Page 40 of You Can Leave Your Hat On

And there was Zora, on the porch, waving at her.

“Aaron! Aaron, get out here! There she is! Aaron!” When he didn’t answer, she turned toward him. “Aaron! Zora’s on the porch! You’ve gotta see! She’s?”

Aaron stepped through the tree line. “Where? I don’t see anything.”

Maisey whirled back around and… nothing. There was no one there. “I just saw her! I swear, I did! You don’t believe me!”

“I do. Maise, if there’s anything I’ve learned from being married to you, it’s to believe you. Because if you saw it, then you saw it. It was really there. I’m just the one who’s not talented enough to see it.”

Maisey started back toward the house. “You don’t believe me. I know you don’t.”

“But I do!” Aaron started to laugh. “Why else would I have driven all the way out here?”

But Maisey had reached the porch again, and she stopped and gasped. “Look!”

On the porch’s old rickety deck lay a feather, a rock placed carefully on top of it to keep it from blowing away. Tied around its hollow shaft was a narrow red ribbon. “I’ll be a son of a gun,” Aaron whispered.

“Believe me now?” Maisey almost crowed.

“I never doubted but, wow.”

“They’re thanking me.” Something touched her hand, and she looked down to find the bedraggled old dog standing there. Maisey turned her head toward Aaron. “We have to take this dog with us. He’s starving.”

Aaron looked at the pitiful beast for what felt like a full minute to Maisey before he finally said, “Okay. Put him in the back of the cruiser and we’ll take him to the vet.”

“Thank you! Come on, boy. Let’s get you fixed up.”

The drive back was uneventful, and when they stopped at the vet’s office, the poor dog had trouble even walking because he was so weak, so Aaron picked him up and carried him inside. The vet told them he’d give them a call to apprise them of the dog’s condition and see what he could do to help the animal.

By the time bedtime rolled around, Maisey was exhausted. It had been a weird day, and she only had one more request. Then she’d be done with all of it for good.

She absolutely, positively would.

It had taken a lot of time and effort, and not a small amount of money, which Maisey had insisted on contributing herself. They followed the van down the little road until it crested the hill, then headed down toward the house. When they reached it, the van continued, but Aaron parked his truck up by the house and he and Maisey walked on down.

The diggers had been there three days earlier, so the ground was a little damp, but it was firm enough to support the van. When it stopped, the two men got out, and between them and the Friedmans, they carried the simple coffin to the grave, laid it on the straps, and between the four of them, lowered it into the ground. “Thank you all so much for helping,” Maisey told the men.

“Thank you for asking us. We knowed the Pucketts. They was good folk, and she deserves to be out here with them,” one of the men said quietly. Maisey and Aaron watched as they climbed back into the van, then they each picked up a shovel and started shoveling.

It took them a couple of hours, but they got the dirt back into the grave, including the mound on top, and they were done. “There. All finished,” Aaron said and wiped his hands on his jeans.

“Thanks for helping, babe,” Maisey said, then picked up the flowers she’d brought with her and placed them on the grave. “The monument company said they’d bring out the stone in a couple of days and that’ll be that.”

Aaron stopped and smiled at his wife. “You’re an extraordinary woman, Maisey. Not many people would’ve gone to these lengths to make sure she was laid to rest out here with her family.”

“It was the least I could do. Now she’s back with her family.” Her phone rang, and she slipped it from her pocket and looked at it. “Vet.” As soon as she hitACCEPT, she chirped, “Hello!”

“Hi, Mrs. Friedman?”

“Yes?”

“This is Dr.Jernigan’s office. The dog is doing great. Got fluids into him and he’s really perked up. The doctor says he thinks the dog is about four years old, but it’s impossible to tell. Anyway, he’s almost ready to be released, so where is he going from here? Shelter? Rescue?”

Maisey cut her eyes toward Aaron. She knew he understood her unspoken question. Just as she was about to come right out and ask, he nodded. “He’s coming home with us. We’ll come this afternoon and pick him up.”

“Great! He’s a really sweet guy. Everybody here loves him. See you this afternoon.”

“Yes, and thank you.” Maisey shot Aaron a shy smile. “Thanks.”

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