B&B

"Yeah, it pretty much sucks. Or as the military guys say, 'It sucks—big time'."

Both of them laughed then Misty said, "I should be going, Mr. Fields. It was really nice talking to you. I had no idea we had so much in common." She paused then said, "I wish we didn't."

"Me too, Misty. And it would be nice if you'd call me Gary."

"I'll do that, Gary," she said as she stood up. "Can I take your plate before I go?"

"Tell you what. I'll go with you and you can show my the kitchen and if you'll let me, maybe I could make dinner for everyone tomorrow."

Misty laughed as she said, "They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Well, the way to mine is to keep me out of the kitchen."

"If that's true, I can't wait to take over and get you out of there!"

Misty smiled, looked up at him, then said, "Why Mr. Fields, are you flirting with me?"

He smiled back then said, "A man can always dream, right?"

He followed her to the kitchen and looked around. "Okay, I can work with this. Nice commercial mixer here. Double oven over there. Large grill for pancakes, hamburgers, and what not. Plenty of refrigerated space and a freezer that's nice and deep."

He turned to Misty and said, "Someone put some money into the kitchen. This is all high-end, quality stuff."

She stood there shaking her head before saying, "This turns you on, doesn't it? Ha! You have an oven fetish. I can see it in your eyes." She was pointing at his right eye and Fields couldn't help but laugh. "Uh-huh. You laugh, but I'm on to you, Gary Fields."

"All I need is an apron with the inn's logo on it and I'm all...."

Misty tossed one at him and said, "You were saying?" It was wrapped around the top of his head and she started laughing.

He tugged at it and found an opening to talk through. "I do not look ridiculous," he said pointing a finger at her.

"Oh, no. Not at all," she said her eyes open wide in mock agreement. "You look very.... Oh, hell, you look totally ridiculous!"

Fields ripped at the apron and said, "That's it, you are toast!"

Misty shrieked as she turned around to run. Fields couldn't see with the apron around his face and two steps into the chase, tripped and drove his right thigh into the corner of a steel table.

"Son of a b...." he called out biting his tongue as the pain from his leg made its way to his brain.

Misty stopped immediately and came back to see him holding his upper leg and grimacing. "Gary! Are you okay? What happened? What did you do?"

He told her what happened and she could see it hurt like hell. "Come here and sit down. We need to get some ice on this right away."

"No, I'll be fine," he told her. He tried to put his weight on it and the pain shot back through him. "Okay, maybe some ice would be a good idea. But not here. I want to sit down in my room."

"Okay, okay. Um...let me help you. Here, put your arm around my shoulder and...."

Fields did that as Misty put her arm around his waist. "Can you walk?" she asked.

"No, but I can still hop pretty good," he told her trying to be funny. The humor broke the tension and Misty laughed with him.

"I'm really sorry, Gary. How bad do you think it is? Should we call the doctor?" she asked as he limped back to him room.

"Call him? As in...house call?"

"Well, yeah. That's how it works in Sheldon. Doctor Smith makes house calls. Should I call him?"

"No, I'll be fine," he told her.

She helped into the soft, comfortable chair in his room and said, "I'll go get some ice. Take those pants off so we can see how bad it is and I'll be right back."

Fields looked at her and said, "Why Ms. Vincent, are you flirting with me?"

She flipped her hair as she turned and said, "Ha! In your dreams!"

As she walked away he called out, "I told you a man can always dream, right?"

He heard her laugh and that was enough to mitigate the throbbing pain in his leg. He dropped his pants and pulled a towel over his lap then looked down. It was already a deep purple in the middle and red for a couple of inches all around it. He was no doctor but he did know what a hematoma was and that concerned him. What he didn't know was whether or not they caused blood clots and that thought made him think twice about letting her call the doctor.

Misty came back with an old-fashioned ice bag. As soon as she came in, her eyes went straight to his thigh. "Oh, my God!" she said unable to keep looking. "I'm calling Dr. Smith right now!"

She handed him the ice bag then grabbed her cell phone. "I'm fine," he said reaching for her forearm. She was still punching buttons when he told her, "I'm okay. Really."

Misty ignored him and Fields heard a man answer the phone. "Dr. Smith? Hey, it's Misty. Good, how are you? How's Phyllis? Oh, that's wonderful. Say, listen...."

