“Okay, ma’am. Can I have your name?”
“Please hurry.”
“I’m sending someone. Please stay on the line with me, Ma’am. Can I have your name?”
“Remmington Crawford.”
“My name’s Claudia. Where are you Remmington?”
“In my boss’s office.”
“Okay, Remmington. Stay with me. I want you to tell him you have called 911 and the police are on the way.”
I do as she asks. “Tom! The police are coming!” but I hear the tremble in my voice.
“Say you called 911, Remmington.”
“I called 911. You need to leave me alone!”
He stops throwing his weight into the door, and the entire place is silent. I don’t dare breathe, afraid the slightest noise will have him banging on the door again.
“The police will be there soon. They are on their way, Remmington. Tell him that,” the operator says.
“They police are on the way. The operator just told me. You need to leave.” But I’m not an idiot, I know if the police aren’t in their cars or are off helping someone else, it could be a while before they got here. Mia and I are not safe and I fight the sob that I feel in my throat.
“Open the God damn door, Remy!” he shouts at me. The sob escapes my mouth and I fight the urge to cling to Mia. She’s my only line of defense.
“Do not open the door, Remmington,” the operator says before I can tell Tom no. Mia is still barking and snarling. There is a part of me that wants to let her at him, to tear him apart, to physically hurt him the way he’s hurt me, so he can know what it feels like to be defenseless.
The operator’s voice calls me back.
“Is he still there?”
“I don’t know,” I say. He hasn’t moved or said anything since he told me to open the door.
“That’s okay. You just stay where you are. The police are almost there. You just stay with me, okay?”
“Okay.”
Then I hear the police. I hear a lot of commotion, yelling, tables or chairs being knocked over, and more yelling.
“Remmington, are the police there?”
“Yes,” I respond, wanting to open the door to see them haul his sorry ass away in cuffs, but my self-preservation is still working. I don’t want to leave the security of this office, ever.
“Okay, Remmington, I’m going to stay on the line with you until the police come to the office. They know you are in there and they will come to you. You let them in, Remmington.”
“Okay,” I say. Mia has stopped barking and is now pawing at the door to get out.
“Remy?” I hear. “Remy, it’s Mark. You can come out.”
“I know the officer. I can go now,” I say to the operator.
“Okay, Remmington. Goodbye and be safe.”
“Thank you,” and I hang up the phone. “Move, Mia,” I say to her as I unlock the door and try and open it. Mark is on the other side and I have never been more relieved to see a familiar face. He puts a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay, Remy?”
I nod my head. “I’m just shook up,” I say.
I hear Tom’s voice in the parking lot. “But that’s my wife!” I immediately tense up and Mia darts to the door. I scream for her, afraid for her now that there is a door between them. She stops at the door and doesn’t go out, but doesn’t come back to me.
“Want me to call Jack?” Mark asks me.
“Yes, please,” I say. “I’m going to sit down.”
“Yeah, of course. Here,” he says and grabs me a chair. “Just stay in here, okay. I’m going to stay with you.
“Where’s Remy?” I hear Joe’s voice booming from outside. “Where the hell is Remy?” He bursts through the doorway almost knocking Mia, who is standing guard at the door, over. He brushes past the other police officers who are in the bar, people I hadn’t even realized were in there yet.
“God, Girl. I’m so relieved to see you breathing. You freaking gave me a heart attack.”
“I think I had one, too,” I say. He pulls me up from my chair and wraps me in a bear hug.
Mark interrupts the hug. “Remy, the ambulance is here. You should get checked out.”
“I’m okay,” I say to him.
“It can’t hurt, Remmington,” and it’s one of the only times Joe has used his father voice on me.
“Is he still out there?” I ask Mark.
“They are taking him away now. He won’t see you and you won’t see him,” Mark says and I feel relieved, but really how relieved can I be? After a year, Tom had found me and come after me. He would do it again when he got out of jail and he would someday. I am not stupid enough to believe he will stay away. He will be angrier and I will still be his target.
“Did you call Jack?” I ask Mark. Joe has me by the elbow walking me out of the bar. Mia leads the way into the parking lot. There are spotlights and flashing lights and it looks like a scene straight out of a cop TV show and I wonder how I got to this point. Joe walks me to the ambulance and a woman with a soft smile tells me to sit down on the bumper of the ambulance.
“Okay, Remmington.”
“Remy,” I correct her. “Please call me Remy.”
“Okay, Remy, I’m going to check you all out, okay?” I nod. She checks my vitals first. “Does anything hurt?”
“My head. It got smacked against the floor.”
I see it in her eyes, the pity of being beat up by a man.
“I’m sorry this happened to you,” she says quietly as she holds a flashlight up. “Follow the light with your eyes, okay?” I do as I’m told.
“I kicked him the nuts,” I say. She smiles, a real one with her teeth and Joe lets out a, “That’s my girl,” like a proud father.
Mia takes off soundly and I call after her. I cringe a little. My body doesn’t like the jerky movement. “Remy!” Jack’s voice rings through and he appears with Mia leading the way. Mia sits by Joe, and Jack gathers me up into his arms and I bury my face in his chest.
