Chapter 28 Aware At All Times
AWARE AT ALL TIMES
The minute Ford was out the door, Reenie locked up and double-checked all the windows and doors.
Not that she was worried on the farm, but better safe than sorry.
It was like she said. There was no way anyone could find or hurt her on this property. And even if they thought she was in the area, it’d take time for Oliver to get here. He’d never flown and swore he never would.
She turned the TV on. Thanks to her catnap earlier, she didn’t think she’d be able to get much sleep.
There wasn’t much on TV, but she was flipping around.
She must have landed on something and dozed off because she jolted up when she heard a noise.
She shut the TV off and waited to see if she heard it again. There was nothing but some wind outside that she could hear.
She popped her head into her bedroom. Nothing going on there and the one window was shut. The only other room was the bathroom and no one could even fit through that window unless they were greased with oil.
The doors were all locked, but she opened the back one and had her phone on her, the flashlight app on and looking around.
There was rustling, but that was normal. Animals and the wind.
It didn’t slow her heart any to know they were noises she’d heard every night.
“Hello,” she said. There wasn’t an answer and she didn’t expect it. Or she hoped there wouldn’t be one.
When she was shutting the door, the same noise sounded again. This time in front. Like crunching on old dry leaves left over from the fall.
Her heart wanted to explode from her chest. She took a deep breath, then another.
She was making a bigger deal out of this.
But there was no harm in just looking. The last thing she wanted to do was call Ford and admit she was scared, not after insisting she needed the night to herself.
He needed nothing else on his shoulders.
She assured the back door was locked, then moved to the front, flipped the porch light and looked around.
Her head moved to the side when she thought she saw a shadow or a movement.
Oh my God. Was someone out there?
Taking a few deep breaths, she convinced herself it was her imagination. It had to be.
She grabbed the baseball bat she’d found in the closet and kept under her bed where she could reach it if she needed.
After moving the curtain out of the way again, she unlocked the front door and opened it a crack. “Hello. Anyone there?”
What a ridiculous thing to ask. As if they’d be like, “Sure, just going for a nighttime walk.”
But if it was anyone in Ford’s family, they’d tell her.
She opened the door wider and scanned the darkness. The rustling continued, her eyes darting in every direction. The sky was black, the moon the only light, casting eerie shadows through the trees that circled her.
There was no way she was going to jump at every sound for the rest of her life.
Fears had to be conquered.
Her flashlight was moving around the yard as best it could as she looked for signs of life.
She took a few steps off the tiny porch to see if she could see further onto the property, her fingers gripping the bat tighter.
The minute she turned to return inside, someone moved out from a bush, had her screaming loud enough to scare animals for miles.
And have Clay racing out with his gun drawn and pointed at her.
“Jesus!” she said. “What are you doing?”
She crouched to the ground so that if she fainted, she wouldn’t hit too hard. It sure the hell felt as if she was going to with the head rush chased by the adrenaline flowing through her extremities.
Clay dropped his arm by his side, the gun still in his hand. “I saw the light flashing in the front yard through the trees.”
“You were watching my house?”
“I’m always watching.” He moved closer to her. “But I was getting ready for bed and saw a flash out my bedroom window. It’s angled toward your place.”
“Oh,” she said. That made her feel oddly comforted.
“What are you doing out here at night? As if it wasn’t bad enough you didn’t tell me you left the property today, now this?”
Here they went again. “I heard a noise. Or I thought I did. I fell asleep on the couch and something woke me.”
His gun came up again. “Get inside and lock the doors.”
“What?”
“Go! Don’t open the door until I text you.”
She didn’t even realize she was still crouched until she stood up and bolted into the house. She slammed the door, locked it behind her only to stumble when the bat she hadn’t realized she was still gripping caught against her leg.
The ten minutes it took for her to get the text from Clay was enough to make sure she didn’t piss herself when he came out from the shadows.
