Page 129 of The Clover Chapel (Jamison Valley 2)
“You have a surprise for me?”
“Yep.”
“And? What is it?”
“How attached are you to those meatballs?” he asked. In the crockpot were Thai meatballs I was going to serve over jasmine rice.
“Considering that it’s the first edible meal I’ve ever made you? Pretty attached.”
“Okay. We’ll eat and then you can have your surprise.”
I scrunched up my face and pouted. “Can I have it now?”
“No.”
“I hate surprises,” I said.
He grinned. “I know.”
We ate dinner and then Nick loaded me up in his truck. I figured he was taking me to a movie or for ice cream so when he pulled off the highway and into my driveway, I started having a mild panic attack.
“You’re taking me to my house? That’s not a surprise. That’s torture. I’m not ready yet.” My skin was clammy and a wave of nausea rolled through my stomach.
“You have to go in sometime, Emmy,” he said, taking my hand. “I’ll be with you the whole time.”
“I don’t think I can.”
He stopped his truck in front of the garage and turned to me, taking both of my hands. “Did you know that Maisy was a nurse?”
“Yes. I read it in an article about their kidnapping after I moved here.”
“So then you know that her and Gigi were kidnapped and held in the basement of the hospital.”
I nodded.
“Maisy hasn’t set foot back in that building since it happened. She gave up her career because she couldn’t overcome those fears. I don’t want that for you, to be scared of a building. This is just a place. It’s got good memories and bad. But it can’t hurt you.”
I chewed on my lower lip. He was right. Avoidance could only last so long. It was my house. But acknowledging the facts didn’t make me feel any less anxious.
He lifted one of my hands to his lips and then got out of the truck.
As we ascended the stone stairs, my hands started shaking. In my mind I could hear myself screaming for help as Jinx carted me into the night.
“You can do this. I’m right here,” Nick said. He pushed open the front door and led me inside. I clutched his hand with both of mine. “You’re doing great. Let’s rip off the Band-Aid. Straight upstairs and to your room.”
I followed him up the stairs and down the hallway. As we got closer and closer, my feet turned to lead weights.
We crossed the threshold and I stared around my room.
He must have come over this week because the bed had been made and everything was back in its proper place.
I took a deep breath and reminded myself that this was just a place. Nothing in here was going to hurt me. The fears were still in my head, but they were linked to Jinx and Wrecker. My room was just a room. “I’m okay.”
“I knew you would be,” he sai
d and wrapped me in a tight hug. “Now you get your surprise.”
“It better not just be sex because we could have done that at your house and avoided all of this drama. And if it is just sex, you’d better be planning something big to make this up to me.”
