Sara got up the next morning and put on her robe as usual. Jared roused, yawned and sat up. “Where are you going?”
She arched an eyebrow. “The bathroom. Is that OK with you?”
“No!” He jumped up and threw on his clothes. “Are you desperate?”
“No, but….”
“Then wait,” he interjected. “Don’t go until I get back!” He kissed her cheek and darted downstairs.
Sara sat on the side of the bed, dazed. She frowned. Why can’t I go to the bathroom? Her eyes lit. She remembered their conversation from last night. Jared had been serious. He’d gone to the local drug store to buy an EPT. He could’ve tested her at his clinic, but he didn’t want to wait.
She got dressed and tried to keep her mind off her full bladder while she waited for him.
~ ~ ~
Twenty minutes later, he came back. Sara was getting desperate. She wasn’t used to abstaining. “Here.” He handed her a small white bag with the Rx symbol on it. She was right. He’d gone to the drugstore.
With mild curiosity, she examined the bag. She dubiously looked at him and shoved it back. “Jared, I don’t wanna do this!”
“Sara, please, we have to know for sure.” He pushed it back.
She reached for the bag, sighed and rolled her eyes. “I don’t even know how to use this.” She stared at the obtrusive box and pulled out another small rectangular package. She read the label; her head jerked up.
“I wrote you a prescription,” he smiled. “The EPT is easy to use. Thirty minutes and it’ll be over. Just read the instructions.”
In thirty minutes, we might be over. “How do you know this’ll work? They’re not conclusive.” She wasn’t afraid of doing the test. She was afraid of what the result might be, and what would happen.
“Are you talking about the pills or the EPT?”
Sara did a little dance. “Both!”
“Trust me, Sara,” he cooed. He knew how to get to her. “They both work. I prescribe them all the time. Do you want me to help you?”
“I do not!” She was shocked at the idea. “I might be a stupid country hick, but I can read instructions!” She whirled and headed for the bathroom. As she closed the door, she could hear Jared’s laughter at her hasty exit.
She read the instructions, did the test and left it on the back of the commode tank. Sara hoped this would finally put an end to Jared’s obsession about not getting her pregnant. She thought about how insistent he’d been about coming into the bathroom with her while she did the test. Was it because he didn’t trust her? Did he think she would lie to him the way he’d lied to her?
~ ~ ~
When she entered the bedroom, Jared was sitting, cross-legged, in the middle of the bed, reading his mail. Sara sat next to him and motioned to the pile. “Anything exciting?”
“Yes.” He handed her an envelope. “Your credit card.”
Sara frowned. “My credit card?”
He smiled. “I ordered it when you moved in with me. There’s a 25,000 dollar limit on it, but if you need more, I can have it increased. Don’t forget to sign the back.”
She stared at the black card in her hand. Why would she need more than 25,000 dollars? Is he trying to buy me now? Does he think he can use his money as leverage? Does he think if he throws enough of it at me that I’ll forget? The only thing she could think of to say, was, “Thanks.”
“No problem,” he smiled and finished opening his mail. “Super! The drafts for the brochure are here. They want us to OK the proofs. If we like the layout of the brochure, we’re to do nothing, and they’ll process it. We’re to let them know by tomorrow if we want anything changed.”
“That fast,” Sara said, half-heartedly. “I thought it would take longer.”
“We were gone when they set up the first photo shoot.”
Sara nodded. “Ah. That would explain it.”
Jared turned his back to Sara and combed through his hair. “So how are you feeling this morning?” He softly chuckled. “You were pretty upset with me last night.”
The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “Other than throwing up my toenails and having an extreme craving for sardines and pickles, covered in chocolate sauce while you were gone – I’m good.”
------------
Lucy got ready for work and sat down to an empty breakfast table. She stared at her cereal and pushed the raisins around her bowl until the bran flakes were mush. She wasn’t hungry. She couldn’t stop thinking about Steve, and how last night had ended. Had she made a terrible mistake? Was she too proud to admit her feelings for him or was she hanging on to a thread of hope that Jared and Sara might break up?
