“It looks like if you take this road twenty four over you can then get to highway 9 and that’ll easily get you to highway 10. It looks pretty straightforward. I don’t know the area, though, so not sure I’m the best judge.”
“Line 10,” the husband said with a eureka look on his face, “That’s the last time I let you navigate, Mill!” Something about his demeanor wasn’t sitting right with me. I frowned.
She waved her hand looking mildly embarrassed, “Well thank you so much, dear. You’ve been a huge help.” She looked at me smiling.
I smiled and started to back away, expecting them to head off. The old woman stared for a moment,
“Are you alright, dear?” she asked.
“I’m fine.” I said, “Have a nice day.”
She looked at me for another beat and the husband just stood there, looking out at the fields in a way that made it seem phony. My spidey senses were suddenly on even higher alert. Tommy said no one knew about this place. Surely these old people weren’t here to kidnap me or kill me or something, right? Why wouldn’t the husband have looked at the map himself? It was pretty obvious that they were on line 10 and not highway 10.
“If you’re sure,” she said in a way that seemed like she was urging me to say I wasn’t.
“Yes, Ma’am. I need to get back to my, uh, chores, so have a safe drive.”
She nodded, looking a little frazzled suddenly, and then they headed back to the car and started pulling out of the end of the driveway. I started walking back to the barn but as I did, I felt an eerie feeling so I glanced over my shoulder and there was Millie, on her cell phone looking right at me and with a very serious look on her face as the car pulled away.
I got back into the barn and went to a different stall and looked out the window carefully to ensure they were gone. They were. Thankfully. I decided to wait and make sure nothing was ‘off’. I couldn’t see the driveway as well from the loft so I waited. The whole time I was plotting, thinking of ways to defend myself. There was a big cop-sized flashlight upstairs that would be good for knocking someone over the head. Above the door in the barn was a horseshoe that I could bash someone with. Beyond that, I didn’t know what I’d do other than run or hide. Maybe there were tools or something in another stall. Tommy had bullets upstairs. Did that mean there was a gun somewhere? Maybe there was one strapped under the bed like back at his house. I wanted to look but decided to keep watch out the window instead. I must’ve stayed there twenty or thirty minutes. When I was half way up the stairs I heard another vehicle pull in. My heart started racing. I peered out the window carefully and saw the silver jeep and I was so relieved I must’ve sounded like a tire that’d sprung a leak with the long breath I’d let out.
A moment later he opened the doors and then I heard him get back in and pull into the barn and then get out and shut the doors. I emerged from the stall to see him getting out of the jeep with a tall paper coffee cup in one hand, another coffee cup held between his teeth at the rim, and in his other hand he had a bouquet of flowers and two big paper bags with rope handles. He had on jeans with a black t-shirt and his hair pushed away from his face with sunglasses. He gave me a little smile and a sexy wink as I walked up and then he handed me the cup in his hand and then took the cup from his teeth into that now free hand. He leaned forward and kissed me quickly on the lips and then motioned, with his chin, for me to follow him up the stairs. His eyes were sparkling. He looked happy.
I followed him to the little table where he put everything down and gathered me tight against him.
“Hi,” he whispered softly into my hair, “What were you doing in there?”
“Hi, I, uh…I’ll explain. You should’ve left me a note or something?”
He made a face that I couldn’t get a read on, “Oh. Never thought of that. Needed coffee.” He handed me the bouquet, “For you.”
“Thank you,” I looked at the bundle and realized they were from the fields. He must’ve picked them and brought them with him when he left. They were tied into a bouquet with a long yellow ribbon. I took a sip of the coffee, “Liquid gold…” I murmured, then said, “These are gorgeous. Uh, there was this old couple that were just here that wanted directions but then when they left I got this sort of weird spidey sense and thought I’d tell you in case they were, uh…I mean at first they didn’t seem like anything but an old couple who were lost but the more I think about it the more---”
He shook his head, “Don’t worry, baby. No one knows about this place.” He started rummaging through the bags and lifted out a take-out bag, “Breakfast sandwiches,” he announced and put them on the table. Then he passed another bag from inside the large bag, “I picked you up something else to wear. I hope it’s alright. I should’ve gotten a bag packed for us last night but with everything yesterday morning...” He shook his head then he reached in the other bag and pulled out new clothes for himself. Jeans, a blue shirt, a black zippered hoodie, a package of socks, a tank top, and 3 pack of boxer briefs, pink toothbrush. I glanced in the bag he’d handed me and there was a short yellow sundress, a pink long sundress, white lacy bra, white thong, pink thong, pink bra, black boy short panties, black bra, and a pair of simple black flat t-strap sandals as well as a pair of baby blue & white Converse high tops. Sizes all checked out and he evidently knew my taste, in addition to my size, “I borrowed the ribbon from your new dress,” he motioned with his chin at the bouquet.
I put the bag down and took another sip of my coffee. He was acting a little sketchy.
“You were gone quite a while,” I said. “And you’ve been busy.”
He turned around and faced me with his brows raised.
“What’s going on, Tommy?”
He shook his head and shrugged, “The dresses okay?”
I nodded, “Perfect.” Something wasn’t right.
“Tommy?”
He pulled me close to him, “Did you miss me?” he asked huskily and kissed the top of my head. His hands trailed down and he cupped my backside.
“Yeah; I wondered where you went. I called but your phone went to voicemail. Maybe next time you could leave a note or a text.”
“Sure, babe. And I’m officially off the radar today,” he said and lifted one hand to tuck my hair behind my ear with his fingertips.
“And you were gone a long time. I felt a bit stuck, a bit trapped here.”
“But you didn’t run away,” he said softly into my hair and then started walking me backwards toward the bed while nibbling on my ear.