Page 38 of Grounded (May Hollow Trilogy #1)

Annie pulled a weed next to a bean plant, then another.

The invading plants threatened the health of her green beans and there was something therapeutic about jerking them out of the ground.

There was a feeling of accomplishment as she went down the row, a mark of where she had been.

The sun warmed her back as she tossed the weeds into a brown paper bag and then scooted her stool to the next section.

In the morning light, she was ashamed of herself for her churlishness toward Camille the night before.

The cross necklace was one thing, dragging out something from her past with Jake as if to lay claim on some prior connection.

Although he never said a word, couldn’t of course, he had recognized it.

She knew from the way his eyes lingered on hers with a question.

And then Booger … Annie stifled a grin even now. She hadn’t known he would stay to digest the mouse, but she thought it might work. What she did didn’t bother her as much as why. Was it a need to feel superior over Camille while she was on her turf? Or to help Jake see Camille wasn’t right for him?

“Kitty,” her grandmother called from the back porch. Annie looked up to see her grandmother pour a small amount of milk into a bowl by the back porch door. When she looked toward the garden, Annie waved to her.

“I’ll be in to fix lunch in a minute,” she called to her.

It had been two days since Annie had talked to Bob Vichy.

She had waited to tell her grandmother in the event he might quickly get her an extension.

Annie was so full of hope, she had called Janice and requested her camera accessories, a swimsuit and a couple of summer blouses she missed.

All would be an entire waste of Janice’s time if Annie was heading back to New York herself on Sunday.

When the brown truck groaned in the driveway earlier and the gum-chewing delivery man left the overnight package from Janice, Annie realized even Janice wasn’t as hopeful, or else she wouldn’t have spent the extra money on overnight service.

With no word from Bob, Annie knew she had to tell her grandmother.

When she thought about going back this soon, her chest tightened.

There was so much left undone. She had wanted to finish the garden, to see it through from planting to canning, and finally to putting the goods on shelves in the cellar.

And who would keep an eye on the renter, Stella Hawkins? Her grandmother had alerted the police, but even Jeb Harris admitted they were understaffed.

“Ouch,” she said after grabbing a weed with tiny thorns on it, pricking her fingers.

After a while, she learned how to recognize the thorny weed and grab it from the base, avoiding the stickers.

Worries were like weeds, she thought. Best to grab them by the root and yank them up.

But sometimes they cause pain. And if you don’t deal with them, they multiply and choke out the good things.

At the end of the row, Annie stood and stretched. She had dealt with enough weeds for the day. It was time to confront a worry.

Annie went into the kitchen and pulled a chair out and sat. Her grandmother had heated leftovers for lunch.

“Grandma, my boss called two days ago and asked me to come back this Monday for work. I told him I couldn’t come Monday and asked for an extension.

I don’t know if I’ll get it, Grandma. When all this happened, he told me it would be at least three months, possibly six, and it’s been less than two. I’m sorry.”

“Now, there’s nothing to be sorry for. You have your job back.

That’s a blessing, not something to be sad about.

” Her grandmother reached across and lightly laid her hand on Annie’s before pulling away.

“Besides, I’ll make out fine. Evelyn already said she would help me if I need her.

You got me through the worst part of it, and look what all you’ve done around here! This place doesn’t even look the same.”

“I can hire some extra help for the garden if you know somebody who could use the work,” Annie said.

“I’ll manage fine. Having you here these last few weeks has been wonderful. I’ll miss that. But I want you to live your life.”

“I’m still hoping for the extension. Even without it, I’ll fly back on days off this summer and help with the garden as much as I can. I’ll come so often you’ll be tired of seeing me.” Annie stood and kissed her grandmother on the cheek.

“Now, I better get to my exercises,” Beulah said as she pushed herself up from the table.

“I think I’m going to run over to Evelyn’s and use her computer. I tried calling, but no one’s home.” Annie grabbed the camera accessories and stuffed them in her pocket for the walk over.

Despite all her words to comfort her grandmother, Annie felt a hollow in her own chest on the walk to the neighboring farm.

