7 Days Before the Storm
Owen’s hat is still on my kitchen island in the morning.
I check my phone.
A text from Janelle must’ve come in when I was in the shower, saying Nadia and the boys had a great time, and they’ll be making cookies at Janelle’s that afternoon. I reply with a rough timeline of when I’ll pick her up later.
There are no other texts, nothing from Owen saying he got home safely, and I debate sending a message as I turn on the coffeemaker. Then I look out the kitchen window and see the truck is gone.
He must’ve come by at some point that morning to pick it up.
I take the bottles off the doorknobs, check everything downstairs but all is still locked up. As I’m passing the back living room windows again, I decide to open them to the rising sunlight and my gaze catches on the ground.
There’s dampness from last night’s drizzle, though the sky is clear now. And in the mud, I find what looks like boot prints.
I get on a sweater and shoes and take my coffee with me when I head out the back door to inspect the mud. It’s tough to see details with the drying ground, but the prints are definitely in the shape of large boots. I line my heel up next to one and then pull out my cell phone to take a reference photo—the boot is wider, longer than mine. Male. And all that really rules out is Jenni Montgomery.
I follow them along the back of the house and find where they turn to face a window. I angle myself the same way and look inside.
Whoever it was had a perfect view of the grey-flecked dark blue sofa—and the people on it.
My insides go cold as I realize this.
It rules out Owen. He did come back at some point for his truck, but I follow these other tracks around the house and they disappear into the woods—I lose them several meters in. And granted that could still be Owen—he still could’ve gone down my driveway, come back, and stood there to peer in the window—but I went up to bed after he left. He wouldn’t’ve seen anything; it was dark downstairs overnight. I can’t think of any reason why Owen would come back to the shadowy house and stare through this window. Regardless, I definitely need to get up some curtains—just some plain shades even.
Back around again to the front door, just the faint impressions of Owen’s boots from last night. When he came back to get his truck, he didn’t come up to my door.
I finish the circle of my house but find nothing else amiss. The rest of the hardwood is going in this afternoon before I pick up Nadia, but I still have four hours or so.
I look out again at the woods and bright sunlight now streaming through the trees. The earth is still soft, but it’ll freeze soon.