Homecoming (15 page)

Jill had lost her train of thought, but then remembered what had caught her interest. “You talk about Jon a lot. Do you miss him?”

“A little. It’s a pretty fresh wound. We just broke up in February.”

“Really? You were newly broken up at Mark’s party?”

“That was the week after he booted me. I was pretty down that night.”

Jill nodded. “You seem much perkier since then. Now I know why.”

“I was more drunk than not that night,” she admitted, an impish smile settling on her face. She put her hand on Santiago’s head and ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair. “If you need to do something, I’m perfectly happy to sit here with this little guy.”

“I think I’m good. I’ve got two people in the kitchen, and a couple picking up trash in the back.” She put her hands around a knee and stretched her back out. “It’s nice to sit for a while.”

“You throw a good party,” Lizzie said. “Top quality food too. Hey, I didn’t see the brownies I made on the dessert table.”

Jill sat up like she’d been poked in the back. “You brought brownies?”

“Uh-huh. Made ’em from scratch. I put them in the kitchen when I first got here.”

“I didn’t eat dessert, since everything came from the grocery store and I’m a big snob about food.” Jill got up and headed for the kitchen. “I’m gonna find them and possibly demolish the whole batch.”

“Bring me one,” Lizzie quietly called out after her. “Your friends brought some cheap-ass desserts. No offense.”

Jill returned a minute later with the pan, a knife and two napkins. “It wouldn’t be wrong to sit on the floor and gobble these down, would it? I barely had a thing to eat today. I was waiting for a burger, but people snarfed every single one down before I could snatch one.”

“Now I feel bad for eating two.” She gave Jill a playful poke in the ribs. “I don’t really feel bad. The burgers were awesome, and you know you have to fight for food when there’s a Davis around.” Lizzie took the knife and cut the pan into four huge brownies. “I’m not surprised you didn’t have time to eat. You were running around like crazy. Next time, invite fewer people.” She eased one of the squares from the pan and handed it over. “And tell people to go to a decent bakery if they don’t want to cook. Those cookies from the grocery store were sad.”

“The kids like them. But if I’m going to eat something filled with calories, I want something good.” She took a big bite, nodding happily. “And these are damned good.”

“Glad you like them. I don’t cook much, but I like to bake.”

“Just like your mom.” Jill laughed at the memory. “I can remember having dried out, under-seasoned meat loaf and lumpy potatoes, followed by a perfect lemon meringue pie. Even as a kid, I knew it was harder to make the damn pie, but your mom just didn’t care about regular food. She was only marking time until dessert.”

Lizzie shoved her brownie into her mouth, holding the pan under it to catch the crumbs. “I’m not much different, but I appreciate good food too. I don’t bother to make it, but I appreciate it.”

“That makes two of us. I’m already looking forward to going to your restaurant.”

“Me too. Even though I’m totally serious that you don’t have to treat. I enjoyed being here.”

“My mind’s made up. When are we going?”

“How about next Wednesday?”

“Great. Send me a reminder, will you?”

“Sure. I’ll make a reservation for six. I know you like to go to bed early.”

“How about seven? Then I can come early and take a tour.”

Lizzie stuck out her hand and they shook. “Done.”

It took much longer
to get to Hollyhock Hills than it should have, and Jill texted Lizzie when she was still at least fifteen minutes away. When she finally pulled up to the entry gate, she nodded to the guard. “Jill Henry. I have a reservation for dinner.”

He looked at a list, then waved her through. “Have a nice time,” he added.

She drove along the ambling road, concentrating only on finding a parking spot close to the house. There were two small lots, and she left the car in one, grabbed her purse and walked towards the building. When she got to the entrance of the huge, dark-shingled home, a man held the door open for her. “Welcome to Hollyhock Hills,” he said. “May I direct you?”

Lizzie appeared in the entry. “I can take this joker off your hands, Pete.”

“Hi, Lizzie,” he said, looking at her like most twenty-something guys probably did. Like she was something delicious that was just out of reach. “Do you need a golf cart or a car?”

She put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “We’re good, but thanks. Come on in,” she added, when she turned to Jill. “We don’t have time for a proper tour before dinner, but our table’s ready early. Let’s eat and then walk around.”

“Sounds great. I’m so sorry I’m late. Traffic was
really
bad.”

