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It had been an exhausting Thanksgiving weekend for Julie and Bruce, and the next two weeks would be hectic as they prepared for the upcoming Christmas holiday break. Fortunately, the time passed quickly, and after the last day of school both looked forward to two weeks of down time. The Sunday afternoon before Christmas Julie went to the supermarket. The store was busier than usual, and as she pushed her cart around a corner she nearly collided with another shopper.
"Whoops. Sorry about that." Julie gave the other woman a closer look. "Well, hello, Kelly. How have you been?"
Kelly smiled in return, but she seemed a little ill at ease. "I'm fine, Julie. How's Rachel?"
"She's doing a lot better. She's pretty much recovered from her injuries. Emotionally, however, she's still a little shaky, but she's so much better than she was before. So, how's Shane."
"We've been going through our own ordeal with him."
"Really? So, what happened?"
"He came down with a bad cold right after he got back from Albuquerque."
"I remember him not feeling well the night he came over to our place for dinner. So what happened?"
"He somehow ended up with pneumonia. He collapsed one morning at work. His boss called the paramedics, and they took him to the hospital by ambulance."
Julie was stunned. "Oh my god. So is he okay?"
"He is now, but for a while he was pretty sick."
"I'll bet."
"After we left the emergency room, I took him back to our place, and we kept him there for two weeks. Then he spent another week recuperating at his place before he was well enough to go back to work, and then it was only part time."
"Wow. He really must have been pretty sick."
Kelly nodded her head. "He was. Colin wanted to put him in the hospital, but he refused to go."
"I'm so sorry, Kelly. It's awful when your kids are hurting."
"Tell me about it."
Julie thought it over for a moment. "Kelly, when did this happen?"
"He collapsed just before Halloween."
"Was he by chance checking his email?"
"Are you kidding? He was so sick he hardly even knew his own name, and I told him to leave his phone and his laptop at home. Why do you ask?"
"Because that's when Rachel tried to contact him, but her email bounced. She thought he'd moved on and found someone else."
Kelly shook her head. "No, Julie. There's no one else. In fact, he thought Rachel had ended it."
"No, she actually hadn't. She'd been through a terrible shock, and she had the additional trauma of Craig trying to rape her, but I told Shane that night at the hospital not to worry, she'd be back."
"And she apparently did try to come back," said Kelly, "but he was ill at the time, and didn't know. So, where is she?"
"She's decided to stay in Albuquerque. Her father offered her a job, and she took it, thinking Shane had moved on." Julie reached into her purse and pulled out her phone.
"She has a new phone number. Please, have Shane call her, as soon as he can. They need to try to work things out, for both their sakes."
Kelly reached for her phone and entered the new number into her notepad.
***
JULIE HAD BARELY FINISHED putting the groceries away when her phone rang. Not recognizing the number, she thought about letting the call go to voicemail, but something told her to take it. Hearing the voice on the other end, she was glad she followed her hunch.
"Mrs. Bennett, it's me, Shane. I just got off the phone with my mother. So, how's Rachel?"
"She's nearly recovered. How are you?"
"Nearly recovered as well. Apparently, my mother told you what happened."
"She did. Are you okay?"
"Pretty much. I still don't have my stamina completely back, so I get tired easily, but other than that, I'm okay. So what's this about Rachel staying in Albuquerque?"
"Her father not only offered her a job, he made her a partner in the family business, which means she and her brother will be running the place someday. She simply couldn't turn it down."
"No, she couldn't, and I would have done the same. So, I need you to do a little favor for me, if you wouldn't mind?"
"What is it?" asked Julie.
"I just booked a flight to Albuquerque that leaves at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning, but I don't want my folks to know I'm going."
"Look, Shane, if you're not well enough to travel, then you should wait."
"I'll be fine. I just wanted to know if you and your husband would mind looking after Lucy, my dog."
"Of course. We'd be happy to. Do you need a ride to the airport?"
"I can take Uber or Lyft."
"Don't be silly. Bruce and I are off for the next two weeks. We'll pick you up tomorrow morning and take you to the airport. How long are you planning on staying?"
"For as long as it takes to convince her to take me back."
Julie smiled from ear to ear. "You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that."
"Good to know. And can you do me one more favor?"
"Sure. What is it?
"Don't tell her I'm coming. I want it to be a surprise."
"Oh, she'll be surprised all right, and don't worry. I just got home a little while ago and haven't had a chance to call her yet."
***
SHANE'S FLIGHT TOUCHED down in Albuquerque right on time. Once he got his bag, he hurried out of the terminal and launched his Uber app. He tried to relax during the drive, but his heart was in his mouth. Before long, they pulled up to a warehouse in an industrial part of town.
"Here you go," said the driver. "Matheson Custom Graphics."
"Thanks." As the car drove away, he took a deep breath and stepped inside the building. No one was at the front desk. He waited for a moment, and as he reached for his phone an older woman entered from a side door.
