by Robert Brumm
Chapter 14
Kelly fussed in the mirror, frustrated not only by the dim ceiling light in her bedroom, but the indecision her outfit was causing. She turned away from the full length mirror and went back to the bathroom mirror. Plenty of light in there, but now should couldn’t see below her waist.
She sighed and checked her make up one more time before fluffing her hair with her fingers in vain. She never seemed happy with her hair and tonight was no exception. It was just minutes before nine and she shut off the bathroom light, accepting the fact her appearance was as good as it was going to get.
Why was she so nervous? She’d seen Paul practically every day since she started at the shop and spent hours at a time by his side. She took one more look in the mirror that just added to her nerves. Her wardrobe was still limited and she knew Paul had seen all of her outfits at least a couple of times. Except this one. She picked up a new pair of jeans just the other day that fit her like a glove and made her butt look fabulous. She topped off the ensemble with a simple red top that hugged her body and showed off her cleavage. Maybe a little too much cleavage.
Kelly panicked and started to unbutton her jeans. What in the hell was she doing? Was she actually trying to look sexy for her boss? The last time he saw her earlier that afternoon she was wearing ripped jeans and a stained sweatshirt, for Pete’s sake. What sort of message would she be sending when she opened the door and he saw her like this?
Her pants were half way down when she heard a rap on the door. Too late. She actually stood there for minute half dressed, not knowing whether or not to pull her pants back up or scramble into some sweats.
Another knock on the door. Kelly pulled her jeans back up, zipped, and said a silent prayer. She rushed to the kitchen door and opened it, relieved to see Paul in a dark blue button down shirt and khakis. He’d changed into nicer clothes too.
“Hi.”
“Hey, come on in!” Kelly stepped aside, catching a whiff of aftershave as he passed. “I see the snow finally stopped.”
“Yeah, not too bad. The plows have hit most of the main roads already.” He held up a paper bag. “I brought a bottle of wine.”
Kelly stared at the bottle and made a face. “I don’t suppose you brought an opener, too, did you?”
“Ah, crap. I didn’t think of that. I guess that wasn’t one of the first items you picked up when stocking the kitchen, huh?”
“I wonder if it’s too late to bug Ed and Sue.” Kelly looked out the window in the direction of the big house.
“Nah, no reason to bother them.” Paul spotted a screwdriver in one of the open drawers. “Well, we’re half way there. Happen to have any screws lying around?”
“Um, I think I saw some left over from when Ed fixed the bedroom door.” She stood on her toes and grabbed a shoebox from on top of the fridge. She held up a screw. “Will this help?”
“Perfect! Couldn’t ask for more than a nice long deck screw.” Paul drove the screw halfway into the cork and wrapped a dish rag around it.
“Please don’t end up full of glass shards and wine soaked cuts.”
“Nonsense.” Paul grunted as he pulled on the screw. “It’s a celebration and I’m getting this damn thing open no matter what. Where’s Keegan, sleeping?”
“Yes, thank God. He was being a big crab today. Took me forever to get him to go to sleep.” She opened the oven door a crack and peeked inside. “Hope you like meatloaf.”
“Sounds just fine to me.” There was an audible pop as Paul yanked the cork from the bottle. “Yes!”
“Good job, soldier.” Kelly reached into one of the cabinets and took out two glasses. “Plastic cups from the dollar store. Classy, right?”
“I don’t know about you but I was just going to stick the bottle back in the bag and pass it back and forth.”
“Now that’s class.”
*****
Paul stabbed the final kernel of sweet corn on his plate with his fork and popped it in his mouth. “That’s it, that’s the limit.” He sat back and rubbed his stomach. “I am officially stuffed.”
“You sure?” Kelly looked over at the kitchen counter. “There’s one more baked potato and some meatloaf left.”
Paul laughed. “You sound like my mother. She’s on a constant mission to make me fat, I swear.” He poured himself another glass of wine and topped off Kelly’s. “It was delicious, though. You’re quite the chef.”
