Page 50 of Unexpected Adventures

Chapter Twelve

After gathering my clothes, I make my way back to the silver room for fresh ones.Luckily, there’s plenty to choose from, so I stick with what’s comfortable: shorts and T-shirt.After drying my hair, I head down to the kitchen and see it’s already nine.

There’s no sign of Sarah or the dogs, so I assume they’re out for a walk. I make myself useful and start a pot of coffee. As I start to gather the makings for eggs and toast, I hear a relentless buzzing. Following the sound, I realize I left my bag down here, and my phone is going crazy. Just as I reach for it, Sherri’s house phone starts ringing. Habit has me wanting to answer, but it’s not my house. They must have an answering machine, right?

I grab my own phone and see that it’s Denise.

“Abby!” Denise says once I slide over to ‘accept’ on the phone. I try to make sense of her rambling, but I have to pull the phone away from my ear because she’s so darned loud. After a moment, I try to interrupt her, but she continues to spew information too quickly for me to catch it all.

“What?Slow down, Denise. What!”

Suddenly, my good-morning-Sunday is crashing at my feet and dread settles like a bad stomach ache inside me.

“Sylvia? When? How—no, I haven’t had a chance to check my phone. It was down in the kitchen and I just got to it!” I pause as I let her ramble on. “Okay. I’ll see you soon.”

I disconnect, shock barely registering. I look up at Shaun who’s made an appearance, a worried look on his face. I’m unable to voice the words Denise just relayed to me.

“Shaun…”

He pulls me to him. “I know, Abby. The call, it was your supervisor, Heather, looking for you. She got ahold of Denise, trying to locate you. She asked you call as soon as you could. It had to do with Sylvia.”

I pull back to look at him. “You know what happened to her?”

“No, she didn’t give me any details, but from the sound of it, it didn’t seem like good news. What’d Denise say?”

I begin scrolling through my call log, seeing that I missed several calls from Heather, Denise, and Sylvia’s friend, Millie. “She fell.” I look up at him again and continue quietly.“Millie found Sylvia. She was picking her up for church. They go every Sunday together. She had to call an ambulance.” My voice hitches and I have to choke back a sob.

“Hey, hey.” He tries soothing me, rubbing my arms. “Don’t work yourself up. Not until you know what’s going on. And even then…”

“Then I can get hysterical?”

“Do you want me to call Heather for you, or can you do it?”

I clear my throat and swipe at my eyes that are filling with tears. “I’ll call. Denise is already on her way over. She called while en route.”

Shaun nods and steps back, allowing me to make the call. He slips bread into the toaster and pours the ready coffee into mugs, taking a healthy drink from one, all while casting glances at me.

Once connected with Heather, I get an update on Sylvia. I begin to inform Heather I’ll return today. After a short exchange, we disconnect.

“You’re not driving yourself back,” Shaun says. “Not alone. I’ll take you home.”

I stare at him, dumbfounded. “You can’t. You’re here to visit your sister, and your car needs …”

“I can and I will. My car can wait… it’s the least of my worries. You were here to visit your sister too. Things change. We deal with it.”

“But Shaun, I…”

“No, Abby, don’t.” He shakes his head. “You’re upset. I can’t let you go alone. You…”

“I’ll be fine,” I say rather abruptly. “You don’t need to change your plans for me… that’s ridiculous. You hardly know me.” I grab my bag and begin to stomp past him, intent on gathering my few possessions from upstairs.

Shaun slams his coffee mug on the counter and stops me with his hand on my arm. He’s practically glaring at me. “Really, Abby? You’re going to go there? After what we shared last night, you think I hardly know you? You think I can just watch you go through this mess, knowing you’re upset, and your concentration won’t be on your driving?”

His upset startles me, then annoys me. Who is he to think he can suddenly start making decisions for me? So we had sex. Granted, it was out-of-this-world sex, and since I finally decided to punch my virginity card, I’m certainly glad it was with Shaun, but still…

“Punch your virginity card?” he says incredulously.

Oops! I said that out loud?

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