Straightjacket (16 page)

“Okay, let’s go,” he said, and yanked the suitcase off the bed. Just as they were about to leave, Dr. Blackwell appeared.

“Caleb, can I have a minute?” he asked, eyeing the suitcase.

“We’re just on our way out.”

“I know, I see that. I really need to speak to you…alone.”

“Fine. Anna, I’ll meet you in your room.”

She squeezed Caleb’s hand, as if trying to transfer some of her new strength to him, and started down the hallway. She looked back only once. Caleb winked at her.

When she was out of hearing, Dr. Blackwell began.

“I want you to know that I’ve notified your father of your release, as we had agreed upon doing when you were admitted. He asked me my opinion of your condition, and I had to tell him truthfully that I think this is a terrible idea. You’re doing it against medical advice.”

“There’s a shock. Honestly? I don’t care. Can I go now?”

“Please, listen to reason. Not only are you endangering your own well-being, but now you’re also pulling Anna into all this. Stop it now, if not for your own sake, then for hers.”

Caleb stared at him blankly.

“I can imagine how well you’ve planned everything out already. You’re smart. But it doesn’t matter how much money you’ll have now to build this new life you think you’re making. Money and some kind of plan are not going to make everything work out. You need treatment.”

Caleb hated that Dr. Blackwell knew so much. He shouldn’t have made this deal with his father in the first place. But no, he needed to take care of Anna. All of this was worth it if he knew that she’d be provided for and safe.

“Can I leave now?”

Dr. Blackwell hung his head sadly and moved to the side so that Caleb could walk through the door. “This isn’t like winning the lottery, damn it,” he shouted. “Just promise me you’ll at least get Anna the help she needs.”

A business card wound up sandwiched between Caleb’s fingers. He wanted to rip it in half right in front of Dr. Blackwell, but instead he shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans.

“I would never let anything bad happen to her,” Caleb snarled. He couldn’t get down the hall—and away from Dr. Blackwell—fast enough.

Anna rested on the bed in her room, her suitcase standing ready at the door.

“I’m ready,” he said, scooping up her suitcase with his free hand.

“Everything okay?”

“It is now.” He smiled and left the room, Anna following quickly to catch up.

Neither of them could take their eyes off the double doors at the end of the hall. The white rectangles grew larger and larger until they stood gigantic. Caleb had thought about this moment every day since he arrived here: standing in front of the doors, waiting to hear the click of the locks releasing, walking through into the unbound light. What he
hadn’t
imagined was having someone there with him. At that moment he couldn’t remember what it had felt like when Samuel left him. The only thing he could feel was Anna standing next to him, ready to step through the doors.

They waited in silence, and he squinted, trying to see through the tiny rectangular windows of frosted glass. Figures flitted back and forth on the other side, but he couldn’t make out who they were and what they looked like. Soon he would know, and that made him even happier.

The seconds ticked by. Would the doors ever actually open for them? Or would Dr. Blackwell try to keep him trapped in the ward forever? He almost laughed out loud. Then he heard the swishing of fabric on fabric and smelled too much perfume.

“Stand back,” Carlene ordered. With a quick swipe of her ID card, the locks clicked open. Anna jumped from the sudden bang.

“Good luck, you two,” Carlene said. “You’re gonna need it.” She handed Caleb a manila envelope containing the things he had been forced to give up on his first day. The doors swung open, so very slowly, and Caleb peered down the rest of the hallway that had always been hidden.

“Are you ready?” he asked Anna.

She blinked, took a deep breath, and began to walk. Side by side, they moved through into the light.

The doors clicked shut behind them.

Part Two

Chapter Sixteen

There was so much to take in. It was almost overwhelming. But Anna soaked it up, all of it—the soft friction of Caleb’s thumb rubbing against her knuckle, the sharp scent of pine needles bleeding out of the air freshener up front, the giant ray of sunlight that penetrated her jeans and warmed her thighs, even the sight of the woman stopped at the red light who was shoving a Big Mac into her mouth.

