Northwest Girl

By Tvdfanpam

Chapter 1

What a Dream

Ana Steele awoke from a sound sleep and immediately grabbed the pad and pen she kept on her bedside table. With a racing heart and a shaking hand, she wrote down six numbers. She laid back down in bed, wiping tears from her eyes, going over the dream she just had. It seemed so real, the walk with her biological father in a meadow filled with sunlight and wildflowers.

Frank Lambert, Ana's biological father had died when Ana was one day old. He seemed to be in his early 20's in her dream. He told Ana that he loved her and was so proud of her and that she needed to write down these six numbers; they were very important to her future.

He also told Ana that her mother's heart was broken when he died, and she never got over him. It didn't help her any when he visited her frequently in her dreams. They were each other's first loves. Ana now understood why her mother had been married five times. She needed to call her mother in the morning.

Checking her phone, Ana texted her stepdad to see if he was awake yet. Ray Steele texted his daughter of his heart back. He was getting ready for his shift at the Montesano Washington police station. He currently served as the Chief of Police for the small town of 6000.

Ana dialed Ray's number. "Hey pumpkin," he said, "what are you doing up so early? Is everything okay? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine dad. I had a strange dream and couldn't go back to sleep." Ana yawned.

"Well, check all your doors and windows before you go back to sleep." He grabbed his jacket and shut off the coffee pot. "I will drive by your place before work."

"Thanks dad, I appreciate it. Love you."

Ana lived across town from where she grew up with her dad. His parents left their small farm on the edge of town to Ana in their will. She went to college at WSU Vancouver in Vancouver Washington then came back to her hometown to live.

She was a popular food/lifestyle blogger, working on a cookbook featuring Northwestern recipes, primarily fish, seafood, and wild game. She grew up fishing in Lake Sylvia and had eaten lots of fish as a result.

Ray drove by Ana's house and was relieved to see that all was well. He turned back towards town and his office.

Ana woke up for the second time around 7:30 am and shuffled off to the bathroom. She saw the numbers written on the pad and recalled her dream. Teeth brushed, hair in a ponytail, she fished her walking shoes out of her closet, grabbed socks out of the dresser drawer and put on her black yoga pants and a sweatshirt. She left her house for her daily five-mile walk.

She looped around the edge of the Masonic cemetery and walked past the elementary school. Halfway through her walk, she passed the Quick Trip and paused then turned around and went in.

Coming back home, Ana took a quick shower then started a pot of coffee. She ate a small breakfast of yogurt, fruit and granola and drank her usual two small cups of coffee with hazelnut creamer. Going into her home office, Ana fired up her laptop computer on her farmhouse style desk and checked her planner on the desk to see what she needed to work on that day.

Ana had been working on a cookbook and she was typing the recipes into the computer so she could print them off, read them out loud to herself and see if she could follow the directions and make a tasty dish. She started a food blog in high school. She loved to cook and try new recipes and wanted to show people that anyone could cook if you paid attention to the recipe. Her advice was to read through the recipe aloud twice before attempting it.

She gave handy tips, like label your canisters or jars of dry goods so you knew what was inside. It was easy to mix up powdered sugar, all-purpose flour and self-rising flour if not labelled correctly. This was a hard and costly lesson after mistaking powdered sugar for all-purpose flour twice in a cookie recipe. She loved glass jars for food storage. It was easy to see if you were running low on an ingredient that way.

Ray texted Ana after his shift. He felt like eating a greasy cheeseburger. Ana agreed to meet her dad at the diner on the square across from the courthouse in 10 minutes. She slipped on her shoes and grabbed her purse, pausing to grab her car keys off the key holder by the back door. She locked the deadbolt and went to her Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk and hopped in.

"Hello dad." Ana kissed Ray on the cheek and gave him a side hug. "Glad you called, I was getting hungry. I forgot to have lunch." At Ray's frown, she quickly told her dad she had breakfast!

"So Ana, tell me about the dream that woke you up so early." Ray took a drink of his iced tea and waited for Ana to collect her thoughts.

"I've only ever seen pictures of my bio dad, you know." She took a sip of her own tea. "He looked just like the pictures mom has of him, by the way. In my dream, I mean." That made Ana realize she didn't have one picture of her own of her dad. "He and I were walking through a meadow of wildflowers just like in that RV Park we stayed in in Two Rivers, Alaska the summer of my junior year." Ray nodded for Ana to continue. "He told me he loved me and was proud of me." Her voice hitched. Tears filled her eyes. "I've never had a dream about him before." Ana confessed. "He told me I should buy a Lottery ticket! And gave me six numbers to play."

