ticker continued its repetition, and the symptoms crept in, a tightness in my shoulders and back of my neck.
“Michelle, I can keep an eye on them if you want to go look at the clothes quickly. You might find something you can change into. I can send the boys up as soon as they finish.”
I hesitated to leave them. Everyone here was nice, but we’d only been here a day. Both boys, still full from lunch, nibbled slowly at their cookies. Liam watched me closely.
“Is that okay, Liam?” I asked hesitantly.
He turned to look at Nana, and she patiently let him judge her. Finally, he nodded.
“I’ll be right back if you don’t come up first,” I assured them.
I took the stairs two at a time and arrived at the door out of breath just as Emmitt stepped into the hall. He gave a small smile as he passed me. I hesitated in the doorway until he reached the second landing. I didn’t want an audience when I looked through the clothes.
The bags lined the couch. I knelt and started digging through them, hurrying to sort everything into piles. At the bottom of my bag, I found new underwear, a swimsuit, and a sport bra. Gratitude swamped me. Clean clothes!
Tromping footsteps announced Liam and Aden’s impending arrival. I helped them change into shorts then begged them to watch some fuzzy cartoons on the TV while I showered and changed.
Excited, I closed myself into the bathroom, and then realized I had a problem. The towel rack sat empty. No shampoo lined the shower ledge.
Nana had graciously provided the clothes, but we still needed a few other basic items. I went to the bedroom and counted out the remaining cash. Thanks to the magazines I’d read, I could guess the cost of new shoes, tops, or designer jeans. But what did second-hand clothes cost? And what about basics like flour, milk, shampoo, and deodorant? Uncertain, I plucked two of the one hundred dollar bills from the pile. She’d brought back six bags of clothes...it had to be close. I assured the boys I would be right back and ran downstairs.
The lawnmower droned outside. Both Nana’s and Jim’s doors stood open, but I didn’t see anyone.
Before I could decide if I should knock or just start shouting out names, Nana called from the porch. Both she and Jim sat on the steps, watching Emmitt mow.
Jim leaned back in the sun, barefoot, shirt off, and wearing jean cutoffs while he grinned at his brother. Emmitt glanced our way when I walked out the door. Jim definitely looked good, but he didn’t give my stomach fits of churning delight like Emmitt did. Thankfully. One distracting me was enough.
“I wanted to thank you for the clothes, Nana,” I said ignoring both men. I handed her the money, which she accepted. “And I was wondering if I could borrow a towel and shampoo for a shower.”
She looked at the bills. “This is more than what I spent on the clothes.”
At least it wasn’t less. “It’s okay. I really appreciate what you did for us. It saved me from having to—” I caught myself. “It would have been boring for Liam and Aden, and I didn’t want to leave them alone.”
She nodded in understanding. “How about we send Jim to the store to buy some picnic food? Then, we can go to the lake tomorrow like he suggested. It’s a public lake but remote enough that not many people go there,” she said before I could decline.
My mind raced through several possibilities. One being that if we stayed on this property, hidden, Blake might not ever find us. Sure, I knew he wouldn’t give up, but how would he know to look here? I liked it here. I liked Emmitt, his brother, and their neighbor and knew that Liam and Aden did, too. But, I knew that by tomorrow my pain would be worse.
Staying here meant I needed to find a way to deal with the premonitions. A random conversation with Jim about stocks, a topic just about everyone my age would naturally avoid,
“Michelle, I can keep an eye on them if you want to go look at the clothes quickly. You might find something you can change into. I can send the boys up as soon as they finish.”
I hesitated to leave them. Everyone here was nice, but we’d only been here a day. Both boys, still full from lunch, nibbled slowly at their cookies. Liam watched me closely.
“Is that okay, Liam?” I asked hesitantly.
He turned to look at Nana, and she patiently let him judge her. Finally, he nodded.
“I’ll be right back if you don’t come up first,” I assured them.
I took the stairs two at a time and arrived at the door out of breath just as Emmitt stepped into the hall. He gave a small smile as he passed me. I hesitated in the doorway until he reached the second landing. I didn’t want an audience when I looked through the clothes.
The bags lined the couch. I knelt and started digging through them, hurrying to sort everything into piles. At the bottom of my bag, I found new underwear, a swimsuit, and a sport bra. Gratitude swamped me. Clean clothes!
Tromping footsteps announced Liam and Aden’s impending arrival. I helped them change into shorts then begged them to watch some fuzzy cartoons on the TV while I showered and changed.
Excited, I closed myself into the bathroom, and then realized I had a problem. The towel rack sat empty. No shampoo lined the shower ledge.
Nana had graciously provided the clothes, but we still needed a few other basic items. I went to the bedroom and counted out the remaining cash. Thanks to the magazines I’d read, I could guess the cost of new shoes, tops, or designer jeans. But what did second-hand clothes cost? And what about basics like flour, milk, shampoo, and deodorant? Uncertain, I plucked two of the one hundred dollar bills from the pile. She’d brought back six bags of clothes...it had to be close. I assured the boys I would be right back and ran downstairs.
The lawnmower droned outside. Both Nana’s and Jim’s doors stood open, but I didn’t see anyone.
Before I could decide if I should knock or just start shouting out names, Nana called from the porch. Both she and Jim sat on the steps, watching Emmitt mow.
Jim leaned back in the sun, barefoot, shirt off, and wearing jean cutoffs while he grinned at his brother. Emmitt glanced our way when I walked out the door. Jim definitely looked good, but he didn’t give my stomach fits of churning delight like Emmitt did. Thankfully. One distracting me was enough.
“I wanted to thank you for the clothes, Nana,” I said ignoring both men. I handed her the money, which she accepted. “And I was wondering if I could borrow a towel and shampoo for a shower.”
She looked at the bills. “This is more than what I spent on the clothes.”
At least it wasn’t less. “It’s okay. I really appreciate what you did for us. It saved me from having to—” I caught myself. “It would have been boring for Liam and Aden, and I didn’t want to leave them alone.”
She nodded in understanding. “How about we send Jim to the store to buy some picnic food? Then, we can go to the lake tomorrow like he suggested. It’s a public lake but remote enough that not many people go there,” she said before I could decline.
My mind raced through several possibilities. One being that if we stayed on this property, hidden, Blake might not ever find us. Sure, I knew he wouldn’t give up, but how would he know to look here? I liked it here. I liked Emmitt, his brother, and their neighbor and knew that Liam and Aden did, too. But, I knew that by tomorrow my pain would be worse.
Staying here meant I needed to find a way to deal with the premonitions. A random conversation with Jim about stocks, a topic just about everyone my age would naturally avoid,
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