Accident Waiting to Happen

by Hart, Trinity

  So, so many things.

  She opened her eyes, taking in the endless blue and white sky. The horizon of vibrant green encompassing her, making her feel like a speck in such a massive world.

  Something deep and true curled through her. God, maybe, but he wasn’t he wasn’t saying much. Just as quickly, the sensation vanished.

  For a while, Hope laid there. Waiting, for exactly what she wasn’t positive. A sign. A calling. If God wanted her, well here she was. Where was He?

  The lake was certainly quiet and soothing but where was the connection Caleb spoke of? That she was certain her mother had experienced while gardening?

  Maybe she was trying too hard.

  Sitting, she decided to give up. Then, as she clasped the rail, about to pull to her feet, in the far distance she recognized the joyous tinkle of children’s singing and clapping. So tiny, almost not audible to the human ear. Yet Hope heard it. Felt it to the core of her, her body becoming paralyzed.

  Bible school? Come to think, it was June. Her favorite time of year, always in her heart.

  Intrigued, she strained to listen closer. Battled the strongest urge to leap in the boat and paddle closer.

  Join in.

  Suddenly, there was no where in the world she’d rather be.

  For several more minutes, she listened intently, the hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention. Then, to her disappointment, the singing disappeared, coming to an abrupt close. The quiet echoed around her, the world never having seemed so utterly vacant.

  Behind her, the crack of a branch breaking pierced the stillness that reigned. A rustling of leaves.

  The strangest sensation crawled over her skin, prickling like fire. “Caleb?”

  The birds seemed to hush. An eerie stilling overpowered the atmosphere as she whirled and scanned the area around her.

  Nothing.

  Not, at least, to the obvious. But instinctively she knew she was being watched.

  Someone was out there.

  The same someone who’d been in her house the night prior. Who wanted to hurt her. Kill her.

  And here she stood, a long stretch between her and Caleb, alone and defenseless. All they had to do was shove her in.

  Fighting panic, she gathered her crutches and fled the dock, pausing only to gather a fist-sized rock in her clutches for protection.

  Chapter Ten

  “Caleb!”

  Desperate and terrorized, her high-pitched cry pierced the blackness and suffocating heat engulfing him.

  “Hope!” His heart hammered furiously against his ribs, franticness clenching and clawing at his gut, knowing what was coming. Explosion. Fire. Pain. “I’m coming! Hold on!”

  Caleb swam in the darkness that moved around him like suffocating cloud. Faster, harder…why was he getting nowhere? He had to get out of here! Reach her and now. “Where are you?”

  “Here! I’m right heeeeeere! Caleb!” Her howl faded as if she were drifting farther and farther away. “Caleb…”

  “Stay put! I’m on my way!”

  Yet the void around him remained eternal. He couldn’t reach her, couldn’t find her! Couldn’t escape the endless treadmill he ran on through the night, useless to her pleas.

  “Hope!”

  “Caleb!” This time, he barely heard her and he knew… She was unreachable. It was too late.

  Just like Annie Rivera.

  “I’m coming, Hope! I’ll save you!”

  A lie if he’d ever told one…

  “Hope!” Caleb bolted awake with a start, clambering to his feet. “I…what?” With astonishment he stared at the knitted blanket that plummeted to the hardwood floor, dazed as he realized he’d fallen asleep on the couch.

  No scorching eternal darkness. No eminent threat. Just Samson, yapping his brains out as if he were a killer zombie.

  “Quiet!” Caleb barked, shooing the dog away.

  “Um,” Hope hesitated as Samson went bolting between her legs. “Good afternoon to you too.”

  Sweat beaded on Caleb’s forehead, dampening his palms as his gaze jerked to the woman who stood in the kitchen, mouth hung agape and dirtied spoon pointing to the oven.

  “Bad dream or something? You all right?”

  “Fine.” Hope was here, right before him and all in one piece. No darkness, no danger. “It’s afternoon?” He dismissed the sleep from his eyes with a balled fist. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “Run-of-the-mill kindness?” For some reason, the simple shrug she gave drove him crazy. As if it was no big deal! “You being human and all, I thought some rest might be a good idea.”

