Chapter 12 Felt Too Easy
FELT TOO EASY
It was so awesome of a place to belong that Reenie wanted to go out and be part of life again.
She complained she didn’t want to be stuck on the property but was struggling to take that step.
She couldn’t live her life in fear of the unknown.
At seven thirty that night, she placed a call that she’d told herself she would not do unless she had to.
To move from this spot, it felt as if it was the only way.
“Maureen, are you okay?” the woman’s voice said on the other line.
“I am. I’m sorry to call. I know I’m not supposed to unless it’s an emergency,” she said.
“It’s fine. You called the other line like you were supposed to. Are you in Canada and settled?”
“No,” she said. “A change of plans.”
There was silence on the other end. “What kind of change of plans? You’re supposed to stick to it.”
“I’m safe and close to the border. I stopped at an old hometown and ran into someone I was close with.”
“Maureen, that’s not good and you know it.”
She let out a sigh. “I’ve been looking for any sign of my name in the news.
It’s been a week since you reported me missing, two weeks since I left.
I have seen nothing and wanted an update.
I’m safe here. The people I’m with, they won’t let anything happen, and I kind of want to stay.
I can’t do that if I don’t know what is going on. ”
“I reported you missing. You knew how it was going to go down. I said we were friends and I was concerned. The officer I spoke with was nice. The update I got was that they went to Oliver’s house and he said he hadn’t seen you in a week and that you’d been known to leave and come back after you cooled down, but he was sure that you were ending things and moved on. ”
She snorted. “All this with my car left on his property?”
“I drove by before I reported it. Your car isn’t there. I’m not sure where it is, but it’s not at Oliver’s.”
“He would have moved it,” she said.
“That’s my guess. I’m actually waiting for it to show up somewhere like you took a bus or something out of town.”
“I’m not sure he’s smart enough to do that,” she said.
“Me neither. Late last week I went into your old job and asked for you. They said they don’t know where you are, that you just quit. Someone had called Oliver’s looking for you and were told the same thing. You just left.”
“Do you think I’m safe to go about my life now? Could it be that easy? He never did this before when I left.” It’d only been that once, but it was enough to scare her to not attempt it again.
“I talked to Ashley. I guess she went to the police too. So that is two of us that reported it. But she said Oliver stopped to see her yesterday and asked if she’d talked to you. She thought it was odd and said no. Even if she had, she’d never tell him.”
Ashley had been the friend whose house she’d gone to before when Oliver came back to retrieve her.
Reenie didn’t have a lot of friends in life and felt bad that she just walked out on Ashley like this, but she didn’t feel she had a choice. At least right now.
“So the police are looking for me?” And the fact Oliver was now asking Ashley about her wasn’t good either.
“I don’t think so. When I call for an update, they say there are no signs of any crime and everything points to you leaving on your own, but it’s an ongoing investigation if I have anything else to report.”
“I left my purse and ID there.”
“Oliver had more than enough time to get rid of those things.”
“It’s probably for the best,” she said. “If they found the blood I left, there’d be a lot more on the news about it and this allowed me to slip away quietly.”
“I hope that is the case for you, but I’d still stay away. I’d advise you to get to Canada where he can’t come get you. I don’t trust him. He may be looking for you, but can’t go around asking more questions without someone getting suspicious.”
“I know. I understand and appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Really, I do.”
“Take care of yourself, Maureen. You know to call if you have to, but don’t do it often. I’ll be in touch if I hear anything.”
“I know. Thanks.”
She put the phone down and dropped her head between her knees, inhaled in and out a few times, and lifted her head again.
It felt too easy.
But until anything changed, she was going to live a little.
That meant leave the property, run to the store for a few items, then return. Not much more.
She’d told Brooke she’d do deliveries so she had to get out there.
She pulled her laptop out and did some more work on the fliers for Clay and the barn.
How fun it’d be to have the wedding and events there.
Brooke said she and Callum even got ordained so they could marry people on the property.
They were fixtures in this community and were doing so much to continue with the growth.
