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Chapter Twenty
Edie
WhenIgotbackto my cabin, my head hurt.Dr.Barnes and I had spent the last few hours assessing Melinda’s condition, discussing her files, and searching for case studies that might apply.The long days of summer meant that night was just falling as I got back to the cabin, but I was ready to collapse into bed and turn my brain off for a while.
I stopped short when I saw a Twisted Pines Lodge vehicle parked outside.It had off-road tires, unlike the golf carts that guests could use, and it was messy in the way that said it was used for work, not play.I frowned at it, then found Flint sitting in one of my Adirondack chairs.“I don’t believe I called for maintenance,” I said.
He stared at me for a moment.He was sprawled on the chair, but he wasn’t relaxed.He was toying with something—a ring of keys, I saw.He wanted me to know that he didn’t need permission to enter my space.“You know, I built this chair.”
“Oh?”
“And a hundred more like it, probably.When I was a teenager, my mom wanted them for the porch at the Lodge, but they were too expensive.So I studied some plans and built them for her.I was so proud that I’d been able to give her something to make her life a little easier, you know?”
“Sure.”I shifted my purse slightly so I could get at my mace.I didn’t think I’d need it, but the city girl in me preferred to be prepared.
“Do you know what she said?She hugged me, and thanked me, and then said, ‘do you think you could build thirty more?’”
I couldn’t see his eyes in the dark.There were people around, I reminded myself.All I had to do was shout and someone would come running.We weren’t truly alone.“They’re nice chairs,” I said, just to keep him talking.
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually sat in one before,” he said, running his hand down the smooth blue-painted finish before he pushed himself up.I’m not a small woman, but he towered over me.“I heard about what happened this morning.”
“Yes,” I said, rubbing my forehead.“I just spoke to Dominic, he said your mother is resting.”
“‘Resting,’” he said, as if tasting the word.“Is that what you call it?”
I stepped back.I wasn’t ready to run yet, but I wasn’t going to let him box me in.“Are you trying to intimidate me?”
His smile flashed in the burgeoning moonlight.“Mom said you were sharp.”
“I’ve treated drug dealers, rapists, and murderers, most of whom are much scarier than you,” I said.“I’m tired.I’ve had a long day trying to save your mother’s life.Why don’t you just say whatever you’re going to say and get it over with?”
“I also know what happened yesterday.With Jasper.”
Had Jasper told his family about what we’d done by the tree?I hoped it was too dark for Flint to see the color that rushed to my face.“What’s your point?”
“You can find most anything on the internet, if you know where to look.Like, I found the head of your department at Johns Hopkins.What would he think if he heard you were sleeping with the son of a patient?”
Cold rushed up my spine.It wasn’t technically unethical, but eyebrows would be raised.That sort of thing could damage my career.“We aren’t sleeping together.”
“Uh-huh, sure,” he said.
I was already feeling guilty, so I went on the defensive.“I don’t know who appointed you to the morality police, but whatever happens between Jasper and I has nothing to do with your mother’s care.If I’m going to help her, I need to know everything I can about your kind, and Jasper, at least, is willing to help me do that instead of trying to scare me away.”
“You don’t need to know anything about ‘our kind.’We’re just as human as you are.”
“I agree.”
“Is that so?”
I rolled my eyes.Maybe I should have been more frightened, alone in the dark with a man who was angry at me, but all I could feel was annoyance.“You know what your problem is?You’re so certain that your viewpoint is the right one that you don’t even bother to consider where other people are coming from.If you thought about it for one second, you’d realize that I’m the last person on earth who would expose you.I saw what happened to my father.He had all the evidence in the world, and no one believed him but conspiracy theorists and assorted nut jobs.He ruined his career, destroyed his family, and died alone.Do you think that’s what I want?”
“Okay,” he said.“So, then, what are you doing here?You got what you came for.You found what you needed to know.Why agree to stay?”
His words were too close to my earlier thoughts to ignore.“You know what?You’re right.I should leave.”
His eyebrows lifted his face out of shadow.“Really?”
“You’re absolutely right.I don’t know how I let myself get talked into any of this,” I said.I stared up at the sky, watching stars prick their way through the velvet of night.In the past week, my emotions had all gotten bigger and wilder, as if to match the scenery where I found myself.“All I wanted was to find out whether my father was actually mentally ill.And I found the answer to that the first day I was here.Every day that I stay, I get sucked deeper and deeper into your lives.I care about your mother in a way that isn’t objective.A week ago, I didn’t even know this place existed.Now I’ve turned my life upside down to stay here just a little longer.And for what?I don’t have a single clue what is wrong with her.”
