Weekends Required (Danvers #1)(5)
“I’ve the dinner ready Claire,” replied Louise, and she gently turned her mother around and they all headed towards the kitchen. With just her mother, Louise and herself, the formal dining room had long ago stopped being used in favor of the smaller breakfast nook in the kitchen. Louise made a simple dinner of tomato bisque soup and ham and cheese sandwiches. Louise settled her mother in a chair, and Claire took a seat on the other side of the table careful to keep from startling her mother in her present state of mind.
Her mother suddenly looked at her and said in an excited voice, “Oh Claire; you made it for dinner! When did you come in honey?”
“I got here a few moments ago mom.” Louise looked over at Claire as she was sitting down with a sad expression on her face.
“How was your day honey?” continued Claire’s mother.
“It was fine mom, just busy as usual. I’m going to Columbia on business this weekend, so I won’t see you guys again until Sunday evening.”
“Oh Claire, you work so hard, doesn’t she Louise?”
Louise winked at Claire, “You know these young people today Evelyn, work, work, work.” the rest of the meal was spent in relaxing conversation.
After dinner was finished Louise led her mother into the living room and settled her in front of the TV to watch her favorite soap opera on DVR. When she returned to the kitchen she looked at Claire and said, “The roof is leaking again in the master bedroom upstairs.”
Looking at her in dismay, Claire said, “I just had that fixed last winter, how in the world is it leaking again?!”
“Honey, it was two years ago and that’s about how long the roofer said it would hold.” Claire sat down in a kitchen chair and wearily closed her eyes for a moment. “The lord never gives us more than we can handle, things will turn around soon, just have faith,” soothed Louise.
“Faith has been in real short supply lately, and I’m not sure of how much longer I can handle the upkeep on this house Louise. I know it would just kill mom to have to move.”
“Honey, we will do what we need to do, your mother would be confused, but I think she would adjust in time,” said Louise. “Let me call my nephew Brent; he’s a good handyman and might be cheaper than a roofing company.”
“Thanks Louise, I don’t know what I would do without you,” said Claire as she stood up and walked across the kitchen to hug her. “I’ll call you this weekend while I’m in Columbia but if anything at all comes up, call me Louise, and I’ll come straight back home,” said Claire.
“You don’t worry about us; we will be just fine,” assured Louise.
Claire walked into the living room and said, “Mom; I’m leaving now,” as she leaned down to give a kiss on the cheek.
Her mother absently patted her cheek and said, “Ok Chrissie; I’ll see you tomorrow,” and went back to her soap opera. Not bothering to correct her, Claire called out one last goodbye to Louise and made her way out the door to where Daisy was patiently waiting. She backed out of the driveway and headed back to Myrtle Beach and her small one-bedroom apartment on the south side.
Chapter Four
Myrtle Beach was a busy tourist town, and rent was not cheap. Claire had been fortunate to find a reasonably priced apartment in a quieter area of town that was a little further away from the ocean than most of the tourist crowd liked. She spotted her neighbor William ‘but call me Billy’ in the parking lot and desperately looked for another parking spot. If she couldn't park on the other side of the complex she would sleep in her car if she had to until he went inside his apartment. The lot was completely full except for her space in front of her apartment so it was either flee or suck it up and park. She could see Billy’s eyes zero in on her immediately as she pulled into her spot.
Billy was on the short side for a man with a pudgy build and hair that looked as if he poured oil straight on it each day to slick it down. He also had a very disturbing habit of ‘adjusting himself’ constantly. Claire could only hope this was a bad habit and not an indication of how much she excited him. She shuddered at the last thought as he strolled towards her in his ‘trying to be sexy way.’ Claire hurriedly stepped from her car and attempted to walk towards her apartment door.
“Hey good looking, long time no see,” began Billy.
“Er… yeah, long time, I’m in a bit of a hurry though.”
Completely ignoring that last line, he continued, “I’ve been trying to catch you at home; I got two tickets to a Neil Diamond show. This tribute band is so good you’d never know the difference.”
“That sounds um… lovely, but I’ll be going out of town for awhile on business and have no idea when I’ll be back.”
“That’s ok; it’s not until next month, and you should be back by then, right?”
“It could be a really long trip,” Claire stressed, “I’ll have to get back to you.”
Claire cringed as he leaned in closer, “just give us a chance Claire, old Billy will rock your world.” Another annoying problem, Billy liked to talk about himself in the third person as well.
Thanks to either good timing or what Claire liked to think of as divine intervention, the neighbor two doors down came out of his apartment and yelled, “Hey Billy, I need a lift to the store man.” Claire took this as her cue to run like hell and took off towards her apartment. She quickly unlocked her door and almost fell inside in her haste.