Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (63 page)

I hit the send button and put the laptop back on my desk.

Exhausted, I got into bed and waited for sleep.

CHAPTER 31

“Medium nonfat mocha double shot,” David called to Mo, over my head.

I had been jittery all day and quickly ducked instinctually, a survival mechanism taking over, like his words would slam into my face and crack it open.

“Abby Craig, are you okay?” he asked.

I wasn’t.

I had slept for an hour the night before. I was standing there taking orders and smiling at customers, but I felt off. Way off. My stomach ached and my head was pounding and I was dizzy.

“Rough night,” I said to David, who was staring at me, waiting for an answer.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Rough in a good way or a bad way?”

I rolled my eyes, which made the pain in my head worse, and the woman at the counter smiled and handed me a ten dollar bill. I gave her change and David slipped behind me and made her drink.

“Why don’t you take your break,” he said. “Drink some coffee or something.”

“Good idea,” I said.

But Mike had other plans.

“Hey, Abby, would you mind making a delivery for me?”

“Sure,” I said. I did these occasionally, usually to only a few special customers and some of Mike’s family.

“I need to drop off our new African blend to a potential partner. I told him I would drop it by this morning, but I have some roasting to finish up.”

I didn’t mind. Getting out from behind the counter was just what I needed.

I went in the back, took off my apron, and grabbed my keys and wallet from the drawer. Mike walked me over to the door and handed me a large paper sack.

“Here’s the address,” he said. “It’s not far. Call if you can’t find it.”

It was nice outside. I rolled down the window, the warm air in my face. I thought about being on the river, just below Big Eddy, floating the last stretch, the smells of early summer all around. Floating. Floating. Not so long now.

I crossed Portland Avenue and headed up 9
^th
.

I hadn’t been to Awbrey Butte in a long time. Dr. Mortimer’s house was there. I missed him, a lot, and hoped he was figuring it out and on a road that would eventually lead him back to Bend.

I turned on Summit and then made a left. There was a long, steep driveway leading to a large house at the top of an overlook. I pulled in front of the garage, parked, grabbed the coffee, and rang the bell.

A tall man with a beard opened the door.

“Hi,” I said. “Are you Steven?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Abby. Mike wanted me to drop off some coffee.”

My voice was breaking in strange places, but not because I was nervous. I was just tired.

He took the bag and thanked me, but I noticed his face change suddenly as he looked over my right shoulder.

“Uh, oh,” was all he said.

I turned around just in time to watch the Jeep roll down the driveway, and then down the embankment.

CHAPTER 32

It wasn’t the dumbest phone call I ever had to make, calling Kate and telling her I needed her help. But it was close.

“Sure,” she said. “What’s the problem?”

“Car trouble,” I said. “Can you come get me?”

She hung up right after I gave her the address, not asking any more questions. I was glad and figured it was easier to explain in person. She arrived just a few minutes later in time to see the two men from the tow truck company tie down the Jeep with ropes and pull it up and out of the trees.

I had been watching from the sidewalk below. After Kate got out of the car, she slowly took off her sunglasses. Her mouth dropped open as she stood staring up in disbelief.

“Are you okay, Abby?” she said when she saw me.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said. “I wasn’t inside when it rolled down. I guess I forgot to put on the emergency brake. I’m not used to the hills up here.”

“No kidding,” she said. “Is there a lot of damage?”

“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “I hope not.”

The Jeep had rolled backwards down the paved driveway for a little bit before veering off and tumbling down the dirt embankment. Thankfully it was stopped by a group of pine trees, otherwise it probably would have smashed to bits down on the street. Or crashed into a passing car. Or plowed into a house across the way. Or hit a pedestrian.

These thoughts floated around in my mind like balloons released into the air by a child. But I felt detached and far from them, not being able to connect any particular feeling to them.

Steve had called the tow truck and then brought me a soda while I waited on his front steps. I had put off calling Kate for as long as I could.

“What are you even doing here?” she asked.

