Free Sarasota Dreams by Debby Mayne Page A

closed the door and fastened the dead bolt then turned on the light in the living room. The outside of the envelope had the words
In case of emergency, deliver to my daughter, Mary
scrawled across the front. Mary ripped it open and pulled out the pink-lined paper. The note was in her mother’s handwriting. With shaky fingers, she read that she was to call Big Jim at the phone number beneath his name.
    The details of that night remained a blur. All she remembered was calling Big Jim and learning her mother had been killed. It had something to do with a drug bust and her mama being an informant. She didn’t believe him, so she dropped the phone and ran to the bar to find her mother. Instead she found Big Jim in his office that reeked of cigar smoke and stale beer. Big Jim gave Mary some money, bought her a bus ticket, and told her he’d sent word to Elizabeth’s parents letting them know their fourteen-year-old granddaughter was on her way. He added that he’d tried to warn her mother that she was in dangerous territory by agreeing to help the police, but she thought the money the police promised her would help make a better life for her and Mary.
    “Go home and get your things. I’ll pick you up and take you to the bus station,” Big Jim said before pausing and turning. “Oh, I almost forgot. I have something your mother wanted me to give you.” Big Jim’s son, Jimbo, sat on the floor in the corner of his dad’s small office, glaring at Mary with beady eyes and a scowl. She shivered at the memory.
    Big Jim had handed her a small box and instructed her not to open it until she was safely with her grandparents. He even made her promise. As she nodded her promise, she couldn’t help but notice the smirk that had formed on Jimbo’s face. She shuddered at some of the memories she had of that horrible boy.
    To this day, she still hadn’t opened the box. She’d lived this long not knowing what it was. Why would she want to do anything that would bring back such horrible memories? But they were still in her head. And that tiny box lay on the floor in the corner of her closet, serving as a reminder that she had a past no one in Pinecraft would ever understand.

    Frustrated and perplexed, Abe stood on the street, waiting for his ride. David had sounded surprised to hear from him so soon.
    “I just dropped off the last family, so your timing was good.”
    Abe opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it. Then he sighed.
    “I don’t have to ask what happened,” David said as soon as Abe got into the car. “It’s written all over your face.” He shook his head. “Women.”
    “Something happened to her,” Abe said. “She seemed fine to a point, but when I asked her …” He looked down at his hands steepled in his lap. “I asked her if I could kiss her, and she just … well, she acted frightened.”
    “That’s where you went wrong, buddy. If you wanna kiss a girl, you don’t ask, you just do it. That way she can’t turn you down.”
    “Mary is different.”
    “Maybe so, but it looks to me like she wouldn’t mind if you kissed her, as long as it happens by surprise.”
    Abe stared at David. “What makes you say that?”
    David cast a quick smile in Abe’s direction. “I’ve seen how she looks at you. She likes you, Abe. In fact, she likes you very much.”
    If Abe could be sure David was right, he’d be willing to take his advice. But David obviously didn’t know how bad Mary’s past experiences might have been, and he certainly didn’t want to be the one to tell him.
    “Give it a shot, Abe. You like her, she likes you. What have you got to lose? She’s Mennonite. She won’t slap you, right?”
    David had a point. “Ya, I don’t think she’ll slap me.”
    “Now that we’ve got that settled, my wife wanted to know if you planned to have some of your delicious vegetables at the produce market on Saturday.”
    “Ya, I always do. I’m not sure yet who will be working it.”
    “If