downtown.
“Hellooooo!” she called, waving as she approached the car. “Are you Mia Ballentine?”
Mia forced herself to get out of the car. Her sunglasses fogged up as soon as she stepped into the sweltering air, and she pushed them up onto her head.
“That’s me,” she said with a pasted-on smile. “Helen Fishbaugh?” It was the name that had been on her lease, and the only piece of information she had about her new landlord.
The woman’s nose wrinkled. “I haven’t been Helen since grade school. Everyone around here calls me Birdie.” Her smile grew wider, and her round, friendly face crinkled around her eyes. “My goodness! Aren’t you a statuesque beauty?”
Mia wasn’t accustomed to being described so generously. More commonly, her six-foot height had earned her nicknames like Gigantor, She-Hulk, and Bigfoot. She’d never thought of herself as particularly statuesque either—unless you were talking about statues of thick-thighed Greek soldiers. She was built less like the Venus de Milo and more like a tree trunk: sturdy and straight up-and-down.
Flustered by the unexpected compliment, Mia turned back to the car to retrieve her purse.
“I’m glad to see you,” Birdie said, sounding every bit like she meant it. “I’ve been worried about you making that long drive by yourself. I hope you didn’t run into any trouble.”
“None at all. It was smooth sailing all the way.” Mia had never had a landlord express concern for her before. Or claim to be glad to see her. Glad to see her rent money, sure. But not her.
“Oh, that’s good,” Birdie said. “I’ll bet you’re relieved to be home, finally.”
Home.
Mia looked past Birdie to the driveway that presumably led to her new apartment. She didn’t want this place to be her home, but here she was. It was too late to turn back now.
Birdie rested her hands on her hips. “Texas just seems to stretch on forever, doesn’t it? I remember taking a trip to the Davis Mountains to visit the McDonald Observatory when I was a girl, and I couldn’t believe how wide the state was. Texas is so big you can drive for twelve hours and still be in Texas.” She laughed to herself, patting her chest. “Anyway, I expect you’re eager to see your apartment. There’s a space for your car in the garage, but it’s a bit tight, so I suggest you park in the driveway while you’re unloading your things.”
“Okay.” Mia was feeling overwhelmed by this social interaction. She’d assumed she’d be given her keys and left alone to fend for herself, not expected to make small talk in one-hundred-degree heat.
Birdie cupped her hands around her face and squinted in the window of Mia’s car, which was packed to the roof with boxes and suitcases. “Is this all the stuff you’ve got?”
“No, the movers are bringing my furniture this afternoon.”
“Oh good. We can’t have you sleeping on the floor.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Mia assured her. “Hopefully the truck won’t be in your way long.”
“Don’t you worry about that.” Birdie pulled a set of keys out of the pocket of her dress and jingled them. “Come on, then. Pull your car up in front of the garage, and I’ll show you your new home.”
Mia cast an uncertain glance at the chickens in the driveway. “Do we need to move them first? I don’t want to hurt your chickens.”
Birdie laughed. “Oh honey, don’t worry about them. They’ll scram when they see you coming.”
Mia got back in her car and pulled it into Birdie’s driveway. Sure enough, as soon as they saw the Toyota hatchback creeping toward them, the chickens scattered onto the grass with a flurry of indignant clucks and flapping wings.
At the end of the long driveway, a two-car garage loomed behind the one-story house. The double garage door stood open, and inside sat an old Subaru station wagon with just enough space next to it to fit her car in. A wooden staircase on one side of the garage led up to the second-story apartment Mia had rented.
Birdie’s backyard offered a clue as to why she was called Birdie. Bird feeders hung from every available surface. They lined the eaves of the back porch, dangled from the lower limbs of a huge tree beside the house, and graced multiple shepherd’s hooks and poles positioned around the yard.
The yard itself was huge by Mia’s standards. Off the back porch of the house was a shady concrete patio populated with rusty furniture. Beyond that was a shed, a chicken coop, and several rows