Page 39 of Grounded (May Hollow Trilogy #1)

Jake was outside, talking on his cell phone, when Annie pulled into the Wilders’ driveway. He smiled when he saw her, disconnected the phone and leaned in her window.

“Cam will be right out. I think it takes her longer to dress for girl outings than it does for a date with me.” He leaned in close to her. “Thanks for doing this. I was hoping you two could spend some time together.”

Annie shielded her eyes from the sun. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell her about all your secrets?”

Jake’s slow smile crept wide across his face. “I’m hoping you do.”

“Lindy is meeting us at the diner.”

“Good.”

“Hello!” Camille waved from the porch, bracelets jangling. Her light-blond hair rested against a black shirt with a scalloped neckline and jeans. Annie and Jake watched her as she came down the stairs as graceful as a cat, her bracelets clanging like bells.

Annie felt like a middle-aged frump next to Camille. What had happened to her fashion sense? Shopping was not her favorite pastime, and the ability to wear a uniform to work had allowed her to go for a long time without updating her wardrobe.

“You two girls have a good time!” Jake hit the hood with his hand and waved as Annie backed around.

“Bye, honey!” Camille called out the window, her arm waving and bracelets singing a goodbye tune. Annie wanted desperately to roll her eyes, but she fought the urge, chastising herself once again for her immaturity.

Lindy had been buried in work with a case this past week, and Annie had barely had reason to hope she could peel away for lunch.

When she called to check and Lindy said she could meet them, it had given her a tremendous sense of relief.

For once, she felt at a loss for making conversation.

Having Lindy there would keep things going.

“What’s that growing over there?” Camille asked, pointing to a leafy green crop. “It’s so pretty.”

“Tobacco.”

“People still grow it?” Camille asked, looking as if she smelled sulfur.

“Some do. I asked my grandma that a couple of weeks ago. She said the buyout took out most of it, but a few people still plant and sell directly to the buyers.”

“That’s terrible. I think it should be banned altogether,” Cam said. “Whoever grows that stuff should be tried as criminals.”

Annie felt a bubble of anger rise. “Well, you’ll have to try the members of mine and Jake’s family, plus every neighbor and friend on our road.”

Cam looked at her, stricken. ‘You mean Jake’s family grew tobacco?”

“Of course. We all did, among other things, until the buyout. It’s all our farming families have known for generations. We depended on it for survival long before anyone realized tobacco caused cancer.”

“But as soon as people realized how bad it was, they should have stopped!”

“It’s complicated. You can’t stop farming one crop without something to take its place.

Farmers have made substitutions but it’s not that easy.

There has to be a market for the crops that will make it worthwhile…

. Here we are,” Annie said, parking next to the diner, and vowing to keep the conversation light and pleasant for the remainder of the lunch, fifty-nine minutes and counting.

As soon as they were out of the car, she saw Lindy coming from across the street.

Annie wanted to hug her friend, she was so relieved.

She made the introductions before they moved into the diner.

Lindy and Camille went through the door while Annie hung back to look at the chalkboard sign on the sidewalk.

It read: Locally Grown Heirloom Tomatoes Served Here

Annie smiled to herself. Even Bill was making an effort to serve local food, although she suspected the tomatoes were the only local produce offered on the grease soaked menus.

Inside, they found a corner booth. The waitress reminded Annie of herself when she worked at the diner. She was probably on break from college and starting her summer job. She asked for their drink order.

“Do you have any sparkling waters?” Cam asked.

“Huh?” the waitress said, clearly confused.

“San Pelligrino or Perrier?”

Compassion for the waitress compelled Annie to intervene. “It’s just tap. They don’t offer any kind of bottled water.”

“Okay, plain water is fine. Is it filtered?” Cam asked as the waitress marked on her pad. “I’ve been reading about all the chemicals,” Cam said to Annie and Lindy.

“No, it comes right out of the faucet in the back,” the waitress said. “If I was you, I’d get a Diet Pepsi.”

“That’s okay, I’ll take my chances with the water, but no ice please and lots of lemon.” Cam smiled sweetly at the waitress as if to apologize for the trouble.

Out of the corner of her eye, Annie could see Lindy’s raised eyebrows, but she forced herself not to look, afraid of what might happen if they made eye contact. When the waitress finished with their drink orders, Annie said, “Lindy is working on a big case. How’s it coming?”

“Good. I just had a deposition down the street. It’s probably going to go to trial, so it’ll be my first one. I’m excited and nervous.”

“Oh, what kind of case is it?” Cam asked.

“I’m prosecuting a guy who took pornographic pictures of his foster daughter and sold them on the Internet. That’s all I can say for now, but it’s going to be a big trial for us,” Lindy said. “So what do you do in Cincinnati?”

Annie mentally patted herself on the back again for thinking to invite Lindy.

“I’m in hotel sales. I book meetings and conventions,” Camille said. “It’s a blast, but I’m dying to get out of Cincinnati and go to a bigger market.”

The waitress brought Cam a water, Annie a sweet tea, and Lindy a Diet Pepsi. “Know what you want yet?”

“Cheeseburger and fries for me,” Lindy said.

“I’ll take the BLT,” Annie said, “with one of those locally grown tomatoes.” She smiled at the waitress.

“What kind of salads do you have?” Cam asked.

“Just one kind. You can get it with or without fried chicken,” the waitress answered.

“Oh, okay. Definitely without the fried chicken. What kind of lettuce is it?”

“Just plain old lettuce,” the waitress said, her brow crinkled.

