Rona took the keys and picked
up the suitcase. "You call if you need me."
Anna smiled and kissed her
again. "You know I love it when you get all butch like that."
Moments later, Rona stood in
the living room alone. She finally went into the kitchen, made herself a salad
and ate it while watching television.
It was after nine before Tammy
came back. Rona met them when they came in. The girls were loaded down with
stuffed animals.
"Where's Lenny?" she
asked.
"He wasn't sure whether
he should come in or not. He said to tell you he'd come by the store and see you
tomorrow or Monday." Tammy was speaking low and looking over Rona's
shoulder toward the den.
"She's not here,"
Rona said.
"Lenny won these for
us," Katie announced.
Rona knelt down. "How did
he win all these?"
"He picked them up with a
big claw," Karla said.
Rona glanced at Tammy.
"I don't know what the
thing is called. It's those machines they have all over the place, where you
crank this claw around and try to pickup toys."
Rona grinned. "Well, it
looks like he's found his calling in life."
"I finally had to make
him stop," Tammy said as she ran her hand over the head of a bear Katie
was holding.
Rona did a double take when
she noticed the smile on Tammy's face. "It doesn't look like the kids were
the only ones impressed with Mr. Leonard Wilkes."
"Go on up and get ready
for bed," Tammy instructed the girls.
"I'll be up in a
minute." As soon as they were out of sight, she turned back to Rona.
"What's going on with Anna?"
"There was a situation at
work and she had to fire the guy who worked for her."
Tammy's eyebrows arched in
surprise. "What did he do?"
"I don't really know, but
there are legal implications and he's in jail. She's worried about how her
other clients are going to react when they hear about the incident."
Tammy nodded. "Where is she
now?"
"On her way to Midland,
or rather, I guess she's already in Midland. Some rich old fart wanted her
there for a meeting first thing tomorrow morning. She was worried he'd already
heard about the problems at work."
"If it just happened
today I don't see how he could have heard about it so quickly." Tammy ran
her hand over her neck. There was a series of loud squeals and laughter from
upstairs. "I have to go settle them down. It may take a while with all the
sodas and candy he fed them."
Rona smiled and started toward
the stairs with her. "That's okay. I'm beat. It sounds like you had a nice
time."
Tammy looked at her sharply.
"Don't start that."
"What?" Rona tried
to look innocent.
"It was just
dinner," Tammy assured her.
"Hey, I didn't say
anything."
"Yeah, well, you were
thinking it."
Rona said good night and went
to the room she hadn't slept in since those first few nights here. It had
seemed so comforting and warm then. Tonight it seemed cold and lonely. After a
few minutes, she tiptoed back downstairs, stretched out on the couch in the
den. Too worried about Anna to sleep, she finally gave up and turned on the
television. She was trying to concentrate on the movie she was watching when
the phone rang. It was Anna.
"How are you?" she
asked as soon as she heard Anna's voice.
"Okay, I'm just tired.
I've definitely decided I don't like flying on small planes."
"I wish I could be there
with you."
"I'm sorry our plans for
tonight fell through," Anna said.
Rona heard her yawn.
"Don't worry about that. There will be plenty of other nights. You should
try to sleep. You sound exhausted."
"I am, but I wanted to
talk to you and make sure you were all right. We didn't have much time to talk
before they called."
"Everything is fine here.
I told Tammy you had a problem at work and had to fire Neal. She understood
that you were upset."
"I'll make it up to
you," Anna promised.
"You just take care of
yourself and get home as quickly as you can."
After Anna hung up, Rona
couldn't get back into the movie. She finally gave up and turned the television
off.
Tammy shook her awake the
following morning. "Go get ready for work," she said as Rona swung
her feet to the floor. "I'll start the coffee."
As Rona stepped into the
shower, she promised herself that she would sleep late tomorrow and Sunday. She
hoped Anna would be back by the time she came home from work. Tammy was humming
when Rona walked into the kitchen.
"Someone's awfully
cheerful this morning," Rona remarked as she poured coffee into the mug by
the pot.
"It's Friday," Tammy
reminded her.
"Do you have plans for
the weekend?"
There seemed to be a slight
hesitation before she answered. "No. I thought if the nice weather holds,
I might take the girls to the zoo. They've never been. Would you like to go
with us?"
Rona shook her head. "No,
thanks. I always have this urge to let all the animals loose."
Tammy looked at her and
frowned. "In that case, maybe you shouldn't go."
"I'll bet Lenny would
love to go to the zoo," Rona said, unable to resist teasing her.
"On second thought, maybe
you should go. I could accidentally bump you into the lion's pit around feeding
time," Tammy said as she tossed a wadded paper towel at her.
Rona rode the bus to work that
morning. She didn't feel comfortable driving Anna's car downtown. As she looked
blindly out the window, she wondered how Anna was doing. She had sounded
exhausted when she called from the hotel last night. Rona told herself to stop
worrying. Anna could handle whatever Tanner threw her way. Rona's thoughts
turned to Lenny and Tammy. They would make a cute couple. It was too bad she
was still married to Wayne.
The constant rocking of the
bus was making her sleepy. She forced herself to clear her mind of everything
except the bus's progress and the day ahead of her.
As she was every morning,
Verna was there to let Rona in. There were dark circles beneath Verna's eyes.
Apparently no one had slept well the previous night, Rona thought, but as she
drew closer, she saw there was also a sense of peace, maybe even excitement,
showing in her eyes.
