“Yes, you. How was the store? Nice night for a little rendezvous, eh?” She sneered. I had to hold both my arms straight by my side just to try to contain myself from hitting her. I couldn’t stand this woman in front of me that was supposed to be my relative. There was no way that we had the same blood flowing through our veins. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me, Annie.”
Keep pushing your luck, Carlin, I thought.
“Where exactly did you go, huh? I doubt you went to the store. Were you out meeting someone in particular?” she asked, still practically yelling as she did so.
The anger created tears in my eyes. I blinked them back. There was no way I was going to let someone like Carlin see me break down and cry. “My life is none of your business. I’m a grown woman.”
“Ha!” She rolled her eyes. “You’re hardly a woman, Annie. You’re practically going on thirty and still living at home with mommy and daddy. Even the town cop has turned on you. You might as well admit it, your life is sad and pathetic.”
“I wish you would just leave and never come back,” I growled, clenching my teeth together. “Why are you here anyway?” “To take care of my sister.”
Now it was my turn to sneer. “What a joke.”
“Why don’t you go hang out with your friend Mandi again? Mandi Liswich was it your mother told me you went to see?”
My nails dug into my palms as I clenched my fists tighter and tighter.
“Funny story,” Carlin went on. “I ran into Mandi’s mom the other day, and she said her daughter wouldn’t be home until sometime around Christmas.” She waited to see if that had done the trick, if I had snapped, but I just kept standing there as still as a statue with my arms down, hands clenched and eyes glaring holes into her head as she did the same back to me.
Amused with herself, Carlin leaned back against the wall and crossed her arms in front of her. “So I thought to myself, I wonder why Annie would lie to Helene like that? I wonder who she really is seeing? Tell me, Annie, who does a girl with no friends see?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “What exactly are you accusing me of, Carlin?” She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I do know that you’re up to something, and that something is probably no good. I’m going to be watching you, little Annie girl, like a hawk until I figure out exactly what it is you’re up to.”
The tears came on and a drop escaped from my eye and raced down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly with the back of my hand. Carlin grinned deviously and made one sudden turn on her heels and disappeared out of sight into the back room.
“I hate you,” I said, but it came out as merely a whisper. I stood there in the silence, only this time it haunted me instead of gave me the freedom it had just moments before. I was so full of fury, that all I could focus on was my need to release it. What was the one thing that could take all of my anguish away and replace it with a feeling of self worth and hope? Emry Logan. The name echoed in my mind. I had to go see him. I needed to be with him once again, but even more than that, I needed to be beside him, be able to touch his face and his skin and breathe in the same air as he was breathing. I had to try to do something. It had been too long. But what was I going to do to be able to be near him? There had to be a way. Surely it wasn’t an impossible feat.
My eyes frantically scanned the antique store. Surely my life was meant for more than this. I was meant to be with someone who would make my life one of excitement and spontaneity. I knew I was meant to be with Emry Logan. I had to get to him, to hear his soft voice once again and to know that all of my recent craziness had meaning to it.
My heart fluttered as my eyes settled on something on the other side of the room. I hurried to the object that was spread out over the head of a faceless mannequin in the corner. It was an antique wig from the 1920s. It was a blonde bob cut, and it had been sitting here for years collecting dust. I suddenly smiled just then. Yes, I would be getting lost in the glorious blue eyes that belonged to Emry Logan very soon. I would be going to see him tomorrow.
Chapter 7
Darkness. It was the first thing my eyes opened to in the morning. I jumped out of bed and pulled back the thick curtains. More darkness. What time was it? Glancing back at the glowing red numbers coming from my alarm clock on the nightstand, I read clearly that it was 5:30a.m. Why was I awake so early? And then I suddenly remembered. Oh, yes. Today was the day.
I laid back in bed for a few minutes staring up at the ceiling, trying to imagine how everything was going to happen. But then I realized that I actually had no real idea if any of this was going to work. All I knew was that I had to try and risk getting caught. It was a chance I was willing to take to get to Emry. I couldn’t wait any longer. It felt like an eternity since I had last had the chance to see him. Maybe even longer.
