Page 25 of Traces Of You

And to make sure she was still there.

There was still this doubt in his mind, a worry that she might run on him.

He was going to be as honest as he could with her and hoped she did the same.

“Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes,” his mother said. “Gale will talk to Reenie alone, but during dinner the only conversation about Reenie’s situation will be what she’d like to do to help. Nothing more, do you hear me?”

“Yes.” He knew better than to argue with her.

Ford left and climbed into his SUV and drove down the road, turning into Reenie’s driveway. He didn’t see her car.

He slammed on the brakes, hopped out without shutting the door and ran up the porch steps.

The front door was locked. He banged on it with his fist. “Reenie! Reenie, are you there?”

When he heard the locks turn, his heart rate slowed several beats and allowed him to regain his composure.

If she thought he couldn’t handle this, she’d be gone the first chance she had.

“I’m right here,” she said, swinging it open. She was in shorts and a T-shirt, her hair on top of her head, her face the color of a tomato picked from his mother’s garden.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

“Nothing, why?”

“Are you sick? You look flush and your face is damp.”

There were a few droplets coming down her temple.

“No. I’m cleaning.”

“It’s hotter than hell in here,” he said. “Why didn’t you adjust the wood stove?”

“I didn’t know how,” she said. “But I shut it off the way Clay told me about ten minutes ago. I was tempted to open the windows, but I thought it’d be nice and toasty all night to sleep.”

He opened the wood stove and saw the fire out, just some embers glowing and he shut the door.

“If you adjust the air flow and damper, then you control the heat better.”

“Wish I knew that. Your brother showed me how to light it and put the fire out. I didn’t think about anything else until I felt sweat running down my back. It’s fine now. I’ll know for next time.”

“I’ll show you how after dinner,” he said. “I came to pick you up.”

She looked at her watch. “Clay said six. I’ve got twenty-five minutes.”

He closed one eye at her. “Do you always follow everything to the letter?”

It’d be better for him if she did.

“Yes. I learned it’s easier that way.”

She turned her back on him and walked to the sink to fill a glass with water and drink it. One thing they had to figure out was getting her food here. He knew his mother was sending a few things over.

“I’d like you to listen to me, but I don’t want you to feel as if you’ve got no control.”

He remembered the young girl who followed every rule without question. It took months for her to express some of the real her. She only ever did it when he brought her here to hang out.

“It doesn’t seem as if I’ve got much of it now unless I want to go out on my own. I’ve spent the afternoon thinking it over while I cleaned. Not sure how long it’s going to take, but I need to be free in my life. I need to leave and do what I want when the time is right. When I can.”