The Chase by Amber Riel (books to read for self improvement TXT) 📖

car.  “Can we listen to the radio?” Samantha asked, breaking through the peaceful silence.

“Nope,” I replied, trying to not sound rude but making it clear that I wasn’t in a talking mood either.

“Why not?”

“I just don’t want to listen to the radio.”

I watched with part of my left eye as her eyes narrowed and she glanced over at me.  “How come you’re so rude?”

“That’s none of your damn business.”

I knew she wanted to yell at me but she managed to keep herself calm as she bit her bottom lip.  “I’m just trying to start a conversation.”

“Well, I don’t want to talk.”

“I can tell.”

I could feel relief inside of me as she decided to turn her attention out of the window.  I kept my eyes on the road because I didn’t want to look at her or have a conversation with her.  I didn’t want her to break my shield I was hiding behind.  “So, Louis….”

          “I told you already…. I don’t want to talk.”

          “Well, it’s quiet and I’m going crazy just seating in silence.”

“Well, I don’t care.”

She shook her head.  “Why can’t you just at least pretend to be nice to me?”

“Nope.”  Like I was going to let that happen.

 

          I pulled up to the silver gate which was held up by dark red brick walls on both sides of the gate.  I rolled down my side window and stuck my right arm out.  I pressed a button on the security system to alert the security guards I had arrived.

          “Yes?” Heather’s voice come over the intercom.  Her voice was kind of raspy as if she caught a cold but it didn’t sound too bad.

          “Heather, it’s Louis.  I’m here at the front gate with the American girl.”

“Okay.”  With that said, the silver gate opened from the middle, splitting it in half.

When the gates had opened completely, I drove in slowly.

I kind of noticed that Samantha had turned around to watch as the gate closed behind us.  “Annie and Ron live here?” she asked as her attention had moved back toward the beautiful dark brown mansion.  I could tell by her tone that she was amazed.

“Yep.”  I was use to the place so of course there was no enthusiasm in my voice.

“That’s so crazy.  The last time I was here they were still living in that little, tiny apartment.”

I sighed as I placed the car in park.  Once I stepped out of the car, Lainie had run out to greet me.  She was a cute little 4 year old with blonde hair and a smile that could light up a dark room.  “Uncle Louis,” she said as her little arms wrapped around my knees.

“Hey there, little girl,” I replied with a smile.

Lainie’s hazel eyes looked over at Samantha and she stared at the woman with curiosity that could only come from a child.

Samantha couldn’t hold in her smile either.  “I’m your Auntie Samantha,” she replied.

“Oooohhhhh.”  Lainie titled as her mind took in the words and the new person who spoke them.  Children, what else could be said?  “You’re mummy’s sister?”

Samantha nodded.

“You don’t look like my mummy…. My daddy’s brothers and sisters look like him but you don’t look like my mummy…. That’s strange.”

I looked at Samantha as I thought about Lainie’s words.  Her smile had grown and Lainie was right about her.  She didn’t look close to Annie.  It was hard to believe that they could even be related.  I mean Samantha had dark brown almost black hair while Annie had blonde hair.  They both were beautiful women but the relation between them was as if they weren’t even related.

“Time to eat, Lainie,” Annie said as she worked her way out of the door and stepped onto the porch with three or four steps.  “Oh, Samantha.”  She hurried over to Samantha and gave her a hug.  “I’m so glad that you’re finally here.  Now we can catch up on everything in the past few years.”

I watched as Samantha nodded.

“Thank you for picking her up for me, Louis.”  Annie hadn’t taken long to break out of the hug as she turned her attention over toward me.  “You’re welcome to stay and hang out if you want.”

I kind of smiled at her invite.  Now that I was there, I figured that I could spend some time with Annie and Lainie and wait for Ron to get home so we could hang out.  “Sure.  Let me bring your sister’s things to her room.  Want to show me the way, Lainie?”  

“Yea.”  Lainie waited as I grabbed all of Samantha’s bags out of the trunk and close it.  Once I was done, she lead me into the mansion.

 

          I had always enjoyed Lainie’s company.  The child was a joy to be around and even though she wasn’t related to me by blood I felt that she was like a niece to me and I would do anything to keep her safe.  At times, she felt as if she were my child which made me imagine what it would have been like if Christy and I could have shared our joy of having a child if the cancer hadn’t taken her away from me so early.

          “Uncle Louis,” Lainie spoke as she opened the door a deceit size bedroom, “this is where Auntie Samantha is going to be staying….”

          I looked around the room.  It was about the size of my room in my apartment which wasn’t bad.  “Nice choice, Lainie.  Did you help your mum decorate?”

          I watched Lainie nod with wide smile growing on her face.

Dinner Plans

          I placed Sam’s luggage on the ground, figuring that she wouldn’t want me going through her things anyway.  Lainie stood in the room, watching me with her wide hazel eyes.  “Did you go to work today, Uncle Louis?”

