Merry Anna somehow doubted she’d be the one needing assistance, but if it made Tara feel better to think so, who was she to argue? “Of course. And you let me know how I can be of service. I work at Hardy House, but other than that, I have plenty of free time. Actually, I think I can help you with one thing right now. I’ve got internet up here. Paid a crazy price to get decent speed, but I’m pretty sure you can pick up a connection from your place. If so, you can just use mine. I’ve got unlimited, so it’s not costing me a thing extra to share.”
“How generous. Thank you, Merry Anna. I have a feeling we will be very good for each other.”
“I hope so.” Merry Anna looked at the paint on her hands. “I better get the brush clean before the paint dries on it. Are you going to the Spring Fling at Angels Rest tonight?”
“Is that tonight?” Tara’s eyebrows disappeared under her bangs. “Adam mentioned it when I moved in, but honestly I haven’t given it a second thought.”
“I’m going to walk up in a little while. Would you like to join me?”
She hesitated, but only a moment. “You know, that sounds wonderful. I could use a good walk. Yes, I’d love to join you. Do you want to just swing by on your way?”
“I’ll do that. I thought I’d leave my place at about seven forty-five, but I’ll come down a little early and see if I can get you connected to my internet before we go.”
“That would be great. I’m so excited. I’ve got a list a pagelong of things to buy. I’ll bake you some of my famous oatmeal-raisin cookies if we get it going.”
“Deal!” Merry Anna said with enthusiasm. The truth was, she wasn’t a fan of oatmeal or raisins, but she was happy to help a neighbor.
“What’s the attire for this Spring Fling tonight?” Tara asked.
“Casual. I’m going to bring a sweater. Sometimes the nights get cool up here.”
“I’ll be ready. See you then.” She turned and started heading down the driveway.
“Thank you for coming up. I’m really glad to have you as a neighbor.” Merry Anna watched Tara head back down the steep incline to her house. It was hard to say how old she was, but she sure didn’t lack energy.
Merry Anna cleaned her paintbrush and put away all her things before going inside to take a shower. With a towel on her head, she grabbed a book from her to-be-read pile next to the bed, then picked a bunch of grapes from the refrigerator to nibble on while she read, tucked in the chair by the big window in the front room.
She tugged the bookmark from where she’d left off, and it didn’t take but two sentences to sweep her away into the lives of Kellie and Andrew, a sweet couple who had their whole lives planned out right from high school, only to end up apart. She could identify with the heroine. She’d thought she and Kevin had everything all figured out too.
What might have happened if something had stalled her dream wedding to Kevin for a few years? Maybe she never would have married him at all, or perhaps he’d have found a career he could stick with and they’d have entered matrimonyon even footing. It was hard to imagine their marriage any other way than what it was. And lately his cheating was all she could think about.
Being here, away from him, was freeing. She hadn’t felt this stress-free in longer than she could remember, which only confirmed that her spur-of-the-moment decision to stay in Antler Creek was a good one.
—
Angels Rest was straight up the mountain road from the bunkhouse. It wasn’t all that far, but Doe Run Road was a steep climb. She put on her tennis shoes and grabbed a light sweater, then walked down to Tara’s house.
She rapped twice on the door and called through the screen, “Hello, Tara. It’s Merry Anna.”
“Hi! Come on in.” Tara popped her head around the corner. “I was just putting a couple things away. I’m almost ready.”
“No rush. Where’s your computer?”
“On the table there by the hearth.”
Merry Anna walked over to the laptop. Tara might claim technology ignorance, but she knew how to pick out good equipment. With a touch of the keyboard, the screen lit up. It took only a few clicks to get to the network settings. “Just as I thought. You can use my internet connection. It popped right up.”
“Really? I can just connect to your internet from here?” Tara came bustling into the room. “You’re kidding me. No wires or anything?”
“Not a one. My Wi-Fi signal showed up on your connection. All I had to do was put in the password, which by theway is the wordhappiness,but theiis a1and the twos’s are dollar signs.”
“I’m going to have to write it down. I can barely remember my name these days.” Tara grabbed a pen and wrote the password on a sticky note and stuck it right on the laptop.
“I set it up so it’ll connect automatically. Hopefully, you’ll never need the password.”
“Well, I’ve got it just in case, and I’ll split the bill with you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. As long as I’m here, you’re covered. If I decide to move, I’ll transfer it over to you. Fair enough?”
