Page 67 of Grounded
“Grandma, I didn’t know Booger would still be there.”
“Annie, you devil!” Evelyn pointed her finger and then broke out with laughter.
Annie gave herself away with the hint of a grin. “Old Tom drug up a half-dead mouse, and I tossed it over to Booger this afternoon to finish off. I guess he decided to let his meal digest before going back to the smokehouse.”
Beulah cut a sharp glance at her granddaughter before allowing herself to laugh too. “Well, I swan. You can almost set your clock by that snake’s habits. I couldn’t figure out what happened.”
They laughed and talked some more with Beulah drying the dishes while Annie and Evelyn washed and put them away. That was something she could do easily enough sitting down, as long as someone set the dishes in front of her and put them up. The twisting and turning in the kitchen was the hardest for her to do. That would come later when she was all healed.
While Annie drove Evelyn home, Beulah put on her nightgown. She heard a car creep back up the driveway. Beulah went to the window, looking out over the back porch to make sure it was Annie. Her granddaughter had gotten out of the car and was leaning against it, looking up at the waxing moon.
There was something to that necklace she had worn. There was an unspoken communication going on between Annie and Jake that no one else was meant to understand.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
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.
