Annie's Rainbow

Read Annie's Rainbow Online

Authors: Fern Michaels

TIT FOR TAT
“I'd really like to hear the reason you look so . . . flustered.”
“I don't think,” Annie said, “that you could handle it.”
“I'm a big boy. Try me.”
“I was wondering what it would be like to go to bed with you.” She turned and sashayed past him and out the door. “Coming?” she called over her shoulder.
This is somebody else in my body. This isn't me saying these wild things. I never said anything remotely like that to a man before . . .
She turned to look. He had followed her.
“Sit!” he commanded. “I'll be right back.”
Annie sat. She waited and waited.
I scared him off.
She stood up.
“I thought,” he said, returning, “I told you to sit.”
“I was sitting. Now I'm standing. What difference does it make? You tell dogs to sit, not people.” Annie sat.
“Now close your eyes.”
Annie closed her eyes.
It was the sweetest, the most demanding, the most wonderful kiss she'd ever received in her life . . .
Also by Fern Michaels
The Jury
Vendetta
Payback
Picture Perfect
Weekend Warriors
About Face
The Future Scrolls
Kentucky Rich
Kentucky Heat
Kentucky Sunrise
Plain Jane
Charming Lily
What You Wish For
The Guest List
Listen to Your Heart
Celebration
Yesterday
Finders Keepers
Annie's Rainbow
Sara's Song
Vegas Sunrise
Vegas Heat
Vegas Rich
Whitefire
Wish List
Dear Emily
ANNIE'S RAINBOW
 
 
FERN MICHAELS
 
 
 
