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The woman in front of me seemed to understand.
“Lettie,” she called out.
Lettie finished up pouring cups of coffee for a table, then rushed over. “Yes’m?”
“Clear off that table in the corner. Get this boy a full breakfast. And I mean everything.”
“French toast, or pancakes?” she asked.
“Both. I don’t know what he likes, but I want him to have a choice.”
Lettie headed for the table.
“Make sure he gets a cinnamon roll too,” Little Grandma called over her shoulder as she slowly got off her chair and then pulled me toward the table in the corner in front of the window. Lettie led the way and started clearing the table.
“Little Grandma, why does he get a cinnamon roll and I don’t?” Harvey whined again.
“Your wife told me that your sugar is high. Plus, you were rude. You’re lucky you’re getting syrup, so hush up.”
My lip kicked up. Even in Dillingham, which was a much smaller burg than this place, people weren’t this deep into one another’s business.
“It’s clean. What do you want, Little Grandma?” Lettie asked as she stood up straight.
“Tea and a biscuit with honey. No butter.”
“I’ll have your orders up in a jiffy. Do you want coffee?” she asked me.
I nodded. She turned over the coffee mug on the table and poured me a cup.
I looked around the diner and saw a few people looking over at us. They were definitely curious about what was going on. Apparently, it wasn’t often that Little Grandma sat down with a customer.
“You have questions, don’t you? Go ahead and ask.”
It took me a minute. All of my brain cells were firing at once. I took a deep breath, then another. Just as if I had a target in sight as I was holding my sniper rifle. I nodded at the old woman in front of me.
“I found Rose Beaumont’s death certificate. It said her maiden name was McBride. My dad always said my mother’s maiden name was McDonald.”
“Arthur was an asshole. Pardon my French.”
“The death certificate said she died of cancer. Did she suffer long?”
“Six months before Beau graduated from high school. She was in a bad way. She’d been depressed for a long time. It was hard on Beau. All of us tried to help her. Get her professional help, but she refused. She clung to Beau and then, when she got the cancer, he nursed her. Again, all of us tried to pitch in, but she didn’t want us around, and he said he could handle it.”
“When was she diagnosed with cancer?”
“When Beau was fifteen. For the last five months of her life, she refused treatment. Just stayed at home and forced Beau to take care of her. But me and some of the other ladies in town forced our way into the situation so that Beau didn’t miss school. It would have been a shame if he hadn’t been able to graduate.”
“So that’s why Beau never comes back to Jasper Creek.”
She nodded. “I hear tell he’s busy climbing mountains and such when he does take leave. He keeps in touch with Bernie Falks. Bernie usually takes care of the whole renting process for Beau since he owns the house free and clear, but since Bernie married Mora, he hasn’t had time to do it for him. I heard tell that Beau took care of the renting by the internet.”
Climbing mountains and such?
“Besides climbing mountains, do you know what else he does?”
“Jumping on a base or something. Lettie’s daughter might know. She was all excited about it when she heard about it.”
Jumping on a base?
