Evans Creek Book 2: In Good Hands

Chapter 31

By the end of the second week, Suzie was going absolutely mad. She moved herself back upstairs, even with Rowdy loudly protesting.

She started wearing her own clothing a few days ago and while she was still tender, at least it no longer felt like barbed wire cutting into her. During dinner, which she ate at the table for only the third time since the accident, she announced that she talked to Ger.

"I'm going to work tonight, but only for three hours. She won't let me work longer than that." Suz chuckled.

Rowdy's fork clattered to his plate.

"What?"

"Why didn't you mention this to me?"

"I did." She said defensively, not really understanding why he was so surly all of the sudden.

"I meant, why didn't you mention this to me before you called Ger. You were still under police protection the last I knew. I just talked to Carl this morning, and unless you know something that I don't, since they cleared the other man that they had in custody they haven't arrested anyone new."

"I told you yesterday that I wanted to get back to work soon. You agreed that it would be good for me to start getting into my normal routines."

"I didn't mean that you should just go back to the way things were before the robbery!"

"I know you didn't." Suzie frowned. Rowdy was growing increasingly upset and Brody was beginning to sense that there was trouble in paradise. He'd stopped eating and was looking anxiously at Rowdy. "Rowdy, you're scaring Brody."

"No, I'm not." He growled, attacking his meatloaf and taking a large bite.

Suzie watched Brody carefully. He seemed satisfied that Rowdy returned to eating and ceased to scold. The boy returned to eating as well.

Glad that things had settled down, she took another bite, but found that her appetite had soured. Even though she'd been able to eat food the last few days, she hadn't been able to eat much yet.

Rowdy remained silent through dinner, and Suzie felt that this was the calm before the storm. She could see that he would talk to her rather sternly after Brody was safely tucked into bed. Unfortunately for her, Ashley had come to visit earlier, and their meal was delayed. Brody rubbed his eyes, oblivious to the gravy and mashed potatoes that he left in place of eye shadows.

Suzie chuckled.

"Silly baby."

"Silly Mama." Brody chuckled and rubbed his eyes again.

"Silly Mama is right." Rowdy growled, pushing his plate away. "You clear the table; I'll get Brody cleaned up and changed."

He didn't leave it open for discussion. Before Suzie could stand, Rowdy had Brody free of the high-chair and was headed upstairs.

Suzie used the time to try and organize her thoughts. It was clear that she was in for an argument and it struck her as strange. She'd never had anyone to argue with before. She'd disagreed with Mike often enough, but she'd never dared to voice her opinion when she did. Mike never struck her, but he did intimidate her.

As she cleaned up the table and loaded the dishwasher, she wondered why she wasn't the least bit intimidated by Rowdy.

Rowdy wasn't as tall as Mike was, but he was broader and he was a soldier and a police officer. She had seen him handle disruptive patrons at Dale's on more than one occasion. Rowdy could handle himself well.

So why wasn't she intimidated?

"Suz, you really should have talked to me before you called Ger. At the very least, I need to arrange things with Dennis."