by Kyla Riley
14
Things had seemed strained between Holly and Niall. The passion and intimacy had always been there with the flip of a switch, but things had not been the same since they’d touched on what a future would mean. It was a natural progression for a couple that seemed to be inseparable – or at least she thought so. She could feel how Niall had pulled back from her. It was creating a silent rift that seemed to be as big as the Grand Canyon. There was no chit-chat or playfulness in bed. It was more like scratching an itch. Holly was feeling stronger and stronger each day – realizing that Niall had stopped taking her blood during intercourse.
He was disconnecting to protect himself and she knew it.
Even this morning, Niall didn’t wait for her to go for a run. They’d been getting up early and getting a jog in together to get the day started. It was their time to be alone, chat and feel the peace that sunrise over the landscape could bring. Mists, shadows, some rabbits in the brush, and them. There was something so calming and soothing in having that moment – and now it was gone.
Whatever was wrong needed to be discussed because Holly refused to be someone’s snack, bedroom boy and pin cushion all in one. If she was willing to get shots three times a week and take Benadryl all the freakin’ time in order to keep from sneezing at inappropriate moments – then Niall would have to step up to the plate as well. Each side of a relationship had to put in a little work and effort… it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Oh yes, they would be talking this evening about whatever was stuck up his ass making him cranky and distant.
Nothing was right today. First Niall, now her favorite coffee mug handle snapped right off, putting a large ceramic hole in the side that made it look like a java-waterfall was emanating from her hand where she held it. Looking at the schedule, she saw that it was going to be a light day and an early finish this afternoon unless there was an emergency. Good, she thought, I could use a break. Grabbing the next patient file, she smiled.
“Karen Scott?” Holly called out in the waiting area and saw her new neighbor get to her feet. The woman was gorgeous. Tall, svelte, and everything she wished she was. Her expensive clothing fit her like a glove and her pumps made Karen that much taller, to where she seemed to be looking down on Holly as she walked past her to the examination room.
“First door on your left, right in here, Karen. You can put your purse on the hook,” Holly invited with a smile. She saw her patient hesitate before hanging her purse and taking a seat.
“Do you have animals in here?” Karen asked sharply, looking at Holly with a piercing stare. Holly felt her jaw drop in shock and then her face flooded with embarrassment. This was the examination room that she and Niall had first made love in. She’d scrubbed it down with bleach the next day, claiming that she’d spilled something in the room.
“Animals?” Holly strangled out and cleared her throat. “We don’t keep animals in the office.”
“I should say not. They aren’t clean whatsoever,” Karen agreed and settled back in the examination chair. Holly started to lay it back and the woman sat up again, stopping her in her tracks.
“It smells like dog in here and it’s quite strong. Maybe it’s your perfume?”
“You think my perfume smells like dog?”
“Wet dog,” she nodded with a bland face. “It’s quite pungent.”
“Oh,” Holly said in shock and stood up quickly to leave the room. “Just a moment.” She walked quickly into the hallway, her heart thumping nervously. There was something about the woman that put her on edge. The way she stared at her, like she could read her mind, was quite unnerving.
“Am I going to sit here all day while you freshen up?”
Holly heard the woman’s voice and saw Bridget’s face peer around the corner in amazement. Bridget’s red lips formed a perfect O as she looked at her employer in surprise and disbelief.
“No, Mrs. Scott…” Holly began and was immediately interrupted.
“It’s Miss Scott. I don’t need some man telling me what to do all the time and trying to control me. Now, I thought this office had excellent google reviews, but this place stinks and it’s quite offending.”
“Miss Scott, I assure you that the office is quite clean…”
“It reeks. I don’t know how you can’t smell it? It’s so heavy in the air it’s smothering. I won’t be having my dental work done here if this is the facility you run.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” Karen said, exiting the examination room in a huff and snatching up her purse. “I don’t know how I can be the first to say something and you two floozies are sitting there looking at me in surprise. Maybe you should check the vents or something ‘cause its absolutely terrible!”
“Floozies…” Holly stammered, looking at Bridget and back at Karen. “I think you’ll need to leave.”
“Did you hear me? I am going,” she enunciated. “You can expect a bill for wasting my time.”
“Are you for real? Am I on Candid Camera?”
“You bill me for your services and time, well I do the same. You’ve wasted thirty minutes of my day waiting on you to decide to usher me back and then this! A complete waste of my precious time, my gas and my missed appointments. Yes, you’ll be getting a bill. Don’t look so shocked and play stupid, it doesn’t behoove you.”
With that, Karen did an about face and strode out of the office just as elegantly as she walked into it. That was about the only thing appealing to her was her appearance. When she opened her mouth, the truth came out – and when she shared her feelings… it was mortifying at how crass, abrasive and down-right rude she could really be.
“What in the world was all of THAT?” Bridget exclaimed in a horrified whisper.
“She said it stunk in here,” Holly muttered. “She implied that I stink. I don’t smell, do I? I mean, you’d tell me if I did- right?”
