Once in a Blue Moon (12 page)

Melissa didn’t have
their confidence, but that was beside the point. These ladies just
weren’t getting it. “Look, I need a job. I can’t just spend all my
time doing menial labor. I’m an experienced fashion designer.”

They looked at her
blankly.

“A seamstress. Do you
know of a...er...dress shop in town that might be hiring?”

Three incredulous gazes
dropped to examine her wretched, ill-fitting, hand-me-down, orange
dress. Amanda lifted one brow. Heat burned Melissa’s face, but
there was no way she was explaining to these three that she didn’t
make the dress.

“How far is it to town?
Is it still called Garden City?”

Sarah crossed her arms
and set her mouth stubbornly and didn’t say a word.

Melissa’s brows drew
together. Now what had she done?

Emma finally spoke up.
“It’s Garden City, yes. And it’s two miles away. A long walk,” she
said timidly.

“Two miles? Well it
could be worse--” she glanced at the kids. They’d eaten almost
every cookie. “Hey, watch yourselves! Do you want to get fat?”

A growling noise
erupted from Sarah’s throat. “Well, I never! Good day.” She turned
and stomped away, her back stiff.

Melissa realized the
chubby woman had taken offense to her words, and her mouth parted.
“Wait! I wasn’t trying to insult you!”

After a quick, scared
glance, Emma scurried after Sarah.

Amanda stood for a
moment, a mocking smile curving her lips. “Well, your children are
delightful anyway.” She bowed her head graciously to Melissa.
“Forgive me for rushing off so soon, but I must get back to my
menial labor. Good day.”

Melissa stood in the
cabin’s doorway, gaping for a moment, then her lips tightened and
she slammed the door. Good day? Good riddance to all of them was
more like it!

She
started to pace. She hadn’t been trying to insult anyone. And if
she’d wanted to insult them, she could have! Their hair, their
clothes, their uneducated hick accents! She hated it here.
Hated it
! First Richard,
and now these women.

She paused. And what
was Richard going to say when he realized she’d alienated the
neighbors? Would it matter to him that she hadn’t done it on
purpose? Probably not. Not in the mood he was in today.

Melissa walked to the
table, then back to the door again, the lack of pacing space
irritating her further.

“Uh, Mom?” Jeremy
stepped forward and held out the last cookie.

She snatched the
offering. “Just who do those country bumpkins think they are
anyway?” She waved the cookie in the air.

Jeremy opened his mouth
to answer.

“
Like it matters
. What do I care about what they think? When I start my new
job, I won’t have time to socialize anyway, even if I wanted to.
Which, of course, I
don’t!
”

Jeremy shrugged and sat
beside Jessica.

“Like I’d even want
to,” Melissa said darkly. She stared at the cookie in her hand,
confused about how it came to be there. She set it on the
table.

Jeremy picked it up and
split it in half, offering Jessica the second piece.

Melissa took a deep,
calming breath. The best use of her time at this moment would be to
forget all about the Pollyanna Brigade, get out of the cabin and
find herself a job. It was still early. They’d left Sully’s at
first light, and granted, the walk had been slow, but it must only
be eight or nine in the morning. That gave her all day to find a
job. Not that it would take that long. If she hurried, she might
even be employed by lunchtime.

She glanced around. It
certainly beat hanging around the cabin, waiting for Richard to
come back. Besides, they needed the money; to buy her a new dress,
for starters! Or to buy the material, thread and needles so she
could create her own dress. She’d show those women!

Two miles. She groaned
at the thought of walking in tight shoes again. Give her a
treadmill and she could walk four miles without breaking a sweat.
What she wouldn’t give for her Nikes, spandex shorts and sports bra
right about now.

But at least it wasn’t
as far into town as it was to Sully’s. She stopped pacing, sat on a
chair and took off her shoes so she could examine her feet. Her
nylons were in bad shape, runs shooting up in all directions, a
mauve-painted toenail sticking through the end of one. She stripped
them off. Her heels, red and irritated, hadn’t quite formed
blisters, but it was close. What she wouldn’t do for a pair of
exercise shoes and some soft socks.

