Christmas, Criminals, and Campers Page 3

  Gracefully wasn’t a word I’d used to describe the situation with my murdered ex-husband, but it was a word that Mary Elizabeth would use. And use often. It was that southern grace that she tried to put in me when I went to live with her and it was her southern manners that I fought against tooth and nail until I clawed my way out.

  I found myself staring at that straight head of hair of hers that lay so perfectly over her shoulders. As I tried to tame down my curly hair by patting my head, I realized she was staring at my sweatshirt with a picture of that Grumpy Cat from the internet. It was like a quarter at the thrift store and I thought it was cute.

  I put my hands in my pockets and brought them to the middle of my stomach, forcing the jacket to close up around me. I would’ve zipped it up but didn’t want to give her the satisfaction that I’d noticed she was judging me by my outfit. Sweatpants tucked in snow boots and a sweatshirt wasn’t her idea of clothing, much less a sweatshirt with a big cat head and Stay Away printed across the front.

  “Mae, she deserves to have Christmas with us now that you’re back,” Bobby Ray whispered as I continued to stare at Mary Elizabeth.

  “Fine.” I stomped. “But I won’t call you mom,” I protested and hurried back to my RV, where I was going to do what I did with every other situation that made me mad.

  I would replay this over and over in my head until I’d ran over it with my car, dragged it home, and beaten it to death in my mind.

  “Mae, honey, can’t we just get along?” Her voice ran right through me, sending chills all along my spine.

  In my head all I heard was “May-bell-ine, honey, you are a Moberly now. You need to act as if you have some good southern charm. That includes politeness, kindness, table manners, and social grace, all at the cost of happiness. Do you understand me, May-bell-ine? Are you listening to me, May-bell-ine? You can’t get anything below an A in your classes. Don’t you know that you’ve got to go the University of Kentucky and join my sorority? You can’t be embarrassing me with mediocre grades. Do you understand your place in society, May-bell-ine?”

  It was dialogue I’d replay in my head all night until I finally fell asleep and the alarm on my cell phone woke me the next morning.

  Four

  A light snow had fallen all night long. It was a nice powdery mix that swept away from the warm car tires along the paved around the campground instead of sticking and making everything slick as cat’s guts. Henry had already used brine, a type of ice repellent, on the road to help out. Given the cost of our insurance, we had to make sure everything was safe and clear for all the campers in Happy Trails, including Mary Elizabeth.

  The coffee brewing was a much-needed jolt to my foggy head. It was the smell that carried me out from underneath the warm covers and into the shower.

  “Did Bobby Ray honestly think he was giving me a good Christmas by bringing her here? It’s more like coal in my stocking and I was a very good girl this year. Okay, so the year didn’t start out like I thought it was going to but still. Did he have to bring her here at Christmas?” I asked Fifi as I dumped some kibble in her bowl. “See, you know what I mean.”

  I took her wagging tail as confirmation that she agreed with me. Fifi gave me one last look before she started to devour the food. I poured myself a cup of coffee and watched out the window while I let my hair air dry a little before I decided what on earth I was going to wear. I had to work in the office this morning and later this afternoon I needed to head back into downtown to finalize all the merchant donations for Christmas Dinner at the Campground.

  There was a rental car parked on the concrete pad next to Nadine’s camper. The snowman was still blown up and all the lights were still on outside. That made me happy. They had been there to greet her. She must’ve gotten in late because it took me a long time to fall asleep and I knew it was in the middle of the night before I’d finally given into my thoughts. I didn’t hear a car drive into Happy Trails, which was unusual since at the top of the campground next to the office, the gravel usually spit up around tires, pinging things and creating all sorts of noises.

  Then I turned my head towards Bobby Ray’s camper. There was a light on like most mornings. Bobby Ray had to go to work and I wondered what on earth Mary Elizabeth was going to do with her time.

  I shook my head, shaking any thoughts of her out of my head. I was a grown adult now and I needed to act that way. If she did try to correct me or mother me, I’d just have to stand my ground.