  “Next time, let me be the judge of that.”

  “Hey, I don’t remember drugging you.”

  No, she certainly hadn’t. He managed to put her in danger all by his lethargic self.

  Used to be a time he slept in his boots. That he could stay up twenty-four hours without blinking an eye. That his stamina could carry through whatever may need.

  These days…

  His endurance was out of practice, that was all.

  Just thank God she was unharmed.

  “How’s your appetite?” She took several steps toward the stove, fabric swishing around her and he realized while he snored away, she’d changed into a feminine white top and aqua blue skirt that flowed around her legs like gentle waves. From the window, sunlight glinted, bringing a glow to her fair skin. A glorious shine to her flaxen waves.

  “Are you sure you’re feeling all right? You look…”

  Caleb realized he’d stopped breathing all together—and not because of the nightmare that’d thrown him awake.

  On some deeper level, he recognized a change in her. Something different. She’d always been pretty but suddenly she looked like an angel. Heaven sent.

  “Oh yeah, I’m good. Just had a crazy dream.” Was it crazy? Seemed to him—with his handicaps—it could all too easily become reality.

  His chest heaved with the intake of oxygen as he scraped a palm across his jaw, spotting the Scrabble game laid out on the table. “Rain check I take it?”

  “Cashing in,” she laughed, setting the spoon on the counter and visiting the sink to fill up a glass. She’d abandoned her crutches, he noticed, instead limping around the small space. At her feet, Samson gnawed aggressively at his new bone, scooting wherever she mingled. “Dinner is in the oven. Let’s enjoy the evening.”

  Caleb hated to disappoint her but he’d the horses to see to. Details to review with Noah. Precautions to set in motion.

  Hang it all, how had he allowed himself to drift off?

  “Huh…” Hope pondered.

  “What’s that?” he asked, growing more furious with himself by the second.

  “Does this water look cloudy to you?”

  Still trying to steady his nerves, he crossed the room to examine the glass she held to the sun. “A little, maybe, but it’s well water. You’ll want to buy a filter if it bothers you.”

  “You sure?” She sniffed the water and frowned. Her finely etched jaw gave a little quiver. “Might…might it be poisoned?”

  “Poisoned? What makes you think that?”

  He watched as she dumped the liquid down the drain and abandoned the glass. “I saw it on one of those real-life criminal shows. This horrid man wanted to murder his in-laws without suspicion, so he dumped small dead animals down the well. It made them so sick.”

  The grotesque image made his gut lurch. “Oh sweetheart.” How scared she must be to be drudging up such fears. And here he’d left her all alone. “We’ll go into town and buy some bottled water, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  Reaching out, he swept a hand over her slender shoulder. “Noah put out an APB for Neil to be picked up. The slimeball’s days are limited.”

  “Right.” Except she didn’t sound so certain.

  “I’m going to protect you.” He almost growled the seemingly empty promise, his own words eating at him.

  Failure wasn’t an
option. Hope was counting on him to keep her safe.

  “I know…I do. It’s just he’s still here, hiding in the shadows. Waiting in the woods. Stalking. Planning.” Drilling those fears out loud one-by-one, she shrugged from his hand upon her shoulder and Caleb’s arm dropped like stone to his side as she crossed to the fridge. Withdrawing a partially used container of orange juice, she scrunched her nose and replaced it for an untouched bottle of soda. “Our orange juice could have arsenic in it for all we know. Who knows how he’ll strike next? He’s just out there. Waiting. Watching.”

  Her words, laced with unshakable certainty, struck a deep chord in Caleb that crackled like ice breaking over his skin. “Still here? In the woods? What makes you think that?”

  Personally, Caleb had heard Neil drive off last night.

  “I…I don’t know.” She gave him this hesitant look, eyes sliding to his left—her right—and cuing Caleb off. “I mean, who’s to say he isn’t?”

  When a person’s eyes shifted that direction, it indicted they were constructing an auditory thought, whereas a glance to the opposite suggested they were pulling from memory. Not an exact science, mind you, but Caleb had found the theory pretty dependable throughout his career.

