Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
SUMMER
What a fucking disaster.
I’m grateful Hartley allowed me to talk to her in the Turner family kitchen. If I would have had to go to the police station, I’m afraid my false bravado would fizzle out. I’ve only told her that I’ve been running for the past two years, and about the notes that have followed me around.
I hoped it would be enough, but Hartley just kept asking me for more. She’s like a wolfhound with the scent of blood, and I can’t stop shaking. It doesn’t help that Indy’s looking at me with hope in her eyes.
“Can I have a minute?” I ask, on a harsh swallow. Hartley turns, and spots Indy in the doorway.
“Take your time,” she says, clapping her hand over my shoulder.
“I’m sorry.” Looking Indy straight in the eye, I wait for her to yell, but to my surprise, she slides out a chair next to me and sits. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I thought I was safe, I didn’t think–”
“I understand,” she says, and that makes me feel even worse, if that’s possible.
“Could you not be so amazing right now?” I ask, closing my eyes and biting my tongue.
“I didn’t expect the notes to become anything like this.
I thought they were just threatening me, but then Finn–and now Molly.
I’m so sorry, Indy.” I grip her hand like a lifeline, because this may very well be the last time she’ll let me touch her.
Once she knows…
“I believe you,” she says, lifting my chin, “Summer, look at me.”
I do, memorizing every feature I can.
“If someone is stalking you, we need to find them.” Her eyes are firm, expression set in a determined fashion. “I promise, whatever you have to say, I’ll help you in any way that I can.”
“I don’t think you will, but a girl can wish.” I smile, and a warm tear drips down my cheek.
Wiping it away with her thumb, she leans in and places a kiss on my lips. “I like you, Summer. Enough to know that whatever’s in your past, doesn’t determine your future, and I hope,” she pauses, taking a shaky inhale, “I really hope you’ll stay, and give me the chance to fall in love with you.”
Looking at her through the blur of the tears in my eyes, I can see how sincere she is. How serious and unwavering, and I realize…
Fuck.
I’ve fallen for this woman.
So hard and fast I couldn’t have ever seen it coming.
“I think I’d like that,” I smile, pressing my lips to hers and enjoying the moment.
Hartley joins us with Sheriff Folley, who looks a little worn down. “This is Hartley’s case, I’m only here as a favor to the family.”
He smiles at Indy, who nods and scoots as close to me as she can.
“Summer, whenever you’re ready.” Hartley offers.
“It was like any other day,” I start, a little shaky as Indy’s hands wrap around mine.
Throwing my keys onto the table, I spot Val on the couch, staring off into a black tv. There’s no music on, no background noise like normal when she beats me home. “Babe,” I say, walking over to where she’s sitting. “Everything okay?”
She doesn’t turn to embrace me, and kiss me like normal. Instead she sits there, unresponsive. “Val?”
Nothing.
My pulse quickens, and I look around. There’s various pieces of mail on the table, along with her phone and a full glass of water sweating through to the table, which will leave a ring. She hates that, always harps on me when I forget to use a coaster.
“Val, baby.” Worry stirs in my gut, and I start to wonder if I should call someone. She’s never been so… catatonic.
The ring I gave her six months ago sits on the table, on top of an envelope that looks thicker than the rest. The envelope has no name or return address but it’s postmarked from somewhere close.
I don’t remember seeing it before, so we must’ve received it today.
Picking the ring up, I eye her, and even though she won’t look at me, won’t even twitch, I slide it back on her finger and head to the kitchen.
Maybe she needs a minute. I can give her space, just not too much.
By the time I’ve gotten dinner ready, she’s off the couch, taking small steps into the kitchen. “There she is.”
I smile and relief flushes my system, but there’s still a little ounce of worry there. She presses her lips to my cheek and smiles too. “Thank you.”
She sounds like nothing's wrong, maybe it was just one of those freak things. You know?
“Feeling better?” I ask, and she smiles wider, walking over to the couch and turning on the tv. Queueing up the latest episode of her favorite drama series, we eat, and I listen as she talks to the people on screen as if they can hear her.
