“Very,” Hal agreed. He let go her arm and gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Don’t lose heart, Sadie. Luke’s going to come around.”
“Me? Lose heart? Never.” She squeezed his waist. “In the meantime, there’s you to play with.”
“Use me however you will. I shall be your humble servant.”
“You’re all heart, Hal.”
“I’m a giver,” he said. “Which I’m about to prove by looking at your dad’s butt.” He took a bracing breath and stood by while she unlocked the door.
As soon as she stepped into the house, she knew Gideon was in a mood. For one thing, the television was tuned to a teenage soap opera. For another, the house was a mess. Gideon wasn’t a neat freak, but he kept things tidy. The fact that cola cans and napkins littered the table bore testament to the fact that he hadn’t felt up to cleaning that day.
He was lying in what had become his usual position—face down on the sofa, his ear pressed to the couch. Only now he was using a rolled up magazine to scratch at his backside. His forehead looked sweaty, his face pale.
“Dad, what are you doing?” Sadie said.
“I’m re-siding the house, Sadie. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“It looks like you’re jabbing a rolled up magazine at your wounds,” Sadie said.
“They itch,” he roared.
“Let me take a look,” Hal said. He stepped forward and Gideon threw the magazine at him.
“Go away.”
“Dad, he’s a doctor.”
“He’s a doctor when he’s at the hospital. Here he’s just some strange guy telling me to pull down my pants,” Gideon said.
“Itching could either be a sign of healing or infection,” Hal said.
“Good odds, either way. Thanks, kid,” Gideon said.
“With your clamminess and sweating, I’m leaning toward infection,” Hal continued. He was using what Sadie assumed was his doctor’s voice, measured, calm, with more than a hint of stubborn authority.
“With your clamminess and sweating, I’m leaning toward you’ve never had a date,” Gideon snapped.
“Dad!” Sadie said. She couldn’t believe he was acting so immature. “How does lashing out at Hal solve anything?”
“It makes me feel better,” Gideon said. “Both of you go away.”
“I can’t do that,” Hal said. “I think your sutures may be in trouble. Let me satisfy my curiosity, and then I’ll go away.”
He was going to balk, Sadie could feel it. “Dad, it’s two against one here, and you’re sort of an invalid. Don’t make me hold you down.”
He scowled harder, but capitulated and reached for his belt. Sadie turned around. “This is weird,” she muttered.
“How do you think I feel?” Gideon replied.
“I find it totally normal,” Hal said.
“That’s because you’re a doctor,” Sadie said.
“No, I meant because this reminds me of my family,” Hal said. He must have done something because Gideon sucked in a breath. “Mm, hmm,” Hal said. “You’re getting an infection. Haven’t you been taking the antibiotic I prescribed?”
“Why would I need an antibiotic when there’s nothing wrong with me?” Gideon said.
“It was a preventative,” Hal said. “To prevent infection, an infection like the one you’re sprouting right now. You have to take the antibiotic every day until it’s gone. If not, I’ll be seeing you back at the hospital soon. And when I say I’ll be taking a pound of flesh for my services, you can assume I mean that literally.”
“Where’s Mary?” Sadie asked. If anyone could get her father to take his pills, Mary could.
“How should I know?” Gideon snapped.
“Because you’re friends,” Sadie said.
“We’re no more friends than anyone else from the office. I don’t know why she clings to me like she does. Drives me crazy. Probably because she can’t get anyone else to pay attention to her.”
“Dad!” Sadie exclaimed. She whirled to face him. Pants or no pants, he deserved a dressing down over those comments. But when she turned, she saw Mary hovering in the doorway, a casserole in her hands, her lips tight and drained of color. Hal spotted her and froze, too. Gideon turned to see what they were looking at and a definite stain of color returned to his cheeks.
“Mary…” he began.
She advanced into the room and cut him off. She set the casserole on the table in front of him. “You are wrong. I have plenty of friends because I’m a nice person, a kind person. I chose to try and be your friend despite your prickliness because I believed there was something salvageable in you. I still do, but I have too much self-respect to be near you anymore. Goodbye, Gideon. Sadie, Hal.” She turned and walked away with her head up like a lady. Sadie thought Abby would be proud.
“Dad, that was horrible,” Sadie said. “How could you say those awful things?”
“Well, I didn’t know she was going to be standing there, did I?” Gideon said.
Sadie clamped down on further commentary. Gideon was Gideon. He would never learn, and nothing she did would change him. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for Hal to finish.
“Take your antibiotics, Mr. Cooper,” Hal said. “That should catch the infection in time to clear it. I’ll check back in a couple of days to see how you’re doing. If it gets worse, we’re going to have to take more drastic measures.”
