After the Storm (Chambers of the Heart Book 3)

by C D Cain

  “What about her family?”

  “I don’t reckon I know if she’s got any. Don’t know much about Gentry’s life past or present. What I know are the things she didn’t have to tell me. The things I seen with my own eyes. Those things about her, we gone miss some kind of bad around here. Wishing we could’ve been the family that kept her here.”

  “Do you care to share those things you saw in her?”

  Yvette smiled earnestly at Sam’s request. She leaned back in her chair and stared out the window, thinking of her answer. Truth was, she didn’t know where to start. Gentry had sure left her impression on her. “Where to start.” She ran her thumb across the top of her coffee cup. “She’s honest. I always test them drifters when they come up. Never know what kind you gone get out here alone. Gotta know if I can trust them before I let them close and open the diner. Been burnt one too many times. So I left a twenty-dollar bill laying out. You know, somewhere easily seen by staff but easily taken without anyone knowing it was you? She never took it. Damn thing had two inches of dust on it before I picked it up. Not once did our deposit ever come up short. Little thing was smart too. Lou used to brag on her all of the time. On the count of she picked stuff up so fast. They tore that engine apart. I don’t know who enjoyed piecing that bus together more, him or her. Before his back started going out, he was a damn good mechanic.”

  Yvette looked over her shoulder toward the kitchen and winked when they made eye contact. Lou smiled like a little boy who just had his crush give him a sign she liked him back. To Sam, it was adorably cute and terribly sad with memories of holding Rayne in her eyes in a similar way.

  “She loved them critters,” Yvette continued. “I watched her tend to anything on four legs that wandered up. God forbid they be hurt. That woman would nurse them back as if she was a trained vet.” Yvette laughed to herself. “One time, she stopped the whole diner in their tracks to catch a lizard that slipped in somehow. I asked her one day why she did all of that. She told me ‘All life is precious.’ That’s all she said.” Yvette held her hand over her heart and tapped her chest softly. “All life is precious,” she repeated softly. She wiped a tear from her eye as it started to fall on her cheek. She looked up at Sam with sadness in her eyes. “Something or someone hurt her though. Hurt her bad. She carried it in her eyes. I’m thinking it’s that kind of pain that never goes away. Sometimes it wasn’t as bad as others. But it never went away. Lou and Wendy didn’t see it, but I did.” She took another sip. “She never talked about it or even let on she’d been hurt.” Yvette stood up quickly. She couldn’t think more on it or she would be a blubbering mess like her daughter. “Well,” she said as she briskly straightened her apron. “Enough of that. Time to get back to work.” She reached her hand out to Sam. “The name’s Yvette. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Sam shook her hand. “Sam.”

  “Ah.” Yvette reached back into the front of her apron. “Then this one is for you.”

  She handed Sam an envelope. On the front of it was written, “Sam (the blonde at table 4).”

  “Something about you must have struck a chord with her.” She put her hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Breakfast is on the house. Any friend of Gentry’s is a friend of ours.”

  “Thank you,” Sam said as she took the envelope. She was left speechless from the surprise of the envelope.

  Sam sat in the driver’s seat of her car and stared at the envelope. She looked at the buildings of the Pelican Motel with their dusty white sides and dull gray roofs. She looked in her rearview mirror at the Pelican Diner and thought of Gentry. She wondered where she had gone. She caught the scent of lavender as she opened the envelope. It was a single piece of paper that read,

  No experience in life defines who you are. Not even a little white box. I hope you find the path that’s meant for you and no one else. Take care of your soul. Gentry.

  She thought of walking up on Gentry as she played the guitar. She reached over, got her favorite Stevie Nicks CD, popped it in the radio, and turned the volume up. As she pulled out onto the interstate, she realized she wouldn’t soon forget her time at the Pelican Motel.

