7. Ellie
7
ELLIE
I woke to a light knocking on the door. Disoriented , it took me a moment to remember where I was. I must have fallen asleep on the couch. It was now dark both outside and inside my apartment. The knocking came again. Who in the world would be at my door? The only people I knew here were downstairs at work. Ah — Tammy . She must be checking on me. I started to rise from the couch to let her in, but then—scratching. My breath caught. Someone wasn’t knocking anymore. Someone was trying to break in.
I didn’t have time to think… I reached for my phone and realized it must still be on the kitchen counter where I’d set it when I came home. My heart was racing now as I felt around for anything to use as a weapon and my hand touched my crochet needles. Just as I grabbed the needles, my door opened. My fight-or-flight instinct kicked into gear as I realized Randall had obviously found me. I knew he wouldn’t go easy on me, so I jumped from the couch toward the tall, dark figure by the door with all my strength.
“Ellie?” a voice murmured just as I lunged, crochet needle in-hand.
Oh no. No , no, no. I recognized that voice.
“Wade?” I said, my right arm still in the air.
“Yeah, it’s me. What are you doing? Why don’t you have any lights on?” Wade asked as he flipped the switch on with one arm and grabbed my wrist with the other.
“I, umm…didn’t know it was you. Uh …sorry.” I tried to get the words out, but my brain wasn’t working with him touching me and being so close. He smelled woodsy with a hint of spice, and I really wanted to bury my face in his shirt and continue to smell his unique scent.
“I, uh, must have fallen asleep on the couch while it was still light out,” I said, struggling with his close proximity.
“What is that?” Wade asked as he looked at my odd choice of weapon.
“It’s, uh…a crochet needle,” I practically whispered. “ It was the best I could come up with.”
“Why?” he asked, his expression blank.
“Because I crochet.” I said it like that was obvious. “ My gran taught me, and I like to do it because it calms me down and helps me relax,” I said, a little defensive about my choice of hobby.
“I meant, why did you grab that and not your phone or a knife or something better?” he asked as he finally started to move away from me. I instantly felt sad and missed his body heat and wonderful scent.
“I think my phone is on the kitchen counter, and obviously my knives are too.” I said as I moved toward the kitchen to grab my phone. “ The crochet needle was the closest thing I had.”
“That would explain why you didn’t answer.”
I looked down at my phone and sure enough, I’d had a few missed calls and texts from Wade , but I also saw a few missed calls from an unknown number. I instantly felt cold and worried it could be Randall .
“What’s wrong?”
Wade was always so perceptive. I both liked it and hated it.
“Can you tell me what happened tonight?” he asked softly.
“It’s a long story,” I sighed.
“I’ve got nowhere to be,” he said. Even if he did, I sensed he would have canceled those plans.
“How much did Jack tell you about our parents?” I asked.
“Not much. I know they died in a car accident and then you went to live with your grandma in Tennessee ,” he said with sympathy on his face.
After a long pause, I took a deep breath and told him everything.
“I always wanted to go to college, but Gran couldn’t afford it. My parents left us some money when they died, but they didn’t have any kind of life-insurance policy, so most of the money went to Gran so she could take care of us. I was a good student, but after my parents died and Jack left for the Army , I became depressed and struggled with school, so a scholarship wasn’t going to happen. Gran did a great job caring for us, but she had my mom late in life, so she was very old and frail.”
I took a deep breath to gather my courage.
“When I graduated high school, I was planning to spend that next year working as much as possible and try to apply the following year at a college nearby.”
“So, the following summer, I went out with some friends, and I met Randall . He seemed really nice, charming, and had a good job working at the bank. He seemed stable and safe. We went on a few dates the next few months, and then he asked me to move in with him. I liked him, but I wasn’t ready yet, so I told him no. He was the only serious boyfriend I’d ever had, but I knew deep down something felt off.” I nearly groaned at how right I had been.
“I also didn’t want to leave Gran all by herself. It’s why I was going to go to college nearby. A few months later, I came home from my shift at the restaurant and found Gran unconscious on the floor.” My voice strained as I started to get choked up. “ It appears she may have had a stroke or something and fell down the s-s-stairs.”
“You can take a break,” Wade said calmly.