“What happened?”
I shake my head.
“Did he hurt you?”
I shake my head again.
The EMT says, “She kicked him in his balls, Jack. She did good.”
Jack’s hand moves to the back of my head, holding me in place. “I’m here. I’m here now. You’re safe now,” and it all hits me, everything that has happened tonight. I begin to cry, clutching at Jack’s shirt as if he was my life jacket and I would be swept away if I let go. He murmurs into my hair as I stand there and cry.
***
“I should have been there.”
It’s the fifth time he’s said that. We’re curled up in my bed. Mia’s at our feet. I think she’s still worked up. She’s restless, instead of just passing out. Can’t blame her. I’m going to need therapy again.
“What are you supposed to do; stay awake until three every night and then go to work at six? Not realistic.” I might be messed up from this, but he doesn’t need to be.
“He hurt you because you were alone.” I snuggle into him, feeling he needs the comfort.
“And I was going to be alone at some point. And I took care of myself. I’m okay.”
“Remy-“
I stop him. “Jack, you feeling guilty is not making this easier on me. I can’t handle your guilt too. I’m going to go back to therapy. Work through this. But you can’t remind me at every turn.”
“Maybe you should quit? You don’t need the money.”
“No, he’s gone now. I’m the safest I’ve been in years.”
“Remy, but really-”
“No, he doesn’t get to ruin my life. He doesn’t get to make us scared. Besides, he’s going away for a while. Joe’s charging him with breaking and entering, plus the assault charges, breaking the restraining order three times now, and the grand larceny charge, he’s going away for a while. And hopefully they get him counseling or throw him into the loony bin. Either is good for us.” Mark had relayed all the information to
us. Joe had jumped on the opportunity to try and lock Tom up for another reason. His disclosure about my bank account had really sunk him in that department. Though Tom wasn’t in his right mind anymore. He probably hadn’t been for awhile. Maybe he had a shot at an insanity plea.
“He’ll get out some time,” Jack says. And he’s right. Maybe when we are twenty years into a marriage and our kids are in their teens. I hope he stays in there forever.
“Hopefully, it’s in twenty years or more and I’ll worry about it then. But I’ve got money and that money is going toward the best damn lawyer I can find to make sure he gets the max sentence he can get and hopefully someone makes him his bitch.”
“You might be the strongest person I know.”
“No. I’m just not willing to be weak.”
“I love you, Remmington. I don’t ever want to be without you. So I’m going to try and not be overprotective, but I’m going to fail at it. You’ll have to be patient with me.”
I throw my arms around him.
“Does this mean you love me too?” he asks into my hair.
I pull back enough to see his face. “It means I’m sorry for not coming back sooner. I should have.”
“And?”
“And I love you, Jack Monroe.”
“I’ll follow you if you ever want to go again,” and I believe him.
“I’m not going anywhere, Jack. I belong here, with you. I just didn’t know then. But I know now.”
Acknowledgements
This book was very different for me to write. I am more comfortable with Young Adult and I kept thinking about the “Adult” audience. It was constantly in the back of my mind, so I hope I did justice to Remy and Jack.
And like always, I had help.
Dashers - (Komal Kant author of the With Me Series, Erica Cope author of the Lark Trilogy and Heather Diemer author of the We Were Us series): I am not sure what else I could say differently that I haven’t written in my other novels. You ladies are such a support in writing and my every day life. Thank you. Love you.
Sarah West – WOW, girl, you have an editing eye. You don’t even know me, but you have put in so many hours into my novels. It is truly appreciated.
My beta readers! One doesn’t truly appreciate what a beta reader does, until they find those small (and sometimes large) mistakes. Thank you to: Nicole Yokom, Allison Dispense, Joe Lantz, Brittany Gloss, Heidi Keil, and Karyn Weidman.
Brad (Ellsworth) – This story may not be “our” story, but the emotion is true. I love you.
Emma – Well, you are more likely to crawl in my lap and prevent me from writing, but you’re pretty cute, so I’m okay with it. Love you baby girl.
About the Author:
Michelle Flick lives in Western New York with her family. She teaches 8th grade ELA and is a lover of coffee, dogs, and music. You can find her gardening, avoiding her scheduled workout, or curled up with a good book.
About the Dog:
Mia is a seven-year old Italian Mastiff, weighing in at one hundred pounds, so she’s not quite as big as the Mia in this story. She is, however, extremely loving and is rarely far from me. She also pretends to be a lap dog.
Other Books By Michelle
Gone
Tess Walters’ life is perfect. She has everything she’s ever wanted all wrapped up in her boyfriend Alec. But Alec has a different plan and one day, he’s gone.
Tess is devastated. She doesn’t remember how to be herself and she doesn’t want to. Her family believes she needs to move on and get over him. It’s easier said than done. Tess doesn’t know where to begin because everywhere she turns, she thinks of Alec. She doesn’t think this heartbreak will ever stop.
Eventually, Tess finds comfort in places she never realized she had. From there she discovers a person she never knew she could be.
