“To experience the wonder that is Monroe, Colorado.” Jules spread her arms dramatically and then let them fall again. “There’s actually not that much wonder. There is a thrift store, though, and a furniture store. Don’t you want a bigger bed?”
As much as Grace disliked the old house, the idea of leaving it was surprisingly terrifying. It seemed too silly to say out loud, though, so she mentally hunted for excuses. “Will a bigger bed fit in my room?”
“We’ll make it fit.” There was so much determination in Jules’s voice that Grace had a feeling she’d find a way to cram in a king-size bed if that’s what Grace wanted. “Even if it takes the whole room. The bedroom next to yours is empty if you want to turn it into a closet.”
Dee’s eyes grew huge. “I want a bed that takes up my whole room,” she said with breathless wonder.
Unable to hold back a smile, Grace said, “Let’s wait on the walk-in closet. All I have are the clothes I arrived in.” A quarter of the way through her trip to Colorado, she’d stopped by a Walmart in a flying visit to grab a pair of ill-fitting jeans, a T-shirt, and a pair of flip-flops. She’d changed in the bathroom on her way out, and ended up stuffing her bloodstained dress and the LAPD sweatshirt in the trash container. She kept the shoes, though. They were one of her favorite pairs, and she needed to have something from her old life besides her underwear.
“Any closet can be a walk-in,” Tio said as the twins slipped past where the women and Dee were standing in the entry and flung open the front door. “If you try hard enough.”
Ty laughed, shoving the back of his twin’s head as he ran outside. “Bet you can’t walk into Dee’s closet.”
His expression turning thoughtful, Tio asked, “Does it count as walking if I’m not fully upright?”
“Yeah,” Ty said. “But you have to stay on your feet. No crawling or slithering.”
Jules watched with a fond expression as the boys ran toward her SUV, pushing at each other to try to be the first one in. “Guess we’re all going to town.”
With a weak smile, Grace resigned herself to leaving the safety of the house. Jules was right; she did need new clothes and toiletries and some furniture—all sorts of things, really—but she could barely force herself to walk to Jules’s SUV.
Her head swiveled from side to side as she looked around. Despite the sunny day, there was a feeling of menace that she just couldn’t shake. The house was isolated, the property surrounded by trees that blocked the view of any neighbors or nearby roads, but that almost made her paranoia worse. Anyone could be crouched in the shadows between the evergreens, watching her. Her legs shook with the desire to run back into the house, to tear up the stairs to her new room, close the blinds, and hide.
She paused by the SUV, debating what to do, but all the kids were watching her. Jules hadn’t moved toward the driver’s seat. Instead, she was hovering behind Grace, as if she could sense Grace’s need to run back to the house and was ready to block her escape route—for her own good, no doubt. With a silent groan, Grace resigned herself to going into town. As tempting as it was, she couldn’t hide in her room forever, and she did need more than one outfit…and toothpaste. She desperately needed toothpaste.
Dee gave her an encouraging smile and waved her forward. Grace almost groaned again. If a little kid was pitying her, then Grace was truly being pathetic. Stiffening her spine, she climbed into the SUV.
When she’d driven through town the first time, Grace had been hopped up on fear and gas station coffee, so she hadn’t noticed much. Now, with Jules driving, Grace could look her fill. What she saw made her heart sink.
“Wow.” Although she tried for an excited tone, her effort fell flat. “It’s…um…quaint.”
Instead of taking offense, Jules snorted. “You could say that. Or you could just say small.”
It was small. With the mountains circling the town, and the intentionally Old West feel of the line of Main Street shops, downtown Monroe looked like a movie set. An abandoned movie set.
“It’s so quiet,” Grace said, scanning for pedestrians and not seeing any. Except for a few parked cars, the street appeared to be empty. Instead of reassuring her, the lack of people felt eerie. Martin could grab her in broad daylight, and no one would see. Grace’s heart rate picked up.
“Theo told me that most of the residents are seasonal,” Jules explained as she pulled up to the otherwise empty curb. Apparently, parallel parking was not a necessary skill in Monroe. “I guess the winters here can be kind of brutal. A lot of people spend summers in Monroe and the cold months in Arizona or Florida or other warm places.”