Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
My husband was full of surprises. It took me most of the morning to discover it, but when I was in New York, he had painted Alien’s room without telling me. It was a beautiful cream color, and I cried when I saw it.
I worried about Jackson. Where was he? Was he in a gunfight? Fighting off monster snakes with his bare hands? I looked up HALO jumping and wished I hadn’t. Jumping from a plane that flew as high as a commercial jet, jumpers needed to breathe pure oxygen and faced temperatures that would freeze their skin in seconds. Falling at a rate of over 120 mph, jumpers free fell for almost two minutes before deploying their chutes at the last possible moment. The thought of Jackson hurtling to earth from so far up made me feel sick to my stomach. I tried not to think about it, but sometimes thoughts of his safety overwhelmed me to the point of tears.
To my complete horror, twice more I found cooked chicken in our backyard. I brought the chicken to the vet who confirmed it was laced with rat poison. I watched Chloe like a hawk, terrified that she would eat something bad.
Sunday morning, unable to sleep, I got up early. I looked out my bedroom window, and in the dusky shadows, I saw a figure come around the front of my house and jog lightly down the street. It was a tall, slender woman. Her hoodie obscured her face, but I saw a bit of wheat blonde hair sticking out. It instantly reminded me of Harper.
After my shower, I took Chloe out to the backyard. There in the middle of the lawn was a small pile of cooked chicken. In tears, I cleaned it up.
Usually, I preferred to go into Newport to grocery shop, but it was raining, and I just needed a couple of things, so despite my trepidation, I made my way to the military grocery store. The place was mostly empty. I grabbed a cart and started to push my way around the store quickly. I was almost at the front when someone aggressively stepped in front of my cart.
It was Harper. I stopped and looked up at her. My heart pounded. She had a small smile on her face like she had some little secret.
“Hi, Emily.”
“Hi.”
She peered into my cart. “Doing some shopping, I see?”
“Yes.” I had no idea why I felt so tense. I stared up at her beautiful face. She had a benign expression on her face. She was making polite conversation. So why did it feel like she was going to stick a shiv into me?
“No dog biscuits, I see.”
My entire body froze. “Excuse me?”
Her smile widened. “You do have a dog, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
We stared at each other for a long moment.
She leaned forward and said very quietly, “You should keep an eye on her. You wouldn’t want her to eat anything she shouldn’t.”
My lips parted. I couldn’t believe she was saying this to me. Why would she say something like that? Was that her in my yard this morning? Was this her evil way of taunting me?
“What do you know about that?” Rage darkened my heart. My voice wobbled.
She gave a knowing shrug. “Jackson mentioned it to me.”
She might as well have kicked me in the gut. Jackson had no business mentioning anything about our lives to Harper.
“I should go.” I wheeled my cart around her.
My hands shook as I paid for my groceries. When had Jackson talked to her? Were they still in constant contact? Did he Skype her? Thoughts tumbled through my head. When I looked up, she was gone.
Later that night, Jackson skyped me. He looked big and badass with his military gear. He sat outside beneath some camo netting. It looked like morning there. I didn’t even know what country he was in.
“Hey,” his teeth looked white against the dark tan of his face.
“Hi.”
We studied each other. Suddenly, I missed him so much it hurt. I wanted to touch him, smell him, and wrap my arms around his strong muscular waist.
“Thank you for painting Alien’s room.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I was so happy when I walked in there.” I paused and then added. “I started the mural.”
He leaned forward, interest in his expression. “Show me.”
“You don’t want to see it when it’s done?”
“Nope. Show me now.”
I carried the iPad up to the room and hesitated, feeling suddenly shy .
“There's going to be two scenes. This is the daytime scene, and I haven’t started the nighttime scene yet.”
His face looked serious. “Show me.”
I turned the iPad and showed him the wall. Dad Bear was standing at an old-fashioned stove flipping pancakes up into the air behind him. Little Bear was dancing behind him, catching all the steaming pancakes on a plate. Mother Bear looked on with a tender smile on her face, while Grandma and Grandpa Bear waited patiently at the kitchen table. Most of it was painted, I just needed to fill in some spots.
I turned the iPad around, and Jackson looked down at the table in front of him. He lifted his green gaze up to me. “You did all that?”
“Yeah.”
He looked away from the camera for a long moment, and when he looked back at me, his face was devoid of emotion. “It’s good.”
I watched him, aware that he was fighting some emotion. Did these pictures remind him of his time with his mom?
“Thanks.”
“So how is Chloe?”
“She’s good. I found more poisoned chicken in our backyard.”
“When?”
“Three times now. I don’t even let her outside without walking through the backyard first.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
I chewed on my lip, debating on how much I wanted to say. “I saw someone leave our yard this morning. And then I found more chicken.”
“What did you see?”
“It was a tall, slender woman with blonde hair. She wore running gear, and she had a hood up. I couldn’t see her face.”
“Anything else?”
“I saw Harper at the grocery store.”
He blinked.
“Did you tell her that Chloe was poisoned? ”
“I don’t remember.”
“She seemed to know all about it.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “Well, obviously I did tell her then.”
“When were you talking to her?”
“Is that what all of this is about?”
“Do you Skype her?”
“Are you implying that Harper came out of our yard this morning?”
“I didn’t say it was Harper.”
We eyeballed each other.
“Jackson. I don’t want to fight about it. I was just telling you what I saw.”
He leaned forward and spoke straight into the camera. “You better be certain about your facts.”
“I’m certain about what I saw.”
“Emily, you can’t go making half-assed accusations about someone.”
“Who said I was making accusations?”
“Sure sounded like it to me.”
“Has it dawned on you that she might be the one doing this?”
“Harper would never do that.”
“How do you know that?”
“I think I know someone’s character after being with them for three years.”
That stung. Yes, he had spent three long years with her. It was a reminder I didn’t want.
“I’m not the enemy,” I said tersely. “But I think it is pretty rude that you would choose Harper over Chloe.”
“I think it's pretty rude that you'd drag Harper into this mess. This is a small community, Emily. And a lot of people know and like Harper.”
“What are you saying?”
“Just don’t go making an enemy where you don’t have to. ”
“I’m not making an enemy.”
He looked annoyed. Which made me want to burst into tears. Although the last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of him or fight with him. Not when we were so far apart. I had no idea why he defended her. I couldn’t prove anything, but I was wary of her. It felt like a betrayal that Jackson would automatically take her side.
He leaned forward. “I should go.”
I nodded, unable to speak.
“You okay?”
I nodded again.
He looked resigned. “Okay. Talk to you later.”
And then he was gone.