The Girl with Bare Feet - L. Avery Brown (fiction book recommendations TXT) 📗

life had been spent near the ocean. And she’d come to love the beachfront home she and Wade had made for their new family. Wade would go to work and Janelle would sit on the porch, feel the salty ocean breeze on her skin, and draw for hours while Liza and Peter played.

 

Then a few months ago when Wade was contacted by the Deacons at Pease Point Baptist asking him if he'd like to 'come home' and 'tend to the flock made up of the families with whom he had grown up' Wade was beside himself with excitement. And Janelle didn’t want to take that away from him because she’d known a day like this would come. So she put on a smile and agreed to the move hoping he'd tire of living in the boring community since he had lived in a culturally rich area with beautiful beaches and golf courses and everything that Pease Point didn't have for nearly seven years after marrying Janelle.

 

The time between coming to accept that she and her family were leaving and then actually leaving was an emotional roller coaster for Janelle. She intentionally took extra time to finish a huge mural commissioned by the City of Charleston just so she could keep from having to face packing and leaving. When she and Wade did get to packing up the belongings of their house, a sprawling ranch style home on high stilts to protect it from flood surge when the Atlantic got angry and unleashed itself on the quiet, broad beach just north of Charleston, Janelle found herself emotionally drained. And she knew it was partly because she was moving into a home she didn't get to pick; a home with a past.

 

Their new home wasn’t new. In fact for years it had only been a cabin about six miles from Pease Point as the crow flies but more like fifteen by road. It had been the cabin where the Thomlin family would go to enjoy quiet of the lake it overlooked with the scenic Appalachian Mountains as a backdrop. It had been wholly renovated because of Lucas. It was a place the hated and loved at the same time because it brought up such strong memories. So he went on a massive renovation mission. It took about eleven years, but when it was done, the simple cabin wound up being quite a lovely home.

 

The move had been stressful to say the least. Stress never helped Janelle so far as sleep was concerned. And after they were fairly settled in the newish place, Janelle still couldn’t sleep well. She felt isolated from everything. Just to get to Pease Point, proper, it took about thirty minutes their home was so removed from everything in the small town. Somehow the idea that there was nothing but forest for miles was terrifying instead of refreshing and freeing like Wade told her it would make her feel.

 

At least Janelle had somewhere she could go if she felt the need to be around culture and an actual, thriving city. Asheville was only about forty-five minutes in the opposite direction and it had a vivid art community as well as shops and restaurants. That was the one saving grace she found out in the middle of nowhere.

 

Only she couldn’t be in Asheville all the time. At night, in their new home, when everything was dark - and it got reAlli dark where they were - Janelle had serious issues. Every creak or groan of the house made her nervous. Wade would put his arm around her and say, "It's just the house settling, Babe. Relax. Go back to sleep." And she tried. But when the wind would rattle the screens on the window and Janelle would wake. Thank God she had her Xanax to get her through the nights and she had Liza and Peter to get her through those first few weeks because Wade wasn't home a lot.

 

After about a month had passed, Janelle looked, on the outside, to be completely enamored with the quaint mountain town and its people. But it was just a good front. Janelle didn’t feel at all settled and she had to pull herself together so she could start working on a new book for her publisher. It had to be completed within a narrow six-week frame of time. Summer was waning. Soon it would be autumn and in a few days, Liza would be starting kindergarten. Stress, stress, and more stress was piled onto Janelle’s plate; no doubt she was about to break.

 

Thankfully she had her Xanax that she could take at night she could float her mind back to the coast and dream she was lying on the beach soaking up the warm rays of the sun. But then, one night, it happened. She was dreaming of jet skiing across one of the inlets and Janelle heard a voice calling out to her. She couldn't understand what the person was saying so she spun the jet ski around and made her way to the shore.

 

She saw a little girl sitting on the ground with her legs drawn up next to her chest like she was trying to make herself as little as possible. “Can you help me find my shoes?”

 

“Can you help me find my shoes?” A small voice, a girl’s voice, called out.

 

“Sweetie, are you alright?” The girl looked up. Her sad face broke Janelle’s heart.

 

“Can you help me find my shoes?”

 

Glancing at the girl’s bare feet then turning to look behind her thinking her parents were nearby Janelle asked, “Your shoes? Do you know where you saw them last?” Seeing no one, she turned back to the girl and was about to ask where her parents were but stopped before she could utter a word. The sweet face she’d just seen was now bloodied and battered and a pair of dead eyes stared back at her.

 

Janelle bolted upright. "Shit." Her heart was racing and she was sweating. "What the hell? What's going on?" She was confused. Why was she having the dream now? There was no way she could be pregnant. So why had it come back to her?

 

She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Sitting in the dark as Wade slept, Janelle knew it had to be stress related. "That's got to be it. I’m just letting things get to me. I need to just chill out. Just chill, Janelle, chill."

