Wallflower Girl

Chapter 56

"Less than a minute," the old man assured her with a smile. "I was right over there. I came quickly." He mounted his four-wheeler and started it. "Are you sure you're all right? I need to catch that driver pulling in. You should call in at the house and talk to Ethel."

Ethel? "I'm fine. Thank you," Anne replied, forcing a smile and waving him off.

She returned to her car and sat for a while staring absently at the road ahead. Tears welled. She spun the car around and drove back across the rickety timber bridge and past the sunflowers. The model truck on the roof looked so old, and as she sat across the road in her car, her tears welled again and ran freely down her cheeks. She wasn't sure how long she sat there crying, but eventually there were no more tears, and she pressed her cool hands against her burning eyes and emerged painfully from the car. Even the heated breeze felt cool against her wet face. How could it be over? How could it be just a dream? She'd been there for two weeks living as Patricia Harper, loving her husband and wishing for nothing more than a lifetime of the same.

Her leg had stiffened in the car, and her limp had grown even more pronounced as a result. She ached from hip to knee. It did nothing to distract her from her grief. Nick was gone, dead. Patricia's husband... her husband... gone. She sniffled. A young woman about her age looked at her tear stained face and silently offered a tissue. Anne gave her a watery smile, thankful that she hadn't asked what was wrong. There was no way to explain.