"Sorry 'bout that," she said as she took her seat behind the desk. "I didn't hear you come in. Can I help you?"
"Yes. Is Rachel in?"
"Sorry, but you just missed her."
"When will she be back?"
"Tomorrow morning. Is there someone else who can help you?"
Shane's heart sank. He wondered if the surprise would be on him. "Is her father in by chance in?"
"He is. And you are?"
"Shane. Shane MacLeod."
She paged Al and offered him some coffee while he waited.
"I'm fine. Thanks."
Al entered a moment later, obviously surprised to see Shane. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Yes. I came to see Rachel, but I'm told she isn't here."
"Come with me. You can leave your bags out here." Al took him through the side door and down a hallway.
"Rachel has left for the day. This afternoon is her very last day of physical therapy, and afterwards she planned on doing some Christmas shopping." Al opened the door to his office, telling Shane to take a seat. "She tried to contact you about six weeks ago, but the email bounced, so she's under the distinct impression that you've moved on."
"I know, and I'm sorry it happened. I was down with pneumonia at the time, and I was too sick to bother with my email or my voicemail. Later on, my sister told me one of her emails had bounced as well, and I've since corrected the problem."
Al looked both surprised and concerned. "I thought you looked a lot thinner. Are you alright?"
"I'm pretty much over it, but I've never been so sick in my life."
"I'll bet. So I take it there's no other woman."
"I don't know. Does my mother count?"
Al chuckled. "No, I suppose not, and you certainly wouldn't have come all this way if your intentions weren't sincere." He stood from his desk. "Come with me. I want to show you something."
They walked down the hallway to another door. Al opened it and flicked on the lights.
"This is Rachel's office."
As Shane stepped inside something immediately caught his eye. Hanging on the wall was a framed enlargement of a photo of him and Rachel at her sister's wedding. Both of their faces were beaming as he held a garter in his hand. He went up to take a closer look.
"Wow. This is the last photo taken of the two of us together. I'd just caught the garter, and I told her it meant we would be next." He sighed. "Right after it was taken someone came up and started talking to her, so I sat down with some of Donny's friends. A few minutes later her mother asked her and Emma to go take the gifts out to her car."
"She told me the story about the photo as well. That's why she has it. She was devastated when that email bounced. She honestly thought you'd moved on and found someone else."
Shane shook his head. "Nope. Not even close."
They stepped out and Al took him into a large garage where a woman was hard at work airbrushing a motorcycle. He pointed out the small RV parked next to her. Several large paw prints had been painted down the sides.
"This is Rachel's first project." Al's face beamed with pride as he spoke. "It's for a mobile dog groomer, and she created a whole package. The logo, business cards, a website, and the RV. It'll be finished tomorrow afternoon."
"Rachel has a talent alright," said Shane. "She was doing logo and website design back in Tucson and had built up good a following before Craig kidnapped her."
"She's a real asset here as well, but you need to know she isn't just another employee. I've made her a partner. She and her brother will be taking over the business someday."
"That's what I'm told, and believe me, I'm not going to try to take her away from it. We'll have to work out the details later."
Al led him back into his office, once again offering him a seat. "I noticed the tag on your luggage. Did you rent a car at the airport?"
Shane shook his head. "No. Rachel's mother gave me the address, and I took Uber from the airport, thinking, of course, she'd be here. I thought about sending flowers ahead of time, with a note saying a surprise was coming, but when I thought it over a second time, I decided not to. With everything she's been through with Craig, it may have frightened her."
"And it certainly could have. Rachel is doing much better, but she's still a victim of a violent crime, and she'll never be the same. Fortunately, she's not overly paranoid, but she's keenly aware of her surroundings, and she tends to keep people at arm's length."
"I can't say I blame her."
"None of us can. However, I can't be certain of how she'll react to you. She thinks you've moved on, so it may take her awhile to warm up to you again. And while she's never told anyone the exact details of what happened, you need to understand that Craig tried to rape her that night."
"Yes, I ready knew that, but she also said he was interrupted before he got too far."
"Well, yes and no. He was interrupted, but it was barely in the nick of time."
Shane felt a wave of nausea. "I'm just grateful he got interrupted, for all our sakes, and I'm damn proud of her for fighting back. If she hadn't, she wouldn't be with us today."
"I'm proud of her too, and I think justice has been served. I'm also grateful she won't ever have to worry about the stress, and the humiliation, of being put on the witness stand."
"No, she won't," said Shane, "nor does she have to worry about Craig getting out of prison some day and coming after her again."
Al checked his watch. "I have to make a few phone calls, and then I can probably sneak out of here early. We're planning on taking Rachel out to dinner tonight to celebrate the end of her physical therapy, and somehow I don't think she'd mind if you came along. While you're waiting, we have sodas and snacks in the break room if you'd like. I shouldn't be too long."