There was a bounce to her tone that Dorian noticed. Sam had cooled it slightly on how hard she was being on him, and he looked relieved.
“He thinks I’m eating his dinner,” Dorian said, tapping his foot on the floor.
“To be fair, you are,” Erik said. “I always gave Mister Cat my leftover fish.”
“You named this beast Mister Cat?” I asked, gingerly picking him up and dropping him to the floor.
Erik raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m not good at naming stuff. Besides, he’s not really mine.”
“Whose cat is he?” I asked.
“No idea,” Erik said. “An outdoor cat that spends a lot of time here.”
“Because you feed him,” I muttered.
Erik picked up Mister Cat and held him against his chest. He nuzzled him before setting him down in the hallway.
“I should have warned you that he likes to hang out in here sometimes,” Erik said.
“That would have been nice,” I said, placing my fingers on my neck where the cat had been licking me.
“Oh! Mel!” Sam said, clapping her hands together. “We should borrow him so he can take care of that little mouse problem.”
My shoulders dropped with my exhale. “Yep. That’s not embarrassing to tell them about the mice that live in my house.”
“It isn’t your house,” Sam said, shifting her weight.
“A mouse or two has been known to sneak in here,” Erik said. “It comes with living in the woods. I might have some traps in the garage.”
“Thanks,” I said, getting to my feet. I swallowed down a yawn as I pressed my shoulders back. “I think we should get going.”
“You don’t want to stay for lunch?” Dorian asked.
My eyes narrowed. “What happened to breakfast?”
“You slept through it,” Sam said with a gentle smile.
“Oh,” I said, not bothering to mention that I still felt tired. I would have slept longer had I not been woken by the dream… or the cat. “We have a lot of work to do.”
“We could help?” Erik offered.
I shook my head. “No, that’s really not necessary.”
“Okay, well, if I find the traps, I’ll drop them off later, if that okay with you,” Erik said.
“Yeah, sure.” I walked past Mister Cat and weaved between Erik and Sam. I could feel all their eyes on me. “Thanks again for everything.”
“Thank you,” Sam echoed. “It was fun, which sounds absolutely crazy.”
Erik followed us down the stairs. “Maybe we could do it again sometime.”
“I’m out of wine,” Sam said.
“There is plenty to drink,” Erik said with a laugh.
“Yeah, maybe,” I said, wanting to get out of the house.
Anxiety was creeping up my spine, and I wanted to get back to familiar territory. I wanted fresh air. I wanted to breathe.
I didn’t want their questioning eyes on me. I didn’t want to feel their worry.
Waking up abruptly had put me into a strange state. It felt like I needed to get away from something, although I was safe in Erik’s house.
The worst part of my condition was feeling like I needed to get away but couldn’t. That was almost always the source of my panic attacks… not being able to get away.
It was bad enough Erik and Dorian had seen me start to lose it back in the town. Neither of them needed to see me get swallowed by fear and panic when there was no reason to be. I didn’t want them to see how bad things could be for me.
I never wanted anyone to know. If I could have kept it a secret for the rest of my life, I would have.
Ever since Sam and Olivia found out, they treated me differently. I didn’t blame them. And after everything with Elijah, I was different.
When we got back to the house, I went straight for the coffee table to get my medicine. I twisted and turned. Dropped to my knees, swiping my hand all over the floor and under the couch.
“Sam?” I said.
“Hmm?” She locked the door and walked over to me.
I stared at her shoes for a long moment, trying to remember the last time I’d seen my medicine. As far as I could remember, I’d set them down on the coffee table.
“Where is my medicine?” I asked, sitting on my knees.
“Um?” Sam said, looking at the kitchen table, then into the kitchen. “Did you bring them with you?”
I shook my head.
“Bathroom?” she asked.
“I always kept them here,” I said, tapping the corner of the coffee table with my fingers. “How can they just be gone?”
“We’ll find them,” Sam said, giving me a smile. “They couldn’t have gone far. I’m sure you just misplaced them.”
I knew that I hadn’t, but that didn’t stop me from looking everywhere. We checked every possible place multiple times.
“Maybe the mouse took them?” Sam joked.
“I guess maybe it did,” I said with my hands on my hips. “We should move the couch.”
“Are you serious?” Sam asked, wiping sweat from her brow.
My eyebrows squished together, and my eyes were wide. “Kind of.”
“Fine,” Sam said, walking around to the other side of the couch. “Where should we put this stuff?”
“Our fire pit?”
“Even the blankets?”
I shook my head. “Not the blankets.”
I wanted to keep them because I didn’t know how long we’d be at my mom’s house. Sure, it was warm now, but it wouldn’t stay that way. Winter would come, and I didn’t know if power would be restored by then.
Of course, I wasn’t going to tell Sam why I wanted to keep them. She probably thought they had some sentimental value, but I didn’t even know where they’d come from.
We moved the coffee table and then wiggled the couch away from the wall. There was a lot of junk and dust under the couch that had likely been there since
