Rough Terrain by Laura Eldridge

Author:Laura Eldridge [Eldridge, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Shari paced around her house. Dread circled her like an invisible web, teasing her with the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

She’d been having premonitions, like a sixth sense, since she was eight years old. One night, she had woken up at three in the morning to run to her mother’s bed in tears. Although she didn’t understand how, she just knew that something awful had happened to her older brother. Her mother had shushed her as she tucked her back into bed. The next morning, a policeman had arrived at the door to notify them that her brother had been in a serious car accident just after 3a.m. It had taken him months to recover.

Shari had experienced other instances of foresight over the years. Now she had that same feeling again and it was making her very jumpy.

Her husband, Ben, had been helping to fight the forest fire, coming home after midnight to sleep for a few hours, and then leaving again before dawn. Firefighters had been battling the blaze for three days. Ben had called Sheri at around eight o’clock that morning to tell her that the fire had been mostly contained and they were now monitoring some hot spots. It always worried her sick whenever he went out on a call so she had been relieved to hear his voice. Forest fires were some of the worst fires to fight and also the most unpredictable, which made them extremely dangerous. Her deep sense of dread had gone away after she hung up from his call so Sheri had called everyone that she could think of to make sure they were all fine. Only Leigh hadn’t returned her call, but that was to be expected. Like Ben, Leigh was probably out fighting the fire and catching sleep whenever she could.

Shari’s daughters were playing outside on the swings and she smiled at Olivia’s constant chatter, which filtered through the open windows. Poor Sam, Shari thought, her youngest twin could never get a word in edgewise, no matter how hard she tried. The twins shared a close bond but they were definitely two very different personalities. They reminded Shari of her friendship with Amanda. She had been quiet and scared of everything, but Amanda had been outgoing and brave. Shari silently reminded herself to call her old friend Leigh.

Taking a sip of her coffee, Shari walked over to the window to watch the girls for a moment. Maybe she was just being silly. Ben was fine, the fire was just about out, and her girls were safe in their own backyard. It was time to shake off the heebie-jeebies and get to all that laundry that had been piling up for the last hectic week. Sometimes she thought she’d go mad if she saw one more blasted dirty sock!

Sighing, she was about to turn away when a movement down the driveway caught her eye. A man was walking away at a fast clip. Putting down her cup, Shari bolted out the door and headed for the driveway.

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