Isabella
She didn’t immediately recognize where she was when she woke under a patchwork quilt to a flood of sunlight in a strange bedroom decorated in the style of the Old West. Framed wanted posters from the nineteenth century lined one wall. Horns from a longhorn steer mounted on a wood plaque on another. Then she remembered. But Nina was gone from the bed.
Could Wyatt have found them? No, she would have heard something, and he wouldn’t have let her sleep. Still, where was Nina?
Panicked, she rolled out of bed and checked the bathroom. Then she headed to the kitchen where at the bleached table, Nina sat on a chair, eating a piece of toast. In the chair next to her, an old man in a red checkered shirt drank coffee and buttered toast with a hunting knife.
He pointed the knife at a chair next to Nina. “Sit. How do you take your coffee?”
Isabella sat. The knife looked sharp. “Milk. A little sugar.”
“And you want toast or plain bread?”
“Toast’s fine.”
He pushed out of his chair and with the hunting knife sliced bread from a loaf sitting on a cutting board on the counter. He poured coffee from a Mr. Coffee machine and rummaged through the refrigerator to find milk.
Isabella turned to Nina, who showed no sign of the previous night’s ordeal nor any fear in the current situation. She looked bright and even happy.
“I have butter, cinnamon, and honey on my toast,” she announced. “Charlie made it for me. It’s good.”
“Too sweet for me, but I’ll make it for you when we get home.” She glanced over at the old man. “Charlie?”
“Yup.” Charlie set a plate with crisp white toast and a mug of coffee before her. He refilled his own mug, no milk, no sugar. Then he returned to his own chair.
“Thank you.” Isabella reached for the butter.
“No problem. It’s good bread. From a bakery I’ve been going to in downtown Austin for fifteen years. Techies haven’t ruined everything yet. Your daughter,” he pointed the knife at Nina, “told me that you two ran away in the middle of the night.”
“There were owls,” Nina said. “They were loud.”
“I bet they were. Lots of loud things out there. Some of them a little worse than an owl.” He turned the conversation back to Isabella. “What she didn’t tell me was what you were running from. Which I’d like to know before I call the police for you breaking into my house. You broke my door, too, by the way.”
“I thought the house was deserted.” Isabella buttered the toast, avoiding an answer while she decided how much to tell him. “I’ll pay for the damage.”
“Don’t worry about the money. I can fix it. It’s what I do. Just answer my question.”
“I was scared, and no one answered the door.”
“I wasn’t here, was I? Got in this morning. While you were sleeping in my house.”
“So… you live here?” Isabella was good at avoiding questions she didn’t want to answer. The old man seemed kind, but what would he do if she told him the truth?
“I come here weekends. Hate the city, but that’s where the work is. And my wife loved this place.”
“Is your wife here too?”
“Gone. Five years now. Two kids, both up east. I see them once a year maybe.” Charlie set the knife on the table and looked at Nina. “You all done, young lady?”
“All done.” She held up her plate.
“Good. Now your momma and I are gonna have a chat. You scoot.”
“Nina, go find Tiger.” Isabella suddenly felt too tired to lie. It was a risk. Charlie could be another fanatic. On the other hand, maybe he’d help. Maybe he’d drive her to the city. In any case, she didn’t want Nina to hear the details. “In the bedroom.” Nina slid from her chair and disappeared.
“My ex-husband kidnapped us.” She told her story in a few sentences, including the fact that she had a heart defect which meant a pregnancy could kill her and that she had planned to leave the state to end the pregnancy. She gave a brief description of the previously night’s escape.
After she finished talking, the old man pushed back from the table. “Want more coffee?”
She nodded, and he picked up her mug. He poured from the almost empty pot on the counter and, after adding milk and sugar, set her mug in front of her. She cupped the mug with both hands, feeling the warmth, and glanced towards the bedroom.
Nina remained out of sight, probably having a long heart-to-heart with Tiger.
“That took some grit, climbing out a window and hiking here through the dark.” Charlie settled into his chair. “I don’t hold with this bullshit. You know, my Mary back in the seventies, she was out protesting for women’s rights and now those religious nuts want to tell everyone else how to live. Well, fuck them. You got someone who you can call?”
“You have a phone here? I looked for one last night.” She’d call Ethan. He’d help. She knew he would. “And yes, I have a friend. He made the arrangements for me to leave town.”
“You think ’cause we’re in the country, I’d have a landline?” He snorted and pulled a purple iPhone from a pocket. “No reason to pay for two of these damn things.” He handed it to her. “Now you call your friend and have him pick you up.”