Normal things. Normal life was happening everywhere. People were sipping their Starbucks, putting gas in their cars, doing all the things that people in psych wards didn’t do. They were all things she had never noticed—never appreciated—but now she savored all of it. With Caleb by her side.

The buzzing coming from the front cut into her trance. Caleb reached forward and grabbed his cell phone off the seat. The cab driver had let him plug it into the cigarette lighter. He squinted at the glowing screen, hit a button, and shoved the phone into his pocket. Then he reached up into the front again and pulled his charger out of the lighter.

“Thanks, man,” he said to the driver, who didn’t answer him.

“Who was that?”

“No one important.” He stole her hand back.

“Oh.” She didn’t want to admit it, but he’d hurt her, just a little. Who was on the other end of the line? For the first time, it hit her that she had no idea who it could be. It hadn’t occurred to her that there were other people in his life besides her, and maybe Samuel or maybe not. But she didn’t say anything else. A minute passed. “So are you going to tell me where we’re going yet?”

“I guess.” He smiled. “I just need to go to the bank.”

Caleb had insisted on keeping everything a surprise, but Anna felt like he was keeping everything a secret. Her uneasiness was growing, but she didn’t want to ruin the sanctity of the day, so she would go along—without protest.

The cab pulled into the parking lot of a bank, and Caleb opened the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He planted a kiss on her mouth.

Her stomach did flips and her eyes were still closed when the door slammed. He jogged to the front door, but before he walked in, he pulled the cell phone out and dialed. As he spoke to whoever had picked up on the other end, his face was grave, a stark contrast to the brightness it showed her just a few seconds before. He seemed to grow irritated, running his hand through his tousled hair and grabbing hold of a clump of it. Anna looked on anxiously. Who could he be talking to? What could they be talking about? As hard as she tried, she couldn’t banish the small, nagging voice that reminded her that she didn’t know him all that well. It seemed crazy, but it was almost easier to accept him as an angel on a mission trapped in a mental hospital. Being out in the real world, watching how he made his way through it, made things infinitely more complicated. Finally he was finished with his call. He disappeared into the building.

Anna sat as patiently as she could, but even with the windows down, the heat in the cab grew unbearable now that they weren’t moving. She wanted to ask the driver to turn on the air-conditioning, but something prevented her from getting the words out. Angry with herself, she read the Passenger’s Bill of Rights hanging on the seat in front of her over and over, hoping to gain some courage.

“Would you mind turning on the air conditioner, please?” she asked, too bold.

The cab driver turned and looked at her oddly, but then rolled up the windows and turned the air conditioner on high. Embarrassment mingled with victory, and she sat back, waiting for the cool air to fill the car.

Time passed, and with it the uneasiness poking a tiny hole in her paradise grew. At first she had thought Caleb was withdrawing some money from the ATM—assuming angels could have bank accounts—but this was taking too long for that. As she tried to invent scenarios as to what he was doing in there, unwelcomed questions trickled in through the hole, one leading to another leading to another, until her head was filled with
what if…?
She willed herself to stop obsessing and just relax. If she kept this up, she would end up sabotaging everything. She fought with herself until the door handle clicked and Caleb slid exuberantly onto the seat.

“Willow Hills Lane, please. It’s off of Greentree,” he said toward the front seat.

The cab driver backed out of the parking spot and headed toward the main road. Caleb reached for Anna’s hand again.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

He turned to her, smiling, one eyebrow raised mischievously. “Really, Anna, I’m not trying to hide anything. Just don’t worry about it. It’s all taken care of.”

“Yeah, so you keep telling me,” she said. “I don’t need you to protect me. I want to know what’s going on. What were you doing in the bank?” She looked him dead in the face.

“I guess I’m not going to get away with anything here,” he teased, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a thick envelope. He opened the top and let Anna take a peek. Inside was a thick stack of money. The top one was a hundred-dollar bill.

“What—how much is that?” she managed.

“Five grand.”

Her eyes popped wide open. “What? Did you just rob the bank?” She was completely serious.

