California Schemin' - Kate George [85]
When I came downstairs the next morning, the skunk was curled up on the top of Annie’s crate. I found my cell phone and snapped a picture, since no one would believe me if I didn’t have a picture. I popped the tops on a couple of cans of cat food and went outside in my pajamas. Walking around to the kitchen porch, I dropped a trail of cat food from my house down the road to a spot where an unused run-off pipe ran under the road. I set the can in the ditch next to the culvert and backed away. I was hoping that the radio fence would keep the dogs from the skunk, and the proximity to a good sleeping place would keep the skunk away from the house. I trotted back up the road hoping no one would drive by and see me in my jammies. Not that they were indecent, a pair of sweat shorts and a T-shirt, but I didn’t need any more talk than usual about me in town.
The skunk and I got into a routine. I fed him morning and evening, he stayed away from the house. We had a deal. I was satisfied with the arrangement. Tom offered to kill the thing, but I declined. The thing was now named Stripes. Meg thought I was crazy, and Tom just shook his head at me, but I was okay with it. It saved me from killing a fellow creature and kept the stink out of the house.
The day of Steve’s wedding, I was out of cat food. I ran a little dry dog food down the road to the culvert and hoped that satisfied Stripes for the time being. Then I went upstairs and stood in front of my closet door, the usual dilemma staring me in the face. I didn’t know what to wear. The black dress I bought in California was cute, but I was afraid to wear black to a wedding. Black was a funeral color. So I pulled out an almost modest red dress and the black shoes from California. Then I drove down the hill into town to get my hair done.
The owner of Planet Hair can do hair like no one I’ve ever met. It’s always perfect, and while I can’t ever make it look quite that good again, when I want to look good, Denise is who I go and see. She also has her finger on the pulse of the Upper Valley, so if you’re feeling out of touch, an hour in her salon will take care of that too.
“Tell me again why you didn’t call your salon Locks and Gossip?” I teased her as she shampooed my hair.
“Oh, stop.” She rinsed the suds out of my hair and sat me up with a towel around my head. “Hey, did those guys who were looking for you ever find you?”
“What guys? Were they good looking?”
“The first one was too old for you. Came in yesterday asking about you. I told him I didn’t know where you lived. I offered your work phone, but he wasn’t interested. The second came in this morning. Wanted to know if you’d be going to the wedding. Strange. Didn’t know you were so popular with the men.”
I snorted.
“I’m not. Probably bill collectors,” but I didn’t believe that. Unease began to grow in my stomach again.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about them. You could take them if it came to a fight.”
“Very funny, Denise.”
That afternoon Max picked me up and took me to town for the wedding. There was no point in everyone on the hill driving down to the church, and if we wanted to come home in separate vehicles, there would be plenty of rides to choose from.
Outside the church Miles was straightening Tom’s bow tie in front of a short line of men with ties hanging. A chorus of smiles and greetings came from the group as I approached Miles.
“Hey, Bree, I’m in the middle of something. Do you mind seating yourself?”
“Sure. Where’s Steve? Shouldn’t he be hanging out with you guys?”
“He’s in the men’s room thinking about tossing his cookies,” Tom said.
“At least he’s only thinking about it.” I smiled at the guys and pushed through the red doors.
The last time I had been in this church was for Vera’s funeral. I felt my mood dropping as the memories of the day flooded in on me. Forget it, I told myself. This is a happy day. I deliberately walked past the rear church pew that I’d sat in on that day and made my way to the front. Shirl had picked up on the dancing down the aisle rage, and