  Chapter 7

  Spring happened earlier in the south than the rest of the states. It was one of the things she enjoyed most. It wasn’t that she had ever been an outdoorsy kind of girl but more the newness of the life spring carried with it. Leaves would cover the winter’s naked tree branches with the brightest green they would ever hold. Buds would begin to pop out with anticipation of the flower it would soon bloom. The interstate was no exception this spring. It was literally filled with all that Sam had once enjoyed most about this season. Today, she noticed the painted lines of the asphalt as she rapidly sped along them. So much so she hadn’t noticed how quickly she was approaching Atlanta, which was only another two hours away as she was on the other side of Birmingham, Alabama. She lifted her foot from the gas pedal.

  Not yet. She thought as she slowed. She decided to take the upcoming exit.

  “No way,” she said aloud as she saw a big blue bus with a white roof pulled over on the side of the road. She pulled in behind it and parked. Her heartbeat quickened as she got out of her car and shut the door. She looked behind her at the oncoming traffic and scooted in closer to her car.

  I mean, what are the chances, right? How many big blue buses could there be?” She wiped her palms on her jeans. She had no idea what she was going to say. A few possibilities came to mind. Unfortunately, they all sounded as lame as she felt. So, hi. I saw your bus and thought I would stop. She rolled her eyes. Hey. I got your letter and thought I would stop. She ran her hand along the back of her neck and squeezed it tightly. “Ugh,” she grunted, “you’re a complete idiot. Yep. That sounds about right.”

  As she came up to the driver’s window, she saw Gentry sitting in the driver’s seat, eating an apple and tracing her finger along a map spread across her steering wheel. Sam lightly tapped on the window but Gentry didn’t flinch. Instead, she began to tap her fingers to the rhythm of the music blaring from the speakers. Sam knocked harder on the glass.

  “Son of a bitch!” Gentry screamed when she jumped in her seat.

  Sam couldn’t help but to laugh at the crooked red-framed sunglasses on Gentry’s face. She had jumped so hard the glasses that had been perched on her head were now halfway across her forehead.

  Gentry pushed them back on her head and slid back the driver’s window. “What the hell? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

  “No. Not particularly.” Sam was still chuckling.

  Gentry turned in her seat to look behind the bus. “How the hell are you here?”

  A diesel truck slowed as it took the exit. Yet it was still fast enough to blow Sam’s hair as it passed. She brushed the hair from her eyes.

  “Get in here before you get yourself run over.” Gentry reached over and pushed the handle to open the bus doors.

  Sam wasn’t sure what she expected to see when she walked up the two steps into the bus. Yvette told her Gentry had turned it into a home on wheels but she never imagined this. This space was amazing. It was like a hybrid of a mountain cabin and beach house all tucked nicely into this little package. The ceiling inside matched the white roof with the rest of the bus in colors of white, sea-colored turquoise, and walnut-stained wood.

  “Wow.” Sam looked around, taking it all in. “Gentry, this is amazing.”

  Gentry smiled proudly. “Thanks.” She ran her fingers along the top of the steering wheel. “She turned out better than I imagined when I bought her.” She folded the map neatly, put it on the dash, and turned in the driver’s seat. “Now, again I ask, how in the hell are you here?”

  “I know. It’s crazy right?” Both of Sam’s eyebrows had raised in the surprise of the chance meeting. “I saw Atlanta was coming up but I wasn’t quite ready to be there. So, I pulled off to see if I could find something to drin
k. And here you are.”

  “Here I am.” Gentry studied her. She actually looked a fine mess with her hair still out of sorts from the wind of the truck. One curl was turned in the opposite direction of the others and formed a magnificent impersonation of Alfalfa. It didn’t do much for the serious expression of probable regret that appeared on her face with Gentry’s flat response. “Um, you have a,” she said as she pointed to Sam’s head, “curl sticking up out of place.”

  “Oh.” Sam nervously brushed her hand over the top of her head. “Thanks.”

