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Which was when horror started to overtake me as a thought popped into my mind that sent terror racing through my veins.
Sleepwalking.
I sleepwalked.
What if I accidentally got out of the house? What if I left the door open, and Forest followed me?
The panic must’ve shown on my face because Pepper peeled off from the customers she was conversing with and came over to the little table that was in the very corner of the little shop.
“What is it?” she asked, using her fingers to run through Forest’s hair.
Forest looked up at her adoringly.
“Um,” I swallowed hard. “Sleepwalking. I sleepwalk.”
I’d told her, of course.
I’d told her all about how I’d mostly grown out of it.
But the last two days, I’d woken up standing in front of the front door, trying to get out of it.
I’d luckily installed a locking system on all the doors that would keep me inside, but still.
What if I got out?
New things fucked with me.
New places. New people.
Stress was a huge factor in it, too.
I stacked and restacked the plates in front of me, over and over again, until Pepper took the plates from me and placed them behind the counter in the sink.
With nothing left to fiddle with, I picked up the toy car that I’d bought Forest a few days ago and started to gently roll it back and forth.
When she came back, she sat down at my side and said, “I’ll stay with you tonight.”
The worry that was inside of my gut, nearly choking me to death, lessened. “You will?”
I could’ve asked my parents, of course.
I could’ve asked any of my brothers or sisters-in-law.
I could’ve even asked a couple of my good friends.
But that hadn’t been who I’d wanted.
She was.
Not that I’d known that particular tidbit of information at the time.
But after she’d offered…
It felt… right.
I don’t need a boyfriend. I need 12 million dollars and a carton of Blue Bell.
—Pepper’s secret thoughts
