“Please note that in spite of your current bad mood and the fact that your invite into your office just now sounded very close to an order…which I know you would never think of doing as the bottom line is in fact that I can remind you that one of the two of us in this room is the other’s boss…but be that as it may, I will simply ask what the heck has gotten your shorts in a twist so early?”
“You and my other sister—otherwise known as Jilliebean’s…Jillie’s,” he corrected, “aunts—should know better about repeating gossip in front of an impressionable child.”
“Okay,” she said, pushing up the sleeves of her sweater, “what is the infraction we’re being accused of?”
“She informs me today in the car, that I am considered catnip…catnip, she said…which she said she heard via her aunts…and that certainly includes you.You both need to cease and desist educating my daughter on the latest gossip of this town.
It was very clear that Tori was trying very hard to maintain as much of her composure as possible.At least she knew that laughter in that moment would not help matters.“I can see where this might have gotten your morning off to a bad start.”
“Bad start?No, that was accomplished when I was having a simple cup of coffee at Tillie’s and her latest waitress—someone just barely out of childhood, a teenage man-eater—gave me her phone number along with my cinnamon roll.”
She could contain it no longer and laughter escaped.“I am sorry,” she tried to choke out between bouts of laughter at his expense, “but you bring this on yourself.”
“And just how do you figure that one?”
“Face it, Matthew,” she said, reining in her mirth, “you are a free man, in good health, with reasonably good looks, a nice house, good job, adoring sisters, and a beautiful little girl…and the population is a few hundred short of your variety of male at the moment considering the number of single females…and I’m just counting the ones of childbearing age.”
“This has got to stop.Do you know how often I’m called to go to a house where a poor animal is stuck in a tree?Or there are strange noises in the basement?It’s gotten to where I send someone else to the call and then I get complaints from the person who called formeto come to the scene.I should hire a wife and put myself out of misery.”He sank down in his leather chair and closed his eyes.
There was silence.So much so that Matt ventured the opening of one eye to see if his sister was still in the room.She was.But there was an expression on her face that he knew and that made him come back to the present on full alert.
“No, Tori, I know what happens when you get that look and you start thinking and things happen, which usually don’t go well for those involved.”
She smiled.And that did nothing to reassure him.Just the opposite.“Matthew, you’ve just hit on a solution.Hire a wife.The single females will lose interest and move on to some other unsuspecting male.”
Matt slowly shook his head.“Hire a wife.Is that in the yellow pages or do you just google it or—?”
“Oh, okay, smarty,” she stopped him.“You wouldn’t have to really hire someone and marry them.You could hire someone to say, be a girlfriend until the others cool down and find another guinea pig…so to speak.”
“Again, I’m not sure where you hire one of those except someplace called an escort service…and I am fairly certain that would become the scandal of the century around Destiny’s River.”
She shrugged her shoulders and then moved to the door, hand resting on the doorknob when she turned to look at him.“It was just a suggestion.But you need to think of a way to take yourself off the market…or at least make people think that you are.I’ll send you my bill for my advice.Bye!”
“Find a make-believe girlfriend…or just bite the bullet and sacrifice myself on the altar of catnip.”He mumbled the words out loud to himself.And he knew that would not be an option.He had lost his wife even before their first anniversary when she bled out due to a physician’s oversight in her postpartum care.He had raised Jillie from that moment.It had been just the two of them in their little family.He had hoped he had done his best…with the help of his siblings along the way.But it was tough.What if he chose the wrong person?What if Jillie ended up hurt?He felt the weight of that decision only grew stronger as the years passed.
Why did he allow his eldest sister to get inside his brain so easily?He would just have to hope for one of those Christmas miracles since the season would soon be upon them.If all else failed, maybe Santa would help a guy out.
Chapter Three
“Hurry, Teddy,” Allypleaded, “the rain is coming down harder now.”
Such was their trip so far.Mile upon mile, traffic, and the quick stops for gas, and her standing and waiting upon Teddy to relieve himself and get back in the car.The rain had become an added bonus in Virginia.And it continued to travel with them along the same route.
