Chapter THIRTEEN
“Sal?” I called the following evening after I got off work. Closing the door behind me, I checked for what kind of order the house was in. Perfectly clean. The housekeepers had been by earlier that day. “Sal?” I called again. Hearing shuffling below me, I descended the stairs and stopped short in the doorway to her office.
There were pictures strewn everywhere, dozens if not more than a hundred of them. All of them featuring a smiling, younger, saner looking Sal. And a man I could only assume was her ex-husband.
“Sal?” I asked as I continued to stand in the doorway. “What happened?”
Sal was seated in her office chair, her feet propped up on the desk, a book in hand. “Hmm?” she mumbled, her eyes never lifting from the page.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I dropped to my hands and knees and started gathering up the pictures. I felt slightly horrified when I realized there was a large red X over Roger’s face in every single picture.
“I’m fine,” she answered casually as she continued to read. “This is a really good book.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” I answered distractedly. I looked at a handful of pictures. There was one of them together on some beach with palm trees around them. Another of them wearing heavy coats and snow all around. Several taken on the back deck of the house here on Lake Samish. In at least half of the pictures I saw Roger had a drink in his hand.
Sal didn’t say another word as I continued to pick up endless pictures, all depicting a perfectly happy couple. But I noticed the bruises she had tried to cover with clothing and make-up. He had ruined Sal’s life.
Dumping them all in a box, I shoved them to the very back of Sal’s closet. I debated with myself on whether it was better to simply throw them into the trash. For some reason I felt guilty for considering it.
“How have you been sleeping?” I asked her as I came back into the office.
“Good,” she answered without looking up at me. “Roger has only come to see me once this week.”
“You’re still seeing him?” I asked, concern growing in my stomach.
Sal nodded. “He was standing in my shower when I went to go to the bathroom earlier. I screamed and he went away.”
My brow furrowed as I leaned against the desk. I wasn’t sure if this was just another of Sal’s more out of it moments or something to be concerned about.
She suddenly snapped the book closed, causing me to jump violently. “Are you nervous?” she asked as she laid the book down on the desk and leaned toward me on her elbows.
“Nervous?” I asked, still distracted by my thoughts.
“About the wedding, silly!” she chuckled.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, putting on a smile for her. It wasn’t easy. “I guess a little.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Sal said as she smiled. “You and Alex are meant to be together.”
“I know,” I replied. I couldn’t tell her that the reason I was nervous was because I knew that once the wedding was over, we might only have a few more days. If I didn’t figure this thing out fast I might be a widow who hadn’t even been married for a whole month.
“Emily dropped my dress off earlier this morning,” Sal beamed as she jumped to her feet and ran into her room. I followed her and flipped the light on. She came out of her closet a moment later carrying a bronze colored dress similar to Emily’s rosewood red one. “Isn’t it pretty?”
“You’ll be beautiful in it,” I assured her, finally smiling for real. I just hoped it wouldn’t be too traumatic for Sal to be out as long as the wedding lasted.
“Emily seemed happier,” Sal said as she laid the dress on the bed and she sat on the edge of the mattress. “She was so sad for a while.”
“She was having a hard time.”
My phone vibrated, and I pulled it out of my pocket to find a text from Alex asking where I was.
“I’ve got to go Sal,” I said as I walked into her bathroom. The world outside the window turning black, I flipped the light on. Looking through her medicine cabinet, I found her sleeping pills. Filling a glass, I brought them out to her. Thankfully she’d been more cooperative about taking them lately and I didn’t have to slip them into her food anymore. She swallowed the pill and took the glass back to the bathroom.
“Good-night,” I said to her as she started brushing her teeth.
“Night!” she called through a foamy mouth.
I walked back to the house in the fading light. The sun hung on the tops of the trees, casting golden shadows on the world. The lake was perfectly smooth, all the tourists having gone inside from the day’s wet and exciting activities. I breathed in a deep breath of fading summer air, welcoming in October.