Laughing around bites, she turns and looks at me. “What? People can’t be that stupid! Come on!” Kicking my leg with her foot, she scrunches her nose and purses her lips.
“You’re cute,” I smile, clearing my plate and taking it to the sink. Once her plate is clear too, I take it into the kitchen and wash all that’s in the sink while she finishes her show.
When it’s over she yells something, and I chuckle under my breath. Only Val would be angry with fake characters. She hums to herself–the song we chose to be our first dance–as I finish drying and putting away the dishes.
“You ready for bed?” She asks, appearing behind me when I turn.
“Shit,” I breathe, “I didn’t hear you walk over.”
We laugh, and she snakes her arms around my torso. Laying her head on my shoulder, she continues humming while we sway a little in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry for the late nights,” I whisper. I know eating dinner so late has been a big adjustment for her. “It won’t be too much longer now and the schedule will change.”
We could live on my salary alone, but Val likes her job, and I think it keeps her busy enough that she doesn’t mind my longer hours.
She shrugs and twines her fingers in mine, walking us upstairs to our room. The second floor doesn’t have much, just our bedroom, a bathroom, and an office I sometimes use when I have to get away from the rest of my co-workers.
We go through the motions, brushing our teeth and taking medicine, our normal routine before bed. Throwing my clothes from today into the laundry, I slip on some shorts and a sports bra. Pulling back the covers, I sink into the mattress and wait for her to join me.
When she does, she presses a kiss to my lips and turns over, before placing her ring on her nightstand. It’s not long after her head hits the pillow that she’s softly snoring.
It takes me a minute to find enough comfort to fall asleep. I’m still a little worried about her, and the whole evening has been… strange.
The sound of crying fills my senses and I blink away the sleep in my eyes. My mind’s foggy, and clouds of gray swim in my vision as Val comes into view.
For a second I’m still suspended in sleep as I realize it’s hot. So fucking hot, I’m sweating through the sheets.
My heart stops dead in my chest as I look up and see Val standing over me. Her tears pour down her face, dripping onto my body as she sobs. But she’s got this look, something that doesn't feel right.
“Babe, what’s wrong?” I move to sit up and the gleam of a knife sends me crashing back down to the mattress. What the fuck? My chest seizes and my breath gets stuck in my throat.
“Val?”
“No,” she sobs, lifting her hand and slamming it down.
Staring at the knife, my blood pounds in my ears and I hope, maybe if I don’t move, she won’t try again.
I was wrong. She pulls the knife back out and plunges it back into the bed, missing me by a hair.
I don’t understand what’s happening as I pat myself down, making sure I wasn’t injured.
I look at where the large chef's knife is embedded into our bed, and anxiety stretches across my body as I roll to her side and watch her struggle to get the knife out. She’s screaming incoherently, wailing about ‘him’, and how she’s saving me as hiccuped breaths escape her lips
When she gets the knife free, she’s rounding the bed. “I can do this, I have to do this,” her voice breaks, and she sniffs hard, wiping angrily at her face.
“Do what?” I ask, “Val, babe, what’s happening?” I ask, desperate for her to snap out of whatever this is. To come back to me so I can get her help.
Her hair flies around her face as she shakes her head, and when she looks at me I realize there's no way I’ll be able to get through to her now. She’s gone. There’s nothing behind her eyes, only determination and fear and… death.
“Please, Val, let me help you.” I beg, even if there may be no hope. I can’t give up on her, she’s my Val.
She screeches, lunging for me, and as I step to the side the knife slices my inner thigh and I hiss.
Fuck that hurts.
When she pulls it back the silver's coated in red, and when I look down blood pours from the wound. She looks up then, pupils swallowing the color of her eyes, and I realize I’ve lost her.
I can’t let her hurt me, or herself, so I grab her wrists and twist. She cries out in pain as the knife clatters to the floor.
“He can’t have you!” She shouts, coming at me again, the knife once again in her hand.
