“This is for you,” Annika told her, dropping the diamond cuff links into the woman’s extended palm. “I’m sorry about the mess but I hope you will find this to be enough for your time. Let the hotel’s insurance figure out the damage. Sell these and keep the money for yourself.” Before the woman could respond, Annika boarded the elevator and was gone.
Chapter Six: Midnight Train to Georgia
The entire town reeked of desperation. Is this even a town? Annika stood in the general store which doubled as the bus depot and tried to scrunch up her nose in distaste. You’re in no position to judge anything. She looked around the lonely building and swatted a fly away from her face. She had no idea why she had chosen this place of all places. Well she did but she was questioning her reasoning as the reality shattered the illusion. I shouldn’t have come here. I’ll hop on a bus out of here tomorrow and go somewhere else. But she knew she had nowhere to go. No one was waiting for her. This was the closest thing she had to “somewhere” and it wasn’t even hers.
“Kin I help ya, miss?” Annika turned to face an elderly man, leaning for support against the cash counter. He looked the quintessential farmer, shocking white, scraggly hair, a scruff about his face, coveralls and a straw hat to boot. Annika blushed, embarrassed. She really had no reason to be in the store but to collect her thoughts and formulate a plan. She would have gone to sit in a Starbucks but she highly doubted the hamlet had even heard the name, let alone housed one. She smiled briefly and shook her head.
“No I – actually, yes, please. Are there any cheap hotels around here?” The shopkeeper looked her up and down disapprovingly, taking in her lovely face but dusty appearance and low cut top.
“This ain’t that kind of town, miss,” he responded coldly. It took Annika a moment to understand what he was thinking before she went pale.
“No! NO! I am just not from around here and I have nowhere to stay. I just need a place to stay until I find an apartment.” The man lost his stony look and grinned sheepishly.
“I’m sorry, darlin’. I thought…never ya mind. If ya need a room, my daughter has a big house on Willow Drive. She’s lookin’ ta rent out one of her rooms since her good fer nothin’ husband ain’t workin’. I kin take ya over there. The rent ain’t bad.” Annika blinked at his unexpected offer.
“I-well I can wait if you want to call her and see if the room is still for rent.”
“Nah, it’s fer rent. Lemme just tell my wife we’re goin’. Be right back in a jiffy.”
This sure isn’t the city, Annika thought as she watched the old timer shuffle into to the back of the store. A moment later, he returned, whistling. Annika had the surreal feeling she was in a movie. Real people don’t live and act like this.
“Well, come on, chickie! It ain’t that far.” He came around the counter and took hold of Annika’s rolling suitcase. She was stunned by the gesture.
“I can take that!” she said, hurrying after him. He was feet ahead of her, walking a pace unexpected for his feeble looking presence.
“Ya ain’t one of them feminism broads, is ya? Won’t let a man do nothin’ fer her? I kin do this. Ya look like ya been travelin’ fer ten days. I kin do this.”
Annika was uncharacteristically moved by his kindness and she felt tears spring to her eyes. Stupid goddamn hormones!
“Thank you, sir,” she choked, quickly brushing the salty water from her eyes before he noticed them. He guffawed.
“I ain’t no ‘sir’ chickie dee. The name’s Lou. Lou Bradley James. Kin ya handle that?” Annika nodded.
“Thank you, Lou,” she said. She was almost running to keep up with his brisk stride.
“So whatcha doin’ here? Ya don’ look much like ya belong here.”
“My friend grew up here and I wanted a change of pace from the city,” Annika replied honestly.
“Who’s yer friend?”
“Richard Robinson.” Lou laughed again.
“Well I’ll be a pig’s uncle! Little Dickie! How is that kid? I always liked that child. Even though he liked the boys. Ain’t his fault I don’ suppose. Neva was any beautiful women here.” Annika smiled sadly.
“He’s good.” Lou nodded and stopped abruptly in front of a beautiful but ill kept Victorian house. There was a wraparound porch in white, peeling paint, and black shutters falling off the many windows.
“His mama and daddy still run that farm outside of town but all his brothers and sisters is gone to the city now. I reckon they’ll done and sell the property soon. They ain’t spring chickens anymore. They got them all kinds of ills. Anyhoo, this is Lucy’s house. C’mon.” She obligingly followed him up the rickety stairs and onto the porch. A huge orange tabby nearly jumped out its skin on their arrival, screeching its displeasure before slinking away. He opened the screen door and walked inside without so much as knocking to announce his arrival, pulling Annika’s bag in with him.
“Lulu? Joey? Any y’all home?” He held the door open for her but she was reluctant to go in uninvited.
“I’ll just wait – “
“Git in here, girl. Ain’t no one gonna bite ya.” Sighing, Annika tentatively stepped over the threshold. She heard a rush of footsteps and suddenly a girl of six or seven came flying into the front hall, throwing herself into Lou’s arms.
