Chapter Twenty-Five

        The next morning, Noah found Emma Jean in her room.

        “What are you doing?”

        She paused briefly, thinking the answer to his question was obvious, before shoving the baby pink cardigan into her bag. “Packing.”

        “I can see that, but why?”

        “I’m going to go stay with my parents for a while.” She didn’t look at him while she spoke, just kept shoving garments into an already overflowing duffle bag.

        “Again, I’m going to ask, why?”

        His terse words made her shoulders stiffen. “I was only here because Cody was a threat. Now that he’s not…” She shrugged, the rest of her statement a given.

        “No, you’re here because this is where I want you to be.” He moved into her field of vision, so she couldn’t avoid looking at him. “Don’t you want to be here?”

        “I…” She was at a loss for words. She didn’t know what she wanted. She didn’t necessarily want to be away from Noah, but she felt edgy and restless. She figured spending some time with her parents would soothe her. Maybe she just needed a change of scenery. “I just feel...unsettled.”

        “Of course you feel unsettled after what happened. Christ, I-” He cut himself off. “Do you want to tell me what happened yesterday?”

        She shook her head frantically. “No, I can’t-”

        “I’m not talking about the accident. I mean before that. Why’d you take off yesterday without telling anyone?”

        Her eyes snapped to his because he sounded angry. She shouldn’t have been surprised by the bulging vein in his forehead or the ticking in his jaw, but she was. “I just...needed some space.”

        “Space?” He asked, incredulous. “You had well over five hundred acres at your disposal.”

        “And I needed time.”

        “Time? To do what?”

        “Think.”

        “Think?” The more he spoke, the angrier he became. “Okay, tell me this. Why didn’t you take any of my calls? Or answer my texts?”

        She didn’t think she had an answer that would satisfy him, so she avoided giving him one altogether, instead shrugging her shoulders in a manner that communicated that she didn’t know what to say.

        “Right,” he scoffed, storming out of the room and down the stairs.

        Until that moment, her tone had been flat, her demeanor subdued. She couldn’t find it in her to get worked up or to feel much of anything other than numb. But the sight of Noah walking away from her and doing it while angry made her heart stutter. She dropped the clothing she’d been trying unsuccessfully to pack and ran after him.

        “Noah, wait,” she called out, hurrying down the stairs after him.

        When she reached the bottom, he whirled on her.

        “Do you have any idea what you did to me yesterday?” He didn’t shout. His tone was low and hoarse.

        “I...no.”

        “No,” he repeated, “you don’t. You weren’t even thinking about me, were you?”

        “What?” She shook her head, not understanding.

        “You ran, Emma Jean. You ran from me .”

        “Noah,” she whispered, pleading.

        Hands on his hips, eyes on the ceiling, he continued. “Ran without a word. Turned off your phone. Fuck, if your husband hadn’t tried to run you off the road, would you have even come home?”

        “Of course. I wasn’t running,” she denied.

        He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Yes, you were. I’m in deep with you, always have been, and you’ve been acting off ever since I said I love you.” He worked his jaw. “I didn’t expect you to say it back, you know? Not so soon. But I figured you at least gave a shit about me.”

        “I do! I do care about you!”

        “You left me! You ran off on your own, knowing that he was out there somewhere and that he wanted to hurt you! I was supposed to keep you safe!”

        He was yelling now, and Emma Jean fought the instinct to shrink back from the force of his anger.

        “I was supposed to keep you safe, and I failed! I could have lost you because you needed space  and time ,” he growled. “Do you have any idea how fucking terrified I was?”

        She flinched at his question. His face was ravaged. His eyes haunted. She did that to him because she cared more about what she needed than what he did. She’d been thoughtless and she’d hurt him.

        “Noah, I’m sorry-” She choked on her own tears.

        He waved a hand to cut her off and spoke over her. “Maybe it is a good idea for you to stay with your parents for a while.”

        She gasped. “Noah,” she started. She was going to beg his forgiveness, get down on her knees and confess all her sins if he’d listen.

        But it was too late. He was already walking away from her.

***

        Rejected.

        After Noah had walked away, Emma Jean wanted to run after him, force him to listen. But he returned to his room and slammed the door. She’d initially thought he just needed some time to cool down and then he’d give her a chance to defend herself. But he only came back downstairs after he was showered and dressed, walking right past her without a single glance and left the apartment.

        He really was done with her.

        She resumed her packing and called her dad for a ride. Calling her mom would have resulted in hysterics and questions she didn’t want to answer. At least her father wouldn’t force her to talk if she didn’t want to, and right then, she didn’t want to.

