was just a couple of months old. I have no memories of anyone else as a mother other than Aunt L...L...Liz.” She bit her tongue and swallowed against the sudden emotion that threatened to prompt the stuttering.
“I’m sorry, Sheri. Damn, I’m sorry,” Abe said, his blue eyes growing darker in hue.
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” She stiffened her shoulders and pasted a smile on her face as the door opened and an older woman walked in. “Welcome to the Roadside Stop. Just let me know if I can help you with anything.”
The woman nodded, a long salt-and-pepper ponytail swaying across her lower back. “Thanks, I’m just browsing.”
Sheri moved behind the register as Abe went to the storage room to take care of cleaning shelves and checking stock. Sheri watched the skinny, older woman checking out the items for sale and her thoughts suddenly filled with a vision of Jimmy Carmani.
Yes, it would be nice to have a friend to hang out with, to spend a few hours a week chatting with him and enjoying his company. He appeared to have a fairly laid-back personality, as did she, and neither of them were in the market for anything romantic, so it could be an ideal friendship.
The older woman carried a cold canned drink to the register and pulled several dollar bills from a purse that looked worn. “This should do it,” she said, her chocolate-brown eyes intent on Sheri.
“Just traveling through town?” Sheri asked as she rang up the drink.
“I haven’t decided yet. The town seems quite charming. I may decide to hang around.” She smiled.
“It’s a wonderful place to live with terrific people,” Sheri said as she handed her the change.
“Thanks, maybe I’ll see you around.” Without a backward glance the woman went out the door with her cold drink in hand.
By eight that evening Sheri felt a dread creeping over her and was stunned to realize it was the anxiety of going home. It was an emotion she’d never known before. Normally she was eager to head back to her cottage and snuggle with Highway.
On impulse she pulled out her phone and punched in Jimmy’s number. He answered immediately. “Hey, Jimmy, it’s Sheri. Are you still at work?”
“Actually I am,” he replied. “But not for too much longer. What’s up?”
“I was just wondering if maybe you’d like to meet me at the tavern for a cold beer in about a half an hour or so.” Her stomach clenched. She’d never initiated a date with a man before. No, she corrected herself. It wasn’t a date, it was just two people getting together for a little conversation and a beer.
“Sounds perfect to me. I might even indulge in some of Travis’s hot wings with that beer. Shall we make it around eight-thirty?”
He sounded ridiculously pleased that she had called and a sweet wave of answering pleasure swept through her. “I’ll see you at eight-thirty,” she agreed.
The store had been quiet for the past hour, so she sent Abe home, locked the front door and then went into the bathroom with her purse in hand.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror and then dug a brush from her purse and quickly pulled it through her shoulder-length hair. There had been a time when she’d been jealous of Roxy’s rich black curls, of Marlene’s cool blond strands, but as she’d gotten older she’d made peace with her chestnut-brown hair. At least it was thick and required little more than a daily brushing.
She thought about lipstick, but never wore it. She also considered mascara but again, makeup had never been her thing and she wondered why she was even thinking about it now. It wasn’t like she was going to meet the man of her dreams. She was just going to hang out with Jimmy. She settled for a quick spritz of her purse-size bottle of her favorite perfume and then left the bathroom.
It was almost eight-twenty by the time she got into her truck to head to the Wolf’s Head Tavern. Twilight had fallen, painting the landscape in deep purple shadows as she pulled out of the parking lot.
Almost immediately she saw the car that pulled out of a wooded area near the road and fell in behind her. Every nerve in her body tensed. With the sun low in the sky it was impossible to tell if the car was black or blue, but it was definitely pacing her.
When she slowed, it slowed. When she sped up, it also sped up, keeping enough distance that Sheri couldn’t tell anything about the driver. She didn’t know if the driver was male or female, but she knew for certain that just like the night before, somebody was following her.
What was going on? Why would anyone be interested in her movements? With everything that had happened with her aunt and her sisters over the past three and a half months, Sheri was definitely feeling freaked out even though the driver of the vehicle did nothing to present imminent danger.
She was grateful she wasn’t going home alone to her little cottage where she only had a well-trained dog and an empty shotgun if she needed protection.
At least she was headed to a public area where a detective was waiting for her and there would be other people around. Her fingers were tight on the steering wheel, her back stiffened as if bracing for a blow.
Even though she hadn’t seen the color of the car the night before, the headlights looked the same and she was certain the car behind her now was the same one from the day before.
A sigh of relief shuddered through her when she turned into the Wolf’s Head Tavern and the car continued on, disappearing into the gloom of the coming night.
She pulled into a parking space, cut her engine and dropped her forehead to the steering wheel as she waited for her heartbeat to slow to a more normal pace.
Was she looking for a bogeyman who didn’t exist? Had the car really been following her or was she taking innocent coincidences and making them into something nefarious?
Was she looking for trouble when there was none?
She supposed it was possible that the events of the past few months were finally catching up with her, making her paranoid when she shouldn’t be.
She raised her head, checked her reflection in her rearview mirror and then headed inside the tavern, trying to ignore the faint simmer of fear that still remained deep inside her.
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