A Catered Mother's Day by Isis Crawford Read Free Book Online

didn’t know that the door to the motel room had slammed shut. Or did she? Maybe she was planning to wiggle her way back through the bathroom window.
    Or maybe Ellen wasn’t going back to the motel. No. She had to. She needed to get her car. She couldn’t just leave it there. And then all of a sudden Bernie knew. When Ellen had been going to the rear of the car she must have had a key hidden underneath the fender in one of those little metallic boxes. Ellen just hadn’t had time to get it. Bernie groaned. She had to beat Ellen back to her Subaru and get that key.

Chapter 7
    B ernie started running again. After a couple of minutes though, she felt shooting pains going up the front of her calves and she remembered why she’d given it up. Shin splints. She kept on going anyway, brushing the ever-present low-hanging branches away from her face as she ran. She’d gone a couple of hundred feet when she stepped on something that stabbed her in her instep. She cursed and kept on going, but then she stumbled on a rock and twisted her ankle. This time she fell to the ground. She was just getting up when Libby bumped into her.
    Libby screamed. They both went down.
    â€œSorry,” Libby said, hoisting herself up. She rubbed her side where Bernie’s elbow had jammed into her.
    â€œJeez,” Bernie said after she’d gotten her wind back. “Watch where you’re going, why don’t you?”
    â€œI didn’t see you.”
    â€œObviously,” Bernie replied. She dusted herself off. Maybe if they hurried they could still beat Ellen back to the Subaru. But when Bernie tried to get up, a searing pain shot through her ankle. “I think I sprained something.”
    â€œFantastic.” Libby couldn’t help herself. Her thoughts immediately went to all the work she was going to have to do by herself. She knew she should be more charitable. She was trying, but she wasn’t succeeding.
    Bernie used a rock outcropping next to her to pull herself up. She took a step and groaned. Her ankle was throbbing. “I think I’m going to need your help getting back.”
    â€œWhat about Ellen?” Libby asked.
    â€œI blew it,” Bernie admitted.
    They both fell silent.
    â€œI don’t hear her. You think she stopped?” Libby asked.
    â€œMaybe. Or maybe she made it to Danbury West.”
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œThat’s the road that goes to Clearview Gardens. It circles back to the motel.”
    â€œYou think that’s what she’s going to do?” Libby asked.
    â€œThat’s what I would do,” Bernie said. “I was hoping I could beat her back to the Subaru and get her car keys.”
    â€œNot at the pace you’re going now, you’re not,” Libby observed.
    â€œMaybe, but she’s got longer to go and she’s not exactly fleet of foot.”
    â€œShe’s faster than you are at the moment,” Libby retorted.
    Bernie didn’t say anything because it was true. Instead, she reached up and repinned her hair.
    â€œPlus,” Libby added, “she did climb out the window and you never thought she could do that.”
    â€œTrue,” Bernie conceded. She thought about the route Ellen was going to have to take. “But if she cuts through the trees, she still has to walk over the field, and back up the road.”
    â€œIf she doesn’t retrace her steps like we are.”
    â€œShe can’t. We’d hear her if she did.”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter. We still can’t catch her, especially since you can’t walk.”
    â€œI can too,” Bernie protested.
    â€œYou can hobble.”
    â€œLimp.”
    â€œSame thing.”
    â€œNo it’s not. Limping is faster.” Bernie took a step to prove her point. She groaned as the pain shot up her leg again. “This might be a little trickier than I thought,” she conceded, stopping and leaning against a tree for