Free Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 06 - A Season of Change by Diane Greenwood Muir

hotel, it’s no big deal. The place is in complete destruction as it is. Damn it, Jeff. Why do things always pile on top of each other?
    “I don’t know. Who should we contact? Aaron or Ken?”
    “Probably Aaron. If Anita needs to come up and look at the system again, he can have her do that.”
    “Doug probably wouldn’t mind it if she did.”
    Polly grinned. Doug and Anita were tentatively trying to figure out how to have a relationship. They’d dated a few times in the last several months, but Doug was terribly shy about the whole thing and Anita was extremely busy. There had been a few gaming nights in the computer room here and Anita had come up to play, but they had yet to do much more than be casual about it.
    “Do you want me to call him?”
    “Would you mind? He’s had enough of me today. And if you call him at least he won’t assume I’ve found another dead person.”
    “Eliseo told me what happened. You’ve had a bad day. I’ll take care of this. Why don’t you go upstairs, take a shower and relax.”
    Polly looked down at her filthy clothes. “Am I offending you?”
    “I’m not about to say that,” he laughed, “but you’ll probably feel better if you do.”
    He was right. “Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate you talking me in from the ledge.”
    “I’m here to take care of everything, even your sanity when necessary.”
    Polly went back upstairs and opened the front door of her apartment. When she stepped into the living room, she was greeted by a very guilty looking dog and two nonchalant cats.
    “What did you do this time?” she asked and glanced at the dining room table. The chicken was gone and the container and fork were on the floor. The cottage cheese container was tipped over, but she’d not had time to open it, so nothing had spilled. The apple was missing and she knew she needed to find it. She picked up the fork and empty chicken container, then looked for more signs of destruction. There was a smear of tomato on the floor leading into the kitchen. A quick swipe with a paper towel and it was cleaned up. Polly put the cottage cheese away and took out another apple. The bite of chicken had been wonderful, but the email had upset her enough that her stomach had forgotten how hungry it was.
    She had a couple of hours until the boys showed up so she headed for the shower. It didn’t surprise her at all to find the apple on the bathroom floor. She tossed it into the trash can under the sink and turned on the water.
    Damn. She’d forgotten to call Ben to tell him she wasn’t coming back to the hotel. Padding into the bedroom, she picked up the phone and called Henry.
    “Hey pretty girl, I’m not far away now. What are you doing?”
    Her voice broke, “Henry, could you tell Ben I’m not coming back to the hotel this afternoon and ask him to take the cart back to the basement and close up?”
    “What happened, Polly?”
    “I’m done. I can’t take any more today. I’m going to crawl in the shower and wash this damned day off of me.”
    “What happened?”
    “I got an email from the person who vandalized Sycamore House last fall. He’s back. I haven’t had anything to eat and Obiwan ate my chicken breast and stole my apple. I’m tired, filthy, and hungry and I don’t want to be an adult any more today.”
    “You got an email? Have you called Aaron or Ken?”
    “Jeff is taking care of it. I’m done.” She started to cry. “I’m sorry, Henry. Don’t worry. I’ll feel better after a shower. But could you call Ben for me?”
    “I’ll go there now and take care of it myself. Don’t worry about anything. Take your shower. Make some toast and lay down until the boys show up. I’ll be by later.”
    “Thank you. I love you.”
    “I love you too, Polly.”
    After he hun g up, Polly felt tears stream down her face. She figured she might as well do it in the shower, so she checked the temperature of the water, turned it up until it was almost too hot and stepped in. It was