“Faith has been in real short supply lately, and I’m not sure of how much longer I can handle the upkeep on this house Louise. I know it would just kill mom to have to move.”
“Honey, we will do what we need to do, your mother would be confused, but I think she would adjust in time,” said Louise. “Let me call my nephew Brent; he’s a good handyman and might be cheaper than a roofing company.”
“Thanks Louise, I don’t know what I would do without you,” said Claire as she stood up and walked across the kitchen to hug her. “I’ll call you this weekend while I’m in Columbia but if anything at all comes up, call me Louise, and I’ll come straight back home,” said Claire.
“You don’t worry about us; we will be just fine,” assured Louise.
Claire walked into the living room and said, “Mom; I’m leaving now,” as she leaned down to give a kiss on the cheek.
Her mother absently patted her cheek and said, “Ok Chrissie; I’ll see you tomorrow,” and went back to her soap opera. Not bothering to correct her, Claire called out one last goodbye to Louise and made her way out the door to where Daisy was patiently waiting. She backed out of the driveway and headed back to Myrtle Beach and her small one-bedroom apartment on the south side.
Chapter Four
Myrtle Beach was a busy tourist town, and rent was not cheap. Claire had been fortunate to find a reasonably priced apartment in a quieter area of town that was a little further away from the ocean than most of the tourist crowd liked. She spotted her neighbor William ‘but call me Billy’ in the parking lot and desperately looked for another parking spot. If she couldn't park on the other side of the complex she would sleep in her car if she had to until he went inside his apartment. The lot was completely full except for her space in front of her apartment so it was either flee or suck it up and park. She could see Billy’s eyes zero in on her immediately as she pulled into her spot.
Billy was on the short side for a man with a pudgy build and hair that looked as if he poured oil straight on it each day to slick it down. He also had a very disturbing habit of ‘adjusting himself’ constantly. Claire could only hope this was a bad habit and not an indication of how much she excited him. She shuddered at the last thought as he strolled towards her in his ‘trying to be sexy way.’ Claire hurriedly stepped from her car and attempted to walk towards her apartment door.
“Hey good looking, long time no see,” began Billy.
“Er… yeah, long time, I’m in a bit of a hurry though.”
Completely ignoring that last line, he continued, “I’ve been trying to catch you at home; I got two tickets to a Neil Diamond show. This tribute band is so good you’d never know the difference.”
“That sounds um… lovely, but I’ll be going out of town for awhile on business and have no idea when I’ll be back.”
“That’s ok; it’s not until next month, and you should be back by then, right?”
“It could be a really long trip,” Claire stressed, “I’ll have to get back to you.”
Claire cringed as he leaned in closer, “just give us a chance Claire, old Billy will rock your world.” Another annoying problem, Billy liked to talk about himself in the third person as well.
Thanks to either good timing or what Claire liked to think of as divine intervention, the neighbor two doors down came out of his apartment and yelled, “Hey Billy, I need a lift to the store man.” Claire took this as her cue to run like hell and took off towards her apartment. She quickly unlocked her door and almost fell inside in her haste.
Claire went straight to the couch and laid down intending to take a short rest before packing for the trip. She shuddered one more time at being cornered by ‘William but Billy,’ and hoped she never got that desperate. It had been well over three years now since she’d actually had sex, three long years and to say that she was so horny she literally followed the hunky mailman around like a stalker was an understatement, but please lord, never let me get that desperate. Maybe it is time for one of those vibrating rabbits like Suzy had been suggesting.
When Claire opened her eyes again, the dawn was just starting to break. She jumped up from the couch with her heart pounding; she’d slept through the night, and it was now 7:00 am. She ran into her bedroom and grabbed a suitcase out of the closet dropping it onto the bed. She began pulling slacks and shirts out and within an hour she was fully packed and ready to leave for Columbia. Claire said a quick prayer to herself that she actually had some clothes that would match as she locked her door and packed the suitcase in her car.