Chapter Twenty Seven
June Fourth
Juniper
“How did you get the world map on your island tablet?”
She zoomed in and out of the Redding area.
“I had to download some additional software. Did you find it?”
“Not yet.”
She shifted in her seat, swiping her fingers, “Okay, I found Whitmore.”
She moved around looking at the blue lines that indicated water, “I can't find Clover Creek. That’s the creek right?”
“Yes, I can't believe you remember that.”
“I guess lunch with your mom wasn’t a terrible idea.”
She zoomed around the screen with her two fingers, “If we exit in Anderson, we can cut some time off.”
“Sounds like a plan, I can use a bed, a shower and a drink.”
“It’s a little late tonight for that. We’re going to pull in after one.”
“I’ll be okay.”
He intertwined their fingers and continued the speed limit.
Wolfgang
The gravel crunched under the tires as he pulled up to an old brown cabin. “I guess this is it, I’ve seen a few pictures and it doesn’t look like anyone is here.”
He shifted the car into park, “My mom always said the laundry room window never locked correctly, let’s start there.”
The slightly cooler, mountain air brushed against him for the first time and walked around to her door. “Do you want to stay in the car?”
“Absolutely not!”
She stepped out protesting. Wolfie tiptoed around the dark cabin along the wrap around wooden deck, towing Juniper by hand.
Coming to a side door with a window next to it, he recognized it and dropped her hand to push the pane to the side and it opened in disbelief. “Wow.”
Wolfie sized up the window, “I don’t think I’m fitting through this.”
He hated the idea of sending her in first not knowing what was on the other side, but it had to be done. It helped that the door was right next to the window.
He interlocked his fingers and hoisted her through gently and with ease. The door next to it ticked as she unlocked it, “There we go.”
She smiled at him proudly. Wolfie slowly paced into the cabin next to her, he shut the laundry room door, locked it, and turned the light on. He was overcome with feeling a sense of faux nostalgia as he stepped into the kitchen. The pine paneled walls were covered in windows, the same wooden walls in old photos of his young parents. He walked around the bare dining table to a few pictures hung on a wall and Juniper found the light switch for the kitchen to help her watch him.
Standing before framed pictures, staring deeply into an unseen photo of his mother, his father, Amy, their brother and his grandparents, his eyes watered. “It’s still theirs.”
He didn’t turn.
“What?”
He pointed, “The cabin, it’s still theirs, or they wouldn’t have these pictures up.”
“So do you think we will be okay here? It doesn’t look like it's been abandoned for thirty years, or even one.”
She stepped around Wolfie to look at the photo with him.
“I think so.”
He shuffled closer to her, “Maybe my uncle uses it for hunting or a vacation home. Let's check the place out.”
He grabbed her hand and walked through the living room that was overlooked by a loft. They stopped at the door before the stairs and examined a bedroom with a private bathroom. Upstairs was another bedroom and a full bathroom. “I think up here will be safer.”
After he flicked the bedroom light on, he set his bag down and dropped his keys on the dresser. Cupping her face he whispered, “With all the power I have, I will always try to keep you safe.”
and gently pressed his lips to her.
June Fourth
Juniper
She stroked the side of his face, lightly tickling him until he woke up. “Good morning.”
She saw movement behind his eyelids before they slivered open.
He moaned, “Good morning.”
Letting his eyes close again. “I slept so good.”
His arm draped over her and squeezed her into him.
“I had a hard time getting past the creepy abandoned cabin feeling.”
“Well, sleep on park benches for two weeks and then see how you feel.”
“Hm.”
She paused, “What are we doing today?”
“I finally have access to an outlet, so I need to charge my tablet, reach out to Margaret, Jay and my mom. We should probably go buy a couple outfits, food for the next month or so. I also would love to explore the property a little.”
“That sounds good. Do you think the water runs here?”
“Possibly.”
He began grazing her arm with his finger tips.
“I hope so, you need a shower.”
His hand stopped, “Sorry I stowed away, slept outside for two weeks while stalking you. I didn’t have time to shower.”
Wolfie smiled.
“I thought you were homeless until I remembered who you were.”
His smile grew, “Stop.”
He sat up, “Okay, I have a question to ask.”
“What?”
Juniper looked at him, perching herself on her elbow.
“Are you still my girlfriend?”
“Wolfie!”
She pushed him, resulting in pushing herself back down on the bed.
Wolfgang
“I don’t like this place,”
He pushed the cart with toiletries and clothes for both of them and a few cartons of eggs down the next aisle.
“It’s called a superstore, we can get everything we need here.”
She walked next to him.
“Why are there so many juice flavors? And how can they just be on the shelf?”
He picked up a fruit punch.
“They put preservatives in everything,”
She grabbed a few, knowing they would need something, “It makes them last longer.”
He read the back label mesmerized, “Are they going to make me last longer?”
June looked at him irritated as the cart turned the corner, “Seriously? A whole aisle for cereal?”
