She Talks to Angels | {BOOK 2}

84|Apple Pie Life

From an outsider's perspective, life inside the pale yellow house with the white trim and white picket fence on the corner of 21st and Grove was no different than any other household. The family that lived there moved in one sunny day and just melded into the community. Yes, all the other women on the block might have stared at the man longer than was strictly decent considering they had husbands of their own, but said husbands were just as guilty for staring at the woman. It couldn't be helped, really. The couple were both attractive and, as anyone could tell just from observing them, madly in love with each other.

However, even stronger than the love they had for each other, was the love they both held for the young girl that had lucked out in the gene pool. She was the perfect blend of him and her: her bright, fiery red curls and smile, his bright, bottle green eyes and multitude of freckles. He worked for a local mechanic in town and she was a stay-at-home mom dutifully volunteering at the daughter's preschool and helping out around the community. They had the picture perfect, apple pie life.

However, if said outsider were to spend just 24 hours looking, really looking, closely at the little family's lives, they'd begin to notice the imperfections in the perfect life. For example, the couple; they would take turns comforting each other at night because one or both of them would wake up gasping from a nightmare. Or she would survey her surroundings when she was on her way to drop off her daughter, eyes darting to the shadows that most people would pay no mind to. Or he would spend just a few extra minutes while she put the child down at night to check on the occult looking symbol under the rug and the lines of salt that ran along every window sill and along the doors that led to the outside.

Yes, Dean and Eleanor Johnson had become quite the steeples in the community along with their daughter, Madelaine Rose, despite their paranoid behavior that to the untrained eye went unnoticed. Everybody loved them, but, as with most good things in life, their presence couldn't last long.

⁘

"Alright, that's a wrap. We'll pick this up, same time next week."

I slipped my notebook and pen into my purse as everyone at the table started to also pack up and leave. My phone chimed and my lips, painted a bright red, turned up in a smile when I read the accompanying text.

>> Got off work early. I can pick up Maddie and take her to her playdate. You take your time getting home. xo

<< Sounds good. There's an apple pie waiting on the counter in the kitchen. Help yourself. See you soon. xo

"Ellie?"

I glanced up to see my next door, Diana. Her daughter Hannah was in Maddie's class.

"Hi, Diana. How can I help you?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come get a late lunch with me and some of the other ladies. I understand if you have to be somewhere."

"Not at all," I shook my head. "Dean got off early, so he's taking Maddie over to Aurora's house. I've got some time."

Diana smiled, glancing over to some of the other ladies lingering by the door to chat.

"Perfect. Shall we?"

She linked her arm through mine, guiding me over to the group. There was some more small talk until we all headed out to our cars to head to a local café on Main Street. We got to the table, and I purposefully sat in the chair that allowed me a view of all entrances and exits, though none of the others seemed to notice.

"So, Eleanor," Amelia spoke from the head of the table. "Tell us again how you managed to snag that handsome devil you call a husband."

Everyone fell silent, staring at me expectantly.

"Oh, I don't know," I smiled. "I feel like I tell that story every time we all go out together."

A chorus of pleases echoed from around the table as they all continued to stare at me.

"Fine. Fine, alright then. Well, as you all know, Dean and I met when we were little. He would come around my father's shop with his dad and brother from time to time and we'd hang out. Anyway," I sighed, a wide smile on my face as I recounted the story.

"Fast forward a few years, we're all grown up, I hadn't seen him in a while, and one day he walks back in and asks me on a date. Naturally, I didn't immediately say yes, because, again, I hadn't seen him for a while and now all of a sudden he wants to take me out."

A couple of the ladies giggled at that.

"Well, Dean being Dean, he just didn't give up. He kept coming back once a day, and would ask me the same question, 'Will you go on a date with me?' And every day I said 'no', until one day I just got so fed up that I said 'yes'. I would go on one date, and just one, if he would stop pestering me."

"But it wasn't just one date," Denise blurted out.

I joined the other ladies in their laughter as Denise blushed at her outburst.

"No, it wasn't," I grinned, shaking my head. "One date turned into two, which turned into three, and suddenly, I found myself in a steady relationship with Dean Johnson. That went on for two and a half years, and one day I'd had enough. I sat him down, and said, 'Dean, I want to know where this is going. We've known each other practically our whole lives, and we've been dating for a while now, so what exactly do you expect to gain from this?'"

"He looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights, and just when I thought he wasn't going to tell me, he goes, "Ellie Bear, I love you. I've always loved you. I'll never stop loving you. So, would you do me the honor of making me the happiest man alive and be my wife?'"

Several of the ladies squealed and a couple sighed at that.

"A few months later, we were hitched and not long after that, we had Maddie. And the rest, as they say, is history."

"That's so romantic," Olivia sighed.

"You're so lucky," Diana added.

After that, we moved on to other topics, everyone talking and laughing over our food. Pretty soon, we started to trickle out as we were summoned to our homes by the needs of our families. Diana and I were the last ones to leave.

"You really are lucky," she told me as we left the café. "He's a smart man to have snatched you up when he did. You two deserve each other, I can tell."

"Thanks, Diana," I smiled at her. "You and Richard have a pretty special connection, too."

"That's kind of you to say. You ready?"

"Of course."

I climbed into the passenger seat of her blue Sedan and we drove home.