Annie's Answer

by Hanson, Pam Andrews

  “And maybe a boiled egg?” he suggested.

  Since Gramps had moved in with them after giving up the parsonage, he’d been a mother hen to both his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The arrangement had been surprisingly successful, especially since they’d remodeled the rear of the house so he had a small apartment of his own.

  “Not this morning, thank you,” Mom said. “I need to lose a few pounds.”

  Her mother’s one obsession was her weight. Annie and Gramps never seemed to gain, but Laura Williams was always on a diet. She was taller than her daughter, who suspected her weight gain was mostly imaginary, and she walked the mile or so to and from her job at the bank unless the weather was bitterly cold.

  “Well, at least have some orange juice. I just squeezed it,” Gramps said.

  “About your job….” her mother said.

  “It’s fine, Mom. All I do is provide some companionship for Mr. Sawyer’s aunt.” She explained about the tornado and Mattie’s sprained ankle while she ate a bowl of corn flakes.

  “I wish I could do more to help you buy the flower shop,” her mom said. “Your father’s insurance money is pretty much gone.”

  “It’s something I want to do on my own,” Annie assured her for perhaps the hundredth time. “Aunt Mattie is a little sharp-tongued, but I’ll only be there for the summer. The Sawyers will be home from their trip after Labor Day.”

  “Wouldn’t it be nice to travel in Europe all summer?” Mom asked wistfully.

  “Maybe your turn will come someday,” Annie said with an optimism her mother rarely shared. If her flower shop, as she now thought of it, was successful, she badly wanted to give her mother a chance to enjoy life more. Raising a daughter alone had been a constant struggle, although life was easier now that Gramps contributed to their household budget.

  “There’s only one thing I really want.”

  “Yes, I know.” Annie didn’t want to hear about her mother’s hope for a married daughter and a grandbaby. She could see herself sometime in the future with a family of her own, but she hadn’t had a serious boyfriend in a couple of years. After living in Westover her whole life, she couldn’t think of a single man she wanted to date, let alone marry. Not many men like Nathan Sawyer lived in the small Ohio town.

  The last spoonful of cereal went down wrong, making her choke and alarming her mother.

  Nathan was her temporary employer. What on earth had made her think of him as an eligible male? The Sawyers were the closest thing Westover had to royalty, and his mother was just plain scary in her haute couture outfits. Everyone knew the family donated scads of money to the church, but she couldn’t imagine Mrs. Sawyer in the kitchen helping with a funeral luncheon or a potluck—or even folding bulletins, which was one of Annie’s jobs.

  “I have to go,” she said after assuring her mother she wasn’t choking to death.

  “Now that you have another job, will you still have time to go to Carbonville with me tomorrow?” her mother asked.

  “Of course, I’m looking forward to it,” Annie assured her, knowing it was a big deal to her mom.

  Westover had one super store and a dollar store, but the closest mall was fifteen miles away. She knew her mom enjoyed having lunch in the food court and shopping the stores with her, even if neither of them intended to buy much. A Saturday afternoon trip worked well because she was scheduled for the early morning breakfast shift at the pancake house, one of the busiest times for the restaurant.

  “I have to run,” Annie said.

  She wasn’t as nervous as she’d been the day before, but she hoped Nathan wouldn’t come home at noon to check on her. When he was around, she didn’t feel like herself—although she wasn’t sure why she had such a strange reaction to him. Maybe she just wasn’t used to men with movie-star good looks. He made her feel awkward and inadequate, although he was never anything but courteous.

  When she got to the Sawyer mansion, Mattie was alone in the kitchen.

  “You just missed Nathan,” she said by way of greeting. “He ran off with a granola bar for breakfast. My Tom would’ve been skinny as a stick without a good farm breakfast. His favorite was buckwheat pancakes with fried eggs and bacon.”

  “Sounds delicious. How are you this morning, Mrs. Hayward?” Annie asked.

  “I told you to call me Mattie. No point in being formal if we’re stuck with each other all summer.” She’d put the round box of cereal on the counter and had water simmering on the stove. “Now I’m going to show you how to make oatmeal.”

