for Dmitri to elaborate.

The Russian man cleared his throat, feeling awkward. “Have you… lived here long?” Dmitri finally asked, trying to shift the conversation away from himself once more.

Jimmy answered, “I’m from Etters originally. Then Harrisburg. My girlfriend got a job at Chocolate World and moved here a few years back. She loves seeing the little kids getting all worked up over the candy and stuff.” He blew out a breath. “I had to move too if I wanted to stay with her. She laid the law down on me.”

This admission drew a grin from Dmitri. He relaxed again, resting easier now that the attention had moved to Jimmy. “A person will do many things for love,” he commented.

“You have no idea,” Jimmy told him. “I rode the Kissing Tower three times in a row because Annie asked me to…and dude? I’m totally phobic of heights.” He shuddered at the memory. “I puked for like twenty-four hours straight. I haven’t been back to Hersheypark since.”

Dmitri burst out with laughter at this. He liked Jimmy, odd though the younger man was. “You must love her very much.”

Jimmy grinned. “Dude, totally.” He cast a glance behind him at Suncatchers. “Gotta go. My break’s probably up by now. It was nice talking to you, Mr. Vel–itch–k…ko.” Jimmy stumbled over the foreign name.

“Dmitri,” the other man offered.

“Cool. Dmitri.” He pronounced it “Dim–a–tree.” “What is that, by the way, like, French?”

“Russian.”

“Sweet. See ya later, man.” Jimmy gave him a salute, and Dmitri waved.

“Good-bye!”

Standing alone once more in front of the building he now owned, Dmitri released a little sigh. He met his own gaze in the reflection of the dusty windows, startled to see the smile that still lingered on his face. After the last few conversations with Sadie Spencer and this latest encounter with her employee, he found himself feeling slightly less lonely than he had been when he first arrived in Hershey weeks before.

Although she found it very difficult to believe, Sadie was actually having a good time that Friday evening. Dmitri proved to be an extremely entertaining date on their night out.

Of course, things had started off rather shakily. Following her arrival home from the restaurant that night, Jasper had said he had a couple of items at his house that needed to be taken care of. He promised to return soon to keep an eye on Kylie while Sadie went out. An hour and fifteen minutes later, he called to say he would be a little late but that it shouldn’t interfere with her plans with Dmitri.

Immediately after hanging up the phone from Jasper’s call, an unnatural calm filled the house. Sadie cocked her head, listening with the sixth sense she had honed in recent years. “Kylie?” she called out.

Silence.

Sadie’s heartbeat tripled as she rocketed up the stairs toward Kylie’s bedroom. She poked her head inside the bedroom and scanned the perimeter of the room. Sadie’s gaze landed on Kylie’s bed with its spread of butter cream yellow and
Beauty and the Beast
pillowcases. Jasper had gotten her the set for her birthday last year. Sadie had never seen a happier Kylie than the day she unwrapped those pillow-cases. She’d never slept a night without them since.

But there was no sign of the little girl now, not in the bed nor on the floor.

“Kylie?”

Sadie’s heart hammered frantically against her rib cage as she wheeled out of the room and started back down the hall.

“
Kylie Amelia Spencer,
answer me right this minute!”

And then she heard it. A distinct “Uh-oh” that came from the crack in the ajar bathroom door. Sadie pushed open the door and found Kylie seated calmly by the toilet, with its lid propped up against the tank.

Kylie stared deep into the toilet bowl, and Sadie swallowed nervously.

“Kylie?”

The little girl jerked around in surprise at her mother’s entry. She bit her lip as she looked up.

“Problems,” she announced matter-of-factly.

Sadie felt a growing hysteria. “What kind of problems, Kylie?”

“Grandma’s ring.”

Sadie’s eyes widened. “Her wedding ring?”

“The volcano took it—just like Malibu Ken’s leg!” Kylie stated this with an indignation that indicated that all of this was the volcano’s doing and that five-year-old girls were merely innocent bystanders to this type of injustice.

