Page 58 of Between Our Hearts

Then they were passing it. Eight twenty-nine. The little two-story, two-bedroom where she’d brought a handsy Clark that first night. They’d barely made it through her front door before an inverse of what had happened in Parker’s garage occurred. The metal rim peephole had scratched her neck when he’d lifted her and pressed her against it with one arm.

Sadie’s trembling fingers found the spinous process of her cervical spine. When her clammy hand gripped the back of her neck, everything left her. Tears were on her face streaming onto the leather seats of her friend’s car, her muscles refused to hold their position as she sagged, the last of the oxygen in her body escaped, and she was sure—absolutely sure—she was bleeding to death.

She’d gone through the year from hell, losing life after life, but now she’d finally lost her husband.

?Chapter 30?

Aslap echoed in the concrete-walled back area of Nash’s Hardware Store as Clark set two more pine boards upon his stack. Nash’s didn’t have a wide wood selection, but the idea of spending the time he was paying Aurelia driving sixty minutes round trip to the lumber yard felt like a waste. He needed this time to complete a few more pieces to replenish the inventory he’d sold this morning.

Even though it’d rained off and on at the farmer’s market, that hadn’t deterred customers from nearly buying him out. Now that he had an hour gap in the day-long projected rainstorm, he wanted to get this wood home before it was soaked through. He was stacking another board into his cart when his phone pinged with a text. Had Lottie been with him, he would have ignored it, but since the message could be from Aurelia, he pulled the phone from the front pocket of his shorts.

Unlisted:A reminder that your apt is at 9:00am tomorrow. Durham Psychological Services. Text STOP to opt out.

Clark’s shoulders pulled so far forward his muscles protested the action. He’d have to call the office first thing tomorrow and cancel. Though he’d championed them working with a therapist—finding one that specializes in pregnancy loss—even though Sadie had wanted to hash out everything last night, a part of him wasn’t sure things could be fixed at this point. Coming home from the market today and finding her car, scrubs, and toothbrush gone had been a nail gun to the stomach.

“You told her to leave,” he reminded himself.

After navigating the industrial panel cart around a revolving seed display, a ready-to-buy chicken coop, and a mess of hanging wind chimes, he stopped third in line at the register. To the left sat a folding table covered with plastic potted plants. Their viridescent rippled leaves resembled the plants Sadie had showed him at Peaceably Park last weekend. A pinprick tingling sensation swept his chest and traversed down his arms. When he looked back up, Buddy, the elderly store owner, had replaced the teenager at the register and the line had vanished.

“Clark! Good to see you.” The older man adjusted the suspenders over his blue-striped collared Nash’s Hardware shirt.

“You too.” He clasped the man’s outstretched hand.

“Haven’t seen you in a while.”

He shrugged. “Been working off my surplus, but it was time to get some more wood.”

Buddy gave anmmm-hmmand started keying in the codes for the various boards Clark had stacked on the cart.

“Tell your wife we’ve got those flowers she’s so fond of half-off through Sunday.” A weathered, arthritic finger pointed to the gathering of white, yellow, and red flowers Clark had just been examining. “I always thought it was peculiar that she bought so many one at a time.” He darted his eyes to the side before continuing in a stage whisper. “Not that you don’t already know, being her husband and all, but she’s an intense kind of lady, so I wasn’t about to question her gardening methods. Not after she put Alice’s hip back together so nicely five years ago.” He punched a final button. “With your discount, that’ll be $168.52.”

Clark’s fingers were numb as they fumbled for his credit card and pushed it into the card receiver. “You know, she spread them all around. I feel like I don’t even get to see half of them. How many did you say she bought?”

The man’s thick grey brows rushed together.

“We’re on one of those five acre lots.” The lie felt like sawdust in his mouth, but his need to know the answer weighed on him more than the unease of being dishonest.

“Ah.” He tilted his head back, thinking. “I’d say about twenty-five or so, maybe more.”

Clark barely stifled the sharp cough that wanted to escape his lips.

Buddy ripped the receipt off the register and handed it over. “Good luck with your project. Tell the missus ‘hi’ for me.”

Some mumbled appropriate salutation was created by his throat, but he didn’t register his movement away from the counter and through the automated exit doors until his cart was stalled beside the tailgate of his truck.

Twenty-five.

His mind quickly ran through the calculation, dividing that number by three. He moved forward unseeing, scratching his shin on the edge of a wood board. The pain brought back his faculties, allowing him to load his truck and find himself behind its idling wheel, hand frozen on the gear shift. He pulled his phone out of his front pocket and did a quick search of local parks. There were dozens within several smiles. Bruised storm clouds threatened to open up again as he clicked his GPS to navigate.

The next closest one, with the exception of Peaceably Park, was the one with the baseball and soccer fields. It was more of a field park than one meant for picnics and playtime, which was why he’d never brought Lottie here. Once his truck screeched to a stop in the parking lot, he jogged around the perimeter and was mentally calling himself a crazy man until he caught a glimpse of white in front of the kudzu-covered trees beyond the last outfield.

His heart galloped against his breastbone when he skidded to a halt in front of it, his hands finding his knees. Only half of the slim white petals were still attached to its dark center. The plants bookending the center one held only bare stalks. They were undeniably the same ones he’d seen at Nash’s Hardware Store—the same ones Sadie had shown him.

Even though she’d denied having an affair last night, Clark hadn’t been able to relinquish his suspicion that she couldn’t have spent all that time alone. But staring at an exact replica of the arrangement she’d planted at Peaceably Park, one thought ricocheted in his skull.

She’d been telling the truth.

A sweaty palm ran the length of his chest before his calves clenched to race back to his truck. Sadie’s phone rang to her voicemail twice, and he pitched his phone on the passenger seat before realizing that maybe he could find her this way. He tapped into his GPS again.

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