“I totally forgot that she’s a crack shot.” Harley Ann commented. “But I don’t think she’d actually shoot the man…even though it might be satisfying in the moment.”
She gave her aunt a hug. “I won’t be long.”
When she arrived at the big open field where the local farmers market was held six months out of the year, Piper was sitting on one of the wooden booth counters swinging her feet and chucking acorns at a nearby tree.
“You’re gonna get splinters in your ass sitting on that counter.” She called as she walked toward her friend.
Piper continued to throw the acorns as though she hadn’t noticed or heard her friend.
Harley Ann sat next to Piper on the rough wood plank and waited. Piper threw more acorns, and then at last, she turned to Harley Ann.
“Do you think I’m selfish and spoiled?” She asked.
Stunned, Harley Ann hardly knew how to respond. “Did Jesse say you are? Is that why you want to kill him?”
Piper let a handful of acorns dribble through her fingers to the ground. “Not in so many words. But I know that’s what he thinks.”
Harley Ann let the silence drag between them for a moment. Then she took Piper’s hand and brushed away dirt and debris from the acorns. “I thinkyouthink that and you’re putting words in Jesse’s mouth.”
Piper jerked her hand away. “Are you takinghisside?” She hissed.
“You know I’m not.” Harley Ann drew back so she could look her friend straight in the eye. “I’m telling you whatIthink. Which is why I thought you asked me to meet you out here. Because you wanted someone who would shoot straight with you. And who loves you enough to do it.”
Piper looked away, her hands gripping her knees so tight her knuckles were white. “Okay. You’re right. That’s what I think. Because I’m scared. Scared I’ll get out there and won’t fit in and Ian will be stuck with me because he’s too good a man to get rid of me.”
Harley Ann laughed until her stomach ached. Piper shot her a dirty look and slid off the board. “You’re not helping me here.”
“Oh, Piper.” Harley Ann said, wiping tears from her cheeks. “You are the most self-confident brave woman I know. There is no way you’ll get out there and not fit in. You just let those thoughts go right this minute. And go tell Ian you’re ready to go with him. Your daddy will be fine right here if he wants to stay. You know that he’ll be well taken care of by the widows in town.”
Piper threw her a sheepish look. “You’re right. I’ve been an idiot. Come on. I’m going to talk to Ian right now.”
Harley Ann shook her head. “You go on. You don’t need me with you to handle this. I’m going to sit here for a while and enjoy the quiet and think over things in my own life.”
Piper grinned. “Got some splinters in your own ass you don’t want to let on about?”
“Shoo!” Harley Ann answered. “You’ve got more important things to take care of.”
She watched Piper’s car turn onto the road home. She knew once Piper came clean with Ian that everything would be fine. She’d bet that whole batch of bacon jam in the refrigerator at home that Ian already knew what was going through his wife’s mind and was just waiting patiently for her to be the one to bring it out in the open.
Once her friend was out of sight, she place her hands carefully on the splintery wood behind her, leaned back and let her hair float free in the sweet air.
A breeze tickled tiny strands close to her face. Closing her eyes against the sun, she let everything trickle from her mind, leaving it a blank canvas as she sat enjoying the total aloneness.
Tilting her head gently from side to side, she relished the silky swish of her long auburn hair against her bare arms.
A sharp crack brought her out of her state of nirvana into high alert. Her years in prison had taught her never to take her safety for granted.
Scanning the nearby tree line, she tried to spot anything big enough to have made the sound. Like a tree branch cracking. Could a deer have make the sound stepping on a fallen tree branch? Goose bumps prickled along her formerly warm arms and she crossed them in front of her absently rubbing them as she continued to survey the area.
She slid carefully off the rough wood, aware that any sudden move might embed a forest of splinters in her skin. She had just begun to relax, deciding it must have been a deer moving in the nearby trees, when Jesse Miller stepped from the tree line to her right.
Startled, she gave a small yelp.
He smiled at her as he crossed the distance between them.
What was he doing here? And, how had he gotten here? No way he just happened to be out for a walk this far from Piper and Ian’s house.
As he got closer, she noticed a slight sheen of sweat on his entire body and realized he was wearing running gear. Cords ran from ear buds down to his shorts, where she noticed a rectangular bulge that was approximately the size of a cell phone. It was just possible; she admitted to herself, that someone who ran regularly could have come this far from town.