  Gentry wrestled with how she felt about Sam’s interruption. She had, in fact, left it all behind. Yet here was a piece—granted a very small piece—of it standing in the entryway of her bus. Although, there honestly was no baggage tied to Sam. She knew nothing of her past and had only really known she existed in the world over the last couple of days. Sam’s feet caught her attention when she shifted them from the left foot to the right. She felt a twinge of laughter with the frayed seams of her bright orange Converse Chuck Taylors. “Are you going hunting later?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  Gentry smiled. “Nothing. I was talking about your shoes. They reminded me of a hunter’s orange. Sorry. Bad joke.”

  Sam giggled timidly and looked over her shoulder to the bus doors. “No, it’s fine.”

  Gentry pointed to her refrigerator. “You’re welcome to see what I have in there.”

  Sam ran her hand over the countertop next to the sink and slowly took in the space. “Thanks…but it was more pulling off of the road than anything else. I shouldn’t have interrupted you though. I’ll go.” She shifted her feet again and turned toward the doors.

  “So,” Gentry said quickly as she stood from the driver’s seat. “Atlanta was the chosen destination, huh?”

  Sam shrugged again. “I had all the maps laid out but didn’t see anywhere that struck. I hoped maybe something would come to me on the drive.” Her tone did nothing to hide the depression in her words.

  “Maybe it did.”

  “Come again?”

  “I’m saying maybe something did come to you on your drive.”

  Sam caught her meaning and pointed in between the two of them. “I know. How impossible is this, right?”

  “Maybe not as much as you think. I tend to believe there is no chance. Everything happens for a reason. You could’ve literally taken any exit but this one. Or if the timing had been off by ten minutes, we would’ve completely missed each other. If you look at it like that, then this is exactly where you’re supposed to be. Your job is to figure out what that reason is.” Gentry watched for Sam’s reaction. She looked at her jeans with the knees cut out and wondered if the woman had any without holes in them. She looked back at the map and then back at Sam. “Is anyone expecting you in Atlanta today? Have you told anyone that you’re coming?”

  Sam looked down at her feet. “I haven’t. My mom thinks I’m still in Louisiana.”

  Gentry rubbed her bottom lip between her thumb and index finger. “So no one knows where you are?”

  “Nope.”

  Gentry was surprised by the apparent impromptu decisions of Sam. She was a woman on her own quest. Alone like herself. Long ago, she stopped fighting what was meant to be. She had fought life’s experiences tooth and nail in her young adult life, determined not to have anything decided for her but to make her own destiny. Then one day, she accepted it wasn’t up to her. There was a power in the universe that had its hands on her shoulders leading her where it was she was to go. Maybe this wasn’t just Sam’s journey.

  “You could follow me. I’m detouring around Atlanta with Big Blue. Plus, there’s something I want to see a couple of hours from here. I think you may like it.”

  “Oh yeah? What is it?”

  “I’m not telling you. If you come, I’d like to see the surprise on your face. If you decide not to, well then, I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

  Sam bent over to look out the side window. There were at least five symbols of hotels and gas stations on the sign of the exit.

  “The destination shouldn’t be your goal but rather what you find in the journey. Care to take a journey with me, Sam?” Gentry paused. “I don’t even know your last name.”

  Sam smiled. “It’s LeJeune.”

  “Wow. Nice name.”

  “Thanks. And yours?”

  “It’s not as fancy as yours. Bell.” She raised her hand up. “Gentry Bell. It’s nice to meet you, Sam LeJeune.”

  Sam took her hand and shook it. “You too.”

  Gentry didn’t let go. “So, Sam, what say you? I’m stopping here for the night. Juliette, Georgia is about two and a half hours from here. Maybe three with Big Blue.” She pointed over her shoulder to the exit sign. “I bet one of those hotels has a room. I’m going for the campground a couple of miles that way. We could meet up in the morning.”

  Sam imagined Gentry mulling about her home on wheels. She found Gentry’s strength to be enticing. She marveled at the adventure in her soul. She felt Gentry squeeze her hand and looked back at the anticipation in her expression. “What the hell.” She shrugged. “Sure. I’ll come along.”

  “Excellent.” Gentry shook her hand one final time, released it, and said with a smile. “Let’s do this.”

