Page 4 of Yellow
You’re doing this as a favor to Faith.
It’s not a prison and you can leave if it’s horrible,I reminded myself and picked up the blue and green sports bag that belonged to my sister.
Faith, my twin, was a cheerleader for the Seattle football team the Seahawks. And since I was traveling under the cover of being “her,” I had to use this stupid impractical bag even though I much preferred my own designer bags on wheels.
Still, carrying the bag was easier than packing it had been. Squeezing everything I needed for two weeks intoonesports bag had proven impossible!
I had to leave my soft silk pajamas at home. Faith insisted I could sleep in a t-shirt.
She also took away my Louis Vuitton manicure set, my hair dryer, and my puffy slippers from Gucci with the mink fur that I loved so much. Clearly, Faith and I disagreed on what counted as “essentials.”
In front of me a small bell rang as the door to the tiny bookstore opened and an older couple came out.
“Hello, chilly today, isn’t it?” the man said politely and nodded his head to me before they hurried down the street.
I fished out the phone Faith had gotten me. This one Niko wouldn’t be able to track, as it wasn’t connected to me in any way.
My own phone was still back at my mansion in LA where Faith was duping the press into believing I was still hiding out from Niko after his brutal attack on me six weeks ago.
With an arrest order on his head, my now ex-boyfriend’s days as a free man were numbered but until the police caught him, I preferred to stay out of his reach.
Tomorrow Faith would dress up as me and leave for the airport, making the press, and Niko, believe I would spend Christmas in a tropical paradise with my parents.
“I wish I were,” I thought and entered the bookstore, making the small bell above the door chime again. But no! My Christmas plans had been derailed when Faith called in the favor I owed her. She had decided I needed a detox from all the toxic people in my life and that two weeks in the forest would do me good.
“Hello.” The clerk looked up and gave me a friendly smile. “Are you looking for something specific today?”
“Ehhm, no, I’ll just browse a little,” I muttered with a strained smile.
I scouted for Onava, the Native American woman whom my sister had arranged for me to meet up with, but except for the female clerk there was no one.
After five more minutes of waiting, I called her up.
“Hello,” a deep male voice said.
“Hello, may I speak to Onava please?”
“Speaking.”
“Oh…”So a deep female voice, then.“This is Chloe,” I said after turning my back on the clerk and lowering my voice.
“Oh hey, did you arrive?”
“Yes, I’m inside the bookstore.”
“Good. Meet me outside in ten minutes – I’m just picking up some groceries – and then we can head back to the cabin. Did you eat lunch yet?”
“No.”
“I’ll grab us something, then.”
After ending the short call, I bought two books in the store. One was calledSurviving Men – A Handbook for Women of All Ages. The other was a fiction book about a woman being kidnapped and seduced by hunky aliens. Somehow the theme of being plucked out of all earthly trouble spoke to me.
Ten minutes later, I was outside when a car honked and pulled up beside me.
“Just throw your bag on the back seat,” the woman instructed through the rolled-down window of the old Ford. I did as she asked before getting in on the passenger seat.
“Hi, Chloe, I’m Onava.” The woman had a warm smile that lit up her eyes when she spoke.
