Two days later,Staci opened her front door at the knock and grinned when she saw Tony standing there.
“Hey, come on in,” she stepped back to let him enter and watched as he wiped his feet and removed his coat. “Not that it matters, but what brings you over here?”
“We are the guests of honor at the BBQ over at Erin’s Way. It starts at two, but I thought I’d come and offer to drive you over. I have directions to get there without going out on the road. We can go over early, and I wanted to talk to you about something I did on your behalf before it’s said at the party. I don’t want you to get upset.”
“Oh, should I be worried?”
“Not at all, atleast I hope not.”
“Tell me,” Staci crossed her arms over her stomach and stared at him, wondering what he had done.
“It’s not bad, I swear.” He smiled at her, then nodded after taking a deep breath and letting it out in a rush. “Remember when you were at my house and I told you that I was going to talk to a woman about making homemade spaghetti sauce?” He pointed to the chair at the table and when she nodded, he took a seat. He looked at her and saw tightness around her lips and eyes.
“There is nothing going on between me and this woman. Do you know Lois Gibson?” At her cocked head and frown, he smiled. “Grocery lady.”
“Grandma Lois?” Staci asked and poured them both a cup of coffee and joined him at the table. “That’s what she told me to call her.”
“Okay, yeah, Grandma Lois, she’s dating Cole Mercury, my boss over at New Double.” He explained what he learned from Lois herself about how she was going to be planting a garden in the spring, and what she was going to do with the harvest.
“You can do that?” Staci asked in shock. “Can vegetables by yourself so you don’t have to purchase them in a store?”
“Yes. This is where you might think I overstepped into your life. I asked Cole if he could talk to Lois about helping you to learn how to cook. I would love to, but I don’t have a lot of experience.” He gave her asmirk. “I know spaghetti, goulash, steak, salad, baked potatoes, and I open a can of vegetables to go with it. Other than that, that’s all I know how to cook. Oh, I also know how to cook eggs, omelets, and breakfast stuff. I can make pancakes and waffles if it comes from a premade mix, but not from scratch.” He paused because Staci hadn’t said anything since he started talking, and looked at her. He didn’t see any anger or anything in her expression to show if she was upset with him that he had asked Cole to ask Lois for her help. “Well?” he asked into the silence.
“Well, what?” She smirked. “I’m not upset. You were looking out for me, and you took it upon yourself to look out for me. Thank you. I know it sounds stupid that I’m a successful woman in my mid-twenties that doesn’t know how to cook. I will take all the help I can get. I went over to Katherine’s a few days ago, craving chocolate. We ended up making brownies, and she made me make them, it was easier than I thought.” She rose from the table and went over to the counter. When she returned she handed him the piece of paper.
“What’s this?”
“A grocery list. Katherine and Caleb showed me their groceries and told me what I could make with them. I came home and went on a website and printed some easy recipes that I thought I could handle. If Lois wants to help me, I won’t say no.” She grinned when she saw the relief on his face.
“Okay, thank you for not being mad at me. Now that I told you about that, there’s something else I’m going to have to tell you about today.”
“What?”
“You read my file, right?”
“Yes, the medical aspect, but I’m still a little fuzzy on how you got in that condition to begin with.”
Tony scrubbed his face, and rubbed the back of his neck. With his hand cradled around the cup of cooling coffee, he told her about his time in the National Guard and about the man that had caused all the problems he went through. When he lifted his head, Staci saw the anguish on his face and immediately reached out to take his hands with hers.
“The person that jumped from that plane with me, was Marcia Ramos. She lives over at Broken, with Lloyd Berry.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was the one that first realized our parachutes were compromised, and she was able to get hers to open part way. She helped me get mine opened the same way, but by the time we had things under control, it was too late and the mountain was right there. I remember hitting the rocks, then nothing until I woke in the hospital. I do remember hearing screams, and was told later that they came from the guy who sabotaged our chutes. You saw my medical records, Marcia hit the same rock I did, we did it together, she broke all thebones in her body except her skull or spine. Though every rib was broken in two or three places, same with her arms, fingers, and legs. All her joints were saved.”
“Unlike you where your joints were shattered, but the rest of your bones were spared.”
“Correct, anyway, Marcia and Lloyd came over to my place the other night because Marcia realized I was here.”
“She didn’t know you were coming?”
“Yes, she did, however, the day I arrived I was wiped out. Lloyd saw me, and he told me that he would hold off telling her of my arrival until I had time to rest. That was last week. I’ve since started working with Caleb, working with the horses at New Double, and getting a good night’s sleep every night.”
“How did the meeting with Marcia go?”
“Good, she wasn’t as enthusiastic as I expected her to be, but we caught up, and they left, the entire meeting was less than an hour.”
“Do you think something is wrong?”
