“No.”
“Then tell me what’s happening.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“No.”
“Are you locked in somewhere?”
“No.”
I stopped.
“Then tell me what’s happening.”
Her breathing hitched.
“Has he stopped you from leaving?”
“I can’t explain this properly over the phone.”
“Valerie—”
“I just know I don’t want to be here when he wakes up and starts trying to talk me out of leaving again.”
That was different.
“Has he stopped you from leaving?”
“No.”
“Taken your phone? Your money?”
“I think I made a mistake.”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
She was quiet for several seconds.
“I think I made a mistake.”
“Okay.”
“I want to come home.”
“Please help me. Don’t tell my son.”
“Okay.”
“Please help me. Don’t tell my son.”
“What?”
“Please.”
“Valerie, if you’re in danger—”
“I’m not scared exactly.”
That answer made everything harder.
“Where are you right now?”
She sounded embarrassed. More than that, she sounded unsure of whether she was even entitled to leave.
“Where are you right now?”
“In the bathroom.”
“Can you get out safely?”
“Yes.”
“Then pack what you need. Go somewhere public. Text me the address.”
“Natalie—”
By six that morning, I was at the airport.
“I’m coming.”
She started crying.
“I feel ridiculous.”
“You can feel ridiculous after breakfast.”
By six that morning, I was at the airport.
I left Owen a note saying Valerie needed me and that I would explain once I knew what was happening.
She looked exhausted.
After I landed, I texted him one sentence: She’s safe. I’ll call you when I understand the rest.
Valerie was waiting at a breakfast place three streets from the cottage.
Her suitcase sat beside the table.
She looked exhausted.
But not terrified.
That mattered.
“The first day was wonderful.”
She hugged me.
Then she said, “I don’t even know if Russell did anything wrong.”
I sat across from her.
“Start with why you left.”
She wrapped both hands around her coffee.
“The first day was wonderful.”
The next day, he started talking about Christmas.
They cooked dinner.
They walked along the beach.
Russell opened a bottle of wine and told Valerie he hadn’t laughed that much in years.
The next day, he started talking about Christmas.
He asked whether she’d rather spend it at his house or hers.
“I thought he was making conversation,” she said.
“He pointed at this little blue house.”
Then he drove her through a neighborhood near the coast.
“He pointed at this little blue house,” she said.
“What did he say?”
“‘Something like that would be perfect for us next season.'”
“For us?”
“Exactly.”
“My girlfriend just needs a little convincing to stay longer.”
She had laughed again.
Russell hadn’t.
That evening, a restaurant server asked whether they were visiting.
Russell smiled and said, “My girlfriend just needs a little convincing to stay longer.”
Valerie stared into her coffee.
“I’d known him less than a week, Natalie.”
“Because everyone around us smiled.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone around us smiled.”
The following morning, he started looking at rental listings.
He asked whether Valerie preferred two bedrooms or three, then suggested she could eventually sell her house because keeping two homes “didn’t make sense.”
“He said he was thinking ahead.”
My eyebrows went up.
“He said eventually?”
“He said he was thinking ahead.”
“And you?”
“I started thinking about getting on a plane.”
That night, Valerie told him she wanted to spend the rest of the trip in a hotel.
He simply refused to accept her reason as a reason.
Russell didn’t yell.
He didn’t threaten her.
He simply refused to accept her reason as a reason.
“He asked why I was sabotaging something good,” she said. “He reminded me how lonely I’d told him I was.”
She wiped under one eye.
“Then he said fear was making me run away.”
“Do you want to stay with him?”
“Valerie.”
“What if he’s right?”
“Do you want to stay with him?”
“No.”
“Then that’s enough.”
She stared at me.
I repeated it.
“I couldn’t call Owen.”
“Changing your mind is enough.”
Her mouth trembled.
“I couldn’t call Owen.”
“Because he’d say he knew it.”
She nodded.
That was when I finally understood why she’d called me. She didn’t need someone to rescue her from Russell. She needed someone who wouldn’t turn leaving into proof that she’d been foolish to stay.
His expression changed when he saw me.
We returned to the cottage after breakfast.
Before we went inside, I texted Owen the address. I didn’t ask him to come. I only wanted him to know where we were.
Russell opened the door.
His expression changed when he saw me.
“Natalie.”
“Hi.”
“What’s going on?”
He looked at Valerie.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m getting my things.”
His jaw tightened.
“Did Owen send you?”
“No.”
Russell kept looking at me instead of Valerie.
“Does he know you’re here?”
“Now he does.”
Russell kept looking at me instead of Valerie.
“Why is everyone treating her like she can’t make her own decisions?”
