by Odette Stone
Don’t even get me started on wicked Irene who was as evil and cold-hearted as they came. The things she said to Jackson, the way she spoke to him. Her heartless, callous abuse towards Jackson had been difficult to read. She was as bad as Ted, if not worse in her psychological warfare against such a young boy.
Dear God. It explained so much about Jackson. His only defence against her bullying had been to have absolutely no reaction at all. The only way he could endure her reign of terror was to just pretend it wasn’t happening. Now as an adult, when Jackson was faced with really intense situations, he had the stunning ability to turn off all his emotions and not react on any level, leaving in his wake an indifferent and impassive solider, ready to take action. Now I understood why. He had years of practice.
I lay on the bed and thought about everything. Jackson acted like he didn’t care about ending things with Harper but perhaps he cared deeply. At this point, I had even less understanding of what he was feeling. My only hope now was that he would find it in his heart to fall in love with Alien. That he would be able to give and receive this child’s love. That would almost be enough for me. I could love him. And if he loved our child, I figured that we could somehow make this work.
I got a chair and pulled down the stairs to the attic. I put the journal back in the attic in the hiding place that I had found it and prayed that Jackson never found out that I had betrayed him and his trust. I needed to tuck that away and forget that I ever saw it.
I took a hot shower and then let Chloe out in the backyard. When I called her, she didn’t seem to want to come in. She was eating something. Annoyed, I marched onto the cool grass in my barefeet and yanked her back into the house by the collar.
***
I woke up to the sound of puking. Chloe was lying on the bathroom floor panting. There was blue vomit beside her. She lifted her head weakly and wagged her tail with two weak thumps.
“Oh shit,” I said in a complete panic. I drove like a complete maniac to Newport to the animal hospital. The vet immediately rushed Chloe to an examination room.
“Do you know what she ate?”
“She was eating something in the backyard before we went to bed. I didn’t really pay attention.”
He started an IV line for Chloe. “Based on the fact that her puke was blue, I’m almost certain it is rat poison.”
***
I sat by Chloe while the vet continuously monitored her. The only person I wanted to talk to was Jackson. I had no idea if he would get my text but I sent one anyways.
Me: Chloe and I are at the vet. She woke up vomiting. The vet said she has been poisoned.
Five minutes later, my phone rang.
“Emily. What’s going on?”
I could hear a rumbling in the background. He sounded like he was on a plane.
I explained to him that Chloe had been poisoned by rat poison.
“What?” his voice sounded incredulous.
“Someone did this deliberately. This meat was in the middle of our backyard. Chicken laced with poison. Someone wanted to hurt Chloe.”
“Who would want to do that?”
“I don’t know, a dog hater?”
“Are you sure it wasn’t dragged into our yard by some other animal?”
I had never seen another animal in our yard before. “I don’t know.”
“Just don’t jump to any conclusions, okay?”
“Okay.”
A long pause. “Emily, I’m so sorry. I wish I was there and I wish I could talk more but I really have to go. Let me know how Chloe is, okay?”
“Okay.”
It was a long night, but by morning, Chloe was standing up on the examination bed and stretching.
“It looks like she is going to be fine,” the vet said, “Keep her close to home and when she goes outside, be sure to keep a close eye on her.”
“Do you think this was accidental?”
The vet sighed. “I want to tell you yes but the truth is, I have seen all sort of sick things that people do to animals. Maybe someone left out the chicken for some rats and was careless about it, maybe another animal dragged it into your yard, I don’t know. But you need to be vigilant in watching her. Never let your dog eat anything from outside. When she goes out to your backyard, be sure to go out there with her.”
“Okay.”
***
Chloe was moving pretty slow. We got home and she went straight upstairs to go to sleep. I cleaned up the vomit, careful to use rubber gloves. Then I had a shower. I was so exhausted. I was just about to lie down when my phone rang. It was my relator in New York.
“Hey Jean.”
“Hi Emily.”
“How’s it going?”
“Well, I was wondering if you changed your mind about selling the loft?”
“No, why?”
“Well, I went there yesterday afternoon to do a viewing and the locks on the loft were changed. We couldn’t get in.”
I went completely still. “Excuse me?”
“I even double checked my keys and the key wouldn’t even go into the lock. We could hear music playing inside. I wasn’t sure if you changed your mind…”
“Wait,” I stopped her. “You heard people inside?”
“Yes.”
“Coming from the loft? My loft.”
“Yes.”
I stood there still for a long moment. “I’ll get back to you okay?”
“Thanks Emily. I knew this was just a big misunderstanding.”
I hung up. Who was living in my loft? I had heard about squatters who took up residence in empty property but I could not believe that anyone would do that to my place.
