Saturday Night
Afterwards, we lay together in my bed, arms around one another, listening to the sounds of New Oxford outside my window.
“You were right, in a way,” he said after a while.
“About what?”
“The wedding ring. I was holding on to it, but not because of my ex. I was holding on to it because I wanted to remember I was capable of loving someone,” he said. “I was pretty closed off after everything. I got set in my ways. Pretty women come to town all the time, but none of them ever got to me, not like you; so I thought maybe I was just supposed to be alone, but I wanted to remember what it was like.” He paused, brushing my hair back from my face. “Then you came to town, with your freckles and your green eyes, and I watched you give yourself to the town, you wanted to help and it’s like I said before, you’d never met these folks before… Something about you… I felt like I’d been brought back to life. But… more alive than before. I wanted to talk to you, to show you things. It wasn’t like that before. If that makes sense.”
“It does,” I said. I bit my lip.
“It was fast, but it felt right.” He kissed my forehead. “Like I was…”
“Right where you were supposed to be,” I finished for him, realizing that’s what I was feeling, too.
“Yes,” he sighed. “I was pretty miserable for the last couple of days, worse than before you came to town.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “Miserable I mean. But…”
“But what?”
“How are we gonna make it work?” I couldn’t unstick myself from that question. How could we be happy when I was going to be gone all the time?
“You’ll come to LaCera when you can, I’ll come here when I can. Maybe I’ll move here. There’s nothing much keeping me in LaCera. My family’s all up in Blue Falls anyway, and I can be a mechanic anywhere.”
“You’d leave LaCera for me?” This caught me by surprise.
“I’d go anywhere for you,” he said earnestly. “I’d like to visit it from time to time, I like the town, I like the people.”
“I do, too,” I admitted. “Even the gossip.”
“There’s not much to do there,” he said with a smile. I snuggled closer to him, the events of the day catching up with me. There would be plenty of time to talk about the future, though. I drifted off, dreaming about bumblebees and birdsong.
Sunday Morning
The sun streamed through the windows, illuminating Virgil’s sleeping form. I lay still, allowing my eyes to take in his arms – god, his perfect arms, his broad shoulders, and the gentle curving slope of his nose. It was early, and I wanted to let him sleep… But then my phone rang and his eyes snapped open.
“Sorry,” I whispered, tapping the ignore button. He enveloped me in those arms, pulling me close to him. I snuggled into his warmth. I felt his lips against my cheek, my neck, my ear lobes, and I let out a giggle. But then the phone rang again. Someone was really dedicated.
“Let me tell whoever this is to get bent,” I whispered to him as I answered the phone. From the caller ID, I could see it was Mel.
“Mel, it’s Sunday and I’m on vacation,” I complained as I answered the phone.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but I thought you might like to know that the donations have been pouring in. We’re over twenty-five thousand.”
“You’re kidding,” I gasped.
“No, Ella… This is unprecedented. I’ve never seen anything like it. Hundreds of people have called and written in. We’ve never had so much traffic on the website. The web guy had to ‘spin up another instance’, whatever that means. No one has been able to get much else done.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“Ella… you sure did something. Your pictures… This might be the best work you’ve ever done. It’s certainly the best I’ve ever seen. The article wasn’t half bad, either.”
I took a deep breath.
“There’s more,” Mel went on. “I talked to the Chief and the board at The Globe is going to kick in another ten thousand.”
The Chief was Mel’s nickname for The Globe’s owner and founder, Rob Wagner.
“Mel!” I exclaimed. “Are you serious?”
“He thinks it’ll be good for PR.”
“No shit,” I said. “I’m in shock.”
“I am, a bit too,” Mel admitted. “I’m so proud of you.”
“The town gets all the credit,” I said. I glanced over at Virgil. “She’s… Magical.” His face broke into a wide grin.