  Annie watched carefully, but the lesson wasn’t much help. Mattie added oats by the handful, scorning the use of measuring cups.

  “I make the best biscuits in Polk County, and it’s all in the eye. Either a person knows when dough looks right, or she doesn’t.” Mattie balanced on one foot to stir the bubbling oatmeal and pronounced it ready without using the timer on the stove. She put a cover on the kettle with a loud clank and pushed it off the burner.

  “There, now do you think you can make coffee the right way?”

  “I’ll try,” Annie said mildly, resigned to doing things Mattie’s way all day—and everyday until she was no longer needed. Hopefully that wouldn’t be until the end of the summer.

  At least she didn’t have time to be bored. Unlike her time at the restaurant where things were sometimes so slow she ended up folding napkins and scrubbing tables and chairs, the day went fast. Mattie had a list of jobs for the two of them to do together, which meant Annie worked and the older woman supervised. Whenever she was out of sight for more than a few minutes, she could count on Mattie calling her with the volume of a foghorn on Lake Erie.

  Mattie was the planner; Annie was the doer. When the older woman had a yen for homemade vegetable soup, Annie peeled potatoes, chopped carrots, onions, and parsnips, and rummaged in the cupboards for a carton of chicken stock.

  “It’s a shame to use ready-made stock. On the farm I stewed our range chickens and kept a supply of broth in the freezer. Of course, that was when I had Tom to cook for.”

  She sounded nostalgic, arousing Annie’s sympathy. But a minute later Mattie roundly criticized the peeled potatoes because she could still see some eyes.

  Nathan didn’t come home for lunch.

  The afternoon went much faster when Mattie insisted on walking through the garden, pointing out things the once-a-week gardener hadn’t done to her standards.

  “Careful,” Annie warned her when she thumped off the flagstone path to examine a clump of ornamental grass.

  She had visions of the older woman falling and doing even more damage to her slender frame. What would she say to Nathan if his aunt fell and broke a hip or injured her good ankle?

  Mattie finally settled down in the shade on the patio to supervise Annie from a distance.

  “Fetch my straw hat from my bedroom,” she said as Annie prepared to do some weeding. “I don’t want you getting heat stroke on my watch.”

  Annie smiled to herself as Mattie gave her directions on how to tie the wide-brimmed hat under her chin and advised her to drink a lot of water in the hot sun. In spite of the heat, gardening was more fun than housework, and Annie tackled the weeding with enthusiasm.

  “Well, at least you’re not lazy,” Mattie said when it was nearly time for her to leave for the day.

  “I love growing things,” Annie said, earning a nod of approval.

  She settled Mattie down in the den with a glass of iced tea—none of that herbal stuff that tasted like cardboard for her—and was ready to leave when she heard the front door open.

  Her face was damp and flushed, the knees of her jeans were soiled from kneeling in the dirt, and her hair was plastered to her head from wearing the straw hat. She thought of ducking out the rear door rather than let Nathan see her looking like a farm hand, but she was too slow.

  “Did you ladies have a good day?” he asked, coming into the den with the jacket of his navy pinstripe suit slung over one shoulder.

&nb
sp; “There’s soup in the crock for supper, and I had Annie put out one of those long, store-bought breads to thaw,” Mattie said, ignoring his question.

  Nathan looked at Annie with a quizzical expression, obviously expecting some kind of response from her.

  “We did have a good day,” she felt compelled to say. “I did some weeding.”

  “You look like you plowed the back forty.” He said it in a teasing way, but Annie mentally squirmed under his gaze. “She’s your companion, not your slave, Aunt Mattie.”

  “The girl likes to keep busy,” his great aunt said without a trace of remorse.

  Nathan gave Annie an apologetic look and shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

  Much as she preferred to make a quick departure, Annie could hardly refuse. “I’ll see you Monday, Mrs. Hayward—Mattie.”

  Walking beside her, Nathan seemed even taller than she’d thought. He draped his jacket over the banister in the foyer and opened the front door for her.

