Dead Woman Crossing J.R. Adler (early reader chapter books txt) 📖

head stood in front of her. He turned around and gave Kimberley and her juggling act a once-over. “Do you need help with any of that?” he asked, pointing to her bags.

Kimberley’s eyes widened and her brow creased. She wasn’t used to others offering their help, especially coming from Manhattan. In New York City, people are just too busy to stop and help. They’ve got places to be, traffic to get through, subway rides to make, lines to stand in. Everything there is go, go, go. They’re not mean. They just don’t have the time to be nice.

“Oh, no. I’ve got it,” she said, because she also wasn’t used to accepting help either. Kimberley was the type of person that handled everything herself. It was why she didn’t really have anyone to say her goodbyes to when she left New York. She lived by the cynical idea that the fewer people that were in your life, the less you had to lose.

She remembered where she was though and figured she’d have to change that mindset sooner or later as this gentleman likely meant well.

“Actually, yes. Please,” she said, her own words sounding like a foreign tongue as they left her mouth.

The man smiled and grabbed the small wheeled bag from her. “You from around here?”

“No, but I will be soon, I guess.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“I was born and raised here, but I didn’t realize folks willingly moved to this part of the world,” he said with a chuckle.

“They don’t,” Kimberley snorted, but quickly stopped, and looked up to read the man’s face, unsure whether she had offended him.

The man let out a belly laugh. “Quick wit,” he said. “Well, welcome. You’ll like it here just fine after a time. Oklahoma is like the heels of a loaf of bread. It’s not anyone’s first choice, nor is it as enjoyable or as soft as the rest of the loaf, but it does the job it was meant to do, protects the rest of it from going stale, and hell… it’s still bread.”

Kimberley nodded. “I like that. By the way, I’m Kimberley, and this is Jessica.” She motioned to her daughter with a tilt of her head.

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Frank.” Shuffling bodies in front of him got his attention and he turned his head. “Line’s moving,” he called over his shoulder as he lumbered forward.

Outside the plane, Frank handed over the luggage to Kimberley on the jet bridge, while she grabbed her stroller that the flight crew had already set aside. She placed Jessica in the seat and stuffed her purse and the diaper bag underneath.

“Well, you enjoy yourself, ma’am, and perhaps I’ll see you around,” Frank said with a smile and a wave of his hand.

“Thanks for your help.” Kimberley gave him a nod as he took a couple of steps back and turned around, walking away into the bowels of the terminal.

She bent down to make sure Jessica was secure and that she had everything she had brought with her on the plane. Grabbing her luggage and pulling it behind her with one hand, she pushed the stroller with the other down the jet bridge. This was it… a new start for her and her daughter.

Out in the baggage claim area, Kimberley spotted David, leaning one of his broad shoulders against a concrete pillar near the baggage carousel. She had never met him in person, but had seen and talked to him many times on FaceTime calls with her mom, Nicole, and he had seemed nice enough. Nicole and David had married at the courthouse a few years ago, just the two of them, so he was technically her stepfather and Jessica’s grandfather. Despite being sixty, he was large and barrel-chested, the result of a lifetime of wheat farming. His skin was weathered and clean-shaven, and his hair was a mix of salt and pepper. His eyes were dark, a complete contrast to the soft facial features that gave him a kind-looking face.

David stood up straight and smiled wide when he spotted Kimberley. He made his way to her. His footsteps were heavy, and his great stature towered over hers when he gave her a half hug with a pat on the back. She didn’t know him well, but hoped she’d get to know him better as he was the man her mother loved. Kimberley was grateful for him for providing her mother with a life her father had never done and for graciously opening his home to Jessica and herself.

“Where’s Mom?” Kimberley asked, scanning the surrounding area of passengers hurrying to their baggage carousels. Each unfamiliar face she laid eyes on in the crowd of moving people caused her more and more disappointment.

“Nicole had one of her migraines. So, she’s at home resting, and by resting I mean prepping dinner, as we both know she is incapable of slowing down.” David arched an eyebrow.

“Oh… yeah, that’s Mom for ya.” Kimberley tried to hide her disappointment with a small smile.

She hadn’t seen her mother since Jessica was born as Nicole had only come to the city once in all the time Kimberley had lived there. Kimberley didn’t fault her for that, because she knew her mother didn’t have the money to be traveling back and forth. And she couldn’t be mad at her mother for that either, because Kimberley had never traveled to Oklahoma to visit. She had always been too busy with work.

“How was the flight?” he asked, his eyes never fully making contact with Kimberley’s, always half looking, half scanning his surroundings. A carryover trait from his military days as an artillery officer in the Oklahoma Guard doing security and stability operations in Iraq.

She looked down at her daughter to check on her again. Her blue eyes were wide open, staring up at David, almost as though she was mesmerized by the giant.

David leaned down, putting out his pointer finger. Jessica wrapped her tiny hand around it, her fingers too short to reach her palm. She giggled