“Yeah,” Mel said, but now he sounded a little sad, and I knew he was thinking of Rita. “I’ll… I’ll let you go now, but let me know when you’re ready for your next assignment. I think you’ll get to have your pick for a while.”
“Thanks Mel,” I said. “Have a good Sunday.”
Virgil scooped me up into a hug as I set the phone down.
“I told you.” He whispered in my ear. “She’s magical.”
I smiled.
“I’m starting to understand.” I relented.
I filled him in on what Mel told me, and afterward, we lay in bed together, in a comfortable silence that didn’t feel awkward or forced. He traced patterns on my skin with his fingers. I could have laid there forever, but eventually Virgil said:
“I need to eat something, or I’m going to take a bite out of you.”
“I might like it.” I cautioned him, but I was hungry too.
We went out for breakfast, traveling to the little store near my apartment and getting some bagels. We took them back to my apartment and ate on my small balcony, sitting on the furniture I inherited from the previous tenant.
“So, when I’m traveling,” I ventured. “You’ll be okay?”
“Alone you mean?” He seemed amused at the notion. “I was alone for ten years, Ella, I think I can handle a couple weeks here and there.”
“It’s not here and there, though. It’s a lot.” But it didn’t have to be. I always volunteered to take the crazy, out-of-the-way assignments because I had nothing else to do with my time. I could stop that now. But before I could articulate that thought, Virgil spoke up.
“Okay,” he said.
“Okay?”
“I told you, I can handle it. I want to be with you. Terms and conditions and all.”
I bit my lip, and I felt my brows knit together.
“What?” He asked.
“Nothing,” I replied, suddenly overwhelmed with the affection I felt for him, but I was unable to put it into words. He squeezed my knee a little.
“If you’re sure.”
He didn’t push, and I was grateful for that. I wasn’t sure how to articulate what I felt, and while I experienced that sensation several times since meeting Virgil, it wasn’t one I was particularly used to.
“Tell me about your friends,” I prompted him, leaning back against the chair and closing my eyes. I wanted to change the subject. I wanted to talk about less heavy things.
“I don’t have many, just a couple of guys I fish with sometimes, Bob and Francis,” he said. “They live up in the hills, and they have a produce stand. We get together now and again. I’ll go up for dinner or for a fishing weekend,” he went on. “You?”
“Mostly just Zaira.” I said. “We get together when I’m not traveling. We talk on the phone a lot, though.” I said.
“She seems like a character,” he said smiling.
“She is… we both got dumped around the same time, and she’s kinda… Well, she’s sowing her wild oats, I guess.” I chuckled. “Anyway, I’m sorry if she-”
“I’m glad she called, and I would have gladly offered her up a piece of my liver if it meant I could make things right with you.”
“That seems a little extreme,” I said, but I couldn’t help grinning at that.
“Okay, okay… it was hyperbole, but I was ready to take some verbal abuse… but mostly, she just said that you were terribly sad, and I didn’t want to leave things like that.”
“Thank you,” I said again. I owed Zaira a thank you as well, and decided that I needed to call her before too much time passed. “How long can you stay?”
“Well, I should probably head back tonight. I’ve got loads of work waiting for me… but I could-”
“Would you mind terribly if I came back with you?” I asked. “Just for a few days, I could stay at the inn if they have room.”
“I would love for you to come back with me, and you don’t have to stay at the inn… not unless you would be more comfortable there,” he lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. “You can stay as long as you want.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I would like to come back, I feel bad for not saying goodbye to anyone.”
“I’m sorry about how I handled things,” Virgil repeated his earlier words in a low, penitent voice. “I should have given you the keys myself, and told you how I felt right then.”
I leaned forward to kiss him, and he slipped his arms under me, lifting me up off the couch. I laughed with reckless abandon as he carefully slipped through the sliding door and carried me back to my bed. He laid me down gently, and then climbed on top of me.
“I hope you’re ready for the rest of my apology,” he murmured, kissing my neck.
