“But this old building was a hundred years old.”
“It’s okay,” Adam said. “We’ll build it like it was. But with better closets.”
Laughing, Aunt Allie wiped her eyes. “Yes,” she said, nodding.
“Yeah,” Adam said, pulling Tabitha against him. “And maybe this time we won’t have those walls between us.”
“No walls?” Tabitha asked, with a smile. She wasn’t certain he was talking about what it sounded like, but whatever he meant, the expression on his face suggested it was something what she wanted, too.
“No walls,” he repeated, with a little nod. “I don’t want you out of my sight ever again.”
“Ever again?” It seemed she could do little more than repeat what he was saying. He didn’t seem to mind, however.
“Nope,” he confirmed. “I want to be able to kiss you every day, all day.”
Tabitha glanced at Aunt Allie, but the older woman just smiled at her. “Out of disaster, comes fate,” she said. “I knew it the minute you two first looked at each other.”
“I did, too,” Adam said, without hesitation.
Aunt Allie and Adam looked at Tabitha, waiting to see if, she too, knew it right away.
She shrugged. “I caught up,” she said, and they both laughed. She wouldn’t tell them that he had her attention before they even met. While he stood outside talking on the phone.
The firemen ushered them further away from the building.
“Where will we stay?” Aunt Allie asked, as it began to sink in that they had just lost their home.
“You’ll stay with my parents,” Adam said, again, without any hesitation.
Tabitha found herself glancing around again, looking for Bobby. Was he still inside? Had he passed out in front of the fireplace. No. He was out there somewhere and until he was caught she wouldn’t feel safe. No matter what else happened.
As though reading her thoughts, Adam squeezed her hand. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Two Days Later
Tabitha tossed her bags onto the bed. A day of shopping in Boulder with Aunt Allie and Gloria Patton had left her exhausted.
She’d sent Adam a text two hours ago, before they headed out of Boulder, heading back to Adam’s parents’ house, but hadn’t gotten a response. She fought off the anxiety by nurturing a mad.
By the time she had unpacked her things, not even bothering to look at what she had bought, she had worked herself into a state. Going into the bathroom, she scrubbed her face, and brushed her hair. She changed into her pajamas - her new pajamas and decided to go to bed.
She had no sooner crawled beneath the blanket when someone knocked on her door. She bounced out of the bed, went to door, and hurried away from it. “Who is it?” she asked.
“I’m me,” Adam answered.
“Just a minute,” she called, ran into the bathroom to check her appearance, then went back to the door, squared her shoulders, and pulled it open.
He held his arms out to her and her mad dissipated.
She went into his arms, leaned her cheek against his chest, and held on tight. They held each other like that for several minutes, neither one willing to be first to pull away.
He leaned back a little and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I’m so sorry,” he said, his lips a fraction from hers.
“It’s okay,” she murmured against his ear.
“No, it’s not okay. My friend Carl insisted that I go to his apartment, and the next I knew, it was ten o’clock. I was only gonna be gone for a little while, but his wife just left him and he was all messed up. And he gave me some clothes, so I didn’t want to be rude.”
“It’s okay, really,” she insisted. “I understand.” She waited a beat. “Is your cell phone broken?”
“Ran the battery down. And… since my charger burned up… Why did you call?”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s what I forgot to buy. Chargers.”
“There’s too much to remember. We’ll make a list tomorrow and go place an order online.” Taking her hand, he led her over to the bed and sat next to her. Except for a lamp on the nightstand, the room was dark, the curtains pulled closed. He stared into her eyes as though he were searching for something. She smiled a little, unable to think about anything except how much she liked being next to him - how perfect it felt to be here staring into his eyes, having his undivided attention.
“Tabitha,” he said, squeezing both her hands in his, his fingers entwined with hers. “I don’t want you to leave me.”
“I don’t exactly have anywhere else to go right now,” she said, with a little laugh. “I haven’t even started looked for apartments.”
“No, I’m serious,” he said.
Her laugh faded as she sensed that he was sincere. “Okay,” she agreed. “I won’t leave you.”
He shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. I don’t want you to ever leave me.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I want us to be together,” he answered as he put his arms around her and held her tightly to him - so tightly. Her arms went around him, too, and she returned his hug, leaning her cheek against his chest.
After a few minutes, he pulled back enough to kiss her on the cheek. Then he took her chin in his hand and tilted her head up until she met his gaze - again, searching.
And then his lips were on hers, demanding.
Sighing, she sank into the kiss. He hadn’t kissed her since before the fire. And she needed his lips against hers, his arms around her, his body against hers. She needed the safety, the security, what was quickly becoming the familiarity. She held onto him, held onto him as though she would never let go.
And she wouldn’t have. Not if he hadn’t slipped one arm beneath her knees and picked up her to carry her to the bed.