She glanced at the time on her phone. “What in the hell am I doing up so early? Why am I sitting here staring at a bowl of soggy Raisin Bran, I don’t even want? Do I have feelings for Steve? Am I using Jared as an excuse to push Steve away? Now that he’s getting married, is that why I’m pushing Steve away? Do I want this? Lucy, you might’ve made the mistake of a lifetime!”
------------
Jared’s eyes turned crimson. Sara knew two things made them change that fast. She doubted sexual arousal was the cause. He whirled and frowned. Despite the number of times she’d seen his eyes change color; it frightened her when they turned red. It reminded her of what Myra had said about not getting on his bad side. “What?”
Sara stepped back. “I’m kidding, Jared. I don’t agree with you, but I’m fine.”
He slowly let his breath out. His eyes changed back to their original color, but his voice was still tense, agitated. “Don’t do that Sara!”
“Sorry,” she snorted. “It’s just a joke, Jared.”
“It’s not funny!” he groaned.
She chuckled. “It was until you blinded me with your eyes.”
“Have you checked the results?” His tone was still hard and indifferent.
She glanced at her phone and headed for the bathroom. “No, but it’s time.”
Jared took her hand. “We’ll both go.”
“You don’t trust me. Do you?”
“Don’t be silly,” he snorted. “Of course, I trust you. I thought it might be better if we read the result together, that’s all.” He kissed her temple to lighten her mood.
Sara picked up the probe and thrust it at him. “Since you’re so concerned, you read it!” He’s treating me like a child!
Jared took the probe and closed his eyes. “Alright,” he exhaled, swallowed hard and opened his eyes. Sara turned away, determined to be no part of this. He let his breath out. “We’re safe. It’s negative.” He handed her the box of contraceptives. “Start taking those now, but until they take effect, we’ll have to be very careful.”
Sara threw the galling probe in the wastebasket. “Can life get back to normal now?” she snapped. She wasn’t disappointed with the result, but she was disappointed at how satisfied he seemed to be. If the test had been positive, Sara could’ve lived with it. The question was, could he?
“Yes, it can.” He bent his head to kiss her.
“Good,” she said and moved away. “What are we doing today?”
“The gig is on us. We need to rehearse some more.”
“Lucy’s worked today.”
“Damn! That’s right, but there’s nothing to stop the rest of us from practicing.”
“No, I don’t suppose it is,” she sighed.
Halfway down the stairs, Jared’s phone rang. He looked at the display and tensed. “Hi, Mother, what’s up?”
Sara’s face lit. She tapped his shoulder. “Tell her, I said hi.”
“Sara says hi and sends her love. How are things?” He listened. His eyes turned red; his face flushed. “What? He can’t do that!”
Sara frowned and questioned him with her eyes.
Jared waved her off and focused on the phone call. “So what’s he gonna do about it? He’s not giving up? Thank goodness for that! He shouldn’t have to ask Seth!” He listened again. “Yeah, as soon as the gig’s outta the way. Tell Dad, he has my full support. I’m tired of tiptoeing around Uncle Seth!” he growled. “Alright, I will. See you soon, Mother.”
“What is it, Jared? Is something wrong with your father? Your mother? Myra?” She bombarded him with questions so fast he shook his head.
------------
Steve woke to what sounded like an airplane tearing through his living room. There was a horrible pounding thud and a cracking sound like a wrecking ball crashing through a sheet of glass. He groaned and rolled onto his back - bad mistake. A supernova beam blasted through a tear in the universe. His eyes nearly melted before he could shut them. He whirled and smashed his foot against the bottom of the bed. The world stood still.
“Shit!” he groaned. The bright light was the morning sun, peeping through a hairline gap in the drapes. He would’ve closed it, but the window was on the other side of the world, across the room, about six feet away.
