* * * * *
Sonia’s senses returned somewhat to normal when Callum stepped away from her but took her hand and led her to a plethora of shopping bags that were lined against the opposite wall.
He did a sweep and nabbed the handles all in one huge fist even though there were ten of them, some of them large. This proved her theory correct that he had every centimeter of his body under control and was stronger than an ox because she knew no man or woman (even expert shoppers) who could do that the way he did, effortlessly.
He carried the bags to the bathroom while never letting go of her hand.
He stopped her inside and dropped the bags by the wall.
Sonia stared at the bags idiotically, noting they nearly took up the remainder of space that Sonia and Callum weren’t occupying.
“Everything you need will be in these bags,” he announced, regaining her attention and she watched him cock his head to the bathroom counter, “or those.”
She looked to the counter to see three more bags there but those were smaller.
Then she looked back at Callum and nodded.
“When you’re finished, if I’m not in the house, I’ll be out back,” he went on.
She nodded again.
“You’ll need to make breakfast, little one. I’ll be a while. The kitchen’s stocked. Eggs, toast, bacon,” he carried on and this last sounded like a gentle order.
She was still too deep in all the weirdness that was surrounding her to do anything but nod to that too. Then he left the bathroom, quietly closing the door behind him.
Incidentally, her parents’ rustic bathroom had been significantly updated. It still appeared rustic but it had a claw-footed tub that could easily seat two. The tub had an elaborate spout and spray system and a shower. The basin was finished with a fabulous concrete countertop that worked really well with the log walls and wood floor. Not to mention thick-pile rugs, fluffy, soft towels, and a big mirror over the basin with a great light fixture above it.
It wasn’t until after she’d discovered the three bags on the countertop had her favorite shampoo, conditioner, bath wash, lotion, and perfume as well her brand of razor and a variety of her cosmetics with the exact right shades and included brushes.
It wasn’t until after she’d perused what was in the ten shopping bags and found a variety of girlie outdoor gear. Corduroys, jeans, belts, long-sleeved thermals, long-sleeved tees, henleys, sweaters, fleeces, poofy vests and thick socks that were all in her exact sizes. But not her colors. She usually wore white, black, gray or silver. There was none of that and, of course, she never wore outdoor gear and hadn’t in thirty-one years.
It wasn’t until after she’d found sexy, lacy, satiny, silky lingerie for sleeping in and even sexier lacy, satiny, silky underwear for wearing (and not a piece of it her usual classic, but utilitarian, undergarments) were also in the bags.
It wasn’t until after she’d lotioned, spritzed perfume, gunked smoothing elixir into her hair and put on a light coat of makeup.
It was when was blow-drying her hair with a blow dryer she found in the cabinet. She was doing it while standing in front of the mirror in a demi bra made of pale green-yellow silk topped with beige lace and matching Brazilian cut panties. Neither of which she’d even glance at in a store, but, she had to admit, they were beautiful and made her feel a little bit saucy. It was then that her mind shuffled logically through last night and this morning and everything that had happened.
Last night, while she was innocently sleeping (for all they knew), men invaded her house.
They grabbed her, scared her nearly to death and discussed raping her.
Then Callum came in and, obviously, saved the day.
However, afterward, he did not phone the police.
She did not wake up in a hospital bed or shaken by a uniformed officer.
Most importantly, she was not introduced by a proper authority to Callum as the man who just happened to be walking past her house and heard her scream (which, she also noted, she never screamed so how on earth had he known to come in at all!). Therefore, upon hearing her scream, he gallantly burst forth to wrest her from the clutches of evil.
This morning, when she’d woken thinking she was in a dream, he had not informed her firmly that she was not, indeed, dreaming. And Callum, she also noted, could be very firm.
Instead, he’d not acted like a gentleman and he’d taken advantage of her obvious confusion and vulnerability and kissed her and other things as well.
Now she found out that he knew her preferences for toiletries and her size.
He’d been prepared for this.
Very prepared.
She knew why and she thought it was a cruel, cosmic joke that the man outside splitting logs (she could hear the axe and the logs dropping into the snow), looked like her dream man.