Chapter 5
The chandelier was on again by six.
I hadn't seen Evelyn turn it on, but the light poured down the hallway and threw hard diamonds across the wood floor. I was still in the blue dress, sitting on the edge of the guest room bed with my small duffel half-zipped at my feet. My forehead throbbed under the skin where the bruise had darkened to a deep purple-red.
Evelyn's voice carried from the living room, bright and even. She was on the phone.
"Yes, we're all fine. Just the caterer canceled, that's all. Daniel stopped by, you know how he is," she said, and she laughed. The laugh was practiced, light. The diamonds at her throat caught the chandelier light every time she moved. "We'll be at the foundation dinner Thursday. Of course. Wouldn't miss it."
She didn't mention me. She didn't mention the floor or the wall or the way I'd held my hand to my head. She was building normal out of air, one sentence at a time.
Daniel stood in the doorway of the guest room, his gray suit jacket over his arm. He didn't look at me right away. He watched the hallway where his mother's voice was.
"Claire," he said quietly, finally. "I have to go."
I looked up. "Go where?"
"Warehouse call. Overnight inventory in Greenville. I tried to get cover but I'm the manager on duty. If I don't show, I lose the shift and they write me up." He stepped into the room and kept his voice low. "I didn't know until twenty minutes ago. I wouldn't leave if I had a choice."
My stomach dropped. The whole afternoon I'd told myself I could stay because he was between us. Without him, the house was just her hallways and her locked cabinets and me in a dress that wasn't mine anymore.
"How long?" I asked.
"Till six a.m. I'll drive back straight here." He set his jacket down and pulled his phone from his pocket, then a second older phone, black with a cracked corner. "This is a spare. Prepaid. It's charged. My number's already in it. You don't need Wi-Fi to text or call."
He held it out. I hesitated before I took it. It felt warm from his pocket, heavier than it looked.
"I can't stay awake all night for you," he said. His eyes flicked to the bruise on my forehead. "But you can lock this door. There's a push lock and that chair. Put it under the handle. Don't open for anyone."
From the living room, Evelyn ended her call with another laugh. "Love you too. Bye now."
Daniel's jaw tightened. He glanced toward the sound of her heels on the wood floor.
I pulled my duffel onto the bed and stared at it. Inside was one pair of jeans, two t-shirts, my ID, the envelope with the clinic photos still on my phone and now also printed at the drugstore that afternoon. Not enough for anywhere. I had no apartment since I'd moved in here, no car that would make it past the county line without overheating, and twenty-eight dollars in my checking account until Friday.
"If I leave now, where do I go?" I said, more to myself than to him. "Bus station doesn't run after eight. And if I walk out, she'll say I quit. She'll say I stole something."
"You don't have to leave tonight," Daniel said. "You just have to not be reachable. Locked room. Phone on. Text me if she knocks, if anything feels off. I will come back. I swear I will."
Evelyn appeared in the hallway then, her red dress bright under the chandelier, necklace centered perfectly. She smiled when she saw us both in the doorway.
"Daniel, you're still here?" she said. "I thought you had work."
"I do. I'm heading out," he said.
She looked past him to me, to the duffel. Her smile didn't move. "Claire, dear, are you settling in? I had Mara make up this room for you. You'll sleep much better here than on that floor."
I didn't answer. My hand closed around the spare phone.
Daniel picked up his jacket. "Mom. She’s staying in this room tonight. Door locked. Don't bother her."
Evelyn tilted her head, earrings swaying. "Of course. We all need rest." She turned halfway, then paused. "Claire, if you need anything, just knock. No need for extra phones."
The way she said extra phones made my skin go cold. She'd seen.
Daniel zipped his jacket and looked at me once more. "Lock it after I leave. Text me when it's locked."
I nodded. My throat was dry.
He walked out. I heard the front door open, the cool night air rush in, then close. His car started in the driveway, headlights sweeping once across the guest room blinds, then fading down the street.
May you like
Evelyn stayed a second longer in the hallway, her hand resting lightly on her necklace. Then she clicked off the hall chandelier on her way back to the kitchen, leaving the guest room lit alone like a small island.
I locked the door. I dragged the white desk chair under the handle the way he'd shown me. I sat on the bed with the spare phone lit in my hand and listened to the house settle around me, to her quiet footsteps controlling the dark beyond my door, and I didn't sleep.
