“Yes, but…” Henrietta sighed. “I supposed you’re right.” Then her voice took on a trace of anger. “But there was no way to protect her, not really. It seems as if there’s not a damned thing the system can do until it’s too late!”
The door opened and the judge walked in just in time to overhear Henrietta’s last remark.
“You’re blaming the system for one fool’s misdeeds,” he said. “No one could have stopped Lyle Perkins. He was a mean kid and a rotten adult.”
“And everyone, including the sheriff, turned a blind eye to it,” Henrietta countered, scowling at him. “Oh, I don’t know why I waste my breath trying to talk to you about this,” she said, and headed for the kitchen.
The judge sighed and slid into the spot she’d vacated. “I doubt she’ll ever stop blaming herself,” he said sadly. “Or me.”
“What did you have to do with it?” Heather asked.
“Since Lyle was never brought into court, nothing. That doesn’t stop Henrietta from thinking I should have come swooping in and locked him up, anyway. Barbara Sue never filed charges, so how could I? My hands were tied. And the one time Barbara Sue did try to defend herself by shooting him, she wound up in my courtroom. I was tough on her, said she couldn’t go around shooting people just because she thought they deserved it.”
A rueful smile settled on his face. “You should have heard Henrietta. She stood up in the middle of that courtroom and blasted me from here to kingdom come. I could have held her in contempt and tossed her in jail right then and there. Probably should have, just to keep some decorum in the courtroom, but what she said had some merit. I took it into account when I let Barbara Sue off with probation. We got a restraining order against Lyle, too, so he couldn’t go near Barbara Sue when he got out of the hospital.”
“But that didn’t stop him, did it?”
He shook his head. “There’s no way to stop a man who’s determined to get even, not unless he messes it up the first time and gives us reason enough to throw him in jail. Unfortunately, Lyle didn’t mess it up. There’s not a minute that’s gone by since that I don’t ask myself what I could have done differently, but I have yet to come up with an answer.”
“Henrietta must understand that your hands were tied legally.”
“In her head, yes. In her heart, I doubt she’ll ever forgive me.” He gave Heather a wry look. “Not that there’s anything new in that. Henrietta’s made it her life’s work to hold a grudge against me.”
“Why?”
“Because I foolishly let her down once, a long time ago. The woman has a good memory.”
“But you keep coming back,” Heather pointed out.
“So I do. Somebody told me once that persistence is a virtue. Henrietta might take exception to that, but I figure one of these days I’ll wear her down.”
“And then what?”
“I’ll marry her, of course, assuming we’ve both retained enough mental capabilities by then to repeat the vows,” he said wryly.
Heather chuckled. “Maybe you need a new strategy.”
He stared at her. “I’m listening.”
“Flowers, maybe. All women love flowers.”
“Henrietta’s allergic. She claims she sneezed for a week the first time I sent roses. That was thirty years ago and she’s never let me forget. Said I was trying to kill her.”
“Candy?”
“Won’t touch it. Says she gets all the sweets she needs in her own pies and cakes.”
“Is there something else she’s fond of? Does she collect anything?”
“Henrietta lives and breathes this diner. It’s as much her home as that place she lives in a couple of blocks from here. The customers are her family. She fusses and fights with ’em like they were, too.” He shook his head. “No. I’m afraid the usual courting would be wasted on her. Not that I haven’t given it a try from time to time.”
“Well, there has to be something,” Heather said, undaunted. “I’ll think about it.”
The judge regarded her curiously. “Now why would you do that, young lady? You barely know me or Henrietta.”
Heather patted his hand and gave him a wink. “I’m a romantic. I like happy endings.”
His expression brightened. “I’ll be much obliged if you can figure out how to go about getting one for the two of us before we’re both too danged old to enjoy it.”
Todd didn’t set foot in the diner all weekend long. Henrietta was about to storm over to his place to check on him, but Heather managed to talk her out of it.
“Give him some time,” she begged. “He needs to wrestle with this news I’ve dumped on him. It just hit him out of the blue, but he’ll adjust. That’s what Todd does. He accepts facts, searches for solutions and moves on.”
But when he hadn’t surfaced by midweek, even she began to get concerned. Since the ever-busy Starlight was the last place she wanted to confront him, she decided a drive to the studios might be in order. She could explain her presence simply by saying that as an actress, naturally she was curious about the production facility Megan had created.
Wisely, though, she opted to leave Angel with Henrietta. The two of them were already thick as thieves. Heather couldn’t help thinking what a shame it was that Henrietta hadn’t had kids of her own years ago. But she was making up for it now with Sissy, Will and, lately, Angel.
Angel trailed “’Retta” around like a little shadow, mimicking her activities. She insisted on helping to set the places at the booths—all of which had to be reset the minute her back was turned—then carried a “coffeepot”—an empty plastic milk jug that Henrietta assured her was better for little hands—from booth to booth, pretending to pour. She chattered away at her imaginary customers as she went.
When real customers came in, she was often the first one to reach the table, greeting them with her sunny smile and asking, “Take your order?” as if she could actually do it. Fortunately Henrietta was never so far away that she couldn’t step in and actually write down whatever order the grinning customers gave.
“Where you going?” Angel asked when Heather headed for the door.
“Just to run an errand,” Heather told her. “You’re going to stay and help ’Retta.”
“Okey-dokey.”
She turned and toddled off to find Henrietta without a backward glance. After all this time being Angel’s primary caregiver, Heather wasn’t at all sure how she felt about such ready abandonment. Today, however, it suited her purposes.
Following Henrietta’s carefully written directions, she drove to the outskirts of town, where she had no trouble at all finding the production facility. Unfortunately the first person she ran into was Jake.
“What are you doing here?” her lawyer asked.
“I thought maybe I could see Todd.”
“Not a good idea.”
“Why?”
“He’s grumpier than a bear with a thorn stuck in its paw, for one thing. For another, Megan’s protective instincts have kicked in. She knows something’s wrong and she’s pretty sure you’re the cause of it. She won’t welcome you and I won’t have her upset.”
The door to the facility opened and Todd looked out. “Jake, what’s up?” He spotted Heather and the color seemed