  “Where are you going again?” Violet asked as she flipped through her patient’s chart.

  “I have no idea,” Sam said with a small laugh. “It’s crazy. Isn’t it?”

  “Ummm, yes, my friend. It’s a little crazy to be following a woman without knowing where you’re going. You don’t even know this woman. She could be a serial killer for all you know. Here she is, leading you off to her massive burial ground.” She paused. “No, I take that back. It’s a lot crazy.”

  “I know it is, Vi. That’s why I’m calling you.”

  “What the fuck do you think I can do? I’m in Alabama and you’re God knows where in Georgia. Honestly, Sam, you’re smarter than this.”

  “You send the police out looking if you don’t hear back from me.” Sam sped up to read Gentry’s license plate number. “I’m going to call out her license plate number for you to jot down.”

  “Oh Christ. You’ve lost your mind. It’s finally happened.” Violet leaned over the nurse’s counter to grab a yellow sticky note. “Okay. Go ahead.”

  Sam called out the license plate and slowed back down. “See. It’s all good now. I’m safe.”

  “Uh huh. Safely certifiable. Have you even considered for one minute how insane this is? Sam, you were a respected surgeon. You taught med students, for crying out loud. And now you’re what? Driving off into nowhere with some complete stranger. It’s bad enough you quit your job and fellowship…but this? This is damn ridiculous.”

  “Maybe so.” Sam slowed even more.

  “Definitely so.”

  “I can tell you one thing for sure though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I didn’t wake up crying this morning.”

  “Hold that thought.” Violet closed the chart and looked up at the nurse who was standing behind the desk. “I wrote an order for a.m. labs of a CBC, chemistry panel, and beta HCG. Page me if there are any changes.” Violet walked around the nurse’s station and pushed open the door to the physician’s lounge. She grabbed a bottle of water and sat down in the oversized-leather chair. “You didn’t?”

  “Nope. And I still haven’t. That persistent lump in my throat isn’t here right now. It may come back. But right now, I’m not a slobbering mess.”

  Violet shook off her Dansko clogs and stretched her legs out across the ottoman in front of her. “That’s very interesting. I mean, it’s great. Don’t get me wrong. But still very interesting.” She rolled the water bottle cap in between her fingers. “Why is that do you think?”

  “I have no idea but I’m not compla
ining. It felt pretty damn good this morning to get dressed. I’m actually attempting to wear mascara today. Keep your fingers crossed it doesn’t end up running all over my face.”

  “Hmmmm. Maybe it’s this woman.”

  “Or maybe it’s what I’m doing. Maybe it’s the adventure of the unknown. Someone else having control of where I’m going, you know? I’m just following this big blue bus to I don’t know where to do I don’t know what. Maybe it’s that.”

  “I’m sorry. Go back. Did you say big blue bus?”

  Sam laughed. “Hell yeah I did. She’s driving an old school bus that she renovated into a house on wheels.” Sam swept her bangs out of her eyes. They were really starting to irritate her as she badly needed a haircut. “I mean like a really nice house on wheels. You should see inside this thing. I don’t know what I expected it to look like exactly but I know it wasn’t what I saw. It’s like a mountain cabin but then also reminds me of your beach house. It’s insane how good this thing looks.”

  “And she did it herself?”

  “Yep. Well, her and Lou the cook from the diner. Cook and owner. Him, his wife, and his daughter run the hotel.”

  “Does this woman favor Lou? As in look like him?”

  Sam laughed out loud. “No, crazy.”

  “Well, how do I know?” Violet reached down and rubbed her aching feet. She looked at her watch and thought only two more hours to go. “You’re telling me about a woman who is leading you down a country road in Georgia in her big blue bus that she herself turned into a house on wheels. I’m not exactly picturing a little delicate flower of a woman. The name Lou sounds just about right.”

  “You’re such a nut, which is one of many reasons I love you.”

  “Ditto. Now tell me more about Ms. Delicate Flower.” Violet was falling into the glimpse of laughter that had returned to her friend’s voice.