“And here I thought you and Mom had it made,” she said. “No work there.”
“We had our moments,” he said, with a grin. Then he looked at the loaf of bread, shook his head, and said, “You know what? I think I’ll have a little more.”
She watched, as he cut himself a second big slab and covered it in honey this time. She got up and refilled his coffee cup, then heard sounds of movement. “Sounds like Annie is awake,” she said.
“Great,” he said. “I’d like to see her. Been a long time since she was here.”
“Well, not so long,” she said gently, “she was here last week.”
He recovered quickly and said, “But she didn’t stay long.”
Annie came in just at that time. She looked at the two of them, smiled, and said, “Did I miss breakfast?”
“No, not at all,” her father said, turning with a big smile. “My, aren’t you looking lovely this morning.”
She chuckled, walked over, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and said, “Ever the charmer.”
“Of course,” he said. “Some things just come naturally.”
Annie chuckled and sat down at the table, until she spied the coffee. Then she bounced to her feet, walked to the cupboard, where she snagged herself a cup and filled it. Looking back, she asked, “Anybody else need some?”
“I just refilled ours,” Sammy said. “Did you get any sleep?”
Annie gave her a look and shrugged.
“Right, same as me,” she said.
“It’s a little tough when you are unsettled,” she said diplomatically.
“Very true.”
Annie came over to the table again, sat down, and looked at the bread. “Now that looks lovely too. May I?”
Embarrassed at forgetting her manners, Sammy hopped up and proceeded to make breakfast for the two of them.
When it was done, they cleaned up, and her father headed upstairs to work. Annie asked, “Can I trouble you for a ride home?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “Did you arrange for a tow for your car yet?”
“Not yet,” she said. “I’ll do it when I got home.”
“And maybe we should talk to the cops,” Sammy said quietly. “If it is your ex, he shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this.”
“You know what? I don’t really want to bring more trouble onto my head,” she murmured.
“I get it, but that doesn’t mean that avoiding the issue will make it any better.” Her friend wrinkled up her nose and nodded. “Maybe you’d feel better if I’m there when you talk to the police,” Sammy said, and that’s what they did. They waited an extra twenty minutes before leaving because the cops wouldn’t be at Annie’s right away.
Finally, by the time they were leaving, Annie looked at her and said, “Should I say goodbye to your dad?”
“Don’t bother,” she said. “He isn’t likely to remember anyway.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “That’s got to be hard.”
“It’s horrible,” she said, “but it is what it is, and I’m trying to make peace with it.”
“You are a better person than I am,” Annie said. “I would rant and rave to the skies.”
“That won’t do me any good. Besides, so far the skies have yet to answer back.”
At that, and still chuckling, the two walked out of the house. She drove her friend quickly home, and the police arrived as she pulled up.
Annie said, “You need to tell them about your car too.”
Sammy hesitated, but Annie shook her head. “What’s good for me is good for you,” she warned.
Groaning, but with a grin, Sammy hopped out of the vehicle and walked over to the cops, as Annie quickly explained the little bit she knew. And then Sammy explained about her tire too. It wasn’t in the trunk unfortunately to show them. But they could already see the destruction on Annie’s car. They took what little information they had and then left. She looked at Annie. “You good to go?”
“Absolutely.” Annie turned and walked back into the house.
Sammy hesitated for a long moment, wondering if she should follow her, but it didn’t seem to make any sense. Then she turned, got back into her vehicle, and drove off. She had a long day of work ahead of her, and, without any sleep, it would be just that much harder to get through it.
As she headed up the main road to her driveway, she saw another vehicle coming toward her. She immediately slowed down, wondering who it was. They didn’t have very many strangers here as it was, but, with the odd events happening now, she couldn’t help but look to see who it might be. Sure enough, it was Eton, but he was driving a completely different vehicle.
She gave him a good frown, but he gave her a city smile and waved as he drove on. She pulled onto the road that she needed, but her mind was consumed, wondering why he changed vehicles and what had happened to the other one?
*
It took Eton a moment to realize that his new vehicle was probably causing Sammy some concern. But he already had multiple excuses ready when needed. Right now he was heading into town, looking for information from various storekeepers. But he was also going on the pretense of shopping. He pulled in outside the butcher, walked in, looking for fresh bacon. And, sure enough, there was some. He bought a little bit and struck up a conversation. “Is there much business with all these little towns around here?” he asked.
The butcher nodded. “We have our regulars,” he said. “Other than that, not likely. But I’m the only butcher around for the next couple towns, so I get other surrounding business too.”
“That’s good,” he said. “I thought the other town or the one over from here was bigger than this one?”
“Not really,” he said. “It’s a little bit bigger, but they are all spread out,” he said. “So population-wise, we are the same. Most businesses need the population from all these towns around here to stay in business,” he said. “It’s not like in the olden days.”
“I guess a lot of people here are commuters, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” He looked at him and asked, “What are you doing here? Just a tourist?”
Eton nodded. “Yes,” he said, “staying at one of the chalets for a few days. A bunch of buddies got together.” He looked at the bacon and said, “Considering that, you want to double up the bacon for us?”
The butcher nodded.
“I think I saw something about condos for sale around here somewhere. Do you know anything about that?” he asked. “The guys and I are really enjoying being out in the country.”
“Those condos have been a nightmare for the area,” the butcher said, with a headshake. “It was a go five years ago, then they shut it down. It’s been one of those on-again, off-again deals,” he said, with a shake of his head.
“I don’t understand these property developers,” Eton said. “You’d think people would get their facts straight, before they got to that point.”
“You’d think so,” he said, “but then people will be people.”
“Is it all being done by locals? That aspect would be a nice shot in the arm for the economy.”