“And the house?” She pressed.
“They searched that, too. There was nothing.” I’d been angry in the weeks following Sadie’s disappearance. Angry with the police for not being able to find her, angry with myself for losing her, even angry with my friends who issued the dare. Everyone in town looked at me with pity and accusation. Even though I was in a shit ton of trouble, I searched with everyone. I searched until I was so tired I nearly fell over, until my feet had blisters the size of silver dollars. “I kept searching, even after the investigation was called off. I was obsessed. I couldn’t understand how a person just vanished like that.”
“I’m sure you did everything humanly possible,” Am said softly, pulling her hand out of my pocket and reaching for mine.
It wasn’t enough. “One night I fell asleep on the lakeshore. When my parents found me, I was half in the water, half out. My mom was so upset. I still remember the look on her face.” A ghost of a smile tugged my lips. It wasn’t funny, not at all, but the way her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she demanded I stop searching was something I could look back on eleven years later and find a little humor in.
“She was worried about you.”
I nodded, clearing my throat. This wasn’t about me. What happened wasn’t about me. Gesturing with my chin, I stared out at the looming shape of Rumor Island. “So why all the questions?”
“There was something about her today. When she spoke to me, all the hairs on my body stood on end.”
“She normally doesn’t talk to anyone,” I said, thoughtful. “She just gets what she needs, tolerates me, and leaves.”
“I didn’t like her,” Amnesia said, fully committed to her aversion.
I turned my back on the water, facing her. “She scared you.”
Amnesia still stared out at the lake, in the direction of the island. Slowly, she nodded. “Yeah, I guess she did.”
I made a mental note to keep Mrs. West away from Am the next time she came in the store. This was the first time I’d seen her react this way to anyone in town. Usually she had a smile for everyone.
It made the already eerie quality of the island even more so.
“C’mon. it’s cold,” I murmured, tucking her into my side and steering her toward the house. We walked quietly along. Every few moments, the water would come so close it would splash my shoes.
“Amnesia?” I said, still thinking about what she said.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think the widow had something to do with what happened to Sadie?” What the fuck kind of universe would it be if that were true? That the truth to the town’s biggest mystery was actually here right in front of us all this time.
She thought for a moment, then shook her head. “No. The few memories I’ve had, it’s always been a man. There’s never been a woman with him.” She glanced up at me with a rueful look on her face. “Maybe she’s just not a likable person. Maybe that’s why she lives alone.”
“Well, you’re pretty likable.”
“I am?”
“Mm-hmm.” I agreed. “In fact, I’d go as far as to say you’re insanely lovable.”
“Insanely?” She gasped. “Why, that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
I smiled wide.
Giggling, Am peeked up at me. “You’re pretty insanely lovable yourself.”
I arched a brow as we walked up the steps to the door. “Did you just proposition me?”
“Depends. Did it work?”
Scoffing, I asked, “What do you think?”
The sound of her laughter echoed behind us, drifting out toward the moon. “Good thing we have all night.”
Amen to that.
There was a calmness about Eddie’s lake house that no other place quite had. The kind of calm that possessed the ability to blanket the worst of a person’s worries and make you feel no matter what, everything was going to be okay.
Or maybe it wasn’t his house, with the custom handmade woodwork, the faint scent of fresh paint still wafting in the air, and the constant of the shimmering lake beneath the midnight moon right in the back yard. Yes, all those things drew me like a moth to a flame, but there was something else about this house that I knew was the biggest draw.
Him.
He was the one I craved when my world tilted. His touch was the first one I wanted when the past reached out its cold, boney fingers, and it was his voice that drowned out the echoes of pain my body sometimes ached with.
It probably wouldn’t matter if he lived in a charming little cottage or a falling-down shack, as long as Eddie was inside, it would be the place I always wanted to be.
After we came inside, he built a fire that made the inside glow with warm embers and chased away the coldest air of the night. We managed to resist the sparks between us for a short while, but they proved to be too strong, so we left the fire to die out on its own and went back into the bedroom where the only light was from the moon shining through the open curtains.
Eddie was a master at speaking without words. His body talked to mine in the most profound way, leaving me languid and breathless but always with the energy for more. I was grateful for him, for the experiences he gave me, and though I wasn’t certain, I still knew deep inside me that I’d never known anything like him before.
I drifted off to sleep against his side, tucked close in his arms, our naked bodies tangled beneath the covers. The house was quiet, the only sounds coming from the blowing wind outside. I always slept soundly with him, always felt protected.
The serenity of the night was disturbed cruelly when a loud banging sound caused my eyes to fly open and tension tightened my entire body. Eddie was still asleep beside me, and I sat up, breathing hard as I clutched the covers to my bare chest. Thinking I’d been dreaming, I sat stock still, afraid to move as I listened again.
Just as my body began to relax, the sound erupted again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
An involuntary whimper ripped from my throat, and I reached for Eddie.
This time, the sounds woke him and he sat up, instantly awake. “What is it?” he asked, focusing on the way I cowered into him.
“I think someone’s trying to get in the house!” I whisper-yelled.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Stay here,” he demanded, leaping out of the bed.
“Wait!” I exclaimed, trying to grab him back.
He picked up the jeans he’d thrown on the floor earlier and tugged them on, covering up the fact he was naked. “I’ll be fine, sweetheart. Just stay here. My cell is by the bed if you need it.”
If he’s so sure he’s going to be fine, why would I need his phone?
The second he disappeared out of the room, I shoved the covers off and quickly pulled on some clothes of my own. Actually, it was my jeans and his T-shirt, but it was the first available. The second I was dressed, I rushed down the hallway after him and into the kitchen.
When he saw me there, he frowned. “I told you to stay in bed.”
“I decided not to listen.”