Ding Dong!! Is She Dead?

by Alathia Morgan

  “I helped a friend out last week and when I left work on Friday someone broke into my car and tried to choke me.” She pulled the scarf from her neck for dramatic effect.

  “Oh, my goodness. Your attacker did that?” Dollie, who was the owner, came over to examine it up close. “Looks like the attacker got mighty close to doing you in as well, dear. The attacker certainly didn’t want you to help that friend out any more that’s for sure.”

  Allie figured the best way to answer their questions was to finish the story. “There was an officer that had been watching over things at the Three W’s and he attacked her as well. She was stabbed several times and is recovering at the hospital for now. The police aren’t sure who did this to either one of us, but they are doing their best to find them.”

  “It just so happens that an amazing man came to the rescue of the officer and then he took me home with him. He claims that it was for my own good. I wasn’t able to get better acquainted that first day, but he is kind of growing on me.” Allie waited for the knowing looks and raised eyebrows from the older ladies, but they didn’t.

  “Justin was a perfect gentleman and kept his hands to himself. He took me out for lunch with his family. Now, we may have to actually have to go on a few dates to get to know each other, but I would love to adopt his family, The Greenleys. Does anyone have the scoop on their family bio? Don’t hold out on me, ladies.” Allie figured that there had to some skeleton in the family closet somewhere.

  “Oh, sugar, did you manage to hook the youngest Greenley, Justin?” Ignoring the looks from the other ladies, Ms. Dollie continued, “His family is just sweet, there are a few crazies in any family, but we all love his family, don’t we ladies?” Dollie raised that eyebrow to let the others know they could chime in with their opinions now.

  The ladies all started telling stories about the charity work that his mother did with her church. How handsome all those sons were and didn’t they get that from their daddy?

  “So what you are telling me, ladies, is that I should run out to the truck where he is waiting…” Allie trailed off as all the ladies raced for the window to peek out at him. Justin just waved from the cab of the truck, smiling slightly.

  Snapping her fingers, “Ladies, hello? I should take him home and keep him?” Allie thought that their reaction was a very good indication that she had picked out the right ranch hand to be rescued by.

  One of the ladies who was in her early 50’s, answered Allie’s question. “Honey, any one of us would do that in a minute. All he would have to do is give us the go ahead and we would be all over that.” Followed by a chorus of uh huhs and oh yeahs.

  Now, that the story was out, Allie hoped that the ladies would excuse any mess ups that happened with their orders in the coming weeks; and chalk it up to lovesickness. Not the she was in love, but with everything going on that would be a good excuse if a few things were done wrong.

  Waving bye to all the ladies and promising to be back next week, Allie was glad that it was over with. While she loved what she did, she knew that everyone had an opinion about how her life should be lived. While most people were well meaning, she knew that putting her story out there herself would allow for all of the gossip to run its course so that by the time this was all over with the subject of what had gone on with the Nova lady’s love life would be old news. Already the subject of Justin had eclipsed the accident and who had been out to get her, hopefully that had caused enough of a diversion.

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  Justin had no idea what the ladies had been looking out the window at, but knew that asking Allie was not a good idea when she came out of the building with a smile plastered across her face.

  Allie climbed in relieved, “Whew, that’s done. Can we go back to the Double G Ranch now? I think that I have finished with everything for today.”

  Allie just didn’t know what to tell him about the salon ladies who evidently had the hot’s for him. “So all of those ladies have the hot’s for you and I’m not really sure how that works. I mean I have really appreciated all that you have done, but I blew you off to start with. I know that you could be out there dating anybody else who was really in love with. I mean here I am taking up your whole day to run my business and you seem just fine with it. I don’t get it. How could you want to be with somebody like me? I am just asking for trouble all the time, it always seems to find me. No, truly, trouble seems to seek me out and I don’t know what I do that keeps bringing it into my life. That is part of why I haven’t really date much, I don’t really trust other people or their motives.”

  Allie finally turned to look at Justin, who had continued to drive straight to his apartment. He was listening and hadn’t uttered a single word since she had started her tirade. He pulled into driveway and found his parking spot. He turned off the truck and took her hand since suddenly she had gone speechless only a moment before.

  “I’m not sure where this is coming from suddenly, but I know that we have been brought together for a purpose. I have enjoyed being single, but I have really enjoyed being with you the past three days. It was nice not having the pressure of sex clouding up the get to know you process. Not that I don’t want to do it, but there is always so much emphasis placed on it that it kind of makes it hard to know if someone likes you for who you are or if they just like the bedroom you. I think I want to continue to get to know you and when you are ready to go further, just say the word. I liked you when I saw you at the bar and wanted a date then remember. There is something about you, which makes people want to know what makes you tick. So I’m gonna go get us some dinner and maybe we can talk inside while I try to find what the mystery is.” Justin leaned over and gave a quick kiss, almost friendly in nature.

  He hopped out and went around to her side. He opened her door and held out a hand to help her down. Accepting it, she climbed down and landed right against his chest. Looking up at him when his arms went around her to steady her, she realized that they did have chemistry which could be a good thing.

