Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
JESSICA
“Feeling better, Mrs. Williams?” I smile at the older woman as I pull the wheelchair to a stop by the bench and sit next to her, inhaling the warm afternoon air.
“Mmhmm… Thank you for bringing me outside.” She pats me on the knee with her frail hand. “I hate being cooped up inside.”
The nurses told me Mrs. Williams has been feeling restless these past few days, but she didn’t have the strength to go outside on her own, so I offered to take her in the wheelchair. She’s been declining rapidly over the last few months, and her lucid moments are becoming rarer by the day.
“Anytime.”
“Do you think Jackson is going to come and visit me?”
“Maybe, you never know.”
Mrs. Williams nods. “I miss him so much.”
She’s looking straight ahead, but it feels like she’s miles from here. A deep sadness is etched on her face, and my heart aches for her.
Gently, I take her hand in mine and give it a squeeze. “I’m sure he misses you too, Mrs. Williams.”
“I hope I get to see him soon.” Her eyes get misty, but she blinks the tears away. “Tell me about you. Do you have a boyfriend?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, unsure if I heard her correctly, but Mrs. Williams watches me with an expectant smile.
“Umm…”
Shit.
What do I say to that? Does it even matter? Her brain is so fragile, and most things she doesn’t remember ever again, but occasionally she’ll surprise me by bringing it up or remembering something we talked about.
“It’s not a secret, is it?”
“Kind of?”
Her eyes grow wide as she leans closer. “He’s not spoken for, is he?”
I chuckle softly. “God, no. It’s just… complicated, I guess.”
Mrs. Williams hums softly. “Love always is.”
I swallow hard, my throat feeling tight.
She glances at me, her brown eyes meeting mine. “You love him, right?”
“I— I care for him. Always have. Always will.”
The corner of her mouth lifts upward. “He must be somebody really special, then.”
My heart does a little flutter inside my chest. “He is.”
Saying it out loud lifts some of the weight off my shoulders.
It’s the truth.
I can try to resist it as much as I want, but my heart could never—would never—stop caring about him. Even if he drives me crazy most of the time.
“Good. That’s good.” Mrs. Williams nods and looks out at the yard. “It takes a very special man to win a woman’s heart.”
The silence settles over us as we sit here, holding on to each other. Her words are still on repeat in my head.
After a while, she turns to me, blinking softly, almost like in a daze. “Is Jackson coming today?”
“I’m home!” I yell as I enter my parents’ house and slip off my shoes.
A loud clatter comes from down the hallway, and shortly after, my mom’s golden-haired head pops through the doorway. “Well, look who decided to grace us with her presence! I almost forgot I have four daughters.”
I wince at her reprimand, guilt slamming into me. “Sorry, life’s been… chaotic.”
“Do you mean because you dumped Damien’s scrawny ass or because you’ve started dating the hot cop?”
Emily elbows Amy as they enter the kitchen. “Be nice.”
“Jessy has a new boyfriend?” Carly yells, eyes wide as she turns to me. That girl is always yelling, not that I find it surprising. As the youngest in the family, she’s always had to be extra loud to make sure she’s heard over the rest of us.
“Can you be nice to your sister?” Mom chides. “It’s not surprising she doesn’t come home nearly often enough.”
“I still think that has more to do with her new boyfriend than it does with us,” Amy declares.
“It’s not fair!” Carly whines. “Why does Amy get to meet him and I don’t? Will you bring him over to the house?”
Amy smirks. “Because I’m her favorite?”
Mom claps her hands loudly, effectively shushing everyone up. “I don’t remember inviting you downstairs to pester. C’mon, set the table for dinner."
Amy starts to open her mouth, but Mom gives her a warning look. “Not a word.”
They all know not to mess with Mom once she gives you that look, so they quickly gather everything and leave the room, their quiet bickering coming from the hallway the moment they’re out of view.
“I swear, these girls will be the death of me.”
Her words have me chuckling softly. For all her frustrations, I know Mom loves every single one of us and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Crossing the distance between us, I wrap her in a hug and press my lips against her cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby,” Mom echoes, her smile softening. “Been volunteering again?”
My mother knows me too well for my own good.
It’s not that I don’t tell my family I love them, but volunteering and seeing first hand just how fragile life is, I can’t help but do it more often. I never want my family to doubt how I feel about them.
“Yeah.”
Mom pats my cheek affectionately. “Good girl. How are things over there?”
“The usual,” I sigh, grabbing the lettuce and starting on the salad. “Mrs. Williams is getting worse.”
Mom tsks. “That poor, poor woman. How’s Becky doing?”
“Pushing through. Although, I can see she’s getting more emotional about it.”
“Well, that’s to be expected. How are you doing?”
“Good. Busy.”
Though my whole attention is on the salad, I can feel Mom’s gaze probing the side of my face. “What’s going on with that new boy the girls are talking about?”
Shit.
I should have seen that one coming.
“With life and work and volunteering…”
I look up, which is clearly the wrong thing to do because Mom shoots me her signature look.
“Okay, and maybe, just maybe, a boy.”
Although calling Matthew a boy is ludicrous.
There is nothing boyish about him.
“Matthew Williams?”
Heat rises up my cheeks. “How do you know?”
“Oh, please, I’m not deaf. Everybody knows he’s back in town.” She rolls her eyes, as if it were obvious. “Am I to assume you two are together?”
“We…”
Dammit.
What are we?
Fake.
That’s what we are.
And yet, why does it not feel fake at all when we’re together?
