Page 12 of Falmouth Echoes


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Once she was done tidying up, she crept into her own apartment and lingered in the doorway. Everything was clean and tidy, the way she’d left it in the morning, but it still felt strange to be there. Empty and soulless.

What would her mother think of where she’d ended up? Would Kelly have been proud of Sophia for recognizing her own misery and choosing a different path? Or would she have encouraged Sophia to stay and fight for her marriage?

Sophia and Darren’s marriage was, after all, nothing like Kelly and Eric’s. The two of them had been happy, and he’d been good to her and the kids. For years, Sophia hadn’t been able to picture any other kind of life than the one she had. Then Darren’s hours started getting longer, and budget restraints started taking a toll on his decisions.

Sophia used to spend hours tossing and turning, breaking out into a cold sweat whenever the phone rang at odds hours. Being married to a firefighter hadn’t been easy, but she’d known what she signed up for. It wasn’t until Zac moved out and started leading his own life that she began to notice the cracks in their marriage. How they no longer lingered over dinner to talk. Or they went days without exchanging more than a few words about the kids.

By the time Zoe moved out to go to college, the two of them had drifted too far apart, and the chasm between them had grown too wide and too great to fix. Sophia had spent monthsagonizing over her decision and wondering whether or not they would be able to come back from any of it.

With a slight shake of her head, she stepped into her apartment and kicked the door shut. As she changed out of her clothes and brushed her teeth, Sophia began to replay their fateful conversation, her heart twisting painfully as she recalled how easily Darren had given in.

He hadn’t even fought for her or their marriage.

Ultimately, it had strengthened her resolve further.

She really had tried, though. If he wanted to try, she would’ve given him a chance. She would’ve giventhema chance.

When Sophia crawled into bed, set her phone down on the table, and switched off the lights, she stared at the ceiling. She imagined her mother there, offering sage words of advice when it came to her ex. Then she thought of what kind of advice Kelly would give her about Nora’s Delights.

Knowing what she knew about her mother, she was sure Kelly would’ve encouraged Sophia to quit and start her own bakery, like her cousin, Emily. But Emily was fearless, ambitious, and driven, and Sophia knew she couldn’t compare. She doubted she had what it took to start her own business.

Sophia couldn’t even keep her own family together, so how was she supposed to be in charge of an entire business?

As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered about the future and what it held for her. Her last thought before she succumbed to oblivion was of her family and whether or not they were proud of her.

Chapter Five

Sophia sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, with her heart hammering wildly against her chest. She touched a hand to her face and waited for her vision to clear. Her sleep-addled brain struggled to make sense of her surroundings and why a shiver of unease was racing up her spine.

When she lowered herself back onto the mattress and drew the covers up to her chest, she heard the scratching sound, now louder than before. Abruptly, she reached for her phone and dialed Ian’s number. Then she reached for the baseball bat she kept by her nightstand and gripped it with both hands. Half-blinded by the darkness, she stumbled out of bed and held the bat up over her head.

Once the door to her apartment flew open and a cloaked figure entered, dressed black from head to toe, with a mask covering half their face, fear and panic slammed into her, making a tremor race through her. She opened her mouth and let out a blood-curdling scream, and he wheeled in her direction, his movements slow and lethargic.

She tasted bile in the back of her throat, and there was a low pounding in the back of her skull, but none of it mattered.

Not when something cold and hard settled in the center of her stomach.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Sophia charged him.

It took her a few tries, but when the bat finally connected with something solid, the masked assailant let out a low wheeze of pain and jumped back. He held both hands out on either side of him, but she didn’t stop swinging, landing another hit to his stomach. The assailant made a low whimpering sound of pain and stumbled away from her.

“I’ve already called the cops,” Sophia told him, struggling to hear past the pounding in her ears. “They’re going to be here any second.”

His heavy breathing reverberated inside of her head.

When she heard her dad call out to her, Sophia panicked and swung again, hitting the back of the man’s head. She heard the sickeningcrunchas he darted back, knocking a few things off the table by the door. Sophia was dimly aware of the crashing sound and shards of glass flying in every direction. Then, her dad raced past her front door in pursuit of the assailant.

She dropped the bat and ran after her dad in time to see the assailant throw himself out the window and land on his feet on the pavement. Stu drew Sophia to him, and the two of them stood and watched as the assailant took off, disappearing into the night. Moments later, when Ian arrived and jumped out of the car with two more police cars in tow, Stu was rubbing Sophia’s back and murmuring something under his breath.

Ian was panting when he reached the top of the stairs, and his eyes were wild and unfocused. “What happened? Where is he? What did he look like?”

“He’s gone,” Sophia responded, her heart still racing unevenly. “I hit him a few times with the baseball bat. He’s about six feet, well-built, but he was wearing a mask and all black, so I can’t tell you much else.”

Ian pressed the radio to his mouth. “Dispatch, please be advised that our suspect is tall and well-built. Last seen headed East on Winrose Street. Suspect is wearing a mask and all black, so he’ll be hard to identify, but he’s also been hit a few times, so he’ll probably seek medical attention.”

As soon as he was done, Ian brushed past them and unholstered his gun. He flicked the lights on and scoured through every inch of my apartment, along with two other weary-looking police officers. A short while later, their street was crawling with police officers and an ambulance, and it wasn’t long before she heard the firetruck, the sound slicing through the air.

Stu draped an arm over her shoulders and led her outside, his movements jerky and unfocused. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”