Marc sighed heavily and said, “What do you want me to do? Call the cops and tell them there’s an imaginary woman in our house?” He started walking towards her. “Or, do you want me finish what I started?”
“I saw her,” Harmony said, though she, herself, wasn’t so sure anymore. “I saw that woman.”
“And I believe you think you did,” he said and grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled her lips to his.
Harmony had no intention of responding to his advances but once he started kissing her, everything else just washed away. She felt herself kissing him back hard and fast and wanting more and more. She hadn’t wanted it like this since she’d cheated, hadn’t really allowed herself to enjoy sex just to punish herself for being bad. Well, Marc knew now and now she could finally get back that spark she always felt whenever they made love. And she was glad to have it back. Maybe it was due to the adrenalin rush because of the fear she’d just experienced. Or maybe she was just so glad they’d finally cleared the air about her one night stand. It could have been because he’d kicked that chef’s ass over her. For some reason, this made her unbelievably proud of him. She didn’t say it did, but she felt it. And it came out by her wanting him more than ever.
She pushed his pajama bottoms down as they walked over to the couch and laid down. And they made love; it was a little hurried and frantic, as if they couldn’t get enough of each other.
But then, Harmony stopped moving and stared into Marc’s eyes. He stopped moving, too. “I’m so sorry, Marc,” she said. He nodded and they began to move together again. Harmony moaned with pleasure and whispered in his ear, “And I love you. I love you so, so much…”
Marc responded by kissing her hard again and they both started to orgasm at the same time and then they were finished.
Once it was over, he kissed her, pulled back and took her head in his hands, forcing her to stare into his eyes. He told her in a very serious and commanding tone, “I am only going to say this once. I forgive you for cheating on me. I wished you would have confessed so it didn’t become this thing, but you didn’t. After this though, I don’t ever want to talk about it again. Got it?”
Harmony nodded. “I got it.” She pushed up against him and pressed her lips to his and said breathlessly, “I got it, baby, I so got it.”
“I need a few minutes,” he moaned in her ear. “But don’t stop what you’re doing.”
“I won’t,” she promised. And she didn’t.
SUN TIME
A week or so later, Harmony was typing furiously on her laptop at the dining table. She didn’t pause or stop for a good while but then she did. She stopped and got really, really quiet and still. Suddenly, a feeling of unease began to overwhelm her.
Her heart began to palpitate and she could feel herself breaking out in a whole-body flush, as if she were about to experience a panic attack and this was just the teaser before the show really began. She wanted to will this feeling off, to run away from it as it made her feel so uncomfortable and so out of sorts. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. It was there and it was staying and it would not leave until it was good and damned ready. And then… Then she caught a small trace of something… She couldn’t really get a feel for it but it was like something was swarming near her ear, like a gnat but not a gnat, something more or less electronic but not organic.
She then felt herself get really cold all of a sudden. She shivered but then heard the noise again. What was it? She forced all of her concentration on the noise, trying to grasp what, exactly, it was. Then it just went away and everything got really, really quiet.
Harmony shook herself. It was nothing. Nothing. It had to be nothing, this thing she kept hearing. But was she really hearing something? What was going on? And only she was hearing this. Marc never complained or mentioned hearing anything. But, then again, he was gone all day and she was usually in the house all by herself. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was just so quiet here, she was hearing things.
But wait! There it was again! It was a small, piercing sound, almost like an alarm or a sound one would hear onboard a spaceship just before the big explosion happened. It zoomed in one ear and out the other and was gone.
What the hell was that? Harmony thought to herself, shaking her head, trying to shrug it off. Maybe it was the refrigerator. Sometimes they made odd noises one wouldn’t take note of unless it was super quiet like it was now. She felt silly for a moment because she should have known all along it was something like that. Appliances always made funny noises. She just probably never detected them in her old apartment as it was always so noisy with the neighbors.
She breathed a sigh of relief and then turned back to her laptop and, as soon as she saw what was on the screen, she jumped up from the table in fright. She stifled a scream that was ready to tear out of her throat and stared at what looked like a snapshot of several beautiful and stylish people at a party that looked like it was from the 1970s. For some reason, she felt the urge to search their faces for the woman she thought she had seen in the bedroom a few nights before, but she wasn’t in the picture. These were different people; they were all positioned around an emerald green colored mid-century sofa in what she thought was the living area of the house. They were holding champagne flutes and dressed in colorful clothes. There were four women and two men and the men were in the center of the picture, with the women surrounding them. One man had his hand up a woman’s skirt and was grinning at the camera as if to say, “Look what I got.”
The people in the photograph looked, quite literally, like they were having the time of their lives. They had these fantastical smiles and seemed to be erupting in laughter, as if the photographer had said something very funny before taking the picture. If Harmony hadn’t been so terrified, she might have wanted to use this photograph as a still-life art piece to put on the wall, framed in nice black frame with a crisp white mat. They looked that happy, that relaxed, that chic, that cool.
Harmony pulled back from the picture but couldn’t take her eyes off it. She stared at it, really taking in their faces and soon questions of who these people were they began to form in her mind. But before she could make any estimations, the laptop suddenly shut off and the people were gone.
