Pint of No Return (5 page)

Chapter Three

Callie went directly to the bar when she arrived at the Barley and Sheaf for the Bru-topia committee meeting.  As usual, she was a few minutes early.

“Callie, good to see you.  Can I get you something to drink?”  Yuki was at a table rolling silverware into napkins.

“I don’t want to interrupt,” said Callie.

“This is one of those tasks I do when I have nothing better to do.  It’s not an interruption, so much as a relief,” she said, getting up and heading to the bar.  “What would you like?”

“I’ll have a glass of the Forever Filbert, but only if you join me,” said Callie. Yuki was still a mystery to her as most of her time working on Bru-topia was spent with Walt.

Yuki poured two glasses of beer.  “This is one of my favorites as well,” she said.  “I don’t like many of the darker beers.”

She came around to the front of the bar and sat next to Callie.  “How’s the planning going?”

Callie gave a sigh.  “We’re sort of in the crazy time right now.  Once we get everything we need ordered and the marketing laid out, it will quiet down.  That’s what I’m hoping to talk with the committee about today.  I want to get a list of good places to advertise and create a viral marketing plan for the participating breweries to put out to their customers.”

The door opened and Zeke Sherman came in.  Callie noticed his limp was worse than it had been when she had seen him at the Brewer’s Guild meeting.  He was leaning heavily on a wooden cane.

Yuki raised her eyebrows in surprise.  “Hey, Zeke.  Are you limping again?  I thought you were better.”

He grimaced.  “I was.  There was a break-in at the pub and I tripped chasing the thieves out the basement door.  Banged up my hip pretty bad.”

“That’s terrible,” said Callie, getting up and pulling out a chair for him.  “Did they take anything?”

“That’s the weird thing about it,” he said as he sat.  “I must have surprised them too early for them to grab anything.  Instead, it looked as if they just wanted to come in and wreck things.  They broke a bunch of bottles and tore apart some of the brewing equipment.  It was a mess.”

“I would think they’d want to steal the beer,” said Callie.

“Me, too.  I guess I’m just happy it wasn’t any worse.  We didn’t have that particular door wired into our security system, so it was lucky I was there to hear them break-in.”

“Did you reinjure your legs?” asked Yuki.

“No.  I mean, I’m not totally healed yet, so my legs weren’t helping me out.  I just tripped and fell on my hip.  Could you make me more of that tea you made when I broke my legs?”

“Most certainly,” said Yuki.  “I’m glad it helped last time.”  She turned to Callie.  “It is a mix of poppy and St. John’s Wort.  Very calming and can relieve pain.”

“I’m not sure if it’s the tea that works, or the fact that I have to sit down and relax to drink it when I brew a pot,” said Zeke.  “Either way, it provides me some relief.”

“How often do people come to you for tea?” Callie asked Yuki. 

“I help out occasionally at the alternative medicine clinic on McKenzie Street.  I do not want to waste all the knowledge my mother passed down to me,” she said.

The door opened again, and Walt, Ethan Fillmer and several other members of the Bru-topia committee came it. 

Yuki stood up.  “Back to work, I guess.”  She went to Walt and they began moving a few tables together to make one large table.  Yuki took drink orders from almost everyone in the group.  However, Callie noticed that she didn’t speak to Ethan and Walt poured his drink.

Callie and Zeke got up and walked over to the others, Zeke moving slowly.  She saw Ethan smirk.  “What’s up old timer?  You look like my granddad.”

“Just a small accident.  I’ll be better in no time,” said Zeke, not looking at Ethan.

Charles, from Machine Brewing said, “Zeke I heard about your break-in.  Was anything stolen?”

“No, they just made a mess of my brewing area.  I’ve already cleaned it up and started some new batches.”

“They didn’t even take any beer, did they?” asked Ethan.

“How did you know that?” asked Zeke, looking at Ethan suspiciously.  Callie could feel the tension between the two.

