Page 33 of Through The Woods

She wasn’t.

I stopped when the lines began to blur from my tears.

She’d gotten sick—she’d also been pregnant. He hadn’t come right out and said it, but it had been hinted at pretty strongly. Maybe she’d just had morning sickness—but, that didn’t explain the weight loss and thinning hair.

And Charm had fed her broth…just like me. He’d even said something similar about it being easier on the stomach. At the time, I’d struggled to make sense of it. Now, I was just struggling to cope with the fact that his story might not have ended well; which devastated me.

I needed a happily ever after—I’d let mine slip away years ago and all but given up on anything working in my favor, but I’d wanted to believe that she and Charm had made it work.

Had he not only lost her, but his child as well?

Tears fell faster at the thought and I struggled to capture them all on the sleeves of my sweatshirt. Heavy bootsteps from the hallway had me shoving the book into the large front pocket of my shirt before feigning sleep. I worked to make my breaths slow and even as I heard the faint creak from the door opening.

“Neve?”

I made a show of blinking my eyes before looking around the room in confusion. “Charm? Where am I?”

He scratched at his chin, the suspicion never leaving his face. “You’re in my office. Care to tell me why?”

I had no excuse and sleepwalking seemed a little too out there to be believable. I settled for a version of the truth instead. “I couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d look around for something to read.”

I decided to get up before he had the opportunity to think of any other questions regarding my nocturnal activities.

“Stay.” He pointed at the chair and I reluctantly sat back down. “Were you crying?”

I shook my head. “No…must be something in the air that’s irritating my eyes. Did you know that mold spores and grass allergies are high during the warm summer months? It’s true. In the spring, you have trees pollinating, but that tends to lessen in the—”

Charm’s eyes widened and he shook his head slowly, as if doing a double take. I tended to have that effect on people when I started one of my longwinded stories.

“What do you like to read?”

I opened my mouth to answer when I realized that I had no idea anymore. I settled for, “I read a lot of books on pathophysiology and neuroscience in school. I have to admit that I haven’t read for pleasure in years though.”

His face twisted up. “You read what now?”

I laughed. “C’mon, surely you’re familiar with neuroscience?” At his blank expression, I elaborated, “The study of the brain? Pathophysiology is just the study of abnormalities associated with various diseases. It sounds lame, but to me it’s fascinating.”

A hint of pain flashed in his eyes and he stared down at the hardwood floor as I realized my mistake. I’d said diseases and unwittingly dredged up memories of his sick wife.

Charm finally looked up at me again. “That’s some pretty highbrow reading material for a junkie. You sure you wouldn’t prefer a book on the history of cocaine?”

His words were like a slap to the face and I angrily retorted, “You sure you wouldn’t like a how-to manual for removing the stick that’s wedged up your ass?”

I clapped a hand to my mouth, but the damage was done.

Instead of stalking from the room or knocking me on my ass, Charm laughed. It was more frightening than the grim expression he normally wore. I didn’t know if that laugh meant he found it funny or if he was amusedly thinking of ways to kill me.

Suddenly he stopped and I sat up straighter in the chair, silently awaiting my fate.

“Fair enough,” he drawled. “Why don’t you head upstairs and try to get some sleep, Neve. It’s late.”

I scurried around him and up to my room before he could change his mind. It wasn’t until the pain in my side lessened and my breathing evened out again that I remembered I still had the journal and no way of getting it back into his room tonight.

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