          I kind of laughed as I shook my head.  “I wouldn’t be here right now if I had,” I answered as I walked over to Lainie and patted her blonde head.

          “Didn’t your mum tell you that it was time to eat?”

          Lainie nodded with a smile.  “Come with me, Uncle Louis.”

          “Okay.”

          Lainie grabbed my hand and I let her drag me out of the room, downstairs and into the kitchen where Gloria, Walter, and Fredrick were in the process of cleaning up dishes from lunch and breakfast.

          “Can I get my lunch please?” Lainie asked, politely.

          “Why of course, Elaina,” Gloria spoke with a smile.  She was an older woman and was of the working class.  She pulled out a sandwich which sat on a plate and placed it on the counter.

          “I can’t reach,” Lainie said as she tried to reach for the plate.

          “I’ll get it,” I replied as I grabbed the plate and smiled at the three cooks.

          “So good to see you, Louis,” Gloria told me with a simple smile.

          “Same to you, Gloria.”

 

       I lead Lainie into the dining room and placed the plate on the table.  Lainie quickly climbed into the chair and without hesitation began devouring the sandwich.

          “Don’t eat too fast now or you’ll get the hiccups,” I warned her.

          She looked up at me with a full little mouth stuffed with food and smiled.

          “Hey, Lainie, would you want to go to the park today?  Maybe we can see that guy dressed up like Charlie Chaplin again.”

          She swallowed the sandwich as her eyes moved up to look at me.  “Yea,” she answered with awe.

          I smiled and shook my head.  “Alright, I’m going to go let your mum know.  Okay?”

          She nodded.

 

          “Who?  Every guy I seem to meet seems to be a total….” Samantha had begun stating as I stuck my head into the room.

          “Hey, Annie, is it okay if I take Lainie to the park?” I asked.

          Even though my eyes weren’t looking in Samantha’s direction, I knew she had rolled her eyes.  If she only knew what had been going on in my mind, she would have thought twice.

          “Sure…. Um, Louis, why don’t you take Sam with you?  I’m sure that she would love to get out and do something to get fresh air…. She was stuck on that plane for hours anyway,” Annie replied.

          “Annie,” I heard Samantha kind of whisper, almost sounding agitated.

          I gave Annie a look that meant that I didn’t want Samantha around.

          “Please?”

          “I don’t---”

          Annie shot a look at me which told me that I really had no choice but to offer or she would kill me if I hadn’t.

          “Okay,” I muttered under my breath.  “Samantha,” I spoke with agitation in my voice but I tried my best to speak kindly and without acting snotty toward the woman, “would you like to go to the park with me and Lainie?”

          “No,” Samantha replied.  “I’ve had a long flight and I would like to stay here and relax…. Maybe tomorrow or something.”

          I turned my attention back toward Annie.  That had kind of aggravated me.  “See she doesn’t even want to go.”

          “Well it’s just a nice gesture…. Now thank you.”

          “Okay.”  I left because I didn’t want to have to be stuck with Samantha again.  She hadn’t even thanked me for the ride.  At least, I was pretty sure she hadn’t thanked me for the ride.

 

          I walked into the dining room and noticed that Lainie had sat in front of an empty plate.  “Your mum said it was alright, ready to go, kiddo?” I asked.

          Lainie looked up at me and I watched as a wide smile grew on her sweet little face.  “Yea.”

          “Okay come on then.”

          I watched as Lainie jumped from her chair and walked over to me by that time Kathleen a sweet kind hearted woman walked in and picked up Lainie’s empty plate.  “Good afternoon, Louis,” she spoke as she started to leave the room.

          “Good afternoon, Kathleen,” I replied with a smile.  “How are you today?”

          “I’m fine and yourself?”

          “I’m doing alright.”

          “You remind me of my son…. You’re so handsome and such a sweet boy.”

          I smiled at Kathleen’s compliment.

          “It’s always good to see you.”

          “Thanks, Kathleen.  It’s good to see you too.”

          The maid smiled as she left the room.

          “Come on, Lainie.”

 

          Lainie held onto my hand as she dragged me all over the place until we found the Chaplin impersonator.  The guy was dressed as the tramp from the black bowler hat to the baggy black pants and big shoes.  He even wore the little black mustache above his upper lip.  He managed to keep himself from laughing or speaking as if we were watching a silent movie from the 1920’s.  He wasn’t the same impersonator we had seen before but he seemed to act more like Chaplin had rather than the other impersonator.  It was as if he was possessed with Chaplin’s ghost.   “Go up to him, Lainie,” I told her.  “Go tell him hi.”

          She looked up at me for a moment considering the suggesting then smiled.  “Okay.”  I felt her grip get loose as she released my hand from hers.  She ran over to the