Twisted Creek

Chapter 34

As I walked toward my mother, the thought crossed my mind that I could run and keep running. Maybe if I disappeared she’d never find me again. After all, I was fifteen years younger than her. There was a good chance I’d outlive her. Another thirty or forty years in hiding didn’t seem so bad if it meant never having to speak to her again.

But I couldn’t leave Nana, so no use thinking about it.

I walked straight toward Carla Daniels, mentally shoving aside all the dreams I’d had of her coming home and caring about me. Once the dreams were gone I realized there was very little about my mother that I liked.

“Good morning, Carla,” I said as I stepped on the porch.

She pouted. “What happened to ‘Mommy’ or ‘Mother’?”

My smile was no more real than hers. “I’ve often wondered that.”

She smoothed her skirt and straightened as if preparing to make a sacrifice. “Look, Allie, I’ve come to offer you a deal that I think will help you out.”

I waited, trying to decide what she was up to.

“I know that I’m the one Jefferson meant to leave this place to. I’m sure he didn’t even know about you until I told him.” She kept her voice soft, almost caring. “I don’t want to have to fight my own daughter. Garrison Walker said it would be hard to prove the truth, but he’s willing to take my case for a fee. He seems to think I have a good one since I’m the only one who talked to Jefferson.”

I knew she was lying, or maybe Walker was lying to her. If Carla believed she had any chance of winning, she wouldn’t be offering me a deal.

She didn’t give me time to say anything. “So, because you are my daughter and Nana is my mother, I’m willing to split the sale of this place with you. You and Nana will get forty percent and be able to go wherever you like.”

“How much is this place worth?”

“Walker called around and he thinks we can get over a hundred thousand for it. If it were cleaned up and fixed up it would be worth twice that, but I vote for an immediate sale.”

That prickly feeling in the back of my brain sounded again. Carla wasn’t playing straight. She reminded me of a child cheating at Monopoly. “I’m not interested in selling.”

“But you only have forty percent of the say. I’m the majority holder here.” Carla wiggled her head back and forth slightly as if I didn’t know the facts.

“Wrong. I own this place. All of it. And I’m not selling.”

“I could get the sheriff to remove you. Walker said if we fight over it we’ll both lose because the lawyers will get the biggest piece of the pie.”

Now I knew she was lying. Walker wouldn’t try to get her to settle. It wasn’t to his advantage.

“We’d both end up with nothing and you wouldn’t even get forty percent. So, my dear, I’m through discussing the matter. We sell.”

“Not when the deed is in my name.” I walked past her into the store and began opening up for the day.

She followed me in, all sweetness gone from her voice. “You don’t know what I’m capable of, Allie. If I have to I’ll…”

“No.” I fought to keep from yelling. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”

I held the remains of yesterday’s coffee in a twenty-cup pot. She backed away as if I had flashed a weapon.

“You ungrateful brat.”

It crossed my mind for the first time that my mother still saw me as a child. She hadn’t been around enough in the past ten years to realize I’d grown up. I almost felt sorry for her. I’d bet she still told people she was in her mid-thirties, and if so that would make her having had me when she was nine.

Like a chameleon, she shifted. “Think, Allie, you wouldn’t even have this place if it wasn’t for me. I’m the one who came here to talk to Jefferson.”

I sat the coffeepot on the counter and asked, “Why did you come here, Mother? Was the search for a new ‘boss’ getting harder as the wrinkles came?”

“Stop it,” Carla snapped. “I won’t put up with you running me down. I came out here to make you a fair offer. I wanted to help you both out. But I can see you’re as self-centered as always. Even when you were a baby you were selfish.”

“You left when I was three,” I pointed out.

“I’m surprised I stood it that long.”

We both stared at each other in silence as we heard Nana’s footsteps on the stairs.

“Morning, girls.” Nana always sounded cheery in the morning. “I’ve got to get biscuits made and sausage fried for the men.” She glanced at Carla. “You’d best get that cow milked.”