Free My Body-His Marcello by Blakely Bennett Page A

window, I
took a small stone and hurled it. The rock cracked the window but
bounced off. I picked up a larger stone and threw it like a
shot-put. It cracked the window a bit more, leaving a small
hole.
    Taking a shirt
out of my bag, I wrapped it around my hand and forearm. I knocked
the remaining glass out of the pane and into the room. On the final
piece of glass I managed to cut a gash in the top of my
hand.
    “ Oh
crap,” I said out loud.
    I tore a piece
out of the shirt and wrapped it tightly around my hand. When I
heard a car passing by, I quickly crouched out of view. I prayed
they didn’t see the broken window because the last thing I needed
was the police showing up.
    With the chair next to the window,
I moved my upper body through the frame and used my good hand to
stabilize myself. With my wrapped hand I shoved the remaining glass
off the desk.
    “ Damn!” I said, realizing that my backpack still lay on the
ground.
    I stepped off the
chair, took my computer out and tossed my backpack through the
window. I wasn’t sure what to do with my laptop. I decided to place
it on the desk and try to maneuver over it. Hanging my upper body
for the most part inside the house, I lowered the computer onto the floor. Then I
shimmied onto the desk, pulling my legs through the window and
lowering myself carefully onto the glass covered floor.
    “ What
a pain,” I said.
    Before I attended
to my hand I checked all the doors. Every lock had been changed to
the kind that requires a key on both sides to open. He really didn’t want me back inside the house.
    In our bedroom,
my suitcase still sat where I had left it. I went to the bathroom
and cleansed my cut. Fortunately it was small enough to cover with
a Band-Aid.
    I swept up the
glass in my office and hung a pillow case to cover the window.
Retrieving my cellphone from its charger, I saw no calls or
messages. That’s when I realized how much hope I had invested in
finding a message from Luke. The disappointment seized me in a hot
rush of desolation.
    I scoured the
drawers in the kitchen for a key to the doors but found none. Good
to his word, Luke had put a lock on his office studio as
well.
    I contemplated
leaving the house and going out to find a place to live and a new
job, but our bed looked so inviting I climbed into it fully dressed
and brought his pillow to my face. Breathing in Luke’s smell, I
decided tomorrow would be soon enough to tackle
everything.
    After dozing for
a bit, I retrieved my computer and climbed back into bed. It
occurred to me he might have sent me an email. My excitement built
as I waited for the computer to load up. My shoulders slumped as I
saw that like my phone, my mailbox was empty. I decided to email
him anyway.
     
    To:
[email protected]
    From:
[email protected]
    Subject: I’m
sorry …
     
    Dearest
Luke,
    There is no
doubt I should have been honest that day we first came to the beach
house. I so wanted to tell you everything but the idea that you
would take back your proposal or worse, never want to see me again,
left me scared to confess the stupid things I had done in your
office.
    I instantly
regretted my actions and not just because I messed up the files. I
wanted to learn about you and feel closer to you but of course
snooping never really accomplishes that. The saddest part is that
we had gotten past that stage, had grown so much closer, and now I
have screwed it up.
    Is there no way
you could come up with a different punishment? You can’t really
want me to be at Marcello’s. Please? Anything else. I’ll do
it.
    I hope your trip
is going well in Japan and I miss you horribly.
    Come back to
me,
    Jane
     
    I hit send
without even rereading.
    * * *
    The week flew by.
My cellphone remained silent and my email box empty. I made one
call to Christian telling him I had found a place to stay. I didn’t
have to field any calls from my mother or friends, who all assumed
Luke and I were busy basking in our marital