What He Promises (9 page)

How you swung that shoe at me, Charlotte!!!!!
Charlotte!!! That was amazing, wonderful, perfect, just so you.
 
It impressed me and made the love I have
for you in my heart grow and bloom.

I have lost my eye because of you.
 
I am half-blind now, but it is a small
price to pay for having a reminder of you branded into my body.
 
I wish I had that eye
CHARLOTTE
as I would send it to you.

I am sure you want nothing to do with me, I am
sure you have been brainwashed by CUTLER, but I would invite you to come and
speak with me.
 
I would like to talk
to you about what happened, to shed some light on the incident, TO TEACH YOU
and give you more lessons.

Of course, that is not the only reason I would
like to see you.
 
Selfishly, I will
enjoy your company immensely.
 
I am
lonely here without you, Charlotte.
 
I need news of your whereabouts, of what you are doing.
 

I am sure you are with CUTLER, and the thought
drives me MAD
MAD
MAD
.
 
HE is not GOOD for you CHARLOTTE.
 
He is BAD FOR YOU.
 
A woman like you deserves so much more.

Please come and see me.
 
I will answer your questions.
 

Please bring me a newspaper, if you do
come.
 
I am so desperate for news of
my plight.

Forever yours,

Colin “Professor” Worthington

I placed the letter back into its envelope,
then turned and prompted vomited into the bathtub.

There was nothing in the letter that was
horrible – no threats of cutting up my body, no promises to get out and
come and see me.
 
They were just
words on a page – they could only be so bad.
 
And besides, there was nothing he could
write in a letter that would even come close to the things he had already done
to me.

But just knowing he had been the one on the
other side of the pen, just knowing he had contacted me brought back all the memories
of that night and stirred something up inside of me, thoughts so dark and
horrible I didn’t want to ever think of them again.

I began to clean out the tub, washing away my
dinner from last night, that beautiful dinner that Noah had arranged for me,
all of it gone.

I washed my face and brushed my teeth, studying
myself in the mirror.
 

I had planned on going back to school today,
but now there was no way.

I returned to bed, climbed in and curled up
under the covers.

I must have fallen
asleep,
because the next thing I knew, I was being roused by something wet licking my
face.

I picked my hand up and pushed the wet thing
away, then snuggled deeper into my covers.

But whatever it was persisted.

I opened one eye and a furry face stared back
at me.

A dog.

There was a dog in my bed.

“What the hell?” I murmured, sitting up.

The dog seemed to like this.
 
He gave a playful little bark and wagged
his tail happily.
 
He was
medium-sized, with shaggy golden fur and a very cold nose.

.He
was
wearing a bright red collar, and tied to it was an envelope.
 
My name was written on the front.

I reached out and opened it.

Dear Charlotte,

I was hoping this might brighten your day.
 
The people at the shelter tell me he is
a mutt, maybe some golden retriever, maybe some border collie.
 
He is about three years old, and
apparently past the puppy stage, although he still seems like a puppy to me.

Jared has been instructed to deliver him and
leave his things with you – a leash, a bowl, a toy, some food.

He will need a name, which I will leave to you.

I love you very much,

Noah

I smiled.

A shelter dog!
 
Noah had gotten me a shelter dog, even
though he definitely didn’t want a pet.
 
He’d done it for me.

I could hear the sound of rustling in the
kitchen.

“Jared?” I called.

“Yes, miss,” he called back.
 
“I’m sorry to barge in on you like this,
but Mr. Cutler insisted it be a surprise.”

“That’s okay, Jared.”

The dog was already making himself at home in
Noah’s bed, his body snuggling up against mine.
 
I giggled as he licked my face.

“I’ll leave his toys and things out here,”
Jared said.
 
“Would you like me to
walk him before I go?”

“No, that’s fine,” I said, scratching the dog
behind the ears.
 
“I can take care
of it.”

“Very well, miss.
 
Please let me know if you need
anything.”

I heard the front door open and close as Jared
left the apartment.
 
I reached out
and grabbed my cell phone, dialed Noah.

“Hello,” he said when he answered, and I could
hear the smile in his voice.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Do you like him?”

“I love him.
 
The question is, do
you
love
him?”
 
The dog was pushing his nose
under my hand, demanding that I pet him.
 
I couldn’t imagine how Noah would feel when the dog was doing that to
him while he tried to work.
 
I
stifled a giggle.

“I love whatever makes you happy,” he
said.
 
“I’ll see you tonight?”

“I’ll see you tonight,” I agreed.

“Charlotte?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I flushed with pleasure as I ended the call.

Noah was right.

Force, Professor Worthington, Mikayla –
that was all in our past.
 
It was
time to start moving on with our lives.

