“Uh, I don’t know. I think I went back to sleep for a while. But I can’t sleep now. Please, I don’t want to be in the big house anymore.”
Gabe pulls Henry toward him in an embrace. “You don’t have to be there. You can stay right here in the cottage with me and Summer. The bed’s already made up in the spare room.”
Henry whimpers in relief and then asks if he can have a glass of water now.
“Summer will get it for you and take you upstairs while I run to the house for a second, okay? I want to make sure everything’s all right over there.”
Henry nods, and Gabe jumps up and follows me to the kitchen.
“What the hell do you think is going on?” he whispers. “It’s the middle of the night. Who could my mother have been talking to outside?”
“I think it might be just what he said—that he heard it earlier and then fell back to sleep.”
I’ve managed to avoid answering my husband’s second question.Who?
“And maybe,” I add, “he onlythoughthe heard it out his window. It could have taken place in the living room or the screened porch.”
“Yeah, well, whatever and wherever, I don’t like the sound of it and I want to check things out. I have my house key.”
“Okay, but take the flashlight, too. And honey, be careful. We have no idea what’s really going on.”
Gabe nods and hurries upstairs for his pants and shoes, then grabs the flashlight from the kitchen drawer. He tellsHenry not to worry, swings open the cottage door, and disappears into the darkness outside.
I’ve never felt jittery on the Keatons’ property at night, but I do now. After Henry’s nursed his water for as long as possible, I lead him upstairs to the second bedroom. Because the space hasn’t been used in a while, it smells musty, and I wiggle open the windows, allowing fresh air to seep in through the screens. I also plug in the night-light so he won’t get scared when I switch off the bedside lamp.
“I can stay here the rest of the week, right?” Henry asks.
“Of course. Daddy will bring your bag over tomorrow. And why don’t we have you wear one of his T-shirts to bed? Your PJ top is a little sweaty.”
I grab one from Gabe’s drawer, and as I’m slipping it onto Henry’s small frame, I realize that it was probably a mistake to ever let him stay in the main house. He seemed so excited initially—especially about the chance to sleep with the dogs—and of course, I’d been all for the idea of Gabe and me having the cottage as our private love nest, but Henry’s a bit young to be on his own that way.
This switch is for the best, then, though there probably won’t be dreamy afternoon sex from this point forward.
“You feeling any better?” I ask, pulling the cotton blanket over him. I take a seat on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah, I guess. Is Daddy going to be okay?”
“For sure, and he won’t be long.... Is there anything more you can remember about what you heard?”
“No, just what I told you.... Oh, wait. Gee said if the person didn’t do the right thing,shewould.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” I tell Henry, even though thehair on the back of my neck is standing up now. “Maybe she only sounded mad because she was tired.” I kiss his forehead and rise. “Night, night. I’ll leave your door open and ours, too.”
From the glow of the night-light, I can see the outline of his hand giving me a thumbs-up.
Descending again to the sitting room, I pace, fretting. Was it Hannah whom Claire had been speaking to? Or could it have beenAshshe was addressing? No, that seems unlikely. That’s not the way their relationship operates—at least as far as I’ve witnessed.
Another thought flickers in my head, one I probably should have considered initially: Could Henry have simplydreamedthe exchange?
After ten minutes have passed and Gabe hasn’t materialized, my stomach feels like a big hard ball of rubber bands. Five minutes more go by, and I wish I’d told him to take his phone.
Finally, as I’m nearly out of my mind, I spot the beam of a flashlight bouncing between the branches of the shrub in front of the sitting room window. Gabe pushes the door open before I have the time to cross the room, and his expression reads perplexed rather than alarmed.
“So?” I ask quietly.
“The house is dark, and no one’s up—or seems to be. I looked all around and climbed to the top of the stairs, and I could hear my dad snoring. And the dogs are now sitting outside my parents’ room.”
“No sign of anything unusual?”
