Annie's Answer by Pam Andrews Hanson Read Free Book Online Page A

squirmed under his close scrutiny.
    “I can’t stay
long,” she assured him, hoping he’d get the hint and let her out.
    “I’ll walk you
in. Let me turn off the hose.”
    He jogged up
to the house and stepped behind some shrubs, apparently where the faucet was.
Annie bounded out of the car and hurried up to the front door, but he still got
there first.
    Again he
opened the door. Her instinct was to change her mind, but Mattie came thumping
into the foyer on her crutches.
    “Oh, it’s
you,” she said, not exactly a warm welcome. “I didn’t expect to see you until
Monday.”
    “I’m not here
to stay.”
    “Annie’s going
to the mall in Carbonville, the closest one to Westover. Is there anything
you’d like her to get for you?” Nathan asked.
    Did he think
she couldn’t ask for herself? Annie was annoyed but reminded herself it was his
house and his aunt. He was nowhere near as overbearing as Bob Hoekstra, and she
managed to work for him.
    “Now that you
mention it, my watch hasn’t worked since I got here. I think it needs a new
battery. Is that something you could get at the mall?” Mattie asked.
    “There’s a
jewelry store. I would think they could change it for you,” Annie said.
    “Splendid!”
Mattie said with an unusual show of enthusiasm. “I’ll go find it.”
    Annie watched
as the older woman pivoted around on her crutches and headed toward the back of
the house. She was wearing a navy crinkle cloth dress with embroidery on the
yoke—or perhaps it was a housecoat since it hung down to the elastic
bandage on her ankle. It made her look more like a shut-in, although Mattie
always sounded very much in control of her circumstances.
    “I think she
likes you.”
    Annie was
startled to realize how close Nathan had come. Now he was sure to pick up on
the greasy smell lingering on her uniform. It took a few seconds to get enough
composure to answer.
    “I hope so,”
she said. “She’s an interesting lady.”
    Nathan
startled her again by laughing loudly at her comment.
    “That’s a
polite way to put it,” he said, his face still softened by good humor.
    His chin was
bristly, and he didn’t have the fragrance of aftershave she was coming to
associate with him, but she liked his more rugged look.
    “I meant it as
a compliment,” she said, hoping Mattie would burn rubber getting back on her
crutches.
    “I’m sure you
did,” he said, apparently still enjoying some private joke. “I thawed some
lemonade this morning. How about joining me in a glass. I’m pretty thirsty.”
    “None for me,
thanks, but you go ahead. I’m leaving as soon as Mattie brings me her watch.”
    “You’re
assuming she actually brought her watch with her from Iowa. And that she’ll be
able to find it in the next half hour.”
    “She seems
exceptionally well organized to me,” Annie said with an edge in her voice.
Sometimes Nathan didn’t seem to have a very good opinion of his great aunt.
    “She is,” he
agreed, “but when my father chartered a plane  to get her, she tried to
bring half her possessions with her. She couldn’t stand leaving anything behind
if it wasn’t damaged beyond saving. And she wouldn’t hear of storing anything
in our attic. Everything she brought from Iowa is in her bedroom.”
    “That’s so
sad,” Annie said. “It must be a way of hanging onto her past.”
    “I guess,”
Nathan said, walking over and sitting on one of the lower steps. “Since she
doesn’t have children, I guess I’ll have to deal with her hoard some day. My
father doesn’t have the patience and my mother—let’s just say sorting and
cleaning isn’t her thing.”
    “My
grandfather mostly hangs onto books. He built floor-to-ceiling bookcases in his
bedroom and sitting room. I think he intends to leave his collection to the
church, but meanwhile he spends a lot of time organizing and cataloguing them.
Guess you could call it his hobby.”
    “Come sit
down,” Nathan said, patting the step beside him.