Chapter Nineteen

 

“I need four on the top, two on the bottom, two copies of momma murphy, and six Bunyans,” I called to Isaac, my other cook, who was manning the kitchen this morning. He gave me the thumbs up for the breakfast order.

I poured coffee into two mugs and grabbed creamer from the cooler. “What has you in such a good mood the past few days?” Melissa asked, a smile on her face.

“It’s been a wonderful holiday season, nothing more,” I sang, adding two orange juices to the tray.

She pointed at my left hand. “Does it have anything to do with the ring you’re sporting?”

I glanced down at it and my smile grew. “It turns out when you admit your feelings and stop trying to stuff them down out of fear, you discover a happiness you never knew was waiting.”

“Amen to that, sister,” she said, giving me a fist bump. “I’m still on the lookout for my own Shepard Lund. Guys like him aren’t easy to find.”

She wasn’t kidding. I’d dated enough of them to be able to compare notes, and let me tell you, none of them can hold a candle to the man who has made love to me for the last three nights. He’s a gentle lover. I suspect because of his asthma he measures everything he does, including the exertion of lovemaking. I’m not complaining, and as thoroughly as he loves me, I never will. Something changes in a woman’s soul when she feels cherished and sexy at the same time. Shep was excellent at making me feel both. Whether we’re making love by the tree with a fire blazing and music playing, or in his bed with the lights off and only touch to guide us, I always got lost in him until the end came and we drifted off to sleep wrapped in each other’s arms. What I had thought would be awkward and uncomfortable, was anything but.

I bounced back to the table with the drinks the Mayor and his wife ordered.

“Anything else I can get for you, Mayor Tottle?” I asked, tucking the tray under my arm.

He encircled my wrist with his hand. “Actually, there is. Were you aware Lucille left money to the city to provide a Christmas meal for the needy? If we invest it right there’s probably enough money to do it indefinitely.”

I glanced between him and his wife, Cynthia. “I had no idea,” I stuttered.

Cynthia patted the seat next to her. “Sit for a moment,” she said, so I slid in next to her, resting the tray on the table.

“Tell me more,” I encouraged. “I haven’t seen her personal will, only the will she left for the business.”

Mayor Tottle sipped his creamy coffee. “Lance informed me her entire estate, which only consisted of her cash on hand, stocks, bonds, and life insurance, since she had already taken care of the home and business, was left to the city for the needy. She left provisions to offset the cost of the Thanksgiving meal, as well as a large sum of money to be invested for the food pantry. Her final request was offering a Christmas meal free for whoever needs someone to share the holiday with.”

I smiled. “Sounds like Lucille. She never liked seeing customers eat alone and would always sit with them for a bit while they ate. I assume you’re planning this for next Christmas? Where are you going to have it? I suppose it’s hard to use the church on Christmas.”

Cynthia nodded. “We’d like to have it this year, but we aren’t going to be able to have it at the church. They’ll be using their gathering room for coffee after service, of course.”

Mayor Tottle leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “I was hoping you’d volunteer the diner. I know it’s a lot to ask, but the dinner would only be for a few hours. I have a group of men from the Jewish community who would like to get involved by cooking and serving the meal. All we would need from you is the use of the diner, and probably yours and Mason’s help in ordering the right amount of food at the best price we can get it.”

I was already nodding. “Absolutely. Lucille would want it to be held here if we can make it work. I’ll talk to the head of the food pantry. She can order food at a better price than I can, which means we can stretch the budget even further. I would like to be here for the simple reason it’s my business now and I don’t feel comfortable not being around in the case of accident or equipment malfunction. I can help with seating and making sure the men can serve food quickly and smoothly by having what they need.”

Cynthia clapped her hands happily. “We’d love to have you with us. Orlando and I plan to be guest servers as well.”

“Do you think seven days is enough time to get the food ordered and the word out to the community?” Orlando asked.

I raised one brow in the air. “I planned a fundraiser in three days and served over a thousand people in three hours. I can do it.”

