Authors: Morganna Williams
I frowned as Landon made his way over to my computer desk and opened the drawer he knew I kept my bills in.
“Landon, that’s my private property!” I exclaimed then grinned when inspiration struck. “You can’t look in there without a warrant.”
Landon stopped and glanced over at me. “Yes, I can. There’s probable cause.”
“Probably what!?” I watched with horror as he pulled my phone bill from the drawer.
“My, my, my, it looks like Sebrina isn’t the only one who went over on her minutes last month. You went over by a hundred minutes yourself. Who could you have been talking to? Let’s see, your sister, Philly, Philly, your sister, sister, Philly, Philly, Philly for three hours and thirty-seven minutes. What could you possibly have to discuss for three hours and thirty-seven minutes?”
“Well… ummm… what day was that?”
“Never mind that you have several conversations that lasted that long and one here on the twenty-eighth that lasted for over four hours.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m not going to pay the bill myself. We aren’t married or even living together so really, Landon, my bills aren’t your business unless you plan to start paying them.” I sat back in my chair with a smug smile, relieved that I had found a way to stymie the direction of the conversation.
“That’s true except for one thing, sweetness.”
I frowned, trying to figure out where he’d found a flaw in my logic. “What’s that?”
“The reception in your house isn’t worth a damn so I know if you were home when you talked to her, you would have used your home phone.”
My stomach hit my feet as I recognized where this was going. “Oh?”
“Oh is right. Just where did you do all of this talking?”
“Ummm… Wal-Mart?”
“You expect me to believe you talked to her for over four hours in Wal-Mart?”
“Well, sometimes it takes a long time to get your prescriptions filled there, honey.”
Landon simply crossed his arms and stared at me. I hate the interrogation stare. I start squirming around in my seat within seconds. Soon I will develop diarrhea of the mouth and begin babbling non-stop before proceeding to a full confession. I am determined to stand strong in the face of the stare this time. I will be strong.
“Well, you see… I needed cheese. It was a regular cheese emergency. Seb knows bunches about cheese and then there was this pâté. I wasn’t sure if Wal-Mart was the place to buy pâté so I knew Seb was the one to ask and then there were crackers. I was strictly opposed to the ones shaped like a Christmas tree ‘cause I wasn’t in the mood to deal with shapes. Which Seb assured me she understood completely. Then I went back to check my prescriptions and the line was really long and we chatted about that and the weather, then it was my turn and I said I’d take mine to the front and I noticed I was getting a fever blister and you know what? Seb gets them just like I do. All over her face. Isn’t that an interesting coincidence?”
The silent stare continued. “Oh… well… uhh… maybe not. So I paid and we talked all the way to the car and I…”
He was relentless with those piercing green eyes. He gave no quarter. I winced and tried to stay firm in my resolve to give nothing away, and then it happened.
I broke. “Okay, so maybe I drove and talked a tad bit this last month. I know I’m not supposed to talk on the phone while I’m driving, but sometimes it’s necessary and Seb gives such good advice. I’m always careful and I…”
“That’s enough, Shannon. I’d advise you stop explaining. Trust me, you’re doing nothing for your case,” Landon said as he rolled up his sleeves and approached my chair. Damn, it’s no fair when he uses the stare.
“Now Landon, let’s discuss this, you should never have looked at my bill. I was only sharing a friendly anecdote concerning a friend of mine. You were supposed to sympathize with Sebrina, not turn it around into my problem!” I said, jumping up to back across the room.
“Stop right there. young lady. One more step and I’ll take my belt off.”
I froze. I’m sure if he ever threatened that to suspects on the lam that they’d freeze too.
“Landon, honey, I just… I…”
“You just thought you could get away with it.” In no time at all I found myself dangling across his knee, my bare bottom raised for his close inspection. The minute his hand connected with my backside I was wishing that the inspection had lasted longer… a lot longer!
“
Ooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww!
”
Soon the room was filled with the sounds of hand meeting bottom and my cries for mercy. I found none. Landon’s hand fell again and again with stinging precision. My backside would have been able to heat an entire house by the time he finished.
