Love in Dreams: Rescue (4 page)

Cass allowed a small smile. Maybe the mirror was slimming.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “No makeup today.”

She completed her improvised shower and pulled on fresh
clothes from her suitcase. Khaki shorts, a green short-sleeved top, and an
elastic band for her hair. Simple. Like it was a normal day, and she was a
normal person going to the normal power company with a normal request.

Cass wolfed down two bananas and stepped out into the
unseasonably warm morning. With any luck, she’d be back from her excursion in
time to spend some of the afternoon stretched out on the dock, soaking up what
would have to be one of the last warm days of the fall. She climbed into the
Saturn, twisted the key in the ignition, and drove slowly into town.

Her first stop was the local office for the power company,
where a very nice elderly lady tip-tapped her way through an account activation
process like a computer expert.

“Oh, you’re Florence’s grandbaby!” she exclaimed. “I’m so
sorry. I always think of all of my friends’ grandchildren as babies still.”

“Yep, that’s me,” Cass said. She was tentative when she
first entered the office, but when the woman didn’t bat an eye at her bruises,
Cass relaxed.

Normal normal normal.

She repeated the words in a mantra of utter calm.

The woman confirmed that power to the cabin would be
activated by midafternoon at the latest.

“You call me if it’s not working,” she said. “And you ask
for Edna.”

“Thank you very much, Edna,” Cass said.

“You off to see them now?” Edna said quietly.

Cass paused, catching herself before she touched her cheek
absentmindedly. She didn’t want to visit the cemetery yet.

“No,” she said. “Soon, though. Very soon.”

“That’s good,” Edna said with a reassuring smile. She
squeezed Cass’s hand gently. “She’d be so happy to see you all grown up.”

Cass nodded, whispered “Thanks,” and waved a quick goodbye
before she turned to leave. If she’d been able to see Edna then, she would have
noted a look of concern in the old woman’s face, a deep kindness, and
determination.

She would have seen that everything, if Edna could help it,
was going to turn out fine.

Cass passed the phone company and a mobile phone store on
the way to her next destination. She wasn’t quite ready to reconnect to the
world. Instead, she parked at a dollar store and spent a fair amount of time
picking out basic supplies for the cabin – a set of plastic dishes, silverware,
towels, toilet paper, soap, and even a few nonessential items. A beach chair
for sitting by the lake. Dusty VHS copies of “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen
Candles.” Little yellow corn on the cob holders she’d always wanted.

The dollar store trip didn’t dent Cass’s cash reserves too
badly. She had a few hundred dollars from her stash at the old house, and that
would be good enough for food if she stretched her budget. She’d transferred
her meager savings to an old account Preston never knew about, and with any
luck that money would be available in the next few days. She thought only
briefly of her boss at the electronics store in St. Paul. Would he even miss
her? He’d probably already given her hours to the college drop-out who wore low-cut
tops all the time.

Anticipating a functioning refrigerator, Cass stopped at the
grocery store and filled a cart with enough food to last at least a week. With
each aisle she walked, and each curious face she scanned, she grew more
confident. If anyone was judging her, they didn’t show it. And she felt
stronger for flashing her true colors, as bare and unflattering as they might
be. She stood tall.

Cass breezed past the pet supplies and then stopped
abruptly, retreating until she was level with the dog food. The wolf-dog-thing
at the neighbor’s place was still on her mind. She grabbed a bag and then
released it, unsure of how much she should commit to the strange beast.

“Oh hell,” she murmured. “Why not?” She tossed a small bag
under the cart.

You’re only setting yourself up for heartache.

“Quiet, voice!” Cass whispered. “I will not adopt that sad
old dog.”

If you say so, Cass. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

“Whatever.”

By the time Cass paid for her groceries and loaded the car,
it was getting to be midmorning. A caffeine headache throbbed behind her eyes.
She stopped at a small coffee shop for a large to-go cup of their strongest
blend and scanned the local newspapers for a few minutes. The lazy Saturday
morning conversations around her were delightfully boring – fishing reports,
church picnic schedules, parents yearning for school to start. To Cass, it was
perfect. She wandered out of the shop and walked up and down Grand Rapids’ main
street until she found the old high school that had been restored and turned
into an arts center. According to a large plaque, Judy Garland had gone to
school there many years before. The resurfaced paths were paved with bricks
residents had paid to have engraved. Names of parents, grandparents, and
children were etched into the orange-red rectangles under Cass’s feet. Even
beloved pets made appearances. It was all so quaint and beautiful that Cass
almost clicked her heels.

