AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Does he live around here?”
“No. But he’s not far,” she added. “He lives in Libby.” She probably shouldn’t have volunteered that detail. It was unnecessary. But she was trying to make her story believable enough that he wouldn’t suspect how she truly felt.
“That’s a long drive.”
“Only about five hours.”
“I didn’t realize you were with someone.”
“It’s...new,” she said. So new even Jordan didn’t know about it...
“So...what about me?”
“I’m sorry...what about you?”
“I thought you liked me. Have you just been...leading me on?”
He sounded dumbstruck.Shewas dumbstruck, too. How could he have interpreted anything she’d said or done in such a manner? “Of course not! I’ve never acted as though I’m interested in you... I mean...”
“What about that big tip I gave you? Do you think I’d hand over ten dollars on a piece of cake to just anyone?”
“I’m happy to give that back to you,” she said. “I felt bad taking it in the first place, because I could tell... I just didn’t know what else to do. It seemed kinder to keep it than chase you down to say I’m not interested when you hadn’t even tried to ask me out yet.”
“Wow. Apparently, you’re as big a bitch as my ex-wife,” he said and disconnected before she could respond.
Ellen was a little shaken by his reaction. He had to be as unstable as Debbie, she decided. As far as she was concerned, they deserved each other.
Trying to shrug off the pall Rocko had cast over her mood, she took a deep breath and tossed her phone on the couch as if she could shake off the emotional residue of that call just as easily. She was looking forward to having the rest of the night to herself. With some solitude, maybe she’d be able to find her center again.
But after she’d eaten and settled in to watch TV, she heard a knock at the door.
The last time she’d assumed it would be Talulah on her doorstep, it’d been Hendrix, so she twisted around and lifted the blinds on the window facing her front yard to check.
She couldn’t seeanyoneat the door. Maybe her visitor was standing slightly out of range, but she noticed a flash of red taillights as someone in a car or truck rocketed down the road away from her place. What was going on?
Curious, she went to the door, opened it a crack and peered out.
Sure enough, no one was there. Why would someone knock and then run? She remembered doing that sort of thing in the neighborhood where she lived as a child, but there weren’t any kids around. She wasn’t even part of a neighborhood anymore. She was out in the country on five acres, and her closest neighbor was Talulah, who also had some land.
She waited several seconds to see what might happen as she stared down the road where she’d briefly glimpsed those taillights. But whoever it was didn’t come back. It wasn’t until she started to close the door that she saw a rock on her doormat.
“Someone brought me a rock?” she said but as soon as she bent to retrieve it, she could see it wasn’t just any rock. It was a geode that’d been cut open and polished—and it was filled with hundreds of amethyst crystals.
She’d seen this sort of thing in gift shops and always admired them. But...was this a present? If so, she couldn’t imagine who’d given it to her.
It had to be Talulah, she decided. But even that didn’t make sense. Her best friend wouldn’t leave it on her doorstep and drive away. She’d stay to see how Ellen liked it. She lived in the other direction from where that vehicle had turned, anyway.
Ellen looked beneath the mat and searched the front porch for a card or note but found nothing. She waited a few seconds after that, too, in case whoever it was returned to see if it was gone. But the night remained quiet and still. All she could hear was a chorus of frogs coming from the stream that ran alongside her property.
Finally, she took the geode inside and set it on her coffee table.
Could Ben have given this to her as an apology for being such a douchebag?
No...He wasn’t self-aware enough to even realize how he was behaving. And he wouldn’t spend so much. A quick search on the internet convinced her that what she’d been given could cost as much as three hundred dollars.
While attempting to puzzle out the mystery, she texted her mother.
Did you have someone bring me a geode?