“I don’t want you to go to any trouble,” I said a little breathlessly.
“Oh, it’s no trouble,” he said, gently biting on my neck.
“Well, if you insist,” I whispered. He slipped my shirt over my head, and then kissed down to my chest, cupping one breast in his hand and taking the other in his mouth. I held my breath, feeling like I was on fire.
“Virgil,” I whispered after a few exquisitely torturous moments. “I need you to fuck me.”
“Yes ma’am,” he whispered back, eyes alight with a mischievous glint, and to my surprise, he pulled a new box of condoms from his things. “Wishful thinking,” he said a little sheepishly. I shook my head, but I was smiling.
He slid inside me and I wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding him in place, flexing my kegel muscles around him.
“You’re evil,” he panted, holding still for a moment. I relaxed my thighs.
“I’m so sorry,” I bit my lip. He shook his head and then bent down and kissed me. We made love there in the sunlight of early afternoon, and there are few things that feel more indulgent than a gorgeous man bringing you to orgasm with the sunshine catching the wisps of silver in his hair.
“What?” he whispered as we lay there together.
“You’re just really beautiful,” I replied, running my fingers through his thick wavy hair.
“You’re the beauty,” he said. “I’m the beast.”
“Maybe when we first met,” I teased as I rubbed my finger along his clean shaven cheek. “But you’ve shaved since then.” He let out a small huff of laughter.
Just then, there was a knock at the door to my apartment. It was not the deranged pounding of the Mean-face Man, but it was a purposeful, forceful knock.
“New Oxford PD,” a man’s voice called.
“Just a second,” I called back, pulling on the first clothes I put my hands on. It turned out to be Virgil’s shirt from the night before and a pair of shorts. I went to the door and peered through the peephole. A tall thin man dressed in a button down shirt and tie stood on the other side.
I opened the door and let him in.
“Detective Laskey, New Oxford Police,” he said, showing me his badge. “Are you Ms. Ella James?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“And is Mr. Virgil Baker here?”
“Yes,” I said. Virgil slipped past the folding screen into the living room area. He’d put his jeans back on and was pulling a t-shirt over his head.
“I’m Virgil Baker,” he replied.
“Wonderful to meet you both. I’m sorry it’s not under better circumstances. I just have a few follow up questions about last night.
“Would you like to sit?” I asked, gesturing to the wingback chair next to my couch. Officer Laskey sat, and then Virgil and I sat next to one another on the couch.
“The man that was arrested here last night, Mr. Josh Grose,” Detective Laskey said. “What is your relationship to him?”
“I don’t have a relationship with him, but we’ve met a few times,” I said. “I was in LaCera earlier this week for work, and I met Mr. Grose on a path in the woods. I was near some private property, and I think he was trying to scare me off… But then as I was leaving, he nearly ran me off the road. He taunted me, saying I should be careful… then he showed up here last night.” I shivered. Virgil put his arm around me. “And Virgil stepped in.”
“Do you live here, Mr. Baker?”
“No, I’m just visiting,” Virgil said. “I live in LaCera.”
“I see,” Mr. Laskey said. “So you believe Mr. Grose followed you here from LaCera?”
“I’m a reporter for The Globe,” I explained. “I’m doing a story on LaCera, and I think that it’s related to that.”
“How so?”
“Are you familiar with the LaCera Wildflowers?” I asked.
Detective Laskey chuckled.
“I am. I proposed to my wife in that meadow.” I smiled, thinking of all the stories I read about proposals in the meadow. I wondered if any of them were Detective Laskey’s story.
“Well, the meadow is for sale, along with the private property it sits alongside. The story I’m doing may jeopardize a real estate deal the owners of the private property have with a developer.”
“The family is the Bowman family,” Virgil said. “I’ve seen that man in town now and again, I believe he works for the Bowman family in some capacity. The rumor around town is there’s a lot of money on the line for that family. I wouldn’t be surprised if they think what Ella’s doing might threaten that.”
