“Sure, I’m getting hungry.” She noticed his words were slurred. He had drunk a lot.
Skylar went to the kitchen and surveyed their supplies. The cabinets were stocked as was the fridge. It appeared that he had plans to keep her here for a very long time. She felt her eyes well with tears. She took out some things and began to throw them into a pot. She was going to make a quick stir fry with beef and vegetables. The smells started to waft through the air. She glanced over her shoulder and found Tag watching her.
“What?”
“I didn’t even know that you could cook,” he told her.
“Why didn’t you take the time to find out?” She asked him.
“I was too busy being the Mayor of Haley Cove,” he replied. “I was too important. I made the excuse that you were too busy running the ranch and taking care of Ava and that someday we could make more time for each other but right now what we had worked for us both.” Skylar went back to stirring the food in the big pan on the burner. “I was fooling myself,” he admitted.
She still didn’t respond. He took another beer out and left her in the kitchen alone. Tag didn’t go far. He was just sitting at the table a few feet away from her. Sky thought about stopping him from drinking so much but honestly she hoped that he would drink until he passed out then she would either call home or leave him in the cabin and try to find her way back to civilization.
When the stir fry was done she scooped some onto two plates. She removed the pan from the burner and turned it off. Then she carried their plates to the table where Tag was spinning his phone in circles. His eyes were glued to the table when Skylar sat the plate in front of him.
“Thanks,” he replied but he didn’t remove his focus from the spot on the table.
Skylar sat next to him. She ate a few bites and realized that he wasn’t eating. “Don’t you like it?” She asked.
“I’m sure it’s good,” he replied.
Skylar continued to eat while Tag watched his phone that every so often vibrated. When she was done eating she started to rise, he stopped her. He shoved the phone across the table and told her to call his mother.
“What do you want me to say?” Sky asked.
“I don’t know yet.”
She pressed send on his phone from one of the many missed calls on his list.
“Put her on speaker so I can hear her.”
She put the call on speaker. “Howard Richardson, where the hell are you?” His mother’s shrill voice filled the air. Skylar looked at Tag and mouthed the name Howard?
My father’s name. He mouthed back to her. Tag is a nickname.
“Howard are you there?”
“Mrs. Richardson, he’s here. This is Skylar Bradford.”
“What are you doing with my son’s phone?”
She just loved the haughty tone to her voice after her son had kidnap
ped her from her home. His look was apologetic. His apology didn’t really matter to Skylar. “He asked me to call you,” she explained.
“Why? Is he hurt?” The suspicion was obvious in her tone. “Did you hurt him?”
Skylar glanced at Tag and almost laughed. “Mrs. Richardson, you do realize your son is almost a foot taller than me. Are you really worried about me hurting him?”
Tag chuckled at that statement. “I guess not. Are you hurt?” She finally asked.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Good. Tag, bring the girl home. We’ll work this out.”
“She listens to me,” he said. Even Skylar was surprised by that statement. All he wanted was somebody to listen to him?
“I listen to you constantly Tag,” his mother complained.