Walker
Kate isn’t thrilled to be moving to the middle of nowhere. She's already lost her parents, now she's leaving the only place she's ever known as home. She’s not there long when she realizes her dreams aren’t her own and that she has the ability to walk through other people's dreams. Not only that, but she might have found her dream guy--literally. He's in her dreams.
Just when she starts to get the hang of dream walking, strange murders in her new town start to occur. Girls are being killed as they sleep with no evidence, no suspects and no clear motive behind the deaths. It doesn’t take Kate very long to realize that the girls aren’t just being killed as they sleep—they’re being killed in their sleep.
Kate must figure out how to find the killer in the real world and keep the ones she loves safe while they sleep.
The Owens Legacy: Revelations
When telepathic twins, Piper and Ryder Owens are dumped at Evermore Academy, they thought that the only thing they’d have to worry about was Piper staying out of trouble long enough for them to graduate. They will not, for any reason, be separated. But someone at Evermore knows about their secret and wants to separate them permanently.
But then Piper’s Achilles Heel shows up: a good looking guy. Victor Mira is everything Piper is supposed to avoid, yet she feels drawn to him in a way she never imagined. But Victor is hiding a dangerous secret too, and what he knows could be the one thing that could divide the sisters. Forever.
Always Us
Heather Diemer
Coming Early 2015
Chapter One
“Can you believe it? We’re in college now!” Michelle squealed next to me. She was bouncing like a kid on his way to the ice cream shop. We’d just come from the administration office at Brookhaven Community College where Michelle had enrolled for classes this fall.
She and her mom had decided to let her take two classes to start with, just to get back into a routine, then, in the spring, she’d start full time classes.
“Since this is my second year of college, I can believe it.” I cringed at my last words. It wasn’t Michelle’s fault she was a year behind everyone else her age. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” She’d stopped bouncing and looked over at me.
“For saying that. I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.”
“Oh please, Jenna. I am so over that and you should be too. I was in a coma, big deal,” she threw her hands up like it really was no big deal that she spent over a year lying in a hospital bed. “But I’m fine now. The doctor cleared me for school. It’s a lot of sitting around, walking leisurely to and from class, and you’ll be driving me everywhere when it’s too far to walk.” She resumed the bouncing.
I had to admit, her enthusiasm was catchy. Last year, when I was a freshman, I was all nerves and avoided everyone. There were required social functions like, ice cream socials and even a black light party where everyone drew on themselves with highlighters and danced in semi-darkness. I didn’t participate in any freshman orientation games. I’d met Andrew and he and hid away at the local café. He wasn’t big into large crowds either.
“I know. I still just feel bad about all of it. And then this last summer was crazy,”
“Jenna,” Michelle held her hand up in my face.
“Seriously. It’s no big deal. This whole thing made me realize that I need to let things go. I’m so thankful that I have a second chance at life. Look at me, I’m a medical miracle!”
She had a point.
“I’m in a new town, with new people where no one knows about what happened except you, Lauren, and a few professors and my admissions counselor. I can start over. We can start over. There’s no Josh, no dads, and no moms.” She giggled in her seat.
“You are in my town now!” I said.
Michelle was right. I needed to let it go too. This wasn’t a new town for me, but no one knew about me except my roommates and Andrew, and no one knew what happened this summer except Michelle and Lauren. I only had Andrew to look forward to now, and of course my new classes.
“So where to next?” Michelle asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“Usually
you’d be assigned a dorm room, but since you’re a special case,” I air quoted the last words. “We can just go home.”
“Home? There’s nothing else exciting to do?”
She stared at me from across the car, which really wasn’t that great of a distance, but it felt like it in this moment. Michelle and I had someone found each other and remained friends for some long even though we were completely different in every way. Where I as quiet, she was loud, where I was independent, she always looked and asked for help, where I was a homebody, she was the first out the door to a party.
“Well, I do need to go shopping,” I shrugged.
“Shopping!” Michelle threw her hands in the air. “For what?” she asked laughing.
“Apartment stuff, maybe some food. We’ve been living off cereal and Chinese food for the last couple of weeks.”
“Good point,” and we both doubled over in laughter.
I drove on for a while and followed the roads to Target, my favorite store in the whole entire world.
“I am just so excited for college to start!” Michelle skipped next to me, clapping her hands together.
“I’m ready to put this summer behind me and move on,” I said a little darker than I’d intended.
“Was this summer really that bad? I mean, you got me back.” On the outside, Michelle was selfish and self-centered. She really liked herself. But I admired her confidence. Even before the accident that left her in a coma, she had an air about her that drew you to her and made you like her, and even after you’d gotten to know her, you still wanted to be her friend, even if she hadn’t made you.
“I just wish I hadn’t seen Josh.”
My heart pinched at the sound of his name. Josh, my best friend growing up, and the one person I’d confided in last summer. I’d fallen for him, hard. But he didn’t seem to feel the same way. We’d said I love you to each other, and we’d had sex, three times, but in the end, he’d stolen my heart and stomped all over it.
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