  “I’ll take you up on that dinner and maybe we can get to know each other better. With all that’s going on I’m not sure that I’m ready for a bedroom playmate, but I will let you know when you have a green light.” Allie tried to step back, but was held tightly by Justin’s arm.

  “I am really good at being patient so just don’t think that you can get rid of me, when I’ve just found a sleeping partner that has no demands.” He released her and took her hand to walk her in the apartment. “Why don’t you decide five things that are life changers for you and I will think of what mine are so we can discuss them over dinner, how does that sound?” Justin grinned at Allie as they opened the door and turned the alarm off and continued the conversation. “I’m mean what if you were one of those girls that left the toilet seat up or squeeze from the middle of the toothpaste instead of the end? We need to compare notes so that we are on the same page.” Wiggling his eyebrows at her, it defused the tension that they were both feeling.

  “Here is my gun, just in case you need it. What I think you really could use is a little alone time. I know that you are used to being with people during the day, but you have a lot of hours where you don’t have to worry about being the real you.” Justin and Allie completed searching the apartment and found nothing to worry about.

  “Thanks for understanding about stuff that I don’t even realize about myself. I haven’t really had any time this past week and really appreciate the moment to be quiet. I’ll be fine while you are gone.”

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  After their discussion, Justin left Allie and continued to have a discussion about it with himself. Justin needed to think about everything that Allie had brought up. Driving to Chili’s to place their order for dinner to go, he thought about how much his life had changed in just three days.

  Three days ago he had girls fawning all over him, which according to Allie might not stop no matter how much he was committed to a relationship. See right there, in a
relationship, that wouldn’t have crossed his mind. He had always enjoyed being able to sample all of the different flavors that the world had to offer without buying the whole carton. Now, the only flavor he seemed to want was Allie.

  Allie was such an enigma, self-confident in so many ways, yet doubting her self-worth. He smiled just thinking about the way she had jumped in to help her friends when they needed her without any thought for her own well-being. From what he had seen so far she was building a business by helping others as well. She seemed to believe she could help others and improve their lives. Yet the idea that someone would like her and want to stick around made her close down. It made him wonder what had happened in her life that she wouldn’t know how to be loved or that a long term relationship could work out to her advantage. Allie was having a hard time responding to a loving family, she just didn’t seem to understand that not everyone was going to stab her in the back. Well, this week it might be true, but he was going to do his best to protect her.

  Again, Justin had to shake his head, I’m thinking in the long term. Not that he had been ready to settle down, but Allie really intrigued him. He hadn’t been bored yet and they had been together non-stop for three days. He didn’t plan to start the 50 years count down, but now the thought was not as horrible as he had first thought.

  Promising that he wouldn’t do anything rash, he went in to pick up the order and head back to see what life changers Allie had come up with.

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  J.D. had not been able to get back over to the hospital to see Mike a.k.a Bubba. Now, that it was Monday afternoon and he had worked all weekend, he finally had a few hours to run over and check on him to see how things were going. When he got there, Mike was in a room of his own since they had decided that he was holding his own.

  Since he was not on the critical list anymore, they just had him on hydrocodone now instead of the really good stuff that made him sleep most of the day. If J.D. hadn’t know what his friend really looked like he would have walked right past his room. His whole face was a massive bruise and there was a bandage around the top portion of his head. Certain that they had all of his ribs wrapped up to help them heal. J.D. realized how close his friend had come to dying.

  Mike looked up when he heard J.D. approach. Since he had been so foggy for the past several days, Mike had taken to watching the nurses routine so he could keep track of what day it was. A cop never really forgot how to watch the surroundings. So when J.D. showed up, Mike was relieved that he hadn’t been caught with all that he had done over the weekend.

  J.D. had gotten updates from the nurses, but seeing Mike’s condition was much different than having it described over the phone.

  “So what took you so long? I was beginning to think that you had left me here to rot.” Mike joked at J.D. “When can I get out of here?”

  “Well, Bubba, the doctor told me that you have some serious internal issues because of your broken ribs. It tore up some of your intestines and it will take a while before you can get back on your feet. From what they told me, it looks like you will sent to a rehab facility for a week or two for extended care since you had no recollection of family or the accident. Seriously dude this might just be the best way to let the heat die down until you are able to complete what you started. Everyone is on such alert that if you tried to step into the county, you would be turned in before you could park the car.”

  “So you are going to just abandon me here to whatever the doctors want? What if they decided that I need to go home? What will I do then?”

  J.D. wasn’t sure how to respond, he really didn’t want to be on Mike’s bad side, but if he continued to help Mike, his career could be in jeopardy. “When they are ready to have you leave, I’ve told them that they can contact me and I will make sure that you have some where to go. I won’t abandon you, but I have to watch leaving unexpectedly because that is one thing they are keeping tabs on. They are certain that you have someone helping and it won’t do either one of us any good if we are both thrown into jail.”

