Chapter 17
HALLIE
“I’m starving,” Drew complained as we pulled away from the middle school.
Luke grunted. “You’re always hungry.”
Drew patted his stomach. “Gotta fuel the six-pack. Babe—”
“If you say babes one more time, I’m going to hurt you,” Luke cut him off.
“Let’s try to hold off on the violence before we’ve even made it home,” I said as I flipped on my blinker. “I’d really rather not have to take someone to the emergency room.”
Charlie giggled at that. “Drew’s had to go four times, and Luke three. But I’ve never had to go.”
I could only imagine what shenanigans had landed the older two Hartley boys in the ER.
“It’s no big,” Drew said. “Babes dig scars.”
Luke smacked Drew upside the head, and he whirled on his older brother. “Not the hair, bruh.”
“How about we grab an after-school snack downtown?” I quickly suggested before I had a WWE match in the back seat.
“Dockside!” Charlie cheered.
Drew turned back around. “I could go for some french fries and a milkshake.”
I glanced at Luke in the rearview mirror. “I’m good with that.”
The tension in my shoulders eased a bit. Luke was softening. He wasn’t warm and fuzzy, but he wasn’t rude either. I was taking it as a huge win.
I kept going on Main Street instead of taking the turn toward home. Home. The word had warmth swirling deep because that was exactly what it had started to feel like. Somewhere safe and comforting.
It didn’t take long for us to reach downtown. I turned into the parking lot next to Dockside and grabbed an open spot. The kids were out of the SUV in a matter of seconds.
Drew and Luke were still needling each other, but Charlie came straight to my side, grabbing my hand. He swung our arms back and forth. “This is the bestest day.”
I grinned down at him. “Well, that’s fabulous news.”
I wished I felt the same, but I’d been on edge since Lawson left this morning. A million questions had been on the tip of my tongue, but none of them were things I could ask in front of the kids. And I hadn’t heard a word from him all day.
My fingers had itched to text him more times than I could count. I wanted to know what was happening, but I also wanted to make sure he was okay.
Drew paused to pet a passing dog, crouching low to scratch its ears.
The owner grinned at him. “She loves you.”
Drew answered with a smile of his own. “She’s awesome. Is she part Husky?”
The woman nodded. “Good eye. We think she’s a Husky-shepherd mix.”
Charlie moved to pet the dog. “She’s so pretty. We want a dog, but Dad keeps saying no.”
The woman’s eyes softened. “They are a big responsibility.”
I sent her a grateful smile. I had no idea if a dog was even on the table for the boys, and I didn’t want anyone to get their hopes up.
Drew straightened. “Thanks for letting us pet her.”
“Anytime,” the woman said with a wave, heading down the street.
Drew sighed. “A dog would really up my game with the—”
“Don’t even say it,” Luke growled as he grabbed the door to the restaurant and pulled, holding it open for all of us.
We filed inside. Dockside was warm and inviting, with a counter to the right, booths lining the left wall, and windows straight ahead.
An assortment of tables were arranged in the center of the room.
The space was only about a third full, but it wasn’t exactly mealtime.
A woman with a warm smile walked up to us. “Well, if it isn’t the three most handsome faces I’ve ever seen.”
Drew sent her his most flirtatious smile. “I’ve missed you, Miss Jeanie. You’re looking beautiful today.”
She shook her head as she waved him off. “You charmer.”
She turned to me. “You must be the new nanny. Hallie, right?”
I squirmed in place, uneasy that people were clearly talking about me. Small town, I reminded myself. A small town where people would, of course, take an interest in the person working for the chief of police.
I did my best to force a smile. “That’s me.”
Charlie grabbed my hand and gave it another swing. “She’s the bestest.”
The woman laughed. “Well, that’s lucky for you.” She glanced back at me. “I’m Jeanie. Staple at Dockside. You need any menu recommendations or takeout orders, you come to me.”
Her genuine warmth lessened my unease a fraction. “Thank you. I really appreciate that.”
She waved us on. “Come on. I’ve got a booth just perfect for you.”
Jeanie led us to a table at the windows. The view of the frozen lake and mountains was majestic.
I couldn’t help but stare. There was nothing like it.
The area my family had a vacation home in had a slightly different view, but it had been no less breathtaking.
Something about it had always put me at ease, brought me peace.
I’d missed it like a limb when my parents sold the home after the incident.
But that was what they did. They erased anything unpleasant or imperfect.
They didn’t talk about my kidnapping or my torture.
They pretended like nothing had happened at all.
If I wore something with short sleeves that revealed my scars, my mother would tell me to change.
Not in a cruel way, but enough to tell me she couldn’t handle seeing the truth.