She looked at Jessica’s
feet.

Jessica tucked her
black punk sneakers under the chair and shook her head.
“Uh-uh.”

“I only want to borrow
them.”

“They’re too small for
you anyway.”

“What size are
they.”

“Six and a half.”

Jessica was right, they
were too small. Melissa’s gaze switched to Jeremy’s shoes.

Jeremy sat back and
crossed his arms, not bothering to hide his shoes. “It will never
happen, Mom.”

Melissa could see he
meant it. She sprang up. “Fine.” She walked across the cold
linoleum to the chest, retrieved some stockings and two
handkerchiefs. She pulled the stockings on, then used the
handkerchiefs to pad her heels. She pulled on the shoes, retied the
laces and stood. Not too bad. It was time to make herself more
presentable.

She crossed to the
chest again and quickly found the comb. She ratted the ends at the
base of her neck, the sides, crown and bangs. She patted her spikes
to see if they stood uniform. A mirror would have been nice.

She brushed at the
wrinkles in her skirt, then glanced at the stove. There was an
iron, but she didn’t know how to use it and since it must involve
heating the stove, wasn’t willing to try. She decided the wrinkles
weren’t too bad.

As ready as she was
ever going to be, she turned to the kids. What was she supposed to
do with them while she was gone all day? An uneasy feeling, a
niggling of something she was very much afraid might be guilt,
coiled in her stomach. Was it her responsibility to watch them? Or
were they old enough to watch themselves now?

Once she got a job,
she’d be gone long hours every day. She pushed the guilt away. She
was doing this for her family after all.

“I’m going to go and
get a job now. Why don’t you kids go outside and play?”

Jeremy straightened.
“Where are you going to get a job?”

Melissa forced a
cheerful smile. “At a dress shop in Garden City.”

“Why do you need one?”
asked Jessica.

“We need more money
than your father can make right now.”

Jessica gave her a
funny look. “You just don’t want to be with us.”

Melissa was surprised
by the comment. “That’s not true. We need some decent food and some
clothes. Look. I have to go. You kids be good.”

The twins exchanged a
scared look. “We don’t want you to go. We don’t want to stay here
alone,” said Jeremy.

The twinge of guilt
deepened. She wouldn’t want to stay in the cabin all day, either.
And, at twelve, maybe they were kind of young to be on their own in
a strange place for the entire day. But she didn’t want to stay!
Desperation had her bunching her skirt between clenched fingers.
Again, she tried for an unconcerned smile. “You’ll have a great
time exploring. There’s so much to see. It’ll be fun.”

“We’re scared to,” said
Jeremy.

“What do you mean?”

“What if something
happens?” asked Jessica.

“Like what?”

“Stranger danger,”
Jeremy’s voice was quiet and filled with dread.

A tingle of uneasiness
ran up her spine. What if they were right? What if something
happened while she was gone? “Well, just stay in the cabin.”

Jessica glanced at the
door. “There’s no lock.”

Melissa looked. There
wasn’t. Her face tightened and she took a calming breath. She just
couldn’t stay here. “I don’t think you have to worry about anything
bad happening here. They don’t have as much crime in this time.
Just watch out for weirdos.”

Jessica glanced around.
“Where do we hide if we see any? What time will you be back?”

Melissa put a hand to
her forehead, trying to push back the image of her children hiding,
being stalked. This was ridiculous! They were twelve! This was
1887! They were on a ranch, not in a big city! They’d be fine.
There were cookie-toting, grown-up Pollyannas all over the place.
And their father was around somewhere.

She ignored the first
question and focused on the second. “I don’t know. It depends on
what happens.”

Jeremy jumped up.
“You’ll be gone all day! You won’t get back ‘til late tonight!
We’ll be alone the whole time!”

That was a real
possibility. In fact it was a real possibility that she’d be gone
every day. Maybe she could bribe them to be good? She looked
around, but couldn’t think of a single thing to bribe them with. A
new XBox game in three months probably wouldn’t work. “Why don’t
you go and ask the women that were just here if they have any kids
your age to play with?”