“It’s always bad where Route 7 meets I-189. Don’t worry about it. I should have warned you.”

They entered the lobby, and Jill stopped to stare. “Is this still a house?” The place was magnificent. Probably around a hundred years old, with gorgeous oak paneled walls and a massive fireplace along one wall, and French doors all along the back of the room, allowing a view of the lake in the near distance. The doors were wide open, with a cool breeze making the sheer curtains flutter. Bookcases lined the back wall, with large, worn leather couches and upholstered chairs sitting in front of them, everything facing the fireplace.

“It’s a hotel now, but this was the residence for the family. We’re in the parlor.” She took a right and led the way through another equally impressive room. “And this was where the men went after dinner to have a cigar.” They stopped at a podium where a young woman was making notes in a large book. “Hi, Gretchen,” Lizzie said. “We have a reservation for seven, but Rick said it wouldn’t be a problem to seat us early.”

“Not at all,” she said, reaching down to pick up a pair of menus. “Let me show you to your table.”

“This was the family dining room,” Lizzie said as they walked into yet another tastefully decorated room with another oversized hearth and fireplace. The room wasn’t all that big, with around twenty tables placed a respectful distance from one another, but it still had a grand, stately air to it. Jill noticed this room also bore floor to ceiling French doors, each of them open. “I thought we’d sit outside,” Lizzie said. “Is that okay?”

“It’s perfect,” Jill agreed.

Their hostess put them at the table closest to the lake, with a long swath of verdant grass leading to what looked like a drop-off to the water. Jill met Lizzie’s gaze as they settled into their chairs. “I assume the family built this to impress guests? It
works
.”

Her face lit up in a pleased smile. “It’s cool, isn’t it? I’ve only eaten here once, and that was for work. You can’t really enjoy your food when you’re pitching.” She snapped her napkin open and draped it across her lap. “Tonight, I can relax.”

“You look great,” Jill said. “I’ve gotten used to seeing you in jeans and T-shirts. A nice dress and heels is taking me a second to get used to.”

“Thanks.” She reached over and put her fingers on the placket of Jill’s blouse. “I like that. I couldn’t tell if it was knit or silk.”

Jill looked down at herself. “It’s some kind of nylon print. I thought I should ditch my khakis for the night, so I wore my nicest slacks.”

“You look nice,” Lizzie said. “You told me you wore blue a lot, and I don’t see any reason to change. That shirt makes your eyes as blue as the sky.”

“My goal,” Jill said, grinning. “Even though no one at work ever notices what I’m wearing. I blend in like the wallpaper.”

“I learned to notice details when I was in school. If you ask me in six months what you were wearing tonight, I’ll be able to tell you.” She opened her menu and said, “Our bartender is good. He makes five or six special drinks a night. See if any of them work for you.”

Jill ran her finger down the list, thinking. “Yes, yes, no, probably not, yes and yes. I think I’ll get the one with gin and blackberries and mint.”

“We don’t make the gin, but the mint is from the garden. It’s a little early for the blackberries to be local, but they will be in August.”

“I swear, you’re becoming a farmer!”

“Not really. I just pay attention.”

A young woman glided over and put her hands behind her back, like she was auditioning. “Welcome,” she said, addressing Jill. With a quick nod to Lizzie, she said, “It’s good to see you, Ms. Davis.”

“I’m off duty, Lara,” Lizzie said. “This is my friend Jill.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jill said. “I love your restaurant.”

“We’re glad to have you.”

“Lara’s in grad school at the U,” Lizzie said. “As is nearly every other server.” She inclined her head towards Jill. “Jill’s a big deal in the administration. Be nice to her and she might knock a few hundred bucks off your tuition.”

“If I could, I would,” Jill said, smiling up at the young woman.

“I’ll treat you well even without a kickback. Can I interest you in a drink?”

“You can,” Jill said. “Maybe two.”

***

They’d finished their main courses by seven thirty, and Lizzie said, “They’re not swamped tonight. Let’s see if we can sneak out for a tour, then come back for dessert.”

“Sounds good if it wouldn’t inconvenience them.”

“I’ll go check in the kitchen.” She was up and gone before Jill could say a word, and when she returned in a couple of minutes she grasped the back of Jill’s chair and pulled it out as she rose. “No problem. I said we’d be back by nine.”

