Page 28 of Hold Your Breath
As she moved toward the bathroom, the only unsearched room left, her heartbeat pounded in her ears. The wind had died down earlier, and Lou almost missed it. Without the usual whistling and groaning, everything was quiet—too quiet. The silence felt almost watchful. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she pushed the bathroom door open and forced herself to step inside.
The light from the fire didn’t reach very far into the small room, so the corners were draped with heavy shadows. The shower was the scariest, its heavy curtain hiding who-knew-what. Although she was tempted to back out of the room and go back to bed, pretending like she’d checked behind the curtain and her little home was secure, Lou knew she needed to see for herself if she ever wanted to sleep again.
Her hand shook as she reached toward the closed shower curtain. Her obvious fear annoyed her, and she yanked the covering aside with more vehemence than she’d planned. The rings rattled against the curtain rod, making her jump, even as she realized that no one was crouching in the shower. Her exhale shivered even as she smiled. At least her life hadn’t turned into a scene fromPsycho.
After adding some firewood to the stove, she double-checked that the front door was locked and then headed back to her bedroom, peeking into the closet before crawling back into bed. Even though she’d just checked every space in her home big enough to hide even the smallest of people, Lou still felt like she was being watched.
“Silly,” she scolded her paranoid brain as she snuggled into a ball, tugging the covers to her chin. As she drifted to sleep, the thought of seeing Callum in just a few hours crossed her mind and made her smile.
Her fear was forgotten—for now.
Chapter 6
Of course she slept late. When her blurry eyes finally focused on the face of her cell phone, it was seven minutes before Callum was supposed to arrive. Jumping out of bed, she immediately tripped on the voluminous covers she’d dragged with her, and Lou sprawled across the floor, banging her left knee painfully.
Grumbling and rubbing her knee, she untwisted the blankets from around her legs and piled them back on the bed. Grabbing a pair of jeans from the floor, she frowned at the mud-crusted hems and tossed them back in the corner. She and Callum were headed to a clinic, so she should probably wear something a little less dirty. It seemed only sanitary.
The next pair of jeans she snatched appeared to be fairly clean, or at least didn’t have any obvious dirt. She did a smell test and immediately rejected three shirts before pulling on a long-sleeved crewneck and topping it with an Avalanche hoodie. Her socks were sort of a good match, although they were slightly different shades of blue.
As she darted for the bathroom, she heard the diesel grumble of Callum’s truck. Lou swore. Of course the guy couldn’t be late just once in his life. Her teeth received about five strokes of a brush, and her hair got a couple less than that. She used the toilet, even trying to pee quickly.
It was probably less than a minute after he pulled up to her cabin when she ran for the front door, but she could still hear him grumbling on the porch.
“I know! I’m late—sorry!” she babbled as she yanked open the door to find a scowling Callum. He didn’t seem to be focused on her, though.
“What the hell’s on your door?”
Lou blinked at him, confused. That wasn’t the complaint she’d expected. “What?”
“That.” He stabbed a gloved finger toward her opened door, and she followed the gesture to where he was pointing.
“Gross.” Frozen trickles of amber goo ran down the exterior of her door. “What is that?”
He gave herthe look. Biting back a sharp comment, she reminded herself not to poke the bear, or it was going to be a long day. Callumwasgiving up his morning to help her with Operation Identify HDG, after all. “That’s what I asked you,” he said with exaggerated patience.
Instead of shutting the door in his face and immediately returning to bed, she focused on the light brown streaks, poking one with her finger. It was frozen, but still oddly sticky. She smelled her finger.
“Don’t lick it!” Callum grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from her face.
This time, she couldn’t hold back an eye roll. “It’s fine.” Tugging her arm free, she stuck her finger in her mouth just to bug him. “It’s honey,” she mumbled around her fingertip.
Witnessing his horrified and completely grossed-out expression was very satisfying. “You just… I can’t believe you put it in yourmouth…”
“What? It’s just honey.” Pulling her finger out of her mouth, she examined it closely. “Besides, doesn’t cold kill germs and bacteria and such?”
“I can’t…” He couldn’t seem to think of anything more to say.
“Get in here.” She grabbed his forearm and pulled him through the doorway. “You’re letting out all the heat.”
He allowed her to tug him inside, and she swung the door closed once he was clear of it. The heat seemed to help him recover from his germ-phobia-induced fugue state. “Why is there honey on your door?”
She shrugged. “No clue.” When he eyed her narrowly, she planted her fists on her hips. “Why would I put honey on my door? That’s crazy!”
“Then who? It couldn’t have just appeared there.”
“I don’t know! Someone who wants to set a trap for Winnie the Pooh? Who puts honey on a door?”
His expression turned thoughtful. “You think someone wanted to attract a bear?”
