Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (15 page)

Chapter 14

3:26 p.m.

A loud knock at the door woke
Lana
from a fretful nap.
She
jumped up and peeked out the window. It
was
Mr. Johnson delivering the wood.
She
grabbed
her
coat lying
across the bar and put it on while
she
opened the door. A blast of cold air hit
her
and
she
immediately buttoned
her
coat. The wood came at a great time,
she
could see dark clouds in the distance, the northwest.
That
meant
the
cold Northerner
has
arrived
, the first strong cold front of the season.

She
introduced herself and extended
her
hand. "Hi, I'm
Lana
and thank you so much for the wood, esp
ecially
with
such short notice. Do you mind
put
ting
the wood on the back porch?" He ignored
her
extended hand a
s
he looked at
his
truck.

"Sure miss, does the truck load look like a fair amount?" He asked while looking at
his
truck.

She
glanced at
his
white old beat-up 1972 Ford truc
k
with
lots of rusts and dents
. It looked like it had been bombed in Beirut.
His
Johnson Tree Service sign
was
a magnet stuck to the front driver's door, hanging lopsided. The wood
was
thrown
all around in the truck and lots of
wood piled up in the middle.
She
wondered how the wood didn't fall through the rusted out sides. It
was
n't obvious how much wood
lied
in the
bed of the
truck but
she
didn't care as long as it
would
last a couple of days.
She
nodded
her
head it looked fine to
her
. Since he
didn't look
at
her
,
she
had to say it out loud. "It looks like enough."

With
out looking directly at
her
, he tried to peak around inside the house, bobbing
his
head around hers. It made
her
feel uncomfortable.
She
stepped outside and closed the door. "If you don't mind you can put it all on the back porch. I'll be glad to show you where it goes."

As they walked toward the back of the house and
she
noticed someone in the passenger side of the truck, digging around in the glove box. It
was
an obvious nervousness between the two them so
she
rambled. "I do appreciate you bringing t
his
on such late notice. I'm sure you have more important things to do besides get out in t
his
miserable weather. I bet you stay busy t
his
time of the year?"

T
his
older man had a gray beard and
she
couldn't tell if he had hair on
his
head because he wore a furry hat
that
completely covered
his
head and ears. The hat
was
dirty and mildewed.
She
also noticed a lot of gray hair sticking out of
his
nose. When he smiled
his
teeth were brown and nasty.
His
eyelids were so wrinkled they lapped over
his
eyelashes they were like a blanket covering
his
eyes. But from what
she
could tell
his
eyes were blue, but he kept looking down toward the ground and h
e w
ould
n't look
her
in the eyes. Worst of all, he stunk. The smell almost gagged
her
and
she
thought he hasn't taken a bath in weeks. He smelled like a men's locker room.

As they walked passed Mike's truck, Mr. Johnson casually asked. "Hey, is
that
Dodge truck for sale? I saw it when
I drove up and wondered if you might
be willing to sell it?"

She
didn't blame him for liking the truck, Mike went through great lengths to keep it nice. The truck
was
a classic and he kept it in mint condition.
The i
nside
had
plaid seats and dark gray carpeting and
a
dark gray bed liner. "Actually it's not mine, but I'll let the owner know you're interested. I don't think it's for sale, but I'll give him your message."

A gust of wind nearly knocked
Lana
over, and
she
was
glad
she
had the protection of the porch to shield
her
.
She
quickly showed him the wood bin while pulling
her
windblown hair away from
her
eyes.

He nodded he understood where
she
wanted the wood. All the while he tried to peek in the back window. "Are you alone out here, I notice nobody's at the other houses.
A pretty young thing like you don't
need to be left alone."

"I'm not alone, I'm here
with
my family and they're walking on the beach looking for sea shells." It
was
the quickest thing
she
could think of
in the spur of the moment
. "If you don't have any questions, I have to get back to cooking, because my family will be back any minute. I'll have my husband help you when he gets here."

"
That
's okay, my son is in the truck and he'll help,
that
's how he earns extra money, and we'll be done in no time. Ma'am we get paid up front."

"Of course, I'll get you the cash." Thank God
she
had to walk around the house rather than go in the back door. T
his
gave
her
a chance to get away, and
she
kept looking over
her
shoulder.
She
quickly ran in and got the cash and ran outside to hand the money to the old man.

His
son looked like a character from
Friday the 13
th
. He
was
already unloading the truck as
she
quickly walked to the front of the house. Once
she
was
safely inside
she
made sure
she
locked the door. Every once in the while
she
peek
ed
out a window to keep up
with
what they were doing. They worked hard toting the wood to the back. Mr. Johnson backed
his
truck as far to the back as he could.
She
guessed he didn't pull all the way back because he
might
get stuck in the sand.
She
prayed
that
would
n't happen because then
she
would
feel obligated to invite them in
the house
.

As time passed
she
got worried because it had been thirty minutes and they still had not left, but the truck bed looked empty. The back porch bin
overflowed
with
wood.
Her
heart raced
with
worry. 
She
decided if they didn't leave in a couple of minutes
she
would
call 911.
She
continued looking out the window and still no sign of anyone. Just as
she
walked to get
her
phone
she
heard a car coming down the road
. Thank God Mike
came
home. Relief overwhelmed
her
.

When
she
looked outside
she
was
disappointed it
was
n't Mike, but happy
with
whom
she
saw. Talk about a cop being at the right place at the right time. A patrol car drove up
next to Mike's truck
. There were two cops and both got out
of the patrol car
. They looked in and around both trucks on their way to the front door.
She
opened the door to greet them and relieved to see them.

They both imm
ediately saw how white
her
face looked
. "Hi ma'am, I hope we didn't startle you," an officer said as he tipped
his
hat. The other officer tipped
his
hat as well. "My name is Kevin and t
his
is David, and we are here to see Mike. I see
his
truck is here." Both men had on starched navy blue uniforms,
with
hats
that
reminded
her
of Canadian Mounties.

"I'm sorry you missed him, but could you please step in for a moment?" They looked at each other
with
confusion. They walked in and
she
was
wringing
her
hands. "I am so glad you're here, earlier today I called to have wood delivered and t
his
man and
his
son brought some wood. It looks like they emptied their truck, but I don't see them and they've been here over an hour. Could you check it out for me?"

"Sure and where
was
the last place you saw them?" Officer Kevin immediately started to look around
the house
. He never removed
his
hat and
Lana
thought
maybe he wanted to
hide
his
eyes.
She
thought he wore a hat because of being so short, th
e hat made him look taller. He might be five-seven
with
very short light brown hair and hazel eyes. He probably didn't weight more than one-hundred-forty pounds,
with
a very small frame
. But
his
deep voice made up for
his
frame, he sounds like Lou Rawls. David
was
opposite, tall and thin and he too had short light brown hair.
His
voice
was
much softer than Kevin's and it sounded average.
His
eyes were puppy dog brown. Both officers had cute white smiles. When they smiled, it put
her
at ease.

"I saw them on the back porch, because
that
is where they put the wood, but now I can't see them at all
,"
she
said
with
a trembling voice
.

Neither officer
would
leave
with
out relieving
her
fear. They knew Mike
would
have their heads if they didn't take care of
his
tenant. Plus they had their suspicions
that
Mike had a thing for t
his
lady. Kevin decided if Mike didn't have a thing for t
his
pretty woman he needed
his
head examined. "I'll be
back in a minute and David will search the house, and ma'am you stay
with
David."

"Thank you so much,"
she
said.