Free A Penny for Your Thoughts by Bess McBride Page B

suppose I’m heading back to Michigan at the end of my sabbatical. Too bad you don’t have any room in that senior center of yours. I’d come and live with you. And Travis is happy with his girlfriend at college in California. Happy, happy!”
    “I see. I wish you could come back to Montana, dear. I miss seeing you. But you’re right, there’s no room at the center for someone your age.”
    Penny chuckled. “You guys are so ageist. Really! I feel discriminated against.”
    “Yes, well, it’s a little slow around here, honey. You’d give some of these fellas a heart attack.”
    “Mom!” Penny hooted. She checked her watch. “Hey, Mom. I’ve got to get the car to the shop if I want to get it back today. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”
    “All right, dear. Tomorrow. Bye.”
    ****
    He heard the words of farewell, and stepped into the closet without haste, easing the doors shut quietly behind him. If she needed to come into the closet... Well, that would be her bad luck. Things would move much faster than he’d planned.
    He breathed through his nostrils, allowing them to flare as he filled his lungs with the enjoyable scent of perfumed clothing. Purple lacy underwear, huh? What else did he need to know about her? Besides the fact that Jerry was dead because of her.
    Maybe...maybe after he found what he wanted...maybe, he’d give her a chance to make it up to him. After all, hadn’t Jerry told him he needed to get some help...get some counseling?
    He leaned against the back of the closet and waited.  
    ****
    Penny closed her phone, slipped it into her pocket and stepped back into the condo. She hurried into the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush. Leaning forward to study her haggard face in the mirror while she brushed her teeth, she wondered how she was going to hide the shadows under her eyes. Hide them from Matt...if she ever saw him again. She couldn’t bear an alternative thought.
    She rinsed, hustled out of the bathroom, grabbed her purse from the living room coffee table and headed out the door, stopping to lock it before tripping down to the parking lot. The first floor parking area seemed innocent and safe this morning as rays of sunshine shown under the building. The only reminder of the vandalism was the broken passenger side window.
    She gingerly climbed into the car, hoping hidden glass wouldn’t suddenly find its way into her backside. Nothing poked her, and she started the engine, backed out of the space and made her way to the body shop. She dropped off the car, grabbed her beach chair from the trunk, and got a ride back to her condominium with the body shop’s courtesy driver who promised to call her when the car was done.
    When Penny reached her place, she headed straight for the kitchen to make a sandwich. She wrapped it and packed it into a small beach bag along with a bottle of water, her camera and some binoculars. One never knew when a dolphin might decide to swim by and require close ogling. She grabbed her short-legged beach chair and made her way back downstairs to saunter onto the beach.
    Noon had come and gone, and she was famished. She dropped her chair in her favorite spot and plopped into it, once again barely skimming the surface of the sand on the low rider. She opened her sandwich and began to munch with a healthy appetite while she eyed several seagulls who approached with a hopeful glint in their eyes.
    “Nope. It’s not happening. Don’t even look at me like that. You’re not getting any.”
    Penny turned away to stare at delicate waves nipping at the shoreline. The wind was calm, and the waves showed little of the vigorous energy she’d seen yesterday. A movement from the side caught her attention. One feisty seagull attempted to block another from his prize “human with food” by running back and forth between Penny and the new hopeful.
    “Don’t come any nearer. I’m not feeding you. You’re wasting your time.” Penny squinted at the seagulls.
    “Are