He held out his fist for a bump. “I had no doubt. What do you need from us.”

“Did Lucille indicate anything specific she would like done?” I asked, but he shook his head.

“No. She requested a meal be served on Christmas Day, which was the extent of the declaration.” He swiveled around and pointed at the tree in the corner. “I see you’ve had great success with the mitten tree, maybe we could hand them out to anyone needing warm winterwear during the event?”

I rubbed my hands together. “Christmas would be a great time to do it! I’ll call Audrey and we’ll get together to coordinate with the food shelf to bring the coats they have as well. If we can outfit some kids while they are here, maybe the parents won’t have to find a way to get to the food shelf during work hours.”

Cynthia patted my shoulder. “I’ll talk to Audrey and work the clothing and gift angle. You’ll have enough to do with organizing the food ordering and advertising. Deal?”

I nodded eagerly and dug my phone out of my pocket. “Put your number in my phone. We’ll need to stay in contact.” I turned to Orlando. “I’ll also need the contact information of the head of the men’s group ready to help.”

“I’ll get you the information once I get back to my office,” he promised.

I stood and leaned on the table after I took my phone from Cynthia. “Good, then I’ll call Russ Cramer and have him get started on the advertising. We haven’t missed this week’s paper yet. Does Christmas Day from eleven to three sound appropriate? I don’t have time to waste if I want it in print this week.”

Orlando glanced at Cynthia and held up his finger. “You know what, let me call my secretary and get the number of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs now. Then we can call and double check the time with them, but I think eleven to three would be fine.”

I did a thumbs up and waved, going back to check on their food. Isaac had it almost done and I quickly jotted down ideas on an order pad while I waited. Once he dinged the bell I grabbed both plates and carried them out to the table. After I set them down, Orlando handed me a piece of paper. “Here’s the info for the head of the group. He agreed eleven to three would be great and has his team ready and willing once you call.”

I tucked the piece of paper in my order book. “Excellent. Once I finish my shift here I’ll get ahold of him to sort it all out. Right now, I’ll call Russ and have him get the information in the paper. Cynthia, if you could have Audrey put signs up at the food shelf? I’ll also put signs up here.”

She agreed then dug into her pancakes, so I left them to enjoy their meal, heading back to the counter to talk to Melissa about the event. I had an idea I hoped would be right up her alley. Before I made it to the counter, Officer Ensign dinged the bell as she walked into the diner. She was dressed in her uniform, so I automatically poured her a cup of coffee in a to-go cup, something Lucille has done since she took over the diner. Free coffee to the men and women protecting and serving us.

“Hi, Officer Ensign,” I greeted her, handing her the cup. “How’s it going?”

She accepted the cup gratefully and wrapped her hands around it. “December in Michigan, it’s going,” she said, laughing. “I just got off shift, but I wanted to stop by and let you know the tire tracks from the other night didn’t pan out. It turns out they were from a stranded motorist, not your vandal. We have no evidence of this guy to go on. Has he been back? I haven’t seen any calls come through.”

I motioned her to follow me to the back of the diner and ushered her into my office. I opened the laptop and then the stored files I had been saving in a folder. “He’s been back, but he hasn’t been doing any vandalizing.”

I went through each video, showing her how he gets the food out of the cooler and scurries away with it into the woods again. Where he goes from there is anyone’s guess. “You started feeding him?” she asked between videos.

I held my palms out. “I couldn’t come up with any other answer why he kept coming around. It was just a thought, one neither Shep nor I thought would work, but it turns out, it’s all he wanted. You can see in the first video he stares at the top of the cooler for a long time attempting to read the note. I got the impression he couldn’t, so the next night I made one using pictures. He was much more relaxed as you can see on the video.”

She held up her hand. “Wait, I see you put it right under a camera. Did you get a look at his face?’

