Page 1 of Forever Fickle

CHAPTER1

KAREN

Yonder, Texas…

“I don’t know y’all…”Karen said for the fourth time, staring at her friends over coffee at Dixie’s little bakery shop. It had become kind of a ritual for her to meet up with her friends on Saturdays, and it gave her a chance to get out of the little apartment she was renting.

“You’ll have so much fun, and it will be a huge help,” Glory said, reaching over the table to hold her hand. “I know that several of us are ready to deliver at any time now…”

“I thought you had several months left?” Dixie interrupted, glancing sideways at the other woman, who looked enormous already with the twins and had her plate propped happily onto her stomach, loaded with donut holes.

“I do, but a girl can wish… can’t she?”

“I know nothing about airplanes,” Karen began hesitantly. “Yes, I have some downtime right now, but as soon as I have to start setting up class again or if something comes up then…”

“Then we’ll deal with it at that time. Please, Karen?” Dixie asked again. “I really want to go with Lee to see his brother in Alaska and I’m the backup for the offices. If you don’t want to do this, I understand, but this was going to be my honeymoon and a meet-the-family… all rolled into one. Micah’s wife is supposed to be delivering soon and…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…” Karen laughed, smiling easily, and holding up her hands in front of her defensively. “You can lay off the guilt trip,mom… I’m just afraid to mess something up.”

“We’ll make it as simple as possible for you – in fact – Harley already has the schedule blocked off so you can’t overbook us. You’ll just need to answer phones, order supplies if needed, or help greet students. There will be a lot of downtime, I imagine.”

“So, tell me how this is going to be, ‘so much fun that I can’t resist’…” Karen smiled, already knowing she was going to agree.

Dixie and her sister, Virginia, had been friends of hers all through high school. She’d kept in touch off and on over the years, but in the last six months they’d really connected again. Her friend was happier than ever before, though she wouldn’t say those words aloud because it had taken forever for Dixie to move past her husband’s funeral and find love again.

Lee was everything Karen could have wished for Dixie!

He smiled, was outgoing, and made her laugh. He always seemed to be right there holding her hand, supporting her. Karen had met him one afternoon at the bakery, finding the two lovebirds making rosettes for a wedding cake and laughing at his mutilated attempts.

In fact, Dixie’s husband was so charming that Karen had made a joke that the ladies could feel free to set her up with Lee’s brother or any other Flyboy, at any time… and that is when she met Glory.

Lee’s brother, Micah, was happily married… but Glory was like inviting a hurricane into your life. The woman was unstoppable – but in a pleasant way. You couldn’t help but smile at her bright disposition.

She wished more people were so outgoing and caring towards perfect strangers. As a teacher at the elementary school, you would think that it would be easy. Colored paper, round-tipped scissors, the occasional child eating paste…?

But Nooooo…

The children were… original.

Some were stubborn and refused to come out of their shell, others were outgoing and couldn’t sit still, while there was a third group – the quiet ones – that were scarier still.

Then there were the parents.

You would think that you would want to befriend the person who would be teaching your child for eight hours a day – only to find that most used her as a babysitter, pseudo-parent, or treated her like garbage because ‘she’failed to instill discipline in their child… for them!

Karen had been berated, spit on, hung-up on repeatedly, and accused of being mean over the past five years, enough to make the strongest person shatter, yet somehow, she managed to keep it all together.

She buried each slur, each barb, deep down inside, afraid to let them take root, knowing just how much it hurt to be called a failure repeatedly.

No, Karen wanted someone on her side supporting her, someone she could vent to, and someone that could love her for the scared woman hiding bravely behind the cool exterior that pretended to be unflappable.

“So, here’s the dealie-yo for the next six-to-eight weeks… and then you are free, my friend,” Glory grinned. “Our buddy Reaper is flying in and spending a whole month helping out. He’s a good guy…”

“Reaper?” Karen said skeptically, fully aware that the woman was trying to fix her up by parading a flurry of guys in front of her instead of telling her about the job. “As in… the Grim Reaper?”

“Pshawww… he’s not that bad,” Glory grinned, waving off her words. “My husband said he’s a little morose, but he’s supposed to be nice. He’ll be here for four weeks and is spending his entire vacation for the year…the year,” she stressed, before winking and continuing on, “…All to come help us out. The man is loyal to his friends and family. They’re all good guys, I’m tellin’ ya.”

“Good guy – creepy name.”

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