“Thanks. It’s nice to cook for somebody who appreciates it. My ex never once complimented me on my cooking.”
Paul’s smiled faded. “I’m sorry. I get the impression he didn’t do much complimenting on anything?”
Kelly slowly pushed her empty potato skin across her plate with her fork and shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” Paul said. “That’s getting too personal.”
“No.” Kelly looked up. “My boyfriend was an asshole who used to beat me and Keegan and I left him. I’m not embarrassed to admit that anymore. There’s no reason for me to hide from my past.”
Paul studied Kelly’s serious face for a moment and nodded. “I’m glad. It’s never a good idea.”
“What about you?” Kelly asked softly.
“Me? What about me?”
“How do you deal with it? I can’t begin to compare what I’ve been through to what you must have seen over there. What it must have been like to get hurt.”
Paul sighed and swirled the wine in his blue plastic cup. “They do everything they can to help, I’ll give ‘em that. Everybody back here in the states practically waits on pins and needles, ready to jump into action the second any of us who were in country show any signs of PTSD. They had me see a shrink for a while when I was doing physical therapy. Went to a couple support groups.”
“Did it help?”
Paul shrugged. “I don’t know. My therapist was a 42-year-old woman. She was good, I guess. Said all the right things, asked all the right questions. But she just didn’t get it. Unless you’ve been in combat, no text book in the world is going to explain what it’s really like.”
“No, I guess we wouldn’t understand.”
“Kind of makes me sound like a jerk, doesn’t it?”
Kelly leaned forward on the table and smiled. “It makes you sound human.”
Paul chuckled and stretched out his arms. “And on that note…I should probably get going. Gotta get up early.” He stood and started gathering the dirty dishes. “Let me help you clean up and I’ll get of your hair.”
“Let’s just dump everything into the sink. I’ve drank almost half a bottle of wine and really don’t feel like doing dishes.”
They straightened up the table and Paul grabbed his jacket. “Thanks again for dinner. Tell Keegan I said hello.”
Kelly walked him to the door. “You know, I think he’s really taking a shine to you.”
“He’d a good kid. Lucky to have a good mom.”
They both smiled, standing by the door, encountering the first awkward silence of the evening. Kelly’s head buzzed from the wine and her heart raced. She finally leaned over and gave him a hug. “Thanks for coming over. Drive safe out there.”
“I will, thanks for having me.”
They lingered for a moment and Kelly leaned back, her face just inches from Paul’s. She smelled his aftershave again. Their eyes locked and for a second Kelly realized how quiet the house had gotten. She glanced at his lips and moved closer. Paul retracted.
“Ah…hey.” He smiled. “Maybe not such a good idea.”
Kelly’s hands went to her face. “Oh my God. I’m Sorry.”
“No, no. Don’t be sorry. It’s just, you know, you work for me and you just got out of a bad relationship. I’d feel like I’d be taking advantage.”
Kelly’s cheeks burned. She could only imagine how red her face must have been. “You’re right, it was stupid.”
Paul sighed and smiled again. “It’s fine, really. Don’t sweat it. Talk you tomorrow?”
She nodded
and opened the door, the cold breeze feeling good on her flushed skin. “Good night.”
“Night.”
Kelly closed the door and leaned her forehead against it. “I’m such an idiot,” she muttered. She sat back down at the kitchen table and poured the last few inches from the bottle into her plastic cup.
Chapter 15
Kelly couldn’t stop replaying the scene at the door in her mind. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, trying to clear her head. It was well after midnight and before she knew it, Keegan would be up bright and early, demanding breakfast and her attention. She burrowed deeper under the covers and tried to get comfortable on the hard floor.
Even though she was lying on a few layers of blankets, trying to sleep on the floor was proving to be more difficult than she’d imagined. It was going to be a while before she’d be able to afford a bed so she’d better get used to it. Maybe she could fit one of those foam sleeping pads into the budget in the meantime.
