Christy: A Journey Tale Read Online Free Page A

as she sat easily in the soft leather
of the heated seats. It was soothing and luxurious, but not exactly
something she was accustomed to. She looked over at her daughter’s
hands and then back at her own. She had only taken off her wedding
band to make bread dough or occasionally to clean, but never in
anger and never because she questioned her love for Jack. She vowed
that she would always wear her ring as much to honor him as it
honored the life they had shared.
     

Chapter 4
     
    Jennifer came to a complete stop at the exit
for the cemetery. Her hand instinctively went for the turn signal
when she realized she had no idea where she was going.
    “Where do you want to go?”
    “It doesn’t matter to me.” Mary Beth said as
she stared out the passenger window as if her mind were a thousand
miles away.
    Jennifer tightened her grip on the steering
wheel. She had driven up from Atlanta so the sleep deprivation
combined with her already frayed nerves was not helping her temper.
She had little experience with this part of Nashville, and to be
honest had no idea where she was going. She repeated her mother’s
disinterested response through her mind and her knuckles turned
white. This was her idea. She could at least be a little more
helpful. Her mother looked over at her unsure of her hesitation. In
Jennifer’s mind this only put fuel on the fire, and she might have
said something else to her mom about making a decision when a car
pulled up behind her and honked its horn. It startled Jennifer and
she instinctively looked up at the rearview mirror. In that brief
moment of anxiety all Jennifer wanted to do was get out of the way.
She hit the turn signal with authority, checked the traffic
quickly, and headed right. She knew this direction would take them
toward the interstate and there’s always a place to eat near an
interstate.
    About 15 minutes later they arrived at the
end of a residential area. The rows of ranch style houses with tall
stately trees and lawns professionally cleared of leaves and yard
debris was ending. In the Spring or Fall it was probably beautiful,
but now she was glad to see a little commercialism. There were a
few fast food chains, a movie rental place, and a strip mall
designed to look like an old-fashioned town square. Jennifer didn’t
understand how any developer could justify the cost of such a
design flourish. She knew design had to support differentiation,
but there was no way that was cost effective.
    “A strip mall is a strip mall; anything else
is just a waste of money. Give people what they need and economics
will take care of the rest.”
    She had heard that so many times from her
husband the thought almost seemed like her own. The development
architecture only a few years in vogue could not be justified in a
soft economic market. Handouts and bailouts did little for the
average consumer and even less for the real estate entrepreneur. To
someone like her husband the recession had been nothing more than a
market correction and he ran his affairs accordingly. He cared very
little for fads and ridiculed those who indulged in them. Business
was his life, and it was the only life he had ever known.
    The sight of an O’Charleys in the distance
broke Jennifer from her thought, which was fine because it was
beginning to depress her. She pushed her problems into the back of
her mind and carefully changed lanes to make a left turn into the
parking lot. It was a Thursday afternoon so the crowd wasn’t bad,
but it wasn’t deserted either. Restaurants with empty parking lots
tended to make her nervous. As she pulled in she passed the front
door and guided the car easily into a spot next to a compact. She
tried to make it a habit to stay away from anything that might
scratch her baby.
    “Is this all right?” She said as Jennifer
turned off the ignition.
    “It’s fine,” her mom said in that same
distant tone. Jennifer took a deep breath and looked over at her
mother for a moment. She looked so