Page 25 of Sound and Deception

“Glad you’re enjoying it here. We all like it an awful lot. If you need anything, any one of us would be happy to help!” He laughed, she joined in, and he eased down the accelerator.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I’d managed to finish units one and two, but got shanghaied before three was even half-way done. Mr. Robert Chapman, our most distinguished guest from unit four, had strolled back from the dining room, likely intent on sitting in the Adirondack chair out front and reading his book of sonnets before rain kicked in again.

He spotted me stripping, disinfecting, and remaking the bed, and felt inclined to step onto the porch and peek his head inside. “Well! As I suspected,allyour bungalows are adorable! My dearly departed wife would have loved this place. I just wish she were around to see it!”

I swallowed a sigh. At this point I knew he was widowed with three children, five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a cockatiel named Mildred, a pit bull called Frog, and a Siamese cat named Trapeze (as in “A daring young man on the flying trapeze!”). He volunteered in the pediatric unit at his local hospital cuddling premature babies, sang and acted in community theater, played Santa at the mall every other Christmas or so, been to every single little league game his great-grandson, Tucker, played in, and even stood by in stunned silence watching his granddaughter get her first tattoo because “Papa, you’ve got to be there for me! You’re the only one who doesn’t judge!” All in all, I adored him, but I didn’t always have time to engage.

“Thank you, Mr. Chapman. We’re pretty proud of it.” I smoothed out the bed, trying to figure out how I could finish cleaning without appearing rude.

“Miss Carnie? Or is it Kathy?” His face creased inward in what looked like worry.

“It’s okay. My name’s Klahanie. Is everything okay?”

“Oh, Klahanie! How beautiful. That’s tribal, isn’t it?”

“Chinook on my mother’s side.”

“Oh, I see. Was that tribe finally recognized again? Just a horrible thing that the government rescinded.” He shook his head, worry turning to disgust.

The sad part is that I had no idea what he was talking about. I made a mental note to ask Gram or Sunny. “I’m not sure.”

“Such a shame.” He shook his head and his eyes brightened a moment later. “I know what I wanted to ask you! I told you I lost my Florence several years back, right? Anyway, despite all the ladies at the senior center wanting to cozy up, I just haven’t found the right lady. She needs to be special, like Flo was. Do you know what I mean?”

I nodded and stared at him, pretty sure my mouth started to sag open.

“I’m sure you would. You must have a very special young man … or woman … no judgement. They may not be perfect, but they’re perfect for us. You understand, of course.”

I nodded again.

“Anyway, I think I found the lady. The other day I overheard her telling another guest the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, because they’d asked about the names of the alpacas, I understand. She had such inflection! I could listen to her all day!”

“Um…” I wasn’t sure what to say.

“You want to date Klahanie’s grandma?” Noah climbed up the steps to the porch, met my gaze and grinned. He’d judged his time perfectly and we both knew it. He’d arrived to help right around the time I would have finished. But, thanks to Mr. Chapman, it backfired, if just a bit. I didn’t think he realized it yet.

“Do you think she’d go to that salt mine place with me?” The old man looked between us, hopeful.

“Oh, Salty’z? Um, maybe? I think you might just need to talk to Gram.” I looked back to the still grinning Noah. “Hey, Noah. Think you could help out by cleaning the bathroom?”

His grin fell.

“Always good to help out with the chores, young man. Ladies shouldn’t have to do it all.” Mr. Chapman smiled at both of us. “And, thank you. I think I will go talk to your gram.”

He descended the steps and walked up the path toward the big house. The snap of his cane against the cement echoed behind him. I wondered how Gram was going to react when he wandered in, and couldn’t hold back a smile. I figured I’d have ammunition for years over this.

Noah and I watched him go.

“You know, if I were forty years older, I think I’d date him.” I shot a glance at Noah from the corner of my eye.

He studied me with open perusal, a smile in his voice. “Oh, so I get it now. All women want is just a sweet and thoughtful guy with an ivy league air. And pockets.”

“Something like that.”

“Okay. Taking care of that bathroom now … and then maybe I’ll give you a foot massage, while quoting poetry.”

“Promises, promises.”

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