I squeezed his hand.
“I see,” Detective Laskey said, making notes as we talked. “I’m going to do a little bit more digging, but I am fairly certain we’ll be pressing charges.” He stood up. “LaCera, huh?”
“Yes. The Globe is doing a fundraiser for them.”
“I’ll check it out, might win me some brownie points with the wife. She always talks about what a magical place it is.”
“It certainly is,” I said with a small smile.
He thanked us for our time, and then left. Virgil took me in his arms and held me tight. I wrapped my arms around his solid, reassuring center.
“Thank you,” I whispered again.
“For what?”
“Coming after me,” I said.
“How could I not?” he asked.
“Pride.”
“I’m too old to care about that,” he said simply. “I wasn’t gonna let you get away, not like that anyway. You’d have to tell me to my face.”
I considered this.
“So… Manfriend?” I asked, lifting my head slightly. His lips twisted, that ghost of a smile lurking.
“Womanfriend?” He replied after a moment.
“I’m still a girl,” I said with mock indignation.
“I regret to inform you that you are all woman,” he said, and he tickled me lightly. I shivered. “You don’t have to thank me… for coming after you… for… any of it.” He kissed my forehead.
“Maybe not, but I will anyway.”
He chuckled at this. We sat together on the couch for a long time, his arms around me and my head on his chest, the steady reassuring beat of his heart in my ears.
Finally, after what felt like half the day, he said:
“Would you mind terribly if we went out for Chinese food? It doesn’t have to be a fancy place. In fact, the less fancy, the better.”
“Not at all, but why that, in particular?”
“There’s lots of great things about LaCera, but the closest Chinese place is in Bell City, and it’s run by a white guy named Paul,” he said. “And now and again, I do hanker for General Tso’s.”
“Oh you hanker, do you?” I chuckled. “Sure, there’s actually a place not terribly far from here.”
We dressed and walked down to the little Chinese restaurant a few blocks from my apartment hand in hand. As we walked, I watched Virgil. He looked around here and there, taking in the sights of New Oxford.
“I felt the same way when I first came here,” I said. “There was so much to see and take in.”
“It’s a lot,” he admitted. “I’ve never really been comfortable in big cities.”
“No?” My heart sank a little bit.
“Maybe it’s because I never spent much time here, I bet I’ll get used to it,” he said quickly. “I’ll be a New Oxforder in no time.”
I chuckled, but I still felt a pang of guilt. As we finished the walk, and even as we ate our dumplings and noodles, I thought about things. A shadowy outline of an idea was forming, but I wanted time to marinate on it before I talked it over with Virgil.
“Do you want to head back after dinner?” I asked him.
“I’d like to. If you wouldn’t mind, I can drive us both up there. I’ll bring you back whenever you’re ready I just… and please don’t take this the wrong way, but I really don’t trust that Bug of yours. The engine really needs to be rebuilt… I can do it, but it’ll take a while, old VW parts are hard to find these days.”
“That’s fine,” I agreed. Maybe in another version of things, I would protest being stuck with no way home, especially if we found ourselves at odds again, but somehow I knew this was it; this was for real.
We finished eating and stopped off at my apartment. Virgil sat on my couch while I packed enough clothes for another week in LaCera, and then we were off. The drive seemed to go much faster with Virgil behind the wheel, and in what felt like no time at all, we were pulling into Virgil’s tree-lined driveway as the sun was setting in the hills.
He carried my suitcase into the house, and as I stopped to pat Cat Benetar on her head, he cleared his throat.
“I have a spare room, it’s really just a bed and a desk, but if you’re more comfortable in there-”
“Do you want me to sleep in the guest room?” I teased.
“I want you to do whatever you need to do to feel comfortable,” he said.
“If you wouldn’t mind having me in your bedroom, then I certainly don’t mind staying there.” I said. “In fact… I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Virgil took a seat at the kitchen island and looked at me expectantly.