Gideon didn’t reply. Maybe he was human enough to feel bad about hurting Mary’s feelings. Hal rested his arm on Sadie’s shoulders during the walk back to Abby’s house. He didn’t comment on Gideon, and for that she was thankful. She was embarrassed, both at Gideon’s rudeness to him and because of the scene with Mary.
He stopped when they reached the porch. “I should go. I’m about ten minutes from falling into a coma.”
“Thanks for checking on my dad.” Thanks for not mentioning what a jerk he is.
He grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Your dad is not your fault. You know that, don’t you? We can’t control our parents any more than they can control us.”
“I know. It’s nice to hear it sometimes, though.” She smiled up at him. Something flickered between them. He dropped his hand and took a step back.
“Tell the loser in the house I said goodnight.”
“Will do,” Sadie said.
“See you, Sadie girl.”
“See you, Hal boy.”
He chuckled. “Let’s not repeat those nicknames, sweets.”
“Agreed.”
He gave her a tired little wave and jogged to his car. She waited until he was out of sight before going inside. Luke was waiting for her. “How’s Gideon?”
“He’s Gideon,” she said.
“That bad?”
She shrugged. “Hal said goodnight. I’m going upstairs.”
“Wait, I wanted to talk to you,” he said, but it was already too late. She dashed up the stairs. He took off after her. “Sadie, wait.” He caught her arm and pulled her to a stop before she reached her room, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. “Why are you running away from me? That’s not you.”
“I’m tired. Gideon sucked all the energy I have for confrontation.”
“I don’t want confrontation. I want to apologize.”
“I’m listening,” she said.
“I’m sorry about what I said before. It came out wrong. What I meant to say was that you haven’t changed since we were kids. You were fun then, and you’re fun now. You know how great our childhood was, and it was because we had each other. Nothing will ever change that, nothing will revise those memories or take them away. But I’m not the same weak kid I was then, and it’s important to me that you understand that.”
“I do, Luke.”
“Do you? Because I feel like we’re falling back into old patterns.”
“Just because I drive the car doesn’t mean I think you’re less of a man. Believe me, I see and understand the difference.”
She had probably caused the difference, and that made her sad. Her rejection and subsequent betrayal had hurt him, had caused him to grow up and become distrustful. Maybe she understood the change in him even better than he did because she was now reaping the effect of her bad decisions through him. If Sadie had her way, she would pick up where they left off in college. Luke was the holdout, and that was maddening. Part of her wished he were as malleable as he had once been; the other part of her realized she wouldn’t be as attracted to him if he was. Some of her fascination with him was his newfound strength.
The atmosphere was becoming bogged down. Sadie didn’t want to get into their issues tonight. “You’re a man, Lukey. A big, strong man.”
He laughed as he reached out to pick her up. He brought her eye level and rested her back against the wall. “How much do I hate to be called ‘Lukey’?”
Her arms looped around his neck. “A million billion.”
“What am I going to do about you, Sadie?”
Sadie had a few ideas. Step one: lose the Amazon girlfriend. Though it took maximum effort, she didn’t say it. This new Luke didn’t like to be pushed into things. She had to let him get there on his own, if he ever did. Instead, she aimed for lighthearted again. “Have you ever read Gone with the Wind? Rhett Butler had some interesting ideas on that.”
“You think you should be kissed often and by someone who knows how?” he said.
“His words, not mine. Though, for the record, you certainly know how.”
“To clarify and because you know I’m bad at reading between the lines, are you saying I’m a good kisser?”
“No, I’m saying you’re a phenomenal kisser. World class, really. But you had a good teacher, and that makes all the difference.”
“You didn’t teach me.”
“I did.”
“You didn’t.”
“You kissed someone before me that I’m not aware of?”
“No, but neither did you. We learned together. My talent was latent,” he said.
“So was your humility until I bestowed that compliment. Don’t get cocky.”
“I thought you like cockiness.”
“That was the old me. This one has a new list.”
“Yeah? What’s on it?” he asked.
“Good kisser, and that’s as far as I’ve gotten.”
“Sadie, you’re trying to tempt me.”
“Don’t be silly. ‘You want a bite of this apple, Adam?’ That’s temptation. This is two old friends talking. Don’t make more of this than it is.”
“You’d make a good Eve,” he said. He took a breath and let it out slowly. “I should walk away right now.”
“Definitely,” Sadie agreed. “Go away.”
“I’m impervious to reverse psychology,” he said.
“Then stay and kiss me,” she said.
“That won’t work, either,” he said.
“What works?” she asked.
