Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“I hope you don’t hate me for it,” Reagan said. “If I could go back…”
“I could never hate you, Reagan,” Josie said. “And that was a long time ago.” She leaned forward, reaching across the coffee table. Reagan reached back, and Josie gripped her hand. Reagan gave her a grateful smile. “Thank you for being honest about that.” Josie looked over at Zach. “That might help in some way.”
They talked for a little while longer, the conversation moving on to less heavy subject matters. She told them about fixing up the farmhouse, and when they asked if she’d met any neighbors, she told them about the woman named Rain, thinking to herself that she was going to make a point to visit her as she’d offered. Friends, she’d been reminded, were a vital part of a full life. Zach disappeared back onto the porch where Josie heard him on the phone again as she caught up with her friends, all of them chuckling at remembered shared jokes. When they got up to leave, Josie’s heart felt lighter, and she was glad she’d reconnected with them. Perhaps they’d do it regularly once life returned to normal for her, whatever that might mean.
The picture of the farmhouse wavered before her, the grass swaying in the peaceful breeze, Zach stepping out onto the porch, a smile on his face… Again, she pushed that idyllic image away. It was both welcome and terrifying.
At the door, Reagan hugged her tightly and asked that she call her soon, and Evan took her hand in his, offering what looked like a sincere smile. “Be well, Josie.”
Reagan gave Cooper a hug too, wishing him well. “I hope to see a lot more of you, Reagan,” he said on a smile.
Cooper stood with Josie, watching Reagan and Evan walk to their car. “Must have been hard for Evan to listen to his wife admit she’d cheated on him to a roomful of people.” A glint came into his eye. “Sort of put him between a rock and a hard place.”
Josie laughed even as she winced, acknowledging that Evan had to have felt uncomfortable even if he’d hidden it well. But mostly, her chest warmed as she remembered the joke she and Cooper had once found amusement in and the friendship they’d shared. The reminder of simpler times when she could laugh without the still-present stab of guilt. She wrapped her arms around Cooper. He kissed her on her cheek and then stepped away, the sun glinting off the caramel highlights of his hair as he walked to his car, waved, and drove away.
For a moment she watched as their vehicles disappeared down the road, her eyes moving to Zach where he stood on the porch again, talking on the phone. He held up his finger, indicating he’d be right in. She heard her cell phone ring from the kitchen and walked to answer it. She didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Hi, J-Josie.”
Josie’s muscles turned to water, and she sagged against the counter. “Who is this?” she said, her voice deadened, her heart thumping wildly.
She heard something in the background—rushing water, maybe?—that made it difficult to hear.
“Slayer of r-rats. Deliverer of poetic j-justice. Did it m-make you happy? What I d-did to your bitch of a mother?”
His voice was slightly muffled by whatever sound she heard in the background, but it sounded like him, just like him, and horror clawed through every cell in Josie’s shock-riddled body.
It can’t be. It can’t be.
“Marshall?” she whispered, her voice a mere slip of sound. Was she in a nightmare? It felt like she was.
He laughed. “No. No, this is n-not Marshall. He d-died, Josie. Don’t you know that? Blew his own b-brains out.”
“Who is this?” she asked, her throat clogging with tears, with terror. She heard the front door open and close, and Zach stepped into the kitchen. He began to smile, but as soon as he took her in, he rushed to where she stood, trembling, holding the phone to her ear in a death grip.
“I think about you, Josie. I’ll n-need to see you once more. You h-have to know that, right? Just once m-more. You and me. Finally.” His voice deepened. “It’s been hard to stay away.”
She clenched her eyes shut, a tear rolling down her cheek. Zach leaned in, trying to listen, but it was almost as if whoever was on the phone could see through the device, because the call disconnected. Josie opened her eyes, the phone dropping from her hand as she let out a tortured sob.
“Who was that?” Zach demanded, taking her shoulders in his hands.
She shook her head back and forth, denying what her mouth was already saying. “Marshall. It sounded exactly like Marshall. He said…he said he left that rat; he killed my mother. He called it poetic justice, he—” Her voice was shaking so badly she could barely speak. Zach wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “He said he needed to see me one more time,” she choked. “He’s coming for me.”