Going Through the Notions(78)

I folded it carefully and found a large shopping bag to place it in. If life was all about maintaining good karma, then I was going to try to fix mine. No matter what Angus said about the Perkins family getting a fair price, I wanted to absolve my part in the whole thing as much as I could. If nothing else, it would ease my conscience if I gave the quilt back to them. Money could do strange things to families after someone died, and I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I went back to Martha’s to get Betty, but getting her out of there was like dragging a fifteen-year-old away from the school dance. I waited impatiently as she slowly sipped her drink. Why the hell did Martha have to give her such a tall hurricane glass? This was going to take forever.

When we were finally in the car, I called Joe and asked if he’d like to go to dinner. He said he still had about another hour’s worth of work in the kitchen before he wrapped things up. I told him I had one more errand to run anyway.

As I hung up, I reflected that he’d sounded pleasant enough, but not particularly interested. What was that magazine article about half of married couples cheating on each other? How superior I’d felt that it could never happen to Daisy and Joe, the fairytale romantic couple.

I swallowed against a quiver of panic. I’d make it up to him tonight.

Once in Sheepville, Betty decided she needed to stop at the grocery store, and I didn’t have the heart to refuse. The daiquiri had made her slightly loopy, and each purchase was an event to be discussed and ruminated over until I thought chewing on broken glass might be less painful. Finally we reached the checkout, and I stood as much of the friendly conversation between Betty and the girl on the register as I could until I grabbed some bags and started stuffing produce into them before she’d barely rung them up.

Back at her house, I helped Betty carry the groceries inside and put them away. “Okay, Betty, that’s everything. I’d better get going. Thanks again for taking the notes today and for letting us use your place for the fair.” I headed for the front door.

“Oh, it’s no problem at all. I’ll type up the notes and send them around to everyone. There is one more little thing while you’re here, Daisy, if you wouldn’t mind?”

I sucked down a deep breath, and smiled as brightly as I could.

“What is it?” Let’s hope it’s a quick little thing.

“Well, Angus never had time to put the window unit in the bedroom and it’s so hot up there. I haven’t been able to sleep.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I’d get Joe to come and install the heavy air conditioner for her, but with all that he had going on, who knew when he’d get to it?

Resigned, I followed her up the stairs and into her bedroom, which was certainly god-awful hot. The setting sun blazed orange fire against my eyeballs as I struggled to lift the air-conditioning unit up onto the windowsill. Betty wasn’t much help, and I bore the brunt of its weight. She disappeared downstairs for several minutes searching for a screwdriver to secure the side panels, while I held it steady, my arms quivering. I counted to one thousand and started over again, feeling the sweat prickling across my forehead.

The sun was touching the horizon now.

Time was slipping away, I thought in desperation. Joe would have stopped work on the kitchen by this time and be waiting for me. I’d have to rush in the door with yet another excuse.

It was like one of those dreams I used to have when I was teaching, where I was trying to get ready in the morning, but everything was moving in slow motion, everything was going wrong, and when I finally made it to the school building, I couldn’t remember which class I was teaching, or which room.

Betty came back with a manual screwdriver, and we finally got the unit situated in the window. I screwed the panels in on either side. When I finally satisfied myself that it was safe, I blasted the setting to max cool and stood there for a moment gasping for breath.

Now I’d need to take a shower when I got home, too. Joe and I would have to have one of those late European dinners.

I jumped in the car and took a left out of the auction grounds. I should have taken a right and headed straight home, but the quilt sitting in a large bag on the front seat reminded me how much I wanted closure. Joe used to laugh that there was no stopping me once I got the bit between my teeth. Besides, it would only take a few more minutes.

Back past the pub, the bank, and the supermarket, through the center of Sheepville, past the intersection with Burning Barn Road and Hildebrand’s garage, I drove until I came to the outskirts of town and Perkins Feed Supply.

Not surprisingly, the store was already closed for the day. I got out of the car and looked around, but the huge shed was locked up, too, and the parking lot deserted.