After they finished eating they took the empty plates to the kitchen. Ally showed her where she kept the red T-shirts for work and told her to wear jeans.
“Come with me,” Ally said, going out the back kitchen door and up some stairs on the back of the building. She unlocked a door and went in. “This is an empty apartment I own but don’t use. My son, he’s the town sheriff, used to stay here a lot but when my husband died he started staying home with me more. I’m gonna let you stay here until you get on your feet, Lacy. Later if you stick around we’ll talk about rent of some kind.”
Lacy considered the room as she looked around. There was a small kitchen and a furnished living room with a couch and TV. It was small but very neat and clean.
“But, Mrs. Clark, you don’t even know me. Why help me?” Lacy asked, feeling like her emotions were all over the place. She was thankful yet she wanted to break down and cry.
Ally laughed and shook her head. “In the twenty-plus years I’ve been running my business I’ve met lots of people both good and bad and I have good instincts. I also believe in helping people if they need help, simple as that. There is a bedroom and bathroom behind that door.” Ally pointed toward a door down the hallway. “And please call me Ally. We’re not very formal around here.”
Lacy was shocked. Here was a complete stranger helping her out when back at home people ran around avoiding each other and never taking a moment to help someone. She felt her chest tighten with emotion, and tears came to her eyes, but she blinked them back. She couldn’t fall apart right now. She had to stay strong until she could figure out what to do about her situation.
She gave Ally a hug. “I can’t believe you’d do something so nice when I’m a stranger to you,” Lacy whispered, her voice cracking with emotion. “I really appreciate it, Ally.”
Ally patted her back soothingly. “I have a feeling you and I are gonna be good friends. Now get some rest and I’ll see you bright and early in the morning.”
Later that night Lacy took a long hot shower to relax her aching body. She lay in bed listening to the silence. In Detroit she was used to falling asleep to traffic noises, sirens, people yelling, or loud music. She looked around the strange dark room and suddenly the loneliness of her life hit her. She missed her familiar room at home and her favorite fuzzy pajamas her mom gave her. It was too quiet here, and she missed her mom so much her heart ached. Her mom would not have panicked the way Lacy had. She felt the tears come and couldn’t stop them this time. She gave in to her battered emotions and her silent tears soon turned into sobs that shook her body. She fell asleep wishing for her mom’s arms around her one more time, telling her it would be okay.
* * * *
“You did what?” Ryan Clark yelled when his mom told him about Lacy. “Mom, you can’t go around hiring complete strangers off the street just because you thought she looked like she needed a helping hand.”
Ally had to look up since at six feet her son was taller than her. She looked into his green eyes that reminded her of her dear departed husband. “Son, you may be a grown man of thirty years old, but I bet I can still whip you if I have to.”
Ryan smiled at his mom fondly and kissed her head. “I bet you can. Sorry, Mom, but you are way too naive sometimes.” He ran his hands through his short blond hair and sighed. It had been a long, tiring day, and he’d had to deal with Mr. Harris who kept reporting his cows were missing. He was just a lonely old man who wanted company, so Ryan had gone out there and sat with him awhile, which put him behind on his work. He was looking forward to sleeping when he got home but his mom stood there telling him she gave a complete stranger a job and an apartment and didn’t see a need to worry. “This girl could be robbing you blind right now since you generously let her have the apartment, too. Why didn’t you just hand over the keys to the restaurant, too?”
Ally rolled her eyes. Her son had the tendency to be a bit dramatic at times. “You are suspicious of everyone. Guess that’s why you make a good sheriff, but Lacy is not a criminal. I trust my instincts. Anyways, this is all your fault, Ryan.”
“Me?” Ryan said innocently. “How did I cause this?”
“I told you not to date Emma.” She pointed her finger at his chest, making him feel like a naughty little boy. “But you did anyway. Then you left her brokenhearted when you broke up with her and she walked out on the spot, leaving me short handed.”
Ryan snorted. “Emma was not brokenhearted. That spoiled brat was just pissed she didn’t get her way! We dated a month and she thought we should get married.” He shuddered at that thought. He was a bachelor and liked it that way. No way was he getting tied down to one woman for an eternity. And he didn’t mention how Emma still harassed him with phone calls all day long, pleading for him to go back to her. What a mistake he had made there. Why hadn’t he listened to everyone’s warnings?
“I’ll be at the diner tomorrow to check out your little paragon,” he warned his mom and went upstairs to bed.
Chapter Two
“You are taking to this like a duck does to water, girl!” Stella encouraged Lacy the next day in a country twang Lacy thought was adorable. Her first day was going better than she had expected. She had been very nervous coming into a place where everyone else already knew each other. She expected it to be awkward, but instead Stella was very friendly toward her and Lacy was grateful for that. Stella was a little taller than Lacy with short black hair pulled back by two red barrettes, and had a slender build. She had a very bubbly personality which Lacy liked.
Henry Jones, who helped Ally cook in the kitchen, came out in the morning for a few seconds to say a quick hello then went back to the kitchen right away as if he had been away from it too long. He was in his sixties with short gray hair and glasses and didn’t smile much.
“Henry never has much to say. Doesn’t like dealing with people, so he stays back there,” Stella explained to her. “He’s harmless. You’ll get used to his ways.”
Stella was giving her tips and catching her up on who was who in this town. She pointed out those who liked to gossip, which was almost everyone, much to Lacy’s amusement. Stella is a natural, Lacy thought with admiration. She greeted everyone by name and remembered everything they ordered.
“It’s different than working at the pizza place but I really like it and people here are so nice,” Lacy told Stella as they sat down for a break. “It just amazes me. People in the city never have much to say unless they’re complaining about you or to you.” Lacy laughed. “You get so used to it that I never realized there are still nice people in the world.”
It had been a very busy morning with people coming and going constantly, and Lacy was slowly getting to know the menu and the routine. She had made a few mistakes like taking the orders to wrong tables and forgetting things. She had felt so discouraged, but Ally and Stella told her it would take time to get into the groove of things. Even the customers had been patient and kind when she gave them the wrong order and got nervous. She was grateful she didn’t drop or spill anything on anyone. She expected to get yelled at a lot but everyone was kind. Delivering a pizza to a table was different than giving everyone an individual order, but she was determined to do a better job, especially since Ally had taken a chance on helping her out.
“You should have seen my first day. I don’t think I gave any customer the right order. I spilled someone’s water all over them! I wasn’t sure I even wanted to come back the next day, but Ally was so sweet about the whole thing that I came back,” Stella said, laughing as she recalled her own first day. “Now, three years down the line, I am a pro and hardly ever spill water on the customers.”
They had a little time before the lunch rush started, so Ally insisted they eat some of her beef stew. They sat down at an empty table. Lacy counted herself lucky to end up here in Appledale out of all the places the bus could have taken her. Her one day in this town had brought her good luck already. Never having been out of Detroit made this town and its people seem a little surreal, but she liked it. She had always dreamed of living in a pretty and peaceful place like she’d seen on TV, but it had always been just a faraway fantasy.
How ironic that her fantasy had come true under dire circumstances.
“Lived here in Appledale all my twenty-eight years,” Stella told Lacy as they ate the stew. “Met my husband, Stanley, at the bank and knew he was my soul mate, so I snatched him up quick before anyone else could.”
Lacy nodded and agreed with her. “Sounds like you are a lucky lady, Stella. You have this beautiful town and you have a husband you love. I’ve yet to meet my prince charming, a few frogs, sure, but no prince yet.”