Page 26 of My Wife

I really hope so. Speaking around the lump in my throat, I whisper, “I’ve lost too many people in my life already. I can’t do it again.”

Tommy firms his features. “I waited too long for a second chance with you, Cyn. Believe me. It’s going to take a lot more than a freak accident to keep me from you.”

I really fucking hope so—but I know better.

Clay used to say the same exact things to me, and I lost him anyway.

Damn it. I can’t say goodbye to anyone else, but I can’t help but think that Halo Island isn’t done with me just yet.

And there are plenty more people Icanlose.

TEN

SCREAM

Ican’t sleep. Not really.

Damn it.

The first few months after Clay disappeared on me, my therapist hooked me up with a psychiatrist. Dr. Lucas couldn’t prescribe me antidepressants or sleeping pills, but Dr. Hogel could. I guzzled them suckers like they were candy because I needed the break from reality, but once I decided I needed to move on, I stopped refilling the prescription.

What I wouldn’t give to have one of them now.

I don’t know if I would’ve fallen asleep at all if it wasn’t for the protective way that Tommy held me, stroking my hair, and murmuring softly to me so that I was able to relax even a little.

His side of the bed is empty. I think that’s what woke me up. When I couldn’t sense him next to me any longer, my restless sleep became even uneasier until I woke up on my back, staring up at the ceiling.

My hand roves over the rough sheet. My first instinct was that he must’ve gotten up to use the bathroom. I don’t think that’s right. The sheets are cool, as though he’s been missing for a while, and I don’t see the slight yellow light sleeping from under the bathroom door that shows he’s in there.

I rise up on my elbows. “Tommy?”

No answer.

My heart skips a beat.

“Tommy?” A little louder this time. A little more urgent. “You here?”

I don’t think he is.

My phone is on the nightstand on my side of the bed. I grab it, wincing at the bright light of the screen, then the symbol that shows there is no signal on the island. No matter how much I hope that, suddenly, my phone will work and we can call back to Gullhaven, it still hasn’t happened yet. Tommy regretfully assures me it won’t, but I keep checking anyway.

Still no service, and the clock tells me that it’s only a couple of minutes past midnight.

I slept for about two hours, I guess. Not as bad as I thought, but now that I’m inwardly freaking out over Tommy being missing, there’s no way in hell I can go back to sleep until I know where he is.

Using my flashlight, I tiptoe through all of the rooms of the cabin. Just like I thought, he’s not here. The back door is locked, too, and when I check the front door, I see that that oneisn’t.

It was when we decided to lie down. I watched Tommy turn it himself. Did he leave? Where did he go?

Visions of Vee’s broken body flash across my mind. I swallow roughly, eager to push them back. No dice. Instead, Vee’s replaced by Tommy. His deep blue eyes wide and staring, his body crumpled on the ground.

My hand shakes. What if something happened to him?

I move toward the window.

My heart beats triple-time when I see a shadowy figure walking down one of the other porches to a different cabin.

I can’t see who they are. Silhouetted against the faint moonlight, they seem to be dressed all in black. A hoodedsweatshirt. Dark pants. A shadow falls in front of their face so I can’t make out any details there. The height makes me think ‘male’, but willowy Madison is almost as tall as Tommy so that doesn’t really help.

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