“The popularity of the article is going to give me some leverage with my job, and I wanted to run something by you.”
“Lay it on me.”
“I know it’s only been a week, and I’m not suggesting either of us do anything permanent, but how would you feel about me staying here, in LaCera when I’m not on assignment? I wouldn’t give up my apartment or anything but-”
Virgil stood up, crossed the room and took me in his arms.
“I think that’s a fine idea,” he said, brushing a strand of hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear, and then cupping my cheek in his hand. “But are you sure you want to? I told you, I don’t need an answer right now, I just-”
“This is me giving it a shot,” I interjected. “If you’re amenable to it, I mean. It’s your life I’m crashing into.”
“I’ve been begging you to crash into me practically since we met,” Virgil replied, tightening his grip around me and spinning me around. I threw my head back and giggled -yes I giggled, because of course I did- like a schoolgirl. Soon, we were kissing and groping our way around again, but this time up the stairs to his bedroom.
In the afterglow, I lay in his arms with my head on his chest as he stroked my skin lightly.
“The house is a bachelor pad, it’s been just me here since my ex split, but it won’t take much to fix it up,” Virgil said in a low voice. “Some paint, maybe some new curtains.”
“Curtains?”
“Well, whatever you want… I don’t really have a decorative style.”
“You want me to decorate?” I felt my brows knit together. Virgil chuckled again.
“I want you to feel at home.”
Home. I thought about that. I called my apartment home, sure, but did it ever really feel like home?
“There’s a couple big box stores down in Bell City, we can swing by sometime and pick up some stuff,” He went on. “There’s four bedrooms, you could set up a little home office in one of them.”
“Virgil,” I started to object.
“Am I moving too fast?”
“A little.” But I smiled indulgently, secretly pleased that he wanted to make space in his life for me, to accommodate my job.
Cat Benatar jumped onto the bed then, startling me a little, but then she curled up between Virgil and I and purred loudly. Outside, I could hear gentle rain falling on the roof again, and it wasn’t long before I was dozing in Virgil’s arms.
Monday
I slept through the night, and when I awoke the next morning, the scent of bacon and coffee permeated the house. I made my way downstairs and found Virgil at the stove, making bacon, eggs, and pancakes.
“I was going to bring this to you in bed,” he said sheepishly, gesturing to a tray on the kitchen island. There was a slender vase with a few pink coneflowers on it.
“Wow,” I said, sliding onto one of the stools at the kitchen island. “This looks fancy.”
“I told you, I’m not a bad cook.”
“I believed you,” I said smiling wide.
“Coffee?” he offered, turning off the stove.
“Please,” I said.
“I’m not sure what you have planned today, but I think it’s best if you stick close to town. If you want to go into the woods or up to the meadow, I’ll go with you, or ask Devola… I’m not real wild about you going off by yourself just now.”
“You think there will be more trouble?”
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
I shivered a bit.
“I have to do some work at the garage, and the tanker truck is coming for the gas pumps, but this afternoon, I’m all yours.”
“Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to hang out at the garage, I think I’m still a little shaken up. That guy just showing up at my apartment…” I trailed off.
“I was wondering when it was going to hit you,” he said softly. “You’re a tough cookie, but that would be enough to rattle anyone.”
“Mmm,” I replied, taking a sip of coffee. “Consider me rattled.”
Virgil leaned against the counter, his thick arms crossed over his chest. His plaid flannel was untucked and unbuttoned, and the henley shirt beneath it was a crisp white. I was struck again by powerful affection for him; his looks, his kindness, his protective instincts.
“It probably wouldn’t hurt to mention to Ms. Fiona what happened. Get the word out around town. If nothing else, people will be keeping an eye out. Speaking of… You’re welcome to hang around the garage, I mean that, but are you sure you won’t be bored?”