She described what happened and Fields hear him say, "Let me take a look at it. Just turn your phone around and go to FaceTime, okay?"

Without asking, she did just that. "Oh, okay. It looks nasty, but I don't think it's serious. I see you've already got the ice out. Give him Tylenol for the pain and have him keep the ice on it off and on until he goes to bed. Then again in the morning. After that, a heating pad will help until it heals. It looks painful but not serious."

"Okay, thanks, Doctor Smith. Will do and you take care, okay? Hey, you guys need to stop by soon. I haven't seen you in forever!"

Fields loved the folksy charm and the old-world method of calling a medical doctor directly coupled with modern technology that saved him a house call. Fields hadn't heard a word the doc said, though. He spent the entire time staring at Misty and her gorgeous figure and beautiful face.

"Did you get all that, Captain Klutz?" she said with a big smile.

"No, not really," he told her honestly.

He saw her glance down then smile. "Um...looks like something else is swelling. I should get some more ice."

Fields knew he was getting hard again. He just had no idea it was that obvious. "Oh, shit!" he cried out reaching for the quilt to pull it over the towel.

"Hey! Easy with that quilt," she said reaching over him and turning to look at his face. She was only a few inches away and he could not only smell her perfume, he could smell her breath which struck him as being...sweet.

He let go of the towel and said, "Okay, okay. It's all yours, Nurse Ratched."

She made an angry face as she took the quilt from him. It was playful and only lasted a second. She pulled the quilt over his...growing problem and said, "There you go. All safe and um...sound." She leaned over and said very quietly, "This will be our little secret, Mr. Fields."

She patted him on his good thigh then said, "Can I get you anything else? Maybe a bruise for the other leg so you have a matching set?"

Fields made a growling sound and snarled at her. "With friends like you...."

Misty stood up and said, "This must be the universe's way of telling you you don't belong in the kitchen."

"I don't take advice very well," he said. He tried doing his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression and said, "I'll be back!" with 'back' sounding like 'Bach.'

Misty laughed and told him, "You mean you'll be on your back, right?"

"Nope. I'm not letting a little thing like a massive hematoma slow me down. No, sirree."

"Um, Gary? You're no Terminator, okay?" She laughed when he laughed then told him, "Let me go get you some Tylenol and I'll get out of your hair."

"Dang! And just when I was getting used to having you in it!" he said.

She looked at the top of his head and said, "Well, it's thick enough for a girl to get pleasantly lost in there. I'll at least grant you that."

She smiled again and said, "I'll be right back, okay?" A minute later she was and handed Fields two Tylenol capsules along with a glass of water.

"I really am sorry about your leg, Gary. Do you honestly think you'll be okay?"

"I wouldn't want to go hiking tomorrow, but I think I can manage to drive around just fine." He smiled at her then said, "Or even cook dinner."

"You don't have to do that. I can take care of it. After all, that is my job."

"Yeah, but I'm on a mission to get you out of the kitchen so...."

"Ah! You're so sweet," she told him.

"Sweet. Hmmm. Um...thanks?" he said knowing what 'you're sweet' typically meant.

She walked over to the door and just before closing said, "You're kind of cute, too." Before he could reply, she waved with her fingers the way women do then closed the door and left.

He lifted up the quilt and saw the purple had spread and that the towel now resembled a tent with a large pole in the middle. "She is so hot!" he said as he tried to move his leg causing him to wince from the sharp pain.

Fields didn't sleep too well as his leg woke him up every time he turned his body. It was a little after 5am when he gave up. He limped to the bathroom where he peed then emptied the water from the ice bag. He washed his hands then went to the little fridge and poured the cubes from the ice tray into the bag and sat back down. Twenty minutes later, his leg was numb from the cold and he decided he was going to try swimming.

After a slow, painful set of movements, he got into his trunks and limped out to the pool. Only the small lights under the water were on and it was otherwise pitch black and utterly silent as he gently lowered himself into the water. As he tried moving around using only his arms he felt pretty good. He used his one good leg and that too, was fine. His bruised leg hurt but not in a bad way, and he knew he could swim if he used it sparingly and didn't push off with it when he changed directions.

He'd completed about 20 laps when he heard a noise. He stopped swimming, treaded water, and saw Misty standing there in a bathing suit.

