Page 37 of Love, Lies and Sleigh Rides
“You’ve just met probably one of the five nicest people in town,” said Sara offhandedly.
Taking her wallet from her bag, Fallon kept her eye on Sara. “You’re joking.”
“It takes a few times of being around him to realize it’s all an act.”
Again, Fallon found it hard to believe. “But why?”
“Beats me. But he lets me come and go whenever my daughter is sick or we have a doctor’s appointment, no questions asked.”
“And he and Kade are good friends?” Fallon handed Sara her card to pay.
“Yep. High school.” She looked up and nodded to the wall near the restroom. “I think there’s a photo of him and Kade when they played football together.”
While Sara finished processing her payment, Fallon walked over to study the team photo. She searched through the faces, making her way across the back row first. Bart was hard to miss with that untamed, fiery mop and a cartoon villain scowl. Kade was a little harder to find. He hadn’t yet filled out, but the high cheekbones were a giveaway. She stared at the familiar yet foreign young face for a moment and smiled.
But something didn’t seem right.
How could he have been on the football team if he was such a terror?
The troubled students were usually kept from team play because of academic performance and discipline issues.
“Ready,” said Sara.
Fallon took one last look at teenaged Kade and noted the year at the top of the photo. A quick calculation meant Kade was at least thirty-eight years old.
I would have guessed a few years younger.
“Nice to see you again.” Fallon took back her card and folded the receipt to tuck into her bag. “Maybe I’ll see you at the Holly Days Festival.”
“Maybe,” said Sara with a polite smile. “Have a good day.”
Fallon walked out to her car, thinking about her encounter with Bart. She wouldn’t mind not running into him again, Mr. Friendliest Guy in Hendricks or not.
It was then she remembered leaving the money for Sara at Maisy Day’s when she shopped earlier in the week. Sara hadn’t mentioned it now. Maybe the young woman forgot. Maybe she hadn’t been told Fallon was the one who left it for her. Or maybe the lady at the counter hadn’t given it to her at all.
No matter.
Fallon hoped it helped, whatever the circumstances.
* * *
The driveback to the city had been uneventful. Clear roads under a blue sky, it was an ideal day for winter travel. Fallon dumped her shopping bag filled with the clothes and toiletries she’d bought in Hendricks on the breakfast bar and headed for a quick shower. She’d drop into work for a few hours, see what she’d missed.
An hour later Fallon hovered over her desk at the firm. Mail had piled up. Trade magazines, clients’ Christmas cards, holiday catalogs, and a thank-you note from the project coordinator of her last job. June sat across from her in one of the red upholstered chairs Fallon had just added to her office, swinging one leg over the other, fishing for details from Fallon’s week away.
“I’m sure you’re relieved to be back home to say the least,” said June.
“Washington Avenue at rush hour has never been more appealing,” she said while studying one of the holiday “cards,” a family collage of experiences over the last year. A softball game. A homecoming photo. A ski trip on top of a mountain somewhere, the four of them smiling blindly into the intense sunlight.
“Speaking of rush hour, there’s a Christmas happy hour tomorrow night at Level Four,” said June. “Human Resources is hosting. Are you coming?”
Fallon made a face. As much as she’d been out of her element for the last week, all she could think about was kicking off the weekend with an hour-long soak in a hot bath, tea, and Netflix into the wee hours of the morning until she fell asleep on her futon.
“I’ll probably pass.” She sorted the mail into two piles, one to be recycled and the other for trash.
“Don’t let the word ‘Christmas’ scare you off. C’mon, be sociable.”
Fallon looked up and snorted. “After the week I just had? You obviously don’t understand how traumatic it was.” She was only half-joking. In hindsight, the last seven days were more than tolerable, excluding her little slide off the highway and the initial alarm at being thrust into the middle of the Behars’ weekend plans. But June thrived on drama so Fallon always tried to amp it up for her boss’s benefit.
