I’m pretty positive he won’t. Ihave a feeling he’ll be sleeping the drunk off all day. “Of course,you can.”
He reaches over and touches myhand before getting out of the truck and slowly maneuvers his wayup the few steps to the small white house. I wait until he pushesthe buzzer and the woman answers before I get out of the truck andhide the keys on top of the rear wheel. I’ll text him in themorning to tell him where they are.
I lean against the truck as Iwait for Annie to arrive, and I try to process the last few hours.It’s hard to believe I got married this morning. The whole day wasovershadowed by Denny’s arrival. And yet, aside from the initialdisruption, nothing really bad happened—not even with Annie in theroom. It was a recipe for disaster and it didn’t take. Granted, I’msure if Tim and Hank weren’t there, it would have been much worse.I’ll have to thank Tim for being a great distraction, even if itinvolved a full bottle of whiskey.
Finally, I see headlights comingup the road—Annie. When she pulls up, I hop in the passenger sideand smile at her. She doesn’t look at me. She just concentrates onturning the car around.
“How are you feeling?” I ask,once we’re driving.
“Fine.”
Oh, great. “Annie, I honestlyhad no idea that Denny would show up, I promise you.”
“He sure found out about thewedding pretty damn easily. What if he got violent again, Jade? ForGod’s sake, I’m pregnant. That guy is a loose cannon. The fact thathe somehow held it together tonight was sheer luck.”
“Well, he is trying. He’s evenback on his meds.”
She snorts. “Nice try, Jade. Hetook his meds, or what he said were his meds, with a half a glassof whisky. I don’t think that counts as trying.”
I know better than to argue.Annie is in a mood. All she’s looking for is for me to defend mybrother and she’ll blow her stack.
“Annie, we got married today. Weshould be happy, not fighting. Who cares what could have happened?It didn’t, and we’re finally alone.”
She shrugs, sighs and then nods.“I guess you’re right.”
When we get home, we find thekitchen looking like the casualty of a food fight. Stinky got intothe leftover food on the table and slid everything onto the floor.He stands, frozen, in the middle of the carnage.
I look at him, he looks at meand then he takes off, running out of the kitchen and into thebedroom to hide. “That little shit,” I say, grabbing the broom outof the kitchen closet.
“That’s just typical,” I hearher say, and I glance at her. She’s smiling.
It takes us a half hour toclean, and by the end we’re sticky and exhausted. We take a showertogether, more to save time than to be romantic—we’re both toobagged.
When we’re finally in bed, Icurl around her and press my face into her sweet-smelling hair.“I’m sorry, babe. I’m sorry that my brother showed up. I wantedtoday to be great. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
She snuggles closer to me, and Itake that as forgiveness.
Right before I fall asleep, mymind goes back to Annie, at the moment when she saw the envelopefull of money in the bedroom. She seemed almost entranced by it. Inever thought she’d react to Denny’s gift that way. Hell, Iwouldn’t think she’d react to money that way. She’s never beenmaterialistic, as far as I know, anyway. She’s always been happy inour small cottage, with her flowing cotton skirts, and her seashellmobiles.
Chapter Twelve
I wake in a cold sweat with myheart pounding hard inside my chest.
I sit up and try to slow mybreathing, then I look around the room.
It was just a dream, a veryrealistic and terrifying dream. I was down at the dock again. Itwas foggy, like before. I was sitting on the dock with my feethanging over. Then, I saw the same skiff floating towards me. As itcame closer, I saw Robbie again, lying there with his eyes open.This time, he turned his head, and our eyes met. I tried to get upbut my feet slipped out from under me and I fell onto my back. Thenext thing I knew, he was crawling up the dock like a strangecreature. I felt his boney cold hands grasp onto my ankles andslowly start to slide me down the dock, toward the dark ocean. Evenstruggling as hard as I could, I couldn’t break free from hisgrasp. I tried to kick but my legs were made of lead. I opened mymouth to scream, but a sudden gust of wind swallowed my voice. Myfeet slid into the water and I held onto the dock, my fingersslipping. I looked down to see Robbie’s distorted face under thesea, his eyes huge and dark as he tugged me down.
I won’t tell Annie about thedream. There’s no point. I’ll just shake it off and pretend itnever happened.
Thankfully, I don’t have to workfor a few days—my boss’s wedding gift to me. Annie isn’t as lucky.She opts to go to work today, saying they are short staffed.Instead of a honeymoon, we’ve agreed to save money for the comingbaby bills.
Since I’ll be home when Anniegets off work, I’ve decided to return the surprise that she gave meand make tonight special for her—minus the strip tease. So far,I’ve got candles, a compilation CD of all our favorite songs, anice vegetarian lasagna dish that I bought on my way home from workand put in the freezer, and a box of perfumed silk rose petals thatI plan to scatter in the bedroom.
There are still hours beforeAnnie is home, so I decide to take Stinky to Sandwell Park beachfor a run and a pee before I start preparations. It’s a beautifulspot to go, with great trails just up from shore and spectacularviews of Georgia Strait from the beach. In the summer it’s packedwith tourists, but now it’s not crowded at all, and I can letStinky run free. I feel a lot easier about walking through thetrails now that I have a dog. If he senses any predatory animalssuch as a cougar, he’ll bark his