He slowly sat up. His stomach felt like a rumbling volcano, which threatened to erupt at any second. He glanced at his bathroom door, judging the distance in case he had to make a run for it. “What the fuck’s wrong with me?” he croaked. “What’s wrong with my damn foot?”
His pounding head and throbbing foot reminded him. After a kicking match with the snack bar – it won – he finished the last of the Jack Daniels, not quite half a bottle. To ease the pain of a damaged ego and drown a painful memory, he’d taken well over ten shots of Jose Cuervo. “Now why in the hell would I? Oh yeah – Lucy.”
Last night, he’d declared his undying love to her, and the evening had gone straight south. How could he possibly think he would ever be able to compete with Jared? He was nothing but a grease-monkey-drum-playing misfit. He didn’t have a fancy mansion or a flashy new BMW sitting in his garage. Hell, his garage was crammed full of motor parts and beer bottles, and he didn’t even own his own home. Well, not entirely. It belonged to him and his older brother, Carl.
“Give it up, Steve,” he moaned as he stepped out of the shower. He dressed and carefully made his way into the kitchen. For once, the aroma of frying bacon smelled more like a wet dog. Carl set the tower of pancakes on the table. “Man, you look like….”
Steve held up a hand. “Yeah, and I feel like it too,” he interjected as he ambled to the coffee pot. “How can you call yourself a brother and let me do what I did last night?”
“Hey, when someone tries to use their foot for a wrecking ball, brother or no brother, I get the hell outta the way.”
Steve gingerly sipped his mug of black coffee. “I wasn’t talking about that.”
Carl’s eyes lit. “Oh,” he drew out, “you mean Lucy. Steve, I told you before you did it, how she was gonna react.”
“Yeah, but she kissed me back – both times! When we were out on the lake, I thought maybe. But she turned away. When we got home, I don’t know, I guess I lost it. She was rattling on about how stupid I was for waiting this long to tell her. I just grabbed her and kissed her again.”
“What happened?”
“She slapped the shit outta me and stormed across the street. She’ll probably never speak to me again.”
Carl sighed and sat to the table. He piled pancakes and bacon on his plate. “Telling her this close to a gig was not a good idea either, little brother.”
“Yeah, I know. Jared’s gonna blow a gasket, and I’ve probably fucked things up for the rest of the band. What if Lucy won’t play with us anymore? Poor Sara – I’m such an asshole! What am I gonna do?”
Carl shoved his mouth full of food. Steve waited for him to answer. Carl sipped his coffee and motioned with his fork. “You better get your ass over there and patch things up.”
Steve’s head jerked up. “What! I can’t talk to her, not after what I did last night. That little wildcat’s got one hell of a temper.”
“Do you love her?”
“Well, yeah, but….”
Carl finished his breakfast. “Then get over there and do something about it.”
“She doesn’t want me. She wants Jared – as always.”
“He’s engaged to Sara. Steve, Lucy’s never gonna be with Jared. He’s in love with Sara. That was his grandmother’s ring on her finger. We both know what it means. Lucy’s gonna have to realize her chance with Jared ended the day Sara pulled into her drive, maybe even before then.”
“I know! I know, but try telling Lucy. She doesn’t love me, and she never will. I’m the idiot here.”
“Little brother, you’re the one who introduced them.”
He sighed deeply and poured another cup of coffee. He turned. “Like I said, I’m the idiot here.”
------------
“Calm down, Sara. There’s nothing wrong with Dad. Mother’s fine, and so is Myra. Dad approached Seth about what we talked about when we were in Arizona. Seth’s being, I guess the best word to describe it is, mean.”
“How?”
“I don’t know the whole story, but he’s trying to prevent my father from calling a council hearing on our family’s behalf.”
Sara frowned and shook her head. “Can he do that? Can he stop your father from addressing The Council?”
“It depends on how much my father’s willing to risk. Being the head of The Council, Seth has a lotta power, but The Council is not a monarchy.”