I sighed. “Unfortunately, no. He keeps it covered with the ski mask, but I’m hoping someday he won’t be wearing it or we’ll get some identifying piece of information to run with. He’s come every night for the last three nights.”

“Have you attempted to talk to him or detain him?” she asked, one hand on her hip.

I swung my head back and forth. “No, I won’t let Shep bother him. He’s coming to get the food, and not messing with the diner. I don’t want to scare him away. Maybe eventually he will relax and we can get an ID on him.”

She frowned, but finally sighed. “However you want to do it, Ivy. It’s your diner and he’s not breaking any laws if he’s not vandalizing property. I wouldn’t let it go on too long before you at least try to make contact with him.”

I nodded my agreement. “I was going to give him until after Christmas and then address it.”

“I can live with those parameters, but keep us in the loop if he starts acting weird again.”

“Agreed,” I said as the last recording finished.

She pointed at it. “Run the tape back five seconds.”

I glanced at her curiously, but did as she asked and hit play.

“There,” she said, and I hit pause, inspecting the image on the screen. She pointed with her finger. “I think he has boobs.”

I squinted closer, but still couldn’t make it out well when it was paused. I ran it back a few more seconds and slowed the speed fifty percent. This time it was easier to see the person turn from the cooler and the side angle definitely showed boobs.

“They’re not big boobs, but they’re boobs,” I agreed. “Do you think it’s a woman? She would have to be super strong to make the kind of racket she made the first couple of nights.”

Officer Ensign motioned at the laptop. “Send me those videos to the station, would you? I’ve been asking different agencies and shelters about men and not getting any leads. This might be why.”

“I don’t want to press charges if she was simply hungry. Maybe she’s not right, you know?” I asked and she nodded.

“That’s my thought, too. She might be at risk and homeless, or she might be an escaped felon; we won’t know until we do the footwork. I still don’t want you here alone at night until we know.”

I held up both hands and nodded. “Shep wouldn’t allow it anyway. Keep me posted and I won’t approach her until we’ve made a plan that involves backup with the police.”

She pointed at me. “Exactly what I wanted to hear. Maybe I’ll luck out and find her, but if not, we’ll deal with it after the holidays.”

I stood. “In the meantime, I’ll keep feeding her, in case food is what this is all about.”

I waved as she left the office and went to work zipping the files and attaching them to an email for her. If my midnight visitor was a woman, it suddenly made a lot more sense.

 

 

 

I checked my phone again for the second time in as many minutes. Mason refused to leave the diner until Shep got here, but I couldn’t reach him. The doors were locked and I peered out the window, praying for his truck lights to pull into the parking lot.

“You should probably get going, Mason. It’s snowing to beat the band.”

He shook his head. “No can do, not unless I walk you home first. Maybe he got hung up at work.”

I blew out a breath and nodded. “I guess. If I go home now, I’ll have to do some baking tomorrow morning. Will I be in your way?”

“Nah, if you get here at four-thirty when I roll in, I’ll stay with you and we’ll get it done.”

“Sorted, let me grab my coat.”

He lifted the cooler and took it out the back door, leaving it in its usual place. I suspected whoever she was, she wouldn’t be by tonight considering the weather, but I wanted the food there in case.

He came back in the door and grabbed his own coat. We were about to leave out the back when I heard pounding at the front door.

“Maybe it’s Shep,” I said, jogging to the front. I was surprised to see Officer Roberts standing at the door in uniform.

I unlocked and threw the door open as Mason came up behind me. Officer Robert’s hat was already covered in snow. I motioned him in. “What’s up, Jake?” I asked. “Did you want coffee? I already closed it down.”

He shook his head and took my shoulder, making eye contact. “Mayor Tottle asked me to come get you. There has been an accident.”

My heart stopped at his words. “Shepard?” I asked already knowing the answer.

“He’s at the hospital, but that’s all I know,” Jake said. “Let’s get you there.”

Mason came up behind me. “Go, I’ll lock up. Call me and keep me posted.”

