Page 22 of Unpacking Secrets
Henry
Isurveyedthebloodiedwomanstanding before me, trying to process exactly what I was seeing.
For that first second, I almost didn’t recognize her.
With those flaming red curls pulled back in a ponytail—even one with several locks falling loose and detritus from the forest floor tangled in it—her freckled face was streaked crimson on one side from temple to chin and she had a branch clutched before her like a staff. Nearly every inch of bare skin on her arms and legs was either criss-crossed with scratches, smeared with dirt, or darkened with bruising.
“Juliet?” I whispered, horrified by the state of her. “What the hell happened to you?”
Once I was able to drag my gaze away from her injuries, I looked sharply at the forest around us, wondering if there was an assailant somewhere that I needed to contend with.
“I’m fine,” Juliet said finally, though it didn’t answer my question.
I worried that she was already in shock. Her expression was curiously blank, those bright blue eyes startling against her bloody face.
“Fine? You look like you just walked off the set of a slasher flick. Juliet, did somebody hurt you? You’re covered in blood.”
I regretted the blunt words as soon as they were past my lips. The sound that burst from her throat was somewhere between a laugh and a sob, and I shoved my reaction down immediately, trying to keep the horror from my expression. Whatever had transpired, she was hurt and she was alone.
“Hey. Hey now, you’re safe,” I said softly, taking a few steps closer to her.
She hadn’t dropped the branch yet, so I moved slowly and kept my voice soothing. It was up to me to convince her to accept my help. When she didn’t take a swing at me, I took that as a good sign.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Juliet. Can you tell me what happened?”
“I fell.”
I glanced skeptically at the even landscape behind her. “Fell? Fell where?”
“Not here,” she replied, but the words were flat, with no trace of her usual sarcasm.
“Juliet,” I said as gently as possible, concern flooding me at both her robotic response and the faint sway of her body while I approached. “I think you might have a concussion. Do you know where you are?”
“I was at Cooper’s Point. I heard . . . I don’t know. A gunshot, I think. I stepped back and fell down the hill.”
I was close enough now to reach out and touch her, but I refrained, the memory of our altercation outside The Mermaid still fresh in my mind. Cautiously, expecting she might strike me at any moment, I stretched my arm to take the stick from her hands and set it against the trunk of a tree. Then I held her gaze as my brain caught on what she’d said.
“A gunshot?”
“Yes.” She sounded so sure, so clear despite the hazy look in her eyes.
“There aren’t many hunters out at this time of year. Are you telling me you fell down theravine?” I asked, thinking maybe I'd misunderstood.
I hoped so. If that was what happened, she was lucky she hadn’t broken her damn neck.
“Is that the hill off to the side of Cooper’s Point?”
Juliet’s breath hitched on the words and she looked like she might start crying at any second. My heart twisted painfully at the contrast between her current state and the spitting fury of our previous meetings. With one wrong word on my part, it was distinctly possible she would finally break down.
Though I didn’t know exactly how to reassure her, I kept my tone light as I took another half step toward her.
“I think the word ‘hill’ implies a gentle slope that kids might sled down in the winter,” I replied, “while a ravine is steep as hell and full of rocks and sharp sticks. It looks like you made the acquaintance of quite a few of them on your way down.”
Juliet gave a wobbly smile, but the sheen of tears in her eyes broke my heart. My gaze traveled over her again, this time to assess the severity of her injuries. When my inspection ended back at her forehead, I pursed my lips.
“Why don’t you sit down,” I suggested gently, gesturing to a boulder beside the creek. “Let’s have a look at you. I can take care of that cut, at the very least.”
Juliet nodded, but she stood rooted to the spot. I let out a slow, patient breath. This would have been a whole lot easier if we hadn’t gotten off to such a rocky start. I acknowledged my own culpability in that and would do whatever it took to get past it if she’d let me take care of her now.