She didn’t know if her heart could take anymore.
Let alone her nerves.
She opened the door to Clay. “Everything clear?”
“There are footprints on the driveway leading to the road.”
“I walk to work and back,” she said. “You know that.”
“I do. What about around the flowers in front?”
She gulped, her hands shook. “I’ve been weeding them so they look nicer. Your mother gave me some tools. I’m sure it’s me or your mother. Your father was here one day too checking on something outside.”
She hoped that was all it was.
She didn’t want to lose the security she felt here.
Clay wore all black, his gun not in his hand. It wasn’t until he turned slightly that she saw it in the back of his jeans.
Talk about a fright in the night!
“Why isn’t Ford here with you?”
“I told him I’d be fine,” she said.
“Looks it to me.”
“Don’t get snarky.” She crossed her arms. “It’s been a bad day. I’m sure it’s nothing more than the wind.”
“I saw a big branch down on the side of the house. Footsteps around there too.”
“That might have been the noise I heard.” That made sense. There were a lot of old trees around the cabin, shielding it from view. “And I sprayed the windows down with the hose on the outside, so my footprints will be everywhere.”
“Most likely,” Clay said. “Get your stuff. You’re coming to my place.”
“No.”
He actually growled at her. “I’m not sleeping on that small couch.
So I’m waiting here until Ford comes or you’re sleeping in one of the spare rooms at my place.
Those are your only two choices. Since you told him to leave and my idiot brother listened, I’m going to assume you don’t want that option. ”
“You’re going to tell Ford anyway,” she said, lifting her chin.
“I will. Do you want me to call him now or wait until the morning?”
She paused. “You’d do that? Wait until the morning?”
“Against my better judgment, because I understand more than most the need to have space alone with my thoughts.”
Her bottom lip trembled and her eyes began to sting, but before a tear could fall, she turned away. She headed to her room, grabbed one of Ford’s T-shirts to sleep in and a change of clothes for tomorrow. She knew without a doubt he wouldn’t let her come back here to get ready.
“Thank you,” she said with a bag over her shoulder.
“You won’t get a choice the next time.”
She didn’t bother to argue with Clay. Just walked next to him through the property. He had a small flashlight out that must have been in a pocket and lit the way for them.
“You didn’t use that to come to my place,” she said. “I would have noticed.”
“It’s hard to sneak up on someone if you’re flashing a light in front of your face.”
“Is that a shot against me turning the lights on and looking? I hoped if it was an animal it’d scare them away.”
“It would have. There are animal prints around.”
“Really? Like bears?”
“There are bears around, coyote, fox, deer. Be aware at all times.”
She thought she was. Guess she thought wrong.
They arrived at Clay’s ranch with her almost running to keep up with his stride.
Clay unlocked his back door using a security code. She followed him in and toed her sneakers off on the mat.
“I’m sorry you had to come out tonight.”
He grunted at her. What did she expect? That he’d accept her apology? She’d done nothing more than be a pain in his ass and a stress on his shoulders.
He walked away from her, but she followed quickly. “You can stay in here. My room is right next door.”
“Does Ford stay here?”
“In this room, yes. Don’t shut the door all the way, just keep it open a crack.”
“Okay.”
“The bathroom is across the hall. It’s all yours. I’ve got one in my room.”
“Thanks.”
He walked away from her. What she came to expect from him most times.
She went into the room, put her bag on the bed and pulled out her toothbrush, then went to the bathroom and got ready for bed.
She shut the bedroom door to change into Ford’s T-shirt and removed her jeans, then opened the door a crack. The hall light was on, but she assumed Clay would deal with that.
There was a TV in the room, but she wasn’t about to turn it on or do anything that might keep Clay up longer than necessary.
She hugged the pillow to her chest, knowing Ford had slept here not long ago. It smelled fresh and clean, but in her mind, she was holding him, and that comforting thought was enough to lull her to sleep.