Saving Us(27)

We’d had a good time, even though our visit had been for something so sad. After the whole prank thing, everyone got along like nothing had happened. Conner had said it would be like that, but I didn’t believe him until I saw it for myself. We had a huge card game going the night before, in which I won. They said it was beginners luck and it would be the last time I ever won again. Conner seemed proud of me, which made me all giddy over my accomplishment. Honestly, it had been all luck. I was never the best at cards.

When we passed the sign welcoming us back to North Carolina, it made me sad. I wanted to believe that I could get through anything as long as I had Conner by my side. The thing is, I just couldn’t be certain. Rick had lied about pretty much everything I ever knew. I still hadn’t told Conner about his phone calls to the salon because I was too afraid of what Conner would do. To me, he was a gentle man, but I’d seen him get pissed and he wanted to kick Rick’s ass more than anything.

Ty and Miranda headed over to his parents for dinner, while Conner and I climbed into his bed and enjoyed the quiet. Living with three kids wasn’t easy. I already felt like I was imposing, so I tried to help out or stay out of the way.

The following morning I drove myself to work. Jax was running a fever and Miranda stayed home to take care of him. Conner had already left to work somewhere on the farm and I really didn’t see it as being a big deal. There was nothing wrong with my car and I had a new phone in case something did happen. While driving, I found myself constantly checking the rear view mirror.

“Come on Amy, get it together. There is nobody following you,” I said to myself.

As I pulled up at the shop, I noticed that the parking lot was pretty empty. I grabbed my keys out of the ignition and reached over for my purse, but didn’t stick the keys inside. Miranda had given me a bottle of pepper spray to have for safety. I knew I was being a worry wart, but I held the keys up as I walked, like I was prepared to spray someone in the face.

I inserted my keys into the door and felt something touching my shoulder. As I turned around, I tried to grab my keys out of the door, but they had to be turned to come free. Instead, I took my elbow and threw it back to push myself away from whoever was behind me. My arm made contact directly with the person’s face. They hunched over holding their face and the first thing I noticed was that it was a female. She had brown hair and it was pulled into a ball cap, plus she had on sunglasses, even though it wasn’t very sunny out. “Oh my God! I am so sorry. I didn’t know someone was behind me.”

Thinking that it was a customer, I opened the door and pulled her into the salon while she held onto her bleeding nose. “I am so sorry, sit down here and I will get some rags.” I ran into the back room and grabbed a few rags and wet them.

When I got back out to where the woman was sitting, I noticed she still had her head down. She wasn’t saying much as I approached her. “Just lean your head back and put one of these up to your nose.” I went to grab the glasses off of her face to help, but she grabbed my hand.

“Wait!”

That voice…I had heard it before, but couldn’t place it.

“Amy, I’m in trouble. Please don’t freak out.” She removed her glasses and it took me a second to realize who it was.

“Heather?”

She stood up but kept the rag over her nose. I watched her finger come up. “Please just hear me out. I didn’t know where to go. I’m afraid he’s going to kill me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Who is? What does this have to do with me? Why would you even think I would be a good person to help you? Do you have any idea how much I hate you?”

“Please, Amy, you have to listen to me. I’m in real trouble here.”

I looked at Heather for the first real time since I’d realized it was her. She’d dyed her hair a dark brown and was wearing jeans and a hoodie. Anyone that knew the girl, knew she didn’t even own the kind of clothes she had on.

I put my hands on my hips and sighed. The girl seemed petrified of something. I started to pull my cell phone out of my pocket. “I need to call Conner, before you say anything to me.”

“No! You can’t tell anyone. Please just listen to me. I overheard something that I shouldn’t have. Amy, Rick isn’t who we think he is. He has some kind of secret and I’m afraid I got too close to it.”

I sat down on the chair beside her. Obviously she had gotten my attention enough for me to listen. “What are you talking about?”

She started crying right away. I refused to give her sympathy. She deserved to cry for all that she’d done. Maybe that made me an equally horrible person, but she’d caused the people that I loved too many problems for me to be cordial.