Stormy Surrender - By Nicole Andrews Moore Page 0,16

in, but stopped when she realized there was a hole the size of a trap door where the welcome mat should be. Marti laughed out loud at that and surprised herself. It had been so long since she laughed like that. It felt good.

Descending from the porch, Marti walked around back. She could see where there used to be a nice driveway that curved behind the house, which was now overgrown. As she rounded the corner, she had her first glimpse of the back yard and had to wrap her arms around herself in excitement. There was more space than she had dreamed of. Sure it was overgrown with saplings and resembled more of a pasture at the moment than the yard she envisioned. That mattered not. She had the space to make her vision a reality.

It was when she peeked in the back door that she realized how much work the place needed. That was fine. A lot of work meant a lot of room to negotiate the asking price. She glanced at her cell phone for the time. Marti never wore a watch. In fact, she didn’t wear much jewelry at all, just her wedding set that felt as though it were choking her lately despite her plummeting weight. She sighed. It would be several hours before she could convince Deborah to let her see the inside of the house.

Walking back around to the front, Marti glanced around. No one was around. It was New Year’s Eve and she was alone in every sense. For some reason, she was happier than she had been in months. Smiling, she sat down on the sidewalk, facing the house, staring and imagining the possibilities. And for the moment, that was enough.

Nothing should surprise him anymore. Joey had gone to Hope House for breakfast only to discover his regular table occupied. That was his first surprise. That he lost his first bet in…well, he couldn’t remember when, was his second surprise, a serious blow to his pride. The third surprise was more like his third and fourth wrapped into one. That was when Marti nearly tumbled down the stairs and he had the pleasure of catching her, which led to the introduction and of course the realization that he was capable of having feelings again. Possibly. It had been a long time. Years in fact. He half growled remembering.

So now, it should not shake him to his core as it did to have Marti sitting on the sidewalk across the road from his house, staring at the eyesore he had grown to hate with a passion, looking as though she had found Jesus. Yeah, she wore that same dazed look he had seen in those tent revivals. Secretly he had been planning to petition the city to declare it a hazard and tear the place down. Start fresh. That lot could be prime real estate. Now, if she decided she was interested in buying it, Keely had mentioned she was moving to town, then that wouldn’t happen. He’d have to stare at that place for another seven years, since he was only three years into his ten year plan. And he wasn’t sure at the moment that he had the strength to do that, even with such a beautiful backside currently decorating the sidewalk in front of it. He had to get out of this town.

After sitting for nearly forty-five minutes, jotting down notes and questions she wanted to ask, Marti reluctantly walked the short distance back to the town square. She glanced at her cell phone and realized that she still had more time to kill. She hadn’t eaten for hours, which wasn’t unusual, but that she was hungry was, so she decided to grab a bite to eat. Before she had the opportunity to ponder which of the small restaurants she might like to visit, the smell of baking bread drew her into The Carolina Café.

Pausing just inside of the door, she tried to discover the lay of the land before walking up to the counter. A smiling pleasantly plump woman stood behind the counter. “What can I getcha?” She asked in a decidedly Long Island accent. Her naturally curly dark brown hair touched her shoulders in the back and was scooped into a clip in the front. The restless curls around her face attested to how hard she was working in the kitchen.

“I’m thinking soup and sandwich,” Marti began slowly. She inhaled deeply, remembering the grilled cheese she had