She groaned and turned on her side, realizing she was doing anything but clearing her mind. She kept seeing Paul’s face and smelling his cologne. She knew the last thing she needed to do was get involved with another man considering the disaster her and Don turned out to be. It was time to be her own woman, independent and strong. She didn’t need a man and she certainly didn’t need to get involved with somebody she worked with. Especially since he signed her paychecks.
So why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?
She was sure he’d felt something for her, too. Fortunately for the both of them he did the right thing at the door while she was busy throwing herself at him. How would she be able to face him on Monday?
Kelly slowly sat up and wrapped the blankets around her shoulder. As the buzz from the wine wore off, a headache moved in. She didn’t exactly get along with alcohol very well. Another stupid thing she’d done that night.
She sat there on the floor, debating whether or not to leave the warm cocoon of her blankets and venture into the kitchen for a drink of water, when she noticed a soft noise for the first time. The slight hum from the refrigerator motor in the next room suddenly turned off and the cottage was completely quiet. Except for…crying?
Kelly turned her head slightly and the sound stopped. She held her breath for a moment but couldn’t hear a thing. It was probably just Keegan whimpering in his sleep, something he did often from bad dreams.
She decided against the drink of water and laid back down, determined to shut off her mind, forget the ungodly hour the alarm clock displayed, and finally get to sleep. She adjusted the blankets and settled into a somewhat comfortable position.
Kelly’s eyes shot open. She definitely heard crying. It was barely audible, so soft she’d almost sworn it was barely a noise at all, but it was there. She sat up again and it grew a little louder. It was impossible to determine which direction it was coming from. Outside? Had to be.
She quietly got to her feet and went to her bedroom door, still unable to pinpoint the sound. She crept into Keegan’s room and crouched down by the pile of blankets on the floor. She could easily see his face thanks to the moonlight coming through the window. His breathing was slow and his face peaceful, no signs of bad dreams.
She quietly moved into the living room, the only sound being the slight creaking of the floorboards under her feet. She stopped in the middle of the living room and heard the crying again, louder this time. A woman. Maybe a young girl.
Kelly looked at the dark kitchen windows. A chill ran down her spine as she couldn’t imagine who could be outside in the dark and the cold. She went to the door and opened it a crack. The night was as still and quiet as it was in the house. Thanks to the full moon and fresh snow on the ground, she could see quite well. Her truck sat under a few inches of powder and she could barely make out what was left of Paul’s footprints on the ground. They lead away from the door to the tire tracks left behind from his Jeep.
She crossed her arms and shivered at the cold invading her home. She stood there for a moment longer, holding her breath but not hearing anything. She finally closed the door and locked it. The crying wasn’t coming from inside, that much was obvious, and the closest house was Ed and Sue’s. Even if you sobbed at the top of your lungs on their back porch she wouldn’t have been able to hear it. There was a third option of course—that was she was losing mind. Kelly filled up a glass of water at the sink and looked out the kitchen window as she drank.
Kelly stood there for a moment longer and heard nothing but her breath and the soft tick of the clock on the wall. Whoever that was, whatever it was, seemed to have left. The clock on the wall ticked closer to dawn and she decided to crawl back under her covers and try to forget it ever happened. She already had to forget Paul’s rejection at the door, so why not add a little creepy crying in the middle of the night?
She walked over to the living room window and looked out the big picture window facing the river. It was a beautiful and peaceful scene. The moonlight out back was even brighter, thanks to the open sky above the river. It actually glistened off the slow moving water.
Movement in the woods across the river caught her eye. She took a step back and bit her lip to prevent the scream trying to escape. A dark form stepped out from behind one of the trees and stood there. It was far enough away that Kelly couldn’t make out any details, but whoever it was appeared to be facing the house. Watching.