  It took me longer than normal to get ready for work and get Fifi’s little fake fur jacket on her.

  “Did you drive up here?” Dottie Swaggert asked as soon as I opened the door to the office, Fifi wiggling around in my arms.

  She never missed a beat. “What on earth do you have on? You got a fancy meeting or something?”

  She asked, her eyes going up and down my body after I hung my coat up on the rack.

  “Just coming to work.” I bent down and put Fifi on the ground. She scurried over to Dottie knowing Dottie would give her a bite of her breakfast biscuit. “I’ve got to run into town this afternoon and make sure all the merchants are ready with their donations for Christmas Dinner at the Campground.” I brushed down the front of my red pencil skirt before I unbuttoned the matching red suit jacket.

  “Henry put up the rest of the flyers about the dinner around town.” She looked me up and down. “Everyone is excited about wearing an ugly Christmas sweater.”

  My red heels clicked across the tile floor of the office. Inwardly, I groaned with each step. I’d not worn heels since I’d stepped foot in the RV months ago. This was one of a few fancy clothes I’d brought with me or that my lawyer had packed and sent to the campground before I’d driven here.

  “Well, if you ask me, that’s suit’s uglier than a pair of bowling shoes.” Dottie’s lips were pressed together in a hard line. “You can wear that outfit as your ugly Christmas sweater at the dinner.”

  “Did I ask you?” I sat down in my chair and let out a long sigh. “I want to look good for when I go see everyone about donations.”

  “Did you forget that you didn’t look like that when you asked them? And your face? What did you do?” Dottie asked.

  The sunlight coming through the windows must’ve caught my face perfect.

  “I put on a mud mask last night and I fell asleep before the I took it off.” I’d tried to cover it over with make-up, but Dottie had better eyes than an eagle.

  “You need to go back home and put on some winter clothes. The snow’s coming and you’re gonna slip, fall, and break your neck.” She grabbed a file and brought it over to my desk. “This here is the agreement signed by Nadine White. I found it underneath the door this morning when I came in.”

  I took the file from her and opened it up.

  “Do you want me to get you a cup of coffee? I don’t want your feet to give out on you.” Dottie headed over to the coffeemaker we kept in the office.

  I didn’t even have to answer her. She’d already poured me a cup and brought it over while I read over all the extras Nadine had checked.

  “It’s like she decided to come and didn’t bring anything.” I noticed she’d picked the breakfast package, the cleaning package, and the linen package. “Like she decided to just put her finger on a map and go.”

  I should recognize this behavior. It was how I had decided to go to New York City when I turned eighteen.

  There were some things that left me scrambling when I’d moved to Normal. I had no idea how to keep a camper or RV. I had no knowledge of the purple bag (the poop bag), the electrical hook-ups, the water hook-up, or all the other supplies I would need. That’s how I came up with the idea to sell packages. Sometimes it was easiest just to show up and pay extra for the packages, so you didn’t have to worry about bringing so many things from home.

  The sound of gravel made me look out the window before I saw the zooming car fly by the office.

  “Who on earth is driving so fast?” Dottie
rushed over to the door and swung it open.

  “Well, excuse me,” Mary Elizabeth gasped, drawing a gloved hand up to her chest as her face drew back in a look of surprise.

  Fifi jumped up from the blanket on the floor, teeth showing and yipping.

  “Excuse you.” Dottie nodded and pushed past Mary Elizabeth to get a look at the car speeding away. “Who are you, Nanook of the North?”

  Mary Elizabeth looked as if she were getting ready to go on an Alaskan expedition in a full-length mink coat and matching hat.

  “Please, stop that . . .that . . .” Mary Elizabeth pointed a gloved finger at Fifi. Fifi jumped up and tried to grab the edges of the mink.

  “Fifi.” I clapped my hands and pointed to the small bed next to my desk.

  Fifi gave an extra little growl, getting the last word in before listening to my command.

  “Mary Elizabeth.” I stood up. The two women were both very strong-headed, and this was not how I needed them to meet. “This is Dottie Swaggert, the manager of Happy Trails.” I pointed to Mary Elizabeth. “This is . . .”

