Page 5 of Misadventures With The Mistaken Twin
I smirked. “Her words, not mine.”
“Think about it this way. If you hit Jack hard enough, he might be rooming at the hospital for a while.”
I rolled my eyes at Goldie before heading out into the arctic blast, replacement paddle under my arm.
4
I stopped back at Violet's house after my quick trip to Goldilocks. Jack's large duffel bag was still by the front door, so he hadn't been back or decided to stay somewhere else. For all I knew, he was having brain surgery right this minute. Doubtful, as he'd been lucid and obnoxious when I'd left him off at the hospital. He'd taken care of himself for over ten years without me, he didn't need me now. I frowned to myself. Guilt crept in, eating away at my crankiness. It was partly my fault he was there. I dialed the ER. They told me they didn't give out information on patients. So much for that.
I napped, then changed into a clean pair of jeans, white tank top with a turquoise V-neck sweater and leather boots. When I looked in the bathroom mirror, I squealed. My hair did look as if it had gone through a hay baler. I quickly wet it down, ran a comb through it to remove the snarls, and then pulled it back into a clip. I never left the house without makeup—except to take someone to the ER—so I went through my usual routine of eyeliner, mascara, a swipe of shadow and colored lip gloss.
TheImperial Death MarchfromStar Warssounded from the living room. I dashed to pull my cell phone from my bag.
“Hi, Jane,” I said after reading the display.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Jane West was Goldie's daughter-in-law and also worked at Goldilocks. Jane had had a tough time for a number of years when her husband—Goldie’s son—had died and left her with two little boys to raise all alone. Last summer, she'd fallen in love with her neighbor, Ty Strickland, and they were now engaged to be married.
I dropped the lip gloss into the makeup case in my bag. “No, just getting ready to head to Mike's.”
“Right, I forgot about that. Should be an interesting night!”
I laughed. “Sure you don't want to do it?” I asked her jokingly.
Jane did most of the parties herself and probably had zero interest in a roomful of curious men and a bag of sex toys. “Mike specifically asked for you.” I heard some voices in the background. “Hang on a sec, Veronica.”
I listened as Jane talked to one of her kids. I could tell from the cute little voice, and the fact that they were talking about having ice cream for dinner. I smiled because when I babysat for her, Zach, Bobby and I always had ice cream for dinner. Not that I told Jane that little secret.
“Sorry. We're headed to visit Ty's parents in Pony for a few days. School's closed for teacher meetings and Ty has a five-day break from work,” Jane told me.
“Want me to watch the house?” I asked.
“Not the house, but something else.” Jane laughed. “Um, Zach wants to know if you can watch his gnome, George, for him.”
I pulled the phone away from my head and stared at it for a second. “Huh?”
“George wants to know about being a plumber. He's already been to the fire station with Ty and to the florist.” Jane talked away from the phone again, mentioning a bath and using soapthis time. “Okay, it's just me. Sorry, but Zach's got this weird obsession with his gnome. You remember the incident from last summer?”
“Um, yeah.” No one could forget what had happened. Jane and her boys had bought two ceramic garden gnomes at a garage sale. Little did they know at the time, but one of them hid a vial of bull semen which came from a horse ranch west of town. The owner of the ranch was a murdering psychopath who’d produced and distributed meth under the front of international horse breeding. The man had wanted Jane dead, but she’d saved herself and shut down the meth organization singlehandedly.
“I thought his gnome obsession was a short-lived thing, but it's been over six months and he's still enthralled by George. Anyway, can you take George while we're gone and tell Zach you took it to all your jobs?”
I smiled, although Jane couldn't see it through the phone. “Sure, no problem. Do you want me to come pick it up?”
“No, you're busy. We'll drop it off on our way out of town in the morning.”
“Okay, but remember, I'm staying at Violet's.” I tossed my purse into the box of sex toys.
“Oh, that's right. I'll just leave it on the porch.”
“That's fine, or you know what? Why don't you have Zach just put it in the van. That way he'll know it's going to go with me to my jobs. Besides, don't forget Old Mr. Chalmers across the street.”
It was quiet for a second on the other end. “I'll have Zach just leave it in your van,” she replied, her voice a little grim.
Old Mr. Chalmers was a Vietnam vet who hadn't come back from war the same way he'd left. He was close with Jane's next-door neighbor, the Colonel. He had a name, but I didn't know what it was. Everyone called him the Colonel. Even with that channel of gossip available, I still didn't know exactly whathappened to Old Mr. Chalmers. The Colonel wouldn't say, even after all this time, and I had to respect that in a friend.
Regardless, Old Mr. Chalmers was not right in the head. He thought Violet was his daughter. He didn't have one since his wife left him after he'd come back a nut case. But he watched out for Violet, and since I looked exactly like her, he watched out for me as well.
He had many friends in town who helped him out. The Colonel took him to the American Legion for meetings twice a week and the pancake breakfasts the first Saturday of the month. A different neighbor made sure he got his groceries. I made him oatmeal cookies every other week. Between various people around town, Old Mr. Chalmers did just fine on his own.