Bluegrass Undercover (3 page)

To make matters worse, spring practice had been a nightmare. It was like the whole team, except Trey, quit. They were lazy and acted as if they didn’t care. This was definitely a rebuilding year.

“
Come on, Justin. Let’s get home for dinner. It’s going to be a very long night.” Cade stood up, packed up his folders, and grabbed the team’s playbook. Justin jumped up at the mention of food and trotted out of the room ahead of Cade.

Cade dug into the pocket of his jeans for the keys to unlock the doors to his Highlander SUV. Justin leaped into the front seat and pressed his black nose to the window. His pink tongue hung out as the hot sun warmed him up.

“
Is your dog wearing a bow in his hair?” Cade turned and saw Principal Margaret Lopez standing behind him, staring at Justin with a goofy little grin on her face.

“
The groomer put it in. He can’t see without it. His hair falls into his eyes.”

“
Well, maybe next time ask for another color besides pink. Poor boy, he looks embarrassed.”

Cade agreed. Justin did seem embarrassed by the tiny pink bow on top of his head. He kept pawing at it and even growled at himself when he saw it in the mirror. “Well, let me be the first to congratulate you, Coach,” Margaret said as she patted him on the back. “I know you’ll do a great job.”

“
I hope so, even though it’s a rebuilding year.” Might as well make sure everyone knows not to expect miracles.

Keeneston wasn’t known as a football powerhouse. It was better known as a rifle club powerhouse. While everyone bled blue for the University of Kentucky basketball and football teams, they just didn’t have the population to support a strong program in those major sports at the high school level. Even though they weren’t a power house, he hated to disappoint his town. They may not be the best, but they definitely had the most hometown pride. People closed businesses for big games, parades were given for Homecoming, and most of the town showed up to support “their boys” at the football games.

“
Will warned me about that. The town will support you, especially with your knowledge and talent. All the kids love you. You just take good care of those boys and do the best you can. Well, I’m off to Bluegrass Airport to pick up our new guidance counselor. I am so glad we finally got that position filled. I was afraid I was going to have to ask you to do it!” she joked.

“
Where is the new counselor coming from?”

“
Miami. Has a great resume and references. Gosh knows I haven’t found anyone I liked so far. She’s on a one year probation, and then we’ll offer her tenure track if she works out.”

“
Good. I hope she does. See you Monday for orientation and football camp. Are you planning on giving your normal talk to the team before practice?”

“
Yes. But then the new counselor will be coming and getting smaller groups of freshmen throughout the day as their names are called for the smaller orientation groups. If that’s okay?”

“
Of course it is. See you then.”

Cade jumped into the car and rolled the window down for Justin, who enjoyed the wind blowing back his hair as they drove down the country road surrounded by rolling hills, black fences, and hungry cows. It was going to be a very long weekend, and he needed to get home fast to finish up those plans and then pretend he knew what it meant to be a head coach.

Annie walked off the plane and into a small, neat airport. There were no signs in Spanish. There were no lines at a Starbucks. And there were no noisy people yelling the finer points of LeBron James’ game. It was so foreign. It made her nervous that everyone she passed smiled as they went on their way. From the plane she saw large tracts of land surrounded by white and black fences. The land was not covered with tall buildings or sprawling apartment complexes. Was there even a downtown? Looking at the artwork on the walls as she waited for her bags, she guessed there was a small one at least with one very tall blue building.

“
Miss Hill?” Annie turned and saw a short woman with caramel-color skin and dark brown hair looking at her.

“
Yes?”

“
I am Margaret Lopez, the principal at Keeneston High. I’m so very glad to meet you.”

Annie shook her hand and smiled. She seemed very nice and very matronly, like she would feed you in an instant if you said you were hungry.

“
Let me help you with your bags. We’re really excited to have you join our staff. We’re like a family, so if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” Margaret picked up some of her bags and led her to a silver minivan.

Annie looked around and couldn’t believe there was so much green space everywhere. Colorfully painted horse statues stood nearby, and just off in the distance the real thing ran in pastures surrounded by white fences.

“
We’re so lucky we found you. I have been interviewing, but no one has been qualified. We start on Monday with new student orientation. We have ten groups of kids scheduled. We’ll start at nine in the morning and go until three in the afternoon. We’ll show the kids the school, tell them about the services we have and sign them up for their electives. It doesn’t give you much time, but I put together a folder for you with information about the school and town. I thought we could meet at seven thirty and I could show you around.”

“
Thank you. That will be a big help.”

“
Your principal at your old school, Mr. Cruz, said you were seeking the transfer to be closer to your family. I believe he said they were in Louisville?”

“
Yes, I have a cousin in Louisville.”

That much was true at least. It didn’t matter that she’d never met her or that she didn’t even know if her aunt was still alive. She’d been raised in a series of foster homes until she turned eighteen, foster homes filled with fighting and foster parents who only cared about when the next check was coming. Not all homes were like that-- she had heard of the good ones, but because she refused to be a victim and fought back when her foster siblings started beating on her and stood up to an abusive foster dad, she got labeled a “bad kid” whom the system couldn’t help. The result of being labeled bad was a constant string of houses where the parents were essentially absent or just turned a blind eye to a boy beating up his sister. Annie thanked God every day that she had been able to fight. Some of her foster sisters had not been so lucky. They ended up severely injured, or some ran away never to be heard from again.

