Chapter 244

#Chapter 244 – Down the Barrel of a Gun “Get out of my house!” a feminine voice shrieks. “I’ll shoot you! Get out!”

“Bridgette!” I shout, half panicked and half furious, ducking my head and curling my body around Alvin’s as I press us both against the wall outside the cabin’s door. “Put the f*****g gun down! It’s me! It’s Evelyn!”

“Evelyn!” I hear her gasp and there’s a clatter – god, did she just drop a loaded gun on the floor? I groan, hearing footsteps pounding towards us, realizing that we never should have left her alone with a gun in the house.

I’m looking up at the door and see the moment when her pretty blonde head peeks out of the. “Oh my god!” she pants. “It really is you! I am so sorry – Evelyn, you scared me –“

My limbs are shaking as I unwrap myself from Alvin, who looks up at Bridgette.

“Hi, auntie,” he says, working to give her a tremulous little smile.

“Oh, baby,” she moans, crouching down next to us and putting her arms out to him. He immediately goes to her, wrapping her in a hug. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he assures her, resting his head on her shoulder. “We surprised you – we should have called first –“

“We did call first,” I say through gritted teeth, taking a deep breath and working to dismiss my anger, to remind myself that she’s a woman alone in the woods. She has every right to defend herself. We just…

should have taught her some gun safety first.

“Evelyn,” Bridgette says, shaking her head. “I’m so, so –“

“It’s okay, Bridgette,” I respond, getting to my feet and forcing a smile onto my face. “No harm done, right?”

She nods briskly, gesturing towards the door. “Come in!”

She picks Alvin up and holds him on her hip as she leads the way into the house and, despite the panic and adrenaline still pumping through my veins, my heart breaks to see her do it. After all, she’s here because she thought she, too, was going to have a little one to carry just like that, and then found out in the worst way that she wasn’t.

I press the door shut behind me, shaking the thoughts away. They’re not helpful right now – we have more pressing matters.

“Bridgette,” I say, following her and Alvin into the kitchen, where she places him on a chair at the table and moves to the fridge. “Why didn’t you answer any of my calls?”

“Um, because my phone died?” she responds, giving me a sorry little shrug as she opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of orange juice.

“You don’t have a charger?”

She bites her lip and shakes her head at me. “I forgot it. And when I went down to the little store in the village,” she continues, gesturing out the window with the carton of orange juice. “They didn’t have one.”

“So you didn’t…order one? Or drive further?”

She bites her lip and looks down at the table as she places the carton of orange juice on it. She doesn’t say anything.

“Bridgette,” I say, moving quickly to her side. “What’s going on?”

“He just…kept calling it…” she whispers, not looking at me. “He wouldn’t stop. Even when I blocked his number, he just got a new one. So…it was easier to just let the phone die. So I could think.”

I click my tongue sympathetically and put my arm around her, giving her a squeeze. “I’m sorry babe,” I whisper. “I understand.”

She looks at me with a shaky little smile. “I didn’t think about how it was cutting me off from you though.

That was stupid of me.”

I shrug, dismissing it. “Who cares. We found you.”

I take the orange juice from her hand and nudge her towards the table, taking over for her so that she can relax.

“What do you do out here all the time, Bridgette?” Alvin asks, looking around the cabin curiously as I move to the cabinet and take out three glasses, bringing them over to the table.

“Not much,” she says, shrugging.

“Do you get bored?” Alvin asks, turning his head to the side.

Bridgette wrinkles her nose at him. “I kind of like being bored for a little,” she says, whispering it like a secret. “I’m hardly ever alone. Did you know I have six brothers and sisters? We all grew up in a little house, and I had to share a bed with all of my sisters.” She stretches out her arms, taking up all the space she wants. “It was nice, for once, to be all on my own.”

“Wow,” Alvin whispers, fascinated. “I’m never alone. I always have Ian.” He taps his head. “Up here, if we’re not together.”

“Interesting,” Bridgette replies with a big smile.

“So you’re…happy here?” I ask, pouring the orange juice and handing out the glasses.

“It’s been good,” she says, smiling up at me. “Though I think I’m getting ready to go. Peace and quiet is great but I have to return to my life sometime.”

I nod, understanding. “Do you know what you want to do next?”

She bites her lip, shaking her head to tell me she doesn’t. I nod, supportive but not pushing her.

“Did you get lonely, auntie?” Alvin asks, taking a big sip of his juice.

“A little,” she replies, laughing. “I miss parties.”

“Well then let’s have a party!” Alvin decides, throwing his hands up in the air and accidentally splashing orange juice on the floor.

Bridgette opens her mouth to protest, and perhaps to point out that she doesn’t have anyone to invite to a party because Rafe isolated her from her family and her childhood friends. But I get to it first, coming up with an instant plan. “I think that’s a great idea,” I interject as I stand and grab the paper towels, moving towards Alvin’s spill.

Bridgette closes her mouth, hesitant, but I continue anyway. “I’ll call Delia and Emma – they’ll come by.”

I look towards my friend as I throw the paper towels in the waste basket. “We’ll have a real girl’s night.”

“Ohhh,” Bridgette hums, her eyes shining. “That would be amazing. They can –“

“Hey!” Alvin interrupts, looking angrily between us. “We cannot have a girl’s night. I am not a girl.”

“You can be an honorary girl! For one night!” I say cheerfully, moving swiftly to him and wrapping my arms around his shoulders. “My little daughter, Alvina!”

“No!” He protests as Bridgette laughs. “I will not be a girl I will be…” he closes his eyes and I watch him, dying to know his plan. He pauses a moment, thinking, and then his eyes snap open.

“Tonight, I will be the butler!” he declares, grinning at each of us. “Like Burton! And I will do the butler things and bring you drinks and snacks.”

“An amazing plan,” I insist, reaching for my phone to text my sister. I grin at Bridgette. “We’re quite spoiled tonight, aren’t we?”

“We sure are,” she says, beaming at Alvin, and then she gasps and looks at me “Can they bring pizza?

I’ve been dying for pizza.”

“Pizza!” Alvin shouts, again throwing his hands in the air and splashing more orange juice.

“Pizza it is,” I murmur, looking at my phone as I take Alvin’s glass from his hand. “And a sippy cup for you, apparently.”