Page 34 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
“He’ll want to stay married to you, so you can’t testify.”
That’s where I’d gone wrong.It made sense now.Just disappearing was one thing; divorcing him was another.He didn’t want me back.He wanted me dead.But the proceedings never happened.Perhaps if I stayed hidden, stayed quiet, and never got that divorce, he’d forget about me.“After I’m done fixing this place up, what kind of job could I get?”
She smiled.“By then, it will be Fall.There’s a festival at the shop I need help with, and after the equinox and Samhain, there’s more work, especially cleaning.Jackson’s not the only person paying me to watch their place.If I had help, I could expand.”
That was a plan.I had plans.I searched the quiet trees and empty road for hope and discovered that it was right here on my doorstep.“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.”
Funny how her words echoed Jackson’s.
* * *
Three months later, Crystal inspected my latest project and then commented on the bombshell I’d dropped on her.“Are yousureyou want to live without running water for a month?”
“These pipes need to be redone, and you never know when it might freeze.”
She sent me an admonishing glare.“You sound like one of them.”
“Who?”I sanded the drywall in my bedroom.
“The locals.Always harping on winter coming.”
“It is.”
“It’s October.”
“Which leads to November, and … winter.”I shuddered, my imagination trying to picture what the locals called “harsh.”Probably ten-foot drifts and icebergs crashing into the shore.In other words, cold as fuck.
Her head shook.She stared at me for a full minute as I worked.
“If you’re going to be here, sand.”I handed her the block with 220 grit paper wrapped around it.
“I don’t do hard labor.”
She was lying.I’d come to realize she always had work somewhere.Whether it was running her store, delivering groceries to shut-ins, or maintaining the twenty, yes, twenty vacation houses on this and two other islands, she had more work than both of us could handle, which was great because it was much better than working a seafood shack on the shore for minimum wage.I’d made enough in the last month to pay a contractor to build a real bathroom in the place.
It even covered the extra fees that kept the building’s historical charm without the inconvenience of historical living.But it also uncovered the issues with the well and pipes that forced me to go back to the cystern system.And like hell was I going to bathe in the kitchen all winter when I was so close to using my new bathroom.
“Indulge me.”I pushed the bundle into her hand.
Crystal reluctantly scraped the block over a patch near the door.“You’re going to help me with the Halloween festival, right?”
“Absolutely.”Despite my upbeat answer, my heart rate picked up.“How big are the crowds?”
“Not as big as the lobster festival, and you did fine then.”
I froze.“You noticed?”
“That you’re a recluse with men issues.Yes.”
“I don’t have men issues.”Just one man.
“You practically dove under the table when those bikers walked in.”
They were bikers.Just not the outlaw kind.“They were wearing leather coats.”I doubled my sanding speed to make up for the time lost.
Crystal sent me a look of pity.“They had HOG patches.”
