Page 78 of Miserable Marionette

“Penny for your thoughts, dear?”

I wrinkle my nose at her before gesturing to the couple slow-dancing to an upbeat, fast-paced song. Lost to everyone but each other. “The envy bug has sharp teeth tonight,” I grumble, parroting something she told me while I caught her wistfully watching a mom push her baby around in a stroller outside the shop last summer.

“Then why don’t you head home?”

“The reception just started. I can’t leave before they even cut the cake.”

“Why not?” she quips.

I don’t mean for my answering sigh to be so loud. “It’s… I don’t know. I’ve looked forward to this all year.”

“But you’d rather be home with your happily ever after.”

Something deep in my chest gives at that. “Would he want to be, you think? You know Gideon, he’s—"

Her sudden, loud laugh makes me jerk a little, the wine sloshing out of my glass just enough to leave a single droplet on my finger the color of old blood. “Sweetheart, your happily ever after started when the two of you were in grade school. There’s nothing in this world that boy wouldn’t do for you.” She swats me gently on the butt. “Go home.”

My cheeks warm, my heart picking up its pace at the prospect. “What if something happens and one of the grooms rips their—"

“Audrey Fisher, I ran my shop alone before you could walk. Get out of here, or else,” she orders, making me laugh.

I bend down, pressing a kiss to her cheek happily. Taking a parting gulp of my wine before passing that to her waiting hands too. “See you Wednesday.”

“Don’t speed!”

After a soft and half-ignored goodbye to the happy couple, I’m out the door and rushing into the dark winter night toward my dad’s truck, debating the best way to demand Gideon Bell marry me.

The drive home passes in a mindless blur of excitement as I pull into the circular drive of his house. I’m only halfway up the stairs, the snow catching in my hair, before I realize I'd left my coat at the lodge. I don’t even care, cause soon enough the bright lobby of Bell Funeral Home opens up, warring against the darkness of the moonless night, and Gideon hangs there in the doorway, his intense eyes on mine. “You’re early. Is everything okay?”

I laugh, but it’s a nervous one that doesn’t quite fall from my lips right. “Yeah, I just wanted to be home.” I stand there in front of him, shivering before rolling my eyes and taking a step in only to be cut off. “Gideon, it's cold, let me in,” I prod, frowning at him.

He sighs, his hands gripping the doorframe until his knuckles turn white. “Now isn’t a good time, Audrey.”

His words are like a bucket of ice water. And all I manage is a quiet. “What?”

“I just wasn’t expecting you so soon, puppet. Head to your house and I’ll be over later.”

I’m just staring, gobsmacked. For a brief, agonizing second, the snow is rain, and there’s thunder rolling through the sky, Gideon towering over me and demanding I go home, my lips swelling from his kiss.

“Is everything okay?” God help me, my voice breaks a bit, and my shaking now has little to do with the cold.

It’s then that a soft sob comes from behind him, understanding unfurling in my chest as my eyes strain over his lean shoulder. Trying to find the family member it came from. I reach out, shoving at Gideon lightly. “Don’t scare me like that, you could’ve just said there was a family here. Let me in, I’ll help you—"

“No,” he snaps, making me flinch. Whatever relief that had bloomed in my chest moments ago evaporating like a raindrop on parched dirt. “Head home, Audrey.”

I’m shaking so hard I nearly stumble onto the snow-dusted porch as he steps back, making to swing the door closed. I kick my strappy heel out to wedge between the frame, the door biting into it painfully. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Gideon? I don’t want to go home. Let me in now. Why are you being so fucking—"

I flinch at the visceral scream that fills the house, so loud… so panicked. If the falling snow hadn’t already chilled my blood, it would’ve. My eyes snap to his. He takes a deep breath, taking his time, rolling his eyes up my body slowly, but the moment they meet mine, what I see there is far from the indifferent chill from before.

I try to shove past him, but his hands band around my trembling shoulders. “Audrey, get the fuck back to your house now,” he warns, but I’m not listening to him, still struggling to get past Gideon's hands when they turn bruising.

“No, what was that, Gideon?!”

“Somebody help me!” the woman screams again, her voice hoarse, and it takes me a second too long before I recognize it.

“Jessica?!” I yell into the house, making the scream cut off as Gideon cages me to his chest, working me out of the doorway.

“Audrey! Audrey, run! Oh, fucking god!”