23. Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Rina
Today has been … life-affirming. Is that too much? Possibly, but going on a proper date with Arlo feels like it changed my brain chemistry.
It was all so normal, like we hadn’t even been ignoring each other for the past fifteen years. I wouldn’t say it was like we were, back when we were together, because hiding our entire relationship from everyone was certainly nothing like a date at Sal’s for all of Bluebell Falls to see.
And the craziest part? Once I got out of my head, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I didn’t focus on what all the nosy people would say. I just got to know Arlo, as a first date usually does. God bless him for the quick thinking to pull me out of my nervousness.
We’re now walking to my truck, bumping each other’s shoulders every so often, and the anticipation is killing me.
“We should do this again sometime,” Arlo breaks the silence. I smile at his continuation of the first date narrative.
“We should. You have my number. Just let me know when you’re free,” I offer, playing along.
We stop in front of my truck and I rock on my heels, suddenly feeling very shy, which is highly unlike me .
He grabs one of my hands, the heat and calluses causing me to melt in a puddle at his feet.
“I had a great time, Rina.” Leaning forward, he places a kiss on my cheek before shifting to my lips and placing the most tender kiss I think I’ve ever had in my life. I reach out to steady myself on him, but he pulls away from the kiss before it continues. I sway forward, finally finding his forearm in my Arlo haze as he lightly grabs my hips to stabilize me. He presses his forehead to mine, closes his eyes, and just smiles. The brightest, happiest smile I’ve seen grace his face since we got married at the courthouse.
“I have to get back to work, but I’ll talk to you later,” he murmurs.
“Perfect,” I whisper. I don’t want to part ways. I want to invite him home and possibly have a repeat of the workbench fun we had, but I also know walking away is the smart decision. We need the time to figure out who we are now as a couple, not who we were back when it felt like we could work through any obstacle that came our way.
He pulls away and walks back to the sidewalk, watching me as I climb into my truck. His eyes track me the entire time as I drive away from downtown. I feel the heat of his gaze on me long after he disappears in my rearview.
A crash startles me awake .
I look at my phone and see it’s just after eleven at night, and in my sleep-confused brain, I’m trying to figure out what’s happened.
Another crash sounds and I jump out of bed, phone in hand, racing outside without another thought. I don’t immediately see anything, but I run to my workshop to see if something fell in here.
What I see when I open the door stops me dead in my tracks.
Wood chunks, splintered and destroyed pieces cover every inch of the large space. My eyes look everywhere and nowhere at the same time, not believing what is clearly in front of my face.
Everything I had in here is destroyed.
I feel my shoulders shaking before I realize I’m crying. Not just crying, full-on hysterics. Sinking down against the doorframe, I hug my knees to my chest and let the worst of my sobs out.
The phone I just remembered I brought with me lies on the floor and I pick it up gingerly, realizing I must have dropped it, judging by the shattered screen.
I can still navigate around it, but I’ll have to figure that out tomorrow too. Pulling up Arlo’s number, I don’t hesitate to call.
“Rina?” he answers almost immediately. I can already hear the worry in his voice, and I lose it, barely able to get the words out.
“Please come,” I gasp out. “I’m at the workshop.” It’ll probably freak him out more, but I can’t talk through the borderline hyperventilation.
“Shit, okay. I’ll be right there. Stay with me on the phone, okay? Are you hurt?” I hear shuffling around in the background, and I know he’s rushing like hell to get to me.
“Not hurt,” I say through the tears .
“Okay, that’s good. Can you tell me what happened?” His calm tone immediately centers me, but not enough for me to tell him what I walked into.
Shaking my head, I realize I didn’t verbally give him an answer. “N-n-n-no.” I put the phone on speaker and set it on the floor so I can wrap my arms around myself.
“That’s fine. Are you safe right now? Is there any threat there?” One day, I’ll think about how good under pressure he is and appreciate his entire demeanor in what feels like one of the worst moments I’ve had since my parents died.
“Safe. No, I don’t think so.” Basic answers seem to be the only thing I can do through my panic.
“Good, that’s good, Emmerdeur. I’m less than five minutes away. You’re doing so good.”
I nod again, incapable of anything more. The rush of tears takes over again as I think about the bunk bed that was almost done, the coffee table sitting off to the side waiting for pick-up, and the picnic tables. All of them gone. Not one scrap looks recognizable. I randomly think about how I slept through most of this destruction, and it freaks me out more than I’d like to admit.
How do you just sleep through this? Sure, it’s not super close to my house, but I should have heard this. I should have been able to stop it.
Truck tires barrel down my driveway, but I don’t look up. I’m hypnotized by my livelihood being ripped to shreds. I turn my head to look at the space where I keep a smallish table that holds all the things, like plans and contracts, and I see something odd. What looks like blank paper covers the tabletop, and I frantically get up off the floor to figure out what it is. Maybe the asshole that did this left something .
Somewhere in the distance, I hear my name being called, but I don’t detour from my mission. It takes all of ten steps to see there’s something written on the papers.
I warned you. You are mine, and you’ve been very bad by allowing another to touch you. Remember when I said you couldn’t always ignore me? This is just the start.
I’ve got eyes everywhere, Marina.
XO,
Yours
“Rina!” Arlo yells and wraps his arms around me.
The tears flow freely and a chill sets in. The words replay in my mind even though he’s dragging me out of the building.
What the hell is happening? And why me? I keep to myself; no one in town would do something like this, so how is this happening to me?
Arlo rubs his hands up and down my arms in an attempt to soothe me, saying words that I don’t hear but that are presumably to try to calm me down.
“What the fuck happened?” a voice not belonging to Arlo yells, and I jolt away from Arlo’s warmth.
Ledger is stomping away from his truck toward us, looking between us like we’ve both grown two heads. I don’t miss the question in his eyes, but I don’t have the brainpower to even consider talking to him about what’s going on between me and Arlo.
“I just got here. I know as much as you,” Arlo calmly tells him. “Let me get her inside the house. Can you call Oakley and see if he’ll come down here too?” he asks—or rather orders—Ledger, and it’s ridiculous considering the circumstances, but I have to hold back my laugh.
Arlo walks me back to the house using the walkway I have between the two, and once we’re inside, he immediately cups my jaw in his hands.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. No. I have no fucking clue. My whole workshop, Arlo.” My bottom lip trembles as images flash through my head.
“I know. I’ll figure it out, okay? I’ll make it all okay.” It’s not something he can promise. I know that as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, but damn, I want to believe him.
I think I nod as his thumbs wipe the tears from my cheeks. “Can you stay here, go take a bath or just cuddle up in bed? I need to really look through everything, and it’s probably going to take me a while. I’ll check in periodically, though.”
I nod again, wishing he could just stay with me, but I’m abundantly thankful that he knows what to do in this situation because I’m so lost.
Nodding—God, I feel like all I’m doing is nodding—I step back, letting my arms hang lifelessly as he presses a kiss to my forehead and walks out the door.
I somehow find my way back to my bedroom, where I proceed to crumble, crying every tear I’ve fought against the last decade and finally falling asleep somewhere along the way.