11
Once the bees left me, I decided to wander the property line in hopes of finding Charlene’s mother. The entire yard was marked with a red brick fence running around the perimeter, but there was plenty of nature on the other side of the fence, too. Maybe we should expand our search to the neighboring properties as well. I’d ask Charles for his thoughts on the matter when he returnedwith his EpiPen.
Halfway through my second circle around the garden, Blaire barged out through the front door, shouting into her phone. The sunlight reflected beautifully off her multi-hued hair, making me wonder if I could pull off such a bold look myself.
I tried not to listen to her conversation as I quietly continued my search, but Blaire’s voice carried across the open space.
“Maybe I don’t want to come home! Did you ever think about that?” she practically snarled while I busied myself inspecting the hydrangeas.
A few moments later, she laughed bitterly.“You really think that, huh? Do not—I repeat,do not—come here. I don’t want to see you right now, Dylan, and at this rate, I’m not sure I ever want to see your stupid face again!”
I stole a glance at Blaire and found her freckled face now covered with red splotches, too. The poor thing. She was so young to have such intense domestic troubles. Should I offer to help somehow?
She caught me staring and scowled my way.
I quickly averted my gaze.
“I’ve gotta go,” she said much more quietly to the person on the other end of the call—presumably a boyfriend named Dylan. “There’s some nosy lady listening in. And besides, I have nothing to say to you anyway.”
She ended the call and then let out a primal scream before rounding on me.“Enjoying your daily dose ofschadenfreude?” she yelled before marching straight back inside and slamming the door behind her.
Well, at least it seemed like Blaire could take care of herself, even if she was no great fan of mine. Hopefully, she knew not to go back to a boyfriend who wasn’t treating her right.
One day she would find her Charles.
I took a moment to luxuriate in the love I had for my new husband, only to realize I hadn’t seen him for quite a while. He’d left when I was speaking with the bees, promising to be right back after he’d grabbed his EpiPen. He definitely should have returned by now.
Unless something bad happened?
Oh my gosh, it was the broken staircase all over again. Generally, I wasn’t a very superstitious person, but we were definitely living according to Murphy’s Law since arriving in Virginia. Everything that could go wrong was—and then some.
I quickened my pace, suddenly desperate to find Charles. I ran to the base of the broken staircase first but couldn’t see him there. I did, however, hear a faint pounding from the back of the house, so I ran that way next.
“Charles?” I called, tracing my way through the kitchen toward our new bedroom.
“Angie? Is that you? I’m locked in!” he called glumly through the door.
“Locked in? What happened?” I grabbed the doorknob and attempted to turn it, but it was definitely stuck. Ugh!
“I don’t know,” my husband’s tired, muffled voice answered. “It took me a couple minutes to find my EpiPen since our stuff was all mixed up from changing rooms. By the time I found it and went to leave, the door wouldn’t budge. I’ve been calling for help a while now, but nobody’s answered.”
I knew that Blaire had been occupied by her phone call, but where was everyone else? Why wasn’t anyone helping? Well, at least I was here now—for all the good that did.
“I can’t get it to open, either. I’m going to find help!” I shouted, hating to leave him there.
Billy had been more or less gracious about helping us earlier, but what would he think now that we had a second crisis on our hands within the span of just a couple short hours? If he’d heard Charles calling, he’d chosen to ignore him.
I searched the house for any sign of life—I even attempted knocking on the guest rooms upstairs, but nobody answered my cries for help, even though I swore I could hear Blaire moving about in her room, not that she’d be able to offer much help anyway.
Having exhausted my options inside, I swung back by our room to tell Charles I was still searching for someone to open the door, then stormed outside quickly reaching my rope’s end. I remembered seeing an old toolshed on the far edge of the property; maybe I could find something to help me take the door off its hinges. Right now that seemed like the best option, because nobody else was here and I certainly didn’t trust myself to pick a lock.
I’d stalked halfway to the shed when the same old pickup truck we’d parked beside upon arriving rumbled into the driveway. I turned back to the lot and watched as Madame Blue parked and then hopped down, spotting me almost instantly.
“Yes?” she shouted unhappily. “What is it now?”
My cheeks grew hot with embarrassment.“Well, Billy switched our bedroom to the one downstairs, and now the door won’t open. My husband is stuck inside.”
“Stuck? Oh, for crying out loud. If it’s not one thing, it’s the other. Can’t even leave for one hour to run an errand in town. Things like this are exactly why the bank denied my loan. They don’t think the place is worth saving, and sad to say I’m starting to agree.” She shook her head and fumbled with her keys.
I could see she was in no mood to be bothered, but I also needed her help to free Charles, leaving me no choice but to press her further.“I’m really sorry to bother you with this. It’s just that he’s locked in there with no food and no bathroom.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” she groused, pulling her purse strap high over her shoulder as she marched past me and into the house.
When she tried the doorknob and found that it was, indeed, stuck, she returned to the kitchen to grab a step stool. After setting it in front of the door, she climbed on top, then swiped her hand over the doorframe and pulled down an old brass key, stuck it in the knob, and pushed the door open.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’m behind on preparing the day’s lunch,” she huffed, leaving me and Charles to stare at each other with bemused expressions.
“I didn’t know there was a key,” I told him with a wince before falling into his arms to offer a giant hug.
He stroked my hair to soothe me, even though he was the one whose safety had once again been compromised.“Somebody must have locked me in, but why?”
“That, my dear, is a very good question.”
He was right. Somebody was definitely out to get him, and I needed to discover who before anything else bad transpired.
12
Charles’s stomach growled as we were resting on the bed together.
“I guess assorted snack food doesn’t exactly make the best breakfast, especially since you missed dinner last night,” I told him while Charlene snoozed tucked into his side.
“Yeah, but no one delivers out here, and we can’t exactly leave Charlene.” He paused to run his hand over the kitten a few times before turning his attention back to me. “Madame Blue mentioned making lunch, right? Maybe we should just brave another awkward meal with the others. Once we findCharlene’s mother, we can go into town for a massive nine-course meal.”
“And we could book a new place to stay while we’re there,” I added with a sigh, rolling over onto my side to face him. “But are you sure about waiting to leave?”
“What better option do we have? We can’t leave this baby on her own, and we can’t exactly trust anyone else here with her.”
“We could take her with us to the new hotel,” I suggested, already knowing that wasn’t really an option.