Chapter 20 Annabelle
Annabelle
The next day, Annabelle was still haunted by her dream.
It had rattled her so much that instead of ordering pizza, as they always did on Wednesdays, she’d texted James and told him she was making tacos.
They had finished eating when everything began to play out just as in her dream.
The text. The forgotten poster board. And James’s needing more protein powder.
“I’ll take her,” Annabelle said. She would go a different way, and they would avoid the horrible accident.
“Don’t you have that Zoom with the California office in half an hour?”
Shit, how could she have forgotten? “I’ll go afterward.”
“No, it’s fine. Besides, you don’t know how long you’ll be. It’s no big deal. I’ll take her.”
She looked at the clock. Six-thirty. The accident in her dream was at 7:05. Should she just tell James? No, he would dismiss her again. She needed to stall, keep them here at least until seven. Then they would be in the store when the accident happened, not on the road coming home.
“Okay, okay. But can I see you upstairs for a minute before you go?”
He gave her a puzzled look. “Okay.”
“Hurry up,” Scarlett called after them. “I still have to do the assignment once I get the poster board.”
When they reached their bedroom, James looked at Annabelle expectantly. “I didn’t want to have this conversation in front of the girls,” she began.
“What is it?”
“I was wondering if you could prescribe me some migraine medicine. I don’t want the girls thinking that, you know, I’m trying to get drugs or something.
” She wasn’t really worried about that, but it was the only thing she could think of to stall him.
And she knew it would spark him asking lots of questions.
He cocked an eyebrow. “It’s not like you’re asking me for oxy or something. But back up. When did the migraines start? I didn’t know you were getting them again.”
She sat on the bed, hoping he’d follow suit and more time would pass. “Well, um, I think it’s stress. Since Madeline left, and I have a new boss. I had to come home early yesterday because it was so bad.”
“Babe, I’m sorry! You should have told me. What can I do to help? Of course I can prescribe something, but it’s more important to cut out the underlying cause. And if it’s stress, you need to reduce it.”
“What do you recommend?”
He tilted his head. “Meditation. I’ve been trying to get you to do that for a while. I can show you some apps to download. And don’t get mad, but alcohol can also be a trigger.”
She glanced at her watch. Six forty-five.
She needed a few more minutes. If they left here at ten till, they’d get to the store right at seven and be at least fifteen minutes.
But what if they weren’t for some reason?
She should make them wait until 7:06. That was the only safe thing to do.
“Alcohol, really? So, you think even having some wine on the weekends could cause a headache later?”
He warmed to the topic. “Yes, studies have shown—” Annabelle tuned out while he spoke for the next several minutes about the evils of alcohol.
“Okay, I’m gonna head out.”
“Wait. Can you show me those apps? I don’t want to get the wrong ones.”
“Now?”
“Yeah, it’ll only take a few minutes, please?” She pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to him.
When he was finished, he gave the phone back to her.
“So how do I know which ones to use?” she asked.
James spent another few minutes explaining.
She looked at her watch again. Six minutes past seven.
She abruptly stood. “Great, thanks. I better get to my Zoom.” She was now seven minutes late, but she didn’t care.
Before he could leave, she pulled him to her and kissed him deeply, closing her eyes and holding him tight to her.
When she released him, he looked at her in surprise.
“Well, that was nice. What brought that on?”
“I love you.”
He leaned in and gave her another kiss. “Love you more. Let’s pick this up again later tonight.” He winked and headed downstairs.
After James and Scarlett left, and she had Olivia settled watching a movie, Annabelle joined the Zoom, apologizing for her tardiness.
It was eight o’clock when she finished and they still weren’t home.
She began to sweat. Had something happened anyway?
She saw headlights through the curtains and ran to the window, her heart in her throat.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was James’s Range Rover.
She met them in the hallway.
“I was getting worried,” she said.
James rolled his eyes. “It was crazy. Traffic backed up all the way on Route One. Terrible accident. Pickup truck driving in the wrong lane caused a head-on collision. Ambulance and police everywhere. Looked pretty bad.”