Page 31 of His Wounded Heart

“Ah, dammit.” I take a moment to absorb the news. “Trenda, I have a problem. There’s a significant ice storm coming our way within the next twenty-four hours. It sounds vicious. I need to get supplies up to the people that Bernie normally cared for.”

“I knew Bernie was taking care of people, but I didn’t even think about the fact that with his gout he hadn’t been making his normal deliveries. Are you sure about the weather?” she asks me.

“Yep.”

“Let me call my sister, and I’ll call you right back.” The line goes dead.

Well, okay then. I start my truck and head down what someone might call a road, back to civilization.

Three minutes later, Trenda calls me back.

“Okay, that’s settled. Chloe will pick up Bella from school and watch her. She’ll tag Zarek and he’ll hit the food pantry and see what they have available, and I’ll head to the store. Whatever he doesn’t get, I’ll buy. You need to get to the hardware store; Dave will know what Bernie usually gets when it comes to propane tanks and you can get those. I’ll reimburse you.”

“Like hell you will.”

“We’ll discuss it when we meet at the fire station.”

“You forgot one thing; we don’t know where these people live.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I’m sure that Zarek will let us use his Jeep, so have Dave deliver the propane tanks to the fire station.”

“I have a truck, but—”

“Oh, and I have the coordinates for everyone, it won’t be a problem finding them.”

“I should have known. Are you sure you weren’t an officer in the Navy?” I ask.

She laughs again, and this time I feel it below my belt.

What the hell?

“Worse than that—I’m a single mother.”

This time I laugh. “Yeah, I can see where wrangling Bella would keep you on your toes.”

“You have no idea. So, are you good with my plan?”

“A couple of things. I just bought Fred Sanderson’s big truck, so we don’t need Zarek’s Jeep, and I’ll reimburse you for what you spend at the grocery store.”

“You can try. I’ll meet you at the fire station.” Again, the line goes dead.

As I get to the grocery store I find out that Trenda has already called Roger and notified him of the situation. Roger, unlike his employees, has taken intelligent initiative and called over to the food bank before Zarek has had a chance to even get there. So, he was filling in the foodstuff that the foodbank couldn’t supply.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I ask the man as he fills up a box with canned goods.

“Yeah, you can carry this to the front, and then load it when Trenda gets here.”

“Don’t we need to check out first?”

“Simon, I never charge Bernie, so why would I start charging now?” As I take the box of canned goods to my truck I mull over what Roger had to say. I have to admit, his attitude says a hell of a lot about this town and the people in it. This might be someplace to hang my hat for more than just a little while.

“Mr. Clark, where do you want me to put this?”

I turn around and see Dennis behind me. He’s carrying a smaller box. When I look inside I see it is full of frozen meat. Not just ground chuck, but rib-eyes, roasts, and chicken breasts. Yep, this is definitely someplace I could come to like.

“Just put it into the back of my truck, Dennis.”

“Yes, Sir.”