“No.” He laughed. “This is mine. And it’s only a small part of what I have in there.” She said nothing, still trying to take in what was happening. “How did you think we were going to survive? I’d never let you live in a refrigerator box on the street.” He smiled and passed his finger along her jaw line.

“So you’re rich,” she said quietly. She wouldn’t ask herself the question of how this could be. “So now tell me where we’re going.”

“You forgot
or else
.”

She couldn’t help but smile.

“We’re going to my house—my father’s house. I need to pick up some stuff before we get on the road.”

“Your father’s house?”
He has a father
. Again, she needed to stop trying to analyze any of this. She wouldn’t let herself ruin what was supposed to be the best day of her life. She had told him she had faith in him, angel or not, and she needed to live by it. This was her first test. “And
then
where are we going?” It was best to keep herself busy with only those questions that had simple answers.

“Now that’s a surprise, and you won’t get it out of me even through torture.”

She wanted to laugh at him, amputate the part of her mind that wanted everything explained to her. Fortunately the lightness of his eyes and his perfect grin made her forget her worry for the moment, and she laughed.

The cab made its way along the main roads and eventually turned off onto a side street. The houses became sparse until they seemed to be weaving through the woods. Every half mile or so there was a driveway, but Anna only noticed them because they were labeled with signs that read
Private Drive
. She tried to peer down the leafy paths, but they seemed to stretch endlessly into the woods.

“Next one on the right,” Caleb instructed the driver.

They turned down the narrow, pebble-paved road, and as the cab wound its way through the twists and turns, it grew darker around them. The treetops were so thick with green that they almost completely blocked the sunlight from breaking through to the ground. After a couple of miles, the cab finally broke through the dense foliage, and the light came pouring into the cab once again.

Anna leaned toward the middle of the seat, trying to look through the windshield. In the distance stood a gigantic white house. Majestic white columns formed a semicircle around the front door. The cab drove around a circular drive and came to a stop in front of the house.

“Thanks.” Caleb handed the driver some money. He popped the door open and got out. Anna was busy staring at the house when Caleb’s chest interrupted her view. He opened the door and grabbed her hand, pulling her outside. Once the driver had dragged their bags out of the trunk, he drove the car slowly away, the pebbles crackling underneath the tires.

A large fountain stood regally within the U of the driveway. Three cherubs covered in flowing stone fabric held up a basin, out of which streams of water shot up into the air. Once the water reached its highest point, it fell harshly, pummeling the little bodies until it landed in the large basin at the bottom. The entire fountain was surrounded by manicured bushes that had been trimmed to form perfect spheres.

Caleb came up behind Anna and brushed her hair behind her shoulder. “A little much, don’t you think?”

“Um, yeah. Maybe a little.”

“Come on, let’s go in and get some of my stuff and then we’re out of here.” He grabbed her uninjured arm and pulled her toward the door, leaving the suitcases on the side of the driveway.

As they approached, he reached into the manila folder and pulled out a key. The heavy oak door moaned as he pushed it open.

“Let’s be quick.” He made his way toward the immense staircase that curved gradually up to the second floor. Anna followed, her eyes darting around the house in disbelief. Caleb rushed up the stairs two at a time, but she’d only made it halfway to the top by the time he took the last step. Her cheeks flushed as he studied her every movement up the stairs. As soon as she reached him, he pressed her against his chest and attacked her mouth with long, slow kisses.

Everything except Caleb fell away. His hands squeezing the small of her back, his lips doling out kisses to her neck and her cheeks and her mouth, his hunger for her—those were the only things that existed.

And just like that, she wanted to give herself—all of herself—to him. He already had her heart. The only thing left was her body. She’d only just gotten the kissing thing down, and she had no idea how the rest of it was supposed to work. But at that moment it didn’t matter.

Caleb pulled away. She wadded up the bottom of his T-shirt and pulled him back into her. The longing to give all of herself to him had taken over, and with it, her shyness and uncertainty vanished.