Mr.Jacobs had been true to his word.The old two-door vehicle had been checked over at D and J Garage, a new set of tires put on, and their luggage was stowed.Teddy took his rightful place in the copilot’s seat, and armed with maps and travel tips, and emergency numbers, the pair had set out for Texas…along with Annie’s cremains secured in the back seat inside an even more secure box.Things went okay for the first couple hundred miles.Then the heater stopped working.So, Ally pulled out another sweater to layer under the one she already had on, and they continued.
Laura, who was Teddy’s dogsitter after Annie’s death, had given her an old hat that had belonged to her father before they departed.She had told her to put her hair up and wear it, and it would make people think it was a man traveling and not a lone girl and dog.Skeptical at first, it wasn’t long before Ally had given it a try and somehow it did make her feel better.
Laura had also, along with Mrs.Jacobs, made sure she had a vast supply of homemade cookies to sustain her on the road.Mrs.Davis and the pastor’s wife had supplied fresh fruit, apples and grapes and some chips, too.Ally was most grateful that she had Teddy as her companion.He listened to her break into song with the radio and seemed to approve of her musical selections.As the miles passed, Ally felt a strange lightness beginning to replace the trepidation she had felt as they saw New York City fade into the background.The note from Annie had instructions on the front that it wasn’t to be read until they had arrived in Destiny’s River.Using the map inside, she would know where to find the spot Annie had always planned to return to for her last rest.
Ally had planned to stop for their third evening in Memphis.That was a plus in the itinerary that had also been supplied by Mr.Jacobs’s office.The hotel was quite lovely, and nothing she had imagined she would be staying in ever.It was next to Graceland.She had never traveled so much in her entire life.Annie had often entertained her with stories of the wonderful places she had been as a young girl and during her adult years.It was fitting that Ally ended up staying so close to the musical icon’s history since Annie had been a fan to the end.Yet, it was also a sad reminder of those who were gone much too soon from those who loved them.
“What do you think she was thinking, Teddy?”The little dog’s ears rose as he raised his head from the pillow it resided on.His button eyes regarded her in their almost human way.The click clacking of the roadway beneath their tires as they crossed the wide Mississippi below the old bridge had lulled the dog into a napping phase after they had pulled away from the hotel before the sun was too far up in the sky.
“I think she would have loved seeing all of this again,” Ally supplied the answer herself.Teddy seemed to smile in agreement.A happy thought was soon followed by a semi-sad one as seemed to be the usual order of her memories.Crossing the state line, so to speak, in the middle of the bridge, they entered Arkansas.Just after noon, Ally pulled over for a quick bite, to exercise Teddy on his long leash, and stretch the kinks out of her body after being locked behind the steering wheel for so long.Walking along the path sheltered by such towering trees, she was amazed at their colors and size.Seeing the trees in Central Park was one thing but seeing them in a more natural environment was really amazing.Her admiration was cut short by the rumble of thunder in the distance.
“Come on, Teddy,” she said with reluctance, “no time to waste now.The last thing we need is to be on the road in bad weather.”She hoped that the storm was not headed in the same direction that they were.Once on the road, however, her hope was dashed.The dark clouds descended around them, the wind buffeting the small car, and raindrops began to pelt the windshield.The wiper blades were on high, but she was not having the best of luck in keeping the rain cleared from hindering her view of the road.The other drivers didn’t seem to let the wind and rain convince them to slow down as they whizzed by and around her without a thought to the dangerous conditions.Her grip tightened on the steering wheel.Teddy was oblivious to the conditions.He was sound asleep as soon as the wipers began their constant swish-swash hypnotic sound.
Ally loosened her death grip on the wheel long enough to turn the radio on to make more sound to keep herself wide awake and vigilant.The only station that came through with any clarity was a country station and so she allowed George Strait to accompany her down the scary highway.Her first foray into country music had happened only the day before, but to her surprise she found it suited their travel, and it did grow on a person.The storm blew on around her; lightning became worse instead of better.Then she saw a sign informing her that Texas was just ahead.Maybe things would be better there?And that thought kept her mind occupied for the next few miles.Annie had told her so many stories of her life in that state that she felt almost like one might feel returning to a home after a long journey away from it.Her fanciful brain at work.How could you look forward to returning to a place you had never been to?