“I’m okay,” I said and twisted my hands in my lap as I continued.
“Jack came home for the funeral, and he met Randall . Jack pulled me aside at the wake and told me he thought Randall was smug and a tool, and to get rid of him. He was right, but at the time I was so emotional from Gran’s death that I couldn’t see it. All I could see was that everyone I loved kept leaving me, but Randall was still there. Jack left the next day to go back overseas and finish his tour, since he was only home for emergency bereavement leave.”
I paused, swallowing back my emotions. Wade waited patiently for me to continue.
“After Gran died, I decided to postpone classes until the spring semester because I just couldn’t handle everything that was going on. Randall moved in with me temporarily to help me out,” I said, barely able to keep the disgust in my voice at bay.
I looked up at Wade and saw the silent support he was trying to give me, and it encouraged me to continue. I paused, took a breath, and looked straight into his eyes when I told him the rest.
“A few weeks later, the yelling and fighting began. He wanted me to sell Gran’s house so we could buy a home together, but I wasn’t ready to part with her home yet. I tried explaining this to him, and at first, he would just get angry and accuse me of not being committed to the relationship like he was, but that quickly turned to yelling and screaming and accusations of me liking other men,” I said, noticing a tic in Wade’s cheek, but otherwise no reaction.
“I realized at that point that I didn’t want to be with him anymore and asked him to move out. He got angry and stormed out, but then he came back and apologized—multiple times. Eventually , he moved out, though, and reluctantly bought his own place. I thought he had finally moved on for good.”
I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“I didn’t hear from him for months. During that time, Jack and I had emailed back and forth, and we decided that Gran wouldn’t want us to hold on to her house, especially with all the work that needed to be done. She knew it was a money pit and would rather we spend that money on my education. I was going to come down to Georgia and stay with Jack , maybe try to find a school here. I was already registered to start school in Tennessee in a few weeks, but I figured I could try in Georgia , if I needed to.
To my surprise, Randall came by to visit me at the restaurant I worked at one night. He was back to his old charming self, and told me to sell Gran’s house, move in with him, and then go to the school in Tennessee , like I always wanted. I wasn’t going to, but because Gran’s house sold so quickly, I figured I would just move in with Randall for a few weeks and then transition to campus housing once classes began,” I explained, trying to justify it, even though I knew it sounded dumb as I said it out loud.
“I’m not judging, but did you not have any friends you could stay with?” he asked sympathetically.
“I thought about it. I really did,” I sighed. “ My friend Katie worked at the restaurant with me and offered to help me move in with her, but she was living in her parents’ basement while she finished nursing school. The few other friends I had from high school were all away at colleges outside the state.”
He nodded and sat there patiently listening while I continued.
“Two weeks after I moved in, the old Randall was back,” I said quietly looking down at my hands in my lap.
“At first, he got mad at me and accused me of not appreciating his graciousness and refusing to get back together with him. I explained that I wanted to just focus on school and not get into a relationship again. Shortly after, I started having car trouble, so Randall offered to take me to and from work while my car was in the shop.”
Wade’s eyes hardened even further, as if he knew what was coming.
“If Katie was working, she took me to and from work since we often worked the same shift, but sometimes she had class, so Randall would do it. One of those nights, he came in a little before I left and sat at the bar. I finished up with one of my regular customers, who was a really nice guy. We talked about his newborn twins and lovely wife all the time. But apparently Randall thought there was more there. He accused me of lying to him on the car ride home. He said obviously I was interested in having a relationship with another man, just not him. I told him about the guy’s wife and kids and how I was just being polite to a long-time customer.”
I realized that when he was upset, there was no rationalizing with him.
“When we got home, he wouldn’t drop it. He started yelling and screaming about how I was embarrassing him because he was letting me stay in his house, but I was secretly seeing other men. I started to get really angry because I was doing no such thing, and…” I paused, taking a shaky breath. I looked at Wade , and he just nodded, giving me the silent courage to keep going.
“He snapped. He slapped me across the face,” I said it so quietly I wasn’t sure he heard me. But the look on his face showed me he’d heard everything. His eyes were swirling with anger, and his mouth pinched into a line.
“Shocked, I stood there for a minute right after it happened, but apparently that was the wrong reaction to have, because he yelled more and pushed me up against a wall,” I said slowly, noticing Wade’s fists were squeezed so tight his skin was white.
