Page 29 of Journey To Sunrise

“So, this is more than the trauma of just the beating.”

“This wasn’t just a fucking beating, she was tortured and hospitalized.” I hissed out.

“Easy.” Luke placed his hand on my shoulder. “I’m not trying to make light of this. Not at all. But I’m saying your girl could have gotten over a physical assault. Something has got her mentally and emotionally twisted up. You know her. Hell, you’ve been talking to me about her for years. She’s had you mentally and emotionally twisted up forever. But that’s a conversation for another day. So, back to Chloe, what really has her fucked up?”

“Luke, Zarek, are you here to see me?”

We turned to see Henry Sykes striding towards us on the way to his office.

“I’m just taking off. It was Zarek who wanted to talk to you,” Luke said.

* * *

Zarek

I thought about Luke’s words all the way home. I’d requested two more days off, then I was going back to regular rotation. With those two days, I intended to have a come-to-Jesus talk with my girl. Of course, if you intended to blindside someone, you needed to come bearing gifts. I looked at the bakery box on the passenger seat of my truck. I had picked up some cupcakes from a bakery I’d heard one of the guys raving about. His sister owned it.

As I pulled into the garage, I watched the door to the kitchen open. I was surprised that Chloe had come out of the den to greet me.

“Is everything okay?”

“You said you’d be home at four. It’s four thirty.” She had a death grip on Slayer’s collar. I held onto the bakery box and studied Chloe’s expression. I couldn’t tell if she was mad or scared or a combination of the two.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I brought a peace offering.”

“You should have called.”

Scared. She was scared. She backed up to let me into the house, and I put the bakery box onto the counter. “Can I have a hug?” I asked.

“Zarek, this isn’t going to work. The first time you leave you promised you were going to be home at a certain time, and then you’re not. I need to go home.” Her face was tense. The house was miserably hot—she’d turned off the air conditioning, and she was still wearing her ETSU sweatshirt. I glanced down at Slayer, and his tongue was hanging out and he was panting something fierce.

“Let’s get you some cold water, boy.”

“I already did,” Chloe said.

“So, you realize it’s a sauna in here?”

“I was cold,” she said defensively.

“Look, Chloe, I need a cool shower, then we can have a treat and talk, okay?” I really didn’t want to argue, I wanted to have a calm conversation, but if it was a hundred degrees and Chloe was snapping at me, it wouldn’t go over well.

“I’m going to the den.”

“Just be ready to talk after dinner,” I warned.

* * *

Chloe

For the first time in forever, Candy Crush on my phone wasn’t getting the job done. Usually it sanded my brain smooth—just swipe, match three, don’t think. Line up colors, chase the little explosions, watch the candy rain and the score bar creep rightward. Faster. Faster. Orange to orange. Blue to blue. Make a stripe, pop a wrap, detonate a color bomb. Keep my thumb moving. Don’t let thoughts catch up. Jelly, licorice, cascades—just noise and sugar and motion.

But tonight, the moves kept stalling, my thumb hovering over the screen while my head crowded in. The board pulsed, waiting for me to swipe, and I stared at all that pink and blue and green like it was supposed to blur everything else out. It didn’t.

I kept hearing Slayer’s breathing. Finally, I got up and put him out of the room and shut the door.

“There. That should do it.”

I went back to the phone and tried to get into the zone. But I kept hearing Zarek’s ominous words. I didn’t want to talk. I knew what that meant. It meant thinking and feeling.