Using the crossover place in the rock fence and coming up behind the dairy barn, she tried shaking the heaviness by enjoying the beauty of the warm day and Evelyn’s flower garden as she passed through it to the back door.

The driveway and garage were empty, other than the old farm truck parked in the open-door garage.

No one was home. All she needed was to print out the old stone house pictures so she could finish her drawing.

It was even more important to her now that little time remained.

Annie wanted to leave it with her grandmother before she left.

The back door was unlocked, just as Evelyn had said.

Annie called before entering, but when no one answered, she made her way to the office.

Annie uploaded the pictures and in a few seconds, they were on the screen.

She enlarged them to get a better view. While they were printing, she checked her e-mail, which included one lengthy note from a friend in Rome.

She was in the middle of a reply to an e-mail from Prema when she heard the back door open.

Before she could call out, Annie heard voices in the kitchen.

She logged off and gathered up her pictures.

“Jake, don’t you think it’s possible to do a little farming on the side and still partner with my dad? Wouldn’t that be a way to do it all?” Annie recognized Camille’s voice and heard what sounded like a purse tossed onto the kitchen table.

“Sure, it’s a possibility. But if I go into business with your dad, it would be creating a new concept from scratch and you know how much time and energy that would take.

The farming would get very little time. So it really comes down to a choice between the two, if I want to make a success of either one. ”

“Why not save farming for later, when you want to slow down. Who says you can’t do both at different times in your life?”

“So you’re not too excited about this option,” he said.

“Oh, Jake,” her voice turned to syrup. Annie wanted to gag. “I understand hotels and I can help you. We would be a team. But I don’t understand farming. To be honest, when you talk about grasses and cows and chickens, my eyes glaze over.”

“I didn’t realize I was boring you,” he said. His voice had an edge.

She let out an exaggerated sigh. “You are so good with people. You know how to lead a company. Do you realize what a rare gift that is? Why would you want to throw away all your talent on this farming thing?”

Camille had stepped in it now, Annie thought. The silence before Jake’s response stretched and Annie could feel the tension thick as a hazy and humid July afternoon.

When he spoke, his voice was controlled. “This farming thing feeds people. Not processed junk from halfway across the world, but real, nutritious food that allows people to live healthy lives while also caring for the environment. I can’t think of many things more important than that.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry Jake. You’re so different here than back home. I guess I’m missing the old Jake. Maybe it’s not so bad. I do like horses,” she said with a lilt at the end of her sentence. Annie could imagine her dimpled face, upturned and waiting for a kiss to make it all better.

Annie hoped they wouldn’t launch into a make-up and make-out session. She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible without being seen!

“Let’s talk about this later. You need to do some more thinking and so do I. Right now, I need to return some phone calls.”

A cabinet door opened and then she heard running water. If Camille responded, Annie didn’t hear it, and soon the voices faded as they moved down the hall.

Annie slipped quietly out the front door and down the driveway to make sure she wasn’t seen from the back window.

Annie wouldn’t tell her grandmother about hearing Jake and Camille argue.

It was a private matter she shouldn’t have heard anyway, and her grandmother would remind her of that if she told her.

Annie had almost forgotten the pictures on her walk back and now they were crumpled.

Once inside her grandmother’s kitchen, she smoothed them out on the kitchen table.

The house filled the paper, giving her architectural details for the drawing.

She craved her charcoals now, seeking the escape an hour or two of drawing would provide.

“Annie?” Beulah called from the kitchen. Annie was upstairs, changing into her work clothes.

“Coming!”

Annie pulled on her old tennis shoes and tied them, then pulled her hair back in a short ponytail. Her grandmother was seated at the kitchen table.

“Did you look at these pictures?”

“I glanced at them. I thought I could use them to finish my sketch.”

“You can almost see the license number on her car. If we had that, we could give it to Detective Harris. I’d like the comfort of knowing she’s not some criminal.”

“You’re right. I could enlarge that section or just walk back and write the numbers down.”

That afternoon, Annie intended to walk back to the stone house, but the threat of overnight showers forced her back into the garden to collect more ripe beans. The beans she had already picked had produced again, and now the new rows were bearing their first offerings.