“There’s no place like home,” she said, raising her coffee
cup toward the school. “Here’s to Dorothy. And rainbows.”

After a quiet drive to the cabin, Cass busied herself with
stowing groceries and dusting her new home from top to bottom. She opened the
windows and doors and let the warm breeze help her clean. The refrigerator
sputtered to life as she wiped down the countertops, and Cass couldn’t help but
smile.

“Thanks, Edna!” she said.

Cass ate a full lunch and then hauled her new chair down to
the pebbled beach. She was sleepy again, and ready for an afternoon spent
baking in the sun. The small cove her grandparents’ cabin surveyed was empty –
no boaters, no signs of life at nearby homes, and no noise from the dog next
door. Cass looked around once, then twice, and then sucked in her breath and
slipped her shirt over her head. Her faded and soft blue cotton bra was as
close to a bikini as she could get, and somehow, it felt
right
. She
glanced down at her breasts and felt a surge of pride.

You look super, Cass!

“I know,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Damn straight.”

Cass plopped down in her beach chair, stretched out her
legs, and closed her eyes. The sun warmed her slowly, baking any remaining
stress away.

She was about to drift into a light nap when she heard
rustling leaves on the bluff behind her and to her right. Squirrels? Maybe a
deer?

Cass turned and shielded her eyes from the sun.

“Well, hello there, wolf-dog,” she said softly.

The neighbor’s dog had pulled as far around the red cabin as
he could, just enough to be able to stretch out at the top of the bluff and
peek over the edge.

“Hungry?” she said, louder. “You’ll have to wait. I’m having
some personal time.” Then, quieter again, to herself, “Why are you talking to
this thing?”

The animal didn’t make another move, holding still and
aiming its green eyes right at her.

Cass turned back around and closed her eyes. She could feel
the animal’s gaze, but it was more comforting than strange. Like it or not, she
figured, they were going to be fast friends. Especially after she took over
some of that new food.

Cass lingered in that in-between state of sleep and
wakefulness, enjoying the sound of water lapping at the pebbles near her feet.
She felt like she’d been sucked inside one of the sleep-sound machines she used
to sell at the electronics store, the kind with seventeen tracks of “pure mood
bliss.” Only, this was the real thing. Pure nature. Pure solitude.

If only it could last.

The clatter of a sputtering engine shattered Cass’s
meditation. Then, the crush of gravel that could only mean someone had turned
into the driveway. A lump formed in Cass’s throat, panic doubling her heart
rate in an instant. The vehicle skidded to a stop. It sounded like it was
closer to the neighbor’s place but she wasn’t sure. She scampered to the base
of the bluff and pressed herself against the cool dirt. If it was Preston,
she’d hear him smashing around the cabin and have a chance to get away. Maybe.

“I told you, I’m out here to take care of it right now!”

A woman’s shrill voice met Cass’s ears and with it came
instant relief. Cass took a step back, shook dirt from her chest, and strained
to listen.

“Okay then,” the voice continued. “Just give me twenty
minutes. This’ll be quick. I don’t know what the hell he was doing with this
thing. Call ya back. Bye. You bet.”

Cass found her shirt and pulled it back on. She decided to
keep with her new, positive outlook – she’d force herself to go up and meet
this woman.

“Might as well get it over with,” she said as she climbed
the stairs up the bluff. “Now or never.” She tightened her ponytail and
smoothed the pine needles and dirt from her shorts.

There was on old blue pickup parked near the Imposter Cabin.
Cass recognized it as the truck that almost ran her into the ditch the previous
day. The sides were dented and rusty, and the windshield was cracked. It hardly
seemed the vehicle of choice for the woman Cass remembered.

As she approached the cabin, Cass heard the unmistakable
sound of a shotgun being cocked. She gasped, and then froze. Her first impulse
was to sprint back to her cabin, but something spurred her forward.