Zebra Books
Kensington Publishing Corp.
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
For my friend Helen Kraushaar.
CHAPTER ONE
Annie Clark opened the door to the old-fashioned drugstore. She loved the sound of the tinkling bell hanging from an ancient nail at the corner of the door. For one brief second she wondered if she could steal the little cluster of bells. No, better to tuck the sound into her memory bank.
How she loved this little store. She sniffed as she always did when she entered. The smell was always the same—Max Factor powder, Chantilly perfume, and the mouthwatering aroma of freshly brewed coffee from the counter tucked in between the displays of Dr. Scholl's foot products and the Nature's brand vitamins.
She'd worked here five days a week for the past six years. She knew every item on every shelf as well as the price. Thanks to Elmo Richardson's mother's recipe, she knew how to make and serve the best tuna salad in the world to the students of Boston University. On the days she served cinnamon coffee and the tuna on a croissant, the lines outside the store went around the block. Yes, she was going to miss this place.
As Annie made her way down the aisle, she cast a critical eye over the shelves. Who was going to take her place? Would they love Elmo and the store the way she had? She reached out to straighten a row of Colgate toothpaste boxes.
“Annie! What brings you here today?” the wizened pharmacist asked.
Annie smiled. “I guess I need my drugstore fix for the week. Did you find someone to take my place?”
“I found someone, but he can never take your place, Annie.” The pharmacist twinkled. He looked down at the bottle of aspirin in her hand and clucked his tongue. “You won't be taking those tablets after tomorrow, will you?”
“I'll probably be taking more. Just because I'm getting my master's doesn't mean my troubles will be over. I have to find a job and get on with the business of earning a living. One of these days, though, I'm going to start up my own business. You just wait and see. I'm going to miss you, Elmo. You've been more than kind to me all these years.”
“I don't understand why you have to leave immediately. Don't you think you've earned the right to sleep in for at least a week? What's the harm in delaying your trip for a few days?”
“The rent is up next week. When I get to Charleston and find a place to live, I'll sleep in for a few days. It's a beautiful day, isn't it, Elmo?”
“One of the prettiest I've seen in a long time. Good weather predicted for tomorrow, too. I'm closing the store to attend your graduation,” Elmo said gruffly.
“Really! You're
closing
the store!”
“Yes, and the dean gave me a ticket for a seat in the first row.”
Annie walked behind the counter to hug the old man. “I don't know what to say. My brother wrote to say he couldn't make it. Mom doesn't . . . what I mean is . . . oh, Elmo, thank you. I'll be sure to look for you.”
“I'm taking you and Jane to dinner afterward. Won't take no for an answer. I might even have a little gift for the two of you.” He twinkled again.
Annie laughed. “Don't forget, you promised to write to me. Oh, oh, what's that?” Annie asked, whirling around.
“Backfire. Dang bunch of kids racing their motors is what it is,” Elmo grumbled.
Annie pocketed her change. “I'll see you tomorrow, Elmo.”
“You bet your boots you'll be seeing me. Go on now. I know this is your sentimental walk before it all comes to an end. Walk slow and savor it all.”
Tears welled in Annie's eyes. “I will, Elmo.”
“Git now, before you have me blubbering all over this white coat of mine.”
“Did I ever tell you that you've been like a father to me, Elmo?”
“A million times. Did I ever tell you you were like a daughter to me, Annie?”
“At least a million times,” Annie said in a choked voice.
“Then git!”
Annie fled the store, tears rolling down her cheeks.
She rounded the corner, walked two blocks, sniffling as she went along, before she cut across the campus parking lot. She was aware suddenly of running students, shrill whistles, and wailing police cars. She moved to the side to get out of the way of a careening police car, whose siren was so shrill she had to cover her ears. “What's going on?” she gasped to a young girl standing next to her.
“The cops just shot someone. I think he's dead.”
“Was it a student?” Annie crossed her fingers that it wasn't someone she knew.
“I don't know,” the girl said in a jittery-sounding voice.
Annie advanced a few steps to stand next to a police officer. “What happened, Officer?”
“Two guys robbed the Boston National Bank. One of them got away, and the other one was shot.”
“Oh.”
“Move along, miss, and be careful. Until we catch the other guy, don't go anywhere alone and keep your doors locked.”
“Yes, yes, I will.”
Annie weaved her way among the rows of cars, passing her own Chevy Impala, the bucket of bolts that would hopefully get her to Charleston, South Carolina, the day after tomorrow. Parked right next to her car was Jane's ancient Mustang. She took a moment to realize the windows were open in both cars. Neither she nor Jane ever locked their cars, hoping someone would steal them so they could collect on the insurance. It never happened. She shrugged as she eyed the array of cars. Beemers, shiny Mercedes convertibles, Corvettes, and sleek Buicks. All out of her league. Any car thief worth his salt would go for the Mercedes or the Beemers. She shrugged again as she made her way to the small apartment she'd shared with Jane for the past six years.
Annie opened the door to the apartment and immediately locked it.
“Oh, Annie, you're home. Thank God, I was worried. I just heard on the radio that the bank was robbed. I have three hundred ninety-five dollars in that bank. What's it mean? Is that what all the ruckus is about out there?”
“Yes. I was talking to one of the cops, and he said not to go anywhere alone and to keep our doors locked. One of the gunmen got away. My two hundred eighty dollars is in that bank, too. They're covered by insurance, but I'm taking mine out first thing in the morning. How about you?”
“I think we should go now and do it.”
“We can't. The bank is a crime scene now. Tomorrow it will be business as usual. I don't think we have anything to worry about.”
Jane Abbott crunched her long, narrow face into a mask of worry as all the freckles on her face meshed together. Her curly red hair stood out like a flame bush as her paint-stained fingers frantically tried to control it. Annie handed her a rubber band. “I'd kill for curly hair,” Annie muttered.
