No Plans for Love

by Ruth Ann Hixson

  "I'm going to lie down and rest." She allowed him to kiss her again but when the kiss began to turn passionate, she drew back. "Go home, Mark."

  "I'll be back when the milking's done." He opened the truck door and crawled in.

  Sherry waved and turned back to the house. She had been up almost all day and she was beginning to realize that, in her injured condition, she didn't have the stamina of a couple days ago

  She lay there thinking about Mark. How far should she allow their relationship to go? Though she liked him a lot she was certain she wasn't in love with him. She had promised herself a long time ago that she would not have an intimate relationship until her plans for college were fulfilled. She wasn't even near continuing her education.

  She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep but Mark kept intruding into her thoughts. She folded her arms across her ribs and did some deep breathing exercises hoping it would relax her but it just made her hurt worse. She tried to think of the most pleasant place she had ever been. The beach where Will used to take her when her mom was working.

  Will was the only one of Mom's boyfriends Sherry cared anything about. All the others were jerks. She had hoped Mom and Will would get married and she could have a father. But he simply disappeared. When she asked her mother about it she was told, "I kicked him out. He was getting too interested in you. He told me he loved you."

  He had told Sherry he loved her like a daughter and that he was going to ask Alison to marry him. Sherry wondered if her mom had told another one of her lies. Sherry was disappointed not to have him in her life anymore. She made a mental note to ask her mother about it the next time she saw her.

  The front doorbell rang and she struggled to sit up. Then she had to sit a moment for the pain to ease. The chimes sounded again. "I'm coming," she called. Just as she unbolted the door, the chimes rang again. Sherry was perturbed when she yanked the door open. "Mom!"

  Alison shook the latch to the storm door and shouted, "Unlock it!"

  Sherry reluctantly pushed the little catch that held the door locked and Alison pulled it open. Sherry stood with one hand on the door; one hand on the door facing. "What do you want, Mom?"

  "Inside, for starters. I heard what happened and came to take care of you."

  "Tell me the real reason you're here," she ordered.

  "Roy put me out. I have no place to go except here."

  "Why did he put you out?"

  "He blames me for something Brian did."

  "What did Brian do?"

  "What's this, the inquisition?"

  "Tell me," Sherry ordered. She was already tired of her mother's games though she'd been in the house less than a minute.

  Alison shrugged. "He took Roy's key and broke in here last Sunday night. He hit Mark on the head. The cops arrested him yesterday. He's charged with breaking and entering and assault. They released him into Roy and Gail's custody."

  It angered Sherry that her cousin had broken into her home and that he was the one who hit Mark on the head. She knew there was more to it than her mother was telling her. "Why did Uncle Roy think you are to blame? You darn well better tell me the truth."

  Alison explained, "I called Sunday morning to find out if you were here. Brian answered. Roy and Gail and the two younger boys were at church. Brian was ready to go to work. He works at that convenience store. We talked a while about our money woes. I told him about those diaries Mom had. He said they were in a safe deposit box and the key wasn't found among her belongings. Then he said he had an idea. He said he had to go to work and hung up. I didn't know his idea was to break in here to try to find the key."

  "I have the key," Sherry said. "And I have a letter from Gram dated July eleventh giving me the diaries. Gram said they should be kept in the family and that is what I intend to do. She also told me not to let you get your hands on them ever because you'd sell them.

  "Now! You can stay until you can get a job and your own place. But this is my house and I make the rules. As long as you live under my roof you will follow my rules. Agreed?"

  Alison hesitated. "Agreed."

  "Okay. The first rule is no more lying. You lie; you go. Understand?"

  "I understand."

  "Come with me."

  "Where?" Alison wondered.

  "To the garage."

  Alison followed her daughter to the garage."Pull your car in here." Sherry reached up to hit the blue button on the center post that supported the loft. She gasped in pain and placed her left hand over her right side. "I forgot I'm not supposed to reach up like that."

  Alison did as she was told. "I hope you aren't going to make me keep my things in the garage like Roy did."

