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

were on the ground she clapped her hands but Dumbo still did not respond. "Dumbo!"

 

Something in the sound of her voice got his attention because Dumbo turned around and tried to shake all the water off his body. Then he started waddling towards her. He was still wet and there was no way she was going to let that dog into the house where he'd probably lie down on the couch and transfer the stink of the lake onto the cushions. "No. Come here." She made her way to the laundry room and opened the door.

 

There were a couple of clean towels in the dryer and she grabbed one to get as much lake water off Dumbo as possible. He wandered over to the washing machine and started sniffing at the ground. "Dumbo, stay still. You're not making this easy." He tried to nose his way in between the wall and the washing machine. "Damn it. Come here." She tugged him back to her but he pawed at the floor.

 

"Do you smell a mouse or something? Great. That's all I need. Mice. Wonderful." Once Dumbo was dry enough that she didn't think he'd leave too much of a stinky smell, she wrapped him up in the towel and carried him up the stairs to the back porch. "Shit, dog. You are fat."

 

She was huffing and puffing by the time she opened the door and got him inside. "Okay, Dumbo, that's it. You're going on a diet. Starting tomorrow. Today, I'm getting a manicure." She laughed and led him into the sunroom. "Do not sit on that couch." She stared at him like he was actually going to listen.

 

Back at the car she saw that Peter was busy playing with his set of plastic keys. "Okay, lil' dude. Time to see Grandma." Janelle made her way down the long drive and pulled onto the road.

 

Peter was chatting away, having a grand time, and Janelle looked up into the rearview mirror at him. When she put her eyes back on the road, Janelle nearly had a heart attack because saw a kid standing in the middle of the road. She slammed on her brakes and swerved to avoid hitting the child. When the car came to a stop, she jumped out of the car to look for the child thinking for sure she must have taken her out. But there was no one. Janelle sat on the bumper of her car and tried to catch her breath. She was shaking. "Shit."

 

Once she was back in the car she went over the moment again and again in her head. "I know what I saw. There was someone in the road. There was." A few minutes passed and she started to doubt herself. "No. Janelle, think about it. It had to be my imagination. That's all. Yeah. Just my imagination." She reached into her purse and grabbed her emergency bottle of Xanax. Lucky it was a tiny pill because she didn't have anything to drink with her.

 

Janelle dropped Peter off at her in-laws' house and didn't mention a thing about whatever it was that had happened. She just smiled, gave Peter a kiss, and got in her car. “Maybe I should find a psychiatrist here? Maybe my antidepressant needs to be upped or something.” She drove in a bit of a fog along the road to Asheville. She wondered how people could thrive off of stress.

 

No, stress was not helpful to Janelle. She just wanted to take a break from everything and hoped spending the day wandering around the quaint little city, maybe grabbing a glass of wine or two at the day spa, and enjoying a couple hours of pampering would help ease her weary mind. By the time she was at the spa the Xanax had started kicking in, big time. After a glass of wine she was so relaxed she felt like she was floating. When the spa attendant asked if she wanted a second glass, Janelle pondered the idea but decided against it knowing she'd have to drive home in about three hours.

 

One mani-pedi and a facial later, Janelle was feeling more like her old self. She even wandered down to a styling salon and got her hair trimmed. Even though Wade wouldn't be home tonight, he'd be home tomorrow afternoon and she wanted him to see she wasn't as frazzled as she had been over the past week or so.

 

She popped into a lingerie store and found a delicate looking and yet sexy at the same time, negligée. The attendant grinned when Janelle picked it up. "Anniversary coming up soon?"

 

"No. Just a break from being Mommy and Daddy. That's all."

 

"Well, those are better than anniversaries, in my opinion. And," the attractive young woman walked over to a different rack, "if you really want to cast aside your Mommy-chain, why not try something like this?" She pulled out a lacy negligée that left very little to the imagination."

 

"Umm, I don't know. He used to like that sort of thing but now. But I’ve got the Mom-bod now and..."

 

"Oh, come on, if that's a Mom-bod, where the hell do I sign up?"

 

Janelle laughed. "Okay, I know you're supposed to try and sell the customers on the risqué, more expensive items but I'm not going to be seduced by your marketing."

 

The lady giggled. "Trust me, this has nothing to do with trying to sell someone something I don't think they'd look good in. Otherwise, I'd never have repeat customers. Nope. I really think this would be perfect. And you really don't have a Mom-bod. Honest."

 

Janelle let out a long sigh. "Fine, you sold me. I'll take... both of them. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I'll feel sexy and lacy or maybe I'll feel delicate and satiny." The lady put the two items into a bag and Janelle left the shop feeling good about her purchases.

 

All in all, her day of 'her' wasn't half bad. Janelle looked at her watch knowing that she'd given herself just enough time to get back home before Liza's bus arrived. It wasn't until she got about a mile from home that she was overcome with an uneasy feeling. "Son of a bitch. Janelle. You have got to stop this. Let it go."