Stepping out of her reach, and running to throw open the door, I cough and gag at the stench. Black rolling smoke engulfs the house, orange and yellow flames dance through the halls, licking the walls.
“Oh my God.” I breathe, slamming the door shut. “What did you do?” I scream, turning to find her standing right where I left her.
She lifts the knife again, coming at me with all her weight. I’m stuck in the doorway, and there’s nothing I can do but grab her wrist and pray I’m strong enough to hold her off.
“Why?” I plead, “Val, please!”
My lungs fill with the acrid taste of smoke, and I shove her off, running for the window as she falls to the floor. It’s shut so tight my nail breaks and blood pools where it was. Adrenaline pushes me forward as blood runs down my leg, and I continue to shove on the window.
Screaming in frustration, I punch at the lock before I look down. It’s nailed shut, and my heart sinks to my knees. We’re going to burn alive. Smoke so thick it makes me gag starts to seep under the door, filling the room.
“I WAS BETTER AND HE RUINED THIS! HE RUINED ME!” She shouts as I turn, just in time for her to slash the knife at me again.
She catches my shoulder, but I don’t feel it. The knife clatters to the floor, but she doesn’t immediately reach for it. Instead she backs herself into a corner and sits, covering her knees with her arms and rocking back and fourth. “It’s all his fault.”
She sobs, and her shoulders shake so hard I want to comfort her, but I know if we don’t get out now, we’re both dead. I grab a pillow from our bed and try to punch the glass from the window.
“Val, please, let me get us out of here.” I beg, slowly walking her way. She doesn’t respond, only continues crying and mumbling to herself. “I’m better, I’m better, I’m better, I’m better…”
When my hands land on her arms she screams, and flails around on the floor. Her fingers connect with the knife, and she brandishes it, back on her feet, hair stringy and loose in her face.
“He can’t have me again, and I won’t let him have you either!” She whispers and lunges, shoving my body through the window. Glass shatters, like rain hitting the pavement. Jagged edges cut into my skin as her hands land on my side and she shoves.
“I don’t remember how long I was unconscious after I hit the ground.
I actually thought I’d died. I’ll never forget the feeling of all my hope, for the life I wanted, crumbling as I bled out on the grass.
The last thing I remember is being lifted away and wrapped in a blanket that held no comfort, as I watched the house I’d lived in–with the woman I was going to spend my life with–cave in on itself as firefighters doused it with water. ”
Indy wraps her arms around my body and I let out a breath.
“Val never came out, and when the police got there, they confirmed there was a body inside. I didn’t speak for days while I was in the hospital, couldn’t sleep without seeing her standing over me.
She’d killed herself and tried to take me with her.
People say there are warning signs, something to tell you that it’s going to happen, but there was nothing.
Other than her staring off into space when I got home… She was fine, alive, spirited even.”
“Was all of this confirmed by authorities? The fire being arson? The window being nailed shut?” Hartley asks, jotting something down in her notebook.
“Detective Simmerson. That’s who you’ll need to speak to if you want to verify anything.
Hell, he may have more information than I do.
” I’m tired, and emotionally too raw to deal with another authority figure asking me more questions.
I’ve never told anyone what happened with Val, other than Simmerson, and there’s a part of me that worries Hartley won’t take these threats seriously because Val’s dead.
Indy stands, offering me her hand and I take it. I’ve never felt more supported, and all she’s done is sit with me, though I’m still worried that after hearing all that she’s going to realize I’m not worth the trouble and ask me to leave.
We don’t speak as she drives us back to my cabin, and when we get there she tells me to pack my bag. I do as she asks, packing all of my things into the bag I’ve used to move around too many times to count, and she throws it into the buggy before ushering me back into the seat.
“You’re staying with me from now on.”
“I just told you I let my fiancé die in a horrible house fire, and you’re moving me in?” I ask, confusion and anxiety mixing in my gut.
Grabbing my face with both hands, she forces me to look at her before saying, “This is allowing me the chance to fall in love with you, Summer. Let me take care of you for a change.”