"You gave me a lot to
think about," Verna said as she led Rona back to the storeroom. "I've
decided to start holding the Saturday night jam sessions in the courtyard
again."
"That's great," Rona
said. "What made you change your mind?"
Verna tilted her head. "I
guess it was seeing how excited Jerry got over those people applauding for you
all," she said as she handed Rona a cup of coffee. "After you left,
that's all he could talk about. It made me realize how important it is for
these kids to get a break. Somebody has to help them. Why shouldn't I be the
one to do it?"
Rona nodded and sipped her
coffee. "I think it's a wonderful idea."
"Good, I want you and
your friend to be among my first guests. I'd like to hold the first session on
the first Saturday in April."
Surprised, Rona stared at her
for a moment. "Verna, that's wonderful. I'm sure Lenny will be thrilled,
but I really don't want to perform anymore."
"Not even to showcase
your own songs?"
That stopped Rona cold. It
hadn't occurred to her that she could play her own material. "Couldn't
someone else perform the song?"
"No, that was one of
Sam's only rules. If you wrote the song, you had to be part of the performance.
If you can't carry a tune, that's fine, someone else can sing, but I know you
can play a piano, so you will have to at least act as an accompaniment."
Rona didn't know what to say.
She would be thrilled to be able to have her songs showcased, but she really
didn't want to be pulled back into that part of the business. It was too
demanding and she was at a point in her life where she was ready to settle down
in one place and stay there. But if a single performance would give one of her
songs a chance to be heard, she had to take it. "Okay, but just this one
time."
"Great. If your stuff is
any good, you'll only need the one time," Verna said. "Now, all I
have to do is find a few more performers and clean the place up."
"I'll be happy to help
you fix up the courtyard. I can help after work and on Saturdays," Rona
said. "What about Jerry?" she asked.
Verna frowned. "I'm sure
he'll volunteer to help."
"No, I mean performing."
"Do you think he's that
good?" Verna asked, clearly surprised.
"I've heard worse. He
needs some polishing but he has some talent. I think he could do fine working
with a house band."
"If you both run off at
die same time, I'm going to find myself short-handed."
Rona held up her hand.
"Verna, I give you my solemn promise, I won't be running off anywhere. I'm
very happy where I am in my life right now, and I plan on remaining there for
many years." As soon as the words left her mouth, Rona wondered if she had
tempted fate.
Chapter Thirty-two
Rona was in the storeroom
riling a new shipment of sheet music when Jerry came back to tell her she had a
phone call. Thinking it was Anna calling to let her know she was home, Rona ran
to the phone.
The man's voice on the line
threw her for a moment. "Malcolm is here. He needs to see you today,"
Domingo said.
"Is he all right?"
she asked.
"Yes and no. He had
trouble with some bad
hombres.
He's not hurt," he replied.
"I can't get there until
around six this afternoon," she said. Her lunch hour was too short to get
there and back. "Ask him if that's soon enough." Going to see him
would mean she would miss her bus and have to take the later one, but if he was
asking to see her something was wrong. There was a muttered exchange before
Domingo came back on the line.
"He can hide here till
you come."
"What do you mean,
hide?" she asked, but he had already hung up. Before going back to work,
she tried calling the house, but no one answered. She hung up and called Anna's
office. Sharon told her that Anna had called and said she would be spending
another night in Midland. When Rona pressed her for details, she grew vague and
told her she had another line ringing.
Business picked up and she was
too busy to worry about anything. She was ten minutes late in leaving the music
store and was forced to jog most of the fifteen or so blocks to the Taco Haven.
When she finally arrived she
was so winded she could barely speak. Domingo saw her and nodded to the back of
the room. Malcolm's beard and hair were longer and more unkempt than she ever
remembered seeing them. His long legs stretched out across the aisle. She
slapped him on the shoulder before sliding into a chair across from him.
"Where have you been?
I've been worried about you."
He was staring at her.
"What?" she asked.
"You're looking
good," he said in his slow measured cadence. "I hear you have a real
job."
She grinned and nodded.
"I am glad for you."
Domingo came back with two
coffees. "Are you hungry?"
"Yeah," Rona said even
though she really wasn't. "I'll have a couple of the
carne guisada
tacos."
"Why do I even ask? You
always order the same thing?" Domingo replied.
"What about you, Malcolm,
what do you want?" she asked.
He looked at her before he
ordered. "The same for me please."
Rona tried not to notice how
badly his hand shook as he picked up the cup of coffee. They sat in silence
until Domingo arrived with the food and it was all consumed. Rona gave her
second taco to Malcolm and he finished it without effort.
When Domingo refilled their
cups and left, Rona leaned forward. "Okay, Malcolm, what gives?"
"I'm in plenty of
trouble."
"Are the cops after
you?"
"No. It's not that kind
of trouble." He settled in to tell his story. "On the day after that
last time I saw you, I went over to the Ministry to see if the men in trucks
need workers, but no one picks me. After they leave I wait around thinking
maybe someone else will come. It gets late. Then Roach and Harper come with No
Talk Willie and Mr. Lincoln. Then Soldier Man comes and we talk until it gets
near dark."
No Talk Willie was a mousey
little man who either couldn't or wouldn't speak. She usually tried to avoid
him because he gave her the creeps. Mr. Lincoln was a tall gaunt man who could
have easily passed as the original Mr. Lincoln's brother. Soldier Man was a
quiet guy who wore a Purple Heart pinned to his lapel. She didn't know if the
medal belonged to him or not.