I grabbed my purse from him and hugged him for a second. “Thank you. Say a prayer, please!” I yelled as I ran out the door behind Jake.

Mason waved as he locked the door and I angled into the backseat of the cruiser. “What happened, Jake? I know you were there, weren’t you? If it was an accident you had to be there.”

“I just came on duty. I wasn’t part of the scene. All I know is he was taken to Bells Pass Lakeside. Whether he stays there or not will depend on how bad off he is.” He flipped his lights and sirens on as he turned left out of the parking lot toward the hospital, which was four miles from the diner. A mere five minutes on a normal night, but tonight wasn’t normal. Everything inside me quivered with fear as I prayed repeatedly for God to save him. I haven’t prayed much since I was sixteen, but suddenly, it was the only thing I could think to do. The snow was falling hard and fast. I worried we wouldn’t make it without skidding into the opposite lane, but other than the snowplows we were the only ones on Main Street, at least.

“Have you called his mom and brother?” I asked suddenly, leaning forward so he could hear me over the sirens.

“I haven’t, but the hospital may have. Wait until you get in there and get some information before you call them this late,” he said sensibly.

My fingers grasped the wire cage between us as the hospital came into sight. There was an ambulance with its lights still flashing by the emergency entrance, but otherwise all was quiet, the snow falling gently onto the ground.

“God, let him be okay,” I whispered as Jake pulled the squad in behind the ambulance.

“I have to get out there and look for stranded motorists. Will you be okay?” he asked when he opened the door for me.

“I’ll be fine. Thank you for getting me here safely,” I said, running through the snow, waving until I burst through the door of the ER. A nurse sat at the desk in front of me and I plowed headlong into it. “Shepard Lund. Where is he?”

She glanced up, perturbed by my rudeness. “I’m sorry, are you family?”

“I’m his girlfriend,” I answered. “Has his mom been called?”

“You’ll have to stay in the waiting room if you aren’t family, ma’am,” she said in her bossy nurse’s voice.

I was ready to lace into her when I saw Orlando out of the corner of my eye. I turned and ran for him, grabbing his shirt. “Where is he? I want to see him,” I begged the man in front of me.

He held me out by my arms. “He’s alive and he’s going to be okay. They’re working on him right now. He was hit by a car when he was plowing snow. This wasn’t his fault.”

“Why was he plowing snow? He wasn’t on plow duty today,” I said, certain he told me he was staying at the office.

“He wasn’t plowing the roads. It was getting late and the snow was piling fast. He was in the small Gator plowing the truck yards for the sand trucks and plows. We do that when there’s a big storm so the big trucks can stay on the streets instead of plowing the lots and wasting time. A car spun out of control and clipped his Gator as he plowed the driveway.”

I put my hand to my mouth. “Orlando, is he hurt badly?” I asked. “Be honest with me, please.”

He gave me a small shake. “I am being honest with you. They’ll be keeping him tonight due to his asthma and possible head injury, but he will be okay.”

“Head injury?” I asked, my voice going up an octave. “He has a head injury?”

He led me to sit in a chair near the door. I did as he instructed even though all I wanted to do was see Shep. “He was extremely lucky. The car hit the passenger side of the Gator. He’s smart and knows his stuff. He saw the car coming, unhooked his seatbelt and dove out the door. Witnesses said he didn’t make it all the way out before the car hit, but instead of crushing him, it spun him. He hit his head on a curb and landed in a snowbank. He was lucky, Ivy. He definitely had someone watching out for him.”

I was shaking from the adrenaline dump. “I need to see him. Have you called his mom?”

“No. I decided not to call her this late until we had more news. I wanted to give you a chance to see him before we called her. No one but our snowplow guys and the cops know, so we’re safe holding off on calling her for a bit. He’s having trouble breathing, I’ll be honest with you, but respiratory therapy almost had it under control when I left the room.”

I fisted my hand in my hair. “I’m not surprised. He doesn’t do well in the cold and if he hit his head and went out, he wouldn’t be able to control his breathing or stop an attack from happening.”

