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Jake sat up and stretched his arms. His back ached, and the circulation in his left leg had been cut off. The years of being able to comfortably sleep on an old, rickety couch had long passed. Such a feat proved to be an especially bad idea for someone recovering from a painful accident. He shook his leg.
“Mornin’, Mr. Rollins.”
Jake jumped at the sound of her voice. He knew of his houseguests, of course, but still startled to find her in the room with him. “Good morning, Macy. You can call me Jake, by the way. How’d you sleep?”
She sat at the kitchen table, playing with the ends of her fiery red hair. “Didn’t. Not much, anyway. Thanks for letting us sleep here.”
He rubbed his leg. “No problem. Happy to help.”
“Need help up?” Macy said nonchalantly.
“Nah. I’m just an old man. I’ll get there.”
Macy giggled. “You’re not that old, Mr. Roll—Jake. Same age as my mom, right? She’s not old. She’s a ‘spitfire.’ That’s what they say around town. Everybody’s scared of her.”
Jake smiled. “They’re not wrong. Everyone’s scared of your dad, too. You have a couple of intimidating parents.”
Macy looked up at Jake as he finally made it to his feet. “Daddy’s not scary. He’s just good at his job, so people do what he says.”
“Yeah... Does your mom let you drink coffee?” Jake said as he hobbled to the kitchenette.
“Please. I’m seventeen. I drink worse things than coffee.”
Jake laughed. “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that.”
The conversation fell into a comfortable silence as Jake went to work making coffee. Macy moved to the couch that Jake had vacated and sat sideways so that she could still see him. Shandi must have still been asleep, which came as no surprise to Jake.
After she didn’t answer his text, Jake had assumed Shandi had just gone to bed. For the second time in two days, Jake had been pulled from slumber to someone banging on his door. Once the girls had huddled in the safety of his living room, they’d used Jake’s cell phone to call the sheriff and Wes Morris.
As the coffee brewed, Jake moved on to the laundry. He transferred the clothes from the washer to dryer, both of which shared a home with the kitchen area. It had been a long time since his laundry had included female clothing. Shandi insisted that he didn’t need to wash them, but Jake did it anyway once she and Macy changed into some of his old t-shirts. He questioned whether surreptitiously cleaning clothes could be described as normal, but he felt compelled nonetheless.
“Do you think that thing targeted us specifically?” Macy wondered aloud.
Jake started the dryer and moved towards the cupboard to fetch some coffee mugs. “I doubt it. I think it just acts on instinct.”
A voice came from behind: “He. He acts on instinct.”
Jake turned to see Shandi standing in the doorway to his bedroom. She looked adorable in his oversized t-shirt, her frizzy hair flying out in a million different directions. He did not—could not—argue with her.
“Sorry,” Jake acquiesced. “He. Still trying to adjust to the idea that it’s human. It just doesn’t seem right.”
Shandi walked over to the couch and sat down next to Macy, who laid her head on Shandi’s shoulder. Shandi immediately started stroking her hair. Jake now bustled to pour three cups of coffee.
“Do you two take anything in your coffee?”
Macy pushed herself up from the couch. “I’ll do it. It’s a very exacting process. You’ll just mess it up.”
Jake took his cup, threw up his free hand, and laughed. “Fair enough. Sugar and cream’s right there.”
Shandi looked at him. She looked worn out. Tired. Beautiful.
“So, you struck out with Deirdre?” Shandi asked, smirking.
Jake blushed. He didn’t really want to talk about it with her; certainly not with Macy in the room. “I guess you could say that. I don’t think there was any attraction...”
Shandi looked dubious. Jake didn’t like it, so he added, “From either side. Did you hear back from Cam?”
He could tell that she noticed his intentional change of subject, but she didn’t call him on it. “Yeah. He called back late last night. Or early this morning, I guess. He and one of the deputies checked out the house. Back door was smashed in, but that was it. Didn’t look like he came back.”
Jake sipped his coffee, enjoying the warmth in his hands and throat. “That’s a relief. More evidence that it—sorry, he—wasn’t targeting you.”
Macy returned to the couch with two mugs of coffee. She handed one to Shandi. Macy’s was khaki-colored with lots of cream and sugar. Shandi took hers black. Shandi smiled at Macy and took a sip. Macy seemed to smile directly at her coffee before taking a long drink.
“Yeah. I think you’re probably right. I still don’t know if I feel comfortable staying there. We’ll probably go stay with my mom.”
Like most generational residents of Rose Valley, Shandi’s mom lived in town. Why she hadn’t gone there after the attack, Jake had no idea. He delighted in the knowledge that she had come to him, and he knew he didn’t want her to leave. He wondered if he would actually be able to protect her, but he wanted to be close enough to try.
“You can stay here as long as you want. Seriously. Steve has a guest room over in the main house. I can stay there.”
“You sure you don’t mind?”
Her response surprised him. “Definitely not. This is a safe place to be. I’m here. Steve’s here. Steve’s a crack-shot with a rifle. He’s a good person to have around.”
Shandi sipped her coffee as she considered the offer. She glanced at Macy who focused more on her sugary concoction than the conversation.
After a few minutes of silence and sipping, Shandi looked back up at him and smiled. “Okay. We’ll stay here until we can get the door fixed. Only under one condition, though.”
“Name it.”
“You stay here. Not at Steve’s. We can get an air mattress or something. I can sleep out here with Macy. It’s not fair for us to kick you out of your house.”
“Deal.”
Shandi nodded thoughtfully and sipped her coffee some more. “Hey, baby.”
Macy looked up. “Yeah?”
“Is that okay with you? Would you rather stay with your dad?”
Shandi pushed Macy’s hair back behind one of her ears as her daughter thought for a moment. “I think I should stay here. Dad’s away from the house a lot, and I don’t want to be alone—especially at night. Can we get my cell phone, though?”
“Of course. We’ll need more than our cell phones. We should go to the house and pack some bags. And pick up Macy’s car so she can drive herself to school tomorrow.” Shandi glanced up at Jake. “Mind accompanying us?”
“Yeah. No problem. I can drive. We can take the truck.” He set about grabbing his keys and slipping on his shoes.
“Woah. Slow down there, Maurice. We gotta wait for our clothes to dry.”
Jake laughed at her reference to one of their favorite childhood movies. “Oh. Right. Guess you don’t want to go out like that.”
“Hey now. We look fabulous!” Shandi teased. “I just don’t think the outside world could handle all this beauty.”
“You’re probably right. The house can barely contain it.”
Shandi nodded defiantly. “Exactly.”
It felt right to slip back into the old banter with Shandi, helping to wash away the guilt of Deirdre and the horror of Shandi’s encounter with the beast. Jake then considered that out of courtesy he should let Steve know about the situation.
“I’m going to hop over real quick and tell Steve about all this. You girls relax, have some more coffee. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Shandi forced a smile, but Jake could still see the fatigue of the previous night behind it. She nodded. “Ok. See if he has an air mattress.”
