THE HEADLIGHTS OF Alyssa’s car illuminated my cabin as we bounced down the road, revealing it in brief flashes, and I prayed that we didn’t punch a hole in the oil pan. As we came to a lurching, bone jarring stop in front of the cabin, I let out a sigh of relief and started prying Loki’s claws out of my thighs. As sporty as Alyssa’s Optima was, it hadn’t been made to handle the snow covered roads around the cabin.
Emerging from the car, I looked over at my Jeep buried beneath a mountain of snow.
Well, that’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
I hoped we didn’t need to make a quick getaway.
“Home, sweet home,” Holbrook offered in a tired, but cheery voice as he levered himself out of the car, stretching the cricks out of his back caused by our bumpy ascent up the mountain.
Ruffling the fur behind Loki’s ears I gazed up at the cabin, looking as picturesque as a postcard under its blanket of snow. The quaint image shattered when I pushed open the front door and was immediately assaulted by the stench of rotten meat.
Covering his nose and mouth with the cuff of his jacket Holbrook fought to keep his gagging to a minimum. “What the hell is that smell?”
“That would be the rabbit I caught the day you and Agent Whack-a-doodle showed up on my doorstep,” I replied, remembering the carcass I had left in the kitchen sink the morning they had swept into my life. It felt like a lifetime had passed since then.
Has it really only been…what, seven days?
“I’ll open some windows and take care of the rabbit if you can get a fire started?” I said. Loki jumped down from my arms and made a beeline for the back bedroom in what I assumed was an effort to get as far away from the smell of rancid meat as he could.
Can’t say I blame him.
With his hand still over his mouth and looking decidedly green around the gills, Holbrook nodded.
I went to the kitchen to dig out a pair of rubber gloves and a couple of trash bags from underneath the sink while Holbrook set about loading kindling and logs into the fireplace, every once in a while emitting a gagging sound as he fought against the urge to puke. After opening the window above the sink to let fresh air flow over my face, I continued to take shallow breaths through my mouth until I’d stuffed the dead rabbit into one of the trash bags. Sealing it up tight, I dropped it into the second bag, tying it up before carrying it back through the house held at arm’s length.
Separate from the cabin, the old two-car garage was where I stored my grandfather’s truck and all of the other items that had belonged to my grandparents that I couldn’t bring myself to part with. It was also where I kept the large trashcans, my sensitive nose able to pick up the smell of garbage if I kept it too close to the house.
After depositing the bag in one of the cans, I lifted up a corner of the thick canvas cover draped over the truck to run my fingers along the edge of a red fender. The aroma of engine oil and sun-faded seats roused a thousand memories of warm summer evenings snuggled up against my grandfather on the bench seat, dozing as we drove home with the day’s catch packed in a cooler in the back.
I wasn’t sure how long I stood out there, ignoring the wind flowing in through the gaps between the siding to send cold fingers down my spine. I heard the crunch of Holbrook’s steps advancing across the snow, but was still caught up in my thoughts.
“I miss you so much, Papa,” I murmured, not even caring that my voice was thick with emotion.
Holbrook’s hands were warm when they settled on my shoulders. “I’m sure he misses you too.”
“Will you take care of it, and look after Loki? When this is all over, if I’m…you know?”
Turning me around to face him, he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close enough to feel the warmth of his breath on my face. “Nothing is going to happen to you, Riley.”
“But if it does…just promise me, will you?”
“It won’t come to that, but yes, I promise,” he replied. “Now, come on, it’s cold out here.”
Helping me cover the truck back up and lock the garage door behind us, he slipped his hand in mine and led me across the driveway to the front door. I’d have given anything to be able to walk hand-in-hand with him like that in the warm summer sunshine with the sound of birds and crickets all around us. As it was, I wasn’t sure we’d even get to see the morning together.
While I had been wandering down memory lane, he had built up a roaring fire, filling the room with warmth and the homey scent of a wood smoke.
“I’m going to go change into some clean clothes,” I said, relishing the thought of finally being able to put on something that didn’t reek of fear and sweat.