a-soft-place-to-fall - Rakhibul hasan (story books to read .TXT) 📗

goodbye as he was. Most women were when they knew there was no future involved.

No regrets. That was the funny thing. It was over once they said goodbye and he never looked back. One day, when the time was right and he was free from family responsibilities, he would meet the woman he was meant to be with and it would all fall into place: the engagement, the big wedding, the 2.5 kids and the corner house on a big lot with the minivan in the driveway. He would have it all: a great career, a wonderful wife, terrific children, and an extended family of brothers and sisters who couldn't wait to babysit.

He never figured that he would end up as a thirty-five year old unemployed, never married, flat-broke freeloader on the verge of falling in love.

Back out now, he told himself as he set to work on fixing the front door. Let the good doctor take the home field advantage. Sam had always been good at ending things before they went too far. How hard could it be to end them before they began?

#

It was ten-fifteen when Annie burst into the store.

"We were going to send out a search and rescue squad," said Sweeney, the woman who ran the Artisans Co-Op that rented display and work space from Annie. She was

hanging stained glass sun catchers in the main display window. "Claudia has been tearing the heads off the roses."

Annie groaned. "That's what I was afraid of." She glanced around the shop. "Where is she?"

Sweeney gestured toward the back. "Raking the delivery girl from Bangor Blooms over the coals."

"Please don't tell me the Sorenson order was botched."

Sweeney shrugged her caftaned shoulders. "Don't know, dear, but the delivery girl said she was getting a migraine."

Annie tossed her bags behind the counter. "I'd better get back there and see what's happening. Ring the bell if anyone comes in, would you, Sweeney?"

"I'm on top of things," Sweeney said from her perch on the step stool then threw back her head and laughed.

Annie, who was used to Sweeney's bad jokes, groaned then hurried past display cases, various work areas, and the tiny kitchen where Claudia kept the soup pot simmering all winter long. The decision to lease floor space to the Co-Op was one of the best ones Annie ever made. Not only did the income help her own bottom line, but she found she loved the company. Shelter Rock Cove had a thriving artistic community of weavers, potters, watercolorists, sculptors, glassblowers, fiber artists, and everything in between. The ever-changing displays helped make Annie's Flowers a popular stop for both tourists and locals.

She found Claudia on the back steps, clipboard in hand, checking their order against what Bangor Blooms had actually delivered. Her brow was furrowed and the girl from Bangor, who was still unloading crates of flowers, didn't look too happy.

"Sorry I'm late," Annie said as she joined them. Claudia didn't look up. "Did they remember the anthurium?"

"The anthuriums are here," Claudia said, ripping the top sheet with the force of her checkmark.

"Good," said Annie, a bit surprised by the vehemence of Claudia's response. "And the ginger blossoms? We ordered –"

"Done."

Claudia was obviously annoyed with Annie for being late and was letting her know it in no uncertain terms. She had seen Claudia in one of her moods many times over the years and they always passed as swiftly as they came, leaving only tiny bruises behind. Annie left her mother-in-law to her inventory and pitched in to help the delivery girl finish unloading the crates of flowers.

"She scares me," the girl whispered to Annie as they both tugged on a huge box of plumeria.

"She scares everybody," Annie whispered back and the girl tried not to laugh. "She's all bark and no bite, I promise you."

The girl didn't look convinced and she continued to give Claudia a wide berth which, all things considered, was probably a very wise idea.

"I hate to bother you when you're so busy," Sweeney said, poking her head out the door, "but we have a small problem inside with a hospital order."

Claudia looked up from her clipboard. "I'll take it," she said. "Anne seems to have everything in hand out here."

Annie, who wasn't quite sure if she had been complimented or reprimanded, thanked her. "If it's about the McGowan order, let me know," she said to Claudia's retreating back. "They moved her to intensive care and forgot to tell us to hold up on the arrangement until she's in a private room."

Twenty minutes later the girl from Bangor was on her way back to the turnpike and Annie was tucking her bags into the storage bin under the order desk when Claudia finally came out with it.

"I was worried sick about you today, Anne," she said. "When it got to be nine-thirty and you still hadn't shown up, why I –" Her voice quavered and she paused to draw in a breath. "The least you could have done was phone."

You know I love you, Claudia. Why are we always at loggerheads these days?"I'm so sorry," Annie began, choosing her words with care, "but you know my phone won't be turned on until this afternoon."

"You could have used your cellular."

"I don't have a cellular any longer, remember? I cancelled it last spring."

"I don't know why you'd do such a ridiculous thing. With all the driving you do, you shouldn't be without a phone. It's a dangerous world, Anne, and –"

"—and cell phones cost an arm and a leg, and it was time for me to cut costs. I explained this to you at the time."

"Cut costs? The shop is doing splendidly and you must have pocketed a pretty penny from the sale of the house. Surely you can afford a phone."

