Chapter 10
Linsey
Noah has worn the outfit Sabre got him every single day this week.
I had to break down and buy him more black T-shirts and a couple more pairs of jeans to keep from washing the same outfit every single night.
He lays out his leather vest on his bedside table every night.
He folds it with the little knife-throwing patch facing out, I suspect because he likes looking at the patch as he falls asleep.
It’s the last piece of clothing he puts on when he gets dressed for the day.
I worry a little that the vest is becoming part of his identity.
Saturday afternoon, I drive out to Sabre’s place. And, of course, Noah is wearing the whole kit. He’s happy as a clam, sitting in the back seat with our cooler beside him. Aunt Carol waves us off from the porch.
Sabre is waiting for us on his front porch when we pull in. And unless I miss my guess, he’s trying a little too hard to act casual. It’s okay because I’m a little nervous too.
He bends over to shake Noah’s hand. “Welcome to my place, Noah.”
He gives me a quick, chaste kiss. “Welcome back, darlin’.”
Noah makes a gagging sound and then laughs.
Sabre takes us around to the backyard, and what we see stops Noah in his tracks.
The grill and smoker station are all set up.
There’s a long wooden table on his patio.
A fire is burning in a big metal fire pit, and there’s comfortable porch furniture to sit on.
And on the inside of the fence is a target board adjusted to kid height.
Noah looks at it and then looks at Sabre. “Wow. You’ve got a nice setup here.”
“Thanks. I threw most of it together in the last few days. We’re throwin’ later,” Sabre says. “First, unload your things from the car for your mom, then we cook and eat, and after we relax a bit, we’ll spend an hour or so throwin’. How does that sound?”
“It sounds awesome,” my son responds enthusiastically.
Sabre and I fall into an easy rhythm, much like when we’re cooking or brainstorming ways to keep me and my son safe.
He shows Noah how to pull out the awning over his patio, how to check the meat in the smoker without getting burned, and they sip soda together while they shoot the breeze about guy stuff.
When Noah goes in to wash his hands, I steal another kiss. This time, Sabre pulls me into his arms and kisses me like he means it for a few precious minutes. When I pull back, he asks playfully, “What was that for?”
“Because I like you. Good men are hard to find in life, especially for single mothers.”
“We’re not as rare as Michelin chefs, though.”
I frown up at him. “Is that why you’re interested in me?”
He laughs before giving me one of the best kisses we’ve shared. When he pulls back, my mouth is dry, and I’m feeling butterflies. Cupping the side of my face with one hand, he traces over my bottom lip with his thumb. “Don’t they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?”
I find myself smiling. “Yeah, but you like cooking almost as much as I do. Some men need a woman to fill their stomachs. You don’t.”
“Then it must be all the things about you that I admire put together, darlin’.” His voice is low and warm. It makes me feel things that I shouldn’t be feeling in the middle of the day while trying to have family time.
We go back inside to get sides to go with the brisket. Sabre is all smiles and laughter. When we come back, Noah is leaning against the railing, doing his best Sabre pose without meaning to. “Can we do this again? Like, make it a regular thing we do now?”
“Absolutely,” Sabre responds without thinking it over.
The meal itself is much more than the finger foods his best friend teases him about making because full meals are too much of an obligation. And it’s just our luck that his very same best friend swings by around seven to drop off a part he ordered for his mower.
Talon looks around, taking in the cozy domestic scene, the nine-year-old dressed like a brother, and Sabre and me sitting way too close together. He drops the small box onto the top of the banister and strolls over to the picnic table.
“Miss Linsey. Little brother. It’s nice to see you both again.” Leaning over to look into the smoker, he inhales deeply. “Brisket for dinner, I see.”
Sabre shoots me a lopsided smile. “That’s secret code for he’s gonna hang around and be annoying until I pay him in brisket to leave.”
They have a little haggle fest, and Talon leaves shortly thereafter with half a pound of brisket and a pleased expression. He gives us a little thumbs-up before speeding off on his motorcycle.
By eight, Noah has showered and changed into his pajamas.
Sabre and I curl up on the sofa, and Noah starts a documentary about the Pacific theater during World War II.