I sat back up. There was no way I could just lay here in bed with this much excitement roaring within me. I felt so alert and jittery at the same time. I hurried over to my closet to try to find something to wear. I turned the light on and peeked inside. I frowned. I really wish I had had more of a sense of style than this. None of these clothes were going to work for what I had in mind. I was going to have to go shopping this morning, but how on earth would I be able to fit that in? I had to go tend to the store for a couple hours until venturing down to the jail. There was no way that a trip to the mall in downtown Seneca was going to happen for me today. I turned off the light and sat back down on the bed, crossing my arms and pouting as I did so. What was I going to do now?
Then a huge smile crossed my lips as an idea suddenly came to me. I stood and walked as quietly as I could down the hall to the very last door and stood in front of the spare bedroom. The door was cracked open a hair, and I prayed that it wouldn’t screech loudly as I eased into pushing it open wide enough for my body to fit through. My eyes began to adjust to the dimly lit room as I could see Carlin curled up on her side with a navy blue comforter wrapped securely around her, her body facing away from me.
I waited for a few moments, listening to the rhythm of her breathing. Then I looked toward the small closet in the room and Carlin’s suitcase on the floor just in front of it. I was hoping that she had unpacked and put all of her things in the closet. Surely she had and wasn’t living out of her suitcase any longer. I took gentle, light steps over to the suitcase. It was unzipped and hanging slightly open. I pulled it back to see it was empty. I moved to the closet next. The door made a shrill sound as I opened it. My heart pounded as I looked over my shoulder and saw Carlin’s face. Her eyes were still shut. The noise hadn’t fazed her.
I pulled the string dangling from a light bulb on the ceiling of the closet and gave it a quick tug. It cast a glow onto a row of designer dresses and blouses and also out into the room a little bit. I looked back at Carlin again. The light’s edges ended just inches from her face. She was still sound asleep. I had to hurry. I tried to focus on the row of clothes in front of me.
Carlin had so much to choose from. I just hoped that they would fit me. We were probably about the same size height-wise. She was a little thicker than me around the middle, but if I had to guess, she would have bought most of these things a size or two smaller than she actually was just for pride’s sake. My hands raked over many different styles and colors. She had a lot of black though, which was probably the perfect color of choice for this particular day. Then my eyes met with a dress I instantly loved. The top part of the dress was gray. The sleeves looked like they would come about halfway down my arms. There was a silky black band that wrapped around the stomach area followed by a smooth black skirt on the bottom that probably would extend a little past my knees. It wasn’t too fancy and it wasn’t too plain. I held it up to take a better look and then hastily pulled the dress and hanger from the metal rod it had been hanging from, yanked on the string to turn off the light and darted out of the room.
The next few hours at the store went on endlessly. I was too excited to pay much attention to the customers or
hold a very long conversation. They would ask how my mother was doing, when she was going to be back. I would say something short and simple in return, ring their order up and give them each a quick smile before they left. The smiles came easier to me today. They were more genuine. I was extremely nervous, but I kept a close eye on the clock, counting down the minutes until I would be able to get out of here. When I could hardly contain myself any longer, I walked to the front of the store and flipped over the sign that said OPEN to CLOSED. It felt nice not to have to answer to anyone about where I was going. I was now the only one in control of the store. I was just about to turn out the lights in the front room and lock up when the door swung open, a gust of cold air ruffling my hair up off my shoulders. I spun around.
“Sammie?”
“You going somewhere?” she asked, walking past me and then turning around to face me.
“Yeah. I was just locking up. I have errands to run,” I mumbled, annoyed that I now had to explain myself. “I didn’t think you were scheduled for today.”