  "Carry them to the living room." Sherry turned and went back to the kitchen where she set the teakettle on a burner and turned on the gas. She got a dish to fill it with the last of the chips. As she sat at the end of the table, her mother went back and forth carrying in bags and boxes of her belongings.

  "Where do you want me to put them?" Alison asked as she came back to the kitchen. "Some of those dresses should be hung up."

  "Right now we talk. Sit down while I make the tea." When Sherry turned around she saw that her mother had sat down at the end of the table. "That's my seat. I'm the head of this household." She needed to make a statement of who was in charge.

  "Well, excuse me!" Alison got up and moved. "I hope you have something to eat. I haven't had anything since breakfast."

  "Not much. Mark will bring supper when he comes back from helping with the milking."

  "Mark Blakely? Is he living with you?"

  "No. He stayed last night because I wasn't supposed to be alone." Sherry stirred sugar into her tea. "You can eat some of the potato chips for now. After we talk I'll see what I can find. First rule. No lying. I sleep on the daybed; you sleep on the mattress. You make a mess; you clean it up. No letting your dirty clothes lie around here or in the bathroom upstairs. There is a clothes basket in the downstairs bathroom. I don't have a washer and dryer so you must take your own clothes to the Laundromat."

  Sherry paused to think. "No bringing men home. You must get a job and pay your own way. Once you have an income, you must find your own place. No taking money from my purse or I shall put you out. None of that music you play unless I am not home. I expect you to help with the things I cannot do for myself . That will gradually change as I heal. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. There are a couple eggs in a dish on the counter. You can make them for yourself until supper comes. I need you to help me get clean clothes so I can go take a shower. There is no shower curtain so you must direct the water toward the wall. It's a hand held shower head."

  After Alison got Sherry's clothes from the plastic bins, Sherry slung her purse over her shoulder to go upstairs.

  "Do you always take your purse with you to the bathroom?"

  "No. I'm not fool enough to leave it where you can get your fingers on it." She turned and went upstairs. She knew her mother's presence would complicate things but she would have to deal with it. And she would have to deal with Mark. He would not be happy about the turn of events.

  Why worry about it? she asked herself. He's not my lord and master. She dried herself on the one towel she had and dressed in lavender sweat pants and a long-sleeved pastel plaid shirt. She squatted down to pick up her black sweats. It didn't cause her undue pain. Now she had a partial solution to the no-bending rule. With her purse strap over her shoulder, she carried her dirty clothes over her right arm while she rubbed her wet hair with the towel. Her comb was in the downstairs bathroom.

  "Mom, do you have any towels?" She asked as she walked into the kitchen.

  Alison sat at the table eating a scrambled egg sandwich with a glass of rehydrated powdered milk. "Yeah. You don't think I'd leave my good towels behind, do you? I'll get them after I eat."

  Sherry went on through to drop her dirty clothes and the towel in the clothes basket. Then she combed out her wet hair.

  She
rry sat down and munched on the potato chips that were left. She picked up her watch to check the time. "Mark won't be here for another hour. That gives us a chance to catch up. Why did you follow me here?"

  Alison swallowed the last bite of her sandwich. "Is there any coffee?"

  Sherry pointed to the coffeemaker on the counter. "You can make it. You'll have to use a paper towel for a filter. I don't generally drink coffee this late because I have trouble sleeping when I do."

  While Alison made coffee she explained, "When you left I felt like I had been abandoned. You know how much I depend on you."

  "Mom, you're almost forty. Don't you think it's time you grow up and take responsibility for yourself? I left because I had to. The buzz on the street was that I was being targeted for gang rape after I left that gang leader moaning in the alley. You know what happened at the restaurant that night. You know what happened to Maurice because he warned me. They tortured him and left him to die. I couldn't stay. That letter from Gram's lawyer was a Godsend. I just packed up and left."

