I filled my mug and moved to what was quickly becoming my favorite spot-the bay window overlooking the lake. As I passed the office, I retrieved my ledger book and a pencil. I knew it would be hours before I slept, so I began to draw.
First Luke, in silhouette, standing by the fire. I fought to capture every detail of the way he stood. Almost military, I decided, as if he were on guard. The fire came alive in the dancing shadow and light across his body and the dark water formed an inky backdrop.
On the second page I drew Mary Lynn and Paul Madison with the afternoon sun shining behind them as they shared a pot of tea. They sat, the old maid dressed in her frumpy, out-of-style clothes, and the hardened banker with his life shattering around him. There might only be a few years’ difference in their ages, but they seemed worlds apart. He probably knew the best places to eat in every city, played handball in private clubs, and read the
I caught the scene where I’d seen her lean toward him and lay her hand hesitantly atop his in comfort. Mary Lynn had a gentle heart not meant for crisis. Paul was more the type who thrived on a challenge, but not this time- this time he was broken and she’d been strong enough to pull him back.
When I finished drawing, I looked around the store and the tiny cafe. This world I’d tumbled into seemed small, plain, yet when I had to leave I knew I’d be glad for the sketches. I needed to remember every detail.
I went up to bed thinking of Luke and trying to get the pieces of him to fit together. He’d handled the drunks’ crisis like a pro. Where would a man get such training? It occurred to me that I might be better off not knowing. But I fell asleep guessing.
Nana woke me a little after dawn. “There’s blood in the cafe,” she said without emotion.
“I’m sorry.” I sat up feeling like I’d just closed my eyes. The coffee and kisses I’d had last night weren’t on the list of recommended sleep aides. “I should have cleaned it up, Nana. Luke took care of a guy with a bloody nose last night.”
Nana grinned. “I’m glad I missed that visitor. It wasn’t any of us was it?”
I knew what she meant. The Nesters had become our people. “No. Only one of the weekend fishermen. I don’t imagine we’ll be seeing them again.”
I followed her down and cleaned up the mess, then washed Luke’s shirt. He didn’t come in to get it and that night there was no fire out by the water. I didn’t want to admit to myself that I missed him. But I did.
The next night, I built the fire, telling myself I needed to burn off some of the driftwood, but in truth I thought it would make me feel less lonely. Not that Luke was much company anyway. Nana said he’d dropped by for a while when I’d gone into town to the bank. Lately she had trouble telling what happened an hour ago from a week ago. For her the days at the lake weren’t days of the week or month, but simply days at the lake.
I watched the flames and remembered all the people who’d dropped by since dawn. It had been a busy day. If it kept up I’d be doubling my weekly order and paying for it with profit. When we had to leave-if we lasted the winter-we might be driving away with enough money to make a real start. Nothing big, just the down payment on a little house. A real house. Our own house.
If Jefferson’s Crossing wasn’t really mine? I was beginning to think it could be. I had stopped watching for the lawyer to show up. My name had been in the will and all the Nesters seemed to know I was coming. Maybe for once Nana and I wouldn’t have to pack up and leave.
I almost swore. I was dreaming again. You’d think at some point I’d learn. Where had the dreams ever gotten me? Like all people, I was a prisoner living in a tiny cell. My view of the world was only a small window and the most I could hope for in a lifetime was maybe to see one or two perfect days. Not a winter. Not a year. Happiness doesn’t pile up that long. Maybe I should just be thankful for tonight and the fire dancing before me.
“You look like you got the weight of the world on those shoulders.”
Willie moved closer. I could smell him before I could see him clearly.
“No, I was just thinking.” I tried not to act like he made me nervous. The man had never done anything out of line toward me or Nana that I knew of, but I couldn’t shake the warning Micki had given me. She’d delivered a caution along with the snacks that first day, a caution I thought of every time I saw the old man.
“Thinking only leads to trouble, girl. I gave it up for Lent once and found out I could live without it, so I never went back.” Without being asked, he sat down a few feet away on one of the rocks.
I smiled at him for his effort to cheer me up.
“Have you seen Luke?” he asked. “I need to talk to him.”
For a moment, I thought he’d read my mind. “No. I haven’t seen him but Nana said he came by this morning.”
Willie stuck his hands out toward the fire as if the night were cold.
I fought the urge to move farther away. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Luke stays out here?”
“Sure,” he answered, pointing with his head to the left. “He’s not yelling close, but his cabin is on the other side of that stand of trees.”
“Really?” I’d walked along that beach a few times when the lake was down a few feet and saw no sign of a cabin. “Are you sure?”
Willie looked like he was thinking about whether to tell me more or not, but finally, he said, “I took supplies to his place with Jefferson once when Luke was laid up.”
“Sick?” I couldn’t imagine Luke with even a cold.
“No. Shot.”
If he hadn’t smelled so bad I would have jumped over and choked more out of the man, but I figured the air at a closer proximity would kill me before I could cut off his windpipe. “How’d he get shot?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but I had to ask.
“Don’t know.” Willie shrugged as if he’d never thought to ask. “You got any of that bar-be-qued jerky in the store? I like the one that says ‘hot and chewy’ on the front.”
I’d talked to him enough to know it was unlikely I’d get much more out of him. His mind was like a roulette wheel, not likely to circle round to the same topic anytime soon.
A rumble thundered across the lake like a faraway cannon shot.
We both stood up, knowing what we heard wasn’t natural. A heartbeat later, flames shot as high as the trees along the far north shore.
“Trouble,” Willie whispered. “Big trouble.” He turned and hurried down the dock as fast as his short legs would carry him.
I shouted for Nana to stay inside and ran down the dock in time to jump into Willie’s boat just as he shoved off. We headed toward the fire that grew brighter by the second.
Little wind stirred the water, but we were going across the current. I held on tight as the boat bucked what felt like speed bumps in our path.
“Who lives over there?” I yelled at Willie over the motor.
“No one that I know of. That property by the dam has been for sale so long the sign’s rotted away. Mary Lynn’s place is half a mile down the shore away from the dam. She’s the closest neighbor. I’ve seen a few campers set up near there in the summer, but the road’s too bad to bother with when there are better places south.”
“Then what is burning?” I leaned over the front of the boat as if I could see better by being a foot nearer. The closer we got, the bigger the fire seemed. This was no campfire.
He shook his head. “There’s an old lodge up there by the dam. It’s been closed for twenty years or more. I’ve never been up close, but I’ve seen the roofs of several cabins surrounding it.”
“Should we turn back and call the fire department?”
He laughed. “They won’t come all the way out here. And even if they would, by the time we’d get to the gas station on the highway, whatever is on fire up in those trees will be burned to the ground.”
We bumped a sandy shoreline. I jumped into knee-deep water and helped him pull the boat to shore. By the time we stood on dry sand, I saw headlights jumping along a trail from the dam road. Judging from the way the lights were bobbing, nothing but a four-wheel drive would make it from the main road.
Willie and I moved closer.
“Smells terrible,” he mumbled.
I had to agree. Something more than wood burned.