"Are you insane?" she said her hands on her hips and her hair in a ponytail.

"Maybe a little," Fields offered. "Come on in. It feels great."

"Yeah, so you can hurt your leg even more, get gangrene, sue me, and... Hey, that way you'd own this place and I could go back to teaching!" she said before taking two quick steps and doing a cannonball. Fields turned as she raised up a modest plume of water before shrieking loudly.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh!" she said mostly to herself when she realized how loud that was. Misty giggled again then said, "You're right, this does feel good!" She pushed off the side and free-styled to the deep end, then did a very nice flip-turn and swam to the other end.

"Not bad," Fields told her as she grabbed the side of the pool at that end.

She was gasping for breath as she said, "I still have decent form. What I don't have is stamina!"

She swam three laps with him then said, "I'm pooped and I've got to get breakfast started anyway."

She pulled herself out of the pool then said, "Seriously, how's your leg this morning?"

"Not too bad in here," he told her. "I can't say that as a land lubber, though." He was holding onto the side and tried to pull himself up until he got to his bruised thigh. He made a hissing sound then lowered himself back in. "I think I'll try the ladder," he said pointing to the shallow end.

"Hold on. I'll come around and help you." Misty walked quickly to the ladder just as he was surfacing.

"Easy!" she said. "Don't put any weight on that leg, okay?"

Fields used his good leg, drug the bad one up, then repeated the process. Misty extended her hand and as he reached for it he saw her staring at his body. "What it is it? Do I have another bruise or something?"

"Wow," she mumbled. "How old did you say you are?"

"Forty-one. Why?"

Misty hadn't seen a body that hard on any guy since college and she'd seen her share of them back then. "Swimming definitely agrees with you," she said as he put his arm around her again.

"It kept me from going crazy that first year. Well, along with my daughter, that is."

She helped him grab his towel and let him steady himself using her to balance as he dried off. "Okay, I think I've got it from here," he told her. She was staring at him again, but not at his body.

"Thank you," he said waiting for her to break free of whatever trance she was in.

She blinked twice and said, "Oh, um...you're welcome. I guess I'll see you at breakfast then, okay?"

"You will," he told her as he limped into his room.

Gary was the talk of the table when he limped in for a breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy with sausage and bacon.

"That's what you get for...fooling around...with such an attractive young woman, Gary," the older man told him.

His wife gave him a look but it had no effect. "The only question is whether or not you caught her. Did you?"

"I'm listening to your conversation!" Misty called out.

The man turned around and said, "Good. So I'll ask you. Did he catch you?"

"You are such a bad man!" she teased.

"That wasn't an answer, young lady!" he called back.

"Why don't you ask him?" she said loudly.

"I tried. He won't say." He waited for a second then called out, "I'm gonna keep asking until I get an answer. You know that, right?"

"Not if you want to stay married another year you won't," his wife finally said causing everyone to laugh and her husband to give up.

Without prompting, Misty called out, "To answer your question, he gave up too soon."

Everyone turned and looked at Fields as the younger man said, "Oooo! I believe you just got zinged, Gary."

"She knows I can't run right now so she thinks she's safe. But when my leg gets better!" he called out.

"Yeah, yeah. All talk, no action." He saw her smiling at him and he immediately felt the results.

After a second cup of coffee, he was sitting alone at the table. Misty came out, cleared everything off, then started the large dishwasher in the kitchen before coming back out.

"So what's your plan for today, Crip?" she teased. "You gonna hobble around here all day or venture out into the grand world of Sheldon?"

"I'm feeling bold," he said. "It's a brave new world for yours truly."

"Uh-huh. Sure it is. A man has to dream, right?" she said trying not to smile.

"Wise guy, eh?" Fields said doing his best imitation of Curly from The Three Stooges.

"Hey, I think you've found your calling!" she told him very seriously. "You make a perfect stooge, Moe!"

"If I could run, you'd be so...."

"So...what? What would you do Mr. I-can-barely-walk? Huh?"

"Okay, fine. You win this round, but I will be back!"

"Yeah, yeah. That's really getting tired. You and your idle threats." She finally smiled a genuine smile at him then said, "There isn't a whole lot to see around here once you've had your fill of leaves. But unless you know where to go, you'll miss the handful of things that are worth seeing."

