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As the nurse washes around my wounds, my thoughts go back to Irelynn. I never told Darin, but when that fever hit me, I swear I felt her. Heard her. Her lips were on my forehead, and I heard her say,“I love you and I’ll never leave you. We are forever.”
When it’s time, I argue that I can wash my lower body, so the nurse hands me the sponge and stands back, watching me.
Ignoring her, my mind flashes back to my dream.
For the past three nights, I keep dreaming the same thing, over and over. There is something that nags me about that house, but I can’t figure out what.
What is it about that damn house?
Chapter nineteen
Irelynn
October13,2018,6:00p.m.
The past couple of days have been routine for me. I run on the treadmill with William, then we go our separate ways to shower. Once I’m finished, I dress in jeans, a long sleeve t-shirt, and a sweatshirt, then grab my blanket. William meets me outside on the patio and hands me my coffee, where we admire the blazingly colorful forest, talking about our past. Yesterday, he said something really interesting. He mentioned a girl he had dated in college. Everleigh.
I flash back to the conversation, and especially the wistful expression on William’s face.
“What was Stanford like? Besides a lot warmer than here and without the change of seasons.”
William chuckles. “Freeing. For the first time since I turned eighteen, I wasn’t under my father’s thumb.” He gives me a look, biting his lip, as though he’s debating his next words. “I tried out for the track team and made it. I became their star runner. Of course, my dad never came for one single event.” He rolled his eyes. “I grew my business exponentially.” His eyes drop to his cup and he pauses for several beats. “I met a girl. I think—” He stops, running his hand through his hair. “I think I fell in love with her.” His voice is low, and he stares intently at his cup.
“Tell me about her.” I lean forward, my attention focused on him. My smile is warm, encouraging him to go on.
His head raises and he studies my face. His tense posture relaxes as he leans back in his chair, crossing his legs at the ankles. “Well, she had long, chestnut hair. Big brown eyes framed by long lashes.” His brow furrows. “Things were going great for us and I felt on top of the world.” He pauses, swirling his iced coffee in the plastic cup, lost in thought. “Until she disappeared, without a trace.”
I gasp, my eyes wide from shock. “What do you mean, she disappeared?”
“Well, she told me her stepmother was a monster. She felt certain she had a hand in her biological mother’s death. Her mother had been diagnosed with cancer and fell into a deep depression. She lost all interest in doing anything, so her dad finally convinced her to go for counseling. It seemed to be helping until suddenly, it wasn’t. All her progress was lost, and she fell deeper into depression, refusing to get out of bed, go for treatments, or even speak to Everleigh. Her father hired a team of doctors to come to their house, including the therapist her mom had been seeing. Everleigh didn’t like the therapist and told her father she thought she had bad intentions toward her mom. Her father refused to hear it. Everleigh was convinced her father was sleeping with the therapist while her mother was slowly dying of cancer.”
“Oh, how awful.” I pull my blanket tighter, shivering from this dark story. “But why would Everleigh disappear?”
William releases a long sigh, his hand going through his blond hair. “Well, Everleigh told Mrs. Johnston, the nosy neighbor who used to babysit her on occasion, her concerns about Ainsley, her mom’s therapist. She didn’t think she was helping her mom. In fact, her depression seemed to be getting worse, instead of better. She also told Mrs. Johnston she had tried talking to her father, but he refused to believe her.” William releases a long sigh, eyes blankly staring at the forest. “You aren’t going to like this next part.” His head turns to mine.
“Try me.”
He gives me a small grin, shaking his head. “Just remember, you asked for it.” He sets his coffee cup down, then leans back in his chair. “It turns out Ainsley Williamson was hired as a therapist at Stanford. And I ended up having a breakdown over some shit my dad did. In a rage, I flipped out at practice, beating up another guy, who taunted me about my parents never coming to any of our track meets. Coach was going to suspend me from the team, but since I was their best runner, he made me go see a therapist instead.” He heaves out a long sigh. “She was gorgeous. Long, straight black hair and mysterious dark eyes. She started flirting with me and eventually, I ended up fucking her in her office. Every therapy session.”
I stare at the sky, shaking my head. “Seriously, William? Therapy was supposed to benefit you. And once again, you treated it like a joke. And as for her, she should lose her license.”
William shrugs. “I know. But I wasn’t going to tell anyone what was going on between us.” He clasps his hands behind his head. “I cut it off with Ainsley before I met Everleigh.”
“That’s a relief.” I give him a disgusted look and he chuckles.
“Irelynn, I’m not like that. Sure, I screw around when I’m single, but I don’t cheat when I’m with someone. Never have, never will.”
“Hmm… so you do have some morals?” I tease, grinning at him.
He grins, wadding up his straw paper and throwing it at me. I duck and he chuckles.
“So what do you think happened to Everleigh?”
The smile dies from William’s face as he flinches, hurt evident in his light blue eyes. “As she told me about her past, the description of her mom’s therapist started bugging me. I didn’t know why at first. Until I finally pieced it together and figured out that Ainsley Williamson was her mom’s therapist. An investigation was pending because Mrs. Johnston reported that she didn’t think Everleigh’s mom’s death was natural and insisted they investigate it. She had some type of evidence that she showed Everleigh’s father, but Everleigh was never told what it was. The toxicology report came back and apparently, there was something in it. Everleigh was over at Mrs. Johnston’s when her dad called, saying he would be late picking her up. Mrs. Johnston saw him come home. Then, thirty minutes later, the house exploded. Her father’s remains were found, but there were no signs of Ainsley. The next-door neighbor reportedly saw Ainsley when Everleigh’s father came home. They said they heard them arguing when they took their dog outside.”
“Oh my God! Do you think Ainsley had anything to do with the explosion?”
William shrugs. “She seems capable of it. I mean, I was a nineteen-year-old kid, so fucking my therapist was cool to me. But that certainly crosses major professional lines.” He shrugs. “Also, she stalked me for several months after I ended things with her. Although, once I made the connection between her and Everleigh, I wasn’t sure if she was stalking me or her.” He shifts uncomfortably in his chair. “Everleigh spotted her once when we went out to dinner. Her face went pale, as though she’d seen a ghost. She excused herself to go to the restroom, and never came back. I went looking for her, but she was gone.”
