After she had put her three piles of clothes in the back of her jeep her phone rang.
She dug it out of her purse.
“Hello?”
“Carolina, it’s John Rithers. I’ve been in contact with Chris’s lawyer and he says he was told by Chris the lake house was in pristine order.”
“Well Chris lied,” she spat out. “So what do I do now?”
“Well, I could file for an expedited hearing but that will cost you plenty of money you don’t have. Instead, I advise that we get in contact with Chris to get this straightened out without court intervention.”
“So do that.”
“It’s not that easy,” he said slowly.
Carolina frowned. “Why is that?”
“Because Chris’s attorney informed me that Chris left yesterday with his new wife to go to Paris. For their honeymoon.”
“What?” All the strength went out of her and she slid down the back of the jeep.
“I’m afraid so. He’s not expected back for three weeks.”
“Three weeks? When we were married he wouldn’t take a vacation longer than four days.” She pressed her hand to her chest, sure that she was about to pass out in a strange town where she didn’t know a soul, other than Getty at the diner.
“I’m sorry. I really am. It looks like you’ll have to either get a hotel for three weeks, which you really can’t afford, or make do at the lake house until things can be straightened out.”
“I see,” she said, lying. She didn’t see. The whole thing was so unfair to her. The uncertainty of her life from minute to minute was sure to send her into a panic attack.
“I’ll stay on the attorney to get in contact with Chris sooner rather than later. In the meantime hang in there.”
Chapter 9
Carolina found the super center and grabbed the things on her list. If it was going to be three weeks then she was going to have to stay in the lake house while she tried to get someone out to look at the roof.
Still full from breakfast and now running on worry, she headed back to the motel to try and check in. She was told the room was now ready. She took the room key and parked in front of the room and got out. She left her items in the car and unlocked the motel door.
She cringed when she stepped inside.
It looked like an explosion from the seventies combined with a log cabin look. Wood paneled walls, yellow chenille bedspread, and furniture that looked like it had been carved out of tree limbs. A fat TV sat on the dresser and the leather recliner in the corner had a quilt laid across it. The only thing new in the room was the carpet which looked like it had recently been replaced.
She flipped the light on the bathroom wall. The tub and the sink were a matching color of avocado green reminding her of her childhood. The bathroom was dated, like the room, but it was clean.
She went back outside to grab the items she would need including the new hair dryer.
Once she settled in, Carolina pulled out the notebook she’d purchased and wrote down things that needed to be done at the lake house.
The whole house needed a deep cleaning. But it wasn’t going to matter if she didn’t get that roof fixed first. She pulled up a list of local roofers in the area and started calling around and set up appointment times for each to drop by the house and give her an estimate.
Then she made a list of things that she needed for the house. The first thing she added was a new mattress and bed rails for her bedroom. She could do without a chest of drawers for now, but if she was going to be able to function like a normal person, she needed a mattress.
She added new sheets and coverlet to her list. She kept jotting things down as they came to her mind. The list was growing long…and expensive.
By the time she was done it was dark outside.
She stood, stretched, and wandered over to the window, then pulled back the heavy drapery and looked out. The town’s streetlights were coming on, illuminating the town in a charming way.
A minivan pulled into the parking spot next to her jeep. Two small children and their parents climbed out and pulled out suitcases. They headed to the room next door.
