“I’ll be sure to take care of it just as soon as I can.”
“Outdoorsy, a little above average height. Dark hair. Confident. Nice sense of humor. Unmarried.” She’d just described the guy from Fish and Game if his lack of a ring meant anything about marital status. “I’m getting a strong sense of someone like that in here.”
“Are you sure? Do you remember that time when Celadon was in high school and you were sure she was pregnant? You even called the school nurse about it, but it ended up that Celadon’s supposedly male guinea pig was actually an expectant female.”
“That was before I had honed my gift. I’ve improved so much with time.”
“Last month you convinced Martha Rollins to spend her all her disposable income on lottery tickets because you told her you could see an end to all her material concerns.”
“I was right, wasn’t I?”
“She was struck and killed by a log truck as soon as she left the store with her lottery tickets.”
“She had no more material concerns, though, did she?” That’s the thing with Mom’s impressions. If she didn’t try to interpret them, they might actually be spot-on. It was always the reading into them that made a hash of things. You had to take what she said with an ocean’s worth of salt.
“I’d best go tell your grandmother the pickles will be all set before she puts it on her own to-do list,” she said. I followed her out the door and onto the porch, where she came to a dead stop.
“I’m sensing a large presence here.” She pointed to the spot where the mountain lion had made himself at home. I didn’t want to tell her about it, though, because knowing Mom, she’d have a team of investigators, complete with video crew, swarming the place. “I’m picking up on curiosity, and stealth. And doubt mixed with derision. Strange. Not at all in alignment with sugar making.” It looked more than ever like that guy from the state thought my report was laughable despite his apologies.
“Maybe you should come by and do some sort of cleansing ritual.” That ought to distract her from any further interest in big cats or single men. “I wouldn’t want any derision-flavored syrup.”
“What this place needs more than anything is some holiday cheer.” Mom looked around the porch and shook her head sadly at the faded mums and tattered ornamental cabbages. “I’ll take care of it while you’re off on your pickle errand.”
Eight
I intended to set off right away to deliver the pickles but I spotted Hanley in back of the barn with Grampa. Grampa pointed at the trail leading into the north part of the property, and Hanley nodded and started off on his own. Grampa wandered off toward the lower field where he turns out his cows if the weather is decent. I hung back so he wouldn’t spot me following Hanley. Talking about extramarital affairs is not something I wanted to do in front of my grandfather, no matter how much I preferred not to deal with Hanley on my own. Besides, I thought he might be more inclined to tell the truth to just one person instead of a group.
Hanley wasn’t in much of a hurry so it was easy enough to catch up even factoring in the wait for Grampa to disappear from view. I hustled up behind him just as he was coming to a stop in front of a large sugar maple with a broken limb that flopped like a hangnail.
“I see Grampa sent you to one of our neediest.” I hadn’t been trying to be quiet but I must have been doing a pretty good job because he jumped up off the ground like I’d dropped a sledgehammer on his foot. It made me wonder if he had a guilty conscience.
“Dani, you snuck up on me real quiet like. What’re you doing here?”
“Well, I may not be making syrup at this time of year, but I try to walk the property and check on trees every day. I can’t get to all the property every day, but in the course of a week or so, I can get my eyes on most of the trees.” Now to figure out how to insert his affair with Jill into the conversation. “When I was talking to Jill Hayes yesterday, she said she can do hers every day in one short trip.” I kept my eyes pealed on Hanley’s face. He squirmed a bit at her name, tracing a circle with the toe of his boot in the leaf litter at the base of the tree. Gotcha.
“Her property is a lot smaller than this one.”
“Do you service her, too?” I asked. He looked up, startled. “Her trees, I mean.”
“I tend out on her trees. Hers isn’t the biggest account I have, not by a long poke, but every client’s important.”
“Jill said she gets a bit of extra service from you that might not be on the books with Connie.” I felt a little sick and a whole lot embarrassed even letting those words leak out between my lips.