  "I had to leave, too. The last thing I did before leaving Newark was to stop at a pay phone and call NYPD to tell them Herb is dealing drugs. Then I threw my cell phone in the Delaware so he couldn't call me or trace me here. I made sure the post office understood not to give out my forwarding address. If he ever finds out I turned him in, I'm dead. When I found out what he was doing, I knew I had to do what was right no matter what."

  "Herb is a jerk. How did you ever get mixed up with him anyway?"

  "I borrowed money from him. He kept coming in the restaurant just to see me. He's handsome, charming and he always seemed to have a lot of money to spend. He said he had a job in Manhattan. I was fool enough to believe him."

  "If I ever see him again, I'm going to teach him what I know about karate," Sherry declared. "He walked into my room naked one morning and got in bed with me."

  "That's why you put a bolt on your door."

  "I had to. I already had enough problems with that gang that was trying to move into our neighborhood. I just wanted to get out of Newark. I did that. Now I have a different set of problems here. I have no clue why Elena has targeted me. She's just crazy. I heard some of what Chad told Mark yesterday. She fought back with two state troopers. She's insane."

  "Are you talking about Chad Wertman?"

  "Yes, he's a state trooper now."

  "What's Mark do for a living? He can't possibly be just a farmer."

  "He's an agricultural engineer, but for now, he teaches Ag Tech down at the high school. He still helps his father on the farm though."

  "Those two used to be little troublemakers."

  "Speaking of angels," Sherry said as she saw the flash of headlights against the window.

  Alison got up to pour herself a mug of coffee and remained standing by the sink. Sherry stood up as a knot of apprehension tightened inside her.

  Mark came in without knocking, carrying a box of food. "Sherry, who's car is parked in the garage?"

  Alison answered, "Mine."

  Mark set the box on the counter. "Hello, Alison," he began warily. "I heard you were back in town."

  "I came out to take care of my baby."

  Sherry winced inwardly when her mother called her "baby."

  "I'm taking care of Sherry," Mark informed her.

  "Now that Mom's here, you can go home. Do you want us to have the food anyway?"

  "Ye-es. Sherry, I'm staying."

  Sherry's patience evaporated. "Fine! Then stay! But you'll have to sleep with Mom. I'm sleeping on the daybed."

  Mark's eyes widened and his mouth opened but no sound came out.

  Alison assumed a sexy pose and wiggled her body suggestively. "It would be nice to have a sexy young stud in my bed."

  Mark's mouth went shut to open again. "In your dreams." He wheeled around, grabbed his briefcase from the table and stalked out, slamming the door.

  "Mark!" Sherry grabbed his cell phone, unplugged the charger and ran after him. "Mark."

  He was getting in his truck but he turned around. "What?"

  "You forgot your cell phone." She placed it in his hand. "I'll need the garage door remote for Mom."

  He tossed his cell phone on the passenger seat and reached up to take the remote from the dash. He slapped it down in her hand hard enough to hurt.

  "Mark, I'm sorry. This was not my idea. She just showed up. Uncle Roy put her out. What am I to do? She is my mother. I don't want it this way but this is the way it is. Please don't be angry with me."

  The hard lines of his features softened. "I'm sorry, too, Sherry. I love you. I want to be with you. Your mother's watching from the window."

  "Kiss me." Sherry stood on tiptoe to meet him. When the kiss deepened, she stepped back. "I have to get back inside before she steals what little money I have. Good night, Mark."

  "I'll stop by to see you on the way home tomorrow." He got in the truck and closed the door.

  But I won't be here, she thought, I'll be working. She finally made a decision she'd been struggling with all day. She would go to work tomorrow. She walked slowly back to the house.

  Alison sat at the table with her coffee. "That shut him up."

  "That wasn't necessary, Mom."

  "Woo-hoo. Do I detect a note of jealousy?"

  Sherry made a sour face and began to take supper from the box.

  Chapter 9

  "I thought you were going to be late," Frank said when Mark stomped in the milk house.

  "She is about as hard headed as a woman can be," Mark grumbled.

  "Try independent," Frank suggested.

