Chapter 65: Skylar

 “How long has she been asleep?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe twenty minutes?” Gavin leaned in and gave me a kiss. “I think she’s out for a while. Do you want to go for a hike?”

“A hike?” I struggled for a good answer. “You mean, we’d leave Bijou here, alone?”

“What’s going to happen to her?” Gavin asked. “Besides, we won’t be gone long.”

My mind sprinted, weighing the pros and cons. If I agreed to go, Mitch would see us leave. He’d probably, hopefully, notice that we weren’t carrying Bijou, and then he could race into the cabin, grab Bijou, and I could meet him at the car.

But what if Gavin had something planned? What if he fixed the stove so that it would burst shortly after we left and Mitch couldn’t rescue her in time? Or, what if Mitch was lying about Gavin trying to kill him this morning? What if Mitch was the dangerous one?

I decided to stall for time. “What were you doing before I got here?” I asked. “Cooking?”

“Just jotting down some notes for recipes,” Gavin replied, and I noticed his notebook resting on the counter.

Check the notebook, Sky. Jo Beth’s voice was sudden and strong, like a siren inside my head. I didn’t analyze the phenomenon, I just opened my mouth and went with the first thing I could think to say. “Gavin, would you mind checking the roof?”

He cocked his head in confusion. “What?”

“I thought I heard some snow cracking against the roof. With all the melting that’s going on, I’m worried it might cave in. Can you go look?”

He gave me a funny look but went to put his shoes on. “Sure, Sky. Anything for you.”

As soon as he was out the door, I grabbed his notebook and began furiously leafing through. I didn’t know what I was looking for or why, but I quickly found the page I hadn’t known I needed to see:

Lemon Bars:

THE CRUST:

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup confectioners' sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2 cups pureed pistachios

THE FILLING:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup coconut milk

Gavin’s secret lemon bar recipe used pistachios and coconut milk! And he had known about Jo Beth’s allergies. But why? Why would he make them, just so Mom could take the lemon bars to Santiago and let Jo Beth scarf them down on the morning of her death? That seemed like a risky plan, hardly foolproof, and heavily reliant on circumstance. Still, it seemed pretty clear that he’d intended to hurt my sister. I threw the notebook across the room like it was a bomb I could detonate, wishing I could take Gavin’s life in the explosion. It meant nothing. It meant everything.

Bijou stirred, a soft baby sigh escaping from her sleeping form. I ran to her pack-n-play and lifted her. “Sorry, Sweetie,” I said. “But we have to go.”

I found her woolen baby snuggly but I didn’t want to take the time to zip her noodlely arms and legs into it. I just wrapped it around her, patted my jean pocket to make sure I had my car keys, swiped Gavin’s notebook, and quietly slipped out through the front door.

Gavin and Mitch were arguing and they didn’t notice me leave, at least not at first.

“You tried to kill me, you sonofabitch!”

“Prove it.”

“Stay away from my daughter. Stay away from Skylar, or I will kill you.”

Their yells turned to grunts as their conflict morphed from verbal to physical. I ran past them, hoping they’d be too consumed with each other to notice my presence, but no such luck. I was about twenty feet away when I heard Gavin yell.

“Skylar!”

I ran faster, hugging Bijou to my chest. Athlete that I am, I got pretty far, pretty fast, but Gavin’s legs were longer than mine. He didn’t have a bad knee and he wasn’t carrying a baby. Too soon he caught up, tugged on my arm, and spun me around.

“You almost made me drop Bijou!” I yelled.

Gavin’s face was beet red. “Where are you going?”

“Home! I’m taking Bijou home with me, where she belongs. Don’t call me and don’t come over. You and I are through.”

His breathing quickened and his panicked eyes darted all over the place, until they settled on his notebook, which was jutting out of my jacket pocket. He tightened his grip on my arm.

“Why do you have my notebook?”

His obvious panic convinced me that I held incriminating evidence. My anger boiled over. “Because it’s proof that you wanted to kill my sister! Why? Why would you want Jo Beth dead?”

His whole face seemed to grow a size, as confusion and shock settled into his features and his mouth hung open for a couple of seconds before he spoke. “I did it for you, Sky. You needed to escape the control she had over you. It was an act of love.”

“Oh yeah?” I murmured, softly, like I understood. He relaxed his grip on my arm ever so slightly. “That’s the most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard. Go to hell!” I simultaneously kneed him in the balls and yanked my arm free. After that, I made a run for it.

I got about two inches away.

Gavin reached for my bad knee and yanked it in exactly the right direction, so it would give me the maximum amount of debilitating pain. I yelled in agony and fell to the ground, my arms tightening around Bijou, protecting her at all costs.

Gavin stood over me. In less than a second he’d picked up a rock and now he swung it back, aiming for my temple.

“You’re a whore!” He yelled. “I gave you everything. I would have done anything for you!”

I’d have killed him if could. Just like Mary, the fictional character I’d created, if I’d had a knife right then, I would have stabbed Gavin in the heart and I would never have looked back.

“Skylar!”

This time, the yell didn’t come from Gavin. It came from Mitch, who would never get to me in time. But suddenly Gavin faltered and then he winced, for there was a loud cracking sound: the sound of stressed out snow.

None of the signs were there. The temperature had been steady all day and the snow wasn’t fresh. There was maybe three inches of thick, melting slush on the ground. Yet somehow, a torrent was released, and it tumbled towards us in an icy, angry ball. It was an avalanche and it was headed straight for Gavin, Bijou, and me.

“Move, Skylar, move!” Mitch yelled.

I scooted away from Gavin. And then I witnessed the most incomprehensible thing ever. I could almost see Jo Beth in the middle of the frosty, piercing force that rolled furiously like a tumbleweed. Even crazier, it was as if the avalanche knew its intended victim and had a purpose and aim as the snow claimed Gavin, swallowing him whole.

He barely had time to scream before he was swept away.

Afterwards, the earth stood still, exhausted from such tremendous activity. But Mitch kept moving until he caught up to Bijou and me.

“Sorry,” he said, breathless. “I couldn’t run very fast. I’m still struggling from this morning.”

“What the hell just happened?” I asked.

Mitch just gazed innocently down at me, as I sat with his daughter in the snow. “It was a force of nature, Sky.”