Chapter 7
June 20th
9:20 A.M.
Abigail stretched and yawned as she blinked open heavy eyes. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but since she was now waking up, obviously she had dozed off at some point.
The smell of smoke drew her attention and she immediately looked over to the fireplace to see a fire crackling away.
“I built you a fire,” Ryder said, and she saw him standing in the kitchen cooking something.
“But it’s warm out,” she protested. The fireplace had been the thing that made her fall in love with this apartment. Even though this was California, and since they were by the coast it never got really cold here, most nights in winter she would light a fire then curl up and read or watch TV. There was something comforting about a fire, it soothed her and warmed her in more ways than just physically.
“You love fires,” was all Ryder said as he continued with whatever he was doing.
She did, and when he was being all sweet like this it was hard not to remember all the reasons why she had loved him.
Why she still loved him.
He’d sat up with her last night when she didn’t want to go back to bed after her nightmare. She couldn’t even remember what it had been about, but she remembered the fear. That had been enough to curb her body’s desire for sleep, at least temporarily since she had obviously ended up crashing.
Ryder had made her a sundae, and they’d watched some of her favorite movies, she had a bit of a Disney addiction and yet he hadn’t complained about watching Cinderella, Tangled, and Beauty and the Beast.
He’d been good about it when they were together too.
He’d buy her Disney themed gifts for birthdays and Christmases, and they’d taken several trips to Disneyland while he’d been home.
If he was going to continue being this sweet she was in for a long couple of weeks or months or however long it took to find her abductors. Ryder’s bags were sitting on the floor by the front door, a clear indication that he intended to follow through on his vow to stay here with her, either on the couch or in the spare bedroom.
Having Ryder here would definitely make her feel safer, and she’d missed him, but this had disaster written all over it.
Sighing, she removed the blanket Ryder must have spread over her once she fell asleep, folded it, and placed it over the back of the armchair, then went over to the kitchen. “What are you making?”
“Smoothies,” Ryder replied, shooting her a grin. “If I remember correctly, someone is a little obsessed with them.”
Did he have to be so considerate all the time? She hadn’t really believed him when he’d said he wanted to win her trust back, had thought it was just something he’d said because they were out in the middle of the jungle, but now? Now she thought he was serious.
Why didn’t she just kick him out now?
Right.
She knew the answer to that.
Because this was right where she wanted him to be.
“Do you have to remember everything from when we were together?” She huffed.
“I do,” he said seriously, setting the knife down beside the partially chopped up mango.
“Do what?”
“Remember everything from when we were together. Abby, I know you don’t believe me but being with you, those were the happiest days of my life.”
Yeah.
They’d been the happiest days of her life too.
“I remember how you used to roll around in bed so much that you would end up with the covers tucked all around you and I’d be left with nothing,” Ryder said as he returned to his task.
“You’re a hot sleeper, you were always throwing the covers off anyway,” she said with a reluctant smile.
“I remember how you used to have to listen to classical music to fall asleep. Do you still do that?”
“Yeah. I missed it when I was … you know … some nights I would sing myself to sleep.” She cocked her head and studied him. “You were singing to me, humming, when we were in the cabin. I remember hearing it while I was in and out.”
“I thought it would help,” he said simply.
“It did.”
“I’m glad.” He smiled at her before scooping up all the fruit he had chopped and put it in the blender.
“I saw that there were lots of apples on my trees,” she said, looking through the front window to her little yard. “We could pick some and I could make an apple pie later, I know you always loved my apple pie.”
“I’d like that.” Ryder’s smile grew wider.
He turned the blender on, and they both stood and watched as the fruit got tossed around inside. Abigail felt a little like that fruit. Her whole world had been tossed upside down, she no longer knew which way to look to find stability, and with every passing second she was changing into something else. The scary part was that she didn’t know what she would look like at the end of this.
Ryder turned the blender off, and she grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and set them on the counter. Once Ryder had filled both of them, they took them to the table in front of the window and sat down.
Her gaze fell on the empty hole where her front door should be. “I have to call someone about fixing my door,” she said, shooting Ryder a reprimanding frown. Although it was a sweet idea for him to have slept in her yard, and although she had been grateful for his company last night, the facts were at some point she needed to get used to dealing with the nightmares on her own.
“Already taken care of,” he told her. “Someone is also coming this morning to install a security system for you.”
“That’s not necessary.” Right now she didn’t have a job, when she disappeared the dance studio would have hired another ballet teacher. Maybe this was her chance to fulfill her dream and open her own studio, but she wasn’t ready for that yet. The idea of being around people left her trembling just thinking about it. While she had enough money to tide her over for a few months, she couldn’t be adding in any more big expenses and if she knew Ryder, and she did, he would have chosen the most expensive, top of the line system.
“It is,” Ryder countered firmly. “Once we’re back together I don’t want to be worrying about you while I’m away on missions.”
Abigail’s mouth fell open.
How was it possible to be both this annoyed at Ryder’s arrogance, and at the same time touched that he seriously did want to get back with her?
The fact that her feelings for Ryder were split down the middle between wanting him and wanting to get rid of him as quickly as possible only served to make her annoyed with herself.
Why was she allowing herself to get sucked into Ryder’s world when she knew how this would end? She was tired of wanting what she couldn’t have, she had to accept that it wouldn’t work with her and Ryder, he always walked away and broke her heart. She should have learned her lesson by now.
“I don’t think I can afford an expensive system right now,” she said.
“Cost isn’t a worry, Tex has it all worked out.” The smile Ryder gave her was smug because he knew this backed her into a corner and wiped away all her excuses.
“Of course he does,” she muttered. Tex would have set up the system so he could no doubt run it himself which meant she wouldn’t have to pay him.