I looked at Chloe who was lying on the foot of the bed looking more than just a bit pathetic. I called my lawyer who told me that we needed to investigate but if we wanted to do an eviction I needed to be present. My lawyer also told me that if the people in my loft had been there more than 30 days we had a bigger problem on our hands, as they might be able to claim squatter rights.
“What does that mean?”
“It means, if they are there longer than 30 days, without protest from you, they legally have the right to stay there without your consent. And by law we will be unable to evict them.”
“Is that a joke?”
“I would advise you get down to New York as soon as possible.”
Chapter 28
I hated to leave Chloe behind, but I felt even worse traveling with her in this state. I brought her to a dog sitter that I found online, a wonderful older woman who said that she would baby Chloe like she was her own. She promised that she wouldn’t let Chloe out of her sight and that if there was any sign of trouble, she would rush Chloe to the vet.
I looked at Chloe who had already made herself at home, lying on the floor beside the couch. After double checking to make sure that the woman had my cell phone and the name of the vet, I crouched down beside Chloe in tears.
“I won’t be longer than two days.”
The woman patted my shoulder. “She’s going to be fine. You can call anytime to check up on her.”
***
I left my car at the dog sitter’s and took a cab to the airport with only a carry on and booked the first flight I could to New York. Once in New York, I rented a car at the airport and drove straight to the loft. Just as my realtor had indicated, my keys to the loft didn’t work either. I couldn’t believe it.
I went back to my rental car and called my lawyer.
“I’m at my loft. My key doesn’t work. I have no idea what to do.”
“When is the last time you were at the loft?”
“I did a walk through with my relator about three weeks ago. It was empty then.”
“Well, we can get a locksmith over there. And get you into the place. Legally, you have full rights over the place.”
“Okay.”
I watched as the garage door opened. “Wait. Someone is coming back to the loft.”
I watched from my renta
l car in shock as Julie and Matt pulled into the garage in Matt’s car.
“It’s Matt,” I said in complete shock.
“You know who is squatting in your place?”
“It’s my ex-fiancé. He used to live there with me. I had his stuff all moved out a few weeks ago when I had the place staged. But it looks like he’s living there with…a friend of mine.”
Silence screamed down the line. My lawyer cleared his throat. “Oh. How long did you two live together?”
“We moved in together in October of last year. We lived together about 8 months.”
“So did your ex-fiancé ever pay rent or help pay for the mortgage?”
“No. I bought the place outright. Matt never contributed to any of the bills.”
“Was the water bill or electricity bill ever in his name? Any of the utilities?”
“No.”
“Okay, and you are certain that the place was empty a few weeks ago.”
“I shipped Matt’s stuff to another address and my landlord had the place staged. We walked through the loft about three weeks ago. It was completely empty and the locks worked. We took a lot of pictures.”
“That’s perfect. From a legal stand point, you have full right to enter the place and have all of their stuff physically removed.”
“I do?” I could hear the fear in my voice. “How do I do that?”
“Call a locksmith. Have movers waiting. Have them move everything out and you can either remove it to a dump or have them put it in some storage locker.”
“What if they come back while this is going on?”
“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”
“Seriously?”
“Listen, it might be better if you get organized today and then have everyone in place for tomorrow morning when they go to work.”
I put my head down on the steering wheel. I was so tired. I could not believe this was happening. “Okay.”
“Do you want me to email you some names that you can call?”
“I feel really weird about doing this.”
“Emily, if they claim squatter rights we will have an even bigger legal mess on our hands that could take a couple years to resolve. Trust me, you want to move fast on this.”
“Okay.”
***
I spent the rest of the day on the phone coordinating everything. We had to provide legal proof to the locksmith that I was indeed the owner. I needed to rent a storage locker and hire a moving company that was willing to pack up and move everything as soon as possible. By the time the day was over, I was exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open.
I called the dog sitter who assured me that Chloe was feeling a lot more peppy and her appetite was returning. I called Beth and we arranged that she would meet me at the loft tomorrow afternoon and we would have dinner before I headed back to Virginia. I took a bath and fell into a dreamless sleep.
***
I woke up to my Skype ringing. Peering at the clock, It was just after 3 AM. Jackson was calling. My heart stopped beating for a long moment.
I turned on the bedroom lamp and opened the screen, blinking against the bright light.
“Hey,” I said sleepily.
I took one look at his stiff posture, rigid muscles and corded neck and knew that he was livid. I woke up immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“You want to tell me where you are?” his jaw was clenched.
I was struggling to wake up and deal with this conversation. “New York.”
He took a deep breath and shook his head, unable to speak. I peered closer at the screen. He was standing in our kitchen.
“Are you at home?” I asked, my eyes wide. I could feel my heart pound.
“I’m at home,” he spoke slowly, with forced restraint. “And you’re not.”
My lips parted in shock. “What are you doing home?”
