Annie's Answer (6 page)

Her heart did
a little flip-flop, and her first instinct was to swerve around him and head
for home as fast as the VW would go. But no, it was too late. He was walking
toward her with a puzzled expression.

Nathan didn’t
look at all like a lawyer this noon. His khaki shorts were wet from the hose
he’d left running, and a tee shirt faded to the shade of a stagnant pond clung
to his torso. His hair went every which way, falling over his forehead in a
cascade of honey brown strands. She hadn’t been wrong about his shoulders.
Muscles rippled under the stretchy cloth, and she couldn’t help but notice the
golden tan on his arms.

“Hi,” he said,
opening the door on her side of the car. “I’m surprised to see you today.”

“I’m not
staying,” she was quick to tell him. “I’m going to the mall with my mother, and
I thought maybe your aunt might need something.”

“That’s nice
of you.” He stood looking down at her and blocking her exit from the car.

She wanted to
melt into the upholstery. Her uniform was rumpled and stained. Her hair was
going every which way after yanking off her cap, but worst of all, she smelled
like griddle grease after being close to fried pancakes, sausages, and bacon
all morning.

“I’ll just run
in for minute,” she said, although it was the last thing she wanted to do now.

“I think
Mattie is in the sunroom,” he said, although he didn’t move out of the way so
she could leave the car.

“Should I just
walk in?” Did her voice sound squeaky? Did he realize how nervous he made her?

“Sure.”

Again he
didn’t move back from the door. She squirmed under his close scrutiny.

“I can’t stay
long,” she assured him, hoping he’d get the hint and let her out.

“I’ll walk you
in. Let me turn off the hose.”

He jogged up
to the house and stepped behind some shrubs, apparently where the faucet was.
Annie bounded out of the car and hurried up to the front door, but he still got
there first.

Again he
opened the door. Her instinct was to change her mind, but Mattie came thumping
into the foyer on her crutches.

“Oh, it’s
you,” she said, not exactly a warm welcome. “I didn’t expect to see you until
Monday.”

“I’m not here
to stay.”

“Annie’s going
to the mall in Carbonville, the closest one to Westover. Is there anything
you’d like her to get for you?” Nathan asked.

Did he think
she couldn’t ask for herself? Annie was annoyed but reminded herself it was his
house and his aunt. He was nowhere near as overbearing as Bob Hoekstra, and she
managed to work for him.

“Now that you
mention it, my watch hasn’t worked since I got here. I think it needs a new
battery. Is that something you could get at the mall?” Mattie asked.

“There’s a
jewelry store. I would think they could change it for you,” Annie said.

“Splendid!”
Mattie said with an unusual show of enthusiasm. “I’ll go find it.”

Annie watched
as the older woman pivoted around on her crutches and headed toward the back of
the house. She was wearing a navy crinkle cloth dress with embroidery on the
yoke—or perhaps it was a housecoat since it hung down to the elastic
bandage on her ankle. It made her look more like a shut-in, although Mattie
always sounded very much in control of her circumstances.

“I think she
likes you.”

Annie was
startled to realize how close Nathan had come. Now he was sure to pick up on
the greasy smell lingering on her uniform. It took a few seconds to get enough
composure to answer.

“I hope so,”
she said. “She’s an interesting lady.”

Nathan
startled her again by laughing loudly at her comment.

“That’s a
polite way to put it,” he said, his face still softened by good humor.

His chin was
bristly, and he didn’t have the fragrance of aftershave she was coming to
associate with him, but she liked his more rugged look.

“I meant it as
a compliment,” she said, hoping Mattie would burn rubber getting back on her
crutches.

“I’m sure you
did,” he said, apparently still enjoying some private joke. “I thawed some
lemonade this morning. How about joining me in a glass. I’m pretty thirsty.”

“None for me,
thanks, but you go ahead. I’m leaving as soon as Mattie brings me her watch.”

“You’re
assuming she actually brought her watch with her from Iowa. And that she’ll be
able to find it in the next half hour.”

“She seems
exceptionally well organized to me,” Annie said with an edge in her voice.
Sometimes Nathan didn’t seem to have a very good opinion of his great aunt.

