Page 36 of Dragged Home for Christmas

Harry gave a proud smile. “We were fellow veterans. Nick was a good man.”

“He was a veteran?” Mike had had no idea.

Harry widened his eyes. “Of course. Nick was in Grenada in 1983, when he was just nineteen. After that, he was in Libya, then Iraq. He ended up in the IRR—that’s the Individual Ready Reserve—for four years, and got called up for Panama in ’89. He collected his papers in 1993.”

“Three years before I was born,” Mike murmured. “No one ever told me any of this.” He paused. “I’d love to talk with you sometime about all this.”

“Of course.” Harry’s face glowed. “But as to why I’m here, Jim says you’re gonna renovate the hotel, so whatever you need—timber, paint, you name it—I’ll supply it. Anything for Nick’s Place.”

Mike glanced at Jim. “You really earned your pizza tonight.”

He grinned and puffed out his chest. “Damn, I’m good.”

Mike returned his attention to Harry. “Thank you doesn’t even come close. But I should add a note of caution. You have no idea how much paint we’re going to need. A few cans won’t cover it—literally.”

Harry sighed. “I know Nick never carried out any refurbishments. And he never let on about how bad things were. So yeah, I have a fair idea of what it’ll need. And I’m still offering to supply it.”

Gabe chuckled. “I told you. You’re going to have business owners and townspeople crawling out of the woodwork all over the place to support you.”

It was a little overwhelming. No, scratch that—it was overwhelming as fuck.

Mike’s face grew hot. “Thank you, gentlemen. And Iknow Nick would thank you too.”

“Now all you need is a lot of hands to make this work.” Harry smiled. “But I don’t think you’ll have to look far. We take care of our own around here.”

“I don’t suppose you guys know of a company that supplies toilets, sinks, tubs, etc., that would be willing to give us a whole load of their stock for free?” Sam asked in a hopeful voice.

Both Gabe and Harry laughed.

“Nothing comes to mind, but I’ll keep my ear to the ground,” Harry assured him.

They all shook hands once more, and then the two businessmen left. Mike stared at the departing figures through the door.

Provincetown was full of surprises.

We’re going to give it our best shot, Nick.

Chapter 13

Thursday, November 7

Three Weeks Until Thanksgiving

Mike opened the four boxes that had just been delivered. He had to admit Ashley had done a wonderful job. There were glossy, colorful flyers for the Thanksgiving brunch, posters and flyers for the club and the art classes, and posters about the music recitals. Between them, Jim, Elliott, and Anthony had drawn up the list of events, and the schedule was impressive.

Now all we have to do is work a little magic to make it all come together.

Ashley smiled as she came into the lobby. “Oh good, they’ve arrived. Guess whatyou’redoing this afternoon.”

He laughed. “So today I’m the mailman?”

“No, you’reamailman,” Sam corrected, emerging from the office behind the front desk. “I’m coming with you. Two pairs of legs are better than one. Besides, you don’t know P-town well enough yet.”

“Then maybe you’d better show me. It’s about time someone gave me the five-cent tour.”

“I can do that, but I think we should start ASAP.” Sam grinned. “No mailbox left empty is our motto today.” He peered at Ashley’s hands. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

She held up a framed photo. “I was taking what was left of Nick’s clothing and stuff from the chest of drawers in Mike’s room, and I found this.” She set it on the front desk. “I think that’s the perfect spot for it, don’t you?”

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