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I try to reason myself out of it, but Blake is always so matter of fact about everything, I feel silly to doubt him.
I want to be a reporter, here’s the scoop of the year, and he wants to give me exclusive rights to it, easy right?
Except I’m pissing my panties.
I have no idea what I’m doing, and once I make up my mind and say yes, Blake’s out of the bath and running around half-naked, cranking up the ancient telephone downstairs.
I dry myself, and taking the dishes down with me wearing only Blake’s shirt, I start to feel less excited, and more sick about what I’ve just agreed to.
I have no experience, no real presence, and when I overhear Blake on the phone to what must be his lawyer, I feel weak in the knees.
“That’s right. An injunction against the town’s newspaper and the county sheriff’s office. I want a complete media blackout on this, Hal and quickly. Sue those pricks if they even so much as say my name, got it? I got an agent, she’ll be in touch when we get to civilization… Yeah, yeah! I’m calling her next.”
I pause in the hallway, shivering with nerves by now, and just as he’s dialing someone else on the ancient handset, he ushers me over.
He frowns and takes the dishes from my hands, settling me in his lap as he sets himself down, snuggling me into him
“You got this Lois. I know you’ll do great, and like I said only do what you feel comfortable doing.”
I smile nervously, almost jumping when I hear a familiar voice crackling through the handset… the same voice that was shouting at the sheriff in the newspaper office.
“Mrs. B!” Blake exclaims, and I know I’m about to feel ill, but he grips me harder and keeps me on his lap the whole time.
She’s ancient, half-deaf, and has a temper on her I wouldn’t want to cross, but I can hear instantly that she and Blake have a special bond.
Almost like mother and son.
Almost.
He has to do some fast-talking, apologizing for the call from the sheriff and telling her he’s found a nice girl; that we want to visit… that we also want her to keep her side of the story quiet. For now, ignore the papers if they call, except for Lois, she’s alright.
There’s a long silence, and I almost start to think she might have fallen asleep, but Blake squeezes my thigh in anticipation.
Finally, I hear an old voice, barking down the line that she’s glad Blake finally came to his senses, and could he just make sure he comes after eleven tomorrow, she’s got hydrotherapy in the morning.
Blake seems tickled pink as he hangs up, but I punch his arm and then his chest, asking him why he’d go and do that, involve me like that.
He almost looks hurt, but his devilish grin is his only reply before he kisses me and hugs me tighter, both of us shivering a little from the cold and me from the excitement.
He scoops me up and carries me into the living room, in front of the fire and explains.
“Please, trust me, Lois? I got a ton of things to do and I want to make sure I have you by my side. I spent so long hiding out here, with only one thing stopping me from telling my side of the story.”
I feel my mouth hanging open, not just from the sight of him half naked in front of the fireplace, but from genuine curiosity.
“I needed a good agent, press person, whatever you call people like you! I needed a miracle and here you are baby!”
I’m still confused.
“This is a railroad town, right?” he asks and grins again as I nod absently. “I know because we’ll be on the next first-class carriage that passes through here, be in the city and Mrs. B’s retirement condo village by morning. You can take things from there, with the press I mean… once we’re in the big smoke…”
I must look ill again, or frightened or both because Blake holds me against him and laughs softly.
Reassuring me.
“You’re going to be great, honey… and we’re gonna-”
He looks away, blushing a little, like he wants to say a lot more but thinks better of it.
“We’re gonna do great, you’ll see.”
He kisses the top of my head, tells me I should maybe get dressed. He disappears, but only into the next room, and then reappears again somewhere else in the house, whistling to himself as he gets whatever plan he has into action, stopping to make another phone call or two I can’t quite overhear.
Within a few minutes, I’m shivering with nervous energy by the fire, clutching my elbows as I try and figure out how exactly to journalist.
When I remember what Blake said, ‘…only do as much as you feel like doing and delegate the rest.’