Ethan shrugged.  “I guessed.  I can’t imagine anybody risking that just to get a taste of your beer.”

“Ethan, that’s enough,” said Walt sharply before Zeke could reply.

Ethan didn’t make any more comments, but Callie wondered if he had something to do with the break-in at Barton’s Pub just to create mischief for Zeke.

After the meeting, Callie left the Barley and Sheaf and headed a few blocks along McKenzie Street.  There was a pizza place Coral loved because all it served was vegetarian and vegan pizzas.  Leave it to Skinner to lead the way in meatless pizza.  She stood outside the restaurant reading the menu.  Mushrooms and Kalamata olives?  Spinach and Gorgonzola?  Granny Smith apple and Gouda?  Callie pulled her phone out of her purse.  She would call home to tell them she was getting dinner and see if her mother and Grandma Minnie wanted something standard or exotic. 

She was looking at her phone, but hadn’t dialed yet, when a hand reached out to cover hers.  She looked up and saw Scott McMillan. 

Although she had felt a closeness to him the past summer, events after the Skinner Celebration had pushed them in directions where their paths had not crossed.  She wanted to get to know him better, but held back.  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to pursue a relationship with him, but she felt a reticence on his part and knew it was due to Audrey.  Callie didn’t want to compete with the past.

The former Audrey McMillan, now back to using her maiden name of Wolcott, had been Callie’s best friend during high school and they had been an inseparable pair in the old days.  After high school, as Callie had moved to New York and Audrey had stayed in Skinner, they had grown apart.  Sometimes though, the days of their friendship and all the high school drama felt like it had happened yesterday.  Callie assumed Scott felt the same.

Although Audrey had divorced him, Callie knew Scott was conscious of the fact that if and when he resumed dating and Audrey heard about it, there would be some sort of payment rendered out of his flesh.  Dating Audrey’s high school best friend would only intensify that payment.

So Callie hadn’t pushed him or pursued him.  Their one date, if you could call it that, had been with a group of Scott’s work friends and an entirely casual affair at the Cloudburst Pub.  The evening had ended at a decent hour and they had parted ways with a kiss on the cheek.  Then her life got busy.

He wore his usual dark suit jacket, white collared shirt and no tie.  His black hair was as ruffled as always and she could see the pleasure in his blue-gray eyes.  “Callie, it’s good to see you,” he said, giving her a short hug. 

“And you as well,” she said, realizing it was the truth.  Although she had thought of calling him several times after her return to town, some impulse within her wanted him to make the next move.  Now that she was standing and looking at him, she wished she had phoned.  It was as if she hadn’t known she was missing anything, but his presence filled some absence in her mind.  She felt an almost electric connection where his hand remained on her arm.

“What are you doing here?  I heard you were traveling to New York,” he said.

“Only for a couple of weeks.  My home is Skinner now,” she said.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, smiling at her.  “Are you on your way someplace?  Are you free to get a drink or something?  I’m done with work for the day and I was thinking of getting dinner.”

Callie put away her phone.  Her mother and grandma could fend for themselves.  “My evening is entirely at your disposal,” she said, smiling.

He grabbed her hand and again, she felt a jolt of energy travel to her toes and back.  “Is Thai good?” he asked.  She nodded and off they went.

In Skinner, a Thai restaurant was always just around the corner, so they didn’t have far to walk.  After they had sat and ordered, Scott asked about her trip from New York. “Any regrets leaving the big city?”

“Not as many as I thought there would be,” she said.  “It’s not as if it won’t be there if I ever decide to go back.”  She had been surprised at the relief she felt when she saw the skyscrapers of NYC in her rear view mirror.  “I really did want to come back to Skinner.  I think I was a little, I don’t know, bored?”

“Bored?  With all that travel and a job with a bunch of great events?”

“Bored in metaphysical sense, maybe.  My days were packed, you’re right.  I think I was just going through the motions though.  The chance to come back here came at a good time.  I was ready to move on, I just didn’t know it.”