When she turned eighteen and graduated from high school with honors, she headed to Florida State University on full scholarship. She majored in chemistry, and upon graduating six years ago, she started working for the DEA after graduating from DEA Training at Quantico. She had been moved from office to office ever since. She had never looked back and had never kept in touch with anyone from her past. As far as she was concerned, her life started when she went to college. No one knew about her before then. It seemed no one cared, no one until Chrystal Sharp.

Chrystal had sent her an email two years ago. In it she told Annie that they were cousins, that she lived in Louisville and was researching the family tree and had tracked her down. She wanted to get in touch, get to know one another, wanted to become family. That all sounded nice, but Annie knew it wasn’t the truth. If Chrystal and her mother hadn’t cared enough about her when Annie was ten, and her mother went on a weeklong bender that took them from Indianapolis to Orlando where she finally died from an overdose in an alley behind Disney World, then screw them. She had fought and won against staggering odds, and she wasn’t about to forgive and forget.

See, what her social worker didn’t know was that Annie had heard her on the phone with her aunt while at the hospital. Her mother had just been declared dead and Annie had given the social worker her aunt’s name. She heard the social worker begging her aunt to take Annie, but her aunt had refused. She said she wanted nothing to do with her sister or her sister’s bastard child.

Now, here she was on her way to yet another home, driving through the beautiful countryside outlined with black and white, four-board wood fences surrounding horse farms with rolling hills, horses grazing, and grass that appeared slightly blue. After all these years, she was just two hours away from the only family she had left, and the only thing she felt was anger.

“
I believe you’ll find Keeneston very different from Miami. But, I think it’s a good thing. I grew up in Keeneston, so if you need anything just let me know.”

“
Thanks, what is Keeneston like?”

Annie looked out the window, and since they were traveling around ten miles per hour, got to enjoy the scenery that was slowly changing from open fields to houses on big lots filled with old trees. In front of them on the narrow country road was a huge green tractor. Unlike the Kenney Chesney song, she did not find the tractor sexy.

“
Well, we’re coming up on Main Street. It has everything you need.”

Annie tried to see around the tractor but gave up. Within a minute, a picturesque town with its old buildings painted in whites, yellows, and tans came into view. Barrels of pink, purple, yellow and white flowers lined Main Street. Some people stood talking on the corner and waved at Margaret as she drove by. There were little shops that sold antiques, a stately courthouse and more people waving at her.

“
That’s the Blossom Café. If you ever need something to eat, their food is amazing.” Margaret pointed to the restaurant on her right where a thin woman in a flower print dress was sweeping the sidewalk. “That’s Daisy Mae Rose. She and her sister Violet run the Café.”

As they drove by, Margaret honked the horn, and Daisy raised her arm to shield her eyes from the sun. Her eyes narrowed as she looked into the car and saw Annie. In a split second she called something into the open door of the Café, and people started walking out to stand on the sidewalk. Some had sandwiches in their hands, some just had cold drinks, but there were all looking at her.

“
What are they looking at?” Annie asked.

“
You.” Margaret rolled down Annie’s window and leaned over. “This is Annie Hill. She’s our new guidance counselor.”

Annie felt her eyes go wide as twenty people started saying hello at once. She didn’t really know what to do, so she smiled and waved back. It seemed to placate them and they turned to hurry back into the Café.

“
We are a small town. There is no hotel, but St. Francis just built a new rectory for Father James, and the Church is renting out the old rectory. I’m sorry, it’s very small. Only has one bedroom, but it’s clean, cheap and close to the school.”

“
Sounds good to me.”

Annie watched as they drove past a bank, a law office and a boutique before finally turning into St. Francis’ parking lot. The church was old, with a beautiful rose window above the old oak front doors. At the far end of the parking lot sat a tiny little house with a statue of the Virgin Mary out front by the steps that led up to the wood porch. An elderly priest with graying hair stood on the porch and smiled at them.

“
That’s Father James,” Margaret said as she got out of the car, “Hello, Father!”

“
Hello Margaret. And this must be our new tenant. It’s so nice to meet you Miss Hill.”

Annie shook the older man’s hand and smiled. It wasn’t very often she met someone she instantly liked, but Father James was one of them. He was kind of portly, balding on the top of his head and had a smile that made you want to sit down and tell him your whole life story. He could be trouble.

“
It’s nice to meet you too, Father.”

“
I put some groceries in the refrigerator for you. There are clean linens on the bed. If you need anything, I’m right across the street on the other side of the church. And, here is your key, young lady.”

“
Thank you,” Annie said, and for once meaning it.

“
Well, I better be going too. I have to get dinner on the table for the family. I will see you at the school on Monday.”

Annie stood on the old wooden porch and waved good-bye before heading inside to check out her new home…for now. She closed the front door and looked around. It was spotless but sparse. There was a kitchen table for two, the kitchen smaller than the one in Miami, a living room with a TV that was so old it wasn’t flat screen, and there was no chance of watching sports in high-def. She made her way to the small bathroom complete with one shower and a tiny pedestal sink. Connected to the bathroom was her bedroom. A twin bed with a homemade quilt filled the room. There were only two other pieces of furniture in the room: a small night table and a chest.

First things first. As soon as her car arrived tomorrow, she would be driving to Lexington for a high-def TV and some microwaveable meals. The groceries were great, but she didn’t cook. No one had ever taught her so she never bothered to learn. She walked outside and sat down on the cushioned chair while looking out over the church parking lot. So, this was to be her life now.

Chapter Three