“She is,” he
agreed, “but when my father chartered a plane  to get her, she tried to
bring half her possessions with her. She couldn’t stand leaving anything behind
if it wasn’t damaged beyond saving. And she wouldn’t hear of storing anything
in our attic. Everything she brought from Iowa is in her bedroom.”

“That’s so
sad,” Annie said. “It must be a way of hanging onto her past.”

“I guess,”
Nathan said, walking over and sitting on one of the lower steps. “Since she
doesn’t have children, I guess I’ll have to deal with her hoard some day. My
father doesn’t have the patience and my mother—let’s just say sorting and
cleaning isn’t her thing.”

“My
grandfather mostly hangs onto books. He built floor-to-ceiling bookcases in his
bedroom and sitting room. I think he intends to leave his collection to the
church, but meanwhile he spends a lot of time organizing and cataloguing them.
Guess you could call it his hobby.”

“Come sit
down,” Nathan said, patting the step beside him. “I take it you’ve already
worked your shift at the pancake place.”

“Yes, on
Saturday I work in the morning. It gives me time off from noon now until Monday
evening.”

“And what do
you do with your free time?” Nathan asked, sounding more interested than
patronizing.

“Volunteer at
the church, sell ads for the newspaper. Today I promised my mother to go
shopping with her. She loves to browse at the mall.”

“And you
don’t?” He raised one eyebrow and gestured at the space on the step beside him.
“Sit.”

Was he
ordering her to sit? She slowly walked to the stairs and took her time about
finding space beside him. The step was wide, but she made sure there was space
between them by pressing her side against the banister.

“There’s
nothing much I need.” In fact, her wardrobe was in tatters, and she hadn’t
bought a really nice dress since her senior prom. Nathan didn’t need to know
that. “Should I go help your aunt find her watch?”

“No, she’s
pretty touchy about anyone touching her stuff. I had a hard time convincing her
to let the cleaning crew vacuum and clean her bathroom.”

Annie couldn’t
help smiling. “My grandfather is that way about his books. Mom started dusting
them once. It was the only time they had an argument.”

“Tell me about
your flower shop,” he said, abruptly changing the subject.

“It’s not mine
yet.”

“But you have
hopes?”

“If I can get
together the down payment by Labor Day, the Polks will sell their shop to me
and carry the financing.”

“And if you
can’t?” He was starting to sound like an attorney.

“No sale.” She
didn’t want to talk about it, not with a man who’d been blessed with wealth and
a lucrative career. How could he possibly understand what a struggle it was
when there was never quite enough money?

“I see.”

He said the
words, but she doubted he had a clue. Anyway, it didn’t matter. As long as she
could hold onto the job as Mattie’s companion, the flower shop was as good as
hers.

“Maybe I could
get her battery another time,” she suggested, glancing at her own watch. “My
mother will be getting antsy.”

“I’ll see
what’s holding her up,” Nathan said, standing and towering over her as she sat.

“Nothing is
holding me up,” Mattie snapped as she swung along on the crutches.

She pulled a
velvet box out of a pocket sewn into the side of her dress and held it out for
Annie.

“If it’s
something more than a battery, you can leave it at the jewelry store to be
cleaned and repaired. Nathan can always run over and get it for me. And this
should be enough for the battery. If there’s any change, you can treat your
mother to lunch.”

“It’s too
much,” Annie said, her jaw dropping when Mattie handed her a hundred dollar
bill.

“Nonsense, old
Ben Franklin needs to get out of my purse. They should make dollar bills
washable, as filthy as they get going through who knows how many hands.”

Nathan
laughed, but Annie didn’t know how to react. She’d never met anyone who wanted
to get rid of a big bill because it was dirty. Of course, Mattie was no doubt
making it easier for her to accept it, but she didn’t want charity from anyone
in the Sawyer family.

“Take it.”
Mattie had already established who was boss, so Annie reluctantly tucked it
into her uniform pocket along with the box. She was going to get change, like
it or not.

“I have to get
going,” she said. “Mom is waiting.”

“I’ll walk you
to your car,” Nathan said.