  “Mae West’s foster mama,” Dottie finished my sentence and did a slow walk around Mary Elizabeth, taking in all there was to see. “Our Mae sure didn’t tell us that she was fostered in a home full of money.”

  “I’m sure our sweet Mae,” Mary Elizabeth’s tone held sarcasm, “probably didn’t tell you much about the home we provided for her.”

  “Just the fact she skipped town right after her eighteenth birthday.” Dottie slid her eyes towards me. “No wonder you’re dressed in that get-up,” she referred to my suit.

  “Get-up?” Mary Elizabeth scoffed. “As the manager, I believe you could learn a lesson or two from how Mae dresses. I did spend a lot of money on her modeling lessons, so she would take pride in herself.”

  Mary Elizabeth slowly unhooked the eye hooks that ran down the front of the fur and slipped it off as graceful and smooth as her southern accent.

  “Here.” She held it out to Dottie.

  “I’ll take it.” I jumped up from the chair and grabbed it before Dottie could light a cigarette and put it out on it. “I hear you knew she was coming,” I said to Dottie under my breath when I passed her to hang up the coat.

  She grunted but didn’t move her eyes from Mary Elizabeth.

  “Would you like to join us for a cup of coffee?” I asked.

  “Yes. Please, a straw if you have one.” Mary Elizabeth pulled on the fingers of her gloves before she elegantly peeled them off her hands.

  Dottie’s mouth gaped open while Mary Elizabeth did the routine I knew all too well. Where she walked into a room and commanded it from the time the soles of her high heels hit the floor. Mary Elizabeth had a style and ease that carried her around the room like a feather floating on the breeze until she found a seat in front of my desk. She swept her fingers along the top of my desk and took a good look at them before snarling at the dust.

  “Thank you.” She brushed the dust off her fingers and accepted the cup of coffee, taking the tiniest sip through the straw. She put the coffee cup on top of the desk and leaned over to look at Fifi.

  Dottie’s nose curled, making her mouth open even more. “Too bad she didn’t lean too far,” Dottie mumbled.

  “Mary Elizabeth takes pride in how white her teeth are, so she drinks through a straw.” It was another memory that I’d stuck in the back of my head along with the gloves she made me wear as a child.

  “Oh, Mae.” Mary Elizabeth tsked. “Dottie, I’m sure you’ll understand. We gave Mae the finest. We hated that she came from the mudflat as a child and adopted her.”

  “Fostered me,” I corrected her.

  “We legally adopted her,” Mary Elizabeth said matter of factly. “After we adopted her, we put her in the best private schools.”

  “You sent me off to a boarding school.” It was so funny how her recollection of my life was completely different than the one I had lived and would never forgive her for.

  “It was an all-girls’ prep school. She was going to attend the finest college and make something of herself.” Mary Elizabeth glanced around the room.

  “I’m thinking her owning a campground wasn’t in your plan.” Dottie was one that saw it and said it. She didn’t mince words. You always knew where you stood with her.

  “It sure wasn’t. But no sense in looking backwards when we have so much catching up to do.” Mary Elizabeth put her hands in her lap. “Now, where do we go to get your hair fixed?”

  “I’ve got a meeting.” I had wondered how long it was going to take her to say something about my hair. When she’d sent me off to boarding school, she took me to a salon to have them fix my hair. They ended up burning my hair and I was ridiculed all year long. “Dottie, do you mind watching Fifi for me?”

  I lost my parents and had been moved around to two different families over six months. Yes, Mary Elizabeth and her husband Jerry had adopted me. I’d protested in the courtroom, but the judge said that I needed a home and the Moberlys had always wanted a child of their own. It wasn’t enough for them to have Bobby Ray Bond. He was a boy. Mary Elizabeth wanted a girl she could dress up and play with. I was already a teenager whose parents let me go with my friends to public school and play soccer, not Barbies. We didn’t have a lot of money, but my family’s house had been filled with love. That was something Mary Elizabeth thought came in the form of manners and learning how to talk properly.

