Dawson and I spent a lot of time looking at wedding magazines and planning our little wedding, and I freaking loved it.
The week after New Year’s, I had gotten out of the shop later than usual. Star was off visiting her daughter, Moonie in Australia. I wanted to go with her. I was sure she was warmer than I was. I locked the backdoor and scraped the ice from my windshield.
Nine degrees? Really?
I cranked the ignition and my old car didn’t like the winter either. It wasn’t starting.
I did the only thing I knew to do. I called Dawson.
“Hi, baby. You on your way? I’ve got a pot of chili, homemade bread, and a warm cozy fire waiting for you.
“That sounds amazing, but my car won’t start.”
“What’s it doing?”
“This,” I answered and cranked the key again, holding the phone for him to hear.
“Hmm, sounds like the battery. Go back inside where it’s warm. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
I did as I was told and watched out the front glass, waiting for Dawson.
I leaned in and kissed him as soon as I got into the warm car. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I called Charlie. He’s going to come over in the morning and take a look at it for you.”
“You’re my hero,” I teased. He was my hero. I didn’t know where I would be without him. I didn’t even like to think about it.
I think Dawson could have won a chili cook off contest with his chili. It was the best chili I had ever tasted, and my Grandma Joyce made some pretty good chili. I was so full. I couldn’t eat another bite. I tried to get him to let me clean up, but he refused and made me go soak in a hot tub while he did it.
We sat in front of the fireplace and made out like a couple of teenagers. Dawson hadn’t asked about my escape since we had gotten into the argument on Thanksgiving. It had been weighing on my mind though. I wasn’t having the nightmares and Drew didn’t haunt me in my sleep. It wasn’t that. I just felt like it was something that was important to Dawson. Something that he wanted me to share with him. I felt like I owed it to him. He had been there for me so many times, including that night when my car decided to break down on the coldest day of the year.
“Dawson?” I softly spoke, pulling away from his lips.
“Riley?” He mimicked my tone. I smiled.
I turned my back and snuggled up to his chest. It was easier for me to talk when I didn’t have to look at him. He opened his hand, and I placed mine in his.
“You ask the questions,” I suggested. He knew what I was talking about.
“Are you sure, Ry?”
“Yes. I’m sure.”
“Um, okay. You’re here, so I presume you did get into his office. Tell me how that came about.”
I was silent for a bit as I thought about that night. It was the dead of summer and extremely hot out. I hadn’t even been in the pool because the water wasn’t refreshing at all. It felt like bath water, and the air outside was so thick. Drew had come into my room after getting home late and drunk.
“I’m not going to go into the details about that because I will stop and want you to have sex with me,” I told Dawson.
“That’s okay. I have a pretty good idea how it went, and truth be known, I hate to hear about the things that he did to you,” Dawson said, kissing my head.
“He didn’t leave my bed that night. He stayed all night and until noon the next day. He had never done that.
He held me in his arms, and we watched television together while he did things to me, daring me to come. I did of course, and had to spend an hour episode of Criminal Minds over his lap. He watched the show and would bring his hand in contact with my bare butt when I least expected it. Finally, after he was bored with his game and got off in my mouth, he got up. He gave me my cellphone and told me that he was going out of town that night.”
“He kept your phone?”
“Yes, unless he was leaving or I was out, and then I was allowed to have it.”
Drew disappeared to his office, and I went into the kitchen with Rebecca. She gave me a look, knowing that I had been tied up entertaining Drew all day.
“How much flour does that recipe say?” she asked, nodding to the laptop on the bar.
I walked over to the bar and pulled my feet under me and leaned on the counter. I looked up to her as soon as I saw the quick note on the laptop.
“We have your identity. We need to start acting now.”
I read and quickly closed it out when I caught a glimpse of Drew coming. Rebecca was smart and did have a recipe pulled up for some kind of cake she was making.
“What are you doing in here?” Drew angrily asked. I was sure that he saw me in one of his cameras. He walked up to the laptop and looked at the recipe. He dropped the window to see what was behind it. There was nothing but the mountain wallpaper.
“I was just reading off this recipe for Rebecca.
She’s going to teach me to cook.”
“Why. You don’t need to know how to cook.”
“Because I have nothing else to do, and it’s like a hundred degrees outside.”