        The ride to the Barker house was blissfully silent, but once her mother got a look at her face, all bets were off.

        “What’s wrong?”

        “Nothing. I’m going to stay here for a while, if that’s okay.”

        Melissa narrowed her eyes at her daughter. “You’re always welcome, sweetheart, you know that. Where’s Noah?”

        Emma Jean closed her eyes but couldn’t stop them from leaking. Her mother had always seen right through her. It was one of the reasons she’d avoided her parents when her marriage went bad. She couldn’t bear for Melissa to hold up that mirror and force her to acknowledge her problems out loud. She’d needed to keep her suffering hidden, or as hidden as it could be in their small town, in order to preserve her pride. In retrospect, it was the wrong choice, but she couldn’t change the past, so she’d have to live with the knowledge that she’d contributed to her current situation.

        “Sweetheart?”

        “Uh, can we maybe sit down? There’s something I have to tell you.”

        Brian ushered both women into the living room, likely knowing that whatever was about to be revealed would be emotional for everyone. Once they were seated, Emma Jean launched into her tale, starting with the finale.

        “Cody’s dead.”

        “What?” Melissa gasped.

        She went back to the beginning and told them all about how she had gone for a drive and ended up in Bozeman and how, on the way back, a car tried to run her off the road. She told them about the accident and calling 911 as she discovered Cody’s body. She managed to keep her emotions in check as she spoke, rushing her words to get them all out.

        “Are you hurt?” was the first question her father asked when she’d finished her tale.

        “No, Daddy, I’m fine. I have a bruise from the seatbelt, but that’s all,” she assured him.

        “My sweet baby girl,” her mother whispered. “You’ve been through so much, I can’t even begin to imagine…” She trailed off when her breath hitched. “So, what does this all have to do with Noah? Where is he?”

        Emma Jean fidgeted with the hem of her sweater. “He’s at home. We sort of had a fight.” She didn’t want to tell them how selfish she’d been and how the fight had been her fault, so she left those details out.

        “Oh, sweetheart. I’m sure it’ll all work out. He loves you, you know. I can tell these things.”

        Emma Jean fought against rolling her eyes. “Not sure about that, Mama.”

        “Well, I am. He’ll come around. It’ll all work out.” Melissa stood, waving a hand toward the kitchen. “Now, come help me make brunch.”

***

        After brunch, which she’d barely pecked at, Emma Jean spent an hour fielding phone calls from Tally, Fiona, and finally, Hank Tremont. News of the accident and Cody’s death was certainly making the rounds through the gossip mill of Medicine Wheel. She’d apologized profusely to Tally about the state of her truck, which Tally blew off as inconsequential.

        “I’m just glad you’re alright. And I’m really sorry you had to go through that,” her best friend was saying.

        “I’m fine.”

        “I know. I mean, you keep saying that. Doesn’t mean I don’t worry anyway.”

        Her conversation with Fiona was much of the same. Emma Jean apologized for causing anyone to worry, and Fiona huffed about it not being her fault her husband had been off his rocker.

        The call from Deputy Tremont was a bit more formal. He wanted to stop by and get her official statement, but she didn’t want to rehash the previous day’s events in front of her parents a second time, so she insisted on meeting him at the station. Knowing her mother would try to tag along, she stealthily pulled her dad aside and asked to borrow his truck. With an understanding look, he slipped her the keys and proceeded to distract his wife with talk of enrolling their puppy, Max, in obedience training. Melissa was vehemently opposed to the idea, insisting they could train the puppy themselves. Emma Jean grinned to herself hearing them bicker. She knew her father only introduced the topic to get a rise out of his wife and keep her mind off the fact that their daughter was sneaking out of the house.

        Placing her shaky hands at ten and two on the wheel, Emma Jean would be forever grateful when she stopped experiencing traumatic events. She refused to be afraid of driving after the accident like she refused to be afraid of Tally’s stables after Cody attacked her there. She calmed herself enough that she made it into town without incident, and pulled into the parking lot behind the sheriff’s station.

        Inside, Hank Tremont was seated behind a desk that was positioned along the wall on the right side of the room. From his vantage point, he could see the entrance as well as the entirety of the bullpen. She supposed this was by design since the rest of the desks were clustered together in the center of the room. She didn’t think she’d much like having her back to anyone either.

        Acknowledging his wave with a slight nod, she made her way to his desk and sat in the proffered chair.

        “Thanks for coming down. How are you feeling today?”

        She rolled her shoulders with a slight wince. “A little sore, but fine, I guess.”

