Read Online The Lure of White Oak Lake by Robin Alexander - Free Book Online
Authors: Robin Alexander
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either. She walked back inside, wracking her brain, thinking surely there was something she could do that would be fun and useful.
She set her coffee cup on the floor as she sat on the couch and frowned at her laptop. Not a single hit on her résumés. She’d applied for every job she was remotely qualified for. Since she’d graduated college, she worked at Menagerie. It was all she knew, and it was intimidating to know she’d have to start all over somewhere else. Her father had always told her to find a good job and stick with it, but that mentality had gone by the wayside. Corporations no longer wanted experience, they wanted cheap. There was someone else sitting in her desk now, making half her salary, and spitefully, Morgan hoped that Menagerie got what they paid for.
With her foot, she closed the lid to the laptop, no longer willing to look at her empty email inbox, and began to ponder other things. She’d felt as comfortable talking to Jaclyn as she did Celeste, yet she’d never told her best friend why she’d not visited her father more when she learned how serious the illness was. She’d thought a lot about that before she’d gone to bed and chalked it up to the alcohol. But clarity comes in the morning as they say, and Morgan decided that she’d enjoyed Jaclyn’s company, and there was no harm in making a friend. It would make the time she had to spend at the lake tolerable.
Morgan bent down to pick up her cup, wishing she had a coffee table to put it on, and that was when the idea hit her. When she got out on her own, she couldn’t afford much in the way of furniture and had refinished old pieces she found at secondhand stores and garage sales. She could do the same for the cabin, and it wouldn’t cost her much. Furnishings would make it feel more like a home, and she’d have a hobby to keep her occupied.
She grabbed her keys and hit the road. Morgan thought about stopping in at The Lure and asking Jaclyn for the lay of the land but decided that exploring would take more of her plentiful time. At the intersection of Lake Shore and Main, she took a right, where she passed a diner and a couple of old warehouses. A left turn took her into a residential area where small wood-framed houses sat in neat rows beneath oaks and pines. Another left brought her out to White Oak Grocery. She continued on Burberry Street until she came to a building comprised of storage lockers. Several were open with a sign out front that said, “Sale.”
Morgan eyed several pieces with interest as she walked into the office. A portly older woman with thinning brown hair greeted her with a smile.
“I’m interested in a few pieces of furniture you have outside.”
“And I’ll make you a great deal, Morgan. I need to clean out a few lockers, so I’m very motivated.”
Morgan was taken aback. “How did you—”
“Oh, everybody knows who you are. This is a small town, a newcomer makes a splash. I’m Shawna Richard,” she said as she walked around the counter and grabbed Morgan’s hand. “Maddie’s sister-in-law, she’s Jaclyn Wyatt’s sister.”
“Oh, okay, nice to meet you.”
“Atlanta,” Shawna said dreamy-eyed. “I always wanted to go there, but the farthest east I’ve ever gotten was Biloxi. That was before Katrina, mind you. Now my daughter’s been everywhere. She’s at Claiborne now, got married to a nice boy from Jeanerette last year. I went back to my maiden name of Richard after the divorce. Now you want to talk about someone who traveled, that was Charlie. I didn’t mind so much because we bickered a lot when he was home. But then I started seeing lavish dinners on the credit card receipts, and Charlie Boyet was cheap. But when I saw a purchase at,” Shawna lowered her voice to a whisper, though no one else was around, “a purchase at a sex shop, I knew that rotten bastard was cheating on me. Now you want to talk about mad? I put all his things out in the yard and burned them, and that was
She set her coffee cup on the floor as she sat on the couch and frowned at her laptop. Not a single hit on her résumés. She’d applied for every job she was remotely qualified for. Since she’d graduated college, she worked at Menagerie. It was all she knew, and it was intimidating to know she’d have to start all over somewhere else. Her father had always told her to find a good job and stick with it, but that mentality had gone by the wayside. Corporations no longer wanted experience, they wanted cheap. There was someone else sitting in her desk now, making half her salary, and spitefully, Morgan hoped that Menagerie got what they paid for.
With her foot, she closed the lid to the laptop, no longer willing to look at her empty email inbox, and began to ponder other things. She’d felt as comfortable talking to Jaclyn as she did Celeste, yet she’d never told her best friend why she’d not visited her father more when she learned how serious the illness was. She’d thought a lot about that before she’d gone to bed and chalked it up to the alcohol. But clarity comes in the morning as they say, and Morgan decided that she’d enjoyed Jaclyn’s company, and there was no harm in making a friend. It would make the time she had to spend at the lake tolerable.
Morgan bent down to pick up her cup, wishing she had a coffee table to put it on, and that was when the idea hit her. When she got out on her own, she couldn’t afford much in the way of furniture and had refinished old pieces she found at secondhand stores and garage sales. She could do the same for the cabin, and it wouldn’t cost her much. Furnishings would make it feel more like a home, and she’d have a hobby to keep her occupied.
She grabbed her keys and hit the road. Morgan thought about stopping in at The Lure and asking Jaclyn for the lay of the land but decided that exploring would take more of her plentiful time. At the intersection of Lake Shore and Main, she took a right, where she passed a diner and a couple of old warehouses. A left turn took her into a residential area where small wood-framed houses sat in neat rows beneath oaks and pines. Another left brought her out to White Oak Grocery. She continued on Burberry Street until she came to a building comprised of storage lockers. Several were open with a sign out front that said, “Sale.”
Morgan eyed several pieces with interest as she walked into the office. A portly older woman with thinning brown hair greeted her with a smile.
“I’m interested in a few pieces of furniture you have outside.”
“And I’ll make you a great deal, Morgan. I need to clean out a few lockers, so I’m very motivated.”
Morgan was taken aback. “How did you—”
“Oh, everybody knows who you are. This is a small town, a newcomer makes a splash. I’m Shawna Richard,” she said as she walked around the counter and grabbed Morgan’s hand. “Maddie’s sister-in-law, she’s Jaclyn Wyatt’s sister.”
“Oh, okay, nice to meet you.”
“Atlanta,” Shawna said dreamy-eyed. “I always wanted to go there, but the farthest east I’ve ever gotten was Biloxi. That was before Katrina, mind you. Now my daughter’s been everywhere. She’s at Claiborne now, got married to a nice boy from Jeanerette last year. I went back to my maiden name of Richard after the divorce. Now you want to talk about someone who traveled, that was Charlie. I didn’t mind so much because we bickered a lot when he was home. But then I started seeing lavish dinners on the credit card receipts, and Charlie Boyet was cheap. But when I saw a purchase at,” Shawna lowered her voice to a whisper, though no one else was around, “a purchase at a sex shop, I knew that rotten bastard was cheating on me. Now you want to talk about mad? I put all his things out in the yard and burned them, and that was
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