When Darkness Falls(7)

“Yeah, I’m not looking forward to the commute.” The Red Line was mostly underground, so it’d probably be running, but after that she’d have an eight-block walk to Union Station where she’d catch her train home. She didn’t have any clothes at Devon’s, and she couldn’t appear at work in the morning in the same outfit.

Jacinda settled on the waiting room couch near the entryway and brushed snow out of her dark hair and off her plum-colored sweater. “That gorgeous boyfriend of yours isn’t picking you up tonight?”

“He’s bartending.”

“Everything still good?”

All day Haley had been longing to tell someone about the proposal, but there hadn’t been time to make any calls, and she wasn’t sure enough how she felt to tell anyone at work. Still, everything was quiet now, and interruptions unlikely. “He asked me to marry him.”

Jacinda’s smile flattened. “Already? Honey, that’s quick.”

“It is. I told him that.” Haley started collecting the toys in the children’s play area. “But I knew Brian for three years before I moved in with him, and that obviously didn’t work.”

“Doing the opposite of your last relationship doesn’t mean this one will work.”

“I haven’t answered him yet. He said it’s no hurry.”

Haley worried about the rebound factor, though she didn’t want to admit it to Jacinda. After moving back into her own place, Haley had taken on extra shifts at her old sales job not only for the money, but to avoid the deserted apartment. Sunday afternoons, when she and Brian used to stay in bed reading, felt endless. And Haley still hadn’t played her guitar. She might be rushing away from that feeling, from the gaps, rather than toward Devon.

Wind whistled through the window casements, and the worn stuffed animals that sat on the shelf in front of it shook.

“There’s a middle ground,” Jacinda said, “between rushing into things and dragging a relationship out. Middle ground doesn’t have to be boring.”

Jacinda’s phone vibrated and she glanced at it and clicked a button.

“I’m not worried about boring,” Haley said.

“You sure? You and Brian were on the road, playing at festivals, singing before big audiences. Had to be a huge adrenalin rush, even if you were used to it. Now you’re in a day-to-day office job—with nice people, I must say—but it’s got to seem dull. The initial stage with a new lover is all passion and romance and adrenalin. That’s all good, but it’s not always love. At least, not the love that sustains a marriage.”

“I know that.”

Jacinda stood and hugged her. “Hey, sorry, honey, I should take off my counseling hat. I’m excited for you, happy to see you happy. I see a change since the time I interviewed you. But take care, okay?”

Haley nodded. “I’m running on about two hours of sleep. I might be a little touchy.”

Jacinda flipped the brass locks on the bottom of the entryway doors and started switching off lights. “And I might be a tiny bit overbearing. A tiny bit. So what do you say we get out of here? Got a message from my last client, and she can’t get out of her driveway. And we’re not getting any walkins tonight.”

Haley glanced at the time. “I should stay. It’s only another half hour or so, and I’m kind of new to break Dr. Whyle’s rules.”

“No way I’m leaving you here alone. Didn’t you hear about that poor woman murdered in Bucktown the other night?”

“We’re a ways from there.” Haley closed the toy bin and switched off the lamp next to it.

“Murderers can travel.”

So much snow had fallen Haley couldn’t see anything out the window but white. She checked the time again. “I guess it’s more like twenty minutes to closing. Maybe it’s all right.”

“I’ll drive you to the train.”

Haley had found that about half the people in the city loved not needing to own a car, and half would do anything to keep theirs, including paying exorbitant parking fees. The second type favored driving over any other means of transportation. Jacinda was one of those, though the way the car kept sliding, Haley felt sure the L and walking to the train station would be safer. But she appreciated being out of the wind.

The car skidded to the curb beyond the Adams Street bridge over the Chicago River, which had frozen into snowcapped ripples.

The two women hugged. “Congratulations. Really,” Jacinda said. “But remember, you don’t have to rush into anything. There’s no hurry.”

Haley smiled. “I’ll remember, counselor. Thanks for the ride.”

“Be safe.”

Fighting the wind, Haley trudged toward the station door. So much snow whirled around her she couldn’t see if any other bundled train riders were making the trek alongside her. She thought of the attack Jacinda had mentioned. She’d never hear or see someone behind her in this weather. But surely even criminals were home tonight.

Right as she reached the station, a hand clamped down on Haley’s shoulder. She shrieked. The wind’s howling swallowed the sound. Haley wrenched away and plunged into the station, heart pounding. Whoever it was lunged and grabbed her arm again.

“Jesus, Haley, it’s me.”

She stopped struggling and turned. “Devon? You scared me.”