17. Willow

SEVENTEEN

Willow

When my ME got bad, properly bad bad, I could lose days to my bed, where the never-ending cycle of sleep, fatigue, aches, and pains never lessened. When the cycle began to break, there would be glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes this break would be false hope, and the cycle would gain in intensity. Which this most recent spell seemed to be.

I was aware of Caleb during my bad spell. I knew he was there, but the brain fog and my exhausted state barely let me acknowledge him. My brain was sending signals to my body to let him know not to worry, but my receptors were going through a current mutiny and weren’t open to any correspondence.

I was awake in bed but hadn’t yet opened my eyes. I felt like shit, but I knew the difference between a ME attack and coming out of a ME attack. The room was silent, and I lay there feeling guilty because I knew I would have been an inconvenience to Caleb, and I felt guilty for taking a moment to appreciate the quiet of the room, the comfort of the bed and…the smell of fresh bread?

Opening my eyes, I looked around the room. Floral patterned wallpaper, white gauzy drapes hanging loose over a six panel sash window. Pushing myself up was an effort, but I managed, immediately looking at the floor. Thick-looking deep-pink plush carpet.

Caleb had said his friend was a he that he was taking me to. I knew all about diversity and inclusion, but the person who decorated this room was a woman.

Pushing the covers off me, I tried to get up to find out where we were. I was in a T-shirt and panties. I didn’t even want to ask, but I knew if Caleb provoked me, I would.

Opening the door, I came face-to-face with a middle-aged couple coming out of the door opposite me. They were both well-dressed, and I registered the woman’s huff of disapproval at the same time as I saw the man’s appreciative look at my legs.

“Sorry!” Hastily shutting the door, I waited until the grumbling faded, and then hesitantly opened the door again. Seeing the number six on it, I closed it again.

I was in a bed and breakfast. Going back to the bed, I searched for a note from Caleb to tell me what was happening. Surely he’d left one? When I found nothing, I searched for my jeans.

The door opened and, turning swiftly, I saw Caleb running his eyes over me. Conscious of my bare legs, I jumped on the bed, scrambling under the covers.

Shooting me a quizzical look, Caleb frowned. “What’s wrong with you? You see a bug?”

“Where are we? Where’s my clothes? ”

“We’re at a B she didn’t hover. I could hear her banging around in the kitchen, and I guessed she would be cleaning up.

When we were finished, Caleb deftly stacked the plates and carried them through to the kitchen. I heard the raised voice of surprise, and while I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I had no doubt that Caleb was charming his new admirer.

Charming to everyone but me.

He didn’t come back into the sunroom, lingering midpoint between the living room and the kitchen. “You ready?”

I did feel slightly stronger, and my feet weren’t so unsteady, but I wasn’t sure when ready would be an adjective I used to describe me. When we got to the stairs, I darted in front of him before he got any ideas, and I climbed the stairs, silently grateful for his close proximity in case I tumbled.

Inside our room, he took a chair by the window, and I sat on the edge of the bed. “You’ve been making friends.” I tried to sound lighthearted.

“You were unwell for three days. I had to find some way for the locals to let us stay.” He opened his wallet, holding out a twenty. “After this, I’m clean out.” Tossing the wallet on the bed, he sighed. “I need to make some money.”

“Are there no banks here?” Getting off the bed, I looked outside, seeing only trees. “Where are we anyway?”

“I don’t keep money in banks.” He stood, crossing to come and stand beside me. “Kettlebridge is the name of the town. Very small, very…involved.”

“Nosy?” When he nodded, I didn’t tell him I’d already guessed that. “And who doesn’t have a bank account?”

“Me.” Caleb went back to his seat. “I made two hundred the first night we got here, but I needed another night here, and the truck needed gas.”

“I have money,” I assured him. “How did you make money?”

“Won a game of pool.”

There was something about his face when he said it that made me decide not to ask for any further details. What you didn’t know couldn’t hurt you, right?

“I’ll give you my share,” I told him easily.

“I’m not telling you for that reason.”

“I know.” We held each other’s stare for a moment. I looked away first, picking up my notebook, ready to ask him about my symptoms while I was out of it. “What did you tell Lily?” I asked absently, but when he didn’t answer, I looked back and saw he hadn’t moved, but his lips were pressed together. “Caleb? Tell me you told Lily where we were?” I was already retrieving my tote, looking for my phone. “Why is my phone off?” I demanded.

“Because you wouldn’t have been able to answer it,” he told me calmly.