"Oh, okay. Can you let me know where they are so I can make sure not to drive on by?"

"I can do you one better," she said. "Well, if you don't mind a tour guide."

"Really? Can you afford to get away for a while?"

"The dishes are running and I don't have to start lunch prep until around 10:30, so yeah, I could probably squeeze you in. But we better hurry." She looked at his leg then said, "Oh, right. You can't. Tsk, tsk. What a shame!"

He stood up like he was going to come after he again and Misty just laughed. "Uh-huh. All talk and no...run?"

She smiled at him again then said, "Let me just grab my coat and we can head out."

Fields went to his room so he could brush his teeth and get his own jacket. He put his keys in his pocket, grabbed his cell phone and limped back into the dining room.

"All set?" she asked as soon as he walked in.

She let him lean on her and use the handrail as they went down the steps, but he still opened her door before painfully limping around to his side. He set down and put his foot on the brake to start the car and winced.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Wow, that hurts like h...the dickens."

"Why don't you let me drive?" she said.

He wanted to make a joke about women drivers, but his leg was really hurting so he told her that sounded like a good idea.

"This way, I won't have to tell anyone where to turn," she kidded as she started his car.

"So where are you taking us?" Fields asked.

"Saint Albans Museum," she said. "It's about 10 miles south of Sheldon and St. Albans was the site of the northern most action in the Civil War."

"I just learned something," Fields said. "I'm sure you've been there before, right?"

"Only once," she said. "It's another one of those things you take for granted if you live nearby. I think you'll really enjoy it and it's been many years since I saw it and I'm happy to go again."

Misty was absolutely correct. It wasn't a large building and only took a few minutes to see everything in it. The draw was in its connection with history. In October of 1864, Confederate soldiers in Canada came to St. Albans claiming to be on a 'sporting vacation.' Two or three more soldiers arrived each day for over a week until 21 Confederate cavalrymen had assembled. Shortly before 3pm the men staged simultaneous robberies of the city's three banks. They identified themselves as Confederate soldiers and took a total of $208,000 ($3,150,000 in 2016 dollars). During the robberies, eight or nine Confederates held the villagers at gun point on the village green, taking their horses to prevent pursuit. Several armed villagers tried to resist, and one was killed and another wounded. Their leader ordered his men to burn the city, but the 4-US-fluid-ounce (120 ml) bottles of Greek fire they used failed to ignite, and only one shed was destroyed by the flames.

The raiders escaped to Canada, despite a delayed pursuit. In response to U.S. demands, the Canadian authorities arrested the raiders, recovering $88,000. However, a Canadian court ruled that because they were soldiers under military orders, officially-neutral-Canada could not extradite them. Canada freed the raiders, but returned to St. Albans the money they had found.

As an unintended consequence, the raid served to turn many Canadians against the Confederacy, since they felt that Canada was being drawn into the conflict without its consent. The Confederate agents in Canada realized this and no further raids were made.

As they drove off, Misty said, "That's about as good as it gets up here. There are some old churches and other things to see, but since I have to get back to the inn, that's probably the end of my ability to serve as your tour guide."

"Fair enough," Fields replied. "Is it possible to stop and buy what I need to make dinner tonight?"

Misty checked the time and said, "I think we could squeeze that in. Keeping in mind we're on a pretty tight budget, any idea what you're looking to make?"

They arrived back at the Maple Leaf with ten minutes to spare and Misty unloaded and brought in most of the groceries. She went straight to work preparing lunch while Fields developed his game plan for dinner.

At lunch, Misty let everyone know they had a mystery chef preparing dinner that evening which generated some chatter at the table. After a simple but delicious lunch, Fields did his best to help Misty clear the table and run the dishes. She sat with him and chatted for an hour over a cup of coffee.

The more he learned about her the more he liked her. She had such a mature, realistic perspective on life and love and yet she was still very much a romantic—something Fields found very endearing.

"So after losing your fiancee, did you give up trying to find love?" he asked.

"Not exactly. For the first year or so I was too heartbroken to really care. As I said, I dove into teaching headlong and spent my evenings preparing for the next day. It may sound counter intuitive to 'prepare' for a Kindergarten class, but it's amazing how much planning it takes to make learning enjoyable and effective. After that, I dated here and there but my heart still wasn't in it."