Page 25 of Mia Amata

Chapter 15

My first stop in town was at the local shopping center. I went in, grabbed a cart, and headed up and down the aisles looking for the things I needed. I found a purse with a matching wallet that I liked and found some toys for Lucky and Lady. I picked up a few other items and then headed to the checkout. I paid for my items, went out to load them in my car, heading next to the grocery store.

I bought the few groceries I needed, loaded them in the car, and then decided to drive around the town a little bit before heading home to see what was around. It looked like a nice town, the businesses all looked like they were doing well, and the homes were mostly nicely kept. I made note of some stores I wanted to check out eventually, then drove home.

Once home, I unloaded everything from the car, putting things away. I left the dog toys on the counter, made a pitcher of iced tea, and took a glass of tea out to the deck. I took the purse, wallet, envelope containing the papers, and the cash out with me. I loaded the IDs, cash, and credit cards into the wallet. I then put the wallet, the keys, some small items I purchased like Kleenex, hand lotion, Chapstick, notepad, pen, fingernail clippers, just little things I thought would be handy, in my purse.

I came across Randy, Josh, and Jacob’s cell phone numbers when pulling the cards out of my pocket, so I sent all of them a text message from my phone, so they would have my phone number. They seemed like nice people. Maybe we could be friends although I knew I had to be careful about what I told them.

Josh responded with a simple, “Hey, let us know if you need anything or if Lucky shows up there.” Randy asked if I had any difficulty finding what I needed in town. I replied no that I had found everything I needed for the moment. She replied back saying there is a larger town about an hour north of here that has some bigger stores, so if I needed something I couldn’t find locally to let her know, and she could recommend some place there. I thanked her, telling her I might take her up on that soon.

Jacob didn’t reply as quickly, but when he did, I had to take a minute. “Hey, Mattie,” his message started. “It was really nice to meet you today. Let me know if you need anything.” I read the message, then I sent back, “Thank you. It was nice to meet you too.”

I put the cell phone down. I wasn’t sure what to think about Jacob, the way he looked so intensely at me made me uneasy. I decided not to worry about him, I probably wouldn’t even see him very much.

I started reading through the paperwork in the envelope that was left for me in the car. The papers showing ownership of the house and car were in there. There was also an envelope from a bank that I had seen in town. I opened it up, finding a debit card along with a deposit slip for an account in my name.

According to the deposit slip, there was another $5000 in my account. I couldn’t believe that people who didn’t even know me were so generous. I thought about adding the rest of the cash to what was in the account, but I decided against it for now. I would keep it in an inside pocket in my purse in case for the moment, in case I needed to make a getaway.

The information for the two credit cards was in the envelope also, showing the credit line on both along with the dates the payments would be due. I vowed not to use them too much unless I absolutely had to. I took my purse and the paperwork back into the house and put them on the table. I would take the paperwork down to the office later and file it away.

I went back out to the porch, sitting down, drinking my tea, and looking out at the lake. There was a pair of loons swimming out there, diving for food. I watched them for a while, then realized that one of them had a baby on its back. While I watched, I heard a small bark. I looked down to see a black ball of fur running up the steps to my deck.

“Lucky!” I laughed. “What are you doing here?” He ran over to me, and I picked him up. He gave me a couple of licks, then curled up in my lap. He didn’t go to sleep, but he seemed very content lying there. I picked up the cell phone, sending a message to Randy. “I have an ornery little puppy sitting here with me on my back deck!”

A couple minutes later she replied, “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! We will walk over and get him in a couple of minutes.”

“No problem, he seems pretty content right now.” I put the phone down, stroking Lucky’s fur while watching the loons out in the lake.

As I looked out over the lake, stroking Lucky’s fur, I felt completely at peace and happy. About 10 minutes later, I see Randy, Josh, and Jacob coming through the trees. I waved at them and motioned for them to come on up. They joined me on the deck, I invited them to sit down. They did, looking at Lucky lying there in my lap. Jacob was looking at me, I couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze.

“I hope he hasn’t been a bother,” Randy said.

“Not at all. He showed up, I picked him up. He instantly fell asleep and has laid here ever since.”

“He seems quite content,” Josh said, looking at Randy.

“Yes, he does,” Randy said.

Jacob, who had sat in the chair next to me, reached over and scratched Lucky on the top of his head. “Looks like he belongs here.” Jacob’s closeness to me unnerved me. I could smell his cologne; he was so close.

“We actually were talking on the walk over here. We think that you should keep Lucky,” Josh said.

“Oh, I can’t take your dog away from you!” I said.

“You would be doing us a favor actually,” Josh said. “We only wanted one dog, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to separate the siblings from each other. It is obvious that Lucky is happier here with you than with us since he comes straight here whenever he gets loose.”

“Who could blame him,” Jacob said quietly, looking at me.

“I don’t know,” I replied, trying to keep my calm with Jacob so near. I looked down at Lucky lying in my lap. He was looking up at me as if begging me to let him stay. “What do you think Lucky? Do you want to live with me?” He promptly sat up and licked my check, as if he understood exactly what I had said and was voicing his opinion. The four of us laughed.

Randy said, “Well, I guess that is that.”

Josh added, “I’ll run home and get you some of his dog food, along with his dishes. Also, his dog bed. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll go with you,” Randy said. “I need to check on supper.”

He headed down the steps. Randy laid a leash on the table. “He really looks happy here.” Randy observed before she headed down the steps behind Josh.

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