“That’s what the EMTs said. They managed to open his airways, but respiratory therapy refuses to send him home tonight,” Orlando said, holding his hand out to help me up. “We’ll go check on him. They can’t even put him through the CT scan right now because they can’t get his breathing to clear long enough. He’s frantic you’re going to hear about it from someone other than us, so I told him I would send Jake over for you. Maybe if you go see him it will settle him enough to get the CT scan done. He’s altered mentally from the crack to his head and they need to check for skull fractures or swelling of his brain.”

I followed him down the hall to a small glass and curtained cubical in the back of the ER. I could hear the nebulizer running from the doorway and Orlando spoke to a nurse who motioned us in. Shep lay in the bed, a gown thrown over him, but not tied, an oxygen and nebulizer mask on his face, and an IV in his arm. His eyes were closed when I ran to the edge of the bed and grasped his hand.

“Shep, I’m here, babe,” I said, running my finger down his cheek.

He opened his eyes and turned his head, squeezing my hand. “Hi,” he croaked through the mask. “I’m okay.”

I laughed and wiped away a tear. “You don’t look okay, but thanks for trying,” I whispered, hugging him.

He took the mask off for a moment and coughed a couple times, but held his hand up to the nurse who wanted to put the mask back on. “I didn’t want you to hear about it from anyone else. I’m glad he sent Jake. I saw the texts. I’m sorry.”

I took the mask and put it down over his face. “Don’t apologize, Shep. Breathe. Breathe in and out, that’s all you have to do right now. I love you. You scared me to death,” I said, the words a big jumbled mess as I held him. I laid my head on his chest and listened to his lungs, pleased to hear no whistling or wheezes. I turned my face to his. “Your lungs sound almost normal, but you need to stay here tonight. Don’t give them any arguments about it. They’ll need to do treatments throughout the night, especially if you have a concussion.”

He nodded, his eyes glazed. I inspected his head closer. There was a large knot growing under the hair over his temple and a gash from his ear to his crown that was still oozing blood.

“Has anyone seen this?” I asked, pointing at the wound and a nurse hurried over. “We know about it, Ivy. We left it because it wasn’t life threatening, and his breathing was. We need to get the scan and once we know what it shows, then we’ll suture the cut. The goose egg will need more ice. An orderly is getting it now.”

I put my hand to my chest and nodded. “Sorry for doubting you, but his eyes are glazed and he’s out of it. I was concerned no one saw it.”

She put her hand on my arm. “Don’t apologize. He’s had some Xanax to calm him. We couldn’t get his breathing under control due to his combative state. It’s common with a head injury, but with Shep we have to be vigilant of his breathing. I’ve taken care of him many times here in the ER, which gave him an advantage. I had respiratory here waiting before they pulled in. He’s in good hands.”

I nodded. “I know. I’m sorry. I still can’t believe this happened.”

She helped me step out of the way of the respiratory therapist who had come back in the room to check the machine. “I understand. Certainly no one expects to have their boyfriend hit by a car while he’s doing his job. Which, by the way, I can’t believe the two of you finally figured it out!” she exclaimed softly, grabbing both my hands. “I swear every time you brought him in here we’d roll our eyes at your ‘best friend’ status, when you were clearly in love with each other.”

I shook my head, my eyes rolled to the ceiling. “Maybe someone could have mentioned it to us?” I asked jokingly and she chuckled, too.

“It wasn’t our place, but I’m happy for you both.” She watched the therapist change his mask to a nasal cannula. “Looks like our boy is ready for his scan. You can come with us as far as radiology. They’ll take him in and you can wait for him outside the door, then come back here when he’s done.”

I thanked her and took his hand again, holding it while they got his stretcher unlocked and the oxygen switched to the portable tank.

“I love you, Ivy,” he whispered. “Don’t leave me.”

I leaned down and kissed his hot, dry lips. “Not for a second.”