I told her about the delivery.

“Let me go talk to them. You relax. Do you want to sit in the car?”

I nodded and she handed me her keys.

“Thanks,” I said.

I watched as she walked up the driveway and talked to one of the men in a dark jumpsuit. I sat in the passenger’s seat, not sure what day it was.
Jeepday. Oh, yeah.

Kate came back in a few minutes and started the car. The men had put the Jeep on the back of their truck.

“I told them to take it to Midas, they do good work,” she said. “And I stopped in and said goodbye to the owner of the house. Turns out I did a story once on him. He’s part owner of a winery out here.”

I wanted to go back to work, but Kate insisted on taking me home so I called Mike as we drove and told him I had delivered the coffee but was now having car trouble and wouldn’t be finishing my shift.

When we walked into the house, I sat down on the sofa and stared at the blank TV screen. I was a little surprised I wasn’t crying, but it seemed like too much of an effort. I didn’t have the emotions or the energy. It wasn’t a big deal anyway. Everything was okay. No one had been hurt. The Jeep would be fine. Everything. Would. Be. Fine.

“Besides the ding to the door, it doesn’t look that bad,” Kate said. “Of course there might be some damage we can’t see. But I’ll bet they can have it back to you in a day or two. You’re lucky, Abby. It could have been bad.”

“I know,” I said, my voice small.

“I have to go back to work, but I’ll be home early. You okay here by yourself?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll just take a nap.”

 But I didn’t get up and I didn’t lie down. I just sat there looking at the TV.

“I want us to talk later,” she said. “When I get back.”

My mind wasn’t working right, but I knew what she was going to say.

CHAPTER 33

I was at the bottom of the lake again.

And like before, a train echoed loudly in my ears. My lungs burned. And then suddenly I was breathing in complete darkness. I struggled toward the familiar door, a faint glow escaping from the bottom. My feet moved in slow motion, sinking down into the cold ground.

The train kept roaring. I tried once more to push the door open, throwing all my weight into it. It gave way for a moment, moving a few inches before stopping.

I put my face up to the crack to look inside. There was someone there again, standing not too far away. He was dressed all in black and I gasped, remembering that Nathaniel was always dressed in black.

It felt like him, dark and troubled. My heart pounded, trying to match the train in volume, and I couldn’t catch my breath.

I couldn’t be sure. He wouldn’t turn around.

“Nathaniel,” I managed to croak. “Is that you?”

“Soon now,” he whispered.

Just as he started to turn, a loud explosion ripped through the small room. Wild flames shot up toward the ceiling. He was dancing now, dancing in and out of the fire. His face was in the shadows, but I knew that it was him. I ran back, ran back to the water, my forehead burning. Everything burning.

CHAPTER 34

Ty dropped by just past seven, a six pack of beer in one hand and a bouquet of sunflowers in the other.

“For you,” he said, handing me the flowers.

Kate was the one who called and invited him over for pizza and a movie. At first, I didn’t want her to. I felt beyond foolish about the Jeep and there was, of course, that awkward silence the last time we were together right after I told him I saw ghosts.

But seeing him standing there, I couldn’t help feeling glad he was here.

“Thanks,” I said.

He kissed my cheek.

“You’re kind of hot,” he said, putting his hand on my other cheek.

“Nice of you to say.”

But it was true. I wasn’t feeling all that great since I woke up from my nap, right after I pulled myself away from seeing Nathaniel dance in the flames of that conflagration. I woke up in a pool of sweat. I downed a few aspirin, hoping that it would bring down the fever, but I guess it hadn’t worked yet.

If Kate had noticed my flushed cheeks, she didn’t say anything. And she pretended that she didn’t hear Ty when he asked if I was okay.

“And these are for us,” he said, handing the beer to Kate.

She was wearing her old sweats and had her hair up. She studied the bottles.

“What kind is this? I haven’t seen it before.”

“
Chainbreaker
,” Ty said. “It just came out.”

