I slid her bedroom window open and she kissed me one last time. Then I boosted her up and through the window. “I’ll see you later,” she whispered. Then she closed the window, and I imagined her sliding between cold sheets, scissoring her legs together to warm them up.
I went home and tiptoed up the steps. Pop looked up when I came in the door. I choked. “Why are you up?” I asked.
He looked toward the dock through the kitchen window. “Have fun last night?” he asked quietly. His voice was soft, and not at all like Pop.
“It wasn’t about fun,” I protest.
He heaved out a breath. “I know.”
“I just wanted to say a proper goodbye,” I rushed to explain. But he held up a hand.
“I understand, Jake. Go to bed.”
“You don’t want to give me some stupid chore?” I huffed.
He shook his head. “No.”
I crossed my arms. “Are you sure?”
“Go to bed, Jake,” he said a little more strongly.
“You can tell me my punishment later,” I bit out. Then I stormed to my room and slammed the door.
Pop never did punish me. I kissed Katie goodbye in front of everyone that day, and she drove away with her hand pressed against the back glass of her parents’ car. I blinked back the pain, and then I started writing that first letter to her. I wrote her every day for the next month. Then it turned into one letter every few days, and hers to me began to slow down too.
Life went back to normal, and the letters started to come about once a month. Then they stopped completely.
47
Katie
When I spot Cole’s blond head circulating with the responding EMTs and police officers as if he is one of them, I realize it is up to me to take action now. This has gone on for far too long. Everything I love is at stake. Everyone I love is at stake. I have no choice and I know it.
I need a gun.
I know Jake’s gun cabinet is locked and I don’t have the combination. But I need to shoot the bastard so we can stop this madness. I need some peace. I need to be able to go on with my life.
After the last time Cole showed up, Jake wanted my parents to be prepared, so he left his Colt .45 in a locked box under the bed. I know where the key is: on the shelf in the closet.
I let myself into the cabin and go to the bedroom. I drop down to the floor to reach beneath the bed so I can grab the locked box. I swipe my hand under the bed, finding nothing but a bunch of dust bunnies, just as someone’s hands wrap around my feet and jerk me out.
I scream and kick, and I hear a grunt as my foot connects with some soft tissue.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jake whispers harshly at me. “Stop kicking!”
I scuttle out from under the bed and stand up, brushing my hair from my eyes. “I’m trying to arm myself. Did you move the gun box from under the bed?”
“Yes, I moved the gun box from under the bed! Alex found it and Adam caught him trying to pick the lock. And don’t walk away from me like that!” Jake hisses. “You scared the life out of me!”
“Did they catch Cole?”
“No.”
“Is your dad okay?”
“He’s too hard-headed to die,” Jake grunts out. He runs a frustrated hand through his hair.
“What about Sally?”
“Your parents took him and the kids to the vet’s office.” He pulls me against his chest and kiss me hard. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“Take your hands off the mother of my child,” a deep voice says from the doorway.
Jake freezes and slowly raises his hands in the air. He shields me with his body. “Cole,” he says, his voice controlled.
Cole walks farther into the room. “How’s the baby?” he asks me. He talks around Jake, who is still between us.
“He’s fine,” I say. I lean around Jake to look at him. “No thanks to you.”
Cole chuckles. He raises the gun in his hand and points it directly at Jake. My heart beats a rapid pace. But my nerves are cool. Cold, even. Steady. I know what needs to happen.
I lift Jake’s gun from the holster under his arm, step from behind Jake, and point it at Cole.
Cole’s gun wavers ever so slightly and he backs up a step. “Put that down,” he says.
“You first,” I reply tonelessly. I look down the sight. Steady. I can almost hear Jeff’s voice in my ear. Steady. You can do this, Katie.
I know, I whisper back in my head.
You’re strong.
I am.
Despite my cool resolve, tears sting my eyes. In my darkest hour, of course Jeff’s with me, at least in spirit. Thoughts of him give me strength.
“There’s still time to stop this,” I tell Cole evenly.
“Stop what?” he asks.
“Stop this. Walk away.”
He shakes his head. “Can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I love you.”
“You don’t love me.”
“Don’t tell me how I feel!” he shouts.
“Shoot him, Katie,” Jake whispers. “Pull the trigger.”
I can’t, though. Not with Jake halfway between Cole and me. Jake would take Cole’s bullet. I can’t risk that.
Jake raises his hands a little higher in the air. “Put the gun down and we’ll all walk out of here,” he says softly.
“All I ever wanted was to love you, Katie,” Cole says quietly. This is the quiet before the storm. I’ve seen it all before. This is how it starts. Then the anger comes.