Page 54 of The Spite Date (Small Town Sisterhood #1)

BUT MY HEART DOESN’T FEEL TRAPPED

Bea

Breathe breathe breathe , I tell myself in the dark while I feel around the tiny space for a latch or a string or anything to help me get out of here.

I bump up against a bag of something that jingles like plastic coins pretending to be gold, and I find a stack of plastic something else that turns out to be fake gold bars too.

Yep.

Finally remembered my phone has a flashlight.

There’s thumping on the other side of the door that tells me Simon’s trying to get to me, but turning on the flashlight reveals just how cramped this space is.

I keep it on long enough to inspect the hinges on the door to see if I can pull out the pin holding them together, but it’s in there solidly, and I don’t have any tools on me.

I don’t have cell signal either.

There are muffled voices on the other side of the door, but I can’t tell what they’re saying.

So after a few attempts to kick the door open, I shut off my flashlight, curl up in a ball, close my eyes, and attempt to stave off a panic attack.

Simon’s coming. Hudson will freak out then laugh. Ryker will show up with fresh eggs. Griff will call. Daphne will take me to a field and let me stand in the widest open air that we can find.

I’m in a field.

I’m in an open field.

I’m safe.

I’m okay .

I’m stuck in a dark little cave in an escape room and Eddie and Charlie might not get to finish their escape room experience.

You’re in a field, Bea. A wide-open field .

What if they’re solving the rest of the clues?

What if I can’t get out until they’ve opened the door?

What if help doesn’t come?

Do I have enough oxygen in here?

I suck in a breath and order my heart to slow, but it doesn’t work.

Because the memories are taking over.

Hide-and-seek with Ryker.

The old fridge at my grandparents’ farm.

The way I started getting drowsy.

My parents panicking when I woke up from my nap, outside of the fridge.

Ryker standing over me, looking like a ghost.

Ryker dead.

But Ryker wasn’t dead.

I almost was.

Not Ryker.

He was just scared.

Scared that I was dead.

You’re in a field, Bea. Wide open. Plenty of air. Arms wide. You can twirl and not touch anything. The sky is high, high, high above you.

A tear slips down my cheek.

They’re coming to save you. They know you’re here. You’re not hiding. They’ll get you.

Another tear slips down the other cheek.

Be in a field, Bea. Be in a field .

My breath shudders out of me, and then a shaft of light appears.

“Prop that bloody door open right now ,” Simon orders. “Bea? Bea, it’s all right. We’ve got you.”

I suck in a breath and try to swipe my eyes before he can see me, but when I lift my head, it’s too late.

The mixture of compassion and worry and I will burn this whole bloody town down to save you flickering in his blue eyes as he crawls into the space enough to grab my hand without getting trapped in here too?—

I told you so! my vagina squeals. He loves you!

“No more escape rooms.” Simon’s voice is tight, but I can tell he’s trying to be lighthearted. “Come on, Bea. Let’s get fresh air.”

I don’t know how long I’ve been in here.

Maybe a minute.

Maybe ten.

Hard to tell when you’re trying not to panic.

But as soon as I’m back in the room, with both boys looking on wide-eyed, all three security agents hovering, the escape room guide in here too—well, with that many people worried about me, it’s hard to not let the tears slip out again.

Simon crushes me in a hug as soon as we’re both standing. “Are you all right?”

I swallow hard.

Then have to swallow two more times before I trust myself to speak. “I found the bank’s gold.”

His breath whooshes out of him. “You scared the hell out of me. We couldn’t get the door open fast enough to get you out of there.”

I don’t know if he can tell how fast my heart is still pounding, but I can feel his against my cheek, and it’s racing.

And that makes my eyes hot and my throat clog again.

He remembered I don’t like small spaces.

He doesn’t even know why, but he remembered.

And I knew he would, because it’s Simon.

He pays attention.

“Next game’s on the house,” our guide says.

“You’re to close this room until it works properly and no one’s in danger of becoming trapped inside a vault without their consent,” Simon says crisply.

Bossy.

Commanding.

Not a hint of a smile.

“Yeah, management won’t want a lawsuit,” the guide says. “We’ll get it fixed. Probably shut it down like the last setup they had in here. This room’s cursed.”

“Did someone die in here?” Charlie asks.

“Please don’t answer that,” Simon replies.

He’s sounding a little more normal now.

But when I loosen my grip on this hug, he doesn’t let me go.

“Boys, let’s go and find dinner. And get Bea some fresh air.” He scoops me up into his arms again and carries me through the building.