Jessica looked dubious.
“Will you go with us?”

Not a chance. Those
snooty cows would just love that, wouldn’t they? “You’re big kids.
You can do it yourselves.”

They both shook their
heads.

Melissa found she
couldn’t look them in the eye. “What about working in the garden?
You could pull weeds.”

“Will you do it with
us?” asked Jessica.

Melissa dug at a
wrinkle on her dress, trying to straighten it out. Finally she
looked up. “Um, no. Well, what do kids do in this time period?”

They both shook their
heads.

“Milk cows? Maybe you
could make butter?”

Jessica sighed. “Get
real, Mother.”

“Maybe school is in
session now?”

Jeremy shrugged and
shook his head.

“Why don’t you take a
nap? Aren’t you tired after the long walk over here?”

“We’re not babies,
Mom,” said Jeremy.

Melissa pounced on the
statement. “Exactly my point! You’re big kids! You can take care of
yourselves! I’m leaving now, so be good. After I get my new job,
we’ll work out the details, maybe find you a sitter or something.
Okay?” She quickly opened the door, stepped into the sunshine and
shut the door behind her.

Freedom
!

The door opened
immediately.

Melissa turned. “What
are you doing?”

“We’re coming too,”
said Jeremy.

Melissa waved both
hands in the air. “No. There won’t be anything for you to do while
I’m working. Stay here.”

Both kids shook their
heads.

Melissa stomped a foot
in frustration. “You can’t come. I can’t take kids to a job
interview!”

They both acted like
they didn’t hear her.

Melissa simply turned
and started to walk. After a moment, she looked back. They were
following. She sighed. There wasn’t much she could do about it.
They were almost as big as she was, and it wasn’t like she could
scoop them up and carry them back to the cabin. Even if she could,
they’d simply follow again.

She’d just ignore them.
If she didn’t give them any encouragement, they’d soon get bored
and leave her alone.

The kids were still
following about thirty minutes later when she turned onto the main
road. She continued to ignore them and concentrated on the distance
to town. The way she figured it, she was about halfway there.

Her feet ached, but the
handkerchiefs had kept her heels from chafing too badly, and now
that she was on better packed ground, she’d pick up the pace and be
there in no time at all.

She glanced at the sky,
tried to figure out what time it was from the sun, and couldn’t.
Apparently she didn’t have what it took to be a country girl. Thank
goodness. She knew it was still morning, but this day already
seemed to have lasted forever. Hopefully, a job would make time
pass more quickly.

A
rumbling noise had her glancing back and her spirits lifted when
she saw a horse and wagon coming up behind, headed toward town.
Maybe she could get a ride? She waited about five minutes for the
wagon to reach her, then stepped to the side of the road, smiled
and waved. She’d get herself a ride, and then the kids would
have
to walk back to the
cabin.

She almost got her hand
bitten off. The evil horse pulling the wagon snapped its teeth as
it passed, startling her. She jumped back, almost falling.

The kids hurried
forward, and Jessica reached her first. “Are you okay, Mom?”

Melissa nodded.
“Fine.”

The young man pulled
the horse to a stop and laughed in an obnoxious manner. “Don’t
worry, Hickory won’t hurt you none. He’s just teasing. You folks
need a ride into town?”

What she needed was to
give the idiot and his horse the thumping of their lives, but
instead she smiled graciously.

The man was young,
seventeen or so. He was rough around the edges, and extremely thin,
his scraggly facial hair and unwashed clothing completed a not very
nice picture. She wasn’t sure if she was smelling the boy, or the
horse, but something reeked.

And here she’d thought
Sully was the worst this place had to offer.

But she kept her smile
firmly on her face. It was, after all, a ride. “Why thank--”

”What kind of clothes
is those?”

Melissa followed his
gaze.

He was staring at
Jeremy’s long denim shorts. “Only babies wear short pants.”

Jeremy scowled at
him.

“And what are you
wearing?” He stared at Jessica’s shirt. Jessica had her denim
jacket tied around her waist, and her yellow tee-shirt was tight,
revealing slight curves. Very slight.