That morning, it took time for us to peel ourselves off each other and out of bed. Blake finally solved the problem by carrying me to the table and setting me down on the chair. Breakfast was bacon too, but I wasn’t complaining. While we ate, we spoke in contented smiles and long gazes. I was deliriously, stupendously happy.
The rest of the day was spent walking, talking, and smiling. Our conversations didn’t seem to have a start or finish. We talked about life and death, music and literature, fact and fiction—everything except for what was happening between us.
It couldn’t have been just me feeling this way; I knew it. I felt it in his long silent stares when he thought I wasn’t looking, in the tender way he ran his fingers through my hair, in how he’d lift me up and twirl me when I least expected it. It was in his winks when we caught each other’s eye after a while. Blake cared for me. I was sure of it, now.
Morning, noon, and night passed in this blissful continuity of grins, laughs, and kisses. I fell asleep with my face hurting from smiling so much and woke up eager to start the day.
I kept my phone on, and it seemed weeks had passed when it finally rang again (though my phone indicated it had only been two days).
“Mom?”
“Miss Bell?” a gruff-sounding voice said.
“Yes?”
“You’re requested to come in and give a statement concerning your husband, Mr. Angelo Monti.”
I exhaled. “Okay, yes. Yes, of course.”
“When can you get here?”
I looked at the time on my phone; it was 6 p.m. already. There wouldn’t be enough time to make it to the station today before they closed.
“Would tomorrow be all right?”
“Yes. Just come in when you get here and an officer will assist you shortly. I’m Officer Sherpe; we met by Clark’s. Just ask for me at the front desk.”
“Okay, great. Thank you.”
“Good-bye, Claire.”
“Good-bye.”
When I hung up, Blake was eyeing me.
“The police?”
I nodded. “I have to go in tomorrow.”
He shrugged. “Guess it had to happen eventually.”
I sighed. “I know, but I sort of hoped they’d never call, just sort of forget about me somehow. It was nice, forgetting about it all for a while, almost like it had never happened. But now, telling them all about it, maybe even having to see Angelo, it’s going to be like it happened all over again…” Another sigh escaped my lips.
Blake patted my shoulder and squeezed it. Then he slipped his arms around me.
“Shhh, Claire. It’s going to be all right. I’m here for you, and I’m going to be here for you. It’s going to be all right.”
I let myself sink into Blake’s strong, sweater-clad arms.
“I hope so.”
That night, what we had to do the next day hung over us during dinner. It made our conversation stilted and awkward, made the potatoes taste mushy and bland, made me finally excuse myself outside to walk, to think.
Going back to the station was also going to force a decision about things. It would force me to decide what I wanted to do. I’d waited and seen, but I hadn’t had enough time.
I stared into the darkening sky, the gray swooshes of clouds, as if my answer were out there somewhere. But the clouds were slow-rolling, inconsequential poofs, forming nothing, sliding into vague ice cream shapes. I knew what I wanted, but I still didn’t know if it was right, if Blake wanted it too. I didn’t want to stay here if he wasn’t sure.
Hearing movement behind me, I turned to see a blond woman heading for the cabin. Seeing me, she paused before continuing on. I followed her.
She knocked on the door, and Blake opened it just as I was arriving beside her.
“Anya,” he said.
He gaped at her, and my heart fell to my feet.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Blake,” she said.
Even from the side I could see that she was beautiful, more than beautiful. She was model gorgeous. Her big eyes were wide set, blue, and upturned, while her sloped nose was just the right size. The grand finale of her face, however, were those full, heart-shaped lips that were drawn up in a smile at the man I loved.
“They told me you were all the way up here,” she said, waving her thin hand around as she spoke.
“I practically couldn’t believe it. No phone, no nothing. Basically killed myself getting up here.”
Blake said nothing, only stared at her as if she were a ghost.
“Can we talk?” she asked, stepping closer.
Blake blinked and then nodded.