Harmony was visibly shaken. “What the hell was that?” she muttered to herself. She wondered if she’d gotten a virus on her computer or something and that’s why the picture came up. She shuddered at the thought, but then she realized her laptop was no longer working.
“Oh, fuck,” she said aloud and sat back down and tried to get the laptop started but nothing happened. She turned it on and then off. Nothing. She unplugged it. Nothing. She buried her head in her hands and groaned with annoyance.
“Hey, neighbor!”
Harmony jumped a little and then exhaled loudly as soon as she saw Darcy entering the house from the glass doors. “Please don’t do that ever again!” she half-yelled at her.
Darcy grinned and shrugged as she approached Harmony.
She eyed her, noticing she was wearing a white cover-up with little pom-poms along the sleeves over a black bikini. Her hair was in a fishtail braid and she wore a single gold bangle on her left arm. She looked like she was on her way to the pool at her posh hotel in St. Tropez. Harmony shook her head, realizing she never really thought people like Darcy existed in real life, but apparently, they did. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” she told her.
“I know,” Darcy said and grinned at Harmony, making her way over to her. “What has it been? A week?”
“At least,” Harmony replied. “Maybe longer.”
Darcy stopped and leaned against the table. “Sorry. I should have told you I had a thing. I just forgot.”
Harmony nodded. “What sort of thing did you have?”
“This thing in Vegas. It’s almost embarrassing. It’s like you get paid to show up at a club and, you know… Dance and shit? Me and few other girls do it. We’re semi-famous, so people pay to com
e party with us. So, I did that and then the owner has a houseboat on Lake Meade. He asked us if we wanted to use it for a few days. We did. It was fun. But now I’m back.”
She smiled widely at Harmony, who nodded slightly at her. “You live a very interesting life,” she told her.
Darcy grinned. “You don’t know the half of it.” She looked around the room, then back at Harmony. “Anyway, I just wanted to see if you want to lay out in the sun with me.”
“Uh, I can’t. My laptop is busted. I might have to take it to a shop.”
“Huh,” Darcy said then leaned over and pressed the power button on the laptop, which lit up as if nothing was ever wrong.
Harmony stared in confusion at the machine, wondering if it had it in for her or something, then turned to Darcy.
Darcy grinned some more and said, “Looks like it’s working fine to me.”
Harmony stared at her, then at the laptop. Well. That was fixed now. Well, good. She turned to Darcy and said, “That’s weird. It’s just like it… Nevermind.”
“It’s okay now. So, pool? Me, you, the sun?” Darcy asked and jerked her head towards the pool. “Come on, it looks like you could use some sun time.”
Harmony nodded. “Sure, why not?” She stood. “Let me get my bathing suit on.”
While Darcy waited by the pool, Harmony quickly changed into her best little polka dot bikini. Then she joined Darcy on the patio next to the pool. Each lay on a lounge chair with sunglasses on. As they lay next to the twinkling water of the pool, they could have easily been an advertisement for the good life.
Darcy sighed with contentment, then stared over at Harmony, smiling slightly. “Oh, this is so nice. I love the sun so much. Please don’t ever ask me to leave. I could stay here forever.”
Harmony thought about that and really didn’t like the idea of Darcy staying in her guesthouse forever. Surely someday she’d want to leave and maybe get married or something. She glanced at her, but didn’t dare say what was on her mind, and instead said, “Uh, okay.” She took a breath and realized she was really sweating. The sun was so hot today and the higher elevation that the house sat on really took it all in. “It is so hot out here.”
“Maybe you should take a dip in the pool,” Darcy suggested. “That’ll cool you off for sure.”
Harmony eyed the pool. It did look inviting but she really didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle of wet hair and pool water. Besides, she was too relaxed lying next to the pool. “Maybe later,” she said.
Darcy turned on her side and propped her head up on her elbow and stared at Harmony.
Harmony eyed her, not liking the look she was giving her. “What is it?”
“I need to say something,” Darcy said and sat up and swung her legs off the lounge chair and faced Harmony. “The day we met, when I said I wouldn’t sleep with your husband, I didn’t say it because I think I’m all that, you know? Like I have some power over all men. I don’t. It came off as a little… I can’t think of the word…”
Oh, Harmony could think of a few words that it came off as. And she named a few, “Presumptuous? Egotistical?” Then she muttered, “Obnoxious?”
Darcy caught all the words and nodded. “Yeah, that. It’s not like… I don’t know. I sounded like an ass and I apologize for that.”
Harmony decided not to give her a hard time about it. In fact, she was over it. She and Marc were good now that she’d aired her dirty laundry. She even felt silly for ever feeling that Darcy was a threat, too. Quite truthfully, she was ready to move past the whole thing. So, she told her, “I get it. Men are genetically engineered to look and sometimes looking is all it takes.”
“Well said,” Darcy replied, nodding like she really liked what Harmony was saying.
“Either way, I still end up looking like the jealous wife,” Harmony said.
“I know,” Darcy said. “And I’m sorry I put you in that position. That’s all I wanted to say. When I was in Vegas, I started thinking about what an asshole I sounded like and I felt bad. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything.”
