I paced around the outside of the patio, watching my feet step on the concrete, the heat radiating through my thin flip flops. How much longer would we be on the run? That was essentially what was happening. It was true that Mason was on business, but we were still in hiding. I’d asked Mason how long he thought it might be, but that was a question that he just couldn’t answer.
I just had to hope and pray that we received some answers very soon.
I went back inside where Toby was still sleeping on the floor in front of the television. I scooped him up and placed him on the couch, covering him with a nearby blanket.
Then I poured myself a hot cup of coffee. It was delicious and refreshing. I’d realized I’d somehow missed or forgotten my morning cup of Joe and that was just not acceptable. No wonder I was crashing.
I stood there in the quiet of the kitchen thinking about grabbing a pencil and doing some sketches since I didn’t have any of my art supplies handy, but I was feeling inspired. By what…? The city? The stress of what I’d been going through? The new love in my life?
Yes… the new love. My new husband…
We’d said those words to each other. I do. It was like a huge, crushing weight had finally been released and tumbled off me. I felt light now. For the first time in a long time I felt real hope for my life. I hadn’t realized how much of a dark hole I had been keeping myself in before, but I’d purposefully closed myself off to the world. I knew it now. Marla had tried to point it out several times, but I wouldn’t listen. I was too stubborn.
But she’d been right. And yet, somehow I didn’t think I’d change anything about it if I had to go back. Everything had come together and happened at just the right time, right when it was destined to happen. Destiny…? Was that right? Did I believe in Destiny? I wasn’t sure, but I also didn’t know how else to explain how everything had happened.
It was fun to think about anyway, to think that some things in life are really destined to be that way.
I was just finishing my first cup of coffee when I heard the bump. It sounded almost like feet tripping over each other, maybe heavy boots, and then some kind of a small collision.
I paused, staying totally still. I held my breath back so that not even the passage of air in and out of my body could cover up a modicum of silence around me. My pulse was beating in the back of my ears, growing louder.
I waited. What the hell had I just heard? Was there something there? Or was it just nothing? A bit of wind? Someone from downstairs?
I waited for several more seconds. There was nothing now. Only silence, occasionally interrupted by the soft sounds of Toby snoring.
Laughing to myself, I started to pour another cup of coffee.
And then I heard it again. Louder this time. Closer.
There was no mistake. Someone was inside the suite. But I still didn’t know for sure. How could they get in? The security measures on this floor were unreal and the suite was locked up tightly with electronic locks.
I wasn’t sure, but I knew what I heard. Thinking quickly, I sat the mug down and walked out of the kitchen, moving slowly down the hallway. I had to find out for sure. I wasn’t going to stand there and just wonder, hoping that I was right, just wishing that this went away at some point. At the same time, I didn’t want to wake Toby and scare him by leaving so quickly when there was nothing to be afraid of. I was tired of running. Mason wasn’t there, but I didn’t need someone to investigate a noise for me.
I was scared half to death, but I did my best to just ignore the fear rising in my belly. As I neared the end of the hallway I realized I didn’t have anything that I could use as a weapon. I was really starting to rethink this. How stupid was I being right now? How reckless and foolish?
It was too late to turn back now. I had to just stay on the course and keep going. It would be ok. Afterwards I would feel proud of myself when I decided that there was nothing to be frightened of there. I was tired of being scared. I was so sick of running and of feeling like some kind of a victim. Whatever was there should have been afraid of me. That was the way I was looking at it. My courage was flowing on high through my body and I was almost daring someone to be there.