His sister burst into tears. He never yelled. Never screamed. Never got mad.
But everything about his time here was twisting him up tighter than an octopus’s death grip.
“Take a break, clear your head. You need it. But watch your back at the same time.”
“Why are you crying?” he asked. “Are you hurt? Are you scared too? Give me something.”
“I don’t wantyouhurt,” Rene said. “But I can’t control that.”
Her vision was fading, her voice with it. “Come back. Tell me more.”
“Not today,” the words were whispered and then she was gone.
He sat up in bed shaking, his hand going to his face and coming away wet with tears.
Was it only him crying or Rene as well?
“Why the fuck are they getting worse?” he said, throwing the covers back.
There were periods of time his dreams of Rene did more than haunt him. They almost crippled him.
This was neither of those things.
It was more frustration than anything else.
He turned and picked up his phone and saw it was eight in the morning. He didn’t know if it was the mountain air that had him sleeping later than normal, but supposed it didn’t matter.
He grabbed a change of clothing and went to the bathroom to shower for the day. When he came out, his phone had a text from Gale that she was on her way to his house.
Fuck, he forgot they were going hiking this morning.
He heard the knocking again and raced to the door. The last thing he wanted to do was leave her out there waiting.
“Coffee,” she said, holding up the cups. There was a bag in the fist of one hand. “And donuts. Lots of sugar to get us through. You ready for this?”
“Sorry, come in. I slept later than I thought again.”
She leaned in to give him a kiss. “Because I wore you out last night. If you’d stayed, then we could have done it again.”
“And give people even more to talk about,” he said.
“Do you care?” she asked. “Because I gave up caring days after you arrived.”
He forced out a laugh. “It was longer for me. But the coffee and donuts are appreciated. Are you always this chipper when you first get up?”
“Not usually, but I’m looking forward to being out in the fresh air today. How much do you hike?”
“Not much. I’m relying on you for this. Don’t get us lost.”
“Not going to happen,” she said.
He pulled a donut out of the bag, cinnamon sugar, and they were still warm. “Oh my God, where did you get these?” he asked around a mouthful, then looked in to see if there were more.
“The cafe. My mother makes them daily. I thought I’d give you a nice treat.”
He picked his phone up and looked through the messages. Guess he missed the one where she said she was going to thefarm first. He only saw the last one that she was on the way to him.
“What did your mother say about your visit? I’m assuming she knows you’re spending the day with me?”
