“It looks like it is…”
An enormous thundercloud seemed to have come out of nowhere. And then we saw the figure standing on the bluff.
Jake.
He was in front of the hood of his cruiser, five or six yards away and twenty feet up, his arms crossed. Just…watching. It gave me chills.
I looked back at Liz, and she’d gone completely frozen. I instantly knew why. Because she was tethered to Brian’s tube.
Daniel seemed to realize it too. He looked at me, his expression serious.
Liz put on a bright smile to wave at her husband. The same one she’d put on the day I met her when Jake came into the VFW to return her sweater—only now I saw that for what it was.
It was Jake showing up at her work, just to remind her that he could, at any time. Jake reminding her that he was watching, just like he was reminding her now. And Liz, putting on the mask she wore for the public.
So similar to the one I’d worn for Neil…
“Hi, babe!” Liz called, waving at him, but I could hear the forced cheer.
Jake just stood there, glowering down at her.
As far as I knew, Jake hadn’t hit her again since the last time.
I asked her almost every time I saw her. She said things were fine. But I didn’t think she would tell me if they weren’t. Not unless she was injured enough to need me.
They had probably been on the upswing of their abuse cycle these last few months. The honeymoon part right after a bad episode where he’d be on his best behavior and shower her with gifts and affection. Whatever was Jake’s equivalent of Neil’s quiche. But by the look on his face now, that was coming to an end…
We drifted in front of him, slow and vulnerable.
Like sitting ducks.
A voice crackled over Jake’s shoulder mic. He leaned into it and said something. Then he turned and got in his cruiser and drove off.
The clouds parted, and the sun poured back over the river. It wasn’t until they suddenly reappeared that I realized all the dragonflies had vanished.
I looked over at Liz, and she’d gone sheet white.
“I’m going to talk to her,” I said.
Daniel nodded and let go of my hand, and as if we all knew what was happening, all five of our tubes split apart and reconfigured, me alone with Liz and the boys downriver.
I paddled with my hands over to her. “Liz?”
She looked shaken.
“Liz? Are you okay?”
She didn’t answer.
“Do you want me to take you somewhere—”
She shook her head. “No. It’ll be okay,” she said quickly.
“Liz—”
“It’s fine. He’ll calm down. I work until midnight. By the time I get off he’ll be calm.”
I eyed her. “I can take you someplace, Liz. Any of us can.”
A dragonfly landed on her knee, and she stared at it wearily.
“If I’m lucky, maybe he’ll get tired of me,” she said quietly. “He’ll find someone else and just leave me, and I can be done.” She paused for a long moment. “If I leave, I’ll never be able to come back here. He’ll kill me. I’ll spend the rest of my life hiding, and I’ll never see Wakan again.”
There was the tiniest, almost imperceptible glance at Brian when she said this.
My heart broke for her.
No matter what she did, Jake would win. Neil was still winning too, in a hundred different ways.
Sometimes it feels like the bad guys always do.
Chapter 30
Daniel
We pulled up to the Grant House in my truck, still wet from our trip down the river. Hunter was loose.
“Did you leave him out?” Alexis asked, braiding her wet red hair over her shoulder.
I looked at her a moment longer than I needed to, thinking how beautiful she was. I couldn’t stop thinking it every time I looked at her. She made me feel like I must have done something right in a past life to get the privilege of being with her.
Even if it was only for now.
“No,” I said, peering back out through the windshield at my rogue dog. “Great. Now he opens doors.”
She laughed and got out, and Hunter ran around to meet her like he always did. We’d gotten him to stop jumping, so that was good, but he still preferred Alexis to me, hands down.
I turned off the engine and stepped out of the driver’s side. Then the smell hit me.
“Uhhhhh…Daniel?” Alexis said, wrinkling her nose. “I think he got skunked.”
He definitely got skunked.
I could practically see green stench waves wafting up from his head. He sat, smiling back and forth between us, looking proud of himself.