Page 70 of Forever Endeavor

As they left the garage, Sonny couldn’t help but snicker. Suckers.

Gurdeep came out of hiding. “Geez, you handled that remarkably well, boss man. I thought you were going to fight her to keep the house.”

“I was, until I began cleaning out the place. It opened my eyes to the sad, desperate state that ol’ shack is really in. It may still look decent on the outside, but take a closer look and you’ll see the cracks in the foundation, the porch is sinking, and the roofline is sagging. Mice have been in the attic. Plus, all of that cast iron plumbing and the original knob and tube wiring will never stand up to code. It’s going to take a lot more than new wallpaper to fix up that money pit.”

Gurdeep rubbed the back of his neck. “Gee, on the outside it looks decent, but inside it’s falling apart? There’s a giant metaphor for a bad marriage if there ever was one. Sounds to me like you’re walking away in the nick of time.”

“With a sweet parting gift to start over someplace else,” he said, whacking a stack of cash against his palm. “Not too shabby.”

“You deserve to come out on top, Sonny. I’m glad. So, now what?”

“I may have something in mind. It could take a while to make it happen, but I have a good feeling about it.”

“Intriguing. Does it have anything to do with a certain redhead?”

Sonny smiled slyly, averting his attention back to the scene on the sidewalk. “It might. But until then, we need to ride out the rest of this storm until it passes. Once the dust settles, I can start to put things in motion.”

Five o’clock came without any word from Billie, but Sonny figured they were on their way back. Surely, if she’d been stranded by car trouble again, she would’ve called or sent up a smoke signal from the steam pouring out of her ears.

He sent Gurdeep home and began closing the shop for the night when a pick-up pulled in, honking its horn to signal its arrival. Stan and Bernice. The commotion immediately roused the sleepy news camp again. “Look, it’s him!” someone shouted before a tidal wave of cameras and boom mikes surged toward the truck.

“That’s not him! You’ve got the wrong guy!” Sonny waved his arms and shouted to no avail. They swarmed the driver’s door, shoving microphones through the window at poor, bewildered Uncle Stan. Sonny squeezed between the reporters and the truck so that Stan could escape, baring his teeth until they backed away. “Back off! I said it’s not him!”

He escorted his aunt and uncle into the garage. “I’m sorry, it’s been like this all day.”

Shaken, Stan still managed a joke. “My own fault for looking like my brother.”

“We went to the house first, but no one was home, so we thought maybe Cal and Billie were here with you,” Bernice said. “Haven’t they returned from Madison?”

Sonny shook his head. “They should be back any minute now. Haven’t heard a peep since this morning so I really hope that means everything’s gone well.”

“Perhaps that’s meant to be a good sign. I’ve been on pins and needles all day wondering how things went, haven’t been able to get a darn thing done around the house.”

Stan chuckled. “Not a thing but wash all the bedding and hang it on the line, scrub the kitchen floor, clean the windows, tend to the garden, and bake three pies.”

She swatted his arm. “Nervous energy, I suppose. I still can’t get over this whole story. Not in a million years would I imagine our Calvin could be swept up in such a romantic saga.”

“Not in a billion years,” Sonny said. “And we have Billie to thank. This is all her doing.”

“From what I hear, that’s not the only thing Billie’s been doing,” Bernice said, giving Sonny a sly wink. “Although you have to admit, it does have all the makings of an Amethyst Jayde novel.”

“There’s a good reason for that. She wanted to give Cal’s story the happy ending she thinks it always deserved and use that for her next book.” Sonny shuffled his work boots. “Would you two excuse me a moment? I’m going to change out of these clothes.”

“Of course, son, you go right ahead. We’re not going anywhere,” Stan told him.

As Sonny turned to go, Bernice called out. “Sonny, wait! I think I see them now.”

Sure enough, Billie’s cherry sports coupe turned in to the garage lot and came to a stop in front of the open bay door. Sonny hoped to gauge their moods through the glare of the windshield, but barely managed to glimpse their faces before the press descended, shouting questions and jockeying for the best angles. “All right, stand back and give them some space,” he bellowed, shouldering his way around the car as a deputy worked crowd control on the passenger side. Sonny pried open the driver’s door for Billie. Other than a tiny shake of her head, she remained expressionless, any hint of emotion concealed behind her dark sunglasses.

“Please!” She held her hands in the air. “Mr. Hayes is prepared to make a statement to the press, but immediately afterwards, we implore you, please leave. Let him and the residents of Janus Lake resume their lives in peace.”

The deputy stretched out his arms and swept the mob back from the car. “All right, you heard the lady. Back up and give them some room.”

Cal stepped out of the car as cameras jostled inches from his face and reporters shouted rapid-fire questions at him. He looked shell-shocked as he scanned the crowd that had gathered before glancing toward Sonny, Stan and Bernice. Spotting a few familiar faces brought a shaky half-smile to the old man’s face.

Sonny escorted Billie around the car to stand next to Cal. She tugged on the old man’s arm. “You ready?” He nodded and pulled a piece of paper from his suit jacket. The throng quieted to a dull roar and then, fell into an eerie hush as he began to speak.

“My name is Calvin Hayes. Earlier this week, you learned that I had been involved in a search for a kind stranger who changed my life forty years ago, never believing that I’d get the chance to see her again or tell her how much our brief encounter meant to me. Recently, that changed when a dear friend took a chance on finding the stranger online to reunite us.”

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