Read Online Every Last Breath by Jessica Gaffney - Free Book Online

that thought. She told Maggie it was normal to experience hyper- vigilance, it was just her brain’s way of understanding what happened. It meant that random things would happen and she would assign a meaning to it that made the most sense. But her type of “sense” always put her on guard.
     
     
    Vala growled and moved to the front door. Maggie’s heart raced. She took her phone and began dialing 911. Eli hopped out of bed and ran to the door. “There’s a truck mommy? Who’s here?’
    She put her arm around the boy and looked outside. The red truck was stacked with wood and the lift gate was down. Putting on her sweater she followed Eli outside.
    The sun was still hiding behind the clouds when Ben Hall appeared rounding the corner from her house. “Ben? What are you doing here?”
    He smiled, lumbering closer, “Our wood pile got swiped early this morning. My aunt sent me up to check on you earlier, already saw the same had happened here.”
    “How much wood did you bring?”
    “About 1/2 a rick.”
    She was flabbergasted. “Wow, I don’t know what to say.”
    “People can freeze in this weather, you got to have heat,” he said warmly. Maggie felt her face flush.
    Maggie had not forgotten about her thermostat. “My heat’s out too. This is really a godsend.”
    Ben dropped the load of wood. “What do you mean your heat is out?”
    He removed his gloves and pointed to the house.
    “How about you open the door and I bring this load inside.”
    “That’d be great.” She turned up toward the house.
    Eli was on his way out with Vala when he spotted Ben. He dropped the dog leash and ran over. “Hi Ben, can I help?”
    “Sure little man.” He handed him two logs and Eli waddled alongside him back into the house.
    “Do you feel that?”
                  “Yeah, it feels like a draft.”
                  Ben looked around the house, “I think ti’s coming from the basement,” he said. Maggie’s house had a small furnished room downstairs where she did the laundry. She walked to the window while Ben investigated. The closer she got to the window, the more the hair raised up on the back of her neck. There were footprints trudging through her backyard. It came from the neighbor’s yard and crossed through heading back into the woods. That was strange.
                  “Eli, come here baby,” she called nervously.
                  The boy ran into the kitchen and stayed by his mom. “It’s cold in my room.”
                  “I know. Don’t worry, Ben’s going to fix it.”
                  A few minutes later, while the anxiety was already rising up inside her, she compared the foot prints and the reality of Jack being loose, to the coincidence of low gas or some other homeowner’s dilemma. As her heart raced, Ben made it back up the stairs. He warmed his shoulders and told her the thermostat broke.
    Maggie smiled. She scared herself for nothing.
    Ben called a repair company in the Springs and had a tech come up before dinner. Then he returned his attention to Eli.
    Maggie watched from the kitchen as she sorted her mail and put away the dishes. This is exactly what he needed, male bonding. Together they went to the fireplace. Ben piled up some wood beside the mantle. “Eli put those pieces right here,” he said pointing to the metal rack. “I’m gonna teach you the right way to stack this up for your mom.”
    “We’re going to place them on each other like this.”
    “Okay.”
    He did as he was told. “Now what?”
    Maggie would have taken a picture but she didn’t want to show any desperation by doing so, she’d have to resort to a mental picture in her head. Click.
    “Where are your matches?”
    Eli ran into the kitchen and opened the cabinet. Maggie watched him buzz by. How did he know where she kept the matches? She had hidden them up on the fourth shelf, a place she never imagined he could reach. His little