Some Day Somebody (38 page)

CHAPTER 18

His head
fell back against his shoulders. “Why?”

“Why not?”
She turned to pick up her list again.

Sam reached out and tugged gently on her wrist. “Talk to me.”

“
Saa-aam
,” she groaned. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what’s bothering me.”

“I know you feel like it’s happening a little too quickly.”

“A little?” she interjected. “Try a lot. This is happening a lot too fast.” She glared at his smug expression, growing more frustrated. “You only make the situation worse.”

He lifted his chin and stared down his nose at her.
“How?”

“You know how, don’t make me say it,” she pleaded.

“Let’s pretend I don’t,” he continued.
“How?”

Carrie gave him a hard stare that softened at the genuine expression of concern on his face. She answered in a voice, soft and sincere. “You make me want.”

His lip lifted momentarily at one edge before he managed to control it. “Want what?”

“This,” she whispered. She lifted her hands. “All of this.
You.
Being here with you, all of it.
And I don’t know if it’s possible yet.”

“But you’re here and that’s half the battle.”

“You think so?” She closed her eyes and turned away from him to gather thoughts that spun around in her mind like a tornado. She pictured the look on Lauren’s face at the mention of bringing Toto here. “I don’t want to lose my kids over you.”

“Lose your kids?” he huffed. “After everything you’ve told me about Dave’s antics, no judge in the world would award custody to him over you.”

She shook her head slowly. “I’m not talking about legally. I’m talking emotionally. I don’t want them to feel betrayed. I don’t want them to feel like I’m choosing Kenton over Gardiner, because of you. If they start to feel like that, and I keep seeing you, what kind of message am I sending them? It would be like saying they don’t come first. Don’t you see that?”

He reached out and took her hand in his own. “I do see how that could be a possibility, but I don’t think it’ll happen that way. I believe God led us together at this point in our lives for a reason.”

She turned tear-filled eyes up to him. “How do you know that?”

He smiled and pulled her into his arms. “I have faith, hon.” He hugged her then pushed her gently away from him. “But I do understand your fear, and I’ll try to be more understanding and less...what’s that word you used at your mom’s today? Oh yeah”, he said, grinning down at her. “
Irresistible
.”

She wiped at her eyes. “You’re such a smart ass.”

Laughter rumbled deep in his chest. “Get used to it, babe. I come from a long line of smart asses.”

“Really?
I come from a long line of bitchy women,” she volunteered.

“No, you don’t,” he insisted. “Your mom seems sweet as she can be, and so do you and your sisters.”

One brow arched devilishly.
“As long as you don’t cross us.”

***

He stood in the shadow of the plate glass window and watched through the sliver of space between the sheet and the window jamb. All he needed was a pinhole to see into the entire length of the room, as long as they stayed in the living area. He cursed in a low growl as she moved out his sight and into the kitchen while big guy stayed behind to set up her television. At least they weren’t hanging all over each other anymore.
That
had nearly driven him over the edge.

“I should be doing things like that for you,” he whispered. “And what the hell do you see in this loser? You need someone young, someone in better shape.” He watched, his jealousy boiling into the danger zone, as
Sam
stood up to ask her something. He emitted a low, guttural sound as Carrie walked over to the television set to meet him.

Oh yeah, I know what I want, and if that big old boy knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay the hell out of my way when it’s my time to go after it.

***

Sam stood and stretched his back. “Okay, you’ve got a signal,” he said. “You can thank your landlord for leaving this antenna up. You can catch all the locals...Lake Coburn, Lafayette, Alexandria, and three different PBS channels. It’s not cable, but it’s better than nothing.”

Carrie stopped re-arranging the lower cabinet long enough to look up at him and smile. “Thanks, it’s good enough for me.”

“I wonder how long you’ll be without a phone. You sure you won’t consider a cell phone? You’d have service right away.”

“I can’t be bogged down with a contract. Land line with dial up internet is all I can handle, and that’s only because my
mom
insists on paying for half until I get some promotions under my belt.”

“I hate that you’ll be cut off from anyone until it’s installed.” “As long as I can open a window and scream, I won’t be cut off. Oh, come on,” she said, as Sam’s face tightened with worry. “We’ll be fine.”

“Wait a minute,” he said, relief spreading over his features. “I have a set of wireless radios and I can give you one for tonight.”