  When I didn’t use the table manners I had learned at the country club, she’d throw a fit, saying I was rebelling against her and not appreciative of the money they were spending on me to get me educated.

  “But I just got here.” Mary Elizabeth drew her shoulders back. “I thought we could just talk.”

  “I’m sorry if Bobby Ray gave you the impression that I wanted to spend the holidays with you. No matter what you think...” I walked over to get my coat. “My life is great. My husband was a loving man to me until I found out the awful things he did to others. We had a nice life and yes, my world was torn apart a few months ago, leading me straight back to Kentucky.” I laughed because I’d spent the better part of my life trying to forget my life here and move on. “Here, I have not only grown the economy in Normal.” I pointed to the framed article on the wall where the National Parks Magazine had done a feature story on me and how much bringing Happy Trails back to life had also brought the economy back to our cozy town. “I gained true friends. Friends who don’t care that I was poor growing up. Friends that don’t care if I lick my fingers. Friends that don’t care if I wear sweatpants.”

  “Actually, we don’t want to see you lick your finger.” Dottie gave a slight smile. “But we do love you. And I’d love to keep Fifi here with me.”

  “I have never in my life. . .” Mary Elizabeth stood up.

  I didn’t bother waiting to see what Mary Elizabeth had to say to me before I slammed the office door behind me.

  Five

  “I just don’t know who she thinks she is.” I stuffed a forkful of gravy and biscuits in my mouth. “Seriously, she thinks she can come here and act as if she was the best foster mother around?”

  My phone chirped with a text from Abby Fawn.

  “I though you just said she said she adopted you.” Trudy leaned her hips against the counter of the Normal Diner. Her hand dangled the coffee pot, with her elbow tucked into the waist of her lanky, five-foot-eight-inch frame. The long, dishwater blonde ponytail pulled around her shoulder and down the yellow button-up diner dress.

  “I’ll never claim them. Never,” I protested and took another bite, swiveling my body in the stool butted up to the counter. I hit the message button on my phone and quickly read through Abby’s text. She’d gotten confirmation that Nadine would be at the library today at two p.m. to talk to The Laundry Club’s book club members about the book.

  “Well, I think you look as pretty as a picture.” She dragged the white coffee mug that had a small chip on the rim across the counter and refi
lled my coffee. “Better than this awful yellow thing the Randals are making us wear.”

  “Thank you. I guess I shouldn’t get all crazy over just a visit.” I gnawed on my lip. “She really can’t do anything to me. I’m an adult.”

  “That’s right. Just like Preacher Lester says, it’s our attitude about things.” She patted my hand and took off down the counter, refilling all the empty mugs along the way.

  Even though I knew Trudy was right, I still didn’t feel like listening to her. I wanted to be mad and feed my emotions with the awesome southern-style biscuits and gravy Ty Randal had made.

  I quickly texted Abby back letting her know I’d be there. It’s not that I didn’t want to go, although I did have a lot of work to do on the Christmas Dinner at the Campground. It’s just that I wasn’t ready to be so easily available to Mary Elizabeth. I had to get a grip on still feeling towards her like I did when I was a teenager. But I wasn’t so sure what those feelings were. They were still just as confusing now as they were then. I’d been to several therapists the year I left Kentucky, but never truly felt like I’d gotten any sort of answers. I’d let the bitterness take hold of my heart and let it fester there for her.

  The front door of the diner opened, sweeping in the frigid air and sending chills along my legs after the cold found my ankles.

  “Aren’t we all fancy today.” Hank Sharp’s green eyes twinkled. His black hair was perfectly combed to the side.

  My heart quickened. I gulped down the bite of gravy and biscuits I’d just stuffed into my mouth. He reached his hand over to my mouth, placing his thumb under my chin and using his forefinger to gently touch the corner of my lip.

  “You had a little gravy.” He smiled seductively, or at least in my head it was, before he reached over my shoulder to grab a napkin from the steel napkin holder on the counter. His cologne carried past him and tickled my nose.