Passion in James County XIV: A Week In The Mountains
Before they left the Bobar cabin, Frankie got some things out of the refrigerator and put them in a bag. While he did, he informed Kay he planned to make his special meatloaf for dinner that night.
Kay was glad the young man was thinking about cooking. It meant he was starting to think about the future and was getting his mind off his loss, even if only for a short while. She was both saddened and gladdened by the things that had happened to them. As awful as what they'd both been through had been, they'd managed to weather the tragedy together so far and it seemed to have brought them even closer. She thought it was ironic that Stu had no idea what a favor he'd done her by telling her he wanted a divorce.
"I'll get started on the meatloaf right away," Frankie said when they arrived at Kay's cabin. He took his bag of groceries and walked into the kitchen. "Why don't you have a seat and relax while I get supper together?"
"If you keep this up, you'll spoil me, Frankie," Kay told him.
The young man grinned. "I don't plan on cooking every night," he teased. "Just tonight. After this, it's up to you. I want to find out whether you can cook, too."
"All right," Kay replied, and started for the living room.
"Darn," Frankie said.
Kay stopped and turned around. "What's the matter, Frankie?" she asked.
"I'm sure I brought some breadcrumbs along," the young man replied. "I remember taking them out of the cupboard and putting them in the bag."
"Maybe they fell out of the bag when you put it in the car," Kay said. "I'll go out to the garage and look."
"I'll go," Frankie said. "You don't have to."
Kay shook her head. "You work on the meatloaf," she said, starting for the door. "I'll get the breadcrumbs out of the car. If they're not there, I'll run out to the store at Mott's Landing and get a can." She opened the door, went out, walked across the driveway, and into the garage.
The container of breadcrumbs was lying on the floor in the back of the car. As Kay suspected it must have fallen out when Frankie put the bag in the back seat. She bent down, picked it up, closed the car door, turned, and jumped. Ronny Amos, frowning, stood near the back of her car.
A feral smiled formed on Ronny's face and his eyes traveled boldly up and down Kay's body, making her cringe. She didn't like the cold, feral look in the young man's eyes and felt a little frightened.
"Hey, there, babe," the young man said. "How you doin'?"
"What...what do you want here?" Kay replied. She was getting more and more frightened. She didn't like the young man and the look in his eyes scared her. Why had he come up here like this?
"I figure you, or Frankie, ratted me out to that fuckin' cop, Greg," Ronny said. "You guys cost me one of the best pieces of ass I had in a long time, and I figure you owe me. I think, maybe, you oughta fill in, don't you?"
Ever since the day of the fatal crash, Ronny had been stewing over what Greg had done to him. He was angry at Greg but he was afraid of the deputy sheriff and knew he had no chance of ever extracting his revenge on Greg. However his as his anger kept growing stronger and stronger, it turned into an almost white-hot fury. He decided Frankie and Mrs. Tobin were responsible for what he felt was an injustice, mainly because he thought Frankie was weaker than Greg, someone he could beat up. And he'd been angry about Kay's rebuff, too, so much of the anger he felt toward Frankie came to include her, too.
When he saw them leave Frankie's cabin and go to the place the woman he thought of as "the frigid bitch" had purchased, he followed them and sat watching until he saw the woman come out of the cabin and go into the garage. He decided it was time to act, to get the revenge he'd been wanting for over a week.