Gently he laid her on the bed and sat beside her to pull her into his lap. Then his lips were back on hers. His hands on her face, in her hair.
She couldn’t get enough of him. Couldn’t get close enough. Couldn’t taste him enough.
He didn’t want her to leave him. She couldn’t even think about anything but his lips o hers. Any other thoughts she had were wiped out of her mind by just the feel of him. The taste of him.
“I want you,” he murmured against her lips.
“You’ve got me,” she answered.
“I can’t get enough.”
She sighed. And kissed him harder, pulled his head closer to hers, if that was possible.
She didn’t know how long they stayed that way - could have been hours. Could have been days.
And she would gladly have kissed him forever.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sometime in the night, Adam had slipped from her room and Tabitha had fallen into a deep, dreamless slumber.
She woke with the sun in her eyes. Her mind was full of thoughts of Adam. She didn’t want to get up. She wanted to stay in that hazy dream world where life was a fairy tale.
She needed coffee. But unfortunately, she couldn’t just go down to the kitchen in her pajamas. Not in the Patton’s house. She needed to put on some clothes and freshen up.
She hit the bathroom door, flipped on the light, and stared at the mirror.
And felt the air catch in her throat. A tube of bright red lipstick, brighter than any lipstick she had ever owned, even before everything burned up, lay open on the counter, the lipstick itself, broken.
Taking all this in, her eyes never left the words smeared on the mirror - Til Death Do Us Part.
Bobby had been in her room.
“Tabitha?”
Adam knocked on the guest room door – Tabitha’s room for the second time. Louder this time. She was in there. It hadn’t been that long since he’d left her. He held two mugs of coffee in his left hand and knocked again with his right.
He listened, but didn’t hear any water running or any other sounds coming from the other side of the door.
“Oh my God,” he said, when he saw her there, huddled on the floor. He reached her in two strides, and took her in his arms. She was trembling. “It’s okay,” he murmured along with other soothing noises. As he stroked her hair, his eyes scanned the room. There was no sign of anyone or that anyone had been there.
After a few minutes, she began to calm and looked up into his eyes.
“What happened?” he asked.
Lowering her eyes, she clasped his arms and held on tightly. “The mirror,” she said, softly.
Not sure if he heard her right, he looked toward the bathroom, but he couldn’t see the mirror from there.
He just sat there, held her, rocked her. He need to get up, look at whatever was in the bathroom, but right now, he needed to just hold her.
Her breathing steadied, he heard her laugh, just a little. At least he thought it might be a laugh.
“We can’t stay like this forever,” she whispered against his chest. “Not that I would mind.”
Finally, he let go enough that he could look into her eyes. And when he did, he knew she was better. With a sigh, he stood up. “Stay here,” he said. That was from instinct. He didn’t know what he’d see, but he had a feeling she didn’t need to see it again right now.
When he saw the words scrawled on the bathroom mirror, scrawled with lipstick he would have preferred seeing on Tabitha’s lips, he felt resigned. Resigned that this was a battle that wasn’t over. And wouldn’t be over for a very long time.
“Did you see him?” he asked, coming back to the bedroom.
She shook her head.
“I didn’t think so.”
At the look of distress on her face, he went to her, where she was still kneeling on the floor. He put his arms around her and held her. When she tried to pull away, he hugged her tighter. Neither of them spoke. They didn’t have to.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Tabitha glanced at the clock on her bedside table. Three a.m. She hadn’t slept more than a few minutes.
Though she had gone to bed with the door locked, and the windows which she had checked five times, she kept her eyes open. Watching.
Bobby had gotten inside the house somehow. If he had done it once, he could do it again. Her eyes had grown heavy and she had fallen asleep a couple of times, but only for a few minutes.
Adam had offered to sleep in her room, but she had declined his offer.
She needed to think without him distracting her.
How far would Bobby go? He had tried to kill Adam once. And Aunt Allie in the process. Now he had them there all in one place again. How convenient. Especially when she was one he was really after.
She had promised Adam she wouldn’t go away.
But now she had to leave. She had to go away for him. For Aunt Allie.
She wasn’t getting any sleep anyway. Throwing off the covers, she got up, decided against thinking about a shower. She’d wait until she was safely tucked away in a hotel room. Pushing aside thoughts of Psycho, she tugged on her jeans and a sweatshirt and began throwing things into the handled shopping bags she had saved from her shopping trip. She didn’t even have a suitcase.
Her heart in her throat, she checked the bathroom again. Someone had cleaned the mirror, but she could still see the words clearly in her mind.
Until death do us part. He probably wanted to kill her and everyone she was associated with. He didn’t care about anyone or anything other than himself. The man was a psychopath.
Without her around, maybe he would move on to something more interesting. It would be nice if she could stick around long enough to make sure he was off the street and behind bars, but for now, she had to protect the ones she loved.