“You mean, like the
walkie
talkies we used at work?”

“Yep,” he nodded. “And they’ll communicate just fine from this distance.”

“Hey you,” Carrie said, when he got to the door. “You’re spoiling me, you know.”

He shrugged. “Just doing what your family asked me to do. I promised them I’d take care of you.”

“Did you? So tell me, what else did you people talk about behind my back?”

“Most of it you’ve already told me yourself. I got a few death threats and a couple of ‘I know people’ speeches if I broke your heart in any way. The usual, when I meet a new woman.”

“Smart ass!” she called out to him as he left to get the radios.

She walked out to the back porch, looking out over a nice covered area. It faced the spacious back yard containing at least two good size oaks. The huge oaks would provide abundant escape from the heat of summer. Not a problem tonight, as the temperature steadily dropped since their arrival. It would be in the lower twenties by midnight, hard freeze weather.

Her breath vaporized into white puffs as it met with the already freezing air temp. It was dark, but not so dark that she couldn’t see. There were no clouds to block the moon, nearly full in its stage of growth. The sky was full of crystal clear stars that glittered with thousands of pinpricks of dazzling light. She could see all the way back to west end of the yard, where the hurricane fence separated her lot from the neighbor’s.
My yard.
“Toto, you’re going to love this place,” she whispered.

A loud “SNAP” to the left drew her attention. She whipped her head in that direction and caught sight of a dark object disappearing around the corner of the house. A sudden chill crept up the back of her neck, causing her hair to stand on end. Her heart pounded with adrenaline producing terror as the feeling of being watched increased.

All that brave talk this morning of taking care of Dave herself came to mind. She realized that in the dark, alone in a house with no means of communication, that’s all it was, talk. She suddenly felt foolish for being out here
alone,
and too terrified to move.

“Dave,” she forced herself to call out. “Is that you?” Of course it was, she thought, trying to work
herself
up to being angry, which beat the hell out of being scared to death. She forced herself to remain there and breathe deeply.
Cigarettes.
She smelled cigarettes...and not just any, but the kind her dad smoked for as long as she could remember...the Reds. But Dave didn’t smoke. Surely he hadn’t taken it up.
But if it wasn’t Dave, then who?

Carrie forced herself to back slowly into the house then quickly shut and locked the door. She tiptoed toward the front door, searching every nook and cranny of the kitchen and living room on her way there. A loud rattle in the kitchen had her whipping around, fully prepared to see someone trying to get in through the back door. By the time she realized the culprit was the fridge’s icemaker, she was on the verge of an ear splitting scream. Carrie spun toward the front door then recoiled in terror as footsteps pounded up the porch. Her heart nearly exploded with the rush of adrenaline as the door swung wide.

Sam took one look at her face and rushed to her. “What’s wrong? Did something happen again?”

Her shaking knees nearly gave out on her as she reached out for him. “Please tell me that was you out by the back porch,” she gasped.

He shook his head.

“Did you see anyone?”

“Not a soul. What happened?”

“I was standing out on the back porch and I heard a noise, like someone stepped on a twig or something. It was a loud snap.”

Sam clenched his jaw in the effort to remain calm.

“I saw a blur of something dark going around the corner of the house. Maybe the phone calls have me paranoid, but I smelled cigarettes.”

“What brand does Dave smoke?”

“He’s never smoked, never would. Sam, I know you’ll think I’m crazy, but it just didn’t
feel
like it was Dave out there.”

Her shrug caused a frisson of pent up fear to work its way up her neck until she shivered. She rubbed the goose bumps that appeared on her bare arms, even though the house was warm and toasty.

“Hey, come here,” Sam said, as he pulled her to him and rubbed his hands up and down her arms and her back. “Those aren’t from the cold that’s for damn sure. It must be near eighty degrees in here.” He craned his head to search the area near the back door. “Okay, babe, I want to go check around the house, and I want you to stay in here.”

“Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t that type of girl?” She threw on her heavy overcoat and latched onto his arm with both hands.

The two of them walked outside arm in arm, circling the house, and found nothing suspicious. “I’m going to call Len tomorrow and see about a security light.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “Come
on,
let’s go back to my place. When you’re ready to come back with the kids, I’ll come with you to check it out.”