“KYLIE!”

She looked up with enough innocence to charm the saints. “What, Mommy?”

Sadie got down on her hands and knees and held her hair off her neck as she stared, along with Kylie, into the toilet bowl.

“What were you doing with Grandma’s ring?”

Kylie frowned at her as if grown-ups shouldn’t be asking those types of questions. “Kylie tried to put it up her nose.”

Sadie’s gaze snapped from the toilet to her daughter.

“You
what
?”

Kylie sighed. The tediousness of adults. “Jasper said that canninabals”—Sadie quickly translated this to
cannibals—
“wear rings in their noses. Kylie wanted to be a canninabal.”

“Kylie, you’re
not
a cannibal!”

“But Kylie wants to be! Jasper said that maybe the canninabals took Malibu Ken’s leg!”

“When Jasper gets here, you can give
him
to the cannibals. Tell him Mommy gave you permission!”

Sadie rolled up the sleeve of her beaded mesh top as far as it would go and plunged her hand into the commode, glowering as she felt along the toilet’s basin and attempting not to think of all the things that had been in this dark hole before.

Kylie watched her with fascination.

“Mommy, you look pretty.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

“Can Kylie do that next?”

“Do what, baby?”

“Stick her arm in the volcano?”

“
No
.”

“Do you wanna hear a joke, Mommy?” Kylie grinned mischievously. “What did one volcano say to the other?”

Sadie bit her lip and strained her fingers, desperately hoping to feel the smooth circle of her mother’s wedding band. “What?”

“I
lava
you,” Kylie sang out.

Sadie smiled faintly at this. Just then, the doorbell rang.

“Oh, thank heavens! Kylie, that’s Jasper. Go and bring him up here.”

Kylie scrambled to her feet and thundered from the bathroom as Sadie continued to explore the inner realms of the toilet’s interior. She couldn’t feel a thing but cold porcelain. This did
not
rank up there with life’s most pleasant experiences.

“Kylie! Bring Jasper up here! Tell him Mommy needs help!”

She began mumbling to herself, a personal tirade that involved a lengthy description of what she thought about Malibu Ken and Jasper, as well as a few choice details on nose-piercing cannibals and the island paradise that was otherwise recognized as Sadie’s bathroom.

“It’s not Jasper, Mommy.”

Sadie shifted, with her arm still submerged in the toilet, to see Kylie standing in the bathroom doorway and Dmitri Velichko towering behind her.

Sadie gulped and pulled her hand from the bowl. It dripped water across her skirt and onto the tile.

“Uh…hi there.”

Can life get any worse at this present moment?

Dmitri smiled with pure amusement. “Hello,” he responded. “Kylie mentioned something about volcanoes eating Mommy’s hand.”

“And Grandma’s canninabal ring,” Kylie added.

Sadie reached for a towel but found she didn’t have the strength to stand. Her knees were weak with mortification.

“My mother’s ring,” Sadie attempted to explain. “Kylie attempted to stick it up her nose because Jasper”—here she made a face of extreme annoyance—“mentioned something about cannibals, rings in their noses, and Malibu Ken’s leg. So apparently the ring fell into the volcano, er, I mean the toilet, and it’s really quite priceless to me, you see, so cannibals or no, I
have
to get it back!”

She sighed with a quavering breath that indicated tears. Kylie’s lower lip trembled also.

“It’s all right, Mommy. Jasper will fix it.”

This childlike confidence sent an unnatural surge of relief through Sadie, and she expelled a half-sob, half-laugh as she realized that Kylie was correct. Jasper could fix it. He always did.

“Jasper can fix what?”

All eyes in the bathroom turned as Jasper spoke from behind Dmitri. Kylie rounded on him in exasperation.

“Mommy said Kylie can’t be a canninabal!”

“Of course you can’t,” Jasper declared. “What gave you that idea?”