IN FOR A PENNY (The Granny Series) (7 page)

Chapter Seven

Wielding that chainsaw had left Teague sore. He could only imagine what Maggie and Lillian would feel like this morning if they’d used that thing to cut those branches over Summer Haven’s veranda. They couldn’t have thought they were going to manage that tree on their own. He had a strong feeling those two old gals had played him, but it was just as well. He really didn’t mind helping. All they had to do was ask.

After a long morning sitting in court for the slew of speeding tickets the department gave out each month, he was glad to be done early for the day. Maybe he could get some fishing in.

He went back to the station and, just as he pushed his IN magnet over to the OUT slot on the board, Deputy Barnes alerted him to an emergency call from Walmart.

“There’s another boondocker,” Deputy Barnes said. “Want me to handle it?”

The last time Barnes had taken one of those calls, he’d tried to arrest the boondocker for conspiracy and treason. Sometimes that guy watched too much television. “I’ll take care of this one. Then I’m off for the day.”

Teague was in no big hurry to run off the poor folks just doing a little Walmart to Walmart camping spree across the country. They never caused any problems, but that new manager was such a stickler for the law, and all that had done was keep Teague and his deputy busy with silly calls like this. A waste of good time and the county’s money.

He stopped by his house and picked up his tackle box and fishing pole. With everything he’d need, including a six pack and wigglers in a cooler, he headed off to handle his last task of the day.

The Walmart parking lot was crowded, but even so he didn’t need to go in and talk to the manager to figure out who the culprit was.

The sunshine yellow VW bus took up two spaces off to the far side of the lot. The old vehicle wasn’t in the way, but next to it stood an open market umbrella with a cooler and lawn chair. A bright purple rug sprawled alongside, and a long lean blonde in a colorful skirt and skintight tank top
was stretched out in a pose that, from where he sat, looked like a cross between an Egyptian hieroglyphic and a burglar on the run.

Okay, so this could be distracting.

He parked and headed over to her. She moved from pose to pose and didn’t seem to notice that he was standing right in front of her.

“Excuse me, ma’am.”

The woman, who he’d assumed was in her late twenties from a distance, straightened and turned to face him. He slowed for a moment. She was no kid. With the fine lines around her mouth, she had to be in her fifties or older.

Her face spread into a perfect smile.
“Greetings, my friend. Isn’t it a glorious day?”

Perfect for fishing.
Let’s make this quick.
“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to pack up and move along, ma’am.”

“Why?”

“There’s no boondocking allowed in this parking lot.”

The woman folded to the fetal position with her chin tucked tight to her knees. Her strawberry blonde hair nearly touched the ground around her.

“Ma’am? I’m talking to you.”

She slowly rose with her palms together and fingers pointed to her feet. “But I’ve stayed in
Walmarts all over this beautiful country. No one has minded before.”

“I’m sorry about that. There’s a nice little inn up the street.”

“I’ve got a place to sleep.” She pointed toward her van. “Right here.”

“That might be the case, but you can’t do it in this parking lot.”

She raised her hands to the sky and inhaled. He stood there waiting and wondering what the heck she would do next. She blew out an exaggerated breath, like she was blowing away a bad smell.

He took a step back.

“Could you let me just stay a day or two?” she asked. “Please?”

“I can’t.”

She looked him over, starting at his Astros baseball cap, meandering down his jeans to his boots and back up. Her gaze never returned to his face, but stalled somewhere south of his waist. She waved a finger in a circular motion aimed just below and slightly left of his belt buckle. “When was the last time you got a little…you know?”

Christ Jesus, was she checking out his package? Holy hell, maybe this was what that fountain had brought him. No more quarter tossing.
No matter what.
“That’s not relevant. What’s your name?”

She tsked and shook her head. “Your chakras are telling the story, my friend. Listen up. It’s not good to stay all bottled up for too long. You’ve got some problems there in the sacral chakra.”

“The sack what?”

“The sacral chakra.
It’s your reservoir of sexual energy. When that chakra is under-active, it usually shows in your face. And believe me, I could look up
poker face
in the dictionary and find a picture of you, which means yours is pent up like a dam. It should be bright orange and vibrate to the musical note D.” She spun around and grabbed a guitar from just inside the van’s sliding door. She placed her fingers on the frets and strummed.

“What are you doing, lady?”

“Your junk didn’t vibrate, did it? See, your sac—”

“Don’t be talking about my sac anything or my junk. Look, I’m here on official business.”

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to help.” Her bottom lip turned down and quivered.

Why did he get the feeling that quivering was an act? “It would help me if you’d find
somewhere else to park.”

“I don’t know where else to go.”

She looked like she was in good shape. What with all the maintenance Summer Haven seemed to need, maybe Lillian and Maggie could use the extra hand for a day or two. Couldn’t hurt to ask. “Tell you what. Follow me. I think I know where you might be able to park for a couple of days.”

“Really?”
She jumped up in the air. Bells on her right ankle jingled like one of Santa’s reindeer. “I knew you would help. I felt it.”

“In my
sa—?” Teague cut himself off. “Yeah. No. And no more of that talk.”

Teague pulled into Summer Haven’s driveway with the VW van right behind him.

Surely those old gals wouldn’t be doing anything crazy this time. If they could just make this happen real quick-like, then he’d still have enough daylight for a little fishing. Just introduce them and haul ass. That was all there was to it.