“I have plenty of reading to do,” I said. “Mel, that’s my editor, has been sending me the stories people are writing in with. And I owe Zaira a phone call,” I said, realizing she was probably dying to know what happened after her conversation with Virgil.
It was a short walk -as was everything in LaCera- to Virgil’s garage, and after we finished breakfast we headed down. I waved at Queen Fi, parked in her rocking chair on the front porch of the general store. She waved back, smiling wide.
“Glad to see you back, honey,” she called.
“It’s good to be back,” I replied. Virgil’s arm was around my waist, and instinctively I knew that word would be out about the developments between us before lunch.
As Virgil unlocked the garage, he led me to his office. There was a small desk and a phone. There were windows that looked out into the parking area. The chair was well worn but looked comfortable enough.
“It’s probably more comfortable in there than in the garage, and it’s a little more private if you uh… want to have your girl talk.”
That made me laugh.
“Thanks,” I told him. He kissed me lightly.
“I’m going to get to work, it won’t take long, and once the tanker truck unloads, I’m all yours for the rest of the day.”
“Okay,” I said with a smile. Virgil went out to the garage to work on the things that piled up while he was off saving distressed damsels, and I sat down to call Zaira.
“You have some nerve waiting so long to call me,” she said instead of “Hello.”
“I’m sorry; the term whirlwind comes to mind,” I replied a bit sheepishly.
“Mmhmm,” she said. “So, fill me in.”
I told her about the Mean Faced Man, Virgil’s heroic deeds, and our agreement.
“So does this mean I’ll never see you?”
“No, you can come to LaCera whenever you want,” I teased. “Don’t be silly, I’ll have to come back to New Oxford periodically, I still have to figure that part out… but we’ll see each other. And we’ll talk.”
“It’s just fast, Ella. Four days ago you were lamenting that it could never work out, and now you’re talking about moving there, I’m getting a little emotional whiplash.”
“I understand,” I said. “I’m sorry, I… can’t explain it. Something about Virgil…”
“When I talked to him, he seemed decent. He was so apologetic, all he wanted to do was make things right.”
“Thank you for calling him,” I said. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t.”
“You’re a really smart chick about a lot of things, but you were being really dumb about him. Someone had to set you on the right course.” A pause. “I’m going to miss you.”
“You act like I’m moving to France, I’m just… crashing here while I’m not on assignment. I’m not giving up my apartment just yet, I’m not changing my address on my tax forms.”
“Mm,” she responded, but I could hear the doubt in it.
“I mean it, this doesn’t change that you’re my best friend and we’re still going to hang out.”
“I know, I’m trying to keep things in perspective. I think I’m getting into my own head a bit… I am thinking I might try dating again soon.”
“What?” I gasped.
“It’s been a couple of years, and I’ve had my fun, but I kinda miss having someone in my life who knows me, you know?” She sighed. “When I talked to Virgil, he said something about your tenacity, and I thought back to all the conversations I had with Kyle when you were dating, and how he never seemed to get it, your drive, your passion for your job… and this guy got it, right out of the gate. Made me think maybe it’s possible for me, too.”
“Wow, the Unbreakable Zaira Ramirez,” I said laughing.
“I have a client call in a few, but I’ll call you tonight, if that’s okay?”
“Yes, I want to explore the idea of you dating again. The Sheriff here is just your type,” I teased.
“Ugh, I’m not moving to LaCera,” she replied, and then we said goodbye.
Just then I saw movement beyond the windows in front of me, and I heard Virgil utter a low curse from the garage. He came out of the workshop and shut the door to the office, standing protectively in front of it. I peered through the windows and saw a man climbing out of a shiny newish SUV. He was portly, with a great pot belly and iron gray curls. He was short, and practically jumped down from the seat of the SUV. He was perhaps ten to fifteen years older than Virgil, and he had a cigar hanging out of his mouth.
“What can I do for you Will?” Virgil called.
“I come to see your lady friend,” the other man said, taking the cigar from his mouth.