“Not this hair you wouldn't. I've been cursed. As soon as we get to Charleston, I'm getting it cut. We're doing the right thing, aren't we, Annie?”
“I think so. We promised ourselves a year to work part-time and to do whatever we wanted before we headed for the business world. It won't be like we aren't working. We proved we can live on practically nothing for the past six years. We can do it for one more year. You're going to paint, and I'm going to serve coffee and tuna sandwiches in a hole in the wall. It is entirely possible we'll become entrepreneurs. We agreed to do this, and we're not switching up now.”
Always a worrier, Jane said, “What if our cars conk out?”
“That's why we decided to take both of them and follow each other, remember? If that happens, we ditch one car and transfer our stuff to the other. It's not like we have a lot of stuff, Jane. Clothes and books, that's it. We can do this, I know we can. Guess what, Elmo is coming to our graduation and taking us to dinner. I didn't tell him about the part-time thing or our hope to go into business. He'd just worry about us. He said he might even have a present for us. We'll be just like everyone else who has someone to kiss and hug them when it's all over. We'll be friends forever, won't we, Jane?”
“We lasted six years, so there's no reason we can't last sixty more. That will make us eighty-six, and at that point we probably won't care if we're friends or not.”
Annie laughed. “What's for dinner, or are we going to grab a burger and fries?”
“I'm throwing everything in the fridge in one pot. Whatever it turns out to be is what we're having for dinner. Everything's ready for the new tenant. Sunday morning we'll get up, strip the beds, and roll out of here as soon as it gets light. Do you want to pack up our cars tonight or wait till tomorrow night? Bear in mind that we'll probably be drinking wine with Elmo tomorrow night. We'll have hangovers Sunday morning. It's your call, Annie.”
“We can do it after dinner. Instead of taking all our books, why don't we sell them to the exchange? We can pick up a few dollars, and it will be less of a load on our springs and shocks. It will give us more room for your paintings. There's no way you're leaving those behind. Someday you are going to be famous and these first paintings of yours are going to be worth a fortune.”
“I love you, Anna Daisy Clark. You always make me feel good. We're both going to be famous someday,” Jane said, hugging her friend. “I just hope it's sooner than later.”
“We've worked like Trojans for six years. We held down jobs, and we're graduating in the top ten percent of our class. I think that says something for both of us.”
“Don't forget you helped your brother with your mother's nursing-home bills. I'm sorry she can't be here, Annie.”
A lump formed in Annie's throat. “She'll be here in spirit. I hope I make enough money someday so I can transfer her to one of those places that has rolling green lawns and lots and lots of flower beds. She still loves flowers and gardening. She has little pots of flowers on the windowsill of her room. Sometimes she forgets to take care of them. I'll be able to visit her more often so that's a plus.”
“We'll both visit her. If I make more money than you, and that's probably the joke of the year, I'll help you with her care. I never knew my parents, so that will make me happy. Is it a deal, Annie?”
“It's a deal,” Annie said solemnly. “You know what, Jane? I know there's a pot of gold at the end of our rainbow. I just know it.”
“The eternal optimist!” Jane laughed. “Tell me, are there any red-blooded men at the end of that rainbow?”
“Of course. They're going to sweep us off our feet and make us live happily ever after. Of course I don't know exactly when that's going to happen, but it will happen.” Annie caught the dish towel Jane threw at her as she made her way to the end of the hall and her bedroom.
In her room with the door closed, Annie allowed her eyes to fill with tears. Tomorrow would be the end of the long road she'd traveled these last six years. The optimism Jane saw was just a facade for her friend's benefit. So many times she'd wanted to give up, to just get a job that paid decent money, to live in a place that didn't crawl with bugs. She was tired of counting pennies, of eating mayonnaise sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, greasy hamburgers and drinking Kool-Aid because it was cheap. At times she resented the mind-boggling monthly sums of money she had to send for her mother's care. Tom had a good job, but he also had three small kids and a demanding wife. He paid what he could. Tom didn't have student loans the way she did. Tom ate steak and roast beef. She hadn't had a steak in two years. How, she wondered, had she managed to survive all these years sleeping just a few hours each night, studying and working?
If you persevere, you will prevail
, she told herself. She'd done just that. One more day, and it would be the first day of the rest of her life. An adventure. And she was ready for it.
God, I'm tired.
 
 
Annie woke two hours later when Jane banged on her door, shouting, “Annie Daisy Clark, dinner is now being served!”
“Be right there.”
“This looks, uh ... interesting,” Annie said when she took her place at the table.
“Not only is it interesting, it's delicious. If you don't like the way it tastes, spread the rest of the grape jam over it. At least it will be sweet, and there isn't any dessert. Let's go get an ice-cream cone later. My treat.”
“I'd love an ice-cream cone. Shhh, the news is on. Maybe they caught the other guy. I don't know why but that whole thing made me really nervous.” Annie's eyes were glued to the small nine-inch television set perched on the kitchen counter.
“Wow! They caught him! Like he really doesn't know where the money is. Do you believe that, Annie?”
“I don't know. There were cops everywhere. They didn't say who was carrying the money, the one they caught or the one that got shot. The campus security team is helping the police so they have a lot of manpower. They'll find it. By tomorrow the money will be safely back in the bank vault. We'll go to the drive-through and close our accounts at eight o'clock when the bank opens. You did good, Jane, this was a decent dinner. I never want to eat macaroni and cheese again as long as I live. You cooked, I'll clean up.”

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