His nostrils flared slightly as he stared back at her. He stroked her from hip to waist. “You shouldn’t say things like that, Katie,” he said, his tone as gentle as his touch.
“Why?”
“Because now I’ll have to have you again,” he said.
Katie raised her lips to receive his kiss.
Twenty-four
Rill woke up the next morning to find Katie gone. He wondered where she was. She’d told him that aside from her drop-in on the chinchilla lady yesterday, she wasn’t due to report into the community center for official duty until next week. His disappointment in her absence was slightly assuaged by the pink note he found stuck to the counter in the kitchen.
I ran into town to pick up a couple necessities. I’ll have a surprise for you when I get back!
Katie
He had become used to Katie being gone in the morning when he woke up, but this morning his disappointment was sharper than it had ever been. He found himself anticipating her return so much he had trouble concentrating enough to write. Every time he recalled the sober, sad expression on her face when he’d said he had no hold over her last night, a stab of pain went through him. It’d been like seeing a gray cloud fall over her summertime eyes. That was how he felt sometimes—like a pall on her effervescent spirit.
He’d just been stating the truth, though.
Hadn’t he?
All he knew was that he was looking forward to making her smile today... looking forward to it a lot. He stood up from his desk and found the bell that had fallen off during their lovemaking the other night. He was in the process of reattaching it to the ankle chain when he heard her car in the front drive.
Katie’s surprise ended up being a dozen brightly colored chrysanthemums, their pots dropping soil all over the soft red leather of her Maserati. She used to be fastidious about that car, but it seemed Vulture’s Canyon was having an effect on Katie in more ways than one.
She greeted him with a kiss that reminded him of sunshine and sex and he wasn’t sure what else. He was just getting into the groove of delving deeper into her mouth to discover that elusive mystery when Katie broke their kiss and informed him she needed to pee.
“I’ll be right back, I promise,” she said over her shoulder as she jogged toward the house. “Is there a spade in the shed I could plant the mums with? I was thinking they’d look so pretty right in front of the porch.”
She’d scurried away and still hadn’t come out of the house a half an hour later. Rill had gone out to the shed and found some rusty gardening t
ools. He planted three of the colorful flowers himself before he’d started to wonder what was keeping Katie. Upon inspecting what he’d done so far, he decided he was glad he’d fixed the porch posts. The old house looked a picture nestled there amid the fall foliage of the forest, the colorful yellow, dark red and orange flowers flaming against the backdrop of white paint.
He went inside to wash the dirt from his hands. When he shut off the water, he heard Katie’s voice in the distance. He couldn’t make out what she was saying, but something about her tone made him dry off his hands and move cautiously down the dim hallway. He paused a few feet outside the bathroom.
“Well, when is she coming back, Everett?” Katie demanded in a muffled voice. Rill had the impression she was agitated, but trying to keep her voice volume low. “No, no . . . She’s not answering her cell phone. I’ve tried a half a dozen times. Can you run over to Mrs. Addison’s and get her? Its two freaking blocks away, Everett. I don’t care about yours and dad’s damn t-time. I need to talk to Mom!” she cried out after a pause, her voice shaking. “No . . . no, I don’t want to tell you or Dad—”
Rill’s alarm had been growing by the moment. Jaysus, was this all because of what he’d said to her yesterday? She must have been far more upset than he’d thought. He was such a worthless piece of shit. When he heard a sob emanating from the bathroom, he flung open the bathroom door.
Katie spun around at the sound of the door hitting the jamb with force. Tears wet her unusually pale cheeks. She dropped what she held in her hand. It hit the tile floor with a clicking sound. He glanced down, stared, and then looked back up at Katie’s face in rising confusion.
“What are you doing with that?” he asked bluntly, pointing at what was undoubtedly a home-pregnancy test on the tile floor. His quick glance at the sink confirmed his suspicion when he saw the packaging for the test and the instruction sheet spread out on the counter.
Her cell phone had fallen away from her ear. Her lips were open, but she seemed incapable of speech as she gawked at him. Everett made up for her temporary muteness by shouting into the phone. Rill could hear him even through the ringing noise that had started up in his ears.
“Katie? Katie? Answer me. Is that Rill? What’s going on?”
Everett’s tiny, distant voice pierced his vibrating brain. “What’s going on?” Rill repeated, unable to come up with anything original on his own.
Katie’s mouth moved, but nothing came out at first. “I . . . I . . .”
“What’s going on, Katie? Why are you taking a pregnancy test?” Rill boomed.
“Because . . . because I thought I might be pregnant. I’m way late for my period,” Katie said tremulously, her eyes glued to Rill’s face.
“What?” he heard Everett bellow on the phone.
“Shut up, Everett,” Rill said loudly. He lunged across the room and picked up the piece of plastic. His heart seized temporarily. When it resumed, it felt like it’d leapt up and lodged itself between his ears. He looked up at Katie.