“Grampy!” the child shrieked. Annika cringed. She had never been a fan of small children. You better get used to them, she reminded herself with some contempt.
“Lula, ain’t ya a sight for sore eyes! Ya get bigger an’ bigger every time I see ya!”
“Oh Grampy I just saw you this morning!” Annika smiled despite her resolve to ignore the child. The little girl noticed her standing there and grinned.
“Hiya! I’m Louisa.”
“Hi Louisa, I’m – “she paused. “I’m Annie.”
Before the child could say anything else, a middle aged woman came around the corner, her dark hair in a loose bun, wearing an apron covered in icing sugar.
“Hiya dad! What are you doing here?”
“Hiya baby. This is Annie. She’s new in Burrowsburg and needs a place to stay. Told her y’all had a room for rent.” The brunette smiled warmly at Annika.
“Hi Annie! Welcome! I’m Lucy Ward. Please come in! Dad, go put her bag in the room next to Luke’s.” Annika was almost dizzy. Who the hell are these people that allow perfect strangers to walk into their lives and live in their homes? Aren’t they worried about murderers and thieves? She followed Lucy into a cozy but run down salon in the front of the house.
“Are you thirsty? Hungry? I just made some cookies. You have to try them.” Annika tried to refuse but Louisa was already returning from the kitchen with a plate of the goodies and a glass of lemonade. Annika took them and suddenly realized she was absolutely famished.
“So tell me about yourself, Annie. Where are you from? Why are you here?”
“She’s a friend of Dickie Robinson!” Lou cackled gleefully as he entered the room. Lucy arched her thin eyebrow in surprise.
“A good friend?” she asked innocently.
“Dickie is still gay,” Annika replied flatly. Lucy and Lou burst out laughing.
“What a shame. I always rather fancied that boy,” Lucy sighed wistfully but winked jokingly at Annika.
“He’d be an improvement from the one ya got now,” Lou grumbled. Lucy gave him a scathing look.
“Well, Annie, my husband Joe and I own this house. We have four children – Louisa here is our baby. Then there’s JJ, Evan and Luke is the oldest. I hope that isn’t too full of a house for you.” Annika shook her head and forced a smile but she knew the living arrangements were probably going to drive her crazy. This is just temporary. You’ll find a job and get your own place soon.
Even as the thought flittered through her mind, Annika knew she would be trapped for a long while. She might be able to get away with getting a job but keeping one while pregnant would be a whole other scenario.
“The rent will be seventy-five
dollars a month,” Lucy continued. Annika choked and choke on her lemonade. She continued to sputter as everyone jumped up to assist her. Once the spasm passed, Lucy recanted, apologetically.
“I’m sorry it’s too much, isn’t it? Is fifty okay?” And Annika knew trapped or not, she was the luckiest woman in the world at that moment in time.
After having their drinks and nibbles, Lucy led a tour of the grand but rundown home. There were seven bedrooms and three bathrooms, a back patio and a shabby barn. Lucy allotted one of the bathrooms to Annika.
“And don’t you let Louisa and JJ talk you into sharing it with them. They’ll hog it like a starving hound on a boar hunt and you’ll never get a chance to relieve yourself,” Lucy warned. Annika smiled and nodded but winked at little Louisa who scowled in protest. She was beginning to feel herself relaxing in the incredibly foreign surroundings. There was nothing familiar about these people or this little God forsaken town. In fact, it was the polar opposite to how she had been reared and lived her twenty-five years on the planet. Yet somehow, she felt like she belonged there. The warmness and open nature of these people had a calming effect on her depleted, worn down nerves. Her mind, body and soul had taken a near fatal beating and were still extremely fragile from the impact Rhys had on her. While she knew that she would surge through, she was also painfully aware that she was alone. Or so she had thought. Out of nowhere, the universe had offered her decent, kind and caring people. Just like the universe had offered her Dickie. Try not to fuck this up the way you did with him.
Lucy opened the heavy wood door to what was to be Annika’s room and she gasped. It was the last room at the end of the hallway and there were four huge windows allowing for a view of the vast back and barn and the ravine on the side of the property. A huge weeping willow was tickling the panes of the glass. In the center of the room, beneath the twelve-foot ceiling was an antique four poster bed, adorned in an intricate handmade quilt. Four decorative pillows sat atop, covered in handmade pillowcases to match. There was a solid pine dresser and matching desk, both badly scarred but obviously heirlooms.
“This here was all ma mama’s,” Lou piped in as if hearing her thoughts. “Dang well this entire house is ma mamas. Lulu was her only gran’chile.” Annika suddenly felt uncomfortable.
“I will see about getting my own furniture,” she said quickly. Lou and Lucy laughed.
“Well, honey, you can if you want but nobody ever uses this old junk so you may as well. It doesn’t look like much but it’s actually really comfy.”