"I don't want to talk about this with you, Claudia. I'm sorry if you were worried about me but that won't be a problem once my phone service at home is up and running."

Claudia's stern expression softened, which made Annie feel more like a rebellious sixteen-year-old kid than ever. A mother's guilt was a powerful thing, even when it was your late husband's mother wielding the sword.

"I'm a worrier," Claudia said, patting Annie's forearm. "I always was and I always will be. Now that you're in that little house in the back of beyond, you need to be more careful than ever."

"I met my new neighbor last night," Annie said, wondering about the bag of DeeDee's Donuts near the cash register. She could feel the extra fat cells settling themselves around her hips and thighs just thinking about more donuts.

Claudia was measuring out lengths of shimmery white satin ribbon. "Susan told me that a New Yorker was moving into Ellie Bancroft's old place." She reached for the shears. "Is he nice?"

Annie told her about their first meeting in the parking lot of Yankee Shopper. Claudia looked up from what she was doing. "I hope he's going to pay to have your

interior cleaned."

"He said he'd take care of it."

"Good," said Claudia, scissoring her way through the glossy ribbon. "You have to set certain standards with a new neighbor. Let them know where your boundaries are. Otherwise you'll wake up one morning and he'll be sitting on your front porch saying, 'What's for breakfast?' and you'll never get rid of him." Claudia looked at her across the litter of ribbon and wire. "Hall brought over some donuts this morning." She pointed her shears in the general direction of the kitchen. "I put them next to the coffeemaker."

Donuts as metaphor. Hall was a local. He knew that DeeDee's donuts were serious business around Shelter Rock Cove, at least among townies their age. The thought gave her a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. And now she had a dinner date with him for tomorrow night, all because she was so flustered with Sam Butler's eyes on them that she said yes just to put an end to the discussion. If Hall got the wrong idea she had nobody to blame but herself.

"Is something wrong?" Claudia asked. "No," she said. "Nothing at all."

They worked in silence for a while until Sweeney drifted back into the front of the store. Sweeney didn't believe in silence. She was always talking or singing or humming along to the radio she kept hidden somewhere in that enormous caftan of hers. Today she was whistling selections from The Sound of Music and Annie was reasonably sure she would be reaching for the earplugs before Sweeney launched into "Edelweiss."

At a few minutes before one, Annie put down her shears and stretched. "I don't know about you two ladies, but it's my lunchtime. Why don't I go in the back and heat up some soup for us?"

The words were no sooner out of her mouth when the bell over the front door jingled and Sam Butler walked in and the petals hit the fan.

Chapter Six

As soon as he walked through the door, Claudia knew the man would be trouble. She didn't often take an instant dislike to someone but this time she made an exception. He looked dangerous, like he knew exactly where they kept the cash box. Just looking at him made her want to hide her jewelry in her shoe.

"Whoa," said Sweeney from her perch on the step ladder. "Wouldn't I like a piece of that."

Claudia glared at the woman. She prayed the man hadn't heard her. What on earth was the matter with the younger generation? Sweeney sounded like one of those tramps on Sex and the City. A fifty-year-old tramp.

Annie was halfway to the kitchen so Claudia stepped forward. "Can I help you?" she asked him in her most professional tones.

He smiled and to her dismay Claudia noted that it was a most extraordinary smile. It seemed to light up his ordinary face in a way that made him almost handsome. Claudia waited for him to say something but he kept on smiling and she realized he was looking right past her and straight at Annie who was standing a few feet behind her with the most ridiculous look on her face.

How long had it been since Annie had looked that young or that pretty? Claudia couldn't remember and she hated this stranger for having that kind of power over her.

"I brought your house keys," he said. He spoke directly to Annie. Claudia didn't know if he even realized there was anyone else in the shop.

Annie glided forward as if drawn to him by some unseen force. "You didn't have to do that." She sounded so happy, happier than Claudia could remember her sounding in years. "I told you that you could leave them under the mat."

"I'm from New York, remember?" His voice was deep, a little rough. Not at all like Kevin's golden baritone. "I couldn't do it."

A New Yorker? He couldn't possibly be the neighbor Annie had been talking about, could he?

"Helllooooo!" Sweeney called out, waving her staple gun in an attempt to catch their attention. "Isn't anyone going to introduce us? New talent is hard to come by around here and I'm all for building up the home team."

To his credit, the man looked slightly discomfited but that was nothing compared to the look of embarrassment on Annie's bright pink face. Oh, Anne, she thought sadly. You always did wear your heart on your sleeve. Was it really so long ago when a ten-year- old Annie used to follow Kevin around town, just so she could be near him? The memory was etched on Claudia's heart.

"This is Sam Butler," Annie said. "He's renting Ellie Bancroft's place on the water." She placed a hand on Claudia's shoulder. "This is my mother-in-law Claudia Galloway."

"Beautiful shop you have here," Sam Butler said as he shook her hand.

"It's Annie's shop. She deserves all the credit." She smiled when she said it although the