Page 14 of With Love

Adrienne

It’s been two weeks since I got to Marshall’s house. I am sitting on the porch just outside of my bedroom. This is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. The house is stunning, tucked away between the trees, making it seem as though this spot was created just for this house. But the natural beauty of the forest leaves me awestruck. From the back of the house, I can see a large massive body of water in between the cut out of two large groupings of trees surrounding me. There is a second story porch above me, I am assuming coming off of the room where Marshall sleeps. I bet the view is even better from up there. I breathe in deep, forcing the calm into my lungs before letting it out through my nose slowly.

“You’re either bored or your practicing your breathing exercises,” I hear Lucy say, behind me.

“I think it’s impossible to get bored out here,” I answer back with a smile. A genuine smile. They are few and far between at the moment, but they are being doled out more and more frequently the longer that I’m here.

“It’s very beautiful,” she says as she brings me a cup of coffee and sits down at the table across from me.

My eyes light up and my smile gets wide with thanks for the large mug of warm, caffeinated, deliciousness in between my palms. I take a sip before placing the cup down on the table in front of me.

“Have you heard anything about Owen since yesterday?” I ask her. It’s the same question I ask every morning.

She looks at me with a grimace on her face.

“No, I’m sorry,” she says. And that's the same answer that I get every morning. She must have taken in the pitiful look on my face because she adds. “But hey, no news is good news, trust me. If there hasn’t been any change, then that means that things haven’t gotten worse, right?”

“Right.”

“How are you feeling this morning? Any pain anywhere? Does anything feel off?” she questions.

“No, I’m feeling good. I didn’t have any issues in the shower this morning. I was able to dry off and dress and make it all the way out here without getting ridiculously winded.” I have been working with her every day to get stronger.

“That’s great news! That’s a lot of improvement since yesterday.”

“Yeah. Now that I’m out here though, I could stay here all day and take in the wild beauty of the forest.”

“I’m sure you could, but unfortunately it’s time for your PT,” she says with a slight laugh.

“You’re killing me, Lucy,” I whine. “Can I just have five more minutes?”

“Sure,” she answers with a nod. “I’ll be in the kitchen whenever you’re ready.”

I look back toward the lake and the vast hills behind it. I want to go see Owen so bad. Marshall said I can as soon as he wakes up, but that he doesn’t want to chance a trip back into civilization until he’s awake. It wouldn’t be worth the risk otherwise. I suppose he has a point there.

Owen. You have to be okay. I’m begging anyone who will listen, please bring him back to me.

* * *

Telling Lucy that I was feeling better this morning was a bad idea. Apparently “feeling better” is code for “ready to run a marathon”, because that’s what it felt like she made me do. That’s the last time I tell her the truth about how I feel.

When I get back to my room, I decide to take a long, hot soak in the bath for a while. I throw in a bath bomb. I’ve never heard of them before, but Lucy bought some for me and I’ve been using them a lot. It smells like lavender and it fizzes when you drop it into the water. Lucy also said that it’s therapeutic and would help my sore muscles after the physical therapy sessions.

Once my bath is over, I stand in front of the sink in my bathroom, towel drying my hair. The bathroom is very nice. The tiles on the floor are large and octagonal shaped, unlike the wooden floors in the bedroom. Most of them are white, but they are offset by neutral colored, marble patterned tiles glazed in a mother of pearl finish.

The vanity spans the entire length of the back wall and is completed with a concrete countertop. There is a large, white, freestanding claw-foot tub to the right when you walk into the bathroom. It sits up against the wall of windows that continues in here from the bedroom. Directly on the other side of the bathroom is an open shower that has to be large enough for at least 10 people. It has five shower heads and two benches. Its rock covered basin and the concrete walls match the floor tiles throughout the rest of the bathroom. I turn around, taking in each surface, every fixture, thinking about how many differences there are between here and Lock’s estate.

You need to stop comparing. Everything will always be different and better than it was there. My mind begins to wander, once again thinking about all of the unanswered questions swirling around in my brain.

I take my time getting dressed as I weigh my curiosity. Do I want to know the answers to the endless questions that have been bugging me since I got here? No, probably not. But, do I need to know them? Half of me screams yes, while the other half begs no. I stand there trying to figure out where I should go from here when a knock ends up pulling me from my thoughts before I fall down that rabbit-hole again. Marshall. I can tell it's him by the strong, masculine sound of his knock. It’s very different than Lucy’s feminine tapping.

If this isn’t a sign, then I don’t know what is.

I hobble through the sitting area in the bedroom and open the door slowly. I used to keep it locked, but I’m just beginning to grow out of that habit.

“Hi,” I say, once the door is open completely.

Every time he sees me, he looks like a little kid on Christmas morning. It’s starting to become less uncomfortable than when I first got here.

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