Losing Him (Mitchell Family #8)(48)

While Jacob was at school, sometimes I’d sneak back to the house for some alone time with Heather. She was getting disability from her job, but once she was cleared to go back to work, they had to replace her.

She took it better than I expected. For a long time she’d relied on that job to provide for her and our son. Now that she didn’t have the burden of paying rent every month, she seemed satisfied with taking time off. Some days she’d even head over to the Bed and Breakfast and help me out. I liked her being there, but knew that her passion was taking care of people. I think it gave her a sense of self, knowing that she was giving back as much as she could.

Our ride back to North Carolina was much like the ones before it. Jacob was the entertainment, which left Heather and myself with headaches. That boy could talk about the craziest things and go from one topic to the next.

By the time we arrived, Jacob had fallen asleep. We carried him inside and put him in the spare bedroom. It was weird being there. Everything was still how we’d left it when she’d had the accident. The refrigerator was filled with spoiled food and the dishwasher was full of mold. After we masked our faces, we started cleaning up the mess. I thought Heather was going to pass out as she tossed everything, including the dishes, into the trash. There was no sense saving anything. It was ruined.

After the house smelled clean, well after midnight, I followed Heather into her room. She stripped down to our underwear and climbed into bed. Just like every night, I pulled her into my arms and nibbled on her ears. “I’m too tired tonight, Jess.”

I wasn’t trying to get any, but it offended me that she’d assumed that. “I was just saying goodnight. See you in the morning.” I rolled over and didn’t say anything else.

I’m not sure how long I’d been asleep, but I woke up to Heather crying. When I rolled her, she was sitting up in bed. “What’s wrong?”

“You can go back to sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

I leaned my head on her thigh. “Baby, I can’t sleep if you’re upset. Just tell me. Is it your mom?”

She shook her head. “Please, Jess. I’ll be fine. I promise.”

I kissed her leg and decided not to argue with her. I was too damn tired to try to guess why she would be upset. Everything in our life was going well, so it had to be her mother.

The next day Heather was even more distant. She got Jacob up and fed him, then retreated to the attic to start gathering boxes. After I’d had a cup of coffee, I headed up to help her.

“I think I’m going to have a yard sale. There’s a lot of stuff up here that could be worth something.” She seemed determined to get things done.

“That’s probably a good idea.”

“I can stay here and get things ready.”

“You mean, you want to stay here while I go back on Monday? Jacob has school on Tuesday.” I didn’t understand. She never wanted to be without him.

“Yeah. There’s a lot to get done. By the time you come back on Friday, I can have everything priced and ready to go outside. I can put an ad in the paper and even get in touch with some people from my mother’s church. People around here go crazy for yard sales.” She kept pushing boxes around as she spoke, never looking at me at all.

“Okay, I guess that will work. Does this mean you’re planning on selling the place?” I was hopeful.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

Her answers were short again. It had to be because she didn’t want to be in this house. I couldn’t think of any other reason for her to be acting so weird.

For the rest of the afternoon I carried down box after box until the whole attic, with the exception of the sewing area, was cleaned out. Heather turned on music and stayed on task, only talking to me when it was necessary. The longer we worked, the more I couldn’t wait to get her home and out of the town that made her so messed up.

By the time that Sunday rolled around, we were all three exhausted, but Heather insisted that we all go to church. I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but she was adamant, saying it was important to her.

So, we got dressed up and went.

The normal amount of people gave us looks as we entered into a vacant pew. There was also an equal amount of shocking stares. A group of familiar faces looked shocked to see us there.

I think the most shocked was Ty and his wife. Heather didn’t seem alarmed that we were sitting just two pews away from them. With every song that we were required to stand for, I saw them all looking back at us. One of the little girls kept turning around and looking at Jacob. It was as if they were flirting with one another.

I didn’t understand how she could be so calm and relaxed. Even though I think they’d all agreed to back off with the hating games, I still felt weirded out.

Halfway through the service, Heather got up and led Jacob to the front of the church. I just sat there wondering what was going on. Then the pastor announced that Heather would be taking over for her mother in children’s church. Thinking that it was just temporary, I shook it off, considering it was something she wanted to do for closure.

It was strange that she would just leave me sitting in the church all by myself, but I figured I’d say something to her after the service. Maybe she had mentioned it and I hadn’t been listening. Maybe she just forgot.

Once the service was over, I found my way down to the basement, where all of the kids had gone with Heather. Kids were running around playing and being kids, but Heather sat reading a book to a few little girls. She seemed happy in an almost serene way.