Page 65 of A Constant Reminder

Chapter 39 – Sam

The night Tyler went out with Andrew, I finished up with my tutoring appointment and decided to have a little bit of ‘me’ time. Lately, I had been surrounded my people seemingly 24/7, so a little alone time didn’t sound terrible.

After pouring myself a glass of whiskey, I headed upstairs to plant myself firmly in the bathtub for the next hour. I lit candles, poured in bubble bath, and even dimmed the lights creating the perfect level of ambiance.

A moan escaped my lips as I settled into the hot water. A bath always seemed to melt my worries away, and with as much as I had been stressing, some relaxation was well overdue.

As I let the water take me into a sea of bliss, I felt slightly proud of myself that I had gotten Tyler to go reconnect with his friend. Since he and I started dating, it didn’t seem like he had much in the way of male companionship, and I thought some guy time would help him relax a little too.

He was much more of a social butterfly than I was, so he tended to be much happier interacting with people, where I was just fine spending some time alone.

Although I had a lot of friends growing up (until the James incident), I was never super close with anyone in particular. Usually, I didn’t invite people into my inner circle because I didn’t want to explain my mentally ill mother to them. I think people around town knew she was sick, but we tried not to discuss any details.

Being surrounded by my loud brothers and my mother, who also tended to be loud in nature, I learned at a young age to enjoy the quiet. There was a small pond at the back of our property that I would sneak off to anytime I had even the slightest bit of free time.

Everyone knew where I was, but everyone also knew to leave me alone. The sounds of the water dropping off the leaves into the water was the only sound I needed.

I missed that pond. It was my own little oasis where I could escape the world. My Valhalla I could run to when the world got a little too much to bear.

Now, I would just have to settle for this gorgeous oversized bathtub. Tyler and I had made some fun memories in that tub too, so I guess it had turned into my favorite place considering most everything in Kansas had turned sour.

Growing up in the small town of Armstrong, I always felt torn. At heart, I was a country girl, and I loved everything about small town life. But the other part of me wanted to venture off into the world and do something with my life. Most people in Armstrong graduated high school, got married, and immediately started having babies. No matter what, I wanted to work and contribute. The stay at home mom life just wasn’t for me. Lord knows I would never have the patience for it.

Back then though, Armstrong was a good town. There wasn’t a lot of crime, the schools were good, and people were genuinely nice to each other albeit nosey as hell. I always imagined if I ever did settle down, I would do it there…raise my kids on tough love and mud just like I was.

But Armstrong and all its memories were too jaded for me now. I couldn’t go back to stay. Even if James were to go to prison for what he did to me, I don’t think anyone would ever forgive me. In their eyes, I betrayed one of their own. Besides, James was the golden boy, and I was the wild child with the fucked-up mama.

But I liked Boston. True, it didn’t have the same small-town charm, but it wasn’t crazy crowded either. I’d hoped Tyler never wanted to move back to New York city because I certainly didn’t handle crowds well.

At the end of the day though, I would be open to going anywhere if I thought it would get me away from James. Of course, he followed me across the country, so I knew he’d probably just hunt me down again.

I shook my head trying to rid my thoughts of that monster. After all, I was supposed to be relaxing.

Instead, I let my thoughts drift to that wonderful man of mine. And despite my overwhelming urge to have some alone time, I still missed him. Maybe he’d get home in enough time to join me in my bath-time euphoria.

My eyes drifted closed as I thought about how lucky I was to have him. I laid in the tub for what felt like hours, letting my muscles relax and my worries melt in the steam.

Soon, I had to splash some water on my face to keep from lulling myself to sleep. I’m sure that would make for a great headline:

College Student Dies Falling Asleep in Tub.

What a way to go.

After washing and rinsing myself, I got out and wrapped a towel around my body, the colder air from the bedroom hitting me and jolting me back awake.

As I passed by the bed, I noticed I had a missed text, one I assumed was from Tyler letting me know he was on his way home.

But when I clicked on the phone, there was a photo of me…in my black dress I wore to the gala. I didn’t recognize the number, but I knew who it was from based on the writing.

Looking straight like the call-girl whore you are.

He’s still watching me.

The lump in my chest grew as I felt like I could no longer breathe. He was there, and I had no clue. So much for me being able to tell when I was in danger. Clearly, my spider senses weren’t as good as I assumed they were.

Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? Why did he have to taunt me?

He was there. He was right there, and I did nothing. If I can’t tell when someone is watching me, how am I ever going to have a chance at putting him behind bars? He would kill me before I even get close.

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