Breene, K F - Jessica Brodie Diaries 01 Read Online Free PDF Page B

slightly distant pool. It was some minutes before she spoke,
her southern drawl coming out tenfold.
    “I designed this lil’ old house.
Pool house, my husband called it. I always thought of it as my retreat. Back in
those days, it was not uncommon for the woman of the house and the man of the
house to have separate bedrooms. Well, I had a separate house of my own when I
wanted it.
    “It was the man’s way back then.”
She gave me a look that showed what she thought of that foolishness. I agreed.
A grand mess, altogether.
    “The man was the boss," she
continued, "the ruler of the house. He brought home the money, and cash
was king. Before women’s lib and all that, the men paid the bills, and the
women stayed home with the children.”
    She chuckled and patted my arm.
“Well, you try telling a southern lady, born and bred, that she has to answer
to her man, and she will kindly smile at you and go on doing as she pleases.
Now, don’t take me the wrong way. We did step aside for our men as often as
not. But we weren’t ruled. Oh no. No way.”
    She paused for a beat and looked me
over, the sun sinking behind her into the horizon. “You might wonder why I am
telling you all this?”
    Yes...I certainly did. But she had
a way of talking. Her southern drawl fascinated me. It was its own music, and I
couldn’t help but listen to the slow flow of it.
    Into my polite shrug, she went on.
“This house was my sanctuary when that man of mine tried to assert his law. And
he did, often enough. I caught him with other women, we had fights like any
married couple, and there were times I wanted to slit my wrists just to get out
of his house!”
    Hel-lo. Didn’t see that coming...
    She was chuckling to herself,
probably reading my face if not my mind. “Not that I would, dear. No. But it
was a time of no escape for women. You young women have so many options now. So
much freedom. So many luxuries. This cottage, this pool house, was my
sanctuary. It was the only place I could be myself. I wanted to rent it out to
a free spirit that could make use of it like I always wanted to."
    The twinkle in her eyes said I was
the free spirit to which she was referring. I didn't bother to correct her.
Some people's free spirit was everyone else's hot mess. Ami found that out the
hard way.
    “I want you to have people
over." Gladis continued with a wave of her hand. "Decorate how you
want to. Go skinny dipping. Have plenty of men over to share your bed. Do
whatever you want to. Just treat it with respect. Treat it like your own, dear.
That’s all I ask.”
    Despite the fact that a woman my
grandmother's age just told me to sleep around, I was touched. She was offering
me a home. A life. A place to put down roots, if I wanted.
    I smiled like a fool.
    "I will have friends over, if
I can find any, ha! And, you know, take care of it, obviously. Did you,
um--" I winced with the word slip up. "Should I get some furniture? I
was going to hit Ikea..."
    She laughed, probably at my
foot-in-the-mouth stuttering, and shrugged me off. "Do what you will,
dear. Use mine, put it in storage, I leave it up to you. By the by, you don't
have any food in that kitchen o' yours. Come to the Big House. We'll have dinner.
Get acquainted."
    “Oh. Awesome, yeah. That would be
great. But I’d like to get some things. Would you mind giving me some
directions to a corner store or something close?”
    “Of course, of course.” She looked
out over the grass, not moving an inch.
    I had nowhere to be, so I just sat
with her. Things seemed a little slower here. There was less bustle. Things
were laid back and easy. The silence that fell was not awkward, as I thought it
might be. It just...was. We sat. We gazed. I waited for her to get up, or talk,
or move. She just looked ahead.

Chapter Three
     
    I pulled into the parking lot of
something called the Piggly Wiggly. As my car rolled toward the large, boxy
store, I got a moment of indecision. I could literally park anywhere.