“You’re sleeping? Where are you sleeping?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m tucked in all nice and safe.”
“Where?”
“Go kiss your husband and let me and my temper think up fun ways to torture Barron, okay?”
“Fine. Go. But stay in touch. And wherever you are, keep the doors locked and your eyes opened. Everybody is being extra careful.”
“I know you’re going to tell everybody I texted.”
“They’re worried Emmalyn.”
“Fine, but not Barron and Brandt.”
“What did Brandt do?”
“He laughed. When Barron said he’d lied to me; Brandt laughed.”
“You didn’t hear the entire conversation, Em.”
“I heard enough.”
“Barron says it was taken out of context because you didn’t hear the rest.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, he lied to me and manipulated me into trusting him. And then he claimed me based on that lie, knowing it was a lie. I don’t do lies. I might play hard to get, and do what I have to do to protect my heart, and even for work, but I don’t lie to people that matter to me. I need some time.”
“I know. I understand. Text me often and let me know you’re okay.”
“I will.”
Emmalyn sighed as she put her phone down and walked into the kitchen to dig around for something more filling than toaster pastries. The freezer was full of frozen pizzas, frozen burritos, frozen veggies, ice cream and such. She turned her nose up. What she really wanted was something hot and comforting. She glanced out of the kitchen window into the fading light of day. She could leave Hellen’s and walk back to her parents’ house on foot, but she wanted to be alone. So, going home for ahome-cooked meal was out of the question. Going through the cabinets one by one, she found a Crockpot in the bottom cabinet of the kitchen island. “Ohhh, I wonder what she’s got to put in the Crockpot.”
Digging in the back of the freezer, she confirmed what she’d already seen — only frozen prepackaged foods. Then she stopped when she’d halfway emptied the freezer in her search for something worth putting in the slow cooker and stood there for a second. She turned around, looking left and right, then at the refrigerator-freezer again. “I know she had a deep freezer. Where’s the deep freezer?” she asked aloud.
Emmalyn went into the laundry room and flipped on the light, but there was no deep freezer in there. She went back into the kitchen, then smiled when she realized where it must be. “It’s gotta be in the garage.” She opened the side kitchen door and flipped on the light in the two car garage. Sure enough, there sat a chest style deep freezer. “I knew she had one!” Emmalyn said, skipping over to it and pulling its lid up and open. Leaning over into the freezer, she rearranged the few things in it until she found what she wanted. “Aha!” she shouted triumphantly. “Beef roast!”
Holding the three pound roast in one hand, she closed the freezer and started for the kitchen door again. She stopped and looked to her left. “Why is Hellen’s jeep here?” She walked over to the jeep and peeked into the windows. “Yep. That’s Hellen’s jeep.” She inhaled and wrinkled up her nose. “And it smells funny. You need a new shampoo honey, it’s started to smell funny. Or maybe it’s just the jeep that needs to be cleaned.” Shrugging, she went back into the house, pausing in the doorway to cast one last glance at the jeep. “She’s got some explaining to do,” Emmalyn murmured, before turning out the light, then closing the door behind herself. She put the Crockpot on the kitchen island and plugged it in, added a little water, the frozenroast, spices and some gravy packs she found in the spice cabinet. After adding a couple more cups of water, she took out a bag of potatoes that were on their last legs and chose the best three or four of them, throwing the rest away.
Emmalyn wrote a quick note on the small white board Hellen kept on her refrigerator. “You need potatoes. I threw out the bad ones. And I cooked a roast. Where the hell are you lately that you’re gone so long potatoes go bad and you didn’t need your jeep to get there? And it smells funny.”
Shaking her head and wondering what was going on with Hellen to make her hide herself away, and not even in her own home, she washed the potatoes she’d kept, and set them on paper towels on the kitchen island, ready to cut them up and add them to the roast when it was a couple of hours from being ready. She wouldn’t be able to eat it for six to eight hours because it was frozen, but when it was finally ready, it’d be delicious and well worth the wait. Until then, Emmalyn took a frozen pizza out of the freezer and put it in the oven to hold her over until the roast was ready. She set the oven timer and went back into the living room, picking up her phone to text her mother and father and let them know she was safe and intentionally hiding from Barron, and Brandt.
“Mom, I’m sorry I worried you and Dad. I’m fine. I’m just taking some time for me.”
Everly didn’t even text back. Instead she called Emmalyn the moment she got her text. “Where are you?” she asked, her voice tight and full of worry.
“I don’t want to tell you.”
“If you don’t tell me, when I find you, I will embarrass you like you haven’t been embarrassed since you were a preteen.”
“Mom! I’m a grown woman. You can’t spank me.”
“Watch me!” Everly snapped.
“Fine. But I don’t want Barron or Brandt to know.”
“I won’t tell them. I give you my word.”
