Read Online Still Waters by Emma Carlson Berne - Free Book Online

the threshold. “I didn’t know it was still all set up like this,” she murmured to Colin. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to take in everything at once.
    “Me neither,” he said. His voice sounded abnormally loud. Hannah felt an irrational urge to shush him, as if they were disturbing someone.
    The air was close and stuffy. Hannah walked over to the sofa. A book lay splayed open, facedown on the side table. It was
Middlemarch
, opened at page 210. Beside it was a coffee cup with a brown crust in the bottom. Hannah looked more closely. A lip mark still stained the rim. The sofa cushions were mashed in one corner, as if the reader had just gotten up for a second to answer the phone. Hannah backed away, bumping into one of the chairs. She jumped at the touch on her back and whirled around.
Jesus, this place was creepy.
    Hannah looked around the room again, her mouth cottony. A jigsaw puzzle sat on a card table in the corner, partially finished. On a tall oak coatrack behind the door hung a brown jacket and a yellow slicker. She looked down at the floor. Next to the door, a pair of galoshes sat, one toppled over the other. Dried mud clung to the heels. Hannah inhaled sharply and her palms grew clammy.
    As if propelled against her will, she crossed the living room to an open doorway leading to the kitchen. She peered in. A cup and saucer sat on the table next to an empty plate. The chair was pushed back, with a flowered napkin draped over the seat. Dried mouse droppings were scattered on the table and floor. The white, metal-rimmed counters were lined with canisters labeled FLOUR, SUGAR, COFFEE, TEA . A teakettle stood on a front burner of the stove.
    Hannah turned away from the scene. “Colin,” she whispered. He didn’t answer. He was standing at the picture window, one hand on the heavy orange and yellow drapes, staring outside. “Colin?” Her voice rose with a touch of hysteria.
    “What?” He swung around, his face blurry, as if he’d been woken from a heavy sleep.
    “Christ, Colin,” she half whispered. “All of this stuff is here. Like your family just got up and walked away. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” She pressed her hands to her mouth. She darted glances all around. Three closed doors led off a hallway at the other end of the room. She stared, waiting for one of them to open.
    Colin shook his head. “I don’t know why it’s like this.”
    “Maybe we shouldn’t stay.” Hannah’s voice sounded high and nervous, even to her own ears.
    “Why not?” Colin’s forehead creased. “We trekked all the way out here—we might as well stay.”
    “I don’t know.” She looked at the coffee cup by the couch. “It’s just creepy to walk in and see everything laid out like this.I thought things would be covered up and put away—stuff like that.”
    Colin shrugged. “What difference does it make?” He folded her into his arms. “It’s my family’s place. Of course we can stay. We’ll just clean it up a little.” He squeezed her shoulders. “Look, I know I was a little upset about coming up, but we’re here now. Let’s just relax, okay?”
    His chest was comfortable and familiar, like her pillow at home. She wrapped her arms around his waist. The tension flowed out of her limbs. “Yeah, you’re right.”
    “Good.” He kissed her.
    Hannah kissed him back and then disentangled herself from his arms. “I’m going to go freshen up.”
    “Okay,” Colin replied, turning back to the window.
    In the little dark hallway, Hannah cracked open the first door to find a white tiled bathroom. With relief, she darted inside. A mildewed shower curtain hung inside a claw-foot tub streaked with mineral stains. The toilet bowl was full of rusty water, but it looked usable. She didn’t have a lot of choice anyway, she thought.
    The sink—one of those old-fashioned ones with the separate hot and cold faucets—spurted warm, orange water at first, but then it changed to clear.