  There was something she wasn’t saying. “What happened while I was sleeping?”

  Fact was, anything could’ve happened. And he’d have snored right through it.

  Self-disgust rising, he used the counter as support to cross the kitchen to the nearest window, not surprised to discover it closed and locked despite the pleasant weather. “Looks like you’ve been busy.”

  A glance around the house revealed she’d most likely shut and locked every door and window. “No unexpected visitors you care to tell me about?”

  “I…no.” Again, her gaze drifted to the left as she cracked her soda with a hiss. “Care for a drink?”

  “Come on, Hope. Be straight with me.”

  “You’ll think I’m silly. I just…I got this feeling, you know?” Sipping at her soda, she stared into the bottle then looked directly at him. “Like the other day in the boat, just my good old imagination, I’m sure. I don’t want to worry you any more than you are.”

  “What worries me most is you’re not telling me something.”

  “You never said whether you’d like a drink.” Putting down her soda, she opened the fridge and pulled one of for him. “I’m making a casserole. All ingredients safely obtained from unopened packages.” Smiling grimly, she went to the cabinet for a glass. “You must think I’m a real ninny.”

  “Not at all.” Abandoning the window, he caught her gently by arm, glass still midair and looked her dead in the eyes. “Listen to me, anytime—anytime,” he stressed, “you feel something isn’t right, it’s important I know.”

  “Okay.”

  He released her, leaning against the counter and kicking one foot over the other as she screwed the cap of his Cola.

  “I was outside…thinking…and I heard a branch break in the woods nearby.” Her gaze met his then fluttered away as she poured him a drink and pushed it to him. “Rustling, like someone was there. A deer, probably.”

  “Could be.” All the same, Caleb felt as if a fist had been delivered to his gut. “You shouldn’t have gone out alone.”

  Oh, sure. Blame her.

  “I realize that now. I was so scared I carried a rock all the way to the house with me, planning to use it as a weapon. That got me thinking. Neil—or whoever it is—managed to screw up my car without me ever noticing. Snuck in my own house to scare me down the stairs. They could be in here right now and how would we really know?”

  “Noah and I turned this house inside out.”

  Right. And then he’d fallen promptly into dreamland.

  Logically, he knew a man had to sleep sometime. Illogically, guilt twisted savagely as he mentally moved performing another sweep of the property to first on his list.

  If the explosion had taught him anything, it was he could never be too careful. A lesson he’d learned too late for Annie Rivera.

  “Do you know how many ways there is to kill someone and make it appear an accident?”

  The haunted words chilled him to the bone. “I’m guessing I don’t want to know.”

  “Don’t go on the Internet then.” She deposited her glass on the counter a little too hard and soda splashed. “I’m sorry. I hate sounding like such a scaredy cat.”

  “You’ve good reason. Come here.” Pulling her into a big hug, his hand smoothed her long, rippling mane of her hair. Lord, she’s so soft and sweet and vulnerable. Caleb had a promise to keep, a duty to fulfill. To both her and her father. Let me accomplish this, please. “Noah and I, we’re going to put everything we’ve got into stopping Neil. Don’t let this eat at you.”

  “I’m trying. Staying busy helps.” Pulling away, she limped to the old oven and pulled out the casserole she’d spoke of. “I’m just glad I have you. You’re a rock.”

  The reliance in her voice made him wince.

  “Pray,” he threw out there. “Whenever you need strength or comfort, God’s the right one to ask.”

  Caleb had an appointment with his knees himself.

  “Right. I’ll keep that in mind.” Not sounding too promising—more like awkward and unsure—she peeled back the aluminum cover, gave the steaming dish a whirl, then carried it to the midst of the table. “Ham and Cheese Mac.”

  “I’d pray with you.”

  She gave him a hesitant smile. “I know. Thanks.”

  Progress. At least she hadn’t turned away or shot him down.

  “You’re looking improved on that foot,” he commented as she gathered plates and forks, setting their places. Her face was looking better as well, no longer swollen. The bruise marring her beautiful cheek thankfully hadn’t turned too dark. “You know, it’d probably help if you found something to keep yourself busy. A project.”

