Playing with Fire by Amy O'Neill Page B

writer on one of them shows.”
    Delphine tied up the garbage bag in
her hands and dropped it into the large waste basket on the front
of the cart. “What did you dream about being when you were
younger?”
    Noelle pushed the cart out of the room
and onto the sidewalk. “I didn’t really dream it. My thoughts were
just on helping my momma around the house. I started working when I
was twelve cleaning shelves at the little grocery store on the
corner.”
    Delphine stared at her, but Noelle
ignored it and kept moving to the next room.
    “You didn’t pretend to be a doctor or
a dancer or a singer or anything?”
    Noelle shrugged. “Me and Momma used to
sing to the radio all the time and dance round the living room, but
we weren’t thinking of being famous or nuthin’.”
    Delphine unlocked the next door and
pirouetted into the room. “I was a dancer when I was younger. Then
I married my first ex-husband and got pregnant with my daughter and
my body’s shape went from dancer to Great Aunt Francis. Loved the
woman to death, but she had hips wide as the Grand
Canyon.”
    They laughed until they were nearly in
tears.
    Still chuckling, Noelle finally went
to tackle the bathroom while Delphine stripped the two queen beds.
As she cleaned the sink, Noelle tried to think about what Delphine
had asked.
    A few minutes later, as she returned
to the main room, Noelle dropped the towels in the laundry bag and
grabbed a fresh set from the cart.
    “A mom. All I ever wanted to be was a
mom, just as wonderful as mine.”
    Delphine looked at her and smiled.
“You’re gonna be a great mom someday Noelle. I can tell. You have a
good heart.”
    Noelle smiled. “Thank you.”
    They took a break for lunch and
Delphine drove Noelle to the local shopping center to buy a
pre-paid phone.
    “When we get back to the motel, take
the rest of the afternoon off. There are only a few rooms left to
clean, I can do those myself. You should call your friend and let
her know you’re alright.”
    Noelle gave Delphine a hug. “You are
so nice to me Delphine. Thank you for all you’ve done.”
    Delphine waved her off. “Oh, stop. The
last thing I need is to get all misty eyed and make my mascara
run.”
    Noelle kissed her soundly on the cheek
and returned to her room. After fighting to open the clear plastic
package for several minutes, she finally got it out and followed
the instructions to get it working. Once it was charged, she dialed
in LuAnn’s number.
    After several rings, LuAnn finally
picked up. “Hello?”
    “Hi, it’s…”
    “Oh, sorry. You must have the wrong
number.”
    The line went dead. Noelle stared at
the cell phone and hit redial. Something in LuAnn’s voice wasn’t
right.
    Noelle realized what was wrong soon
enough because this time when the phone was answered it wasn’t
LuAnn – it was Lenny.
    “Noelle, is that you?”
    She bit her lip and stayed quiet. Her
heart pounded in her ears at the sound of his menacing voice.
Noelle prayed that LuAnn was safe.
    “I know that’s you, Noelle. I swear to
God in Heaven when I find ya you’re gonna regret the day you
left.”
    Something in Noelle flipped - a hidden
switch that only time and distance seemed to bring out. “Lenny, the
only thing I regret is ever being with you. I swear if you hurt
LuAnn I will make sure your ass fries. You’re a mean, hateful man
and the best thing I ever did was get away from your sorry
ass.”
    “You fuc …”
    Noelle hung up, knowing full well the
long string of profanity he was spewing on the other end. It had
been his term of endearment to her for so long.
    She called LuAnn’s son, Mason, and
told him to check on his momma. Mason hated Lenny and would have no
problem breaking open a can of whoop-ass on him if he so much as
touched a hair on LuAnn’s head.
    As Noelle walked to into the bathroom,
she paused at the mirror and winked at herself, feeling freer than
ever for finally telling Lenny what she thought of him. Well, it
wasn’t