But not just any car. Mitch’s.
While the car is still rocking, he leaps out and rushes around to the trunk.
Another sob escapes. And another.
Mitch.
At least if I die, I’ll get to see him one last time. Maybe I’ll even get a chance to tell him how I really feel. I can tell him he’s the most incredible man I’ve ever met. I can tell him I’m sorry for making him wait. That I hope he finds someone who’ll make him truly happy, because he deserves it.
I glance over my shoulder at the bathroom door again. Smoke is working its way all around the corners and seeping into the room. The ceiling is clouded by a grayish haze.
Just as I’m turning back to the window, my phone rings.
Mitch’s name blinks onto the screen.
I have to jab at the screen several times with my trembling fingers before I manage to hit the answer button. “Mitch?”
“Penny.”
Just the sound of his voice is enough to start me crying again. “Mitch. The fire… I think… I have to jump…”
“No.” His tone is low and commanding. “You’re not jumping, Pen. I’m coming to get you.”
I look out the window again. Mitch is standing on the grass, unrolling a coil of rope with one hand while he holds his phonewith the other. “You can’t get up here,” I tell him. “The fire… it’s right outside the door. I can see the smoke?—”
He cuts me off. “We don’t have time to argue. I’m coming up. And I need you to do what I say.Exactlywhat I say. Okay?”
After another dry, hacking cough, I reply, “What do you want me to do?”
“I’m going to throw this rope up to the window,” he says. “You’ll need to stand clear so it doesn’t hit you. Once I get it though, I need you to position the hook on the windowsill. Make sure the long part of the hook is flat against the wood and the tip of the hook is pointing down. As soon as you get it into position, I’ll yank the rope to anchor the hook in place. Then I’m going to come up and get you.”
I look down at the flames stretching from the windows below me. “Mitch. You’ll get?—”
“I have a fire blanket, Pen. And I know what I’m doing.” He pauses. Though it’s dark, and he’s at least twenty feet below me, I can tell his gaze is on mine. “Trust me. I will not let you down. I promise.”
There’s a part of me that still wants to argue with him. To tell him it’s far too dangerous. Remind him that his family and friends and his sweet dog, Duke, would be devastated if anything happened to him.
Then I think about how he’s never given me reason to doubt him, even in the beginning, when I was trying to find any reason to prove he was just like all the other men who’d betrayed me.
But he showed me, time and again, that I could trust him. Which is why I whisper, “Okay. I’ll do whatever you say.”
“Good.” He loops the rope over his shoulder. “I’m hanging up, Pen. Move to the side. The rope should come through soon.”
As soon as the call ends, I duck away from the window and crouch back down. The room is filled with smoke now, despitethe window being wide open. Though I can’t see the fire, I swear I can hear it crackling just outside the door.
Is this a mistake?I can’t help but wonder. Should I have already jumped? Maybe Mitch could have set up some sort of cushion out there. Borrowed a mattress from a neighbor. Or?—
A flash of metal comes flying through the window and hits the wall with a heavy thunk. I’m wound so tight, I screech with fear, even though Mitch told me what to expect. From outside, Mitch bellows, “The hook! Position it now!”
I fling myself at the window and snatch up the hook. It’s mostly flat, but one end is curved with a sharp tip, which I assume is the part that’s supposed to dig into the wall. Like Mitch instructed, I lay the flat part of the hook on the windowsill, making sure the point is angled at the wall beneath it. Then I poke my head back out the window and call out loudly, “I did it!”
“Good,” Mitch shouts back. “I’m coming up!”
A second later, the rope jerks.
The tip of the hook digs in.
On the other side of the bathroom door, something falls.