Then he began to deliver hard spanks to my sit spots, striking the exact same place repeatedly until I was sobbing limply over his lap.
I was crying so hard it took me a minute to realize the spanking was over and he was running his hand up and down my back. When I was calmed, he lifted me to sit on his lap, my bare bottom resting against the rough fabric of his jeans.
He cuddled me to his chest and stroked my hair as I cried, promising quite rashly never to talk on the phone again, period.
I frowned when I heard what sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
The beast! I’m pouring my heart out and he’s laughing at me!
I would have taken him to task over such ungallant behavior, but decided that if any more fire was heaped upon my poor bottom I’d start a fire anywhere I sat for the next several days, so I kept my own counsel. I could talk to Seb about it tomorrow. She’d understand.
Uh-oh!
I stood frowning down at the front passenger side tire. Flat as a pancake! Wonderful! Great! Here it was pouring down rain in thirty-degree weather and I was stuck on the side of the road with a flat. Could my life get any better?
Geeze oh Pete!
To top it all off I was about to freeze. It had just been a quick trip to the store; who needed a coat? I kicked the tire in frustration, and then jumped as sharp pains immediately shot through the toes of my left foot. Okay, not the brightest move to make in flip-flops.
Great—now I was wet, cold, and stranded with a broken foot! I limped around to the driver’s seat and sank into it, pulling the door shut with a sulky frown.
What to do… what to do? I picked up my cell phone and studied it carefully. I could call Landon… the thought of his reaction made me cringe. It wasn’t the flat; it was that I didn’t have a jack or a decent spare. I’d been supposed to get a spare for months and still hadn’t managed to do so. This was in fact the third flat I’d had since breaking my jack. No, it would definitely be best to skip Landon in this entire fiasco.
I took a deep breath and dialed my sister’s number. “Hi, sis! It’s me, Shannon.”
“Well, who else would be calling me sis?” I could hear the smile in her voice.
“I have a teeny little problem.”
“What?”
“I have a flat.”
“Oh, nasty weather for it. Change it.”
“Umm… I can’t… I don’t have a jack.”
“
Still!?
You
still
don’t have a jack! This is ridiculous! I can’t believe you!”
I winced as she began to yell as only an older sister can. “I know… yes, I know… yes, irresponsible… I’m an idiot… okay, I’m not an idiot… yes, foolish behavior… are you going to help me?”
“Well, of course I am.” My sister heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Did you call Landon?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He’ll yell.”
“
He should yell!
”
“Well, that’s beside the point.”
Another deep sigh. “Okay. Where are you?”
“By the Carr Motel.”
“
That
seedy place? Oh, my god! It’s a drug lord haven!”
“Hardly. We live in little town America; there are hardly big-time gangsters living here.”
“That is a bad part of town. I’m on my way.”
Right after we hung up a big utility-looking truck pulled up behind me. The side of the truck read Lew’s Tire Service.
Wow! What were the odds on a Sunday? I jumped out of my car and met the large man exiting the truck.
“Got a flat?”
“Yes. But I don’t have a jack.”
“Got a spare?”
“Sort of.”
I ignored the puzzled look on his face and opened the trunk. The big man frowned and looked from the oversized tire and back down to my car a few times.
“That fits?”
“Well, not really, but it’ll do in a pinch.”
The man nodded. “Let me run up to the shop and grab a jack. I’ll be back to change your tire and then you can follow me to the shop and I’ll fix your tire. Be right back.”
I grinned, hopped back in my car, and called my sister. “Sis? Hey, you haven’t left, have you? Good… a man came in a tire truck… he’s gonna put the spare on then I’m gonna follow him to his shop and he’ll fix it.”
“Truck? Man? Follow him? Wait, Shan…”
“I’ll talk to you later, sis.” I hung up the phone quickly as I saw another truck pull up behind me. People are so nice!
“You got a flat.”
I love when men state the obvious. This is where I always have to bite my tongue. Men seem to get bent out of shape when you say things like ‘No shit, Sherlock.’ The guy had been nice enough to stop so I refrained. “Yes, but the nice man from the tire shop is gonna fix it. He had to go get a jack.” At the man’s puzzled look I decided to share. “I don’t have one. Broke it ages ago.”