“I can walk,” I murmur against his neck.

“You bloody well cannot until I say you can” is his gruff response.

A door woosh es, and warm summer air tickles my nostrils as he strides out into the parking lot.

“I didn’t know Dad was that strong,” Charlie whispers to Eddie behind us.

“I’m never carrying a woman like that. I’d probably huff and puff and drop her like I dropped you last week, and then she’d never want anything to do with me again.”

“We should both probably run more. Or do push-ups when Dad does his push-ups.”

“Mom says we don’t have to be obsessed with how our bodies look like Dad is though. She says we should get jobs where it doesn’t matter what we look like.”

“I want to narrate books when I get older. Then I can sit in a little closet and talk to myself all day.”

I shiver.

“Perhaps save the small room talk until later, Charlie,” Simon says.

“Whoops. Sorry, Bea.”

I look over Simon’s shoulder to smile at his sons. “It’s okay. If it makes you happy, that’s what counts.”

“I think it’s because I’ve always been the smaller twin,” Charlie says. “I like being next to people in really tight—erm, I mean, I just like being crowded.”

We reach the car, and Simon sets me down.

And then he looks at me.

And this time, when my breath leaves me, it’s not because I’m scared.

Well, maybe a little.

Told you so , my vagina crows.

Because the way Simon’s looking at me—a man doesn’t look at a woman like that if he doesn’t care.

A lot.

More than he should.

He brushes his thumbs over my cheeks, inspecting my face with both his hands and his eyes. “Are you all right?”

“You already asked her— oof .”

“Let him have his hero moment, dumbarse.”

His eyes pinch shut, but the teeniest of lines crinkle in the corners, and his lips turn up the smallest bit too.

“I knew you’d save me,” I whisper.

His eyes open again, and god , they’re so blue.

Like the wide-open sky.

All the space in the world.

“I’m cooking for you tonight,” he informs me.

And when we get back to his house—manor? estate?—that’s exactly what he does.

He mans the grill himself, making bratwurst and hamburgers and grilled chicken.

Insisting I do nothing more than sit outside in a chair by the grill, drinking a root beer and sampling the chips and raw veggies that he arranges neatly in bowls and on platters for sides.

And every time he looks at me?—

Something’s changed.

Something earth shatteringly monumental.

We make small talk, trading stories about his boys and my brothers, then stories of our own childhood mischief. On the surface, it’s light.

But not when he looks at me.

It’s like he’s verifying I’m still here, and holding his breath for fear I’ll disappear behind a door again, and also holding himself back from whatever it is that has his eyes so very, very serious, even when he’s smiling and joking with his boys or the security agents who occasionally check on us while we’re eating.

The boys volunteer to clean up after dinner, which has Simon smiling again. “You want to have video game time.”

“We wouldn’t turn it down,” Charlie says while he gathers plates.

“Not if you’re offering,” Eddie agrees as he grabs the platter of leftover vegetables.

“Is that yours, or did it come with the house?” I ask Simon as I spot the flowery pattern, which is oddly familiar.

“Everything came with the house. Made moving quite easy. Though I did replace the mattresses.”

“I think Mrs. Young used that dish to serve food at her husband’s wake here.”

“We’re eating off funeral dishes?” Charlie whispers.

“Epic,” Eddie says.

He and Charlie dash for the back door with their arms loaded down. “Maybe we can make more friends if they know we have dead people’s stuff,” Charlie says.

Simon swipes a hand over his face, his smile a little more pained now.

“Do they need more friends?” I ask him.

“They’ve made a few in that program you recommended, but everyone could always use one more friend.” He looks down at the table, still littered with chip bowls and a single leftover bratwurst and some cups and utensils, then lifts his gaze to me again.

So very, very serious. “Bea.”

My pulse kicks into overdrive. “Yes, Simon?”

“I called you my girlfriend while we were attempting to rescue you today.”

Swoon , my vagina sighs.

Shut up, he’s breaking up with us , I tell her.

Because I know how this goes.

He doesn’t want to date anyone.

He’s leaving in a little over a month.

We’ve hardly had any time for the with benefits part of our friendship deal, even if I feel like I know everything about him with how much we’ve texted.

I know when the jig is up, and folks, this is definitely the end.

A slice of my heart screams in agony, and I slap on my best poker face.

“People say things,” I say with a shrug.

Like it’s not a big deal that he misspoke.

Like I won’t go home and sob into my pillow.

Because I’ll miss him.