  “You’re not here to be the gardener, you know,” he said. “You don’t have to do everything my aunt says.”

  “I don’t mind.” She kept her eyes on the pavement as they walked to her car. The VW looked like a junkyard relic compared to his shiny gray Lincoln parked directly behind it.

  “Mattie will steamroll you if you give her a chance,” he warned.

  “She means well. She’s just frustrated because she can’t do everything herself.”

  “I’m glad you understand that. I adore her, but she can be a tyrant.” He stopped beside her car and smiled down at her. “Anyway, I appreciate how well you’re getting along with her.”

  “I have to go,” she said, but she wasn’t thinking about getting to her next job. Being so close to Nathan was unnerving. She liked him a little too much considering they lived in different worlds. The last thing she wanted was to develop a crush on him.

  “You’ll be back Monday morning?” he asked a bit anxiously.

  “Yes, of course.”

  He opened the car door for her and leaned down after she slid in. “Thank you for being patient with her.”

  “Thank you for giving me the job. It means a lot to me.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief when he shut the door and stepped back. Nathan made her nervous, and it wasn’t just because she needed his job to realize her dream. How was she going to get through the summer without giving in to some very unwise feelings for him?

  Chapter 6

  Annie liked the Saturday morning shift at Yum Yum Pancakes. Customers were happier and tips were larger than in the evening. Better still a steady stream of people filled the tables and booths, which certainly made the time go faster.

  The only drawback was fatigue. She had to be there at six a.m. after working until nearly eleven the night before. By noon when she could go home, she felt steam-rolled. Fortunately her feet didn’t hurt, a complaint of many of the employees, but she hated the sensible but unattractive shoes she wore to work.

  “What do you have planned for today?” Nanette asked as Annie walked to the parking lot behind the restaurant with the older waitress.

  “I’m going to the Carbonville mall with my mother.” Annie took her car keys out of her shoulder bag.

  “You wouldn’t catch me trudging around the mall after working all morning,” the gray-haired waitress said. “I’ll be doing good just to stock up on groceries before my daughter brings her kids to the house. I’m babysitting with them tonight—the baby and the three older ones. Sometimes I dream about a day with nothing to do but sit in front the television and eat popcorn.”

  “Good luck on that,” Annie said with a sympathetic laugh. It was a reminder of how much she didn’t want to be waiting tables when she was Nanette’s age. Was she making a mistake pinning all her hopes on buying the flower shop?

  “I can make a success of it,” she said to herself as she teased the old motor into starting. After all, she’d finished two years of business classes at the area community college, driving the twenty-two miles in rain, snow, hail, and tornado watches. She felt confident of her business skills, and her love of growing things made a flower shop the perfect place to test them.

  The VW shuddered and threatened to stall, but Annie managed to keep it going.

  Thinking about her prospects, Annie’s thoughts went to Mattie. Everything depended on keeping the elderly woman happy. She should ask if there was anything she needed from the mall. Since nothing was much out of the way in the small town, she decided to stop by and ask her.

  Was she going there to help Mattie, or was she hoping to see Nathan? No, that was a silly thought! She glanced down at her uniform and the sticky streak across the front where she’d leaned against a table. Sponging the blueberry syrup stain had only made it worse, and she regretted forgetting her apron that morning.

  The top story of the Sawyer house was barely visible behind the stately trees in the front yard, and she was tempted to forget stopping there. Still, she’d taken on the job of making Mattie’s confinement more pleasant. What could it hurt to run in for a minute or two? Chances were Nathan was in his own part of the house if he was home at all.

  The Volkswagen threatened to stall again when she turned onto the circular drive in front of the house, but she was used to teasing it along. She down-shifted and slowly pulled to a stop, only to find herself directly behind Nathan’s big Lincoln. Worse, he was in the process of washing it.

  Her heart did a little flip-flop, and her first instinct was to swerve around him and head for home as fast as the VW would go. But no, it was too late. He was walking toward her with a puzzled expression.