“It’s okay and thanks for saying that,” Harmony said. “Let’s just don’t talk about it. There’s no need.”
“Agreed,” Darcy said and, as soon as the words were out of her mouth, out of nowhere a black cat scampered across the patio and made a beeline for Darcy. Darcy straightened up and smiled at the cat like it was an old friend. It curled around her ankles and purred.
Harmony eyed the cat, then Darcy, who ran her hand along its head then down its back. The cat showed its appreciation and purred even more, taking the petting like it had never been petted before. However, the cat was obviously well taken care of because its coat was glossy and it looked well fed. And loved. It also had a small bright pink collar on with a little bell attached. Harmony shook her head a little in confusion, wondering why Darcy hadn’t mentioned having a cat. “You have a cat?” she asked her.
Darcy shook her head. “No, I do not. It’s the neighbor’s cat. I made the mistake of feeding her one day, you know, some leftovers. Now she comes over here whenever I’m home looking for something.” She smiled at Harmony. “Never feed an animal or anything else for that matter. You’ll never get rid of ’em.”
Harmony nodded and smiled back. She was actually beginning to like Darcy, which was unusual for her as it took her a while to warm up to most people. She never thought she’d feel that way about her, but she was coming off as being a pretty cool person, like someone on a TV show that a person identified with and would think, “We could be friends if they were a real person.” That’s the way she felt about Darcy, like a favorite character on a TV show she enjoyed watching.
Just then, Harmony’s stomach growled loudly, so loudly, in fact, Darcy took notice of it and laughed.
“Sounds like somebody else is hungry, too,” Darcy said to the cat.
“Well, it is about lunchtime,” Harmony said. “Listen, I have some leftover chicken and I could mix us up a side of something. Want to eat lunch with me?”
Darcy smiled widely. “I’d love that. Let me go put on some clothes.” She stared down at the cat, then pointed at it and said, “Go back home, kitty.”
The cat meowed and trotted off, as instructed. Harmony stared after it in wonder, then at Darcy.
“What?” Darcy asked and lifted one shoulder.
Harmony shook her head. “I don’t know but it’s like it listened to you, the cat.”
“I have a way with animals,” Darcy said and winked. “You should see what I can do with humans.”
Harmony laughed and stood. “Okay, then,” she said. “Meet me in a few.”
“Will do,” Darcy said and headed off to the guesthouse.
After Harmony put on a pair of cutoff jean shorts and a t-shirt over her bikini, she went into the kitchen and took out the ingredients for Mexican slaw and set them on the counter. She started preparing the slaw in a big bowl and really got into her work. Then, all of a sudden, she stopped what she was doing and listened. The same sound from before was somewhere in the kitchen. She turned and stared at the refrigerator but it was quiet; not even the icemaker was going.
She went back to the slaw, then she heard it again. Her head went to the right and then to the left, and she cocked it in an effort to pick up the sound. What was it? What was that slightly piercing sound? And then… Then she finally heard something and it was as real as day.
A female voice, with a very Californian-type up-talker inflection, whispered right in her ear, “She’s going to get you to kill him.”
Harmony jumped and turned, holding her hand over her heart. There was no one there. Her head shook involuntarily and she stared around the kitchen, searching for the body that went with the voice. But there was no one there. She told herself to get a grip, to let this go, but something wouldn’t let her. There was something going on and she knew it; she knew it deep down in her bones.
She glanced over a
t the doors and saw Darcy entering. She stared at her, narrowing her eyes as she walked into the kitchen holding a white envelope.
Darcy stopped in front of her and put her hand on Harmony’s shoulder, looking concerned. “Are you okay? It looks like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
Harmony shook her head slightly, not really wanting to tell her what she’d just heard, but really wanting to tell someone. So, she started, “It’s just… This sounds crazy. No. I’m fine.”
Darcy nodded, then looked into the bowl. “That looks delicious. What is that?”
“Uh, Mexican slaw,” Harmony said and tried to smile at her, though she was still very shaken. “Sit down at the dining table. I’ll serve.”
“Great,” Darcy said and turned to walk over to the table then stopped and turned back to Harmony, handing her the envelope. “My rent. This month and next. I want to get ahead, okay?”
Harmony nodded and took the envelope and tossed it on the counter. “Thanks for that.”
“No, thank you for letting me live here,” she said and took a seat at the dining table. “You know, a lot of people would have asked me to leave, and I would have to, you know, if they asked. You’re cool, though. I really appreciate that.”
Harmony gave her a smile and started gathering dishes. “It’s okay,” she said and she reached up in the cabinet and took down two dinner plates. “I never thought I’d want a tenant, you know, but you’re cool. I mean, I hardly know you’re here.” She opened a drawer and pulled out some forks, then another and pulled out some napkins.
“Well, I am gone a lot,” she replied and watched Harmony bring the plates over, then pulled back when she set a plate down in front of her, then set out her napkin and fork. “Thanks,” she said and smiled.
Harmony nodded and went back into the kitchen and got the slaw, then the chicken, which she’d warmed in the microwave, and took them to the table, then sat down. As soon as she sat, she jumped up. “The tea!”
The House in the Hills Page 8