Pulled(57)
Author: A.L. Jackson

He didn’t know Nicholas like I did.

I was the one who bore witness to the highly questionable things that had taken place in my home over the past nine years, things that Nicholas did without a second thought if it benefitted him in any way. I’d seen him lie and cheat and steal. He would go any distance to keep something from damaging his reputation, his self-importance.

When Daniel nonchalantly told me to get my things so we could leave, he caught me off guard. It was as if being with him hadn’t been real, that the afternoon was a figment of my imagination, and soon I would wake up to live my non-existence.

Realizing what Daniel planned had solidified the reality of what we’d experienced, and I panicked.

Immediately, I was seized with visions of the punishment Nicholas would impose upon me when he dragged me back here. Most of them centered on Daniel being harmed in some form or another because of me. So I’d searched for reasons to stay and, wel , they seemed likely enough because they were, in fact, true. We had to make sure the building went through, and it was high time for me to reconcile with Mom. I had to see that through. The fact was, though, one way or another, those situations could have been resolved without my being here.

Deep inside, I was probably being irrational. In all probability, Nicholas would do nothing to me, but I had to have time to think about how to leave him. He would take it a lot better if he didn’t come home and just find me gone. If I gradually withdrew from him, he wouldn’t be shocked when I finally did leave. He’d expect it. It was what I’d initially planned to do when I had made plans to leave with Katie, so this wouldn’t be any different.

I just needed a couple of weeks to make it clear to Nicholas that he did not own me. Then I would leave. I would see it through Mom’s visit, and ensure Daniel and I didn’t hurt Shane and Katie with any rash decisions. Then I would be free.

A contented smile spread across my face at the thought. Free—with Daniel. I’d spent nine years here. I would somehow endure a few more weeks.

I withdrew back into the house, filled with emotions that had so long been lacking from my life that I almost didn’t recognize them.

I padded barefoot across the cool floor, my feet light as if I were no longer weighed down. I hummed quietly to myself as I stood in front of the refrigerator, pulling out the ingredients for the salmon I’d planned to make for dinner. I sealed the salmon in foil and placed the packets in the oven before dancing across the kitchen to start water for rice. I stopped short when I caught my reflection in the arched window that overlooked the backyard.

And I grinned—wildly and full -toothed.

I ran into the bathroom to get a better look, the mirror confirming what I’d seen in the hazy window.

Yes, my hair was a mess and my clothes were wrinkled and disheveled. But my face, it was flushed and pink and glowing.

It was me. The real me—not broken Melanie, but my mother’s little girl. The same girl who’d sat at her mother’s knee. The girl who’d run carefree and climbed trees in her daddy’s backyard. The one who’d stayed up late giggling with her friends in eighth grade as we’d dreamed of our first kiss. The fifteen-year-old girl who’d fal en in love with Daniel Montgomery; the same one who’d love him until the day she died. I’d almost forgotten her, but there she was, staring straight back, her eyes alight and alive.

I traced the outline of my face, touching the heated skin of my cheeks and fingering the creases at the corners of my eyes as if I had to confirm that what I was seeing was real.

I smiled once more at my reflection before heading back into the kitchen. Joy surrounded me like an aura, hovering in the air, dense and thick, but unlike the weight of pain, it provided comfort and warmth.

Daniel loved me, wanted me, had me. The

experience was euphoric. It was if we had been taken to another realm, to a place where only the two of us existed.

I resumed my dinner preparations with fervor. My hands worked with precision as I sliced tomatoes and onions for a salad, fingers wet from the lettuce as I ripped the leaves from the head piece by piece. My body hummed with excitement, right along with the humming that came from my mouth.

There was nothing that could touch my mood.

Wel , except for the sound of the garage opening and the purr of the car pulling in. I vowed that I wouldn’t even let Nicholas steal this feeling from me. Instead of focusing on the sound of his footsteps echoing through the house, I focused on the warmth still covering every inch of my body from Daniel’s touch and the way his lips had felt against mine.

My face flushed.

I averted my face as Nicholas entered the room, concealing myself by stooping to retrieve the silver salad bowl from the bottom cupboard of the island. I stood when I heard the refrigerator door snap open. Nicholas’s back was to me, and I promptly set to work fil ing the bowl with the ingredients waiting on the counter.

I said nothing to Nicholas. I simply ignored his presence. He twisted the cap off the beer bottle and crossed his arms over his chest. Sighing deeply, he rested against the closed refrigerator door and took a deep drag of the yel ow liquid. I moved across the room and poured the rice into the boiling water. I kept my head down as I made my way back to the island to keep from drawing attention to myself. It took everything in me to stay focused on the task in front of me. I felt the intensity of Nicholas’s dark eyes burning into the side of my face, and anxiety immediately built within me. I’d been so successful in avoiding him for the better part of a month. Neither of us had said anything more than was necessary to the other.

Now there was something very different and very unsettling about him as he stood silently drinking me in.

Did he know? I struggled to keep my breathing even as fear set in. My stomach twisted in knots, and my mouth became dry.

He couldn’t know. There was no possible way.

Could he?

Keeping my eyes focused in front of me, I spent an exceeding amount of time arranging the salad in the bowl. still , I couldn’t keep myself from glancing at him through my hair that had fal en over my shoulder and onto my chest.

The fear I’d had that he knew about Daniel and me were put at ease. For the first time Nicholas’s face held no anger or disdain, only complete curiosity. I continued working nervously. He took another swig of his beer before stepping forward to the island. He placed the bottle on the counter and pushed my hair from my face. I cringed, pulling away from his fingers, desperate to escape the scrutiny.

“You look different.” His shook his head, his face puzzled, trying to put his finger on the change.