With two full baskets between them, Annie and Beulah broke the beans, tossing the ends into a brown grocery bag and plunking the beans into a large metal pan.

The sun cast long end-of-the-day shadows on the yard.

Booger was stretched out on the millstone, and a barn cat sat on the smokehouse step and watched with curious eyes.

“Believe I’ll go to prayer meeting tonight,” Beulah said. “Evelyn said she could drive me into town if you want to stay here.”

“I’ll drive you tonight,” Annie said. “But I might go to Lindy’s church this Sunday if you don’t mind.”

“No, that’s fine. I wouldn’t mind visiting there myself one Sunday, but it would be the talk of town. I better wait for some special event when our church isn’t meeting.”

“Does Evelyn’s church meet on Wednesdays?”

“Not usually. When I talked to her earlier, she said Cam and Jake were going to dinner in Lexington. They had invited her, but she decided to give them a little time alone.”

“Good. I might run over and see her after we get back.”

Prayer meeting lasted only an hour and was exactly what it was called.

Church members sang, offered up prayer requests and prayed silently then out loud under the direction of Pastor Gillum.

After they were dismissed, Annie dropped Beulah off at the house, seeing her inside, then drove over to Evelyn’s, since it was getting close to dusk.

“Come in,” Evelyn said, happy to see her.

“Is this a good time?” Annie asked.

“Of course! Jake and Cam are in Lexington and probably won’t be home for a couple more hours.”

“I came by the other day,” Annie said. “No one was home, so I used your computer to print out these pictures.” She handed them to Evelyn.

“I need to enlarge one to see if we can make out the license plate letters. I could walk over tomorrow, but Stella Hawkins is coiled like a snake and I’m afraid the third time she might strike. ”

“Of course. Anytime,” Evelyn said, reaching for the pictures in Annie’s hand while Annie booted up the computer. “Looks like she’s taken the curtains down in two of the windows. Beulah said she had them all covered before.”

Annie pulled the picture up on the computer screen. “I didn’t notice that before. Maybe it’s some kind of signal related to selling drugs.”

“You think its drug related? Why?” Evelyn took off her glasses and sat down.

“She’s put up some kind of sensor on the old oak next to the bridge.

She was out of it when we took food, like she was high on something.

And then the other day I went by the house on the way home from the cemetery, and I heard wailing coming from inside the house.

I knocked on the door and the crying stopped.

The second time I knocked she yelled for me to leave her alone.

” Annie shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. ”

“Now, let’s see if we can get that license number.” She adjusted the picture so the license number was in the center, and then enlarged until the letter and number combination was readable. “CJX 478. It’s an Illinois plate.” She pressed print.

“Can you stay for a cup of hot tea?” Evelyn asked. Annie was tired and wanted to go to bed, but she could tell Evelyn wanted to talk.

“Sure,” Annie said and sat down at the table.

Evelyn set the kettle on the gas burner and put out cups and saucers while the water heated.

“Jake’s been different since Camille got here,” Evelyn said. “Have you noticed it?”

“Not really, but I haven’t spent any time with him. What do you mean?”

“Oh, maybe I’m just imagining things. But he’s on eggshells,” Evelyn said. “I wonder if I should I say anything? Try to offer some counsel?” Evelyn poured hot water in the teapot and set out cups and saucers.

Annie thought back to that sunny afternoon in Rome, when Janice told her the story about her sister and the diamond earrings.

It had upset her, and at the time she didn’t appreciate it, but it had planted a seed of doubt in her mind, and when the truth was revealed through that unexpected conversation with a woman on the airplane, she was ready to receive it.

It had all worked to keep her from continuing a dead-end relationship.

After reflecting on her own experience, Annie answered Evelyn’s question: “Maybe. But you have to be careful. If he thinks you have doubts about Camille and they end up married, it could be a source of division.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. I wish Charlie were here. Men can talk about things differently. They can speak plainer to each other.”

“Jake respects your opinions. When the right time comes, you’ll know what to say, if anything.”