He all but snarled. “The mission got pulled.”
“It’s not what you think,” I blurted out. “My lawyer called and asked me to come to New York. But I was coming back. You told me you would be home in two weeks.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “You told me you would be here when I got back.”
I could feel how upset he was. I thought about the little kid who moved between Ted and Harry and Irene’s place. The kid who got no love and no commitment from anyone. I was starting to gain a better understanding of who my husband was. He may not love me, but damn if I was going to be the next person in line to abandon him. My voice was quiet. “And you got home and I wasn’t there.”
He didn’t answer. He just looked unbelievably intense. I had expressly promised Jackson that I would be there when he got back. How was I supposed to know that he would be coming back after only two days?
“Chloe is at the dog sitter in Newport,” I said. “I would never leave Chloe behind.”
His green gaze just bore into me. The corner of one of his eyes twitched, the only indication that he had heard me.
“Matt is squatting in the loft. With Julie. We have to extract them tomorrow.”
He let out a slow breath. “Chloe is in Newport?”
“Yes.”
“With a dog sitter?”
“She was too sick to travel with me. I would never leave her behind, Jackson. You know that. I wasn’t running away. I just had to leave to take care of this mess here. I was coming back.”
He looked away from the camera for a long time and then looked back to me. He had pulled himself together. All emotion had been erased from his face. “Okay.”
I let out the pent up air out of my lungs. “Sorry you came home to find me gone.”
He looked down and took a deep breath. Then he raised his green eyes to mine. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on with Matt.”
I explained the situation and how we were going to forcible evict Matt in the morning.
Jackson looked grim. “I can’t leave the base since I’m on stand by but I can go get special leave. I can be there by tomorrow night.”
Guilt rushed over me. This man was always willing to drop everything to take care of me. “We will be done taking care of this by tomorrow afternoon. I can be home by tomorrow night.”
He stared into the camera at me. “I don’t like it.”
“My lawyer is helping me. We have to get this done.”
He rubbed his face. “Emily.”
I nodded. “I can do this. Everything is organized.”
He stared at me, thinking. “You don’t want to wait until I get there?”
I chewed on my nail. I wanted to prove to him that I was a strong military wife. “I can handle this.”
“Do you want me to pick up Chloe?”
My eyes filled with tears. “She would love that. I’ll text you the address. You can’t let her out of your sight. She can’t eat anything off the ground. You can’t just let her out in the backyard. You have to watch her at all times.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
We stared at each other for another long minute. “I’m sorry you got home and I wasn’t there.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
My husband’s defence. I could tell that him coming home to an empty house had upset him a great deal. I also knew that he would never admit that it had bothered him. I was starting to understand him a bit better. “Okay. I will call you tomorrow when it is over.”
We stared at each other and then he nodded. “Okay.”
And then the screen went black.
Chapter 29
I couldn’t fall back asleep after Jackson had called. To say that I was emotionally confused was an understatement. One part of me was terrified of this relationship and how much it promised to devastate me. Jackson and I had a lot of unresolved problems around the fact that it seemed like he still harboured some big feelings for Harper. The other part of me was in love with him. After reading the journal, I was starting to get a better understanding of his past and how that had shaped him into becoming the man h
e was today. I could tell that when he arrived home and I had not been there, he had been upset. Anyone would have assumed the worst. After the BBQ I had promised him I would be there when he got home. I could understand how he had automatically assumed that I had left him. I hated how that must have felt like such a betrayal to him. I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, unable to shut my brain off.
I was functioning on almost no sleep and staggered out of bed at an ungodly hour, feeling like death warmed over. I packed my bag up and drove to the loft property. I sat in a car and waited until Matt and Julie backed out of the garage and drove off.
The locksmith opened the door and then my real estate agent and I walked through the place. To say that it was a mess was an understatement. Being neat had never been either Julie or Matt’s strengths.
“Look at this!” Jean looked like she was about to cry.
Two pieces of furniture that belong to the staging company, a white leather couch and a faux suede wingback chair, had been ruined beyond repair by what appeared to be wine.
“Jean, I’m so sorry. I’ll pay for all damages.”
She nodded. “I know this isn’t your fault.”
Together we walked around the loft, tagging things that belonged to the staging company to ensure it didn’t get packed up and moved.
As angry as I was with Matt, it was horrifying watching the movers pack. They had been instructed to put stuff in boxes and move it out, they hadn’t been instructed to be gentle or to take care. I stood in the bathroom and watched as they removed a drawer from the vanity and dumped it in a box. Cosmetics and hair products tumbled roughly in. The mover tossed in wet towels on top of everything and sealed the box shut.
The cleaning company arrived shortly after the movers were finished and they started to make their way through the loft.
I walked into the kitchen. The stove was filthy. It was beyond me how anyone could be so messy.