“
Chainbreaker
?” Kate repeated.

“Yeah, it’s like an homage to cyclists.”

“I’ll open up a couple for us and put the rest in the box,” she said.

After a slew of jokes about me getting some lessons on how to apply the emergency brake, we finally settled down into a conversation that didn’t involve references to driver’s ed. Ty told us about a celebrity coming into 10 Barrel that afternoon, which got Kate going on how she once interviewed an old cowboy actor who lived out in Sisters, a little town not too far away.

Then we talked about the Amphitheater’s lineup for the summer. Kate was excited about seeing Norah Jones and Ty figured he’d probably go to all the concerts, listening to the acts he didn’t feel like paying for from a boat out on the river. He liked being outside and loved live music and had already bought our Tenacious D tickets for the first show of the season.

After dinner, we saw one of the movies Ty brought over. It was something called
Driver
.

“Take notes, Abby,” Ty said, smiling.

I rolled my eyes.

It was dark and odd and slow in parts, but it wasn’t bad. Kate yawned through most of it and after it ended, told us she had to call it a night.

“No way,” Ty said. “That’s weak.”

She smiled but left anyway.

“Okay, my turn,” I said. “You know we haven’t seen a classic in a while. I think it’s time.”

“If it can’t be helped,” he said, smiling.

I scrolled through the list of saved shows on the DVR.

It was something called
Far from the Madding Crowd
, starring Julie Christie.

“This is not a good sign,” Ty mumbled as the overture began. He was probably still recovering from the elephant thing. “The orchestra playing before the opening credits is definitely not a good sign.”

“Yeah, looks like it’s a long one. We don’t have to finish it tonight.”

“And some people say there’s no God.”

It had been a good night, but I still could sense that little bit of space between us.

“So, thanks for those flowers,” I said, looking at them on the table. “They’re beautiful.”

Ty put his hand on my thigh.

The movie began. It took a while to get going but after about an hour I could tell that Ty was even into it. There was a crazy part with a soldier pretending he was on horseback and a couple of wild scenes involving sheep.

“What’s with you and animals?” he said.

I started laughing, and he joined in.

I paused the movie. I didn’t know how to ask him, but I couldn’t stand not talking about it either.

“What’s up?” he said.

I glanced over at him and looked into his eyes and then checked his energy. It was still bright and buzzing quickly around him like a swarm of bees.

“I thought we should talk. You know, about what I told you the last time we were hanging out.”

He pushed himself back into the soft leather.

“You mean the part about ghosts?”

“Yeah, that would be the part. I mean, were you surprised about what I said? Because it seemed like it freaked you out a little.”

He nodded.

“Yeah. Sorry, but I was. I know all that stuff is really popular these days and everything, but I’m not into it. I have a lot of trouble taking it seriously.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant. Did it mean he thought I was lying? Or worse, did he think I was crazy? How could I be with someone who didn’t believe in the things I saw, the things I knew were as real as the two of us sitting here?

I stared at the TV, frozen on the image of a coffin.

I could almost see how someone would find it funny, switching out my old boyfriend who is a ghost for a new boyfriend who didn’t believe in them. It might have made for a good sitcom, but I was having trouble seeing the humor in it right now.

I sighed.

“I hope that’s not going to be a problem, Abby,” he said. “It’s not a big deal. I’m crazy about you. It’s not that I don’t believe you. But it’s just not my thing.”

“All right,” I said.

I didn’t want to get into a big thing now. I was tired and my car had fallen off a hill and my mind was filled with thoughts of Spenser and Mo. I couldn’t take this on right now.

“Let’s talk about it later,” I said, yawning into my hand. “And let’s finish the movie next time.”

“All right,” he said. “Turned out to be a good one, in a squirrelly kind of way. I want to find out how it ends.”

Me too
, I thought.
I want to find out how this ends
.

***

I heard a knock on my bedroom door. It was only closed over, but Kate waited until I asked her to come in.