Page 30 of Her Wicker Guardian

He heard my name last night. He tried to say it then. Maybe I want to know if he remembers, or maybe I want proof that this morning isn’t only happening to me.

His mouth moves. “Rachel.”

The mug slips out of my hand, clips the metal leg of the folding table, and breaks in the grass.

Locke jerks at the crash and takes a step back. I startle too.

Shannon is already crouching beside the pieces before I can move.

“Don’t,” she says. “I’ve got it.”

Locke is still where he stepped back, staring from the broken mug to me.

“Rachel?”

Something about hearing my name the second time gets me even more than the first.

“I’m okay.”

His attention stays on me another second before he nods.

I look at the pieces Shannon is gathering from the grass. “It was my favorite.”

“I gathered that from the dramatic reaction.”

“Very funny.”

I finally turn toward the house. “I really do have to get ready.”

I make it three steps before I look back. Locke is exactly where I left him, sunlight catching the small green leaves at his wrist.

“Rachel,” he says again.

This time I smile.

Chapter Six

Locke

Rachel goes inside, and I stay where she left me.

The kitchen door closes behind her, and the yard changes. The women are still here. Their voices continue, chairs scrape against stone, and Shannon opens the flat object she called an iPad. Nothing is quiet, but the sound I have been following since I opened my eyes is gone.

Rachel.

I touch the rhythm at the center of my chest. Locke is mine now. Rachel’s name feels different when I say it, although I don’t know why.

The other women gather their things. Blair gets to her feet, Janet collects her tote, and Laura heads toward the corner of the cottage with them. I watch because I don’t understand at first.

“We’re heading out,” Blair says. She points toward the corner of the cottage, then to herself, Laura, and Janet. “Go.”

Go. I know that word.

Janet gives me a small wave. “Bye, Locke.”

I don’t know bye, but a few moments later the three women disappear around the cottage. Car doors close out front. One engine starts, then another, and I listen until both sounds fade toward the road.

Shannon stays.