She shrugged, a red curl bouncing from her head as she did so. “I wasn’t.” She blew a bubble from her chewing gum and popped it loudly with her tongue. “I figured you might need some help.” “Oh, well, I don’t.” I just stood there and stared at her for a moment and she did the same. I wanted her to turn around and leave immediately, but she wasn’t budging just yet. Was she about to ask me a hundred questions? The anxiety of the situation was starting to build up. I still had to get ready, and she was wasting my time.
“It’s no big deal if you have some things to do,” she told me, taking a casual glance around the store. “I can watch over the place until you get back.” “No. I don’t think I’m coming back today,” I replied. “But thanks though,” I added. “I appreciate it.” She stared at me for a moment more as if she were trying to read my thoughts. Perhaps I looked as
anxious as I felt and everyone could see through me today. I was probably more lively than usual with all this energy.
“Okay.” Sammie took a few steps over to the door and opened it. “See ya later.” “Yeah. Later,” I mumbled, closing the door myself behind her and locking it quickly. I watched her out the window until her car rumbled away down the road before turning on my heels and making my way to the back room to get dressed.
I unzipped the duffle back I had carried in this morning and carefully unfolded Carlin’s dress. I ran my hand over the smooth cotton and made sure that I hadn’t wrinkled it by putting it in the bag. It looked perfect still. I wiggled off the clothes I had worn to the store and put the dress on over my head. I pulled it down over my hips and turned around to look at myself in the bathroom mirror. It was tighter than I usually wore my clothes, but it wrapped around my body as if I were made for it. I bunched up my hair onto the top of my head and wrapped a hair tie around it. Then I put what seemed like a zillion pins in it to keep it secured in place. I then proceeded to put on a thick coat of foundation on my face, followed by powder. I added some gray eyeshadow to match the top of the dress and black eyeliner outlining the edges of my eyes. A shimmery cherry-red lipgloss polished my lips. Lastly, I reached for the blonde wig and placed it on my gathered up ball of hair. I stood back from the mirror and gave myself a look over. I started laughing out loud. Who was that staring back at me? I definitely felt as if I had accomplished what I had set out to do looks-wise. I was completely unrecognizable. I looked business-like, professional enough to be able to pass as Emry Logan’s attorney. I put large silver hoops in my ears and added a layer of pale pink blush to my cheeks. I stared back at myself for a moment longer. I looked beautiful.
“Thanks so much, Carlin,” I mumbled to myself chuckling as I picked up my black dress coat that my parents had bought me for church years ago that I think I had only worn a couple times. I tossed it over my shoulder and flicked the light off as I turned to go out of the store.
During the drive down to the prison, I tossed names for myself back and forth in my head. What sounded lawyerly? I ran through the entire alphabet sifting through names that popped into my head. Before I knew it, I was pulling into the parking lot. I parked the car and turned off the engine. I crossed my hands in front of my lap and took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. My heart was thumping away uncontrollably. I closed my eyes for a moment and concentrated at the task at hand. Emry. Then I opened them, pressed my lips together in the rearview mirror, checked my teeth and exited the vehicle.
Here we go , I thought to myself. Amelia Roberts it is. I repeated the name a couple of times to myself as I walked so I wouldn’t stumble and mess it up, my black high heels clicking loud on the cement. I walked cautiously as I wasn’t used to this kind of shoe, but I knew I had to play the part and walk in quick, long strides as I imagined a high-class attorney would.
Once inside the main entrance of the prison, my eyes immediately met with the woman positioned behind the plastic screen at the front desk. I recognized her as the same one that had been there when I had first stepped into this place to pass out my father’s brochures. What was her name again? I searched my memory for the answer. I believe Buck had called her Tiff. I walked toward her and tried to keep my head held high, my shoulders back. Professional, I reminded myself.