He put the car in park and walked back to talk to the woman before she got out and started parading around doing flips or something. If he was going to foist her off on Miss Lillian, he needed her to look normal for ten minutes. “You never told me your name.”

“Serendipity Johnson.”

Of course it was.

He could picture the eye-roll he’d get when he asked Miss Lillian to let
Serendipity
park on her property for a couple days. They would mix about like crude oil and ocean water.

“My friends call me Sera.”

Better. Much better.
“Sera it is. I need to chat with Miss Lillian for a minute. You stay there.” He patted the door panel. “I’ll be right back.”

“All I want is a parking spot. I can sleep in my own bed.” She looked up at the big house and then back at Teague. “One person lives here?”

“Two.”

Serendipity shook her head. “She’s a widow. I feel mourning all around. This house used to be a beauty. There’s a story here.” She held out her hands as if inviting something to land in her palms.

He wondered what chakra colors Serendipity was seeing around that house—if houses even had chakras.

“Sit tight,” he said, then turned and headed for the door.

He knocked on the front door with two quick taps and waited. He glanced back to make sure Sera was still in her van. So far, so good, but still he was second-guessing himself. Why had he thought it would be a good idea to bring his Walmart boondocker to Miss Lillian’s? She was going to chew up this little flower child and spit her out without Serendipity knowing what the hell had just happened to her.

Bad, bad idea.

Before he could figure out another solution, the front door swung open. “Teague? Come to mow the yard today?” Lillian asked with a smile.

God help him. He’d never make it to the lake. “No, I have a little favor to ask.”

Her smile dimmed a little. “Ask away.”

Maggie poked her head around the door and then stepped next to Lillian. “What kind of favor?”

“You know, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea—”

Lillian grabbed his forearm before he could turn away. “Teague Castro, stop being so namby-pamby. You came out here for a reason, so spit it out.”

He hooked a thumb toward the yellow van in the driveway. “This lady needs a place to park for a couple days. That new manager at the Walmart called her in.”

“Park?
What do you mean
park?
” Lillian blinked with each word.

Maggie’s face drew up like she’d smelled catfish bait. “You think Summer Haven is a campground?”

Okay. So it was a stupid idea. “I’ll just tell her—”

“Is she young?
Strong?” Lillian asked. “Might be nice to have someone able-bodied to help around here.”

Maggie stepped back and stared at Lillian the same way she’d looked at Teague. “What am I, chopped liver? Whatever I am, it’s apparently not able-bodied.”

Should’ve let Deputy Barnes take the damn call.

“Hush, Maggie,” Lillian said. “You know that’s not what I meant. But one woman…I mean two women…can only do so much.
Wouldn’t hurt to have another pair of hands.”

Maggie went on tiptoes to peer over Teague’s shoulder. “I’m not sure about her hands, but her feet are nimble.”

Teague spun around to see Sera hitting poses that only circus performers should be able to do.
Shit. Didn’t I tell you to stay in the car?

“What in the world is she doing out there?” Maggie asked.

“I’m pretty sure that’s called Downward Facing Dog—” Lillian tilted her head to the side, “—only with a leg in the air.”

Maggie locked her arms over her healthy bust. “You ask me, she looks like Dog Planning to Pee.”

That couldn’t be easy. Teague pushed his hat up to get a better look. Almost looked like a pole dance without the pole.
Wonder if Jenny Cady does yoga?
“Her name is Sera. She’s very…nice.”

“And very flexible,” Maggie added.

Lillian skirted Teague and headed down the steps.

“Lil, you can’t be serious,” Maggie protested.

But Lillian just kept marching toward the yellow van, with Maggie and Teague on her heels.

“Hello there,” Lillian said as they got closer.

Serendipity slowly returned to a standing position. “Hey! You must be the widow. I’m Serendipity.”

Lillian look gobsmacked and Teague stiffened.
Please don’t say anything about her chakras.
“Sera. Her friends call her Sera,” he interjected.

But Serendipity didn’t seem to realize she’d been rude and took Lillian’s hand in both of hers.

Teague could hardly believe his eyes. As Sera held her hands, Lillian seemed to soften and a look of peace came over her.

“I’m Lillian, and this is my best friend, Maggie.”

Sera finally released Lillian’s hand and grasped Maggie’s arms. “So nice to meet you both.”

“Teague says you need a place to park,” Lillian said.

“I’d planned to get a few odd jobs in town and visit for a short while, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”

A tiny smile hovered around Lillian’s lips. “It might work out yet. Summer Haven needs a little maintenance work. Do you have any experience?”

“I’m a quick learner and a good cook.” Sera grinned. “I’m an excellent painter. I once helped a very famous artist, who shall remain nameless, with a mural that got national attention. Well, mostly I filled in the blanks and cleaned his brushes but I learned a lot. I’m very handy. Count me in.”

Maggie had disappeared around to the back of the van. She returned looking skeptical. “Lil, before we strike a bargain here, we should ask a few questions.”

Lillian was already beaming at Sera. “Like what?”

“You’ve come quite a long ways,” Maggie said to Sera. “California?”

“Yes. I’ve been mapping my way state-to-state across the country doing some…soul-searching. I don’t stay in any one place too long.”

Maggie gestured to the back of the van. “Quite a bumper sticker collection you have there. Not only are we staunch Republicans, something you might want to know, but I saw that Legalize Marijuana sticker.”

Lillian slapped a hand to her chest.

Teague felt like he’d swallowed that cup of night crawlers. Hell, he’d never get to the fishing hole at this rate.