“That’s why you had marks on your face and neck when you first arrived here.” He noted.
Both Wade and Tammy had noticed the bruises. I looked down, embarrassed for not doing a better job of covering those up. But I was also embarrassed because I knew he wouldn’t like my response.
“Umm…no, not really,” I said quietly, looking down at my feet. His fingers gently pushed my chin up forcing me to look at him. “ No , those were from the second time.”
“The second time?” he asked, the shock in his voice was noticeable.
I couldn’t answer him or look him in the eye, so I just nodded.
“What happened, Ellie ?” he asked gently.
“After he pushed me against the wall, he suddenly moved away, told me to clean myself up, and then he just left. I sat there for a few moments and then reached for my phone. I called Katie and had her come pick me up. I didn’t know how long he would be gone, so I gathered a few things quickly, and stayed with Katie the next few nights. Then we made a plan for me to go back to his house when I knew he was at work and gather up the rest of my stuff. Katie and I were just going to bunk together in her parents’ basement until I was ready to attend school in a few weeks.”
“That’s good,” Wade said, giving me that little encouragement he somehow knew I needed.
“I went over the following Thursday , because I knew he usually worked late those days, so that gave me some extra cushion on the timing. Katie had to run a quick errand but was going to meet me at the house so we could load up both our cars. I went in and started packing as quickly as I could, and I heard the door open. I thought it was Katie …” My breath hitched.
Wade reached out and put his hand on top of mine which was currently digging into the top of my thigh. There was something about his touch that reassured me and made me feel stronger.
“It wasn’t Katie . It was Randall . He saw me packing and started yelling. I could see the rage on his face and I tried to calm him down. He cornered me and slapped me hard across the face. He wrapped his hands around my neck and choked me. Then he…punched me, and the next thing I remember was waking up with Katie’s face hovering over mine,” I said, breathing hard and a little shaky.
Wade cursed, and his eyes turned menacing as he squeezed my hand. Then , as if realizing he might be squeezing too hard, he let go. I instantly missed his hand on mine.
“That’s where the marks came from when you arrived here,” he said, not really asking a question, just more of a confirmation.
“Yeah,” I said, looking down again. “ After that, I stayed with Katie for a few more days, but I realized I couldn’t stay in that town any more. He knew where I worked, and even where I was planning to attend college. I emailed Jack and told him I was coming to Georgia . Once I felt good enough to drive, I got in my car and headed down here,” I said.
Chancing a look up at Wade I realized he was back to the neutral face that gave away nothing.
“How much does your brother know?” he questioned.
“Just that I broke up with Randall and decided to move down here. Please don’t tell him,” I rushed to say. “ I don’t want to worry him while he’s finishing up his last tour.”
“You need to tell him,” he said firmly.
“I wasn’t planning to tell him at all, but after what happened tonight, I probably should,” I sighed.
“Tammy gave me a brief synopsis, but walk me through what went down tonight at the bar.”
I took a deep breath and told him about the phone calls – not just tonight, but some of the hangups that had happened the last few days. His face visibly tensed, but he nodded a few times, encouraging me as I shared details of the calls.
“Guys like your asshole ex like control,” Wade said, pausing for a few moments like he was thinking about something.
My heart started racing again just thinking about Randall finding me and that he chose to escalate this.
“Did he have a security system, or any security cameras in his house?” he asked, shaking me out of my moment.
“Umm…no, no security system or cameras. Why ?” I asked.
“Trying to figure out how he knew you were at his house. You said you knew he would be at work, yet he came back shortly after you arrived. Just trying to figure out why then.”
“I never really thought about it. I just assumed it was bad luck on my part.”
He nodded but didn’t actually confirm what I was thinking.
“Go ahead and relax for a bit. I’m going to run downstairs and get some food and bring it back up,” he said.
“You don’t have to do that. I’m fine,” I protested, shaking my head.
“Non-negotiable,” he insisted. “ I’m going to get food, we’re going to eat, and then we’re going to talk about some new security measures for you at work.” Then he turned and walked out the door before I had a chance to respond.
That man both infuriated me and drew me in at the same time. He was kind, but bossy, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.