CountryCore Series: Her Lady of the Lake (WLW)

Things Change

Leah woke to Ruth yelping from downstairs and shot out of bed, stumbling against her dresser on her way to the door. Her toe stubbed along the bottom and she hissed as she felt her way around. She was still getting used to her new surroundings since moving there without most of her old furniture. As much as she enjoyed her old things and apartment, this room was something she felt determined to get used to as quickly as possible with the unfettered desire and appeal it held for her.

She cursed under her breath and made her way downstairs, remembering her broken walking stick was pretty much useless now.

"Ruthie? Are you okay?" She called from the bottom of the stairs.

"Hmhm! Fine. Sorry, I had a bit of a scare." She heard some clanging from another room and felt little relief in the calmness to Ruth's voice. She was cooking, which was never a good sign when it came to Ruth, no matter her usual dexterity. "Tommy, help Leah to the kitchen. Her walking stick snapped, remember?"

Leah held out her hand and waited for Tommy to take it, then he led her to the kitchen as he poked fun at her pj's along the way. She pinched his side and he giggled as she reached out toward wherever she hoped the kitchen bar stools sat. Clanging continued to answer her and she sniffed the air.

"Tommy was helping me make some of his famous bacon cakes and Dash got a little excited when he sniffed the pork."

She heard Dash, their puppy and latest addition to the family, whining closeby and smiled as Tommy put her hand on a bar stool. As she sat down, Tommy asked in a giddy tone, "So, you goin' to fill us in on that weird neighbor who kicked Dex's ass off the property? Also, why did she? I'm still missin' a few details on that front as well."

"Umm... She came up when we were having an argument about...his extracurricular activities." There was an uncanny silence hanging in the air and she instinctively reached up to take off her sunglasses, but remembered they weren't there at the last moment, casually brushing her hair from her face. The last thing she needed was to elevate the definite angst in the room, but she also wasn't exactly nescient to the fact her family was about to become quite alarmed. How should I even put this...? "Well...Dex was arrested recently, apparently."

"What the fuck?" Tommy piped in as she heard him sit next to her. She could've sworn she heard his mind racing, he grunted so loudly. "He didn't say a thing when we picked him up. I thought you both were doing well. Although, this does explain why he insisted on driving his truck instead of carpooling, the rat bastard!" Tommy's tender hand was on her back in a second and she knew what was coming before any words left his lips. "Are you okay? What did he do to you? You two really aren't together anymore, are you?"

"Not even close, actually. That's why Ruthie tried to kick him out when he first got here and I should have let her." Leah wiped her sweaty palms along her pajama shorts and sighed. "In fact, I owe you all a giant apology."

"What do you mean, Leah?"

"Dex...is a drug dealer. I found out just before we came here. He'd been freeloading off of me for weeks without my knowledge and when I found out he was basically stealing from me since his friends are just bad liars, I visited his workplace and found out he was let go right around the time he moved into my place." She paused to catch her breath and moaned as she rubbed her forehead, feeling the sting of a tension headache already coming on. "I'm not too proud to admit that I went through his things when I got back home and found different pill bottles and packages that smelled a lot like vinegar in his backpack. Since he had the pills in his bag, I searched up different drugs and their scents and didn't like what I found. Then, I took my latest job and got out of there. So, I apologize for not telling you all of it. I don't know why I didn't, I just..."