Meadowview Acres by Donna Cain Read Free Book Online Page A

Leezil. She was pretty and smart. Heather thought maybe she should be a teacher like Julie Leezil. That would be a good career to have when she and Jake got married. She could have summers off to spend with their babies. She thought they should probably start a family pretty soon after they get married. She wanted to be a young mom, so she could get her body back into shape.
    “What’ll it be, guys?” Ms. Leezil asked them.
    “Cherry Coke for Heather and I’ll have a Lemon-Lime,” Jake answered.
    “It’s an exciting game tonight,” Ms. Leezil said as she filled their cups with ice. “It sounds like our guys are tearing them apart out there. I just hope no one gets hurt like last year.”
    Last year, while playing Glovercroft, Mark Knichter was tackled so hard that he had flipped over and landed directly on his head resulting in a concussion and bruising on his brain. He was lucky his spine wasn’t injured, but he had spent a week in the hospital. No one wanted a repeat of that scare.
    Ms. Leezil handed the kids their drinks, collected the money and handed back the change to Jake. As Jake was looking down putting his change away, Ms. Leezil caught Heather’s eye and made a hand motion like she was pulling up her sweater. “You’re showing a lot of cleavage there, Hon.” She whispered. “Pull your sweater up just a smidge.” Ms. Leezil smiled and turned to help the next person in line.
    Heather looked down and saw nothing out of place, so she just turned and walked back with Jake. They found Jake’s friends standing by the forty yard line on the track circling the field. Jake’s friends didn’t play football; they were basketball and tennis guys. Heather thought a couple of them were really cute, but she and Jake were serious, so she tried hard not to flirt with anyone. She noticed them looking at her and smiled inwardly, confident about her “hotness” and loving it. “Maybe I should have a Plan B”, she thought as she smiled at one of the tennis guys. As they were talking, Darren Jackson made a touchdown, bringing the score to 21-7. It was almost halftime, and Heather wanted to find her friends and watch the band and Dance Team perform, so she pulled Jake away, and they went to find seats in the bleachers.
    On their way, Jake ran into another one of his friends and stopped to talk. Heather stood by his side and waited patiently for him to finish. “Like a good wife,” she thought. She heard a crackling noise and turned to see Sheriff Buchanon talking on his walkie-talkie.
    Heather couldn’t hear much more than a few crackling words, but she did pick up “Meadowview on Route 68”, “kids” and “in trouble”. She strained forward to hear the rest, but Sheriff Buchanon had already turned on his heel and was making fast toward the parking lot.
    A weird little feeling crept into Heather’s belly. She knew it couldn’t be Eli. He was home, right? Well, actually, he hadn’t been there when she left with Jake. Heather felt a weird panicky feeling. Suddenly she wanted to go home right away. She didn’t get nervous about many things, but the thought of something happening to her brother made her surprisingly anxious. He was a pain in her ass most of the time, but, after Dad left, it made her feel good that Eli was still there – more secure, safer. She tugged on Jake’s arm and said, “We gotta go. Now.”

CHAPTER 9
    Eli & Hunter
    B y the time Eli had followed Brody back into the house, the dog was nowhere to be seen. He closed the front door and started for Heather’s room to tell her off for being so forgetful and irresponsible. Halfway down the hall, he noticed the door to her bedroom was open. She had already left with Jake for the mall. Doesn’t matter. He would definitely let her know the next time he saw her.
    Next, he went in search of Brody. He just wanted to see if he was alright. The dog had been very agitated in the woods and that was unusual for Brody. He usually loved the woods