“What did you mean by what you said?”
He sat on the bottom of the stairs. Sara sat beside him. “Seth might try something underhanded. If he can get enough members of The Council on his side….”
“We’ve gotta go back, Jared!” she interjected.
“Not until the gig’s over, and we’ve settled some things here. This is too important. We’ll go back, soon. I know how much you love it there, and I wanna be there for my parents, but we’ve got a life of our own to attend to first.” Jared stood and sighed. “Do you mind if we don’t practice? I don’t feel like singing, right now. I think I’d rather go for a ride on the bike instead.”
“No, I don’t mind. Lemme run upstairs and put my hair up so it won’t get tangled.”
“You don’t have to go with me,” he called out.
Sara stopped dead in her tracks, one foot on the landing, a hand resting on the rail. “You don’t want me to go with you?” she held her breath, dreading his answer.
Jared ascended the stairs and held her. “Don’t be silly. I always want you with me, but I won’t be very talkative company, I’m afraid.”
She smiled and touched his cheek. “I’m here for the bad times too, Jared.”
He grinned and swatted her butt. “Get up there and get your hair done, squaw!”
She gave him a dirty look and hurried upstairs. Using the mirror, she French braided her hair, making sure the shorter pieces were held in place with plenty of hairpins. She checked her appearance and dashed downstairs.
------------
Sara enjoyed riding with Jared. The wind in her face, as they flew down the narrowly winding blacktop, was exhilarating. She didn’t know where they were, nor did she know where they were going. She didn’t care. All that mattered to her was that she was with Jared.
The ride was doing them both good. When she’d first wrapped her arms around him, it had felt like she’d hugged a tree. His muscles had been tense and anxious. He felt more relaxed, now; Sara felt better too. For the moment, she’d pushed her forebodings to the back of her mind. Instead of focusing her attention on future events, she probably couldn’t control anyway, she concentrated on the present. It was all that truly mattered anyway – wasn’t it?
Jared turned down another less traveled route. He began meandering through tall bushes and small trees. Sara wondered how many of these off-road hideaways he knew about. How much time had he devoted to finding them? Was it because of her, or because, deep down, he enjoyed his solitude. He’d spent most of his life living in a dream. Had it become a habit for him? Maybe she shouldn’t have come. Maybe Jared was too polite to say he wanted to be alone.
~ ~ ~
They’d been twisting, turning and bouncing around for so long, Sara was suffering from mild motion sickness. At last, there was a break in the thickets. They stopped on the banks of an obscured lake with tall reeds and cattails, growing around the edge of the water. The whole place was shaded with giant cypress trees adorned with long trails of Spanish moss. Twisted among the moss were vines of yellow jasmine, and honeysuckle. The breeze was tranquil and filled with a sweet fragrance.
He stopped the bike and hung his helmet on the handlebar. He held out a hand to Sara. She hung her helmet over the other handlebar. Jared opened his side saddlebag and took out another elaborately handwoven blanket, his sketchpad, and pastels. He spread the blanket on the ground under one of the trees.
Sara watched him as he went back to the bike. Opening the other saddlebag, he produced a medium-sized ice chest and set it on the ground next to the blanket. “I was only gone a few minutes,” she said. “When did you find time to pack all this?” She’d expected him to take his art supplies; they seemed to be his natural alternative to a digital camera. She didn’t need one when she was with him. His talent spoke for itself. He didn’t need a technology to record precious moments, such as these. He created them with his own hands, better than photos.
“I only packed the food and grabbed my pastels, angel,” he chuckled. “The blanket stays in my saddlebag.”
“Do you escape like this often?”
“Yes,” he smiled, took her hand and led her to the edge of the water. He put his arms around her shoulders and pressed his cheek to hers. “Lean out and look back there,” he whispered and pointed.
Sara’s eyes widened. Her throat dried with fear. “It’s a wolf!” she gasped.
