Swift (26 page)

When I got back to my house, I was exhausted from emotional day and the trip out to Tinkers Island. My body felt like it was going to collapse at any moment. Just as I was turning my key in the lock on the door, the porch light came on and Jack flung open the door.

“Meredith!” Jack screamed. “Where have you been?” He gave me a once-over.

I stood silent, not sure what to say. At that point, I had no energy left and too little brainpower to think of a good enough lie. I just stood there in the doorway and closed my eyes. I was about to collapse when Jack grabbed me. As he carried me inside, I glanced around the room, seeing Aunt Rose coming out of the kitchen, holding a phone up to her ear.

“Oh!” Aunt Rose shrieked. “Get her in here right now. Lay her on the couch,” she shouted to Jack. “She just got home … thank you, officer.”

I really could not deal with this just then. Even though I was barely conscious, I could tell by the panic in my aunt’s voice that I looked pretty bad. The moment Jack laid me down, I sat back up and opened my eyes, trying to show them I was not as bad off as I seemed.

“What happened to you, Meredith?” Aunt Rose asked, shaking her head in disbelief. “We have been worried sick about you! Where have you been? Are you okay?”

She kept firing question after question until Jack finally cut in. “Rose, let the girl relax. She looks like she has been through enough already.” His voice was stern.

“No, don’t worry. I am fi—”

“Please don’t tell me that you were about to say you are fine,” Aunt Rose interrupted me.

“Please stop,” I begged. “I-I slipped and fell, no big deal.”

“It’s two o’clock in the morning. You expect me to believe that you slipped and fell and it took you all this time to get home? You had us both so worried I couldn’t think straight the last few hours,” Aunt Rose said, panic filling each word. “Does this have anything to do with Blake? Do I need to call his parents?”

Just hearing his name crushed my already wounded heart. I didn’t respond.

“We are just glad that you are all right. Are you hurt, or did someone hurt you?” Jack asked.

Did anyone hurt me? How was I supposed to answer that question? Yes, the love of my life—who just so happens to be my protector—had hurt me by leaving to travel back in time to keep me safe. And I can’t forget about Abby, Annette, and Samuel.
Hurt
didn’t quite do my feelings justice.

“I’m sorry you all had to come home from your honeymoon like this. Really, it won’t happen again, promise,” I said, exhausted. “By the way, how was the honeymoon?”

I heard Aunt Rose scoff in frustration. Apparently, I had done it this time. I had never seen her that distraught before.

“Let the girl get some rest, and we can finish talking in the morning,” Jack said, looking at Aunt Rose.

I hated that I was causing all this drama. Aunt Rose and Jack had just gotten married; this was the last thing they needed to deal with. And the last thing I wanted was to cause them any pain or give them any reason to argue with each other. This was my problem, my battle. But I was thankful that Jack had stepped in. The thing I needed most just then was some sleep. It was clear that my brain needed some time to think in order to get myself out of this mess. I began to sit up from the couch, and Jack reached out his hand to help.

“Thanks,” I croaked, my voice was still hoarse from crying.

I gave Aunt Rose a hug and told her that I would see her in the morning. It was clear that she was not satisfied with my answers and that she would have a lot more questions for me then. I dragged my tired body upstairs and went immediately to the bathroom to shower off the tears and sweat from the day. When I looked in the mirror, it was clear why Aunt Rose and Jack had reacted the way they did. I looked awful. My hair was a rat’s nest, my eyes were puffy, and my cheeks were a glowing red from wiping away tears. I got in the shower and showered slowly, trying not to think about anything but the hot water running over my body. The warm water stung my raw cheeks, but the pain was a welcome distraction. After drying off, I threw on an oversized T-shirt, hopped into bed, and buried myself under the covers.

My alarm clock rang, and I fumbled around trying to shut it off. I lay there and tried to process the last few days. Aunt Rose and Uncle Jack were probably already up and discussing the millions of questions to ask me at breakfast.   There was not a doubt in my mind that I had failed miserably at hiding my crying last night; even stuffing my head into my pillow couldn’t have muffled the sobs. I had to be prepared to answer questions and to come up with a good story for why the Harpers had had to leave town so suddenly, should their name come up. Which I’m sure it would. Aunt Rose had already implicated Blake last night, so I was sure I had not heard the end of it.

Maybe I would say they had an ill family member, and they had had to rush off in a hurry to be the caretakers. That was believable. It would explain why they left so suddenly and why they would not be back for a few weeks. Or maybe an excuse was not needed at all. Wasn’t just saying that he was gone, that his whole family was gone, enough?

There were also more in-depths answers required as to where I had been all day the day before and why my eyes were so red and swollen. I was still not sure what lie I would come up with for those questions.
Everything
I was about to say was going to be a lie. It was not something I was proud of, but it was necessary. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to prevent the Harpers’ secret—newly my secret—from getting out. And there was no way that Aunt Rose could find out that I was a witch; she would surely have me committed. All of this lying was also for their safety. The less they knew, the better.

With that determination in mind, I got up with eagerness, prepared to get it all over with. Before I headed downstairs, I checked myself in the bathroom mirror. Just as I suspected, I still looked like hell. “Here we go,” I whispered to my reflection, dragging a brush through my tangled mess of hair, trying to make it look a little more presentable. It was no use. I gave up and walked downstairs, prepared as I would ever be.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Good morning, Meredith.” Aunt Rose smiled as she looked up for a moment from the eggs she was scrambling.

“Good morning,” I spoke softly. “Need help with anything?”