“Wolfie, Come on.”
She grabbed one box, knowing once they were out of milk, she wouldn’t want any.
“Okay,”
He leaned down onto the handle bar, “I’ll push, you just put stuff in the cart.”
June had shifted into some weird survival mode and he watched as she calculated how much they would need. “What are these?”
He picked up a blue package.
She turned her head, “Cookies.”
“Are they burnt? Why are they black?”
“No, get them if you want.”
He dropped them in the cart, “Don’t break them.”
June looked at him appalled.
“Sorry,”
he followed behind her, watching her and started to think if she didn’t have the personality she had and just had her looks, he didn’t know how Ben could treat her like that. He should have felt like he needed to protect her, she was anything but fragile for putting up with him, June was tough and he wondered how long it would have taken her to put matters into her own hands. The son of the bitch had it coming either way.
She stopped. “I used to love this coffee.”
June cradled a bag in her hands.
“Get it,”
He suggested.
“I didn’t see a coffee maker there.”
He walked around the cart, “We can buy one.”
Wolfie pulled the bag from her hands, placing it on top of the pile of cans. “You should know we can afford it.”
He kissed her, “If it’s so good, we should probably get four or five bags.”
He teased her.
June rolled her eyes and grabbed three more bags, “Are you ready for the freezer section?”
“Freezer section?”
“An isle with ready to eat meals, fruits, vegetables, you know.”
“No, I dont. They just have frozen food ready?”
“Yes. They flash freeze it so it doesn’t go bad.”
She laced her fingers around the wire basket to pull the cart forward until Wolfie caught the handles.
“Pizza?”
Why are there so many pizzas?”
“They’re different brands and I don’t believe I was this difficult when Brittanya took me shopping the first time. If you want one, grab it, the cabin has a freezer.”
Juniper
Wolfie hurried up the stairs after parking the car in the workshop in the back and retrieved his tablet. She could hear him creak in the loft above her, “What do you think is behind this door? It’s the only locked door in this house.”
She placed the last of the food away as Wolfgang walked in face down, looking at his tablet. “I don’t know, maybe a water heater? But,”
Wolfie changed the subject, “I have a full battery.”
“Do you have anything?”
“I have some messages.”
He sat at the barstool across from her. “Let's see, my mom, Jay and Brittanya.”
She followed his eyes on the screen before noticing him mouthing words, “Can you read them outloud please?”
“Oh, yes. Sorry.”
“This is from my mom. Wolfie, I hope you are okay and being smart. Please lay low and remember you’re more important to me than anything. I am struggling waiting for July and Amy has been a saint, you know how kind she is. We’re both worried for you. Please get back to me when you can. I love you, mom.”
“Is this her first message?”
June handed him a cup of juice.
“No, I had been keeping contact until my battery started dying. I didn’t want to waste all my battery.”
“Why didn’t you charge it at the cafe?”
“I- I didn’t know you could just steal someone's electricity like that.”
“Every cafe is like that. What are you going to say back?”
He pulled the cup from his lips, “That is…a lot of sugar.”
He set it down. “I will tell her that I found you, I settled things with Ben and we are at the cabin.”
“Okay, what did the others say?”
“Jay’s is just an address and day for when he will be back. I haven’t talked to Brittanya so let's see what her’s says. Wolfie, the school graduation happened and two girls were placed in our house. I asked the council to wait until next Placement Day to save June’s room, they’re not budging. So I do have June’s stuff in my room. Let me know how things are going, have you found her? Your mom is stressed! Be safe. Love you. B.”
“Aw, tell her thank you. I can’t believe they filled my room already though.”
He sighed, setting his tablet down, “That’s how it goes sometimes.”
June Fifth
Wolfgang
He understood why people live in the mountains, every morning it was peaceful on the porch as they drank coffee. Even with the creaks in the floorboard, the animals and the Clover Creek he could faintly hear, it was serene. He walked in carrying his coffee cup, washed it and placed it on the drying rack next to Junipers. Each stair creaked its own special way and Juniper stood in the room, unstartled.
“Come here,”
He directed her after her shower. He had seen some marks on her briefly when she had changed clothes the day before and wondered what they were. They weren’t bruises and they weren’t there before. “I’m just looking.”
He gave Juniper his full eye contact before untwisting the top of her towel and opening it.
His hand gently grazed her moon shaped cuts that were now soft scabs along her groin, “What are these?”
He couldn’t make sense of them.
She had hoped he wouldn’t notice and looked down at his hands on her bare body with worry in his eyes. “I did them to myself, I dug my fingernails in trying to get Ben’s hands off me. I-”
She paused, embarrassed and not knowing where to take the sentence.
Wolfie stood wrapping her back up, “It doesn’t mean you did them to yourself, you didn’t deserve that.”
His blood began to boil, and he kissed her forehead aggressively, “I love you. I have to go chop wood or something.”
He exhaled sharply and left the room. He would never feel sorry for what he did to Ben.