“Oh my gosh, yes. It’s like an unspoken girl code of honor- you know? If we smell, have something on our face, or on the back of our pants when it’s that time of the month – we help each other out. I have never noticed you to smell badly, Dr. Baines. You are usually really considerate of your clients and avoid wearing heavy perfume.”
“But do I stink?” Holly said, thrusting out her wrist nervously.
“No,” Bridget disagreed, immediately sniffing her hand. “That’s actually pretty nice perfume. What is it?”
“I don’t know, it was a pink bottle on the counter,” she replied absently. “Does the examination room smell? Come with me and see.” The two women walked back to the front room and looked at each other. It smelled like bleach and Lysol. Nothing foul or ‘off’ in the air.
“Maybe she was nuts?” Bridget offered with a shrug.
“Her perception is her own reality. If she thought it smelled- it did to her, but I can’t help that. I’m just really concerned someone else is going to complain about it.”
“Dr. Baines, the office is kept really clean. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Problem was, Holly did worry about losing a patient- and her reputation at the office. The woman’s comments hit too close to home and she wondered if Karen could smell something she didn’t… kind of like her sneezing or her allergies. I mean, if something in the air could set her off, perhaps something in the air smelled foul to her? And at that moment, Holly had a horrific thought: what if Karen had seen them?
She shook her head at the idea of it. There was no way the woman had known what happened there weeks ago, plus it wasn’t like it was really noticeable. Niall got shaggy like he needed a good haircut and shave. It wasn’t like he turned into a dog – per se- or so she thought until she’d seen that wolf at the doctor’s office. He’d never said a thing and she didn’t confirm it.
“Was that the last patient, Bridget?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“I think I’m going to head out. It’s been a long day. Why don’t we close up early this afternoon and take a break?” Both women smiled at
each other knowingly. Seeing the tempers flare this afternoon had surprised and taken a toll on the both of them.
Holly was sitting at home on her couch, alone in the darkness with a glass of wine. It had been a long day and she didn’t feel like starting round two with Niall. Round one with Karen had been quite enough for her. The woman had completely gotten under her skin and then left a scathing review on google for her office. She’d gotten the email alerting her and had been shocked.
Disgusting and shocking lack of protocol exhibited by incompetent girl pretending to be a professional. What a joke of what looked to be a legitimate practice. Office reeked, no apologies made and complete waste of my day! - Cairene Scott
Taking another sip of the sweet wine, Holly let it roll over her tongue as the words ran through her mind over and over again. She’d been stunned at the verbal backlash – and at the creative way the woman spelled her name. She would have never guessed and assumed it had been Karen as it was printed out on the patient file. Why had it never been corrected? That was odd of Bridget to miss that detail and she would speak with her about it tomorrow.
A loud knock at her door made Holly jump in her skin. She was antsy knowing that Cairene lived in her complex. The woman was fruit-loops and seemed to switch personalities with the blink of an eye. One moment she was waving and nice, the next she was practically rabid. Peering through the peephole, she saw Niall standing there with flowers.
“Yes?” Holly asked bluntly, opening the door, and saw him flinch.
“I guess I deserve that.”
“Well, showing up after you have been pulling back from me and only coming around when you want something tends to make a girl grumpy,” Holly said, holding the door open to allow him inside. “I’ve had a rough afternoon, so keep it mellow- okay?”
“What happened? Rough filling?”
“If you must know, I had a rough client that ended up insulting Bridget and I before storming out. She’s now blabbing it to the world about how terrible my office is.”
“You’re kidding? You have a really nice place.”
“Well she is telling everyone that I am incompetent and my office ‘reeked’- was the term she used.”
“What?” he scoffed with a half-smile and looked at Holly for confirmation. She saw his smile fade and the surprise in his eyes. “You aren’t kidding?”
“No- not at all,” Holly thrust her phone at him. “You read and I will put these in water.” He handed her the bouquet of brightly colored tulips and took her phone. Holly watched his frown grow even more fierce as he read the tiny screen. “And on top of it all, the most irritating part is that the woman is my neighbor. Can you believe that?”
“WHAT?” Niall bit out sharply, looking at Holly with true concern in his eyes.
“I’ll be fine, she’s just…”
“Holly, I think it’s my stepmother but I need to see her to be sure. I mean, I wouldn’t think she would still be alive but if I am, she could be too. Cairene is too convenient a name…and Scott? As in ‘Scotland’- where we are from? If that is her, we are in danger.”
“I doubt it is,” Holly countered and then saw the truth on his face. “I didn’t do anything to her and I will just steer clear of her.”
“I didn’t do anything to her either except refuse to call her ‘mother’ when my own was buried on the hill not far from my home. When we wouldn’t welcome her, she did this to me – to us,” Niall seethed angrily and Holly backed away from the rage in his eyes. His eerie eyes were practically glowing with raw intensity, his fists clenched at his sides angrily. He slammed the phone down on the counter and ran his fingers through his hair, as if he was distraught and couldn’t focus.
“Niall,” Holly began softly, laying her hand on the back of his shoulder in an effort to calm him. He started to shrug her off and stopped, sighing heavily as if he had lost a battle within himself.