“No, I think I have it covered. Why don’t you sit down? Breakfast is almost ready.” She pointed to the table, which had a large carafe of OJ, a few condiments, and three place settings already on it.

I pulled out my usual chair by the window and sat, anticipating that at any moment the questions would begin. But for a long while, there was only the sound of the spatula against the frying pan. I looked around and saw no signs of Jack. I hoped they had not argued and it had caused him to leave or something. But there were three place settings, so someone else was expected to be joining us for breakfast.

“Where’s Jack?” I asked curiously.

“Oh, he just ran out to pick up some donuts.” She looked at me and smiled.

Okay. What was going on? She was cooking breakfast like we were celebrating someone’s birthday or something. Eggs, fresh OJ, and my favorite—donuts. It had been years since we had a spread like this. Did she develop a serious case of amnesia during the night? The last time I had seen Aunt Rose, she was practically spitting fire at me.

“Why the big commotion over breakfast this morning?” I asked.

“Aren’t you hungry?” she questioned.

“Starving, actually.” I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten.

“Good,” she responded, looking satisfied. “Well, Jack and I were up talking last night, and we feel that we have not been paying close enough attention to you, the last month or so. We were so focused on us—you know, getting married—and you were so busy with graduation and work that we hardly saw you.”

Just then the front door slammed and Jack yelled, “Donuts!”

“Great, we can start,” she said as she finished putting all the scrambled eggs in a large bowl, placing them on the table.

Here it comes. Their questions, my lies.

“Did you sleep well, Mer? You still look exhausted,” Jack said as he sat down.

“Fine, I slept just fine.” And I actually had slept fine, after all the crying I had done that day and night, it eventually put me to sleep.

“Meredith.” My aunt spoke with seriousness now. “We wanted to sit down with you and talk to you about a few things. I came off a little harsh last night, and I’m sorry about that, but we were just worried about you.” She paused, grabbing my hand. “We just want to make sure you still plan on taking the path you have been talking about the last few months. We know that you met someone, and we are thrilled that Blake is making you happy, but we want to make sure you have thought about your future.”

I decided to interrupt her before she dove in any deeper. “The Harpers left.” I really didn’t mean for it to come out that blunt, but it escaped me without too much thought. “They had to leave town unexpectedly … something about one of their family members falling ill. So—Blake’s gone.” I have always thought the less details, the better, when telling a lie. I took a deep breath, uncoiled my hand from Aunt Rose’s grasp and reached for the eggs.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Meredith. I know how much you cared about him,” Jack said, sounding sincere.

“So, that’s where I was yesterday. I was upset … about Blake … so I went to the beach.” I was only half-lying with that—that was not so bad. It did not seem right to let them know that I went to the Harpers’ house. One, they just wouldn’t understand, and two, they would think I was a crazed stalker girlfriend.

“Oh, Meredith, I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell us last night? I wouldn’t have acted the way I did. I feel awful.” She covered her face with her hands.

No one spoke for the next few minutes as we each piled food onto our plates. I was starving, so I piled mine high.

“Have you thought about what you are going to do next?” Aunt Rose asked, guilt covering her face. “I don’t want you to feel rushed or anything, but I was just hoping you had at least been thinking about it.”

“I am going to stick around here for a little while longer.” I winced as I finished, expecting the questioning to begin again.

“Okay, if more time is what you need, then you should take it,” Jack spoke slowly, drawing out each word as he glanced in my aunt’s direction.

Apparently, they had discussed a lot last night, and Jack seemed to be in favor of leaving me alone to figure out what I wanted to do, no badgering.

We finished up with breakfast, and I offered to help clean the kitchen, but it was made pretty clear they wanted me out of there so they could talk more—about me, no doubt.

I thanked them again for a wonderful breakfast and walked upstairs. Part of me wanted to sit on the steps like a child and eavesdrop, and the other part of me wanted to go back to bed. But neither of those would be possible. It was a work day.

I took my time getting dressed for work. There was no rush, since I had plenty of time. I was also not looking forward to facing Aunt Rose and Jack again. Even though my door was shut and they were trying to whisper, I could hear them arguing over what was the best thing for me.

I had never known Jack cared for me like that. I mean, I knew we had grown close over the last few years, but he was down there defending me and talking about me like he was my father or something. I felt so awful for causing all of this arguing between them. This was all my fault. If I had just come home yesterday and pretended to be happy instead of staying out until two in the morning, none of this would be happening. I felt like I was eight years old again, listening to my parents argue.

Then it seemed suddenly clear: those few weeks before the accident, my parents must have been arguing about how to keep my sister and me safe. They must have known what we were and what was potentially coming for us. How hard that must have been for them.

Even though I was not in the mood, I put on some makeup after being frightened by seeing my reflection in the mirror. There was no need to scare the patrons.

I went downstairs and told Aunt Rose and Jack goodbye; both were still sitting at the kitchen table, sipping their coffee. Each of them gave me a smile, but it was clear they held different meanings.

The walk to work was peaceful, and it allowed me to put my thoughts in order as to how I was going to get through the day.

“Good morning, dear,” Ms. Donaldson said as I walked through the double glass doors.

“Morning.” There is nothing good about it, I thought to myself. I walked over to the counter and threw my purse and backpack underneath it.

“Are you feeling alright?” Ms. Donaldson asked as she looked me up and down, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Just a little tired,” I lied.

“Well, if you need to go home early, just let me know. I will be down in the basement again today. The courthouse brought more boxes over for us to go through.” She turned around, heading toward the back of the library.

“Um—Ms. Donaldson—do you think I could work in the basement today? I’m not really up for working with people right now.”