“What business do you have with my lady friend?”
“I just want to talk to her,” he said. He smiled widely, but his eyes were cold and hard. I opened the door to the office and stepped out next to Virgil.
“Mr. Bowman, I presume?” I said, crossing my arms across my chest.
“Yes and you must be Miss James?”
“I am. How can I help you?” I asked. I studied him, as I studied everyone. I didn’t like the way he eyed me as he spoke.
“I wanted to apologize for my son-in-law’s rash behavior. He’s a loose cannon. Not too bright. My daughter could have married a doctor or a lawyer but she chose that yahoo instead. But I’d hope I could ask you to reconsider pressing charges.”
“Your son-in-law nearly ran me over and then showed up at my apartment 3 hours away and tried to break down my door,” I said. “So I think you ought to consider carefully before asking me for any favors.”
“I told you he’s not too bright. He and my daughter are in a bit of a financial bind counting on all that money from the sale of the land. I think you’ll find a lot of folks around here counting on money from the sale of their land.”
“That’s interesting. Most of the folks I’ve talked to are in favor of trying to buy the meadow and keeping on.”
“You don’t live here Miss James so you don’t know quite how it is, but young people do not stay here. It splits up families when they move to the big city. Some come back but most don’t. Lots of people on this land are living hand to mouth. Could really use that money. Seems to me that your article wasn’t entirely fair and only told one side of the story. Now I don’t know much, but I don’t think that’s legal for you to be reporting with such a bias.”
“It’s not legal for a news outlet, but I don’t work for a newspaper. I work for a travel blog and I can write with as much bias as I want.”
“I see, well, I think it will behoove you to maybe consider publishing the other side of the story so that folks can see how hard it is on this side of the map.”
“You don’t look like you’re hurting for money,” I said, nodding to his SUV in the driveway.
“Well, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover Ms. James, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. I’m sure you will anyway. Now, I urge you to consider what you are sticking your nose into. It’s hard living up here for these people. This ski lodge is bringing jobs, commerce, and trade. All kinds of good things that would see LaCera revitalized.”
“I’m sure it would bring plenty of things, Mr. Bowman but I don’t think it would be for the better.”
“Well as an outsider, I don’t think you should have a say.”
“Some might say the same about you. Since you don’t live here in town,” I added, narrowing my eyes. Virgil watched me, that ghost of a smile lurking beneath his mustache. The humor in his eyes was undeniable.
“I own property here,” Mr. Bowman said indignantly.
“That you don’t live on,” I fired back.
“You sure are argumentative Miss James. Maybe you should have become a lawyer instead of a reporter.” He looked annoyed, and perhaps a little disgusted. I wasn’t sure, but he struck me as the type of man who wouldn’t like being talked back to by a woman. “I’ve got to be going. I’ve got another appointment down in Bell City but it was nice talking to you both. Virgil, I’ll see you around town.”
“Not if I see you first,” Virgil replied mildly.
“I think it’s wonderful that you finally found someone just as charming as you are, Virgil. I wish both of you the best. Good day.” He climbed into his SUV and left the garage. I went back inside and sat down at the desk heavily. Virgil followed me.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“No. No, I’m not. Am I doing the right thing?” I asked him. I could feel tears in my eyes. I wrapped my arms around myself. He reached out to touch me, but hesitated. His hands were covered in grease and dirt.
“I think you are, so does most of the town. You can’t listen to him. He doesn’t live here,” he said softly.
“But what he said about people not having jobs, not having opportunities…” I replied.
“That’s true in any small town, no matter where you go. Not just here.”
“Just because it’s true in other places doesn’t mean it’s right.”
“They build that ski lodge and it’s just going to take away everything that’s special about LaCera,” Virgil said. “And, to be honest with you, I don’t think the developer is going to bring any jobs at all. From what you wrote, it sounds like they bus in migrant workers. Either way, I don’t think you should feel bad about trying to help.”
