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Clara laughed and said, “You’re probably right.”
Charlie looked around the house and said, “You got this at a very nice bargain. It’s almost too good to be true. Are you sure that it’s not haunted or that there wasn’t a triple homicide that happened here?”
“Woman, you watch way too much television,” Clara said, laughing. “There’s no such thing as ghosts, and I’m positive there wasn’t a murder here. They would have been obligated to disclose that.”
“Mmm-hmm. Just let me know when you start hearing strange noises in the middle of the night or you see a mysterious red stain that just won’t come out of the floor,” Charlie said.
“Quit being so dramatic,” Clara said. “They sold it to me at such a good price because I bought their café and they were ready to get to Florida. I guess they were tired of Colorado cold.”
“I can’t imagine life without cold winters and snow,” Charlie said. “I love looking up at Pike’s Peak and seeing the snow on top if it and the other mountains.”
“Wait until you get older and see how your bones and joints love Colorado and its winters.” Clara laughed.
Clara helped Zeke unpack his room and get everything set up just the way he wanted it while Charlie busied herself in the kitchen. They spent the entire night laughing and working.
“I’m going to miss you being five minutes away,” Charlie said.
“I’m not that far,” Clara said. “Besides, that is what telephones are for.”
“I know, but things won’t be the same,” Charlie said.
Clara thought the same thing when she watched her best friend drive away the next morning.
“Things won’t be the same, but that is what I wanted,” she assured herself.
Clara’s first task at hand was to hire a manager. Greta and Frank didn’t have one because they ran everything themselves. Clara was fairly certain that she needed some help in that department. They had recommended someone who they thought would be perfect.
Jamie Morrison was perfect. She was extremely outgoing and friendly. She worked well with the staff and all of the customers – even the cranky ones. Clara and Jamie became very close friends over the new couple of weeks.
One afternoon, when the café was slow and Clara had finally caught up on all the paperwork, Jamie asked, “What brought you to Ivy Springs? Most people come, they visit, then they leave.”
“I needed to get out of Colorado Springs,” Clara said. “I was married for seven years to a controlling, mentally abusive man. Even though we were divorced for six months, he still thought that he could control me.”
“I hate people like that,” Jamie said. “Do you think that he’ll try to cause you trouble here?”
“It’s possible. I hope not, though. I hope that he figures out that this thing is ridiculous. We are divorced. It is done. We are over,” Clara said. “I’m just afraid that he will be one of those men who won’t let distance stop them from being a pain in the ass and have the idea that it isn’t over until they say that it is over.”
“I recommend self-defense classes and pepper spray,” Jamie suggested.
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Clara said. “So, what about you? Have you always lived here?”
“I was born and raised. I left for a while to go to college to get my business degree and then came back home. My mom got sick and I had to take care of her,” Jamie said.
“Is she okay now?” Clara asked.
“She is doing a lot better. Her cancer is in remission, thank goodness.”
“Have you ever been married?” Clara asked.
She immediately regretted the question because she didn’t want Jamie to think that she was prying.
“I was engaged once. I thought that he was the man of my dreams, but things didn’t work out between us.”
Jamie didn’t elaborate any further and Clara didn’t ask any questions. Clara didn’t want to pry and figured that if Jamie wanted her to know what happened then she would tell her.
John came up to Ivy Springs the following Friday afternoon to pick up Zeke at the café. Clara didn’t want John to know where she lived if she could help it. Jamie was working the front.
“Good afternoon. What can I get for you, sir?”