"The jackpot is over one Billion. No one has hit the jackpot in over nine months." Ray said with raised eyebrows, trying not to grin. "I guess we will find out tomorrow if the numbers he gave you are winners."

"I think this was the second time I have ever bought a ticket. Mrs. Wallace was paying for her gas when I was leaving. She saw the ticket in my hand. I'm surprised she didn't call you and tattle on me."

Ray smiled at Ana with teeth showing. "She did!" He couldn't stop laughing. "She wanted to know if she should send the pastor by for counselling for gambling addiction." Ana laughed with her dad.

"I'll call her tomorrow and tell her I'll donate to charity what I spent on lottery tickets. That way I won't get a lecture for spending my hard-earned money on something foolish."

"It's not foolish if you win." Ray said trying not to laugh again.

"How will I explain that to people from church?" Ana asked seriously. She never gambled, went to casinos or Bingo parlors.

"The odds of winning a lottery jackpot are around one in almost three million." Ray ate his cheeseburger. "This is almost as good as yours." He grinned and took another bite. "It would be a good story to tell anyway, your dead father appearing in a dream with the winning numbers."

"You can stop teasing me now." She threw a french fry at Ray and he snatched it off the table and ate it.

"Ten second rule!" He crowed. "You are the only person I can think of who would give most of the money away if you won."

"I just have a gut feeling about this." Ana squirmed uncomfortably. "I had no compunction about buying that ticket at all!"

They finished their dinner and visited for a while afterwards. "I guess I'll go home and reply to comments from my latest post." Ana placed money on the table to tip the waitress. "Thanks for dinner dad. I'll let you know if I win the lottery!" She hugged her dad and left the café and went home.

Replying to comments from her latest blog post about planting herbs in a kitchen herb garden took a few hours. She had a small raised bed herb garden in her backyard and dried her own herbs and spices. She was considering packaging her fish fry her mixture to sell commercially but was still testing the mixture of herbs and spices for the right blend. She knew of one man who sold his homemade spice mixture at Pike Place Market in Seattle and regularly sold out. It was that good. He also sold in bulk to a few restaurants.

Ana washed her face, brushed her teeth and put on her pajamas and climbed into bed. She picked up her book from the bedside table and found her place marked with her favorite wooden bookmark that her dad gave her for Christmas in her stocking. She was 30 pages into The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. Her college roommate Katherine Kavanagh sent it to her. She sent Kate The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams. They had exchanged books for three years since they graduated from college.

Ana plumped her pillow and turned off the light. Reading in bed put her to sleep quicker than watching TV. She was asleep in minutes, all thoughts of winning lottery tickets out of her mind.

The next morning, Ana woke at her usual time and went on her walk. As she passed the Quick Trip she remembered the lottery ticket she bought the day before. I'll have to check the ticket when I get home, she thought. Oh, I am out of coffee creamer, she remembered. I hate coffee without it. I'll need to run to the store before breakfast. She jogged the last few blocks home and peeled off her workout clothes and took a shower. It was hairwashing day so her shower took a little longer than normal. She checked her phone after dressing to see several missed texts and calls. She called her dad's office.

"This is Ana Steele. Did my dad call me? Is he available?" She was heading to the door to go to the grocery store. The assistant police chief police came on the line.

"Ana, I hate to tell you on the telephone but your dad was shot today. He was taken to the hospital in Seattle by helicopter."

"Which hospital? I am leaving now." She ran out of the house and jumped in her car and raced out of town. "How bad is it?" She feared she wouldn't make it there before he passed away alone. That had been her fear that she never talked about to anyone. Her dad loved his job and had never done anything else; he was a career policeman.

"He was shot in the chest. He pulled over a speeder and when he approached the car he was shot." Ana took a deep breath and pushed down her fear. "Please drive safely Ana and call me when you get there." Ana promised she would call and hung up her phone. She pulled into the Quick Mart and got out to pump gas. Her friend Adam was coming out of the store.

"Hi Ana. How are you girlie? I haven't seen you in a while. What's up?" Ana flung herself at her friend. He caught her and gave her a hug. "What's the matter?"

"My dad was shot today. He was flown to a hospital in Seattle. I am on my way there now." Ana started crying hysterically.

"Not alone, let me lock my truck. It will be fine here overnight if needed. I'll drive you there." Adam ran and locked his truck and ran back to Ana's car and got in the driver's side. "It will be fine, you'll see." He patted her leg to reassure her.

A/N: So I had this idea for a new story. Let me know if you think I should continue?