“Before this, I was Ethan Smith.” He gets to walking again, and he pulls me along with him.
“That still doesn’t answer my question.” I might be naïve, but I see right through his evasiveness.
Suddenly, a new sound breaks through the symphony of night. Among the chirping bugs and rustling leaves, I hear trickling and sloshing.
Water.
Reaching over to grab Preston’s wrist, I make him point the flashlight ahead. I see a wooden bridge over a shadowed area where the ground falls off. My hand trembles so much I can’t keep holding onto Preston. When I let him go, the light drops back to the ground at our feet, but darkness won’t change what’s ahead.
Stepping backward, I gulp. “I didn’t know there’s a river out here.”
Preston scans the area with the light and supplies, “It’s a creek, not a river.”
I let out an anguished noise. “Might as well be the same thing. I can’t cross it. We have to go back.”
Preston pins me with a stare. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m afraid of water, okay? Terrified. I can’t even take baths because I can’t stand the feeling of being in it.” Turning away, I mutter to myself, “Maybe Mom knew I could never run away. If our property is surrounded by a creek, then she knew all along I never had a chance.”
Pins and needles all over my skin. So cold. Can’t breathe.
Someone starts shaking my shoulders. I’m being jostled around, and it takes me a second to remember where I am and who I’m with.
“Rosalie, look at me,” Preston orders, and I do as he says. “Do you trust me?”
“No,” I reply without hesitation.
He chuckles, like he already knew that answer was coming. “Someday, I hope you will. Okay, here’s how this is going to work. You’re gonna close your eyes, cover your ears, and count to thirty. Just thirty seconds.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Nope.”
I chew my lower lip. “What are you going to do?”
“Don’t worry about it. All you have to do is keep counting.”
He’s crazier than I am if he thinks this is going to work. He’s literally asking for blind trust. Still, I don’t have many choices.
“You can rely on me, Rosie,” Preston says vehemently. “Go on. Be my good girl.”
My good girl.
He gives me an encouraging nod, and I’m surprised to realize how badly I want his approval. I want to hear him say I’m his good girl again.
I cover my ears and close my eyes.
My voice sounds loud in my head as I begin to count, “One… Two…” I feel an arm go around my shoulders and another hooks under my knees. “Three.” I’m lifted up, cradled against Preston’s torso. “Four… Five…”
I can feel us moving forward, and my throat gets tight.
“Keep counting.” Preston’s muffled command makes its way to my ears.
“Six, seven, eight, nine…” To hell with doing it slow. I want to get to thirty as soon as possible, so the numbers fly from my mouth, one right after the other.
Before I can utter twenty-five, my legs are being lowered.
Whimpering, my palms leave my head and I wrap my arms around Preston’s neck. I don’t even care that I’m climbing him like a demented kitten in a tree. I keep my feet suspended in the air and cry, “Don’t drop me in!”
“I’m not,” he soothes. “Look. Open your eyes.”
I peek through an eyelid. Ahead, there’s a break in the trees, and I see a road. Moonlight reflects off the dark pavement. I glance down.
Solid ground.
The sound of the water is behind us now. “We’re over the bridge. We made it.”
Refusing to look back, I slide down Preston’s body and stand on my own.
My lips curl up with a goofy grin. He has no idea what he’s done for me. He treated me like I’m brave. Like he believes in me. No one has ever done that. If I’d been with my mother, she would’ve played off my fear and told me I’m not capable of such things.
“Did I do good?” I ask, craving Preston’s praise one more time.
He smiles down at me softly. “Yeah, baby, you did really good.”
Baby.
God. That’s better than ‘good girl.’ I might melt right here.
Now that I’m no longer paralyzed by fear, I throw myself at Preston and hug him. Grateful, I beam up at his handsome face.
I can’t stop smiling. My expression is fueled by pride for getting through my fear and relief that we don’t have to do it again.
And also because I’m happy to have Preston with me. I literally couldn’t have made it this far without him.
He smiles back, and the sight of that cute gap causes a flipping sensation in my gut. “Told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
“Yeah, because I’m worth a lot of money,” I scoff, joking.
His amusement fades and his look turns intense. “Rosie, you’re not a job to me. If I’m being honest, you never were, and I don’t give a damn about the money.”
“You doing okay?” I steal a glance at Rosalie.
Her steps are sluggish, and her eyelids are drooping. “Uh huh.”
That’s the same response she’s given the past few times I’ve asked, but it’s obvious she’s not going to be able to hike much longer.
To avoid being seen on the road, we stayed in the woods until we came to a field. Unfortunately, the dirt’s soft out here, and it’s a lot more work getting through it than walking on firm ground.
We’re both dirty, cold, and exhausted.
Good thing we’re almost to our destination.
Sunrise is probably an hour away, and Maryville looms in the distance against the gray horizon. Luckily, the storage center where my car is stashed is on this side of the town.
“There.” I point ahead to the vast expanse of the orange and white buildings. “We’re almost outta here.”
“Good,” Rosalie simply says, her normal talkativeness absent.
“Put your hood up,” I tell her, doing the same to shadow my face. “There are surveillance cameras in the parking lot. Best we’re not recognized.”
“Okay,” she responds, obeying me.
Rosalie’s compliant when she’s tired. When she’s scared, too.
Back at the creek, Rosalie was frozen. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone that terrified. Her eyes went distant as if she were having flashbacks. She’d told ‘Jessa’ she’s not a fan of water, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until we had to cross that bridge.
I don’t know the source of her fear.
Aside from the time she was hospitalized six months ago, she’s got no medical records. No history of checkups, vaccinations, or medications for illnesses. Whoever the ‘doctor’ is that does house calls, I suspect he’s a fraud. Probably Loralee’s drug dealer or something.
Suddenly, Rosalie stumbles a little, and it’s a good thing we’re still holding hands because she’d bite the dust if I weren’t here to keep her upright. She squeezes me tight as she regains her balance.