 

She made her way down the long driveway leading to the house and was barely out of the car when she saw the bus just coming around the bend. She ran to the house and tossed her purse, her bag with the lingerie in it as well as a bag filled with actual art supplies into the foyer before turning to sprint up the drive to greet Liza.

 

But before she was halfway up the long, steep hill, she saw Liza was already getting off the bus. Janelle waved at the bus driver who waved back and gave her a huge smile revealing, even from as far away as she was, that she was missing a few teeth. Janelle shuddered a bit. "Oh, mountain folk. What a lovely gene pool." Then she snorted with laughter as she thought about a few of the 'island folk' she'd grown up around. They weren't exactly beacons of beauty either. But they were nice and Janelle was pretty sure Liza's bus driver was also nice. Janelle shook her head knowing she’d gone straight to judging someone before getting to know them.

 

Liza was standing by the huge rock where she and her father had spent the morning waiting for the bus. "Hey, Sweetie."

 

"Hey, Mommy. Oooh, I like your hair. It's pretty."

 

"Well, thank you. I hope your daddy notices when he gets home tomorrow."

 

"Tomorrow? He's not here tonight?"

 

"Nope. He's got something he's got to go to this evening. So he's going to come home tomorrow instead of driving late at night. It’s safer."

 

"Oh, ok." Liza turned to her left and frowned. "No. Maybe. I’ll look."

 

"What?" Janelle took Liza's hand.

 

"Huh?"

 

"You just said you were going to look for something. What do you need?"

 

Liza let loose of her mother's hand and skipped to the house. "Nothing Mommy. I wasn't talking to you."

 

"Okay." Janelle shrugged. "Hey, before you get all comfy in front of the TV, we need to go to Grandma and Grandpa's to get Peter."

 

"But... fine. Can I put my bag in my room?"

 

"Sure. I'll let Dumbo out. Poor thing probably has to tinkle so badly he'll trip over his ears to get out." Janelle  opened the door to the back patio. "Okay, you, do not go romping in the lake do you hear me?" But Dumbo plodded down the stairs and started making his way to the lake. "HEY! No! Stop, right there. I don't have enough towels to keep you dry you stupid animal."

 

Dumbo stopped and turned around. Then he made his way to a clump of bushes near the entrance to the laundry room and relieved himself after which he went to the side of the house and started pawing at the wall where it connected with the foundation.

 

"God, I hate mice. Mental note: call exterminator."

 

"I'm ready to go Mommy." Liza was standing on the patio waiting.

 

"Okay, be right up. Come on Dumbo." He kept digging at the foundation. "Dumbo. I'm really tired of this." She whistled and got the dog's attention then the two of them, Master and pet made their way up the stairs.

 

After collecting Peter and chatting with the grandparents for a while Janelle was ready to call it a day. "Well, thanks, I've gotta get these two home. Maybe we'll take a detour and pick up some of that terrific fried chicken for dinner since Wade isn't going to be home tonight."

 

Lucas looked at Janelle and frowned. "He won't? What's he up to?"

 

"He's got some sort of thing in Johnson City tonight. Some Appalachian Baptist something or other."

 

"Hmmm." Lucas stared off into the distance for a moment then glanced at the calendar. "But it’s just September. Odd."

 

"What?"

 

"Nothing I guess. Maybe I've been out of the loop too long. I didn't think the AAB met until mid-October. That's all."

 

"Well, maybe they changed the date." Doris Tomalin said as she pooh-poohed her husband's weary nature. "Don't listen to Lucas. He's always worrying about something or other. It's just his way." She gave Peter a kiss and handed Liza a pear she'd picked off the pear tree that grew in their backyard.

 

"Can I have it Mommy?" Liza looked up at Janelle.

 

"Sure. It's not like it's a candy bar. Grandma Doris knows I'm not a fan of those things." Janelle winked at Doris because the two of them had enjoyed more than a couple of Mr. Goodbars while sitting out on the porch when she and Wade lived in South Carolina.

 

Janelle packed the kids up in the car and said her goodbyes before heading down Route 7 to pick up some of what she had decided was the best tasting fried chicken… ever. It was even better than her own mother’s only she’d never admit that unless pressed by the Almighty Himself.

 

The kids were thoroughly worn out by the time they got home. And so was Janelle even though it was only about eight o’clock. She decided to put her children to bed after they watched some ridiculous DVD with princesses and unicorns and a dragon who only liked to eat peanut butter cookies.

 

Peter was asleep before his diaper had been changed and Liza thought that was terrifically funny. “How come he can go pooh when he’s asleep? I can’t do that.”

 

Janelle laughed. “Honey, you used to. Trust me. It’s just a thing babies do. Their bodies say ‘go’ so they ‘go’. One day he’ll be big enough that he won’t do that anymore. And between the two of us, I hope it’s a lot sooner than later. Now, let’s get you your bath. Then it’s off to bed with you.”

 

Liza ran to the bathroom and picked up her bottle of bubblegum scented bubble bath. “Can I use it tonight?”

 

“Sure, why not?”

 

Janelle ran the tub and filled it with enough warm water