Page 11 of Save Me

They put three suitcases in the back, and the fourth one and the travel bag in the back seat. The heart with her baby’s ashes was in its own box, and lying on the back floorboard.

“I have to get some stuff out of the safe,” Lainie said. “You can leave now if you want. I’ll be okay.”

Millie shook her head. “I’m not leaving you alone until I know you’re ready to drive away. Go do what you have to do. I’ll wait out here.”

Lainie ran back inside and down to the safe in her father’s office. She knew the combination and quickly unlocked it, then sorted through the files until she found the one with her name on it. It had all of the paperwork for the trust fund her grandmother had left to her, her birth certificate, her high school diploma, and her SAT test scores. Then she closed the safe, locked the front door as she left, and dropped the house key through the mail slot.

Millie was waiting by the vehicle with tears in her eyes.

“I’m going to miss you, but I know you’re going to bounce. You’re a survivor, Lainie. You don’t know any other way to be. You have my number. You know my address. I would love it if you stayed in contact, but if you don’t, I’ll understand. Sometimes a clean break is the only way to begin anew. Either way, I love you, honey, and remember, the best revenge is to succeed when people want you to fail.”

Lainie hugged her close. “I love you, Millie, and I’ll never forget what you sacrificed for me. Be well, and don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

Then she slid into the seat of her SUV, and put her phone on the charger before driving away. After a quick trip to the bank to empty her personal checking account, and a quick stop at her family lawyer, she left New Orleans. The sun was above her head, and the echoes of dead dreams were behind her.

LAINIE HAD BEEN driving for the better part of five hours before finally stopping in Natchitoches. It wasn’t late, but she was too weak to drive farther. She needed food and rest, and found a motel.

Once inside, she dropped her travel bag on the bed and pulled the recharged cell phone out of her purse to see if it still worked, and it did. She ordered food from a local restaurant to be delivered to her room, then sat down on the bed to check for messages.

They were months old, and all from Hunt, with each one sounding more desperate than the last, and all of them taking her back to the night of the storm, relieving her own horror, and seeing his fear for her in the texts. But it was the last message he’d sent that destroyed her.

Lainie, I know in my heart that something is wrong. But I can’t save you because I don’t know where you are. I don’t know what happened to you, but I know it wasn’t your choice to disappear. You are my love—my true north, and you always will be. I gave you my heart a long time ago. Feel free to keep it because it’s no use to me without you in it.

Hunt

She read it over and over until she was sobbing too hard to see the words, and when she tried to call him, all she heard was a recorded message. The number you called is either disconnected, or no longer in service.

After that, the idea of sending a text was no longer an option. She had to face the hard truth that he was truly lost to her.

Wherever she settled, she would get a new phone and new number. It was a scary thought, because then she’d be lost to him as well. But she wasn’t losing this text. So, she took a screen shot of it, then sent it to her email and began trying to pull herself back together.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at her door.

Her food had arrived, and tomorrow was another day.

DENVER, COLORADO, became Lainie’s final destination. It took her two more days to get there because of her constant need to rest. But she’d spent her downtime online, researching nursing schools in the city and looking at apartments to rent.

She had one phone conversation with the family lawyer while she was on the road, and he reassured her that he was well aware of her situation and that everything he did for her was in confidence. He told her to contact him once she was settled and had chosen a new bank, and he would make sure that the first annuities from her trust fund would be deposited in that account, and then twice a year thereafter. The irony of being saved from the grave by the woman in whose house she had been imprisoned was not lost upon her.

Within a week, Lainie had rented a small, furnished apartment and was investigating a nursing school program, preparing to embark on a long journey alone.

The ensuing months were often scary and lonely, and there were days when she was so depressed that she could barely lift her head, but this was her reality, and she would find a way to rise above it.

GREG AND BRENDA MAYES went through their days in silence, or in screaming fights with each other. They didn’t know Lainie had been released from the hospital until they received a final bill, and then they panicked.

“This was dated last week! Where is she?” Tina cried.

Greg shrugged. “She probably went home.”

“I need to know!” Tina said. “Take me there now!”

“She won’t talk to us,” Greg said.

“I don’t care, dammit! I just need to know!” Tina begged.

They took Greg’s Lexus, and rode in silence all the way to their New Orleans home. As they were pulling up, they noticed that Lainie’s car was gone.

“Oh, my God,” Tina moaned.

---