Hazardous Ambitions

They say if you choose a job that you love, you never work a day in your life. Claire had been told many times that a coffee shop and bakery was a risky business venture but she couldn’t stop dreaming about it. She honestly never thought it would come to fruition until she found the perfect location.

The town was already a quaint tourist area. It had one main road and it took less than five minutes to drive from one end to the other. Walking took significantly longer as people inevitably stopped at one of the stores for clothing, home décor or fresh vegetables. There was already a coffee shop but it was small with no outdoor seating. Immediately behind the shops were enough homes to justify a small school and a church.

Bumped up against the last shop at the end of the main street was a two-acre property for sale with a large, solid house, a mature oak tree and a dilapidated barn. Claire was instantly able to picture an expansion of the porch into a large deck for customers. Friends could meet to catch up over lattes, students could do their homework and parents could get their daily dose of caffeine while their kids ran around. She knew proper etiquette dictated that she should call the real estate agent, but her heart was hammering and she felt compelled to speak to the owner directly.

As she drove up the lane towards the house, she noticed an aluminum ramp had been set up over the three steps leading to the porch and another threshold ramp led to the door. She could hear a TV as she walked up the stairs and rang the doorbell. The bumping and scraping within suggested the bell had been heard but she had to wait a few minutes before the door cracked open.

“Can I help you?” The face that peered out was level with the doorknob. The wrinkles by his right eye and mouth were drooping but he clearly used to be handsome.

“Hi, my name is Claire. I’m interested in the property?” It wasn’t a question but the inflection requested permission to continue.

The face pulled back as he tried to open the door wider. The reason for his struggle became apparent when a wheelchair came into view. His right arm was flexed and fixed to his chest forcing him to use his left hand to hold the door open. The right leg sat on a footrest while the left tried to pull the wheelchair into position. Claire immediately regretted bothering this man.

“I’m Richard,” he said with an inclination of his head once he managed to open the door fully. “This place has been for sale for awhile. Most of the people asking are families who want to tear the barn down for the safety of their kids. I can’t stand the thought of that barn coming down though.”

“It does kind of look like it’s about to collapse,” she observed.

“I know, but I can’t bear to lose it. I’ve lost enough this year,” he said gesturing to his frozen arm and leg. “I know I can’t stay here, but it would make me feel better if I knew the barn remained. It holds a lot of memories for me.”

The way he stared longingly at the barn across time and the yard made Claire realize there was no room for negotiation.

“Can I take a closer look at it?” Claire asked.

“Sure. I wouldn’t go in there though.”

He remained in the doorway while she walked across the lawn to stand in front of the old barn. Two doors were swinging in the breeze revealing a simple square room and, oddly, an uneven dirt floor instead of concrete. A few rays of sun were streaming through holes in the roof. There was nothing special about it except for Richard’s memories. She returned to the porch.

“Can I renovate it?” she asked.

“No. You let a contractor in there, next thing you know he’ll be telling you everything needs to be ripped down.”

She hesitated before asking her next question but felt she needed to understand why it was so important for the barn to stay if she had to leave something hazardous on the property.

“Why is that barn so special?”

He seemed caught off guard and then his eyes grew sad as he answered, “I met the love of my life when I was just a kid and we used to play in that barn all the time. We said ‘I love you’ in that barn, we had our first kiss…”

He gazed wistfully at the old barn suggesting a couple other firsts. Claire’s heart reached out to him for all of his losses.

“I’m so sorry,” she said quietly, “What was her name?”

He frowned and took his time responding. Claire assumed he was trying to decide if he should share. “Jaaane,” he said slowly and then with more conviction, “Her name was Jane. She died young.”

She let a few moments of silence pass and then looked toward the barn again.

“Could I paint it?” she asked.

“Sure,” only the left shoulder rose in a shrug.

Claire decided to explain her plan to him.

“I think I can make the barn work for me. I want to turn the main floor of this house into a coffee shop and bakery and live upstairs. The oak tree and the barn could be great spots for families, tourists and couples to take pictures.”

He looked around and slowly nodded, “Yeah. I could see it. I would only let your customers take pictures in front of the barn though.”

Her chest warmed a little when he referred to her future customers, giving her hope that he would agree to sell to her.

“You will probably be hearing from me soon,” she said as she handed him her card.