The man nodded. “You should get a new one.”
I frowned. Again with the obvious! “Yes, well, thanks for stopping.”
The tire guy was back pretty quickly. He had my tire changed and I was following him down the road in no time at all.
As I drove I began to frown. We seemed to be going from the bad part of town to the worst part of town. We pulled up into an old converted gas station. Even in the rain the lot was full of tough-looking youth. Wonderful, the neighborhood hangout.
I smiled and got out of my car. They all smiled back at me. “Wait in the office where it’s warmer, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” Why, they were all quite nice.
I stood in the office, which was indeed warm, and studied the posters on the wall. Tell me… what does a woman in a bikini have to do with wheel rims? Or tools? It’s a mystery to me, but the walls were plastered with a bevy of such bikini-clad beauties hawking auto wares.
Another large poster caught my attention. It was a big yellow thing with big red letters. It read:
Leave the Attitude and Colors
At Home.
One Bad Act,
Don’t Come Back.
I stood studying it and puzzling over what it meant. Did colors equate to gangs? Here in small town America? Surely not, it must mean something else.
I smiled when tire guy came into the office and sat down behind his desk. “Did you run into something?”
“Not that I know of. Oh, wait, I hit a big pothole the other day.”
“You bent the rim. Must have had a slow leak for a few days.”
“Can it be fixed?”
“Already fixed it, ma’am.”
“Oh, you’re fast,” I said with a grin and pulled out my checkbook.
He was busily filling out a ticket. “Thirty-five, ma’am.”
I gladly wrote out the check and handed it to him. “Thank you so much for stopping.”
He nodded and waved as I let myself out the door. I jumped into my car. All was right with the world. I hummed happily to myself as I started to pull out of the little tire shop.
My smile turned quickly to a frown when Landon pulled in before I could exit. He did not look happy.
I decided to try and brazen it out. I rolled down my window and gave him my most dazzling smile. “Hi, sweetie!”
Landon just continued to frown.
I began to fidget under the piercing look in his eyes. “I… well… umm… How ‘bout them Cowboys?” I finally asked lamely.
Landon rolled his eyes. “What about ‘em? They lost again.”
I started to say something else, frantic to lighten his mood, but he held a hand up to stop me. “No. Don’t say anything else. Just go straight to your house and wait for me there. I’ll be along in a little while to discuss… this.” He indicated everything from my car to the tire shop with a wave of his hand.
“Landon, I…”
“Go home, Shannon. Don’t worry, I’ll be there shortly.”
I rolled my window up with a frown and resisted the impulse to poke my tongue out at him as I pulled onto the road. Don’t worry, indeed! Like I was worried he
wouldn’t
come!
I fussed and fretted all the way home. My feet were like ice from being in flip-flops in the December rain so I ran some hot water and then sat on the edge of the bathtub and warmed them up.
I was still sitting there enjoying the feel of the hot water on my poor toes when Landon came in. He looked from the flip-flops on the floor to me and if anything his frown darkened.
“How many times have I told you not to wear those outside? It’s winter, for crying out loud!”
“Well, it’s not like I thought I’d be outside for any length of time! Things were just out of my control.”
“When was the first time you noticed your tire was low?”
“Last week sometime.” I covered my mouth.
Shit!
“Last week and you didn’t do anything about it?”
Quickly drying my feet, I got up to stand in front of Landon. “I added air several times. I was watching it. I just hadn’t had time to have it looked at. This morning it was a little flatter than usual, but when I added air again and it took it, I thought it would be okay. I didn’t know it was just a ten-mile solution. It aired back up; how was I supposed to know it would go flat again that quick? I…”
“Enough!” I raised startled eyes to his when his fingers pressed against my lips to prevent further explanations. “Do us both a favor… stop now.”
I blinked and nodded. Landon took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom. I followed in a state of relieved confusion. “Landon?”
I found him standing in the living room looking out the window. “Do you have any idea how dangerous the neighborhood you were in was?”