Her eyelids were drooping an hour after she checked on her shop. Things were steady there and she’d continue to work on it for the security of the fallback money.
Money was something she had little of growing up and learned to make what she had stretch further than Elastigirl.
Her phone buzzing made her eyes snap open, her heart racing.
She shouldn’t feel that way when only a few had this number.
It was Ford texting to see if she could talk. She looked at the time and saw it was close to nine.
No wonder why she was tired. She must have dozed off on the couch and not have realized it.
Sometimes it got so warm in the cabin that it made her drowsy.
She picked her phone up to call.
“Hi,” he said on the first ring. “I didn’t wake you, did I? I know you go to bed early.”
“I’m still up,” she said. At least in her eyes she was since she wasn’t in bed.
“I’m only checking in. My meeting went late and I just got home.”
“Home or Clay’s house?” she asked.
She knew he’d been staying there.
“Home,” he said. “My brother is getting annoyed with me, but I didn’t stay on Saturday or Sunday either.”
She hadn’t known that, but she had seen him on Sunday. She’d been invited for Sunday dinner and Ford and Clay were there.
“I’m completely fine here,” she said. Even if she did jump at noises more than she used to.
She told herself that was to be expected.
“You decided to not go to town?” he asked.
“I didn’t go. I wanted to get an update on things first.”
“What kind of update?” he asked.
She couldn’t withhold this from him. “I was in contact with someone in Gainesville tonight.”
“Reenie! Why the hell would you do that?”
“I’m sorry. I want to live life and want to go out and do things and not always be so afraid. I only wanted to know if I was reported missing. There has been nothing in the news. Not even the break-in at Oliver’s. I only talked to the person who helped me leave. They won’t say anything.”
“You don’t know that,” he argued.
“I do. Can you trust me a little? I know I’m not supposed to call them, but I wanted them to know that I’m not in Canada. I asked what happened there. Don’t you want to know that without looking yourself? You said you can’t or it’d get back to them.”
“Give me something. Anything on these people to know they won’t give up your location.”
She needed him to trust her and that meant she had to trust him.
“They run a not for profit domestic violence shelter. It’s a husband and wife. It’s all legal and on the books, but on the side, they might skirt the way they help some. No laws were broken, but naming them would deny help to numerous other women. I can’t risk that.”
He sighed. “What did you find out?”
“That my old job called Oliver looking for me. He said I left town, that’s it. They only think I quit. Then the person I spoke to said the same thing. But that person talked to another friend and was told Oliver stopped over asking about me yesterday.”
She heard him sigh. “Are you going to tell me their name?”
“No. I can’t and I won’t. I don’t want to jeopardize them helping anyone else in the future. They reported me missing and then have followed up with the officer. They were told that the investigation shows that I just left on my own.”
“With your purse, wallet, and car left behind?” he asked.
“I said that too. But they said they drove by before I was reported missing and that my car wasn’t there.
Oliver would have plenty of time to move it or get rid of it.
I could have overreacted. Just staying in town, he felt he could get me.
I doubt he’d put much effort into coming after me states away. ”
He’d had other girlfriends and she was positive now that they were abused also, so why did she think she was so special that he’d go after her again and again and not them?
She might have put more thought into this than needed.
So much of her life, she’d been treated like shit, physically and mentally abused, that she believed the worst would happen when she was told.
“You don’t know any of that,” he said. “Nothing. And you could have put yourself at more risk by making that call.”
“Or realized that I’m free to come and go as I like.” There was silence on the other end. “Ford?”
“I’m here. Do you want to leave? You said you didn’t.”
“I don’t,” she mumbled. “I just want to be normal. Live a normal life. Have things I never had and always wanted.”
“What’s that, Reenie?”
His voice sounded almost as hopeful as her.
But without seeing him, she wouldn’t know if this was just one more figment of her imagination.
“I don’t know. Anything more or better than I had.”
“You’ll get it,” he said. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“I won’t hold you to any promise,” she said, laughing.
“I want you to,” he said. “Because this time I’m keeping it.”