Vintage Woman by D.J. Fronimos & Elke Lakey

Author:D.J. Fronimos & Elke Lakey [Fronimos, D.J. & Lakey, Elke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Lgbtq+, Lesbian, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781685503697
Google: Qe2rEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2023-01-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

Cory

Tractor Supply prided itself on customizing the shopping experience to location, focusing on what people out there really needed, and Cory had always felt a sense of accomplishment in that. But over the past several months their Boerne store had seen a different crowd of shoppers, more small-town hobbyists and retirees than large ranch owners and, while Cory hated it, it was something they, as a store, had to address. She was just rereading her list of possible adjustments when her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Cory? Is that you?”

Evelyn? “Is everything okay?”

“Oh, Cory. I…I’m sorry. I did something stupid and now I…” Her voice sounded shaky.

“What? What did you do, Evelyn? Are you hurt?”

“No, nothing like that. I’m fine. Well, no, I’m not fine. Something is terribly wrong.”

“What? What is wrong?”

Cory, who’d started pacing almost as soon as Evelyn began to talk, or rather to not talk, pounded a fist against her thigh. Come on, girl, come on and tell me already!

Evelyn’s voice was low. “I’d rather not talk about it on the phone. Are you getting off work soon?”

Considering she’d spent most of the afternoon downtown, Cory had planned on making up for it by staying late, but what the heck. It wasn’t her turn to close today and there was no point in continuing with paperwork if she couldn’t focus.

“I can be home in,” she checked the clock, “thirty minutes. No, make that twenty.”

“I’m not home. I’m in Boerne.”

Huh? After what happened the other day, Cory wouldn’t have expected her mom to do anything with Evelyn, least of all take her into town.

“Okay. Where?”

“Right now I’m sitting on a bench along the river, but I can walk back to a spot where it’s easier for you to pull your car over. Do you know where the frozen yogurt place is?”

“Yeah. Be there in ten minutes.”

When Cory pulled into the vacant lot next to the yogurt place, Evelyn jumped up from the chair she had been sitting in and limped to the car, a bulging Walmart bag in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Cory put the car in park and got out to open the passenger door for Evelyn.

“I hope you won’t get in trouble for leaving work early.”

“Nah. I’m the boss, remember? Did my mom go home already?”

“Your mom? How would I know what your mom is doing?”

Cory refrained from asking the obvious, only now realizing how drawn Evelyn looked, tiredness etched into the dust on her face, the skin beneath her eyes dark with exhaustion. “How long have you been wandering around Boerne?”

“A couple hours, I guess. I left the house soon after you did this morning.”

Soon after her? She’d gone in early and it was almost five in the afternoon now. What the fuck had her mom been thinking? Angrily she slammed the truck in gear, causing Evelyn to jump.

“What’d you do all this time? Go shopping?”

“I’ve been walking a lot and thinking till my heels got blistered, then I sat by the river to eat my sandwich.

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