  “I could’ve told you that yesterday. In fact, I did. Repeatedly, as I recall.” With a laugh and swish of twenty-four-carat hair, she motioned to the laptop that sat open on the island as she laid out napkins. “Besides obsessing over my own demise, I’ve been looking online for a teaching job I can start this fall. Slim pickings, considering the rural area, but I’ve found a couple openings and plan to submit my resume. In the mean time, I thought—”

  “You’d fill in the vacancy at Island Odyssey?” The recognizable male voice came out of nowhere, interrupting Hope mid-sentence.

  * * * *

  Her heart leapt to her throat as she whirled around.

  There, in the threshold stood a stranger she did not recognize, tall and well built, with sandy brown hair and smiling eyes.

  Tail wagging, Samson danced with joy to greet the man who bent to ruffle his belly.

  “Hope you don’t mind…” The stranger motioned to the front door. “I did ring the bell. Guess it’s broken. Knocked too, but no answer and I heard your voices, so I let myself in.”

  “In?” she gasped.

  “Hope.” Caleb placed a reassuring hand to her back. “This is Pastor Brian. He holds a key.”

  “Oh.” Hope did a double-take, observing the man’s denim washed jeans, boasting hole in the knee and his worn tee with note pad in the pocket. On his head, he wore a canvas boonie hat much like Noah’s, though far plainer, boasting only his fishing license.

  This was the pastor? Where was his starched white shirt? Polished loafers? Bible?

  He looked like someone who’d just gone fishing. Had long hippie hair, tugged back in a bright blue hair band.

  “Hi…um…nice to meet you.” Nervous—and feeling somehow inadequate in the face of a religious man—Hope returned to setting the table, arranging forks in just the right places to busy herself.

  “So what were you saying about an island?” Caleb inquired.

  “If I’m not interrupting…”

  Caleb motioned for the man to take a seat, leaving Hope with no option but to politely extend an invitati
on. “Not at all. We were just about to eat. Care to join us?”

  “You’ll soon learn I never turn down a meal.” Brian went to the sink to wash his hands, continuing on. “Island Odyssey. That’s the theme of our bible school this year and part of the reason I stopped over. Beyond my desire to reacquaint myself with you, Miss Pearson.” He cast an affectionate smile her direction as she laid out his plate. “I believe you were sixteen when I came to pastor here? We met that summer but only briefly.”

  Had they? She couldn’t remember much about that year beyond misery and depression. “Yes, my mom was very sick.”

  “I understand.” Like Caleb’s, his eyes spoke of compassion, kindness; his voice of true sympathy. “Emma Jean was such a lovely lady. I can’t imagine how hard that was on you.”

  No reprimand for her absence in church that year or the following. No judgment she could pick up on.

  Instantly, Hope’s discomfort fled. Ponytail and all, she liked the man who seated himself across from her.

  “Thank you, Brian.” She handed him the serving spoon, inviting him to fill his plate first. “I’m sorry it’s not something more. Next time, we’ll plan ahead and you’ll receive roast beef and all the fixings.”

  Would there be a next time?

  “As I warned, I never turn away food. Nor do I let invitations like that go unfulfilled. All the same, this looks delicious.” He passed the spoon onto Caleb. “Now, Hope, as I was mentioning, our littlest islanders are in sudden, desperate need of a teacher. You see, I’m afraid ours went into early labor this afternoon during praise time.”

  “Oh no! Elise?” That explained the abrupt end to the singing. “But she isn’t due until July.”

  Caleb shook his head in slow concern. “Any news?”

  “The baby won’t be stopped. She asks for our prayers and plenty of them.”

  Oh, why hadn’t Hope called Elise yesterday?

  “I hope she’s okay,” was all she could offer. Why, Lord? Poor Elise had been through so much in her short lifetime. When was enough, enough?

  If she lost that baby…

  Emotion caught in Hope’s throat. Immediate regret singed. Elise wouldn’t care for her questioning God’s motives.