***

Two weeks passed, and as every day, every hour,
every minute went by, the horror of what had happened began to fade from my
mind.

I named the dog Docket, and we fell into a comfortable
routine.
 
I still hadn’t gone back
to school, and so every morning we would wake up after Noah went to work, and
spend the morning walking around the city, sitting in the park, me sipping
coffee and Docket watching birds.

He was a good dog – he listened for the
most part, although he could be a little zealous.
 
He was rambunctious and excitable, like
a bull in a china shop, knocking things over with his tail and his paws.

It was on one of our morning walks that we ran
into Julia.

She was walking across the park holding a sheaf
of papers.

I’d had a couple of texts with her, just
letting her know that I wouldn’t be coming back to our apartment, and I’d
arranged a time with her for Jared to go and get the rest of my things, but
other than that, we hadn’t spoken.

She looked good, her hair pulled back in a
dancer’s bun, her lithe frame dressed in a grey pants suit with a light pink
shell underneath.

My first instinct was to avoid her, but she saw
me at the same time I saw her, and we did that awkward thing where we weren’t
sure what to do.

Finally, she walked over to me.

“Hey,” she said shyly.

“Hi.”
 

Docket began wagging his tail, his whole body
shaking with excitement.
 
Julia bent
down to pet him, and he jumped up, putting his front paws on her legs.
 
“Docket!” I scolded.

But Julia didn’t mind.
 
She kneeled down in the grass and he
immediately turned over, waiting for Julia to rub his belly.

“Oh, Julia,” I said as the grass stained her
knees.
 
“Your pants.”

“It’s okay,” she said, her hand moving through
Docket’s fur.
 
“I’m done with my
meeting.”
 
She glanced up at me
shyly, hesitating.
 
“I had an
appointment at an adoption agency,” she said.
 
“I’m thinking… I might be putting the
baby up for adoption.”

“Oh,” I said.
 
“And Josh is…”

“He’s fine with it.”
 
She stood up and brushed the dirt from
her knees.
 
“We broke up.”

“I’m sorry.”

She laughed.
 
“Really?”

“No, not really,” I said.

She tilted her head.
 
“I heard about what happened to
you.
 
And to Noah.
 
Are you okay?”

“I’m getting there.”

“Good.”

She stood there awkwardly, until finally I
said, “We should get together some time.
 
Have coffee.”

“Yeah, definitely,” she said.
 
“I’ll text you.”

It was the kind of thing that people said, but
I knew neither one of us really meant it.
 
We wouldn’t text.
 
We
wouldn’t get together for coffee.
 
We would become part of each other’s past, an inconsequential
part,
actually, the way people did when there was nothing
holding them together except for circumstance.

“Take care of yourself, Julia.”

“You too, Charlotte.”

I watched her walk away.

Then I got up and went home.

***

There was another letter waiting for me when I
got there.

From Professor Worthington.

Something about it, coupled with the fact that
I’d just run into Julia, made my stomach flip.

I opened it.

It was more of the
same,
he loved me, blah
blah
blah
.
 
But this time, he mentioned Mikayla.

I know you want to know about her,
Charlotte.
 
You want to know where
she is.
 
I can help you.

I pushed the letter back into the envelope.
 

This time, instead of a sick feeling bubbling
up inside of me, I was angry.

I wanted him to stop contacting me.
 

I wanted him to
stop.

I was going to see Noah.

I was going to tell him about the letters.

And I was going to let him take care of it.

***

I left Docket at home, snoozing comfortably on
our bed, and walked to Noah’s office, my heart pounding the whole time.

I’d been trying to move on, I really had.

But if these letters continued to come, that
would be impossible.

Noah would stop them.

He would call the jail or file an injunction or
a restraining order or whatever it was people did in situations like these.

When I got to his floor, the receptionist
buzzed me right in.

But this time, when I reached Noah’s office, I
could soft voices wafting through the closed door.

He must have been having a meeting.
 
I hesitated, not sure what I should
do.
 
It was silly of me to show up
here unannounced, just assuming that he would be free.
 
Noah was a busy man.

I was about to leave, to maybe wait in the
lobby or call him and let him know I was there, when I heard a laugh.

 
A woman’s laugh.

“It’s fine,” a female voice said.
 
“You can get to the paperwork whenever
you get a chance.”

It was a familiar voice, but it took me a
second to place it.

Clementine.
 

Clementine was in Noah’s office.

I raised my fist to the door and knocked.

“I’m in a meeting,” Noah barked.

“It’s me,” I said, hating the way my voice
sounded, weak and needy.

“Charlotte?” Noah asked when he opened the
door.
 
“What are you doing here?”

“I came to… I came to tell you something.”