“Can I help you?” she asked, sounding more annoyed than desiring to be helpful. “I’m here to see a client of mine.” I tried to steady my voice as the nerves were getting the best of me. My stomach felt instantly sick as anxiety took control over every inch of my body. She raised her eyebrows impatiently. “I’ll need your name and the name of your client.” Remain calm, Anna, and maybe she won’t ask to see ID that you don’t actually have. “Of course. Amelia Roberts, here to see Mr. Emry Logan, please.” I rested my hand on the little ledge in front of the plastic screen and tapped my fingers as if impatient that she was keeping me waiting. In reality, this short, stout woman intimidated me. My eyes drifted over to the rows of desks on the other side of the large room. To my surprise, just about every policeman sitting there had their eyes locked on me. I felt my heart rate increase again at the realization and dizziness hit me. My eyes moved from face to face to see if Buck was among them, but he wasn’t there. Why were they looking at me? Did I really look that stunning, or was it because they could see through the act and I looked like a clown to them?
“Here,” Tiff said in her flat tone. I turned my attention back to her. She was holding up a plastic card that I assumed was some sort of pass to get back to where I needed to be. I hoped she wouldn’t assume I knew where I was going, because I had no idea how to get back to where Emry was. I took the card from her hand. I almost thanked her but decided against it. The attorney I was going for certainly wasn’t the polite type.
“Paul will take you back to where you need to be,” she told me. “Paul!” she called out, flailing her arms above her head, motioning toward someone. I watched as a tall, gangly man with blonde hair so light it could almost be mistaken as white, stood. I heard a few of the policemen sneer and make comments to him as he awkwardly seemed to trip over his own feet at first before falling into a stride and walking hesitantly toward me.
“Paul, take Ms Roberts back to cell number three-three-seven,” Tiff instructed him. He said nothing but merely nodded his head and took off toward the doors just by the policemen’s desks. I stayed a few paces back and tried to swallow my fear as I knew that every eye would be on me as I walked by them. It felt awful to be the center of attention, a position I was certainly not used to. I prayed that I wouldn’t trip over my own feet and tried to make my legs take the same long, quick steps that I had practiced when coming in from the outside.
The heavy doors closed behind us, shutting out the group of policemen that had just been staring at me. I felt so relieved to have gotten away from them, to have fooled Tiff and that my plan was working. I felt a boastful smirk cross my lips as I followed Paul down a corridor. He said nothing to me, and I wondered if he was shy or just the type of person who didn’t like to mak
e small talk with others. Nevertheless, I was grateful that he was the one leading me back into the depths of the prison.
We walked down more hallways. We were now in the midst of prison cells as inmates whistled and called out to me as I walked by. This time it didn’t bother me. I didn’t even care. I worried more about the other officers looking my way than these men locked up in their cells. I didn’t look their way or flinch as they made their remarks. I walked behind Paul with my head facing forward and my shoulders back. I was Amelia Roberts for the day. I was a big shot attorney. I was a professional.
Paul stopped in front of me and turned. “I’ll go get him.” What did that mean exactly? Did he want me to stay here and wait or was I supposed to know where to go? I watched him walk down the corridor alone the whole way to the end where I knew Emry was. I felt a throb in my head with a sudden ache in both my temples. Adrenaline surged through my veins. Paul was far away now, but I could still see his arms lifted up in the air as he unlocked the entrance to Emry’s cell. A loud click and a buzzing sound as the door came open, echoed down the hall, and I squinted to see clearly as a thin, tall figure emerged into the corridor, his hands being handcuffed in front of him, his head lowered. Emry.
And then suddenly they were both walking toward me. My heart pumped faster, if that was even at all possible. The palms of my hands began to sweat as I folded them in front of me and intertwined them together. Another policeman came up from behind me.
“You’re Emry Logan’s attorney?” he asked.
I turned to face him, hating the fact that I had to turn away from Emry as he was only yards away from me now. I nodded.
“You can come with me.” He seemed friendlier than Paul. I followed him to another room just around the corner. It had a more casual feel to it than the shadowy corridors that contained the jail cells and inmates within them. There were a few pictures of art on the wall, a large desk and chairs positioned around it. There was a glass door at the back of the small room that seemed to lead outside as the sunlight drifted in, giving it an even more pleasing feel.
Strange in Skin Page 11