“I know something is wrong with you,” a voice said from the trees.
My heart jumped into my throat and adrenaline surged through my veins as I searched for the source of the voice. I knew it would be Jeremiah before I found his beautiful yet terrifying face amongst the trees.
“What are you talking about?” I played dumb. “Why have you been following me?”
“You were taken to the afterlife and yet you are back. I know what you were, what you are no longer.”
I stood there in the middle of the road, fighting both the urge to run away from him as fast as I could and attack him all at the same time.
“You killed a woman, did you know that?” I said as I stared at him with cold eyes. I was getting a clear look at him for the first time. His shoulders were broad and strong, his frame sturdy. His dark eyes were shadowed beneath his thick sandy eyebrows. The scruff of facial hair matched his shoulder-length hair. Everything about his features seemed strong.
“Such a tragedy,” his voice was cold and uncaring.
“What do you want from me?” I demanded as I crossed my arms over my chest.
“To take you back to where you belong.”
“She belongs here,” a voice behind me suddenly said. I turned to see Alex walking out to the road. His eyes were cold and burning with rage. I noticed how the veins bulged out on the side of his neck. “That was the trade.”
The black-eyed angel stared at Alex for a long moment. I could see the wheels turning in his head. His fingers clenched into fists.
“She doesn’t belong here, she’s not even fully alive anymore,” he said coldly.
“But that was the trade,” Alex repeated as he stopped at my side.
“You’ve given up so much for this woman, and yet there is so much she hasn’t told you. Consider your sacrifice carefully.”
And with a shift of the air, he was gone.
We both stood there for a long minute in silence. Everything within me felt ready to spring, waiting for something to happen.
Sliding his hand into mine, Alex led me back to the house.
As we walked inside, I kept waiting for him to say something. What Jeremiah had said was true, I was keeping things from Alex. There were things I could never tell him, at least not yet. It would be natural for him to question me as to what Jeremiah was talking about.
But he didn’t say anything. He simply pulled me into his arms in the living room, pressing a kiss to my forehead, and held me for a very long time.
Eventually he released me, kissing me just once on the lips. “You look tired.”
I could only nod.
“I’ll let you go to sleep then. I’m going to start working on the cake tonight.”
“Okay,” I said quietly as he took a step away from me and started for the kitchen. I crossed to my room, pausing in the doorway.
“Alex?” I said quietly.
“Yes,” he paused, his eyes looking slightly sad.
“I love you.”
“I know,” he said with an almost forced half-smile. “I love you too.”
Trying to smile back, I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. I leaned against it, letting my eyes slide closed.
I hated keeping secrets from Alex. I hated that I couldn’t tell him that I was communicating with Cole, that I was begging for his help. I couldn’t tell him that as of right now, I couldn’t die, that I could never join him. I couldn’t tell Alex that I was considering doing anything to save him.
But it was better to keep him safe. Even if it meant keeping the truth from him.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed away from the door and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.
As I brushed my teeth, I studied myself in the mirror. I’d gotten used to the otherworldly perfection I’d acquired. It was still unnerving for me and everyone around me but I was used to it by now. But there was something different about my countenance.
It was that I wasn’t running scared anymore. I wasn’t just kneeling down and taking the beating the afterlife had dealt me my entire life. I wasn’t shedding tears anymore, my hands didn’t shake, my emotions weren’t getting the best of me at every moment.
I was finally fighting.
I spit into the sink and rinsed my mouth out. I changed into my tank top and cotton shorts, glancing in the mirror at the raised scars of intricate wings that spanned my back. I had been only minutes away from acquiring my own real set of wings just before Alex died.
Strangely, I felt calm as I climbed under the cool sheets. I wasn’t panicked, I wasn’t scared. Only weeks before, Cole had terrorized me, was my worst nightmare. But now I sought out his presence.
I could face my worst fear if it meant saving the man I loved.
And then I closed my eyes, slowed my breathing, and let sleep take me over.