Page 15 of Lakesides and Longing

“Do you have nightmares often?” he asked.

“Every night. I didn’t realize I screamed that loud. I’m sorry.”

“Every night. Wow. What about?”

She didn’t normally talk about the accident, but something about the sincerity in his voice and middle of the night delirium sent her words tumbling out.

“It’s the accident. I relive it every night. The lights of the truck that slammed into us. The airbag exploding in my face. Emery’s blood everywhere. Realizing he was dead.” She swallowed the words now stuck in her throat. “Knowing it was my fault.”

“How was it your fault?” He watched her with extreme concern in his eyes. She wondered if Lukas told him about this or not. Maybe he was just faking his ignorance.

“I ran the stop sign. Never even saw it. It was one I knew about too, but I was so angry, I just wasn’t thinking.”

“What were you angry about?”

She jerked her head up. If he heard the reason why she ran the stop sign, he’d think she’d done it on purpose. She was lucky she had a good lawyer or she’d still be in jail. “I’m sorry. I’m done talking. I…I can’t.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” His voice was so gentle. She now understood what Tess had meant when she whispered in Paige’s ear. “He’s one of the good ones, so don’t deny yourself if the opportunity arises.” This was not an opportunity. But he was being nice.

“It’s okay. It’s just hard for me to talk about.” She wondered if it was just the middle of the night delirium, but she’d never admitted that out loud to anyone. People knew what happened of course, but she never talked about it.

“Is there anything I can do for you? A glass of water or maybe wine?”

She shook her head. “Thank you for coming. That means a lot to me.” He could’ve just ignored her screaming, but he didn’t.

“Anytime. Would you like me to leave Tria in here with you?”

“Yeah, that would be nice.” She wanted to ask him to stay until she fell asleep again, but that would be weird. They’d only met this morning, but there was something comforting about his presence. His dog, on the other hand, was a good idea.

“She’s a bed hog, but snuggles well.”

Paige tried to focus on dog snuggles and not Blake snuggles. She reached over and grabbed a lighter from the side of her bed and some sage. She lit it and waved it around her crystals.

“What are you doing?” Blake asked.

“Clearing my crystals. They’ll absorb all the negative energy from my dream and I need to keep them clean so they do their job.”

Blake just stared at her like she’d grown horns. He opened and closed his mouth again.

“Okaaay,” he said. “I think that’s my cue to leave.” She knew he thought this was all crazy, but if she didn’t keep the crystals clear they wouldn’t be able to help the next night.

Blake slipped out from under her sheets, and she couldn’t help but stare at his retreating back. She slid back into bed, and Tria curled up as close to her as possible. Paige flung her arm around the dog and within seconds was fast asleep.

CHAPTER11

Over the next week they settled into a nice routine. Except the nights.

Paige woke up screaming every night, and every night Blake raced down the hall to wake her up. Her night terrors were epic. They never talked about it during the day though.

He barely saw her during the day anyway. He’d discovered a shed with all kinds of gardening tools and he lost himself in her yard. She said she had a kid who mowed, but the landscaping was a mess. The weather was too nice to stay indoors and the work was therapeutic for him. Maybe it was time for him to get his own house with a yard.

Most days he spent in the yard, though occasionally he went for drives to explore the area.

But they always had breakfast together and she always read him both his and her horoscope.

So far, the horoscopes had told him nothing. Though he mostly ignored her when she read them, Paige managed to find truth in them every day.

“Ooh, it says you should start writing down your dreams. They might be prophetic.”

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