“Did you drive all the way?” he asked.

“Yes.  I didn’t have a car in New York, so I rented a small moving truck and drove my stuff out here.  I only had a one-bedroom apartment, so there wasn’t a lot of stuff to bring.  My mom has most of the furniture I need for now, so I left anything bulky behind.”

“What are you doing for a car now?”

“I get a rental occasionally, but mostly I use my mom’s truck,” she said.

He laughed.  “The elegant Callie Stone driving a beat up 1996 Ford Ranger around town.  I’ve got to see this.”

She liked it that he called her elegant.  “Believe me, every time I get in it I feel the same way.  I’m keeping my eye out for something more suitable to my dignity.  Besides, she needs it some of the time, so it’s not one hundred percent convenient for either of us.”  Callie realized the conversation had so far focused on her.

“And what about you?  Skinner’s finest solve any large crimes while I was out of town?  Take out any major drug rings?”

“No, after our excitement this past summer, it’s been relatively quiet.  We had to arrest some tree protesters at the university.”

“That’s not out of the norm here, is it?”

He shook his head.  “No.  There’s a protest of some sort every other week.  It’s a local industry.  Speaking of the summer, did you hear what Stephen Felson did?”

Callie remembered Stephen from the Slug Queen pageant.  He was a librarian by trade and had been almost murdered by his wife, the former mayor of Skinner.  “No.  From what little I knew of him, I assumed he would pack up and leave.  He seemed very shy and someone who wouldn’t be happy to be in the public eye.”

“I would have said the same thing,” said Scott.  “Instead, he offered to take up the remainder of Dot’s term.  He’s interim mayor until the election next year.”

“You’re kidding me.  What would make him do that?”

“Apparently, the memory of his late girlfriend.  He said that as she would never get the chance to be mayor, he’d do it for her.”

“Wow.  Love leads people to unexpected places,” she said.

They were both silent for a few moments.  “How are the girls?” she asked.

“They’re fine,” he said, giving a tight smile.  “Audrey is treating me better lately, but I think it’s going to be difficult to be a part-time father.  Right now, I’m still only getting short visits and they seem to grow so much between each time I see them.  I feel as if I’m missing a lot.”

“How’s Audrey?  I haven’t seen her since I’ve gotten back into town.”  She knew he would understand she was referring to Audrey’s drug use.

“I think she’s good.  Something gave her a jolt over the summer.  The drug trade slowed after we put Sheldon Normal away.  Maybe that was enough to make her realize that’s not a lifestyle choice that was good for her, or the girls.”

“Maybe she’s growing up.  When we went out over the summer I thought that for her, life had never moved on from high school.”

“I can understand that,” he said.  “From a relationship standpoint, she was always tied to me.  When we got divorced it’s possible she found some things in the world had passed her by.”

“And she now has kids.  Someone else to be responsible for,” said Callie.  “I think it just took her awhile to understand that.”

“Maybe,” he said. 

Callie changed the subject, not wanting the evening to focus on his failed marriage.  “Do you still hang out with anyone from our high school days?  Do they still do reunions?”

“I’ve seen the invitations, but I haven’t gone.  I don’t think I have much in common with people from those days.  Besides, Skinner is such a small place, I see a lot of them around, so a reunion seems sort of pointless to me.”

“Don’t say that,” she said, laughing.  “You’re talking about my livelihood here.  If people stop having parties and reunions, what will I do?”

“I can’t imagine you not being able to think of something,” he said, his eyes sparkling.

Their conversation continued on with doings in Skinner, and Callie provided Scott with an update of farm life.  She was surprised to find the waitress coming with the check.  She hadn’t realized how fast the time had gone.

“Shall we move on?” he asked.

She shook her head.  “You didn’t drink much, but I’ve had some wine with dinner already. If we go and have another, I won’t be able to drive.  So as much as I want to, I think I have to say no.”