Chapter 1
Chapter 1Avery Johnson lived in Mexico, though this story doesn’t take place south of the border. This story begins in a small, almost unknown town in the north east part of the state of Missouri. Nestled between the acres of corn, wheat, farms and forest is Mexico. In a rather ancient two-bedroom farmhouse, Avery co-habitated with her cousin Sandy, and Sandy’s husband Joshua Cunningham. Avery was in her mid-twenties, and enjoyed living a free-spirited life. She only had a few friends, but she wasn’t close to any of them. Only her cousin has been her best friend ever since they lived together when Avery was six years old, and her mother died from kidney failure.
Avery worked as a waitress and part-time barkeep at Little Woody’s Bar and Restaurant. She found herself to be rather bored with her life, and more than not, very bored with her sometimes boyfriend Mark Andrews. This is why he was a “sometimes” boyfriend: she had been with him for about a year, and there were times that she just didn’t understand why. When she took the time to think about it long enough, she realized more and more that he literally didn’t do anything for her. He didn’t challenge her mind. He didn’t encourage, or support her to be a better person. He just didn’t stimulate her at all. And yet all in all, she continued to hang out with him --- that is how bored she felt.
The short blonde finished wiping down the counter top for the upteenth time in the past hour as another regular walked away with his drink in hand. Leaning her forearms against the bar, she wondered if she would ever get out of this one horse town and do something exciting, meet someone stimulating, or just do something with her life. Mark strolled up to the bar, bringing her out of her reverie as plopped down onto the stool in front of her, and said, “Hey, let me have a Bud.”
She rolled her eyes at him as she begrudgingly got him the requested beverage.
“Hey, what do think about driving up to Hannibal this weekend?” He nonchalantly asked.
Looking at him with skeptical wide green eyes, she was about to question if he was really talking to her. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, why not. We’ll get on the riverboat and see some of the sights. You always say you’re tired of this place. So I figured we should go.”
With a squint in her gaze, and folded arms across her chest, she asked, “And what is really your agenda for wanting to be in Hannibal this weekend?”
“What?” he asked as he tried to feign innocence.
“Oh, don’t give me that, ‘what?’ crap. You never want to go anywhere except to the bar. So, out with it.”
He stroked the bottleneck with his thumb, while averting her gaze. Clearing his throat, he said, “Tommy, at the shop, was talking about the riverboat gambling and how great it was, and that the last time he went, he came home with triple than what he left with. He said this weekend there was going to be a big poker game and the stakes were high.”
“And you believe Tommy even when you’ve known him to be a compulsive liar for the past five years?” she questioned somewhat harshly.
“Look, I’m willing to take that chance. Tommy’s a good friend, and if he said it’s great out there, then I want to take a shot at it.” He finally looked into her eyes, and putting on his best soft and sappy look, he asked, “Don’t you wanna go with me?” He reached out his rough and dirty car greased hand to grab hers. “We can have a really good time. Plus, when was the last time we ever did anything new and different?”
An amber eyebrow rose up her forehead. She knew Mark long enough to know that even though he asked her, this trip wasn’t going to be memorable and fun unless she made it that way. With an audible sigh, she conceded to his request.
Friday early evening rolled around, and Mark and Avery arrived at the bed and breakfast that she booked for them. Before Avery had the chance to settle into the room, Mark was itching to get on with the gambling.
“Come on Avery, we don’t need to spend time unpacking anything. We’re only going to be here for the weekend. Why are you settling in like you’re going to be here for a couple of weeks?”
She spun around with angry sea green eyes, and stated clearly, “Look, I put up with you talking about nothing but gambling the whole way here. This is my first time being somewhere new and different, and I want to enjoy it as much as possible. Now if that means doing things alone while you’re busy with your stupid poker game, then so be it.” She turned her back on him without a further word.
“Fine,” he yelled. Grabbing his room key, he slammed the door as he stomped out.
Avery sighed and shook her head. She knew he was being an asshole as usual, so she was glad when he took off. She had come to learn some time ago that it was better for them to part ways when either one of them was angry because by not doing so only made things worse.
