Haunted by Jo Ho

Author:Jo Ho [Ho, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jo Ho

52

Sully

After our fight last night, Sam and I had barely spoken and when I woke this morning, it was to find a note on the bedside table asking me to meet her at “our place”.

This was a secluded spot in the nearby woods where Sam and I loved to hike along the nature trail. We'd had many a picnic there, and this was the one place we retreated to when we needed a timeout from the rest of the clan, much as we could get to within ten minutes, anyway.

The sun shone brightly though it wasn’t enough to compete with the morning cold. Buttoning up my flannel shirt, I jumped out of my truck and grabbed Sam’s thermos which I had found draining on the sink. She’d forgotten to take it so I filled it up with coffee. I’d brought mugs and donuts with me too as food always seemed much nicer when enjoyed outdoors. I was trying to make amends, and this seemed the least I could do for the woman I loved.

Leaves and twigs snapped underfoot as I hiked briskly, enjoying the crisp air. These hikes were the one thing I had missed when I lived in Ellington. Deep down, I wasn’t a city person, and the lack of greenery and mountains had hit me hard, but it was what Em had wanted. She’d had friends and family there and it didn’t make sense for us to be anywhere else.

I had only been going a few minutes when I saw Sam's figure ahead of me. She was sitting on the grass, her back against a towering oak. Although she wasn’t wearing anything fancy — just jeans and a sweater — my breath caught at the sight of her. Her cheeks were red from the cold and her eyes bright. Her glossy curls spilled down her back like a velvet curtain. Thoughts of our fight last night flew straight out of my mind.

At my arrival, she stood up. I leaned forward to kiss her, but she ducked out of the way. Seeing her serious expression, butterflies did a dance inside my stomach.

"Hey."

"Hey," she answered softly, keeping her eyes on the ground.

This definitely wasn't good. She couldn't smile at me, could barely look at me. And her confident normal manner was nowhere to be found.

"Thanks for joining me up here," she started. "I know we didn't have a restful night."

“Do you want to sit down? I brought us breakfast…”

I held up the food, but she shook her head, disinterested. "Sully, look. I need you to listen to me without interruption.”

An alarm sounded deep within my head as a thousand objections flooded my mind. However, respectful of her wishes, I nodded. She shoved her hands into her pockets and continued.

"This isn't working for me. I was ready to move ahead with you, but it's become clear to me now that you're not in the same place, and as much as I hate to say this, as much as I hate to do this to you, Chase and the others, I think it's best if we took a break.

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