Don’t do this, Cass!

“Trust me,” she whispered. She walked quickly toward the
noise, which came from back where the dog had been chained. What Cass found was
the old woman aiming the shotgun at the wolf-dog, and the animal crouched down
with its teeth bared.

“Now you stay put there,” the woman said. “This – ”

“Hi there, I’m Cass!” Cass nearly shouted, trying to make
her appearance look like an accident. “Your neighbor!”

The woman jumped and spun around. The wolf-dog growled and
stayed still.

“What the hell, woman!”

“Sorry, sorry, oh my,” Cass said. “I had no idea you were,
um, busy?”

The woman lowered her gun and shook her head slowly.

“You’re liable to get shot, pulling something like that,”
she muttered. “You the one staying at the Danby place?”

“Yes, that’s me. Cass Danby. It’s...well, it’s
my
place.”

“Good for you.”

“You have a lovely cabin as well.”

“This dump?” the woman scoffed. “This was my brother’s. I’m
just cleaning up the last of his mess. He died three weeks ago, probably under
the piles of junk he lived with.”

“I’m so sorry,” Cass said, moving toward the woman.

The old lady raised a hand. She had a red flannel shirt on,
its sleeves rolled up. Her jeans were so faded they were almost white.

“Don’t be,” she said. “We weren’t close. Now, if you’ll excuse
me, I have to put this beast out of its misery. It’s the last thing. Then I’m
going to town to meet with a realtor. She wouldn’t come out here while this dog
was around.”

“You’re going to shoot it?” Cass tried to sound oblivious.
“He’s so nice!”

The woman laughed a dry, harsh cackle.

“Right,” she said. “He’s already bitten three people. Randy
was the only one who could ever even feed him. He’s a real bad one, this.” She
raised the gun again. “You probably want to go back to your cabin now.”

Cass watched the woman turn and aim. The wolf-dog’s hackles
raised and his pupils dilated so wide that his eyes turned black and then
orange. Cass’s ears buzzed in fear and a strange kind of anticipation.

“Go on now!” the woman yelled.

Don’t do it, Cass.

“Wait!” Cass shouted. “Wait, ma’am!”

The woman took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She
didn’t turn around.

“Lady,” she growled, “I tried to say it nicely. This time I
won’t. Get the hell off this property and go mind your own business.”

“No,” Cass said, determined. “I’ll take him.”

The woman lowered the gun one more time, sighing “Are you a
lunatic?” as she backed toward Cass and eventually turned to face her.

“No,” Cass said. “I think I can find a rescue place or
someone in town to take him.” She walked toward the animal, expecting it to
relax in her presence. It didn’t. A low growl made her reconsider her grand
plan. “I mean,” she added, “I don’t want to
keep
him. But I want to
help
him.”

The woman squeezed her eyes shut. Her entire face was lines
and wrinkles and age and fatigue. She took three deep breaths, and then opened
her eyes to stare hard at Cass.

“Okay,” she said. “Only because the Danbys were good to my
brother. But if anything happens to you, don’t come crying to me. When I unlock
one end of this chain and hand it to you, this thing is your responsibility.
Got it? He could rip your heart out and I’ll have nothing to do with cleaning
up the mess.”

“Understood,” Cass said. “I’ll handle my heart.”

The woman leaned her gun against the cabin and walked slowly
to the section of chain that secured the wolf-dog to the structure’s cement
foundation. She unlocked a padlock and jerked the chain free, handing the cold
iron links to Cass. Then she dramatically dusted off her hands right by Cass’s
face.

“There you go, missy! Your brand new puppy,” she said
sarcastically. She walked back to the truck with her gun. Cass heard her mutter
“damn fool” under her breath.

“Good luck to you!” Cass said cheerfully. “Nice to meet
you...”

“Wanda.”

“Nice to meet you, Wanda!”

“Sure.”

Wanda fired up her truck, reversed in a spray of gravel, and
peeled out of the parking area.

“Well!” Cass said. “What a pleasant lady.” She hefted the
chain in her hands and turned to look at the animal on the other end.
Thankfully, he’d relaxed. The hair along his neck and back had flattened. The
eyes were a soft green again.