 

Janelle felt around her bedside table for her anxiety medication. She popped a second pill into her mouth even though it had only been about three hours since she'd taken one. But she didn't care. She had to sleep and before long, fatigue and Xanax overtook her uneasiness. She fell asleep.

 

The next morning, Wade poured her a cup of coffee. “Hey, Babe. You look… rough.”

 

“Thanks. I would say something flippant but I’m too tired.” She looked at the clock. “Liza, the bus’ll be here soon. You don’t want you to be late for your first day of kindergarten.”

 

“Coming, Mommy!” Lisa walked into the kitchen all dressed and ready for her first day of school at big kid school. "Mommy can I have my Smackers for breakfast?"

 

Janelle shook her head. "Liza, don't you want to start your day with something like eggs and bacon and toast? It won't take me but a couple of minutes to make them for you."

 

"Mommy, please. I like my Smackers." Liza smiled up at her mom with a snaggle-toothed grin.

 

Janelle poured out a bowl cereal and put on the table. “Enjoy it today, Doodlebug, because tomorrow, it’s eggs and bacon. Understand?”

 

“Yes ma’am.” Liza wolfed down her sugary breakfast. “Done. Can we go to the bus stop now?”

 

Janelle picked up her cellphone. “Yep. Come on, Daddy. This is big day.”

 

Liza stopped and turned around. "But what about Petey? Can't he come out to see me get on the bus?"

 

Janelle shook her head. "No. And don't you dare wake him up just to do that, Liza. He's got at least an hour of sleep left in him and I want to enjoy it. So, it'll just be you, me, and Daddy. Okay?"

 

"Okay. Daddy hurry up." Liza tugged on her father's arm.

 

Wade shoved his keys into his pocket. “Okay, okay. I’m right behind you.”

 

Janelle pulled out her phone and started taking pictures of the momentous event. There were pictures of Daddy holding Liza; Liza pretending to hold Daddy; Mommy holding Liza; and, Liza showing off her backpack. And there were the groupies taken, too. And Wade, with the longest arms, was the official groupie taker. It was all great fun on a beautiful, sunny day.

 

They’d just finished taking pictures as the bus pulled up. When its doors swung open, Liza didn’t move. She was frozen in place. Janelle hugged her daughter and kissed her cheek. “Oh, Sweetie, don’t be afraid. It’s okay. You are going to have so much fun. Remember meeting Mrs. Abernathy? She was nice wasn't she? And remember seeing your desk with your name on it? That was pretty cool, too, huh? And you've got a cubby for your stuff. I promise, baby, you are going to have so much fun and this afternoon, I'll be right here waiting for you.”

 

"ReAlli?" Liza looked next to tears.

 

Janelle held back her own tears and nodded.

 

Wade got down to look at Liza in the face. "Alright now, you're Daddy's big girl aren't you?" Liza nodded. "Well, you go on now and just do it. You're going to be awesome."

 

Liza climbed aboard and the doors to the bus closed when she was seated. She waved goodbye to her parents as the bus started to pull away. That was when Janelle could feel tears spilling from her eyes.

 

“You alright. Jan?”

 

“Just a bit weepy. It'll pass. It's a mom thing. And I didn't sleep well."

 

"Well, it's also a dad thing, too. She's going to have so much fun and Janelle she's going to be fine. She's a great kid. Just look at her parents." Wade gave her a sly wink.

 

She laughed and wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. "Yeah, I guess so. Hey, At least I held it together for the pictures.” Janelle waved her cellphone in the air.

 

"That's great, Babe. You'll be able to put the pictures online and all your friends back in Charleston will give you 'likes' and comments and you'll feel a lot better."

 

Janelle laughed and started thumbing through the gallery of photos she taken. “Damn it. There's a smudge on my lens. I might not be posting as many as I'd like if I can't find some that aren't totally fucked.”

 

 “Hey, Mommy, watch the language." He laughed then gave her a kiss and climbed in his truck.

 

She laughed back. "Sorry. Just tired. And weepy. And pissed that my pictures aren't going to be awesome."

 

"Sorry. I know you’ll find at least one and it'll be perfect." Wade could see that Janelle was still upset. "Hey, you gonna be okay with Liza at school? Really, don’t bullshit me, okay?”

 

“Yeah, I'll be fine. Between Peter, my work, and now editing these damn pictures, I won't have time to be upset my baby is in school.”

 

“See there, things always have a way of working themselves out. I've reAlli got to get going. Call if you need anything. Bye.”

 

“Bye.” Stepping inside the house and Janelle sighed and looked around. This was the first time she’d ever reAlli been alone in the house since moving in. Granted Peter was there, but he was asleep. And he didn't exactly offer stimulating conversation unless it had to do with whatever toy he was playing with or whatever cartoon he was watching.

 

At least she had Dumbo, her lazy bloodhound. “Come on boy." She made a grand gesture and forced herself to laugh as she said, "Let's away to the sunroom, you and I.”

 

Dumbo waddled behind her into the spacious area with its floor to ceiling windows, granite fireplace, and panoramic view. It was the sort of