“That late?”

“Sure,” she said, leading Jill down the lawn. “Sunset’s at eight-thirty, and dusk isn’t until nine. There’s a lot to see.”

Jill took a look down, seeing that Lizzie wore attractive slingback heels. “Do you want to put on some more comfortable shoes?”

“No need. I didn’t have to talk to a single visitor today, so I was barefoot until I went downstairs to pick you up.”

“I last wore heels when I was in a wedding. I think I was twenty-three,” Jill said. “I have dressy flats, but that’s as far as I’ll go.”

“Have you had your big birthday yet? Or should I not bring it up.”

“Turning forty?” Jill shook her head. “I don’t much care. And no, it’s not until August.”

Lizzie stopped near a landscaped area, planted with a wide variety of roses and summer annuals. “Mine’s in August too. I’m the fourteenth.”

“I’m the sixteenth,” Jill said. “I don’t remember your birthday being near mine.”

“Why would you?” Lizzie took her arm and held it gently. “You can act like you paid the slightest bit of attention to me, but you didn’t. I was just an annoying kid.”

“Well, you’re not annoying now.” She let out a laugh. “All of my friends want you for housesitting or babysitting or whatever they can talk you into. You made quite an impression.”

“I like your friends. They seem like good people.” She led Jill along the neatly planted paths of flowers. “This is the garden we’re trying to rebuild.”

Jill spent a minute taking a good, long look at it. She was a decent gardener. Nothing like her mother, who devoted every spare hour to the hobby, but she knew a good bit about flowers. “It looks awfully nice to me.”

“It does, but it’s so close to the water that the ground’s eroding. It needs to be moved up a little closer to the house, and, of course, we’ll redo the drainage so it’ll last another hundred years.”

“How big a check do I need to write?”

“A pretty big one,” Lizzie said. “Two and a half million. It’s a bigger project than it looks.”

“I bet I can pay to move a rose. Or a…” She reached down and cupped a big, pink blossom. “A peony.”

“My favorite flower,” Lizzie said. “We had peonies all along the garage when I was a kid. I forget why we took them out, but now there’s just some boxwood that don’t do very well.”

“I thought you said you weren’t much of a gardener.”

She shrugged. “I don’t remember saying that.”

“Yeah, when I met you that day at coffee. I asked you to come help me plant.”

“Oh, right.” She nodded. “I had wicked PMS that day. I couldn’t wait to get home and gulp down some drugs.”

“You could have said that, Lizzie,” Jill said gently. “I get PMS too.”

“I guess you do. I just…” She looked thoughtful for a few moments. “I don’t like to complain. Next time, I’d love to help you plant.”

“Unless you have PMS,” Jill teased.

“If I do, I’ll admit it.”

“Great. I love to have someone to talk to while I’m working in the yard, but all of my friends have their own houses. No one wants to take mine on.”

“I’d be happy to help. You don’t happen to know how to do electrical work, do you? I’d gladly exchange garden work for a new light fixture in my bathroom.”

Jill shook her head. “I’m pretty handy, but I’m frightened of electricity. I use a guy…” She thought for a minute. “Did I show you the fixture Mark sent me?”

“No.” She smiled. “I didn’t know he did that.”

“Yeah, I was really touched. He’s ducked my calls to thank him, so we still haven’t spoken since the day after his party, but I took it as a really nice token.”

Lizzie shrugged. “He doesn’t have the nads to stand up for himself, but I still love him.”

“Nads?”

“Gonads. He’s deficient.”

“One area I’m happily in the dark about. Anyway, I’ve got a good electrician. Maybe we can work out a trade.”

“I’ll make that deal any day. Hook me up.” Lizzie touched Jill’s arm lightly, guiding her from the garden towards the lake. “Let’s head over to the pasture where we’ve got some sheep and lambs. I love those little guys.”

They walked around the back of the house, then along a path built right on the lakeshore. The sun hadn’t yet set, but it was almost hidden by the Adirondacks, just across the lake in New York. “I love this view,” Jill said, stopping to reflect upon the peaceful lake.

“Me too. I haven’t been in the water yet this year. How about you?”

“I make it a habit to never go in before it’s sixty-seven. What’s your lower limit?”