“I promise; I only need a place to stay for a short time. As soon as I find a job, I’ll get my own place…” Annika trailed off and felt a lump forming in her throat. Lou steered Louisa into the hallway and Lucy gently sat Annika on the bed.
“Annie, we are really happy you’re here. You stay as long as you like. It isn’t every day that we get to see such beauty around here.”
Lucy stood up and gestured at the bed.
“There are some fresh towels there. Why don’t you take a nap and get freshened up? When you’re all rested up, come down and meet the rest of the family.” She patted Annika on the arm in a motherly fashion and closed the bedroom door. Annika lay back and stared at the ceiling. No particle board here. No water damaged plaster hanging down. Just a picturesque room with a view in a quiet town where no one knew her. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, expelling all the tension she had been holding. For the first time since infancy, Annika was asleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow.
Chapter Seven: Come in My Kitchen
Dinner had been a lovely, simple affair of pork roast, potatoes, carrots, salad and dinner rolls. Lucy had made everything fresh. JJ and Joe were at the table but the oldest children, Evan and Luke were out with friends.
“If we’d known you were coming, we would’ve had the boys take you along and introduce you to some of their friends,” Joe told Annika.
“It’s all right,” Annika told him. “I’m not really here to be social. I’m looking for work.” She couldn’t think of anything she was less interested in than hanging out with a bunch of teenagers from a hick town.
“You sure ain’t come to the right place for that,” Joe replied sadly. Joe was a friendly but tired looking man. He had been laid off from his job at the local factory three months prior and because of the economy was having a tough time finding another job. He had worked at the factory straight out of high school. Yet he still went out every day and made it his job to look for work.
Lucy patted his arm, comfortingly. Annika was starting to recognize the gesture as one of her nervous mannerisms.
“Something will come along, honey. You don’t gotta worry. The good lord won’t throw anything at us that we can’t handle. He sent us Annie here to help us along, didn’t he?” Joe nodded but said nothing as he continued to eat. JJ, who was eleven took the opportunity to jump in and fire questions at Annika.
“Is that your real hair color? Are you wearing contact lenses? Did you have a mansion in the city? How old are you? Are you a model?” Annika laughed and focused her attention on the two girls. She was surprised to find that she was still incredibly tired, in spite of the two-hour nap she had taken. After a dessert of Lucy’s amazing peach cobbler, Annika begged off to bed apologetically.
“You go on and get some sleep, sweetie,” Lucy told her. “Tomorrow I’ll take you to Burrowsburg if you want to look around.” Annika nodded gratefully and retreated up the stairs to her room. For the second time that day, she fell into a restful, uninterrupted slumber.
“What is the population here?” Annika asked Lucy as they walked down the bumpy road leading to the main part of Burrowsburg.
“I think about twenty-two thousand but that may be cows and chickens included.” They both chuckled. Then Annika looked crestfallen.
“So I guess finding a job is going to be tougher than I thought, huh?” Lucy smiled.
“Actually, I already put in a good word for you over at the grocery store. Turns out I know the owner and he could use the help.”
“Oh no, your dad has done enough for me already, Lucy. I couldn’t – “
“He asked me to ask you. I think he might have a crush on you but don’t tell my mom. Actually it don’t matter if you do; her hearing is going anyway.” Lucy stuck her tongue out and grinned wickedly at Annika as they walked up to the store. Who are these people? Are they setting me up to kill me? It defied reason that perfect strangers could want to help another person without personal gain. Yet they did and they were. This is how Dickie was raised. They walked into the store and Lou was waiting for them. A stately, handsome woman stood at his side, her piercing green eyes identical to Lucy’s.
“Well y’all must be Annie,” she boomed out. Lucy chuckled and whispered, “I told you she’s going deaf. She can’t even hear herself.”
Annika nodded and stepped forward to shake the old woman’s hand.
“Yes, Mrs. James.”
“Oh pshaw. Ya kin call me Evangeline.” With that, Evangeline stepped forward and embraced Annika much to her shock. Then the old woman stepped back and tossed an apron at her. “Welcome to Burrowsburg and welcome to our store. If all y’all need us, we’re playin’ bridge at the rec center. Come on, Lou, let’s git before she changes her mind!”
They hurried out the door, leaving Annika staring after them, mouth agape. Lucy was almost in hysterics she was laughing so hard.
“Don’t worry. I’ll show you what to do. Come on.”
True to her word, Lucy showed Annika how to run the store in her parents’ absence and Annika was surprised to learn that she was actually enjoying the job. By the end of the afternoon, Annika had taken it upon herself to restock, reorganize and clean the front of the store. A lot had been neglected but Lucy had explained that both her parents suffered from arthritis and her mother had recently undergone a hip replacement so things had fallen behind. They had wanted to retire the store to her but Lucy was completely dedicated
to her children.
Romance: Pummel Me: A Boxing Romance Page 72