#28 Is that all

I have  to apologize because work/life has been incredibly busy the past week so I have not been able to comment on many of your posts... I am hoping to be able to take some time this weekend and "catch up!"

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Gert told Enis to head on into the diner and that she would follow shortly. She picked up the phone and punched in the numbers. She heard Rich answer with his usual curt hello.

“Rich it’s Mama” said Gert.

“Hello ma, what’s up?” said Rich.

“I don’t know how to say this so I’ll just spit it out. Son, Livie’s here.” Gert said listening for his reaction.

“Livie? Who’s Livie?” said Rich perplexed.

Gert sighed inwardly, relieved that he hadn’t lied to her all these years. Her fear had been that she’d been denied being a grandmother. “Well son Livie says she’s your daughter.”

Silence…

“Ma, is this a joke?” said Rich.

“Son, this is not something I would joke about.” Said Gert.

“Ma, tell me everything this woman has said to you, I need specifics. In my line of work I have to be very careful.” Rich said with a steely edge to his voice.

Gert relayed everything she knew about Livie, she also described what she looked like and told him that she was letting her stay in Rich’s cabin.

“Is that all?” asked Rich.

Gert said yes and Rich told her that he would be home by the end of the day and to not let on who he was when he arrived.

“Let me assess her without her knowing who I am” Said Rich. “If you get the opportunity, go through her wallet and write down anything you can find in her identification and text me the information. I’ll run a check on her.”

“You’ve grown hard Richard” said Gert saddened that her son had grown to be untrusting, but understanding why.

“In my business that’s how you stay alive Ma” said Rich.

The line went dead and Gert looked at the phone frowning. Could Livie have been lying?

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Joe woke up the next morning and turned on the morning news. He made a cup of coffee in the little coffee maker in the room and headed in for a shower.

After showering & dressing he headed across the street to the diner and once again sat at the counter. He ordered the special and watched the news on the TV behind the counter as he ate.

Just as he was finishing his cell phone rang. It was Bud, his car would be ready that afternoon, as luck would have it his part distributor had extra of the parts needed and Bud wouldn’t need to order the parts after all. Joe smiled and agreed to come by around 3:00 when Bud said it should be ready.   

Things were looking up Joe thought. He finished his coffee left his money on the counter and headed back to the motel. He stopped by the office and asked if he could check out late and explained about the car. The owner gave him the thumbs up and Joe headed back to his room to do some work.

Just before 3:00 Joe headed the quarter mile down the road to the service station, paid for and picked up his car. He headed back to the motel and checked out and hit the road again. He figured it would take him about 4 hours to get to Wolf Creek and hopefully not much longer to find Livie.

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That morning Livie went in to help out at the diner and Gert greeted her with a smile. Later that morning while Livie was busy, Gert found an opportunity to go through Livie’s wallet and sent the information to Rich via text.  She hoped her son was just being overly cautious and that Livie was who she said she was.

Later after the breakfast rush she sent Livie on an errand to pick up the mail at the post office across the street and she went in the back to talk to Enis. She explained what was going on and told him to not let on that he knew him when Rich came in around supper time.

“Do ya think she could be lying Gert?” asked Enis.

“I hope not,  I hope I’m not that bad a judge of character” said Gert. “Imagine, a granddaughter Enis!” exclaimed Gert. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Enis smiled and gave Gert a hug. He hoped to God that this young woman was who she said she was.

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Richard Anderson,  checked the data base for any information on Livie. As a high ranking officer in the Special Activities division of the CIA it didn’t take him long to run the security check. He had years of experience leading units of highly trained men who performed unconventional, and often high-risk missions. It had been a solitary life which at times he regretted, but once in, he had moved swiftly through the ranks. People depended on him because he was good at what he did.

As he read through all of the information he found about Livie, it took him back to his younger days with the CIA. He had been careful not to have any long term involvement with women. Knowing that any one of his missions could result in death made him sensitive to the risk he would put a family in. So through the years he had stayed mainly unattached.

Except for Jackie; Livy’s mother.

He closed his eyes briefly remembering her face. He was sad to hear that she was now dead. At the same time he was angry at Jackie. She had never told him. The timing was right. Now it made sense why she had put him off fifteen years ago when he had tried to contact her.

He shoved all of the information he had about Livie, including a picture from her driver’s license and headed for his car. He had to catch a plane to Montana and get to Wolf Creek.

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Is that all?

No I don’t think so… this story will continue. But there is no way I can neatly wrap it all up and finish it in one last post.

So my friends, you’ll have to check back from time to time to see what happens. ;)

What is that saying?

Leave them wanting more? ;)

This is just one of many stories written by a group of  talented writers for 30 days minus 2 - check them out over
at www.weworkforcheese.com