  Nathan didn’t look at all like a lawyer this noon. His khaki shorts were wet from the hose he’d left running, and a tee shirt faded to the shade of a stagnant pond clung to his torso. His hair went every which way, falling over his forehead in a cascade of honey brown strands. She hadn’t been wrong about his shoulders. Muscles rippled under the stretchy cloth, and she couldn’t help but notice the golden tan on his arms.

  “Hi,” he said, opening the door on her side of the car. “I’m surprised to see you today.”

  “I’m not staying,” she was quick to tell him. “I’m going to the mall with my mother, and I thought maybe your aunt might need something.”

  “That’s nice of you.” He stood looking down at her and blocking her exit from the car.

  She wanted to melt into the upholstery. Her uniform was rumpled and stained. Her hair was going every which way after yanking off her cap, but worst of all, she smelled like griddle grease after being close to fried pancakes, sausages, and bacon all morning.

  “I’ll just run in for minute,” she said, although it was the last thing she wanted to do now.

  “I think Mattie is in the sunroom,” he said, although he didn’t move out of the way so she could leave the car.

  “Should I just walk in?” Did her voice sound squeaky? Did he realize how nervous he made her?

  “Sure.”

  Again he didn’t move back from the door. She squirmed under his close scrutiny.

  “I can’t stay long,” she assured him, hoping he’d get the hint and let her out.

  “I’ll walk you in. Let me turn off the hose.”

  He jogged up to the house and stepped behind some shrubs, apparently where the faucet was. Annie bounded out of the car and hurried up to the front door, but he still got there first.

  Again he opened the door. Her instinct was to change her mind, but Mattie came thumping into the foyer on her crutches.

  “Oh, it’s you,” she said, not exactly a warm welcome. “I didn’t expect to see you until Monday.”

  “I’m not here to stay.”

  “Annie’s going to the mall in Carbonville, the closest one to Westover. Is there anything you’d like her to get for you?” Nathan asked.

  Did he think she couldn’t ask for herself? Annie was annoyed but reminded herself it was his house and his aunt. He was n
owhere near as overbearing as Bob Hoekstra, and she managed to work for him.

  “Now that you mention it, my watch hasn’t worked since I got here. I think it needs a new battery. Is that something you could get at the mall?” Mattie asked.

  “There’s a jewelry store. I would think they could change it for you,” Annie said.

  “Splendid!” Mattie said with an unusual show of enthusiasm. “I’ll go find it.”

  Annie watched as the older woman pivoted around on her crutches and headed toward the back of the house. She was wearing a navy crinkle cloth dress with embroidery on the yoke—or perhaps it was a housecoat since it hung down to the elastic bandage on her ankle. It made her look more like a shut-in, although Mattie always sounded very much in control of her circumstances.

  “I think she likes you.”

  Annie was startled to realize how close Nathan had come. Now he was sure to pick up on the greasy smell lingering on her uniform. It took a few seconds to get enough composure to answer.

  “I hope so,” she said. “She’s an interesting lady.”

  Nathan startled her again by laughing loudly at her comment.

  “That’s a polite way to put it,” he said, his face still softened by good humor.

  His chin was bristly, and he didn’t have the fragrance of aftershave she was coming to associate with him, but she liked his more rugged look.

  “I meant it as a compliment,” she said, hoping Mattie would burn rubber getting back on her crutches.

  “I’m sure you did,” he said, apparently still enjoying some private joke. “I thawed some lemonade this morning. How about joining me in a glass. I’m pretty thirsty.”

  “None for me, thanks, but you go ahead. I’m leaving as soon as Mattie brings me her watch.”

  “You’re assuming she actually brought her watch with her from Iowa. And that she’ll be able to find it in the next half hour.”

  “She seems exceptionally well organized to me,” Annie said with an edge in her voice. Sometimes Nathan didn’t seem to have a very good opinion of his great aunt.

  “She is,” he agreed, “but when my father chartered a plane to get her, she tried to bring half her possessions with her. She couldn’t stand leaving anything behind if it wasn’t damaged beyond saving. And she wouldn’t hear of storing anything in our attic. Everything she brought from Iowa is in her bedroom.”