“You don’t need to worry about that. My toes fell off an hour ago.”
That earned him a quick smile. They got Walter turned around and started walking through a foot and a half of snow. Kyle noticed two sets of footprints, Ellie’s new ones and a set now disappearing that must have belonged to Walter. Or was that two old sets?
“Kind of a miracle that he made it to the bus stop,” Kyle said.
“Mm-hmm,” Ellie answered.
“Does a bus really come here and go all the way to Denver?”
“What?” She glanced at Kyle. “Oh,” she half-laughed. “No, no, that’s not a real bus stop. Dad.” She looked at Walter, her voice raised. “You remember when you were living in Denver and first seeing Mom, how you’d take the bus every Thursday night and Saturday morning to Grandma and Grandpa’s house so you could sit with her on the porch?”
“Every Thursday night and Saturday morning,” Walter echoed. “Go see my Peggy before some other fella comes along and snatches her up.”
She looked back at Kyle. “He wanders. It’s part of the damn disease. We go on walks in good weather and I keep the house locked up otherwise, but he’s sneaky. If he gets out, he’ll just keep walking. I read about this thing they do over in a retirement home in Germany that helps keep Alzheimer patients from wandering into traffic. They put up a fake bus stop in the yard in front of the retirement home. Patients go out, they see it and sit down on the bench, waiting for the bus. Then an aide just sweet talks them back inside.”
The house was in view now and Ellie pointed to a snowdrift. “That’s his bench under the drift there, and there’s usually a sign beside it, but I think the storm must have blown it down. Or…” She looked back toward the road. Or maybe toward Rick the Dick. That might explain the extra set of footprints.Why would that asshole have done something as dangerous as take the sign down?“If Dad walks past the bench here, the one out by the road always stops him. More realistic-looking I guess, but not quite as safe.”
“Can’t hear you two,” Walter said.
“It’s okay, Dad. We’re almost home. Here’s the porch. Three steps up.”
“So, who exactly is that Rick guy?” Kyle asked. She raised an eyebrow and he added, “Besides a complete dick?”
She snickered at that. “You’re a friend of Arden’s, you said? I’m surprised she hasn’t mentioned him.”
“I just got in last night.”Please don’t ask any more about that.
“Where from? Someplace warm, looks like. She should have told you to bring a parka, not that flimsy jacket.”
“California, actually.”
Ellie looked confused for a moment, and then seemed to have some sort of revelation. “Oh, shoulda known from your size. Military, aren’t you? Well, it’s good you’re here for the holidays, Kyle. This’ll be a tough one without her brother here to help this year. Left her to take care of that whole spread by herself after Doc and Mrs. Volker passed on. Came and went as he could, but what was he thinking? Man, how she argued with him.”
Oh, she has abrother. That’s where the clothes came from. Relief flooded him to an unsettling level. “Yup, Arden sure knows how to argue,” he said.
Ellie shook her head as she unlocked the front door. “That she does. Damn shame, the whole thing.”
He took a calculated risk. “Yeah, a shame. How long’s it been since their parents died?”
Ellie paused. “Lemme think. Four…yeah, four years now.” She opened the door and blessed warmth poured out.
“You said there’s coffee, Ellie?” Walter asked.
His daughter beamed. “Yeah, Dad. A whole pot of it, made fresh. Welcome back. You go on in and take your coat off.” She made sure he didn’t stumble on the sill. Once he got in she sighed, then looked at Kyle. “Some days I have him clear as a bell, some days I lose him to the past. Looks like he’s back now.”
“That’s how it went with my grandpa.”
“Come on in, let me get you some coffee, warm you up a bit.”
That could only lead to more questions. “Thanks for the offer, ma’am, but I should be getting back. Like you said, Arden needs my help.”
Ellie clucked her tongue. “Come in just for a second.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him in after her, taking the choice out of his hands. “Wish I could drive you on up there, though I could put you on the snowmobile. You ever ridden one?”
“No, ma’am.”
She picked Walter’s coat up from off the floor where he’d dropped it and hung it on the coatrack next to the door. “Well, that’s out then. I’d take you myself, but Dad.” She gestured toward Walter, who’d taken a seat on the couch and was plucking at a loose thread on the armrest while he looked at their Christmas tree. “I can’t risk another escape.”
“I understand, ma’am, and it’s no trouble. Thanks for letting me come in to warm up, but I’ll be on my way.”
