It was only 6.8 miles from the pharmacy to the address Jesse had given her to pick up Paul.
The GPS took her down new roads with beautiful countryside. The streets twisted left and then right, and she had to brake to keep from going too fast around the curves until the path started going up. The car whined a bit as she pressed the accelerator to get up the incline. Pastures filled with cows and an old barn with a patriotic barn quilt brightened the landscape. Across the way, high up on a hill, a huge house rose with turrets like a castle. It looked oddly out of place.
That’s got to be the castle house Stretch was talking about.
There was a mixture of little houses and larger farmhouses. A blackboard fence marked off acreage on the right as she got closer to the address on her GPS. The trees blocked most of the view here.
The GPS signaled she’d reached her destination, only there wasn’t a thing there. She went around the next bend and then saw a big rural mailbox and driveway.
“That has to be it.”
And sure enough, as she pulled up to the driveway, there was an elderly man in a suit and bow tie astride a bright red scooter parked next to the stone-pillar-gated entrance.
She put the car in Park and climbed out. “You must be Paul. Good morning. I’m Natalie. I’ll be your driver today.”
He cocked his head. “You’re new in town.”
“I am. Yes, sir. Is it okay that I call you Paul? Or would you prefer Mr. Grandstaff?”
“I’d prefer Paul, I believe.”
“Paul it is.”
“Hmmph. And what brought you to Chestnut Ridge? Not chestnuts, I suspect. They don’t even grow them up here anymore.”
She laughed. “No. It wasn’t chestnuts. I don’t think I’ve ever even had one, though I love that song.”
“Oh yes.” His face twisted, and then he puckered his lips and whistled the melody to the Christmas song.
“… on an open fire. Jack Frost nippin’ at my nose,” Natalie sang along. “Hey, you’re really good! Better than a band.”
He shrugged, then got off the scooter. He tugged a crumpled paper bag out of the basket on the front and tucked it under his arm. Then he pulled a cane from a tube on the side, swinging it to the ground with his weight against it as he walked to the car.
“Very nice to meet you, young lady.” He stopped, got his balance, and stretched out a wrinkled hand.
His skin hangs like he needs some fluids.Once a nurse, always a nurse. She just couldn’t help herself. Hydration was so important. Just being a little out of balance could cause a host of problems in these older folks. At least he was using his cane, and his gait wasn’t bad.
She’d find a way to impart some hydration wisdom kindly his way at some point. Blurting out her opinion on day one was probably not the way to impress him.
She shook his hand. His grip was good. That was promising. “The pleasure is all mine. It’s beautiful out this way.” She opened the door to the back seat and held it.
He climbed in without a word.
She closed his door, then went around and got behind the wheel.
“Is your scooter fine there? Do you need me to move it?”
“It’s fine.”
“All righty, then. We’re off to the pharmacy.” She turned around in the spot before the gated entrance. She wondered if there was a whole neighborhood up beyond the trees in the curve that she couldn’t see from here. A good question to ask next time.
The metal gate was very decorative, with shiny black rails and tall pines with deer leaping over a fence. In two pieces secured to giant rock-faced pillars, they opened in the middle.
She glanced in her rearview mirror at the little gray-haired man in the plaid bow tie.
He looked longingly out the window.
She noticed the security camera on the pole as she pulled back out onto the road.
