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This was wrong, but she wasn’t really leaving me any choice. I would just get myself in better shape, then leave. They’d be safe here. I wouldn’t let them take the fall for my actions. I’d get out before it happened.
“Thank you. I don’t know why you want to help me, but I am forever in your debt,” I told her.
She walked around the island and placed her hand over mine. “God didn’t bless me with a daughter. But if he had, I’d like to believe that if she was in trouble, someone would step in and help her. You need family, and that I can provide.”
I felt a lump of emotion form in my throat. I’d lived my life looking for someone to give me what this woman was having to force me to accept. I nodded, unable to say anything just yet.
“Good. That’s settled. You have all you want to eat. I’ll get you a pen and paper so you can make a grocery list. There’s not a washer and dryer at the house, but you can do all your laundry right here.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, feeling as if I would never be able to say those words enough.
She smiled, then took another drink from her cup.
Voices suddenly broke the silence, and she set her cup down. “Reckon Thatcher and Wells are coming to eat after all.”
As she walked over to take down more plates, King walked in the room, followed by Thatcher and Wells, just as she had predicted. King’s eyes met mine, and he smiled. When he entered a place, it was as if he had this magnetic pull that came with him. The mood lightened, and everything seemed to revolve around him.
“Good morning,” he said, making his way over to me. “Maeme talked you into staying yet?” he asked, then picked up my untouched bacon from my plate and took a bite.
“If you take one more thing off her plate, I’ll toss your cocky butt out of my kitchen,” Maeme scolded him.
He winked at me, then took another bite.
• nine •
“How the fuck do you milk an almond anyway?”
Rumor
Hidden back in the thick of pecan trees sat a white clapboard house with a front porch. Maeme’s house couldn’t even be seen from back here. Maeme had told me its floor plan was a shotgun house, and I had no idea what that meant, but I was looking forward to finding out. The front porch was tiny with enough room for the single rocking chair and a little side table that had a lantern on it.
“Here it is,” King said. “What do you think? I know it’s small—”
“It is perfect,” I breathed, reaching for the door handle as his truck came to a stop.
“I wouldn’t go that far. She did tell you it doesn’t have a dishwasher.”
I laughed then, and the sound was foreign to my own ears. “I don’t care. I will happily wash the dishes.”
I pushed open the truck door, ready to jump down and go look inside. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been excited about anything. But this…this was almost as if Maeme had plucked the image out of my dreams and placed it here. I just needed a dog now. Not that I would get one. I couldn’t stay forever.
“Whoa, wait a second. Let me help you down. Broken rib, remember?” King said as he got out of the truck, then made his way around to my door.
He held out a hand, and I noticed a black leather bracelet on his wrist as I slipped my hand into his for the extra support stepping down. I let go of him the moment I was on the ground. His grip wasn’t painful, but it was strong. He was twice the size of Hill. Taller, broader, more in shape. He had to work out. Lift weights.
“I’ll grab your suitcase. You can go on ahead and check it out. It’s unlocked.”
I didn’t hesitate as I made my way along the pea gravel drive to the paver stones that led to the porch steps. There were four of them. My lips ached from the smile I couldn’t keep from spreading across my face. Reaching for the outer screen door, I opened it before taking the doorknob of the heavy wooden door. I fought back a giddy laugh as I went inside.
The first room that greeted me was a yellow-and-white kitchen. It was bright and cheery. There was a refrigerator to the left, along with a sink and just enough counter space for the dish drainer to sit. The stovetop-and-oven combo completed that side. In the center of the room was a round table with a ceramic tile top and two mismatched chairs. Then, on the right was what looked like a wood-burning stove, and the window on that side of the room had an air-conditioning unit in it.
The screen door opened behind me, and I turned to see King walking inside with my suitcase and a bag of groceries.
He seemed so out of place in the small kitchen as he grinned at me and raised his eyebrows. “Well? What do you think?”
I let out a soft laugh. “It is beautiful.”
He set down the groceries on the table, then nodded his head to the wooden stove. “That’s the only source of heat in the house. There is a shed just out the back door, full of dry wood for it. If you need help working it, I can give you a lesson.” Then, he pointed to the window unit. “You have two of these. One in here and one in the bedroom. They can keep it nice and cool in the summer. You’ll find opening the front door and the back door in the fall and spring will allow a breeze to blow straight through the place, keeping it a pleasant temp. That’s what the screen doors are there for.”