Jared chuckled again. “Easy,” he said in his deep soothing voice. “You’ll scare her. Don’t worry, she won’t bother us. She’s as afraid of you as you are of her.”
“She won’t come around the lake?”
“No, Sara. She doesn’t seem to mind my being here as long as I keep my distance. If I approach her, she takes her cubs and runs off, but she always comes back. I think she’s a loner, maybe a reject or past alpha female.”
“That’s sad,” she whispered.
“She probably wasn’t alone to begin with. If they’re scouting for new territory, wolves usually run in packs or pairs. On a rare occasion, when threatened by a younger, more dominate pack member, older wolves have been known to break away from the pack. Her mate was probably killed or died, and she was left to care for the pups on her own.”
“How did you find her?”
“By accident,” he smiled. “When I found this place, I was riding around looking for new scenes to sketch. I didn’t know it was occupied. She and I kinda shared a common fright. I don’t know who was more afraid, her or me. We ran in opposite directions. I got on my bike and left. This place was so picturesque, and I wanted to sketch it so badly, I decided I wasn’t gonna let a single wolf keep me away. To be safe, the next time I came back, I brought my pistol, which stays in my saddlebag. Knowing a little about wolf behavior, I didn’t expect her to be here, but she was, and more aggressive than before. She challenged me.”
Sara’s eyes widened. “What happened?”
Jared closed his eyes, to get a clearer memory. “When she heard me, she came out and stood at the mouth of her den, braced for battle, growling and baring her teeth at me. I was afraid she might charge, so I slowly removed my pistol and took a dead aim at her. If I’d fired, I would’ve killed her. She turned her head back toward the den as if trying to tell me something, and I realized why she was behaving so aggressively. She wasn’t a lone wolf. She was a mother, protecting her young. I put my gun down, showing her I meant no harm, and talked to her. Oddly enough, she seemed to understand. She went back into her den with her cubs.”
“How long ago did you find her?”
“A couple of months. Her pups will be… judging by their size, and how long I’ve been coming here, about two, maybe three months old now.”
“And you’ve been sketching them all this time?”
“Yeah,” he smiled. “I didn’t show you the sketches with the other ones?” He acted as though it had slipped his mind.
“No.” Should I ask? “I’d like to see them if you still have them.”
“Oh, I’ve got them alright. They’re among my favorites. I kept them close to the ones of you. I honestly thought I’d shown them to you. They must be in the other portfolio with the other,” he broke off, “older ones in the attic. Cassie’s always moving things around without telling me,” he smiled, again, attempting to distract her, hoping she hadn’t caught on – but she had. Jared was keeping something from her. A secret so guarded, and maybe so crucial, he felt he needed to lie to her. Sara didn’t like secrets. They usually led to tears and some to goodbye.
She turned to face him. She knew if he were lying to her, he’d turn away. “Jared?” she prompted, cautiously approaching the subject. He waited for her to finish. “All these, secret little hideaways you’ve found, have you always come here, alone?”
“Yes.”
She frowned slightly. “You’ve never brought another girl with you?”
Jared studied her eyes, afraid she might wander through his closet of secrets. “No, only you.”
“Why?”
“I’ve never had anyone I wanted to share them with, ’til you.” He ran a finger along the side of her neck. “They’re secret, special, mine.” Sara softly smiled. “You’ve walked where angels fear to tread. You know me, all of me. You’ve seen my darkest parts. I’ve hidden nothing from you, Sara.”
She stared into his eyes. Either he was telling the truth or he was getting better at lying to her. He seemed sincere. “Nothing?” she pressed. Jared failed the test. He shut his eyes for a split second, breaking Sara’s gaze before opening them and looking back at her.
He lifted her chin and leaned closer. “Nothing,” he breathed against her lips and kissed her. His plan had worked. He’d successfully confounded her thoughts. She’d forgotten how to breathe. No matter how many times he kissed her, that would never change.