Rain part 9b of 16.
Anne picked up the leash and hung it back on the peg by the door before she walked back to her bedroom through the kitchen. She made a very short stop at the first set of cupboard to her right reached for something behind the various coffee mugs that lined the cupboard and tucked the small item she retrieved in the pocket of her jeans.
“ Tom….” she called and walked to find her husband in their bedroom in the process of changing his pair of khakis to a pair of jeans better suited for the backyard’s BBQ at the Morgan’s “ I didn't hook up Moose’s leash correctly, and she ran outside without a leash” she said.
Thomas, raised his eyebrows, very unhappy hearing her news, “ That damn dog,” he muttered.
Thomas Sutton had never been a dog person. They had owned a couple of dogs once, part of the show of country-people-with-their-dog kind-of-thing. But Thomas never really took care of the dogs. He didn't even knew when the dogs were no longer with them.
With an apologetic smile Anne said,” I think Moose will be at the Graham’s again.”
The Graham’s had purchase Jack’s former house. But they were staying in the city waiting for their first baby’s arrival, so their summer house next door to the Suttons’ was empty. “ You know how unhappy they were when Moose ruined their landscape last time she was loose over there. I will get Moose then walk to the Morgan’s through the trail. You go on ahead take the car and drive to the Morgan’s.”
Only a dozen houses dotted the hill on the western shore of the man-made Morgan Lake. The Morgan’s calls them ‘The Dirty Dozen’. Each house sat exclusively hidden, protected by the private drives that set them apart from the winding mountain road that the public use to get to the other side of the lake where Atlantic Ocean lay. Each house boasted this level of privacy, consequently, each had a very long driveway. But the backyard’s of the homes were connected by a private packed dirt-and-gravel trail. In most cases, it was faster to reach your neighbor’s homes by walking the backyard trail than driving through the well-paved mountain-road out front.
Tom debated with himself the wisdom of his wife’s suggestion but in the end, just like Anne hoped he would, his own gallantry won. “ No. I’ll walk with you.”
“ How are we going to get home later?” It is a different story to walk the trail in daylight and while sober, than to walk the trail in the dark with some alcohol in your blood stream.
“ We can borrow one of the Morgan’s car.“
“ And Moose? Do you think the Morgan’s will mind?”
Tom shook his head and gave his wife one of those charming smile of his. “ Darling, they have more dogs than anybodies we know.”
Anne couldn't help but to return his smile. It was true. The Morgan’s had a penchant for getting a dog or two every year. They have more dogs than the total number of their descendants.
Anne looked at her husband and felt the uneasy pang of guilt inside her heart. How sweet her husband was at that moment. His charming smile and his gallantry to keep her company walking the trail. Thomas had always been a true Southern gentleman. All those years with three beautiful children they had and now a grandchild and another one on the way, Thomas never failed to look after her, his precious wife. But that was it. She was only a precious wife. Thomas was never able to see her as a person who had her own right. The right to feel hurt, the right to be happy. Or not to be his wife anymore.
“ Alright. “ Anne said, “ I’ll go ahead looking for Moose. Meet us on the trail’s first bridge.”
“ Okay.” Thomas said and flashed her another smile, as thought to say, ‘ Meet me on the bridge’ how romantic it sounded.
Anne turned back to the kitchen. A pinch of doubt suddenly sprinkled the resolve of what she was about to do. She had been a good daughter, a good mother, a good wife. Why couldn't she stay that way? She shook her head. No she she couldn't, not after what had been done to her.
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