When we touch. Or kiss. Hell, even when he drives me crazy.
None of it feels the slightest bit fake.
Not a single thing.
“I see…”
My head snaps up to find my mom turning back to the stove to stir something in a pot. She’s completely calm and composed, while I feel like my heart might burst.
“What?”
“Nothin’.” Mom turns off the burner. “You should invite him over sometime.”
“I should— Wh-what?”
“Invite him over for dinner sometime.”
Shit, this is getting completely out of hand.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“And why not?”
“Because it’s still too soon? We’ve only been dating a few weeks. Hell, you hated Damien.”
Mom’s lips twist in distaste. “Well, that was different.”
I open my mouth, but before I get a chance to ask, the garage door opens, and Dad enters the kitchen. “Honey, I’m home.” He looks up, his smile growing wider. “And look who’s here.”
He spreads his arms, and I embrace him. “Hi, Daddy. How was work?”
“Hectic. These kids, I swear…”
I spend the next couple of hours with my family, catching up with everybody over dinner, then I help them clean up before I get on the road, but not before Mom jabs her finger into my side and repeats, “Bring him over.”
As if that’s so easy.
Even if it were real, we’ve only been dating for a little while. What insane person introduces their boyfriend to their parents after a few short weeks?
Since it’s late and the roads are empty, the drive home doesn’t take long.
Putting the car into park, I kill the engine. Grabbing the bag from my passenger seat, I open the door and slide out, only to be greeted by darkness.
My brows furrow as I glance toward the porch, where an automatic light should turn on, only it didn’t.
Did the light bulb burst?
Matthew just installed it recently.
I move toward the house, digging through my bag to find the keys. A part of me expects to see the light turn on when I move closer, but, of course, that’s not the case.
“Found you,” I mutter to myself as I fish out the keys and look up only to come to a sudden stop.
My heart is galloping against my ribcage as I stare at my partially open door. I suck in a breath and hold it as I just stare at the gap, darkness lurking behind it. Did I leave it open by accident when I left earlier? My mind goes back, retracing my steps.
No, I’m almost positive I locked it. I always lock my door. It was something my dad ingrained in me when I moved out—lock the door. Bluebonnet might be a small town, but leaving doors unlocked is asking for trouble.
My ears ring from the wild beat of my heart. The keys are digging into my palm, leaving a burning sensation on my sweaty skin. Soft rustling makes my head snap up. I look around, scanning the area, but there is only darkness illuminated by the light of the crescent moon.
Only darkness.
“Seriously, Jessy. Get a grip,” I chastise myself as I clasp my fingers harder around the keys, welcoming the way the metal bites at my skin.
Maybe I actually left it unlocked. Or maybe the key didn’t work, and the door was left ajar. Hell, maybe some kind of animal entered the house. It wouldn’t be so uncommon since I live close to the woods. This is Bluebonnet Creek, for God’s sake.
I lift my hand and run my shaky fingers through my hair as I will my heart rate to go back to normal.
“It’s just a little bit of darkness, nothing I’m not used to.”
Turning back to the house, I extend my hand and push open the door, or I would, if it didn’t pull open when I reached for the doorknob, tugging me along with it, and I’m suddenly face-to-face with a tall, masked figure.
My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach, time slowing down as we just stare at one another for a few heartbeats.
I open my mouth—but no sound comes out.
Before I can grasp what’s happening, big hands shove against my chest, pushing me back.
The force of the impact makes me stumble.
My foot hoovers on the edge of the step, making my body sway as it fights gravity, but there is no stopping the fall.
Pain shoots through my body as I slam to the ground.
All the air is knocked out of my lungs, dark spots swimming in front of my eyes.
A dark shadow falls over me.
I curl in on myself, my hands covering my head as I fight through the pain. I expect him to punch me. I expect to feel hands on my body, trying to pull me back. I brace myself for an attack. But it doesn’t come.
I peek through the crack between my elbows, expecting to find the shadowy figure looming over me, but there’s nobody there.
I push upright, looking around, wondering if I imagined it, but I haven’t. My front door is still open. My jeans are dirty from falling to the ground, and there is a scrape on my arm from the fall.
Somebody was here.
In my house.
The bile rises in my throat as I try to wrap my mind around it.
Somebody was in my home.
Did they leave, or are they still here? Watching from the darkness surrounding me. I look around, scanning every nook and cranny, every dark corner.
A soft rustling makes me flinch in surprise. I frantically try to find the source of the sound, but I don’t see anything because it’s too damn dark.
My hand bumps into something, and I jerk it back. My heart races, the frantic beat matching the dull throb in my elbow where I took the hit. It takes me a second to realize I’ve bumped into my bag.
My bag.
I quickly grab it as I stumble to my feet. The zipper is open, and something clatters to the ground, but I don’t look back as I rush to my car. The door slams shut, and I press the lock button as I scramble through the bag with shaky fingers.
“K-keys, k-keys, k-keys… Where the hell are my k-ke—”
My fingers wrap around a sleek device.
My phone.
A wave of relief slams into me as I work to unlock it. It takes me a few tries, but when the screen finally pops up, I quickly find the contact and press the call button.
The sound of the phone connecting echoes in the quiet, making it seem louder than it really is.
I hold my breath, trying to stay composed, but it’s hard when my heart is thundering inside my chest and I startle at even the smallest sounds.
After what seems like forever, the call connects, and all the pretense of staying strong disappears as my voice breaks. “Ma-Matthew?”