        A muscle in Hank’s cheek twitched, but she didn’t think it was from anger. She thought he might be amused. “How about...otherwise?”

        “I’m okay.”

        “You’ve been through a lot.”

        Momentarily losing her temper, she snapped, “You know, everyone keeps saying that. ‘You’ve been through a lot.’  Like I don’t know that. Like I don’t know that I lived through years of abuse. Like my husband didn’t try to kill me-- not once, not twice, but three times . Do people think I was somehow asleep through all of that?”

        “ Respectfully, Emma Jean, I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think you have a lot of people who care about you, and we all just want to make sure that you’re alright. So, try to cut us a little slack here, okay?” His tone was gentle but firm.

        Deflated, she slouched in her seat. “I know. It’s just that...everybody sees me as a victim because of what I endured, but that’s not who I am. I’m not a victim of three murder attempts; I’m a survivor .”  

        Hank’s face broke into a wide smile as he leaned over his desk and whispered, “Fuckin’ right, you are.”

        She matched his expression until he continued.

        “Alright,” he led, back in professional mode except for the twinkle in his eye. “Down to business then, Miss Survivor. I need you to walk me through what happened yesterday.”

        Letting out a deep breath, Emma Jean began recounting her day from the time she asked Tally to borrow her truck until the accident, leaving out the more personal aspects.

        “You didn’t notice anyone following you from the time you left Medicine Wheel and arrived in Bozeman?”

        “No.” She wasn’t about to tell him that she was so far into her head at the time, that even if she had been followed, she probably wouldn’t have noticed.

        “And you didn’t notice anything unusual while you were in the city?”

        “No. Wait, you think he followed me from here into the city? He could have been watching me all day, and I didn’t notice?”

        Hank shook his head. “Not sure, and to be honest, I’m not sure it even matters at this point. But if he didn’t follow you into the city and only managed to spot you on your way back into town, it’s possible that you weren’t his intended victim after all.”

        “Wait a minute.” She waved a hand in the air. “What are you saying?”

        “I’m saying, you were driving Tally’s truck. And we know that Cody was aware you’d been staying with her at one point. Could be he blamed her for you leaving him. She was the one who took you in after the first attack. Makes sense that a guy like that would be looking to place blame somewhere other than on himself. Tally would be the obvious target in that case.”

        “So, if he didn’t know it was me in the truck, and he only recognized the truck as Tally’s…” her voice trailed off and she wrinkled her brow in confusion and then disbelief. “She has a child.” She felt her anger rise as disbelief morphed into something ugly. “A child!” she yelled. “What if it had  been Tally driving that truck? What if she’d had Tucker with her? He could have hurt or-”

        “Hey, hey, Emma Jean. Relax. It’s only speculation at this point, and we’ll never really know what Cody was thinking when he tried to run you off the road. The important thing is that everyone else is okay.” He spoke to her in a soothing manner. “Cody can’t hurt anybody anymore.”

        “I’m glad he’s dead,” she said softly. “Does that make me a horrible person?” She looked at him through her lashes, trying to shield herself from the judgment she was sure she’d find in his eyes.

        “Nope,” he stated succinctly.

        She wasn’t sure if his validation made her feel any better, but it was still nice to hear.

        “I don’t think we’ll need anything else from you, but I’ll call you if that changes.”

        “That’s fine.” She stood, preparing to leave when a thought struck her. “Wait. Who’s handling the funeral arrangements?”

        Hank’s brows rose. “Uh, well, I guess that would be up to his next of kin.”

        “Our divorce hadn’t gone through. I mean, I filed, but he never responded. I’m not sure he was even served.”

        Hank shrugged helplessly. “I’m sorry, Emma Jean. Considering that the man might have tried to kill you, you’re the last person who should have to deal with making sure he gets a proper send off. Maybe talk to his parents. They can handle the arrangements if you’d rather not.”

        She chuckled, though it was humorless. The irony of being legally responsible for the body and final rites of her would-be-murderer was just too great of a cosmic joke. She’d be making a call to Richard Sampson later today. He could deal with putting his son in the ground. Then she’d be contacting a lawyer. As far as she knew, Cody didn’t have a will, and since they were still legally married at the time of his death, she supposed everything was now hers. She’d worry about that later, though. For right now, she was done thinking about him, and she just wanted to get back to her parents’ house.

        She left the sheriff’s station with her mind a little clearer, at least in regards to all things Cody. All things Noah were a completely different story. She was feeling heartbroken after only a couple of weeks with him. Her feelings had been far more intense in that short time frame with him than they had ever been in years with Cody.

Unfortunately, she’d realized it too late, and she’d lost him.