  “I think that I can come back this weekend while the wife goes shopping and that way I can account for my whereabouts. I got us both a new burner phone, so call me if they are going to release you early and I will see if I can get away to come get you. Is there anything that you need before the end of the week?”

  “Clothes would nice; I don’t see myself leaving in a hospital gown. Also, see if there is some way that I could get a private nurse to watch over me instead of going to some rehab center. I am nowhere near old enough to be in one of those places.” Mike didn’t want to be mean, but having been in a place where no one knew him was starting to get on his nerves.

  Having been to the big city for certain occasions was okay, but on a permanent basis was not what Mike had ever planned. That was why instead of losing himself in the crowds he had chosen to go as deep into the lake country as possible.

  “Sure, Bubba, I can work something out, but I don’t have a lot of cash to set someone up as your nurse.” J.D. didn’t have a problem with getting him out, but private nursing could become quite expensive and there was no way that a large sum of money wouldn’t be noticed by his wife. Unlike Mike’s marital situation, J.D.’ wife balanced the checkbook and did the shopping. J.D. had finished high school, but had never really wanted to go to college and finances were not really something that he could ever figure out.

  Mike contemplated the best way for J.D. to get some cash for him. He didn’t want to give away too many secrets in case he had to disappear quickly.

  “If you go behind my house and dig up the rosebush that is beside the shed, you will find a metal box that has some cash in it. It should be enough to get me a room at that extended stay place at the edge of town here. Plus enough to give the nurse something upfront and then when I leave I just won’t pay her and let her deal with it. This way she will feel secure in working for us, since we paid her something to start with.”

  J.D. figured that he could take a little walk after the wife was in bed and recover the money that they needed. “I think that should work out, but you need to find out who could be your nurse, because if I start asking around that will cause lots of problems there in town. It needs to be someone from around here.”

  Patting Mike on the shoulder, J.D. turned to leave as Mike spoke, “J.D. if I find out that you have betrayed me in any way, just know that I will come find you and your family while you are sleeping. Don’t think that you can take that money and leave me here. Even hurt I will be your worst nightmare. Just a friendly warning to think about in case you had any ideas.”

  J.D. nodded his acceptance and hurried to leave before Mike could add anything to threat. He just hoped that Mike would get better soon or even have complications that would kill him naturally. J.D. didn’t have the guts to do it his self, but if Mike was free then nobody was safe from his vengeance.

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  When Justin got back with their food, Allie was relieved that he focused on the food in his hands instead of starting those questions that he wanted to discuss.

  He handed her the drinks, “Should we eat at the bar or sit at the coffee table, because I am ready to dig in?” Justin handed her the drinks, unsure which was more comfortable since he didn’t have a dining room table set up.

  “Coffee table because I have issues with balance. I have been known to fall off a bar stool before and no I don’t know how it happened it just did. I am really good with stuff like that. If it’s going to happen it will happen to me. It’s just the law of physics in my life.”

  Allie headed toward the coffee table and sat the cup holder in the center of the table. She slid down the couch to the floor getting comfortable so that she would have something sturdy to sit on. She had never fallen off the floor before, so that seemed like the safest place.

  Setting the food down on the table, he took the spot across from her and started opening up the food containers.

  “Yea, you got chips and
salsa. I love to eat salsa, but here in Texas it is always so hot that I can rarely stand it. Chili’s is one of the few places that keep it mild.” Allie thought that giving tidbits of information up from might keep him from probing further.

  Justin wasn’t one to be deterred, yet he decided to take what she was offering and keep it light. “So you are one of those Yankees huh?”

  “Yes, I lived in New York State for many years and was a foster child. I got to see all sorts of family situations over the years. I think the longest I stayed in one home was about two years. Total times so far that I have moved is about thirty, adulthood included. I have been in Texas for almost two years now and it is kind of growing on me.”

  “What made you decide to come to Texas?” Justin couldn’t imagine leaving everything that he knew and heading to a completely different part of the country with friends or family.

  “Well, you know that game you play when you are kids, where you spin the globe and see where you land?” At Justin’s nod, she continued. “I had a map and was throwing darts to see where I landed. I had no real ties up there and wanted to try something new.” Allie shrugged, like it was no big deal to move and start over.

  “The furthest I’ve been from this area was when I was in college at UT in Austin. The first semester I came home a lot, but once I got adjusted and made new friends it was easier to stay there. By the summer I had a job in town and wasn’t able to come home nearly as often.”

  “I’ll bet G.G. hated that.” Allie knew that they had a close knit family.

  “When I stayed that summer, she contemplated renting an apartment because I was her baby and she didn’t want to lose me. I know that it was hard on her, but she decided that if I was going to be any kind of adult that she would have to cut the apron strings. She did manage to come visit at least once a month so that she could cook for me. I do know how to do my own laundry and take care of myself. That is why when I came back and decided to help dad manage the ranch that I needed a place to stay that wasn’t at the house. I would have been lovingly smothered.”