“That’s a shame. She loved those things. I can’t say I’m partial to them myself, but I’ve tried to keep them from starving.” She let out a sigh. “Do you think your father will take any of them?”
“He’s not in any condition to take care of them either...” I looked around and saw that some of the cats had started to move back the garage.
“Well don’t you worry about it, darling. I’ll get it taken care of.” She smiled again. “Are you staying long, would you like to come inside for a cup of tea?”
Since she is offering to take care of all these cats, I guess it would be rude to say no.
“Sure...” I nodded and started walking across the lawn towards her house.
“I’m Fannie Smith.” She waved me towards her house as she started walking back up the steps.
“Samantha Grant.” I got to the edge of her steps.
“You’re not married?” She looked back over her shoulder and held the door.
“No ma’am.” I shook my head back and forth.
“I should introduce you to my youngest son. You’re very pretty and he’s not married either.” She grinned as I walked through the door.
“Thank you...” My face flushed a bit in embarrassment from the compliment.
Mrs. Smith’s house was fairly quaint. The most important detail was the lack of cats. I drew a breath of clean air and let out a sigh of relief that her house was nothing like my grandmother’s infested den. She pointed to the living room and hobbled towards the kitchen. I walked into the rather small room and looked at the photographs on the wall. There were pictures of her in her youth with a rather nice looking man wearing a military uniform. There were several pictures of them with children of various ages. A few pictures later, she was holding a baby wrapped in a blue blanket surrounded by the other children who were much older. I assumed that was the son she offered to set me up with since there were no baby pictures after that. His life unfolded in front of me in a series of pictures, and he appeared to be quite attractive. The most recent one was of him with his arm around her. He was well built with an athletic body covered in tattoos. He didn’t appear to have as many as Axe, but he was definitely decorated.
“That’s Blue.” She chuckled as she walked into the room. “He’s a looker, huh?”
“Yeah, he’s a handsome young man.” I walked to a chair and took a seat as she poured the tea. “His name is Blue?”
“His name is John, but he didn’t like being called John Smith, so Blue ended up being his nickname.” She shrugged. “We just went with it.”
“Interesting...” I raised an eyebrow.
“He’s a bartender at The Water Barn. If you decide you need something stronger than tea, you should pay him a visit.” She took her tea and sipped it.
“I’m going there later, actually.” I nodded but I kept the fact I was going there for a date to myself.
“Good. Tell him he needs to come see me and if he isn’t in church on Sunday, I’m going to skin him alive!” She took on a serious tone and then laughed.
“I’ll pass on the message.” My smile was hidden behind the cup of tea as I took my first sip. “Wow, this is really good!”
I spent an hour with Mrs. Smith, hearing all about her life in Granite Falls and her children. Blue was the only one that stayed in the small town but she seemed a little sad that the rest of her children had moved away and had families while Blue was left behind. He seemed like a good guy, even if he did look like a bit of a bad boy in his pictures. After she finished talking about her family, she turned the conversation to mine. She told me a few things about my grandmother I didn’t know, and raved about her pies. She didn’t know my father much and said he was a bit of a loner. I kept an eye on my watch and when it got close to six, I realized I needed to go if I was going to meet Axe at the bar. I was a bit unsure about going out with a guy I had just met, but I felt like I did owe him at least one drink for changing my tire. I definitely didn’t have to sleep with him—not that I would have any idea what I was doing if I did. I said goodbye to Mrs. Smith and promised again I would say hello to Blue when I was at the bar.
Chapter 4: Axe
I don’t know why the fuck I came back to Granite Falls after my third stint in prison. Every time I returned, it was more of the same. The locals didn’t really like my business ventures unless they were customers. The sheriff and I had a long
history of disagreeing on how to make money. I didn’t see anything wrong with selling weed to the locals, especially if they wanted to buy it—hell it was legal one state over. The town seemed to have a grip on me that I couldn’t explain. It wasn’t like I had a family to keep me there and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to find love in the shit hole of a small town. If Samantha showed up for the date, she was going to be the first girl I had even shared a drink with since I got out of the big house. I hoped it might lead to more than a drink. I definitely needed to get my dick wet and Samantha was beautiful as fuck. She was easily the hottest girl I had seen in Granite Falls. I walked into The Water Barn and looked around. There was no sign of her, but it was early, so I walked to the bar and took a seat on a stool.
“How’s it going, Axe?” The bartender, Blue, walked over and leaned against the edge of the bar.
“Same old shit.” I let out a sigh. “How have you been?”
“About the same.” He smiled. “You want a beer or something stronger?”
“Let me get a shot of Jack and a beer. I’m waiting for someone.” I pulled my wallet out of my pocket and tossed some money on the counter.
“Coming right up.” Blue tapped the bar and walked towards the rack of liquor.
The Water Barn was bustling with activity, which was unusual for such an early hour. It was usually an older crowd, but I saw a few familiar faces. They were too busy with their drinks or their games of pool to notice me. I knew they would notice Samantha if she showed up. There was no way she was walking into The Water Barn without turning every head in the room. I looked back towards the bar and noticed that Blue had gotten held up with an order at the end of the bar so I waited, tapping my fingers on the bar in anticipation. Blue finally finished with the patron on the opposite end of the bar and walked back to me. He put a shot of Jack in front of me and started pouring my beer. I downed the shot as the beer was ready and immediately chased the shot with a bit of amber lager. Blue was pulled away again and had to deal with another customer before finally coming back to my end of the bar.