  "I love her," Mark declared. "I want to be with her. I want to help her, to protect her. I want to make love to her. I want to wake up beside her the rest of my life."

  Frank looked at his son quizzically. "You know what's wrong with what you just said?"

  "What?"

  "Two words: I want. Are you so egotistical that all you think about is yourself? What about what she wants? Love is sharing and caring. Giving up part of yourself for the other."

  "Thanks for the insight, Dad," Mark said sourly.

  Frank stopped putting the milkers together and looked at his son. "Right now Sherry is having a difficult time about what she really wants. She has plans and goals that require devotion to the future. She hasn't left any room for the reality of life. She's on a collision course with destiny. When she crashes, she is going to need you around to help her pick up the pieces and move on. Just give her time and space until she tells you she needs you."

  "What if she doesn't need me?"

  "You will have to learn to live with it. You can't make her love you. But if you pressure her by trying to control her, you will alienate her and lose whatever chances you have. Enough philosophy. We have cows to milk."

  After supper Mark headed for the stairs. He had tests to grade. When he finished, he walked around his room, his mind on Sherry. He had a strong feeling that something was wrong. He glanced at the clock beside his bed. "Eight-thirty," he murmured. Sherry would be getting off work in half an hour. That stirred him to action.

  Downstairs, he found his father snoring in the recliner with the television on. He picked up the remote and pressed the off button. Then he shook Frank by the shoulder. "Dad."

  Frank roused and looked up. "Time to go to bed?"

  "No. I want you to come with me. I have this feeling that Sherry's in trouble."

  "You're twenty-four years old. You don't need Daddy for a chaperone."

  "Dang it, Dad. Get out of that chair and come along."

  "Wait till I get my shoes on and go to the bathroom."

  In the kitchen, Mark grabbed the truck keys from the rack and went out the door. When Frank came from the bathroom, Jan asked, "Where are you two going?"

  Frank kissed her. "He thinks Sherry's in trouble. Have the bed warmed up for me when I get home."

  ****

  Judy helped Shelley with the things she'd purchased. As she stepp
ed back and closed the back door of Sherry's wagon, she glanced down. "You have a flat."

  "Oh, no," She responded. "The front one's flat too! She ran around the front of the car as Judy ran around the back. "I'll have to call someone for help." She took her cell phone from her purse just as it rang. She looked at the number. "Hello, Mark. My car has four flats." She could hear Judy on her cell phone to the police.

  "It's Frank. We're only a few miles out. The way Mark drives it won't take long to get there."

  While she'd been on the phone to Frank, Judy called the police. As she put her purse in the car she saw the police cruiser coming with its red and blue lights flashing.

  "I better take this cart back to the store." Judy set off pushing the cart across the lot.

  Scotty stopped his car right in front of Sherry's. He got out with his flashlight and walked around the car. He came back to tell Sherry, "Someone took the valve caps off and the valve guts out. They must have taken them with them because I don't see them on the ground anywhere."

  Judy came back to inform the cop, "There's a dark colored car parked over in the lot next door. That lot's usually empty this time of night."

  "I'll check it out when I leave. Maybe someone's working late." He got out his camera and took a picture of each flat tire. Then he dusted around the valve stem of the left front tire and examined it closely in the beam of the flashlight. "No prints just smudges. Must've wore gloves. Do you have a way to get home?"

  "Frank and Mark Blakely are coming. If the tires just have the air left out, they can be taken to somewhere and pumped up." Sherry was uncertain but she believed Frank would make it right. "Here they come now."

  Mark drove the truck in a semi-circle to park behind Sherry's wagon. He got out and ran to Sherry. "I knew you were in trouble."

  Scotty explained about the missing valve guts. "I don't know where you'll get any this late."

  "In the glove compartment of my truck," Frank said as he came up with others. "This is a farm truck. I even have an air compressor behind the seat." He went back to the truck for the needed items. "Mark, you can get that air compressor out and pull the truck up beside her car. Sherry, I need you to hold the flashlight."