I didn’t blame her, but I died a little inside each time she did it. Emerson had seen me fading away into nothing. He had done everything he could to help, finally insisting that I come to live with him and Adrian. And that had changed everything.
“Can I get you drinks while you look at the menu?” Jeanie asked, breaking into my thoughts.
“Shirley Temple, please! Then a milkshake!” Charlie cheered as he slid into the booth.
“Coke,” Luke said.
Drew sent her another of his signature smiles. “How would you feel about making me a Cherry Coke and a shake?”
Jeanie just chuckled. “For you? Anything.”
She turned her focus to me.
“Get a Cherry Coke,” Drew urged. “Jeanie makes ‘em with cherry syrup.”
“They’re pretty darn good if I do say so myself,” Jeanie agreed.
“How can I say no?” I said with a smile.
Jeanie clapped her hands together as she turned to leave. “Coming right up.”
The boys told me their favorite things on the menu, which ranged from grilled cheese to the burger. I ended up going with chicken fingers, Drew’s favorite. We ate and laughed, and it felt good. Normal.
Heat flared on the side of my face, and my skin felt itchy and too tight for my body. All telltale signs that someone was watching me.
I swallowed hard and glanced around the room. My gaze landed on a man sitting alone. The same one I’d practically run into at my motel—the one with the scruffy beard and the jumpy eyes. Only now, those eyes were fixed on me.
My fingers curled into my palms, nails pressing into my flesh. I spoke reassurances to myself over and over. I was safe. People were everywhere.
I should’ve gotten used to the staring. The fixation.
My face had been plastered all over newspapers and TV screens.
While five years had passed, there was a surge of specials every year around the anniversary, and now was that time.
He’d probably seen some Unsolved Mysteries episode or read a true crime blog.
I focused on my breathing. In and out. In and out.
“Hallie?” Luke’s voice snapped me back to the present. Concern lined his face. “You ready to go?”
Heat hit my cheeks. “Sorry.” I forced a chuckle. “Lost in dreamland.”
I thought my voice sounded normal, but I felt the tremble in my vocal cords. Just a handful of minutes, and we’d be home. I could excuse myself to the bathroom and do my breathing exercises. Ground myself in the safety of Lawson’s house.
Grabbing my purse, I stood and clasped my hands in front of me so no one could see them shaking.
Charlie ran ahead, and Drew followed. But Luke stayed near me. I wove through tables toward the door. The bearded man’s seat was directly in our path. If I avoided him, it would be extremely obvious. Awkward, even.
I kept my focus on my breathing. In and out. Not too long, not too short.
As we neared his table, he stood. “It’s you. You’re here.”
I stumbled to the side as the man tried to get closer.
Luke was there in a flash, pushing the man back. “Dude. Not cool.”
Anger flashed in the man’s dark eyes. Eyes that sent me spiraling back to another time. Where a masked man tore me from sleep to send me into a sea of agony.
I hurried toward the door, tripping over my feet and struggling to breathe. As I stumbled outside into the cold, fresh air filled my lungs. It helped to ease the worst of the panic.
I squeezed my eyes closed, battling the memories and pushing them back. It was as if I fought a mental war every day, positioning my soldiers in places I thought there might be an assault. But, sometimes, there were sneak attacks. Ones I could never prepare for. Like now.
It took more than a few moments to get my breathing under control. When I opened my eyes, Luke’s worried face filled my vision.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly.
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Charlie and Drew?”
My voice was raspy, as if I’d just smoked a pack of cigarettes and chased it with a shot of whiskey.
“They ran to the car.”
Good. That was good. Then I hadn’t scared them with my freak-out. “I’m sorry, Luke, I—”
Luke shook his head. “That guy was being a creep. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
God, he had a good heart. It was just hidden beneath pounds of armor. “Thanks for your help.”
He nodded, and we started walking. But he still kept close, the silence wrapping around us.
“What happened to you?”
Luke’s question was so quiet I almost couldn’t hear it. But it was there all the same.
Blood pounded in my ears. I didn’t want to lie to Luke, not when the progress we’d made was tenuous at best. But even at sixteen, I didn’t want to fill his head with the darkness out there.
I settled for the simple but broad truth. “Someone took me.”
That was all it was at the end of the day. Someone took me. Ripped me from a carefree night at a bonfire with friends. Tore me from the innocence and wonder of new adulthood. He took me from my life and made it so I was never the same.
Luke’s steps faltered, and his jaw turned to granite. “They hurt you.”
It wasn’t a question, but I answered just the same. “They did. But I got away. I got out. And then someone amazing found me.”
Luke’s brow furrowed. “Who?”
“Your dad.”