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“Hurry up. Sadie is feeding them cookies.”
“Fantastic. Twelve little girls, all with a sugar rush.”
Brody held Lou’s horse as she mounted. She stopped briefly, a shy smile in the eyes that met his. He kissed her on the knee and patted her calf gently before mounting his own horse. Then the three of them headed for home.
Chapter Eight
Wesley’s pocket rang and he retrieved his cell phone. He flipped it open and groaned inwardly when he saw the number displayed on the caller ID. “Hey, Boss.”
“Tell me what you know,” was barked in his ear.
“Boss, it’s barely been twenty-four hours.”
“You need longer than that? What the hell have you been doing? Sitting on your thumbs?” The tone wasn’t jovial.
“No. I’ve been researching the problem.” He almost stuttered.
“Got anything at all for me? Or do I need to get someone to come and replace you?”
“No boss. I know she’s working at a place called Western Skies. It’s a horse-breeding farm. Tons of old money. The old lady who owns the place is sick, just got out of the hospital. There’s an old couple who takes care of the place and a couple of men who are family who live there, but that’s all I know so far. It’s not easy to get close to the place. They have farm hands all over. I’ve got some leads I’m working on, though.”
“Stay on it. I want a full report within the week.” He mumbled under his breath. “I want what’s mine.” The call disconnected.
Chapter Nine
Lou avoided Brody for days. She stayed as far from him as she could and was obviously surprised when he showed up to jog with her every morning. She made a cursory attempt at small talk but he knew it was only as a courtesy. Her tone was pleasant but she avoided meeting his eyes. After the first day, Brody thought that it might be a good thing. Maybe he could get her out of his system. But when he went to bed at night, she was all he could think about.
She continued to have nightmares, although they were not as loud as the one that occurred the first night, and they lessened in intensity as each day passed. They were quiet enough to wake no one but him, he didn’t run to her room to help now that he knew what was going on. Catching her bathed in sweat, wearing skimpy nightclothes would not be a good idea at this point.
How Sarah slept through them all, he would never know. She must be a deep sleeper, or maybe it was because she played hard during the day. She barely ever sat still, unless she was minding her manners at the table or visiting with his mother. She visited once a day with a card or homemade gift that his mother always seemed to adore. She posted every last one on her vanity mirror so she could enjoy them all day.
His mother sat up a few times a day now but she rarely ever felt well enough to get out of bed. He watched the life draining right out of her eyes as she became weaker and weaker. Her breathing was much shallower and her periods of alertness were fewer and farther between.
It was just a matter of time.
****
Lou was disturbed by Brody’s mere presence. She was bound and determined not to get any closer to him than she already had. She caught herself at the most inappropriate times looking for him, wondering where he was in the big old house. Then he would appear right behind her, as though he had been conjured for her discomfort.
She had given him the wrong impression. She wasn’t like her mother and she never would be. She would never allow a man to use her for sex and then discard her like a piece of trash. She didn’t know why every time she got close to Brody, she behaved like a harlot. She let him take liberties she normally didn’t allow anyone else to take. It all felt so natural, like he’d been there forever. But he wasn’t. And he wouldn’t be.
To avoid the pitfalls that must come with lust, Lou drowned herself in work and her daughter. She found paperwork to do and Girl Scout schedules to adjust. She helped with homework and fought about ponytails and pigtails.
The nightmares had started to subside, although they were still troublesome. After waking in a pool of sweat, Brody’s bedroom door squeaked open. She would try not to move, hoping she hadn’t disturbed him. He would wait for a moment or two and then she would hear his bedroom door close again. Sometimes, she imagined she heard him blow in frustration.
She regretted disturbing him at all, but it seemed to be unavoidable. Her waking moments were filled with his presence. Was it so bad his sleep was filled with hers?
****
Brody woke on Sunday morning around nine, much later than normal. Lou’s clock usually woke him as it blared music from a popular rock station. It always screamed well before dawn.
His eyes opened slowly as he glanced around and noticed that daylight had flooded the room. He squinted and rubbed his eyes, slightly disoriented. He glanced at the clock and remembered it was Sunday. He donned some lounge pants and a printed T-shirt. He then slipped his bare feet into slippers and ran a hand through his curly blond hair, all of which was standing on end.
He padded softly down the stairs and entered the kitchen. The smell of coffee met his nose. He blindly poured a cup and turned around. There sat Lou, sitting casually at the kitchen table with the newspaper, one leg dangling on the floor and the other knee up by her nose with her arm wrapped around it. She looked just as tousled as he did in a robe and fuzzy bedroom slippers with Pooh Bear faces at the toes. She looked like she had just risen from bed, too, with hair that was askew and lines pressed across her face from her pillow.
“Where is everyone?” Brody mumbled.
“Church,” she replied, without looking up.