“I suppose you’re right. I don’t know what to do,” I said.
“You don’t need to do anything. You’ve done so much for the town already,”
I appreciated his attempts, but I still wasn’t convinced. I didn’t want to see the wildflowers destroyed, but I didn’t want the town to continue to struggle either. I thought about Devola saying she wanted to leave, and I realized that she was one of the only people her age I met while I was visiting.
Sensing I couldn’t be consoled, Virgil kissed my forehead and headed back to work. I opened my laptop back up and started researching. An idea was forming, but I wasn’t sure how it would work. I wasn’t sure if it would help the situation with jobs in the town. I would need to make some phone calls.
I spent the next couple hours on the phone with the state Chamber of Commerce, the Department of Natural Resources, the Save the Bees foundation, and half a dozen other organizations. I filled up 15 pages of a notebook with notes. By the time Virgil was ready to close down the garage, I spoke to probably two dozen different people and places.
“Uh-oh,” Virgil said with a smile as he scrubbed his hands in the utility sink. “I see you’re being tenacious again.”
“Maybe,” I relented, returning his smile.
“If you can stand to take a break, do you wanna ride into Bell City with me? I gotta do some shopping and we could pick out some stuff for the house.”
“Nothing too crazy,” I said.
“Nothing too crazy,” he repeated. “Just a few things. And some groceries.”
As we drove to town, he rested his hand on my knee again. I loved the feeling of it there. I still needed to talk to Mel and sort out things with my job before too much more time passed, because the longer I spent with Virgil, the less I wanted to leave again.
At the big box store, Virgil urged me to help him pick out paint samples.
“I want it to be your home, too,” he said. We bought cleaning supplies, general maintenance stuff like nail filler, assorted nails, and the like. Virgil was very handy beyond the garage it would seem, and as he talked about the plans he had, the things we would need, he looped his arm around my waist.
“Am I getting too carried away again?” He asked.
“No,” I bit my lip and grinned. “I just remember how you would barely speak two words to me at first.”
He smiled, that wide beautiful smile that made me melt.
“It didn’t take long, though,” he said, giving me a squeeze. “You got me to open up that night outside the diner. Now you can’t get me to shut up.”
“I wouldn’t want you to,” I said.
He kissed my temple and we resumed shopping. I listened with a mixture of bemused excitement as he outlined how he could set up my home office for me.
“You’re very handy,” I told him.
“I like building and fixing things,” he said with a shrug. “I’m good with my hands.”
“That I can attest to,” I teased as the tips of his ears turned pink. “You’re adorable,” I told him.
“If you say so,” he said good naturedly. We meandered through the pet section, and when he saw me looking at a cat tower, he said:
“Do you want to buy one for CB?”
“CB?”
“Yeah, I felt kinda silly calling her Cat Benetar when it was just her and I,” he said with a small smile. “Do you want to get one for her?”
“I think she would like it,” I said. “But please, let me pay for it. You’re stuck with her because of me.”
“I’m not stuck with her, I took her in because I wanted to,” Virgil said, lifting a box into our rapidly filling cart. “You can pay half if you really want to,” he went on when I started to protest.
“Well, I can’t wait to see her playing with it. The perfect spot for it would be in front of that window in the living room,” I said.
Virgil had a small, satisfied smile on his face.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing, I just… it’s nice making plans with you,” Virgil said, squeezing me again. We checked out a little while later. On the way back to LaCera, we stopped at the grocery store, and for the first time in a long time, the two of us actually bought a full cart of groceries. It seemed a silly thing to celebrate, but it meant something for the both of us. It meant starting a life together. It seemed silly to think in those terms after a week, but it felt right, and certain in a way I never quite felt with another man, not even when Kyle was fully invested in pursuing me.
Virgil kissed me once more and we set off back up the winding tree-lined road. Back towards home.
Home, I thought with a small smile.
