“Wow, I’ve heard of them. This is New Double, and they do racehorses.” She made it a statement and not a question.
“Yes,” Faith said, and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when an SUV pulled in beside Faith’s truck. “Easy, that’s Laurie, she’s a friend,” Faith stated, when Myrna looked like she was going to bolt, but she waited until Laurie joined them, then brought them both into the empty cabin.
“I had Naomi call Laurie. She works for Erin, and I’ll let her explain why she’s here.”
“Hi, like Faith said, I work for Erin. I’m her, oh my, I don’t know what to call myself.”
“What do you do for her?” Myrna asked quietly.
“I make sure all the cabins being built are stocked with linens, small appliances, furniture. I do that for all cabins and bunktels. The only thing I don’t stock is groceries.” She shrugged, but then lifted two of the bags she’d brought with her onto the kitchen table. “I do stock the bunktels with spare clothes. Some of the clients that come to Broken Wheel need clothes. Not the clients, but their family members spend all their time taking care of the disabled, and neglect themselves.”
“Okay, but what does that mean for me?”
“Oh, sorry,” Laurie said as she started taking clothes from the bag. Still sealed packages of panties,socks, and she brought out several different sizes of shirts and jeans. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any spare bras.”
“That’s okay,” Myrna said with a grin. “I can double up on the shirts.” She walked forward hesitantly and touched the plain clothes. “I can have some of this?”
“Yes, pick out what you want, and go take a shower. We have to be over at Erin’s Way soon. Would you like some coffee?”
“Please.” She turned in a circle and looked around in confusion. “Where’s the shower?”
Faith laughed and led her down the hall, describing the cabin as she went. “All the cabins are the same. Two bedrooms, and each bedroom has their own bathroom. There aren’t any bathrooms in the hall. They were designed the same, not thinking people would double up.”
“Double up?”
“Living together. I had this cabin for all of one day before I started living with Shay over at his, now our cabin.”
“Oh.”
“It’s a long story, but go get cleaned up, and we’ll meet the others.”
Myrna nodded and went into one of the bedrooms. She looked at the bed longingly, but knew it would be some time before she could lie down and sleep soundly. What she’d heard and seen so far wasmaking her feel safe. It was a funny feeling, one she hadn’t had for several days lately. She had tried to sleep while on the run, but it was spotty at best. The most she had gotten was two hours at a time, otherwise, she was awake the entire time, freaking out whenever a car had driven by. Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic on the route she had taken.
As soon as she stepped beneath the hot water, she closed her eyes, and let it wash over her. The water took her dirt and tiredness away, washing it all down the drain. She stayed there for a good ten minutes, then opened her eyes and saw the soap, shampoo and conditioner sitting on one of the shower shelves. With a grin, she grabbed the bottle and washed her hair. It had been well over two weeks since she’d showered, and she was taking advantage of the hot water, and soap. After washing her hair twice, as well as her body, she finally rinsed off and shut off the water.
Once she dried herself off, she dressed in the clothes the woman named Laurie had brought. She looked at herself in the mirror, and sighed when she saw all the healing bruises on her face. Since she didn’t have any make-up with her, she would have to endure all the stares from the people she would meet. The only upside of her meeting everyone at one time was that she would only have to tell her story once. If things got too intense for her, she would turn to her cousin and tell her story directly to him. Shewondered if the man named Pedro would be there, then shook her head when she realized the woman everyone called Erin would make sure he was.
She opened the bedroom door and went out to the kitchen and cleared her throat. There were three women there now, and Faith quickly jumped to her feet and introduced the newcomer.
“This is Staci Hardt. She’s a doctor.”
“Well, I have a PhD, and I am called Dr. Hardt, but I’m not a medical doctor, at least not technically.”
“What’s that mean?” Myrna asked in confusion. She was under the impression that if someone called you doctor, then you were a medical doctor.
“I have my PhD in bio-engineering, and bio-mechanics. I make prosthetic limbs for people who need them. I’m currently working on a government grant to help veterans with their prosthetic limbs.”
“You can do that here at New Double?”
“Actually, there are several veterans over at Broken Wheel, I’m working on them right now.”
“Oh.”
“However, Tony, my boyfriend called to see if I could look at your bruises. Do you think anything is broken?”
“No, I was worse than this, that’s why I spent six days in the hospital, and when I got out, my ex hit me again, but not enough to put me back in the hospital. When I was in, I lost consciousness for two days, but the doctors told me that nothing was broken, andthere wasn’t anything cracked, just severely bruised. Oh, and the unconsciousness was due to the head trauma,” she said with a shake of her head. “According to the doctors and nurses, it was because of a concussion. I don’t remember any of it, but they reassured me that I answered their questions when they were able to get me awake long enough to ask them.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
