'Til Death (A Rebel Ridge Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page B

raccoon wandered through the yard was going to take some getting used to, but
Honey would bark loud and long if a human approached, especially in the
dark.
    The real test would be when Jake and her mom finally left, but
Meg was ready for her world to get back to normal, and once they took the
stitches out tomorrow, she would be on her own.
    * * *
    It was just after dinner when they headed for the
doctor’s office in Mount Sterling. Meg had the backseat to herself as Jake and
Dolly manned the front, talking quietly to each other. She couldn’t help but
notice the lilt in her mother’s voice and the joy in her laugh. Dolly was happy.
Meg was happy for her but ready for them to leave. The honeymoon phase they were
still in kept reminding Meg of what was missing in her own life, but as her
mother was fond of saying, “this, too, shall pass.”
    It felt good to be out of the house, and it was the time of
year when the leaves were beginning to turn. The sun was shining, but there were
days when there was a nip in the air, and today was one of them. When they
reached Boone’s Gap, Jake pulled in at the gas station.
    “I need to gas up. You ladies need anything?”
    “Nothing for me, thanks,” Meg said.
    “I think I’d like something cold to drink, but I’ll get it
while you pump the gas,” Dolly said, and got out of the car, leaving Meg inside
on her own.
    Meg watched her mother enter the minimart and then leaned back,
absently watching traffic come and go while thinking about the Storm at Sea
quilt blocks she’d had to put aside. She was itching to piece them together.
    She watched a woman come out with a baby on her hip and two
kids following behind her. When the woman saw her and waved, Meg quickly waved
back, but it was just another reminder of how behind she was on living life. No
husband. No kids. No prospects. God. How pathetic could she get?
    A pickup truck pulled up on the other side of the pumps. She
saw the driver get out. Heard him speak to Jake and tease him about starting on
his second marriage when neither of Jake’s sons had even begun a first. Jake
laughed. Meg looked away.
    All of a sudden someone knocked on the window behind her. She
turned to see her ex-husband’s younger brother, Claude, smiling at her. As she
rolled down the window, he leaned partway in, casually giving her the
once-over.
    “Hey, Meg. Just wanted to say hi and tell you how sorry we all
were to hear what happened to you. You doin’ okay?”
    Meg wasn’t crazy about any of her ex in-laws, but they’d never
done her any harm and didn’t seem to hold a grudge against her for divorcing
their kin.
    “I’m fine, Claude. Tell your family I said thank-you for their
concern.”
    “So that fella who broke into your house didn’t hurt you
none?”
    “Nope. I did it all to myself when I ran through broken
glass.”
    Claude Lewis frowned, making his narrow-set eyes almost
disappear. “Well, I’m real sorry that happened, and I hope they catch the
bastard soon.”
    At that point Dolly came back to the car just as Jake was
putting the gas nozzle back in the pump. She gave Claude a cool look, which
ended the conversation, but Meg knew everyone was talking about her, and once
she was out and about again, this wouldn’t be the last time she got grilled.
    Claude thumped the window as a way of ending their conversation
and gave her another big smile.
    “I guess y’all are ready to go. Just wanted to pay my
respects,” he said again.
    “Uh, sure...and thanks,” Meg said as he walked away.
    Dolly got back in the car with a cold bottle of Mountain Dew in
her hand. “Well, that was unexpected,” she said, and put the pop in the cup
holder between the seats.
    “Lots of things are weird these days,” Meg said, and then Jake
got in and they drove away.
    She never gave Claude Lewis another thought until late that
evening, when she was standing on the porch in her house shoes, watching Jake
and her mom driving away, and then she chided