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“You should’ve faced facts after that plane crashed, Blake… but never mind. You always did take the blame for other people, didn’t you?” she says coldly, then rests one of her frail hands on mine with a gentle squeeze.
“A nice boy, never a very bright boy,” she says, finally smiling enough for Lois to relax.
“Did Blake tell you my family built this whole railway?” she says sharply, waving one hand in no particular direction.
“That we owned the railway from East to West for over nine generations?” she asks hoarsely, not even looking at Lois.
“Uh… no. No, he didn’t,” Lois says slowly, quietly.
And quite frankly neither did I. I only knew her family came from old money, but not that sort of money.
“Then he didn’t tell you anything about me,” she clips and turns to look out the window.
I’ll put up with a lot from Mrs. B, but when it comes to Lois, I get defensive.
I lean in and whisper something to Mrs. B. Something only she can hear.
Her eyes grow wide and she looks at Lois with fresh eyes, scanning her from her seat, her eyes resting on Lois’ middle before she looks over the rest of her.
“Well! It’s about time, boy! Let’s hope she makes an honest man out of you.”
I feel myself blushing. It’s about as close to a compliment as anyone could ever get from Mrs. Barnes.
Her hand still on mine, she squeezes it again and I can see a line of silver at the corner of her eye.
“Lois is going to be in charge of telling my side of the story… to the media,” I tell Mrs. B. “She’s a reporter.”
Mrs. B. grunts again.
“Good idea,” she finally adds, smiling at Lois again, relaxing her stern face for just a moment.
“So why have you…?” I start to say, and Mrs. B’s finger shoots up vertically to hush me.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lois
I liked the train better. It was just Blake and me. I was having some good leads with my story idea.
A hundred thousand dollars!
I can’t even imagine what that much money looks like.
But being practically kidnapped by Blake’s crazy… whatever she is… and the way she looks at me…
I don’t like it.
Not one bit.
I’m scared that Blake is in more trouble than he either knows or worse… more than he’s telling me.
The old woman seems pretty clever though, and I register Blake’s surprise at her railway family story. Like he might know only as much as she’s let him, even after all these years.
Creasing the corner of my mouth, I have to admit it.
I really like the old woman.
She’s got guts.
She’s like how I imagine myself in the future.
If my life could just…
But I have a story to tell…. Blake’s story. I need to clear his name as a drunk driver and set the record straight why he felt, he couldn’t come back to civilization after that stupid plane crash.
Mrs. B. interrupts Blake and my own train of thought when he asks her why we’re here… with her.
“You just answered your own question, Blake. She’s sitting right here,” she says dryly.
Blake looks at me and I shrug before he looks back to Mrs. Blake.
“I got a story of my own to tell,” she says knowingly, “but you need to get my boy’s story out first,” she adds with a wink.
Turning to Blake, she says in a low tone. “Sheriff Sheldon? He was a young man once too, ya know,” she says cryptically, patting Blake’s knee.
“I don’t...” Blake starts to say.
“Oh, he called me too,” the old woman sighs, looking nostalgic, even pumping her thin hair with one hand at a distant memory.
“You’ll hear it sooner than later anyway. That baseball team you played for? They’ve got wind of your ‘survival’ story and moved to freeze your assets quicker than you did with the media injunction… some breach of contract baloney.”
Blake groans, but doesn’t look too surprised. I feel a stab of guilt run across my insides.
All this is because of me, because of my stupid haunted house story.
“Don’t take it so hard, sweetie,” she says to me, patting my knee. “They have a building full of lawyers,” and then looking over to Blake adds, “And more than one judge who’s a ball fan that never liked you.”
Making a dramatic pause I can see the old lady is actually really enjoying this.
“Sheldon was upset that I never let him in on you staying at the house. He got miffed and went to the feds too, apparently, you roughed him up, Blake?” she asks, wagging a finger at Blake and tutting to herself.
“You’ll have a federal assault charge. A breach of contract drama that’ll stretch out for years, the IRS will wanna chat too, no doubt plus you’ll still have an angry mob of fans who’ll always be left wondering why you bailed on them. Why you never co-operated with the-”