Annie wanted
to tell him she could get there on her own, but that was no way to keep a badly
needed job. She thanked Mattie and said good-bye, moving toward the door so
quickly Nathan had to hustle to keep up.

“I didn’t come
here so your aunt would tip me for running an errand,” she said, reaching her
door handle before he could open it.

“I know that,”
he said. “Please, indulge her. You’re doing it for me, not her. My schedule is
so full the next few weeks, I can’t possibly spend much time with her. I think
you know how it is to have more work than hours to do it.”

“I’ll do my
best,” she said, sliding behind the wheel and turning the key.

The VW was
uncooperative—no surprise—but on the fourth try the motor sputtered
to life. Nathan was still holding the door open, and she knew he was about to
offer to look under the hood. Her car was so old it still had the motor in the
back, and only one mechanic in town could coax it into performing anymore. She
said a prayer of thanks that she wouldn’t be stuck there with Nathan fiddling
with the motor.

“This is a
classic,” he said, still holding open the scratched and dented dull blue door.

“That’s one
thing you can call it,” she said, signaling she wanted to leave by pulling on
the inside handle.

“Thanks again
for taking my aunt’s watch. There’s nothing she loves more than giving people
assignments. Has she told you she taught elementary school before she was
married? Of course, that was a long time ago, but sometimes she still sounds
like she’s talking to little kids.”

“My mom is
waiting for me,” Annie said, foot on the gas to keep the motor from stalling.

“Have a nice
time,” Nathan said, backing away so she could close the door.

She didn’t
tell him her idea of a good time was a nice warm shower and a long nap. There
was nothing like a dose of irritation to nip romantic notions in the bud.

As she drove
away, she saw him in her slightly off-kilter driver’s side mirror. Why was he
watching her leave? Did he think her car would conk out for good in his
circular drive?

Much to her
surprise, he waved. She pressed down on her tinny-sounding horn, hoping it
startled him as much as it did pedestrians who tried to cross in front of her
when her car was stuttering.

“I must have
scrambled eggs for brains,” she said to herself when she was well away from the
mansion. Going to see Mattie had been a fiasco. Her pride wouldn’t let the
Sawyers patronize her, but the more she saw Nathan, the more firmly he was
lodged in her consciousness.

Labor Day was
ten weeks away. How was she going to avoid him when she needed his job so
badly? More importantly, did she really want to?

Nathan stared
at Annie’s ancient VW until it was out of sight. He hated the thought of it
breaking down on her. Of course, it was none of his business.

Returning to
the job of polishing his car, he smiled to himself. Surprisingly she was cute
in her uniform from the pancake house, even when it was rumpled from a hard
morning’s work. He still couldn’t believe he’d sat in church countless times
without noticing her.

“Nathan!”

He turned
reluctantly but couldn’t ignore his aunt’s high-volume call. On the farm she’d
often summoned Uncle Tom in the same tone, her voice carrying across their
acres.

Walking toward
her, he saw she was carrying something small, waving it at him as she balanced
on her crutches just outside the front door.

“I wanted to
give this to Annie,” she said, showing him a small plastic bag with a ring
inside. “I haven’t had my engagement ring cleaned or the setting checked in
ages. I thought she could take it to the jeweler’s along with my watch.”

“Sorry, you’re
too late. She’s already left,” he said.

“I can see
that,” Aunt Mattie said a bit impatiently. “I thought you could go after her.
As long as she’s going to a mall anyway, she might as well take my ring.”

“Aunt Mattie,
I’m in the middle of cleaning my car. Can’t it wait until another time?”

“At my age,
you have to get things done when you think of them,” she said in a
matter-of-fact voice. “How long would it take to run it over to her house? She
can’t have left yet.”

He groaned
inwardly, afraid this was how the whole weekend would go: Aunt Mattie thinking
of things for him to do when he badly wanted to escape to his office and catch
up on some work.

“Tell you
what,” he said. “Let me finish the car, and I’ll run your ring over to the mall
myself.”

“What about
lunch? I’ve made egg salad for sandwiches. I always put in a touch of mustard.
Gives them a little—what’s that new word when you liven things up a bit?”