He sits cross-legged on the floor way too close to the screen for my liking.
Sabre’s arm is curled around my shoulders.
This is the most relaxed I’ve been in a very long time.
As the two-hour documentary winds down, Sabre’s phone buzzes, only the sound is more like an alarm. He quickly grabs his phone from the end table and starts scrolling.
“What is that?” I ask as my panic rises.
“It’s the perimeter alert for your aunt’s house.
” His thumb is moving fast, hitting one button after another, and his expression is grim.
“Multiple sensors are getting tripped, one after another. First there was the back gate, then the back porch. Somebody’s moving around the property, trying all the doors and windows. ”
I feel like the floor just dropped out from underneath me. “Oh my God. Someone’s trying to break into our home?”
My phone begins ringing. I see that it’s Aunt Carol and answer it, putting it on speakerphone. “Aunt Carol, what’s going on?”
Her voice sounds low and stressed. “Someone’s outside.”
“Are you okay?”
“The alarms are going off.” She lowers her voice to a mere whisper. “Every time I try to shut one down, another goes off.”
“Someone’s walking around the outside of the house. They didn’t knock on the back door. They just tried to open it. Now they’re trying to open the windows. Oh my God, what do I do?”
Sabre leans over to my phone and asks, “Where are you right now?”
“I just ran upstairs to my bedroom and locked the door behind me. I’m going into the walk-in closet right now.” She stops long enough to take a shaky breath. “I thought they might look in the bathroom first. I don’t know what I’m doing here.”
Sabre’s calm voice reassures her. “You’re makin’ all the right decisions. No matter what happens, you just keep right on makin’ smart decisions until members of our security team arrive. They’re on their way right now, and so am I. Just hang tight.”
“Do you have anything with you, something you can defend yourself with?” he asks, pulling on his boots.
“I… I have a big metal flashlight. I just didn’t want to be sitting here in the dark all by myself.”
“That’s fine. That flashlight is gonna come in handy because you are not comin’ out of that closet until we get there. If the closet locks, lock it. I’ll be there before you know it. Don’t come out until you hear my voice.”
“All right,” she says in a trembling voice.
Sabre scrolls through his phone one last time before coming to his feet. “Talon’s four minutes out. Tusk is six minutes away. They have the code and the floor plan, Carol. They know exactly where you are in the house because I sent them a text.”
Sabre stops me from reaching for my shoes, his hand closing over my shoulder.
“Stay with Noah,” he says quietly. “This house is wired the same as yours, only this one has one advantage. Nobody knows you’re here.
Arm it behind me. The code is the same as your house.
I reset it to match, so you didn’t have to memorize two codes.
Trade phones with me so I can keep talking to your aunt.
Zen will call you within two minutes and stay on my phone with you. ”
I look at my son, who is sitting on the floor listening to all this go down with his arms wrapped around his chest. He’s staring at us and looks really scared, so I don’t argue.
“What’s going on?” Noah’s voice is very small and very careful. “Is someone really breaking into the house with Aunt Carol in it?”
Sabre stops long enough to crouch down to his level for a few seconds before running off to save the day.
“All we know is somebody set off several alarms at your house, bud. It could be someone tryin’ to break in or kids just messin’ around.
We won’t know until we get there. My brothers are already respondin’.
I need to get over there myself. Your job is to look after your mom.
Lock the doors and windows just like we drilled.
Help your mom set the alarms. You’re safe here. We’re just takin’ precautions.”
Noah looks at him and then at me and asks the question none of us want to answer.
“Is it my dad?”
The room is quiet except for Aunt Carol’s heavy breathing on my phone, which is now in Sabre’s hand. He’s the one who answers. “We don’t have any way to know that at this point.”
Sabre rushes out the door, and we hear the Indian tear out of the driveway.
After we lock all the doors and windows and set the security alarm, I sit on Sabre’s couch with his phone in one hand and my son pressed against my side.
When Zen calls a couple of minutes later, I put him on speakerphone and open the security app in another tab.
Watching my house through the cameras while Aunt Carol is hiding in a closet, terrified, is the worst feeling in the entire world.
It’s like a nightmare I can’t wake up from.