One Summer Evening - One Summer Evening Part 16
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One Summer Evening Part 16

Anger pinched Wilma's features.

Oh dear, Cassie thought. Her mother wasn't used to having anyone tell

her no. That aside, Cassie hated what she was doing, because she wanted

to stay.

Operating the hotel for her mother would be a godsend, something she would have loved to do.

But the risk factor was too great, for both her and Tyler .

"There isn't anything I can say that will make you change your mind?"

"No."

Wilma didn't respond for the longest time. Cassie was as much at a loss

for words as her mother. What now? she wondered. Would Wilma send her packing today out of spite? Probably, but then, she had plans to goanyway, so she might as well hit the road, something that was all toofamiliar.

"Cassie?"

She shook her head.

"Ma'am?"

"I'm dying."

Ohit, man, you look like you just found a bug in your food."

Lester Sullivan hissed an expletive into the prison phone, hopefully

stinging the ear of Spider Hayes, a fellow militiaman with whom he'd

been talking for several minutes.

"You would, too, if you were the one on this side of the glass," Lester said, looking around to make sure no guard was within hearing distance.

It wouldn't look good for them to see him upset. He had to walk the walk and talk the talk if he wanted to have a chance of getting out of this hellhole.

Since he'd been incarcerated, he had been a model prisoner, though it

had nearly killed him to keep his rage boxed in.

Even now, he wanted to explode, rip the table and chairs around him into bits and pieces with his bare hands.

"Hey, man, take it easy," Spider said, as if he could read Lester's

thought.

"Things are gonna be all right. You'll see."

"That's easy for you to say," Lester lashed back. "Your ass is free to

walk the streets."

"Yours will be, too, in no time at all," Spider assured him in a cold

tone, while fingering a long scar on his left cheekbone.

Lester gripped the receiver, swallowing another expletive.

"So how are things on the outside?"

"We're making progress every day, gaining new members." "That's good,

real good," Lester said, feeling his hate festering that much more for

what he was missing.

"We sure as hell miss you, though. Things just don't run as smoothly without you." Spider paused, then lowered his voice as if he, too, were paranoid.

"How you planning on git ting out of here?"

"My parents and my attorney are handling that."

"I know you've appealed."

"Ah, that shit takes too long. We're working another angle, one that

damn well better pan out."

"If it's money you need, Mike said we'll do our part."

"Thanks," Lester said.

"At this point, I'm not sure what it's going to take to spring me."

"Is there anything at all we can do for you?"

Lester's eyes turned into cold slits.

"Yep, there sure as hell is."

"Anything. You just name it."

Lester's features turned stone like "Okay, listen up, then don't fuck

up."

Cassie loved to visit with Jo Nell Benson. There was something special

about her impulsive but loyal friend. Her small home had its own special charm, too. It was warm and inviting.

Since Cassie had last seen Jo Nell, neither she nor her house had

changed.

For that, Cassie was most grateful and relieved. She needed Jo Nell andher stability now as much as she'd ever needed her. But then, she hadalways been there for Jo Nell, so their friendship had never beenone-sided.

Jo Nell, who owned and operated a successful beauty salon, had gonethrough an abusive and nasty divorce during the time of Cassie'smarriage to Lester.

Though they had lived apart in distance, they had spent countless hourson the phone sharing their pain and heartache.

Cassie had been the one who had loaned Jo Nell the money to leave herhusband and start her business. Jo Nell had long ago paid back themoney, but she had never taken Cassie's favor for granted.

Now, as Cassie watched her friend finish preparing dinner in her bright,cheerful kitchen, she couldn't help but feel a stab of envy.

Maybe one day she and Tyler would have a place of their own, just thetwo of them.

"Care to share?"

Cassie blinked, then smiled at Jo Nell, who had stopped what she wasdoing and was staring at her. For a moment Cassie stared back, thinkinghow little her friend had changed during the intervening years.

Jo Nell was still as pretty and slender as ever, which seemed to add toher height of five foot ten. Cassie had encouraged her to become amodel, thinking she would be perfect, with her dark brown hair,sparkling brown eyes and beautiful teeth.

Unfortunately, that had never come about, because Jo Nell had gottenmarried and barely managed to survive, much less pursue a high-profile career.

Besides, Jo Nell wasn't bent that way. She had declared she was toooutspoken and opinionated to work with a bunch of weirdos.

"Something's sure cooking inside your head, girl," Jo Nell said atlength.

"You haven't said ten words since you got here."

Cassie smiled.

"For one thing, I haven't been here very long, and for another, we'vebeen too busy hugging each other to talk."

"I can't argue that, and it felt damn good, too, even though I felt likeI was squeezing a bag of bones."

Cassie laughed outright.

"How did I ever make it without your big, sassy mouth?"