Everything She Needs by Laura P. Jones

Author:Laura P. Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Engaging Escape Publishing
Published: 2020-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

A CRISP MORNING BREEZE met Nena at the top of the stairs outside her apartment. It was a welcome change from the summer heat and the rain she’d often hurry down the stairs to avoid. With the cloudless sky and cool breeze, she slowed, appreciating the thick flowery shrubs huddled between the rows of sugar maple and white spruce trees lining the edge of the busy Main Street to seclude the apartment building. Halfway down the stairs, a whistling red-winged blackbird steadying on a branch caught her attention. She thought to take its picture, but it flew away as she got her hand on the camera in her bag.

At the foot of the stairs, she noticed dirt on a pink rose pedal and stooped to brush it away. Once in her car, she tossed her bag into the seat on the passenger side and rolled down her window. The cool breeze upon her face made her more alert. A butterfly darted onto the pink rose pedal, and she shuffled through the bag, with haste this time, and retrieve her camera. One snap was all it allowed her before flying out of sight. But it was enough, she determined after a quick review of the shot. Nena put the camera back into her bag and backed out of her parking space for the drive to the grocery store.

On the way, she reflected on her conversation with Victoria, for in it was her last shred of hope for financial independence. Every night since they spoke, through prayer, she breathed life into the possibilities, and she hasn’t wavered from the hope.

She arrived at the grocery store and took an empty spot at the entrance to the store. When she first got the job, straight out of high school, she picked parking spaces farther away. The business was booming and having available spots near the entrance was her strategy to attract shoppers to the store. Now, it didn't matter if she took the space closest or farthest away, no strategy was working to bring in more than a few shoppers per day.

Getting out of the car, she draped her handbag over her shoulder and checked the time on her watch. It was an expensive gift Aiden gave her a year before. Remembering him stumbling into the apartment, pinning her against the door, and forcing her to accept it caused a twinge in the pit of her stomach. She slid the watch off her wrist, stuffed it into a small pocket inside her bag, and dug deeper into the bag for the keys to unlock the chains on the door.

Nena looked around when she stuck the keys into the lock, and an image that had escaped her when she entered the parking lot, came into view. Parked across the street from the store, was a black Mercedes Benz SUV with lightly tinted windows. A man inside, wearing dark sunglasses, watched her. It brought an eerie feeling over her, for only someone in a high-paid

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