“It’s Iceberg,” Annie said.

“Any fat-free dressings?”

“We have a light Italian. That’s it.”

“That’s fine,” Cam said, closing her menu and turning back to the girls.

“Actually …” Camille’s eyes took on a mischievous glint.

“This is top secret, just between us girls, okay? My dad called this morning and has secured an option to buy into a large hotel in New York City. It will be a great opportunity for Jake if the deal goes through.”

“Oh, has Jake decided to do the hotel business?” Lindy looked at Annie then Camille.

“He’s almost there,” Cam said. “He’ll drop everything when he hears about the deal in New York. This would be the chance of a lifetime.” Camille smiled like a cat with a belly full of mouse.

“Why don’t you tell Jake now?” Annie asked, sipping her iced tea through a straw. “Wouldn’t your dad want Jake to weigh in on the deal before he takes such a big step?”

“Dad wants to wait until we know we have it. The owners are coming in for negotiations this weekend. That’s why I have to leave on Saturday. Jake thinks I have a sales meeting, but if it goes through, he’ll know all about it soon enough.”

The waitress brought their food with a clatter and some of Camille’s lettuce fell onto the table. Camille looked at the waitress sharply but held her tongue.

“That’s very generous of your father,” Lindy said. “But are you sure that’s what Jake wants to do?”

“Jake will come around eventually. He’ll see the benefit of us working together as a family. That’s how it is with us—we all work together.”

“I don’t know if I would want to work with my husband all day, but with the guy I’m hung up on, that wouldn’t be a problem,” Lindy said, wiping her mouth. She peered at Camille as if she just spotted a bedbug. “Are you sniffing your food?”

Annie nearly spit out her tea and instead started choking.

“Are you okay?” Lindy asked. Camille frowned at Annie with a slight look of disgust. Annie threw up her hand and choked out the words, “Fine, wrong pipe.”

“So what’s up with the sniffing?” Lindy asked again, just in case Camille forgot the question.

“It’s a technique I learned in college. If you take the time to sniff each bite, you eat less. It’s kinda like tricking your brain into thinking you’re full. It really works!”

“No kidding!” Lindy said. “I’ll have to try that.”

Annie fought hard against her eye-rolling urge.

“Now about this love interest. What is keeping you from going for it?” Camille asked.

“Mainly, he stays out West to climb rocks. He’s a free spirit and I’m traditional. Maybe one day,” Lindy said.

“Don’t wait. You should go for it. Decide what you want and grab it,” Camille said.

Advice to the lovelorn, Annie thought. She should write a column.

“What do you think, Annie?” Lindy asked.

“I think you should.” Before he goes falling in love with someone else, she thought.

Annie checked on Nutmeg when she got home.

She put her arms around her neck, drinking in the smell and letting it calm her.

Horses had a distinct scent unlike any other animal she had known.

It was a rich, musky relaxant, better than a glass of wine.

While she brushed Nutmeg, she went over the lunch with Camille, replaying the conversation.

Was Camille so used to getting her way that she thought this New York opportunity would change Jake’s mind? Did she really think money bought people? New York would make even weekend farming impossible. But that was probably what Camille wanted—to get him away from the farm.

“You don’t know Jake Wilder,” she said out loud. Nutmeg turned her head in question at Annie’s voice. “Not you.”

Annie tossed the brush back in the tack room and patted Nutmeg on a hindquarter.

In the house, she picked up her cell phone to call Lindy and mull over the strange lunch. She was distracted by the sight of a voice mail and checked it first.

“Annie, Bob Vichy. Call me.”

She sighed. What would she do if he said she had to leave on Monday with so many things up in the air? She dialed the number, her stomach tense, waiting for the punch.

“It’s Annie. What did you find out?”

“Two weeks from Monday or you lose your job. That was the best I could do, and I was lucky to get it.”

She let out her breath, relief washing over her like an ocean wave. “Great! I really appreciate it, Bob.”

Two weeks. It wasn’t enough time, but it was better than having to leave on Monday.

With a deep sigh, she said, “Thank you, God.” It was an answer to her prayer.

“Grandma, you all right?” she called, wanting her grandmother’s company. Annie realized her accent was creeping back into her speech. Her “I” was sliding to the right a bit, as if it were lazy and having trouble standing up straight.

When she didn’t answer, Annie poked her head into her grandmother’s downstairs bedroom. Beulah was asleep in the recliner, with a book lying open and facedown on her lap.

Annie left her and went back to the kitchen, the heart and soul of the house.

She sat down and mulled over the reprieve.

Two weeks. There was still the problem of where to live.

She could bunk with Prema and the girls, but it was already crowded with four people.

Janice had no room to spare with a mother-in-law even though she said she could stay there.

“Don’t worry,” Janice had said this morning.

“It’s on the bulletin board in the crew lounge. Something will open up.”

What if … no, it was crazy. It was the only work she had known, her only security.

A good paycheck and benefits, a retirement account, several days off at one time, and the ability to hop flights to anywhere in the world if seats were available.

If she didn’t show up two weeks from Monday, all that would be gone.

If she ever wanted to go back, she would have to start all over with no seniority, taking whatever flights the other attendants didn’t want.

Wouldn’t it be odd, she thought, if she ended up coming back here while Camille tried to convince Jake to move to New York? Should she talk to Jake about his girlfriend’s manipulations? Jake couldn’t possibly want to spend the rest of his life with someone like that, would he?

The many questions swirling around in her brain made her tired. She took the stairs up to her bedroom, and stretched across her bed, falling sound asleep.