“Do you like meat loaf and mashed potatoes? If you do, don’t order it here. It’s the worst thing on the menu. I don’t know why Kenny even insists on serving it.”
I had to laugh. “Okay, we’ll cross that one off our list. What are you going to have?”
“I always get the hamburger steak with grilled peppers and onions, green beans, and fries. You can believe me when I say that it’s much better than it sounds.”
“I don’t know; it sounds good to me,” I said, and he motioned to Lynette. Grace agreed to try it, and Lynette took our orders. Before we could return to our conversation, she came back with three heaping plates of food.
“That was fast,” Grace said.
“It’s today’s special, so Kenny keeps a lot of it back there,” Harry said.
As promised, it was indeed delicious. The hamburger steak was cooked to a perfect medium-well, and the onions and peppers were wonderful. The beans were clearly homegrown and canned, and the fries didn’t even need catsup they were so good. As hard as it was to ignore the food and focus on our guest, I did my best, sneaking bites as I asked Harry more about James.
Finishing a French fry, I asked, “When did he come back for the last time?”
Harry thought about it a second, and then told us. It was right before he’d first showed up in April Springs asking about the old railroad tracks near Donut Hearts. Had he come straight from the manor to join our little community?
“That’s about when he moved to our town,” I said.
Harry nodded. “Something bad happened here, and he wasn’t about to stay. Besides, he never was cut out for life around here. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he ended up there.” With a wistful tone in his voice, Harry said, “He called me a few times after he left, but he was actually afraid that the phones were bugged on the estate. I told him my cell phone was clean, but he wouldn’t risk it. We were planning on going fishing next summer, but that’s not going to happen now.”
“We know what really happened. When exactly was he locked up?” I asked as delicately as I could.
Harry’s expression hardened, and I saw his hands go white as he clenched them. “Forrest is going to pay for that someday. He thinks it’s over, but he’s wrong.”
From the sound of his words, the threat wasn’t idle, and I was happy not to be Forrest. “He had it done himself?”
“He surely did. Mrs. Pinerush was too sick to fight him on it, and Forrest waited until she didn’t have the strength to oppose him. You saw it for yourselves a little bit ago. She’s a different woman when he’s around, like he’s got some kind of hold over her. The woman’s afraid of her own son. Imagine that, would you? I don’t remember much of my own mother—she died when I was just a kid—but I never would have treated her like that.” He shook himself, as if trying to wipe all of the bad memories away, and then took another bite of his lunch.
“What set it off?” Grace asked.
“James came back to the manor with a piece of paper renouncing his fortune once and for all, but all he got for his trouble was two nights in the loony bin. Pardon me, the state mental facility, that’s the proper name for it these days. They couldn’t keep him, but it was enough to make Jim realize that he wasn’t ever going to be able to give away his fortune, so he just left it with them. He told them that he didn’t want to have anything to do with any of them or their money. Jim even signed over his interest payments to a charity, the Poor Children Among Us. If he couldn’t do any good with the bulk of his money, he was determined to do something with the interest to try to redeem his family’s name and honor.”
“I don’t understand that part of it,” I said. “What business is it of anyone else’s what he did with his inheritance?”
Harry finished his meal and pushed the plate away as he explained, “I don’t get it, either, not completely,
I had to laugh. “Okay, we’ll cross that one off our list. What are you going to have?”
“I always get the hamburger steak with grilled peppers and onions, green beans, and fries. You can believe me when I say that it’s much better than it sounds.”
“I don’t know; it sounds good to me,” I said, and he motioned to Lynette. Grace agreed to try it, and Lynette took our orders. Before we could return to our conversation, she came back with three heaping plates of food.
“That was fast,” Grace said.
“It’s today’s special, so Kenny keeps a lot of it back there,” Harry said.
As promised, it was indeed delicious. The hamburger steak was cooked to a perfect medium-well, and the onions and peppers were wonderful. The beans were clearly homegrown and canned, and the fries didn’t even need catsup they were so good. As hard as it was to ignore the food and focus on our guest, I did my best, sneaking bites as I asked Harry more about James.
Finishing a French fry, I asked, “When did he come back for the last time?”
Harry thought about it a second, and then told us. It was right before he’d first showed up in April Springs asking about the old railroad tracks near Donut Hearts. Had he come straight from the manor to join our little community?
“That’s about when he moved to our town,” I said.
Harry nodded. “Something bad happened here, and he wasn’t about to stay. Besides, he never was cut out for life around here. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he ended up there.” With a wistful tone in his voice, Harry said, “He called me a few times after he left, but he was actually afraid that the phones were bugged on the estate. I told him my cell phone was clean, but he wouldn’t risk it. We were planning on going fishing next summer, but that’s not going to happen now.”
“We know what really happened. When exactly was he locked up?” I asked as delicately as I could.
Harry’s expression hardened, and I saw his hands go white as he clenched them. “Forrest is going to pay for that someday. He thinks it’s over, but he’s wrong.”
From the sound of his words, the threat wasn’t idle, and I was happy not to be Forrest. “He had it done himself?”
“He surely did. Mrs. Pinerush was too sick to fight him on it, and Forrest waited until she didn’t have the strength to oppose him. You saw it for yourselves a little bit ago. She’s a different woman when he’s around, like he’s got some kind of hold over her. The woman’s afraid of her own son. Imagine that, would you? I don’t remember much of my own mother—she died when I was just a kid—but I never would have treated her like that.” He shook himself, as if trying to wipe all of the bad memories away, and then took another bite of his lunch.
“What set it off?” Grace asked.
“James came back to the manor with a piece of paper renouncing his fortune once and for all, but all he got for his trouble was two nights in the loony bin. Pardon me, the state mental facility, that’s the proper name for it these days. They couldn’t keep him, but it was enough to make Jim realize that he wasn’t ever going to be able to give away his fortune, so he just left it with them. He told them that he didn’t want to have anything to do with any of them or their money. Jim even signed over his interest payments to a charity, the Poor Children Among Us. If he couldn’t do any good with the bulk of his money, he was determined to do something with the interest to try to redeem his family’s name and honor.”
“I don’t understand that part of it,” I said. “What business is it of anyone else’s what he did with his inheritance?”
Harry finished his meal and pushed the plate away as he explained, “I don’t get it, either, not completely,
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