Her Name Was Annie by Beth Rinyu (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📕

Kara could’ve shaved her head and she’d still be beautiful. Not just because she was my daughter either. She was blessed with all the best features, beautiful blue eyes, high cheekbones, and perfect skin. “So, I’ll be home on Tuesday after my exams. Oh, and I have someone I want you to meet.”

“Kara, he or she better only have two legs!”

She let out a loud laugh. “He does.”

“He?” I asked.

“Yeah, I was going to tell you—” She paused for a moment as Jack headed into the kitchen with the vacuum. “Is that the vacuum?”

I nodded.

“Well, if you’re on the phone with me, then who’s vacuuming? Did you get a cleaning lady or something?”

“I don’t know, depending on how good of a job he does, I might hire him.” I moved my phone so the camera was on Jack.

“Dad!” Kara shouted. “What’s he doing there, and why is he vacuuming?”

“Oh, do you really want to know what your dog did?” I put the camera back on me while Jack continued with his duties.

“Wait, Mom.” Kara seemed a little in a panic. “Don’t mention to Dad about me introducing you to someone.”

“Okay…but eventually if this person is really special, he’s going to have to meet him.”

“Yeah, I know…but just not yet. You know he may get all freaked out because of everything that’s going on and want to do some major background check on him.”

“Well, is he hiding something that he wouldn’t want to be found out?”

“What? No! I just don’t want him to get freaked out if Dad starts going all FBI on him.”

“Okay. I’ll keep quiet.”

“So you never answered my question. What’s Dad doing there?”

“Oh…umm.” I realized I was shouting just as Jack turned off the vacuum. “I had a leak under the kitchen sink that needed to be fixed,” I lied, not wanting to spoil the Christmas tree surprise.

“So you asked Dad? You’d always pay people to fix things because you refuse to have Dad help.” Sometimes she was too smart for her own good.

“Oh, show Dad your new hairdo.” I changed the subject immediately and angled the phone away so Kara couldn’t see me mouth to Jack, You’re here to fix a leak under the sink. He creased his eyebrows in confusion. It was obvious he was unable to read my lips.

“Wow, look at you!” Jack said when he shifted the phone in his direction.

“Do I look more sophisticated? Maybe I should be smoking one of those extra-long cigarettes like the women used to smoke.”

Jack laughed. “No. You still look like Kara, just with shorter hair.”

“Damn, I was going for chic and refined,” Kara teased. “So did you fix the leak?”

I widened my eyes at jack and vigorously nodded. “Yup, your shower is all fixed for when you get here.” My nod quickly turned into an equally vivacious shake of my head. Confusion washed over Jack’s face, so I stepped in and took over.

“Oh, Jack, thank you so much, I didn’t know the shower was leaking too. I just knew about the kitchen sink.”

“Oh, yeah.” Jack scratched his head. “I figured I’d check all the water outlets while I was here.”

“Okay…you guys are acting weird.”

I stepped back into the phone view to gauge the look on Kara’s face, and I sensed she wasn’t buying it one bit.

“I’m gonna get going. I have to plan out my last Saturday night here before Christmas break.”

“Well, have fun, and be careful.” Jack smiled into the phone.

“Of course she’ll be careful. She has an FBI agent tailing her,” I said to Jack after we disconnected with Kara. I wasn’t going to lie, I did take comfort in that fact, even if Kara hated it.

“Yeah, although you’d never know it, she actually quit bitching about it,” Jack added.

Max walked out of the laundry room and sat at my feet, staring up at me with those pitiful eyes that made your heart melt. “I know. I know. We didn’t go for our morning walk,” I said. “Do you mind if I take him for a stroll around the block? Then I’ll be right back to help you set up the tree.”

“No problem. I can actually do it while you’re gone.”

“Okay.” I nodded. Of course, he wanted to set up as quickly as possible. I had taken up his entire Saturday morning and was now encroaching into his afternoon.

I hooked Max’s leash onto his collar and we stepped outside with Jack right behind us. As I reached the edge of the driveway, coming in view of the street, a gray sedan that had been parked in front of my house quickly pulled away. Jack, who was standing by the pickup truck, zipped down the driveway, trying to get a glimpse of the vehicle, but it was too late, they were out of sight. I was hoping it was my own paranoia and nothing to do with the circumstances surrounding that day on the beach. When I saw the look of concern on Jack’s face, I knew it wasn’t just my own suspicion. He always had a sixth sense of oddities. I guess after so many years of working in law enforcement it was bred into him.

“Did you see what type of vehicle that was?” he asked, still staring in the direction it had sped off into.

“No. Just that it was gray.”

“Damn.” He let out a frustrated sigh and raked his hand through his hair. Taking a step away, he took his phone from his pocket. When the person on the other end answered, he held up his index finger and motioned for me to wait, then walked to the truck where I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I stood in place, patting Max on the head when he began to whine. “Okay, let’s go for a walk,” Jack said as he approached me after hanging up the phone.

“But I thought you were going to stay here and bring in the tree while I took Max for a walk.”

“Change of plans…let’s go.” He took Max’s