“I can’t let her harm you and I don’t trust her- if it’s her,” he whispered harshly. A slight shiver shook his frame as she wrapped an arm around his middle in a slight hug. The man irked her but there was something in her that needed to comfort him.
“And it might not be. I will be fine and you are panicking over nothing,” she reassured him. Taking his hand in hers, she needed the comfort and closeness that came with simply being near him. “Niall, come sit with me and relax for a bit. I need to unwind and frankly, you do too.”
15
“I won’t take no for an answer, Holly,” Niall had said in a horrified hushed whisper as he’d spotted Cairene getting into her car the next morning as Holly was getting ready to walk out the front door. Niall had stayed the night, not sleeping a wink as he kept watch over her. The fact that her huge boyfriend was afraid- his fear made Holly feel frightened.
At his insistence, Holly had called Bridget on her cell phone and explained that there was a family emergency and she would be out for several days. All her appointments would need to be rescheduled and she would tell Bridget more when she could. Holly could hear the curiosity in the young woman’s voice and thankfully she didn’t press the subject.
Niall made a beeline to Holly’s bedroom and yanked a suitcase out of the closet, putting it on the bed and grabbing her clothing off the hangers. Holly walked in and slapped his hands away.
“I can do this without ripping things,” she chided hotly. “You are getting your way, let me at least bring the clothing I want to wear for wherever we are going. Where are we going anyhow?”
“I have a small cottage on the border of Canada that is very secluded. There is no getting off or on the island without someone knowing about it.”
“I can’t go to Canada,” Holly stammered in shock and confusion.
“You aren’t, you are going to an area called Thousand Islands. We don’t have to enter Canada unless you want to.”
“It’s not that, I don’t think my passport is current and my office… my patients,” she stammered in shock and surprise. “It’s also November. Won’t it be cold?”
“Probably, but the house is heated. We’ll be fine.”
Holly discovered that Niall would not take no for an answer and they were on a plane not long after she finished packing. He’d arranged for a private plane from his home while he was tossing his things into a suitcase. The plane was to land at a Canadian airport nearby and while she felt flattered to be whisked away, her mind raced. How in the world was his stepmother alive after all this time? Was she truly a witch? What was she doing in Tennessee? Was she hunting Niall – or her?
It was late in the afternoon before they finally reached their destination: a cottage on a tiny island only accessible by boat. It was breathtaking and private. The quaint red tin roof and white clapperboard house practically looked like it was floating, surrounded by trees. As they travelled by boat closer and closer, she saw the rock footings and then the tiny dock on the north side of the island. Crystalline blue waters shimmered in several shades, colored by the light and the darkness of the depths. It was stunning and awe-inspiring, like nothing she’d ever seen before. There were no signs, no lights, and no markings on the cottage, not like some of the others on the other islands. They’d even passed a small castle on one island. Niall had money and he could do anything but instead, he bucked the stereotypes that came with being rich. He could drive fancy cars, live in a fancy house, but instead of all that- he acted normal… well, as normal as he could be.
Tying up the rope lines, Niall pulled the boat close to the dock and got out. He held out his hand and took their bags, then Holly’s hand. It felt almost like a couple on a honeymoon instead of them hiding away from danger. Feeling her cheeks flush hotly, she looked away and moved to pick up her bag, only to have him carry it to the small house without a word. Jiggling the keys for a moment, he opened the front door and then circled around the porch to the electrical box on the exterior of the house.
“We shut it off when no one is here,” he explained simply with a shrug, flipping the m
ain breaker. Holly heard the whine of the house coming alive as the lights inside came on and the refrigerator began to hum. He smiled gently to her and nodded. “Go ahead in and look around. I need to get a few things from the boat and will be right there.”
Holly walked inside and was instantly taken aback by how simple and homey the small place was. A large river-rock fireplace sat in the corner at the wall nearby was covered with wood stacked neatly. The entry way wall was lined with photos from every era of a variety of people. Holly gasped as she saw Niall standing in one of the photos that looked like a Civil War daguerreotype in a domed frame. Several other photos showed individual women, some men and all had similar features. His family. A small smile escaped as she saw his brother, Conn, whom she’d met, in a photo where he looked to be on safari in the 1920’s. The arrogant, macho grin was the same one he’d given her when she’d turned down his advances. An envelope was pinned to a corkboard and Holly pulled it off, reading it.
Thought I’d let you know that I was kind enough to refill the wood supply and even though you all are a bunch of old farts, you still have to do chores. It’s the right thing to do and I would never leave you to be cold on a winter’s night like you left me! That’s right, I came in October and we had a frost -but noooooo! You couldn’t be bothered to fill the wood. I guess it’s no different than when you put a toad in my bedding back home. I love you all and miss you terribly… Aisling
“Is that from Aisling or Maine? They have been switching around the rotation and I can’t keep track. I texted everyone to let them know of Cairene and that I was heading up here with you.”
“Aisling was here last month. She refilled the wood,” Holly explained.