I waited for it to come on, and when it did, it had a message on the screen that I wasn’t expecting. “Insert SIM?” Caleb stood up and I looked up at him. “What did you do?”

“Phones can be traced.”

“Yes. It’s a good thing.”

He looked at me like I had told him the sky was green. “It’s not. Anyone can trace you, and we need to be untraceable, especially when you were incapacitated.”

My knees felt weak, and I sank back onto the edge of the bed. “What have you done? ”

“I told them I changed my mind.” He sniffed. “About you.” He held my gaze. “About taking you to them.”

“Why? What changed your mind?”

“I don’t like it.”

“Okay…why?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Try.”

Caleb shook his head slightly as he looked away. “Just… It just is, okay?”

“Then we go back to Whispering Pines, right?” He didn’t look back at me. “Caleb? We go back, right?” He didn’t answer, and I got to my feet. “Caleb! Answer me!”

“I don’t know.”

Flabbergasted, I watched him. “Okay…well, I know, and I want to go home.” When he said nothing, I turned around to pick up my phone. “I need my SIM card.”

The click of the door had me spinning around, and I realized he’d left me. “Asshole.” Dropping to the bed, something fluttered off the nightstand, and stooping, I bent to pick it up.

Dr. Nigel Hardman, M.D.

“You called for a doctor.” My whisper echoed around the room. “No wonder you have no money left,” I murmured as conflicting emotions warred within me.

He’d taken my SIM card. He hadn’t told my best friend where I was. He wasn’t letting me go back to Whispering Pines, my home . He’d called a doctor to a B&B to ensure I was okay, paying the charge without question. He’d found a nice place to sleep, clean and well cared for. I knew it wouldn’t be cheap. He was protecting me. From what, I didn’t know, but I knew he was .

Or he thought he was.

Or…maybe he was a psycho serial killer, and this was his elaborate plan so no one ever suspected him?

The room was stuffy, and I needed fresh air. Slipping my feet into my sneakers, I left the room and went to find my sullen friend-slash-kidnapper-slash-husband.

The front door was open, and when I checked outside for Caleb, I saw Shelby with her back to the door, deep in conversation with someone who wasn’t Caleb. Heading through the house, I looked for a back door. Finding it in the kitchen, and finding it slightly open, I pushed it wide as I searched for Caleb.

The backyard was immaculately tidy, and as I admired Shelby’s gardening skills, I saw the slightly concealed path. He would have gone for a walk, I reasoned, and with little thought, I followed the path.

Voices drifted through the trees, and I slowed down, not sure who would be out here. Other guests maybe? Townsfolk. Scrambling in my head, I couldn’t remember if it was deer hunting season. I had nothing to visibly identify me as not being wildlife, and panicking that I was about to be shot, I hurried forward and immediately tripped over nothing, tumbling to the springy mossy ground, which thankfully softened my fall.

With my palms flat against the ground, I prepared to push myself up when movement made me freeze. Turning my head to the left, through the underbrush, I saw the furry paws.

I almost swallowed my tongue in fear as my brain screamed at me to stay still. I didn’t know how long I stayed like that. I was sure the wolf had moved on when I heard a sudden crashing, and looking up, I saw the wolf run straight at me.

I scrambled backward, sure I would be today’s dinner, when from nowhere, Caleb appeared and tackled the wolf. My yell was drowned out by Caleb’s grunt as the two hit the ground. Frantically getting to my feet, I looked up to see if he was okay, and the trees were clear.

There was nothing here. Only me. Turning slowly, I looked everywhere.

“What?” I turned once more. “This makes no sense.”

When I turned to go back to the B&B, I screamed in alarm as I came face-to-face with Caleb.

He grabbed my arm, concern on his face. “Willow, why are you out here?”

“The wolf.” My chest was tight. “You fought the wolf!”

He was frowning and looking around. “Willow, listen to me, you’re disoriented. Let’s get you back to bed, okay?”

Shaking my head, I wanted to keep him here and make him explain everything I knew he was hiding. “No. The wolf.”

Caleb’s arm slipped around my shoulders. “There is no wolf. It’s just me and you here,” he assured me, leading me back to the house. “Let’s get you back to the room, and you can lie down, okay?”

“There was a wolf.”

He didn’t say anything to contradict me, and I didn’t push it. Not here, not in the open. I didn’t know how I knew that, but some instinct was telling me not to say anything more out here.

But I wasn’t letting it go. One wolf, rare. Two? Something was happening here, and I was going to find out what.