The left corner of his mouth curled into a smile as he took the card and looked directly at her for the first time.

“I look forward to it,” he responded.

A few days later, the deal closed and Claire got to work. She upgraded the kitchen, bought an espresso machine and had the deck built before the summer season. She painted the barn and added plenty of flower boxes to turn it from spooky to charming. She placed a bench in front of the doors so that people could relax with their coffees but no one could enter.

The local townsfolk were extremely supportive and the tourists loved the history of the property. She found herself sharing Richard and Jane’s story frequently while serving customers. She didn’t have all of the details so she found herself filling in some of the blanks. She even carved a heart in one of the exterior walls of the barn, claimed the lovebirds were responsible and sent couples off to look for it. Her coffee shop became known as a romantic spot and her business was being tagged on Instagram regularly. She was honored when a couple requested to have their wedding on her property and asked her to make the cake.

She felt a little guilty for using Richard’s love story to develop her business and she worried about how he would feel if he found out. Richard had moved to a retirement home in a neighboring town but he came to visit regularly as she had ensured it was accessible by building a ramp up to the deck. She never let him pay for his coffee or baked goods and he always sat in the same spot, facing the barn. They mostly made small talk when they sat together but every once in awhile, he would talk about Jane. She occasionally attempted to suggest tearing the barn down as it became more dangerous but his steely gaze made her change the subject. As the years passed, she became worried about his memory as he seemed to mix up details, referring to Jane as a blonde when she was fairly certain he had described her as brunette. Occasionally he even referred to Claire as Jane but he didn’t seem to notice.

Claire managed to keep her business alive during the pandemic as she did not have to pay a landlord rent, she had plenty of space for social distancing and she was deemed an essential business because she served food and caffeine.

About a decade after Claire bought the property, Richard had a second stroke that proved to be fatal. The old barn didn’t survive the week either. A large storm swept through the town and it finally collapsed into a heap of nails and boards. The rain was still falling as she stood on the porch contemplating the wreckage when a man ran up the lane and onto the porch.

“I’m sorry we close at 8:00pm,” Claire said.

“Oh. I was going to have a cup of coffee and try to wait out the rain,” his shoulders slumped in disappointment but the charming smile remained.

She returned the smile and decided to make an exception, “I’ll make you a coffee.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it. I’m Rick,” he held out his hand as he introduced himself.

She smiled at the coincidence.

The following week, Richard’s lawyer delivered a letter that read:

Dear Claire,

If only I had met you when I was a younger man. Do whatever you want with the barn.

Sincerely,

Richard

The sentiment was odd. She had always appreciated that Richard had never made comments about her appearance or given her inappropriate winks. She assumed that the there was no room in his heart for anybody after Jane. The suggestion that the generational gap between them had prevented a romance made her uncomfortable but she decided to take the note as a compliment and move on. Having his permission to use the barn as she saw fit was comforting.

She hired a company to collect the debris but kept the plank with the heart she had carved for display in the shop. She had decided to build a large pergola with a solid roof so that she could hold a variety of events. The crew was starting to dig so that a concrete foundation could finally be poured. She grinned with excitement as she got in her car with Rick to attend a meeting with a local vendor. She was at a vineyard discussing wine packages when she received a call from a detective requesting that she return home. As she drove up the lane, the spot where the barn had been was surrounded by caution tape and police vehicles.

Eight Jane Does were found where the barn had stood.

It would take the rest of her life for her to fully comprehend how thoroughly he had lied and used her. One of the victims was estimated to have been killed ten years ago which was around the time Richard had his stroke. He hadn’t refused to sell out of nostalgia. He had refused to sell out of fear of getting caught. Claire had covered up his crimes with coffee and love stories. And the letter? It wasn’t a goodbye; it was breadcrumbs leading her to the bodies and a threat of what might have been.

Her business had survived a lot but it could not survive this. The media would not leave her alone. She couldn’t imagine how the couples who had gotten married on her property felt knowing they had made their vows near the burial ground of a serial killer. She closed the business and left town. Claire also felt compelled to break up with Rick as she no longer trusted she was a good judge of character. She had built everything on lies. She had built everything on a graveyard.

The one small thing she could be grateful for was that she hadn’t ended up in the graveyard herself.