Page 30 of Horn of Plenty
He chuckled, unable to keep a straight face. “Yes.”
“Score another win for Mabel Muldowney,” she said with a fist pump.
“That’ll be five dollars,” the teen said, handing over the cones.
Mabel took the ice cream, then gestured toward him with her head. “Mr. Moneybags is paying.”
Sweet Christ! This woman!
He took out his wallet, paid, then turned to find Mabel staring down Main Street, taking in the activity.
“What flavor did you end up with?” he asked as she handed him his cone.
She took a bite and hummed. “Something wonderful with strawberries and graham crackers,” she answered, then glanced down the street again as her expression grew somber. “I thought we could take a little walk. There’s somewhere I’d like to go.”
He nodded. He had a good idea of the destination she had in mind. “How about we make your stop first, then there’s someplace I’d like to take you to celebrate.”
She perked up as they started down the sidewalk. “Oh yeah?”
He took a bite of his ice cream as a trio of children ran past them. “Yep, even your father approves.”
“My father?” she echoed, her eyes going wide.
“He said that you deserved to have some fun tonight after working so hard today.”
“Did he? That’s awfullyun-Elias Muldowney-like of him,” she answered through a bite of ice cream.
“I also think he might have a girlfriend. That might have something to do with it,” he added, suppressing a grin.
“Claudine?” she offered up.
“Yeah.”
Mabel sighed as she gestured for them to cross the street. “I’m happy for him. He’s been alone a long time.”
“I can’t figure out when it happened, and I live next door to him,” he replied as they passed the church. He was right on his hunch. She wanted to visit her brother.
“You’d be surprised how much a person can hide.” A thread of melancholy wove its way through her words.
She had to be talking about New York. He hadn’t pressed her on exactly what happened that made her hightail it home. But now wasn’t the time to open up that Pandora’s box.
She rested her hand on the gate that led to the Elverna Cemetery. “I haven’t been to see him yet,” she said, staring into the darkened churchyard.
“Do you want to go in?” he asked gently.
She reached for theMcharm but stayed put. “It’s hard to believe he’s buried in there. Every time I leave my room, I half expect to see him open the door to his room and have the two of you barrel out and thunder down the steps.”
Cal swallowed past the lump in his throat. He missed those days, too.
“Jamie would be proud of you, Mabel. But you know that you could do no wrong in his eyes,” he said softly.
He wanted to say more—so much more. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted her to know what he and Jamie had talked about the day her brother had died. One minute, his best friend had been there, and the next, he was gone. Cal stared ahead. The moon lit the gravestones in a hazy glow, and his gaze traveled from the ones with Muldowney etched into the stone to the two with Horner carved into the slabs of granite.
Maybe it was the right time to tell her.
“Mabel—” he began, but she cut him off.
“I didn’t think I could do it again,” she said, her voice barely a whisper as she stared at Jamie’s headstone.