She moved back further into the living room, knowing there was no way whoever it was would be able to see her in the dark room. But it didn’t make her feel any less exposed. The form ducked back behind the tree and was gone.
Kelly rushed over to the drapes and closed them, looking through the crack at the trees but didn’t see a thing. She stood there for five minutes, scanning the woods for movement but didn’t see anything else.
She finally closed the curtains all the way, double-checked the locked door, and rushed to the safety of her blankets on the floor. She finally dozed off as the sky slowly lightened to begin a new day.
Chapter 16
Kelly stared at the television screen playing out a scene involving Pooh Bear obsessing over some honey, but her mind was elsewhere. She grimaced and looked down at her fingernail which she’d absently been biting on and realized for the first time it was bleeding. She reached for her coffee and spat it back into the cup. Ice cold. She didn’t even remember pouring it.
She got up off the couch and stepped over Keegan lying on his stomach in the middle of the floor and turned the thermostat up another notch. She was wearing long underwear, a sweatshirt, robe, and a knitted hat, but still couldn’t get warm. Keegan seemed perfectly comfortable, even sporting bare feet.
She pulled the drawstring tighter on her robe and walked to the picture window for the countless time that morning. Each time, she expected to see somebody standing on the other bank. But as usual, nothing but water, trees, and melting snow. The sun was out in full force and the temperature pushed 35 degrees. If the nice weather held, the first snowfall of the season would be just a memory in a day or two.
Kelly stared absently at the snow, biting on her nails again and not noticing. The entire night before seemed like a bad dream. She was starting to feel like the whole thing never happened.
The snow held the answers. If somebody really was lurking across the river last night then there would be have to be footprints.
“Only one way to find out,” Kelly muttered to herself.
The river was low, in some places no more than a trickle. Even from the window, she could see most of the bottom and there were plenty of rocks above the surface she could use as stepping-stones. Seemed safe enough. Even if she slipped and fell in, the worst that would happen was getting cold and wet.
“Honey, Mom needs to run outside really quick.” She slipped on her shoes by the door and traded her robe for her jacket. “You watch Pooh and be good.” Keegan glanced at her and nodded before turning back to the screen.
The sun felt good on h
er face as she stepped outside. Paul’s footprints from the night before, as well as his tire tracks, had turned from snow to damp gravel. She needed to hurry. Just as she thought, the river appeared to be no problem for crossing at all. She stepped off the grassy bank and was able to walk the first five feet over large pebbles. Piece of cake so far.
Kelly squinted at the bright sunlight reflecting off the water and considered the best path to take. A line of rocks directly in front of her looked perfect, except for the large gap toward the other side. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to jump it but she didn’t have much of a choice.
She stepped over the first few rocks with no problem but started to gain too much momentum with each step. Kelly took her eyes off the rocks directly in front of her, eyeing the gap, and slipped. She over compensated and lost her balance, sending her right foot into the icy water an instant before her right knee and both hands followed.
Kelly cursed and got to her feet, now both of them submerged. She glanced back to the house, embarrassed to see Keegan standing in the window watching her. She waved at him and held up one finger, hopefully getting the message through that she would be right back.
She stuck her cold wet hands under her arms and stepped back onto a dry rock. She was tempted to turn back but she knew she’d regret it once inside warm and dry. She bit the inside of her cheek and pushed on, running through the remaining few inches of water and on to the bank.
Kelly climbed up the bank and glanced back at the house, trying to figure from that side where the person would have been standing. It actually looked pretty close, so she looked around the forest floor for any footsteps. Her feet were quickly going numb and her teeth started to chatter. She trotted up the shoreline, scanning the ground for any signs of man, but saw nothing.
A smile crept across her face and she allowed herself to start feeling relieved. She looked across the river at her cottage. The person she thought she saw would have been standing almost directly where she was now and no footprints could be found anywhere. The only thing she saw among the leaves and twigs were some prints from a small animal and some droppings it left behind.