Free Entangled Summer by Michele Barrow-Belisle Page A

I drew a deep breath. “I will scream if I have to.”
    She frowned, and I swear I could see a million different thoughts pass through her eyes. Not one of them good. Then she stepped to the side.
    The door swung open on its own. I would have stopped to wonder at that, had I not been over my totally freaked out capacity already. I darted past her, ran back to my cabin and locked the door behind me. I didn’t care that I had a roomie who might want in. I needed to be alone. Just for a while.
    I paced like a caged animal for a while, then dropped onto the couch as exhaustion took over. My body hurt. My brain hurt. Everything felt weird and strange and numb. Like I’d been sucked into a vortex in some other realm, where up was down, hot was cold and crazy was the new black. I hated this feeling, but I couldn’t shake it.  The worst part was I knew why I couldn’t shake it. Because something in her crazy insane words rang true. That terrified me more than any of the rest of it. I laid back against the pillow, and covered my face with my arms.
     
    ***
     
    Before long, I fell asleep and slipped into a dream. A lavender field filled with fragrant blossoms. Darcy came to me, carrying a massive bouquet of blood red roses and wearing a tuxedo, a top hat and a warm grin. He was about to lean in and kiss me when my body collided with something hard. I opened my eyes to find myself on the floor wedged between the couch and coffee table. My elbow ached, and my thumbnail was broken and bleeding.
    “Nice work klutz.” I muttered, climbing back onto the couch. Something vibrated under me. I dug my phone out of my pocket and looked at the screen. It was the hospital business office calling. Again. I sighed and hit ignore. I knew what they wanted, no need to answer and go through it all again. It was a well-timed reminder that I was bound to this agreement, as weird as it all was. I couldn’t leave this job. Not with so much money coming to me. Within a few months of teaching at their freak-show summer school I’d have enough to clear all of Granddad’s bills, get him into a better facility closer to campus and find an apartment before fall semester. It was the only way. I had to stay.
    I scrubbed a hand over my face. The cottage was darker now. How long was I asleep? I had no idea what time it was or how long I'd been out, but the firm knock at the door startled away all thoughts of time.
    I stuck my throbbing thumbnail into my mouth and opened the door without bothering to ask who it was. Of course the second I opened it, I wanted to smack myself for not asking who it was first.
    Troy stood in the door way, one hand casually pressed against the frame, a crooked grin on his dashing face. “Hi Nora.”
    Panic kicked in of course, so instead of replying with something normal, like ‘hello’, I started fixing my hair, which was sticking up in the back.
    He watched me hastily groom until I stopped. “Hey.” I finally said, when I remembered what a dork I must look like. “Sorry, you caught me—”
    “Sleeping?” He looked amused by my flustered state, until his gaze drifted to my thumb, still pulsing tiny beadlets of blood. He took my injured hand and pressed my thumb to his lips. Then he leaned in closer, and his lips brushed mine. It was so brief, I wasn’t sure it had happened at all, except for the way my heart was racing.
    “No, just relaxing and I fell off the couch and, uh... never mine. Want to come in?” I moved to the side to let him enter. It was too late to worry about how I looked. You can’t unmilk a milked cow, or whatever Granddad used to say.
    After hesitating for a second, Troy stepped in. “I came to see if you were alright. You looked flustered earlier, and you weren't at this afternoon’s rehearsal.”
    Damn . "Sorry about that, I totally spaced. But I'm fine, thanks." I said, padding into the kitchen. It was easier to play hostess when the fridge had something other than day-old donuts and