Chapter 2
Norah Barlowe
Oh god, his T-shirt is all wet from me crying. I hope I didn’t snot on him, too. How embarrassing.
Silo is huge. Tall and broad in the chest. Really broad.
His muscles stretch his shirt to the bursting point.
I’m not a little girl, but I don’t think my fingertips would touch if I tried to wrap both hands around his bicep.
His jeans are so tight on his thighs I wonder how he even gets them on or moves in them.
There are calluses on his broad hands, yet his touch is kind and gentle. He palmed my whole butt cheek when he lifted me like I was a five-year-old. I was so embarrassed, but then I felt so safe and cared for. Maybe I don’t have to do this alone. I have someone just for a little while.
Although he’s a bit scary when he scowls, Nana said he’s fully trustworthy and a combo of Rottweiler that acts as a barrier between someone and danger and Doberman that will quickly take down the threat.
“I need you to start at the beginning. How did Twila die?” he asks.
“She had gone into the town of Johnson to talk to her banker and lawyer and pick up supplies. They said she was driving too fast coming home and couldn’t make the turn on the mountain and drove off the road. The car rolled before she hit a tree.”
“Bullshit. She was too smart for that. When did this happen?”
“Almost three weeks ago. I had just moved in with her when it happened.”
“Was there an investigation?”
“I assume so, but my mother would have gotten the report.”
“Damn, I’ve been out of state on assignment for six weeks. I didn’t know. I missed the funeral. I’m sorry.”
I shrug. “A few people from town came. She already had it planned out, it was simple.”
“Your mother was her daughter?” he presses.
“Yes. She didn’t come. They didn’t get along very well. They’re fighting—were fighting.”
“You said you moved in with Twila. Aren’t you supposed to be in school somewhere?”
Clutching my hands, I shake my head. “I was but Mom refused to pay for the semester. By the time Nana found out it was too late for me to enroll.”
My stomach takes that moment of silence to growl. Embarrassed, I shift, then wrap my sweater tighter around my body.
He pauses and glances around the cabin. “Why isn’t the heat on? Why are you using battery operated camping lamps?”
Reaching around me he flips the switch for the overhead light. Obviously, he’s spent a lot of time with Nana. She spoke so fondly of him I was almost jealous.
“Why aren’t the lights working?”
“The generator quit. I tried to restart it. The gauge says there’s fuel, but it won’t come on. I’m not real technical. By the time I realized it wasn’t working, my phone was out of charge, and I couldn’t call for assistance.”
“Is that your car out there?”
I nod. “It’s got a flat.”
“All this has happened in the three weeks since Twila died?”
He has the same doubt in his voice that I’ve been afraid to voice to myself. It sounds so much worse with him saying it.
“When was the last time you ate?”
“I’ve been eating crackers and—”
“A meal?
“It’s been almost a week. I think the school bus will go by at the bottom of the hill. I was going to walk down there tomorrow to see if they’d let me ride to town.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m here now. Pack a bag of what you need and what’s important to you like phone and computer.
Plan on a few days. You’re gonna stay with me until I figure out what’s going on with your cabin and get your tire changed.
We’ll go to town now, eat, and get food supplies which I needed anyway. ”
“I haven’t showered—”
“You are beautiful just the way you are. Let’s move it.”
Honestly, I need a break from this place.
Too much has happened too quickly. The fight with my mother and being forced to leave school.
Nana’s fight with mother. Nana dying and then the cabin falling apart around me.
The cabin is all I have left. I need be able to live here, get my car fixed, and find a job.
Maybe I can get my old job back at the diner.
“Do you have a washer?”
He nods.
“May I use it tomorrow?”
Another nod. While I pack the few clothes I’d brought with me, he checks and locks all the windows and both doors. He lets me carry my backpack but takes my suitcase from me. Leaving one lamp on low, he locks the door and pauses on the deck.
“How’s your night vision? Will you be okay just following me? Or do I need to get a flashlight?”
As big as he is I don’t think I could miss him. “I’ll be fine, there’s some moonlight.”
“When the path narrows, stay right behind me. My truck is in the woods but it’s not far.”
His truck blends in as well. If he hadn’t stopped, I might have missed it.
No light comes on when he opens the door to stow my bags and the dash lights are so dim when he turns the engine, I doubt they could be seen from outside.
Once we’re both buckled in, he drives the path in the woods that crosses in front of Nana’ cabin.
“Aren’t you going to turn the lights on?”
In the little bit of moon light I think he shakes his head.
“Do you have an aversion to light? Does it hurt your eyes or something? I don’t want to cause you pain if I turn too many on when we get to your place.”
“Nah, I’m okay with lights. I’m just use to working in the dark. I’m comfortable.”
“Nana said you use to be in the military. Some kind of special team.”
“Yeah. Still do a lot of work at night.” He pauses. “Does the dark bother you? I could turn them up if you need me to.”
“No, I... just, most people drive with their headlights on.”
“I will when I hit the main road.”
He’s making me a little nervous, but he seems so confident in how he handles the truck I try to sit back and relax. When we hit the main road, he does turn on the lights but goes the opposite direction from town.
Oh god, is he who he says he is? Should I have asked to see ID. Why am I just now thinking of this? “Whe-where are you taking me?”
Glancing over at me, he reaches up and smooths his beard.
“Sorry, not use to telling people what my plans are. I don’t want to go to the closest small town where Twila used to hang out.
I want something bigger where there we’ll be less noticeable.
We’ll go to Tauntan. It’s only thirty minutes and more college kids to dilute the populace.
There’s a great burger place, and we can get a few more supplies.
I’m a meat and potatoes guy and I have a feeling you may have other, more rounded tastes. ”
“You mean like vegetables and fruits?”
He chuckles. “I like salads. Then I want to make a couple phone calls. A friend of mine can check to see if there was a report filed on the accident.”
I’ve only been to Tauntan a few times since it’s the opposite direction of where I grew up. I was going to college in Love Beach. I know that Nana came to Tauntan for big shopping days. “Are you from around here?”
“Naw, I work out of an office in Love Beach. A coworker and I share an apartment there. I prefer the mountains to the beach, so when I can get away, I come to the cabin I rent from Twila.”
“She spoke about you and told me you’ve fixed a lot of stuff for her. She left her home and the land to me. She said I could trust you and you’d know how to help me fix things.”