Page 10 of The Last Trip

“They’re outside. Watching us.” Chills line my skin as the reality sinks in. How long have they been there? Why are they there? What do they want?

Finally, I hear his footsteps moving toward me, and I glance over my shoulder at him.

“What did you say?” he asks, brows drawn down.

“The homeowners. They’re—” When I turn back, the couple has disappeared. My heart sinks. It’s as if they were never there. I peer at the space in the snow where their footprints are located, but it’s covered in tracks from both people and animals and offers no actual proof of anything. “Gone.” I swallow as Cal’s hands come to grip my shoulders.

“What’s the matter?”

“They were standing out here,” I tell him again. “We made eye contact.”

He leans closer to me as if he still might not have heard. “What do you mean? They were just standing out in the yard?”

“Yes. Over there by the edge of the house.” I point toward the spot. “When I walked up, I noticed them. I’m not sure how long they’d been there. When they realized I’d seen them, they walked away.”

“Maybe they were checking something.” He stares out into the yard. “Like, I don’t know, a bird feeder or a spigot cover or something.”

I move past him without a plan, hurrying toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

I slip on my shoes and whip open the door to step outside, but as I do, my foot hits a patch of ice on the porch. I didn’teven realize Cal was behind me until I feel his arms catch me. My weight slams into his chest, knocking the wind from my lungs. “Careful,” he warns, helping me to steady myself. “Are you okay?” He looks me over, but I’m not looking at him. I’m looking for them.

Where did they go?

I don’t dare take another step forward.

“Sadie,” he says, frustrated.

Finally, my attention falls back to him. “Sorry. What?”

“Are you okay?” His hands are on my arms. “You scared me. You could’ve fallen.”

“I’m…I’m okay.” I blink away the fog from my eyes, focusing on him as he pulls me inside with a worried look on his face. “I just, I could’ve sworn…”

He shuts the door behind us, cutting off my fears. “Let’s get you inside before you get hurt. I’ll sprinkle some salt on the porch after dinner, okay? Lucky thing I was there.”

I swallow. “What were they doing, though, Cal?”

He shrugs, hardly looking back at me. “If we see them again, we’ll ask. I’m sure there’s an explanation. You said they were in the yard, not on the porch. If they’d been trying to watch us, they wouldn’t have seen much from out there.”

A shiver runs over me. “They give me the creeps. I can’t explain it. I just feel like they’re not good people.”

His hand smooths over my arm as he eases me back down onto the couch. “Mother’s intuition, maybe? You’re feeling extra protective right now, as you should be. But let me worry about them, okay? I’m sure it was an innocent misunderstanding.”

I glance back over the couch. “And if it wasn’t?”

His lips form a worried line as he looks me over before deciding on an answer. “Then you know I won’t let anything happen to you. Either of you. You’re safe with me.” His eyes flick down to my stomach, and he squeezes my hand.

I smile at him, knowing he’s trying to reassure me, though it’s doing no real good. He walks away long enough to throw the bell peppers on the pizza and pop it into the oven, and when he returns, he pulls my legs onto his lap, massaging my calves. When his eyes meet mine, there’s a sort of weight to his gaze that wasn’t there before. “You know we’re in all of this together, right? You and me.”

I nod, closing my eyes. My heart seems to be slowing to a normal rate, but I still can’t shake the feeling of something crawling across my skin. Or erase the memories of their eyes burning into mine, like they wanted me to see them. Like they wanted me to know they were watching.

Once we’ve eaten dinner, we move to the bedroom to sort through our things. I don’t care if I’m only staying somewhere for a single night, I’m unpacking and moving in. When we first got together, Cal was the opposite. Once, when we went on a vacation for an entire week, he kept everything in his bag, neatly organized. Slowly, I’m convincing him my way is far superior.

With food in my belly, I’m feeling better than before. The worry has almost completely subsided. Cal was right most likely. There was probably a legitimate reason for them to be in the yard, and they were embarrassed thinking I’d worry they were watching us, exactly like I did.

Pregnancy has taken a toll on not only my body, but my emotions. Everything is heightened now. Fear, worry, anxiety. Love. My eyes find Calvin at the thought.

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