She left her room quietly. No squeaking doors or floors to give her away. Such was the privilege of wealth. As she reached the ground floor, she began to feel regret. Shaking it off, she kept moving toward the back door.
After making sure the door was locked, she made it to her car without incident. She couldn’t go back now. She didn’t have a key.
She took a deep breath, dropped her bags onto the backseat, and slid into the driver’s seat. She hesitated a moment, knowing she hoped, against all reason that Adam would rush out and make her stop this insanity. Of course he didn’t. He was sound asleep. As she should have been.
Steeling herself, she started the car, and drove away.
She had no particular destination in mind. Through force of habit, she turned toward town, then drove through the canyon toward the Interstate. There, she considered her options - north or south. North seemed too limited – too remote. Deciding that South gave her more options, she went in that direction. For the most part, she managed to keep her mind blank until the long pitch of the open freeway stretched in front of her, illuminated by the haze of the rising sun.
That’s when she felt the first tears slipping from her eyes. Not only did she not want to leave, she was afraid. Afraid that Bobby would find her now that she was out in the open. Maybe she should have brought Adam’s handgun with her.
Seeing the familiar fast food arches up ahead on the right, she exited, took a bathroom break, and ordered coffee and a biscuit. Sitting at a table next to the window, she ate her breakfast, her eyes never still, always searching for Bobby. There were a few other patrons there, despite the early hour - most of them senior citizens.
However, as she ate, a couple with two children came in. They were about her age, the children looked to be about three and the other one was a toddler. The woman carried the toddler and the man carried the little three-year-old girl on his hip. They were laughing and talking, obviously excited about their trip.
The feeling of forlornness was overwhelming. Pushing aside what was left of her food, she took a deep breath, then sighed. The song All I want for Christmas came over the speakers. She almost laughed, but it wasn’t with humor. The happy couple, the catchy song about the couple in love...
Quickly leaving the restaurant, she got back in her car and turned the key in the ignition.
Silence.
She tried again.
The car wouldn’t start. Nothing.
And she knew nothing about cars. Leaning her head over the steering wheel, she felt the lump in her throat and the tears in her eyes.
She didn’t have a towing service. She couldn’t - wouldn’t call Aunt Allie. It wasn’t fair to get the older woman out of bed this time of the morning to come fetch her. Especially not when she would be hurt that Tabitha had left without at the very least telling her.
Covering her eyes with her hands, she tried desperately to think of someone she could call. A friend. A co-worker. There was no one she could call at this time of morning.
Well, hell.
She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the little family coming out of the restaurant. The dad was holding tightly to the little girl’s hand and had the little boy on his hip. The mom opened the door and, between the two of them, they got everyone strapped into the car.
Knowing it was the only thing to do, Tabitha took out her cell phone and dialed.
Adam had no trouble finding her. She was sitting there huddled in her light blue sedan. Sitting in the cold when she could be inside the restaurant.
He’d just been waking up when his cell phone rang. He couldn’t quite grasp why she’d be calling him from her room, but maybe she didn’t want to encounter his parents in the hallway.
He hadn’t been angry. He was quite simply worried.
She looked up as he approached the window, her face full of regret, but most of all relief.
“Thank you,” she said as she got out of the car.
He didn’t answer. His heart was in his throat as he studied the pain on her face. He simply pulled her into his arms and held onto her. He could feel her heart beating against his. He wanted to absorb her pain into him - to take it away from her.
&nbs
p; “Let’s go home,” he said when he felt her shivering against him.
“My car....”
“I’ll have it towed.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. And you don’t have to thank me.”
It was only then that she met his gaze, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. He understood then. He understood that she would test him. Test him countless times until he had proven that he would stay with her.
“Tabitha,” he said. “I love you. No matter what you do, I’m still going to love you.”
The tears were no longer unshed. She buried her face against his chest and held onto him until her body was no longer wracked with sobs. He held her back, not knowing what else to do.
“I’m here for you,” he whispered in her ear. “You have to trust me.”
She nodded against him.
He knew it would have to be enough for now. Enough for her to agree. It was a start. He had no way of knowing how long it would take for her heart to catch up.
But for however long it took, he would wait. He would be patient and he would wait.
Chapter Twenty-Six
One week later
Tabitha jumped back as a bolt of lightening flashed through her bedroom. So, maybe she still was a little jumpy.
The house was huge by any standards and this was the first time she had ever been completely alone in it. Besides Aunt Allie and Adam being out, his parents had gone to Denver for the weekend. Christmas shopping.
The electricity blinked off and came back on.
Then it went out and stayed off.
Even though it was mid-day, it was dark inside the house beneath the cover of clouds outside.
She heard a sound coming from downstairs. It sounded a little like chains. Chains? She shivered. There had been no mention of the house being haunted. Anyway, who ever heard of a haunted house with chains except maybe in cartoons?
A Very Merry Christmas Gift (Winter Kisses Book 1) Page 13