Authenticity. He wanted genuine emotion from her. He didn’t want to be a game or a notch or disposable or anything else but real to her. After the last time he jumped in with both feet, he had to be more careful. He needed to explain, to set her down and walk away with no more flirting. But she was looking up at him with something akin to vulnerability. Apparently a vulnerable Sadie was like kryptonite to him. “Sadie,” he whispered. “Don’t look at me that way.”
“What way? With both eyes? I don’t know any other way.”
She was being real. Her heart was in the balance, waiting on him to make up his mind, and sincerity was his undoing. He closed his eyes. I give, he thought.
She shoved him away, but before he could take offense, he heard it. Someone in Sadie’s room was screaming.
Chapter 15
It was a something rather than a someone. On her bed lay a shrieking alarm clock. The noise was so shrill it sounded like a woman’s screams.
“How can you stand that thing?” Luke asked. He pressed his hands to his ears until she shut it off.
“It’s not mine,” she said, and that was when he noticed what else was on the bed. A sweater lay beside the alarm clock with a note attached.
“What does it say?” he asked.
“It says ‘Wear this one, Sadie. It’s my favorite.’” She handed the note to him. He recognized the same writing that had been on the note attached to the army patch.
“Someone was in your room,” he said, unnecessarily since the truth was so obvious. But he felt a need to say the words out loud, to make them real.
“Someone still might be,” Sadie said. She reached under her pillow and pulled out a baton, not the kind majorettes twirl. Instead this one looked like the kind police officers carry.
Luke looked around for his own weapon. Finding none, he unplugged the lamp and held it over his head like a bat. They searched the room together and found it empty except for each other. They sat on the bed and stared at the sweater and note.
“Sadie, he was in your room.”
She took the lamp from him and plugged it back in. Until then, he hadn’t realized he was still clutching it. “I know.”
Downstairs, a door clicked. Movement rustled. Sadie grabbed her nightstick. Luke grabbed the lamp and was hastily jerked backwards when the plug gave resistance. “Sadie, wait,” he called as he stopped to jerk the plug free off the wall. The cord trailed behind him as he sprinted to catch up to her. They ran down the stairs together, arms raised, weapons at the ready. At the base of the stairs, Abby yelped and pressed herself against the front door.
“I swan, you kids nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you doing?”
They stopped short in front of her, breathing heavily after their adrenaline surge stonewalled. “We’re sorry, Abby,” Sadie said.
“Someone was in Sadie’s room,” Luke blurted. Sadie shot him a look of annoyance. He wrinkled his nose at her. Did she think Abby shouldn’t be told? It was her house and her safety in the balance. Abby couldn’t be protected from everything.
“What do you mean someone was in your room?” Abby asked.
“Someone apparently sneaked into my room, set out a sweater, and left a note.”
“Someone picked out your clothes?” Abby said. “How odd.”
“Yes, and it was a sweater I haven’t worn since I moved here. That means he rifled through my drawers.” She shuddered.
“That really gets my goat,” Abby said. “What are we going to do about it?” They looked at each other. No one had a ready answer, not even Sadie who always had an answer for everything.
“There’s nothing we can do about it tonight,” Luke said. “But I think for safety’s sake, we should all stay together.”
“I agree,” Abby said. “We can sleep in the den. In the morning, I’ll work on security measures.”
“Abby, we don’t have the money for that,” Sadie said.
“We have the money for reinforced window locks and some motion-detection lights,” Abby argued. “I’ve been meaning to add some new lights for a few years. We’ll put new lights at each of the corners of the house and near all the entrances. We’ll shore up this house and make it a fortress.”
Abby looked defiant and Luke seemed reassured. Only Sadie remained uncertain. When had the intruder come? Had it been while they were away and the house was empty? That thought was bad enough, but a worse one kept trying to intrude. What if he had been there while everyone was downstairs? He could have entered through the kitchen, slipped up the back stairs, and been in the house the whole time she, Luke, and Hal sat talking in the den. For some reason, she thought this was what happened. Maybe because, in hindsight, she had a prickling sensation that something had been off. Maybe because it seemed more nefarious and threatening and therefore more likely. Or maybe it was because if the intruder was an army ranger, he would be able to ghost anywhere undetected. It was what they were trained for, and no amount of window locks or security lights would stop him.
“Let’s get the cot,” Abby said. “Luke, y
ou can sleep on it. Sadie will take the couch, and I’ll take the recliner.”
Sadie wanted to argue that it didn’t matter. If whoever it was wanted to get to them, then he would. He could attack them while they all slept in the den together as well as separately in their rooms. But she didn’t want to dispel the illusion of peace and security that Abby and Luke had captured. She remained silent as she helped Luke lug the cot to the den and set it up. She curled up on the couch and tried not to think about the violation of privacy that had taken place in her room. Someone had touched her things. Someone had invaded her space.
Slumbered to Death Page 16
