Chapter 3
Mary Sue's was the only place in town for a decent cup of coffee. Lisa regularly stopped in on Sunday afternoons after the church crowds cleared. She sat quietly at the lunch counter, sipping a steaming cup, one cream one sugar. Mary Sue herself often smiled and conversed with her. This Sunday was no exception.
As Lisa slipped into the sunny diner, Mary Sue greeted her with a friendly grin. Her fragile, elderly frame moved slowly to get Lisa's usual. Her hair frayed to catch the sunlight in a silver halo. She placed the coffee mug in front of Lisa, and poured in arthritic slow motion. Mary Sue's thin, age spotted hands shook.
"So nice to see you again sweetie," the old woman said warmly.
Lisa smiled. "Where else would I go for the best coffee in Hillsdale?"
"Lisa, I was thinking about you the other day. It must be hard being new in town. How long have you been here?"
Lisa's memory of the time past blurred. "Mmm, a year and a half, maybe," she questioned. Mary Sue smiled at her.
"Do you know many people in town?" she asked. Lisa gave her a knowing look. Cut to the chase…
"Just you, Mary Sue. And that's all I need." She teased the older woman, hoping she would take the bait.
"You know," Mary Sue started with sudden delight, "I could have my son take you out to dinner!" And there's the catch, Lisa thought. As gossip would have it, this woman, sweet and frail, always worried that her youngest son Donald would die unmarried and childless. In her younger days, she would have tried to play matchmaker more covertly, so the rumors say. Now, she's just too old for games. And it certainly wasn't the first time she tried to set up Lisa.
Lisa giggled silently into her coffee.
"I don't know Mary; I kind of enjoy quiet evenings with Bruce." Lisa sipped the hot coffee delicately.
"Oh Leese," the old woman complained, "I'd like to know… what turned you into such a loner?"
Lisa stopped. Her eyes widened. Suddenly, the coffee scalded, as did the remark. The words echoed in her mind, transforming from the brittle old woman's voice to a chilling masculine. She found herself staring at intense blue eyes, captive in a window seat.
"Lisa? Are you alright? You need to breathe sweetheart…" Mary Sue interrupted the flood of memory. Lisa snapped back to consciousness, abruptly aware of the gasping ache in her chest.
"Are you sure I shouldn't talk to Donnie?" insisted Mary Sue.
"Maybe some other time. Thanks." The two women didn't talk after that. She timidly finished her coffee and left.
The drive home seemed perilous through her burning tears. The sunlit Sunday roads twisted pitilessly in front of her. Lisa screeched the tires dangerously down the back roads of West Virginia. Those blue eyes, powerful and menacing, blinded her. She remembered every glint of emotion in those eyes. Boredom, concern, sympathy, and ceaseless rage. Those eyes haunted her nightmares and tormented her daydreams. Those eyes…
Lisa jerked from despair. Trees sped toward the Taurus as she overshot her turn. The tires shrieked. Her heart stopped. Time stopped. She slammed the brakes. She wrenched the wheel. The Taurus swerved radically on the rural road and spun to a stop in the ditch.
Clouds of dust wafted past the frozen car. Lisa hysterically gasped for air. As she paused to regain her bearings, she lost self-control. She sobbed, arms crossed, into the cold steering wheel. Lisa, it's just a stupid question. What is wrong with you?
And Lisa wept helplessly on a roadside miles from home. "Jackson…" she whispered to herself.